Days after Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced the city's plans to buy the Pulse nightclub property, city leaders Monday approved the purchase.

After fielding public comment and holding an at times emotional discussion on the land purchase, the Orlando City Council voted unanimously to approve the $2 million land purchase as part of the council's consent agenda in a Monday afternoon meeting. The sale of the property is set to close Friday, Oct. 27.

Dyer previously said the city aims to build a permanent memorial for the 49 victims and survivors of the 2016 shooting at the club, which at the time it occurred had been the deadliest modern mass shooting in U.S. history.

"We recently met with some families of the victims, and survivors of the Pulse tragedy, who shared their desire for a permanent memorial at the Pulse site," Dyer shared Oct. 18 in a statement posted to X, the site formerly known as Twitter.

The nightclub, located south of downtown on South Orange Avenue, is currently home to an interim memorial dedicated to victims of the 2016 massacre, and has remained a source of controversy since.

A number of survivors, families of victims and community members have advocated for a permanent, public memorial at the site of the former LGBTQ+ club. Those calls came amid a series of changing plans and relations between property owners and the OnePulse Foundation, a nonprofit established shortly after the tragedy to provide immediate financial assistance to affected victims and to develop a memorial to the lives lost. The organization, founded by Pulse co-owner Barbara Poma, has drawn criticism in the past for paying its staff six-figure salaries while memorial plans remain in flux.

The city of Orlando is now stepping in after the OnePulse foundation has failed to reach a deal with the site owners in the seven years since the shootings. Mayor Buddy Dyer, who's running for re-election this year, sits on the OnePulse Chairman's Ambassador Council.

The Pulse site is owned by Barbara Poma, her husband Rosario Poma, and Florida businessman Michael Panaggio. Barbara Poma was formerly the executive director of the OnePulse Foundation, until she stepped down from the position last year and left the organization entirely this spring.

Critics of Poma's leadership, including a group of Pulse survivors, family members of victims, and other community members have raised questions over the years of alleged code violations at the property ahead of the shooting. Rumors of blocked exits persist, though they have not been proven. Some now worry the city is buying the property in order to cover these alleged violations up, which the city has disputed.

"There is no cover-up here," asserted city commissioner Patty Sheehan on Monday, growing emotional on the dais as she shared that she struggled emotionally herself in the aftermath of the shooting, losing sleep for months. "If there are unpermitted renovations, the city didn't know about it."

Sheehan, who's been critical of the OnePulse Foundation in the past, said she's met with 38 of the 49 families who lost a loved one as a result of the shooting. While acknowledging concerns from some family over giving the Pomas money for the property, Sheehan remained firm that this was the best way to move forward at this time. "I can tell you right now, the only way that we're going to be able to move forward as a community is to get possession of the property so that we can build a proper memorial."

The city previously announced it had been involved in a deal to purchase the site $2.25 million, but one or more of the owners ultimately backed out. Mayor Dyer admitted during Monday's meeting that he was "actually a little bit relieved" that initial deal fell through.

Commissioner Jim Gray said the property was appraised at $700,000.

In 2019, OnePulse announced plans for a museum and memorial to honor victims. The proposed plans included a reflecting pool and a grove of 49 trees around the club, but the foundation said earlier this year it would scale back plans due to rising costs.

Dyer admitted that he disagreed with "a lot of things that they did and how they went about doing it," without clarifying what exactly he disagreed with. "Do I want to pay them [the Pomas] $2 million? No, I don't really want to pay $2 million."

"I would have rather seen the property donated either to us or to OnePulse, but that's not where we are," Dyer continued. "I'm looking at this from an elevation of what is best for our community, what is best for the families of the victims or survivors in our community as a whole."

"This family shouldn't get one more cent," said commissioner Tony Ortiz, of the Pomas. "The problem is, they own the property."

Several city commissioners brought up the idea of having the city identify an independent way to raise funds for the land purchase, so the $2 million price tag isn't on the taxpayers. "We can raise that money," said Ortiz. Dyer was agreeable to this idea.

At the same time, commissioners and Dyer emphasized a need to move forward. Dyer said although he didn't have a plan at that very moment for fundraising the $2 million to offset the cost of the purchase, a plan would be coming soon.

"We will have one shortly," said Dyer, sharing that it will be "open and transparent" and "inclusive of the families of the victims and inclusive of survivors and anybody else that wants to participate in some fashion."

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The first real bass tournament of the year attracted quite a crowd to Orange Lake and Marjorie Rawlings Park.

All 74 teams launched at the Marjorie Rawlings boat ramp early on Jan. 21 despite dark and wet conditions. Orange might not have put its very best foot forward, but it produced well enough to retain its high angler esteem.

Four teams finished with bass limits weighing better than 20 pounds.

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Tray Bozeman and Woody Bozeman docked with a five-bass limit that totaled 20.01 pounds. This earned them a fourth-place finish. Cory Kempton and Winston Kicklighter had a 22.06-pound limit for third place. Mike and Ryan Crosby’s five bass totaled 23.18. And the journeyman team of Johnny and Joey Key claimed the win with a 23.75-pound limit.

The heaviest single bass of the day, an 8.29-pound beauty, fell to the team of Benny Beckham and Paul Braun. Braun and Beckham finished in 10th place overall.

Put into law relatively recently, Florida’s daily bass limit greatly reduces the harvest of large fish, allowing each angler five bass but only one longer than 16 inches. Only bass tournament anglers who have been granted a bass tournament waiver can possess multiple bass longer than 16 inches until weigh-in.

Orange Lake is something of a superstar — possibly the finest jewel in Florida’s bass fishing crown. With full knowledge of this, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has moved to further protect the treasured large fish that inhabit it.

Whether tournament fishing negatively affects fishing has long been debated. Without a doubt, though, studies do show that mortality in tournament-caught bass, as well as post-tournament mortality, is most significant in hot weather. Because of this, FWC will not issue Bass Tournament Exemption Permits in the summertime between June 15, 2023, to Sept. 15, 2023, as part of the Florida Trophy Bass Project.

Bass clubs and tournament organizations looking to apply for summertime tournament waivers will receive this FWC message: “During this time, water temperature is at its highest. Despite anglers’ best efforts, recent research has estimated that on average 40% of the bass caught in summer tournaments in Florida die within a few days due to the stress of being hauled in live wells and weighed in tournaments.”

Orange Lake is unique in that the bass exhibit fast growth rates and bass of very old age have been documented from the lake when water remains in the lake long enough. This is a great combination for growing trophy bass in excess of 13 pounds.

The lake is also entering into a window where conditions are right to continue to produce many trophy-sized bass over the next few years. By protecting the trophy bass currently in the lake, more and larger trophy fish should be caught for several years.

Anglers wishing to hold tournaments on Orange and Lochloosa Lakes during this time (June 15 through Sept. 15) must do so within current bag and length regulations, and FWC encourages those anglers to consider tournament formats that include catch, weigh, and immediate-release format.”

If convinced of its merit, I believe tournament anglers love their bass and will generally support this new rule.

The first real bass tournament of the year attracted quite a crowd to Orange Lake and Marjorie Rawlings Park.

All 74 teams launched at the Marjorie Rawlings boat ramp early on Jan. 21 despite dark and wet conditions. Orange might not have put its very best foot forward, but it produced well enough to retain its high angler esteem.

Four teams finished with bass limits weighing better than 20 pounds.

Get The Latest News

Don't miss our top stories every weekday in your inbox.

Tray Bozeman and Woody Bozeman docked with a five-bass limit that totaled 20.01 pounds. This earned them a fourth-place finish. Cory Kempton and Winston Kicklighter had a 22.06-pound limit for third place. Mike and Ryan Crosby’s five bass totaled 23.18. And the journeyman team of Johnny and Joey Key claimed the win with a 23.75-pound limit.

The heaviest single bass of the day, an 8.29-pound beauty, fell to the team of Benny Beckham and Paul Braun. Braun and Beckham finished in 10th place overall.

Put into law relatively recently, Florida’s daily bass limit greatly reduces the harvest of large fish, allowing each angler five bass but only one longer than 16 inches. Only bass tournament anglers who have been granted a bass tournament waiver can possess multiple bass longer than 16 inches until weigh-in.

Orange Lake is something of a superstar — possibly the finest jewel in Florida’s bass fishing crown. With full knowledge of this, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has moved to further protect the treasured large fish that inhabit it.

Whether tournament fishing negatively affects fishing has long been debated. Without a doubt, though, studies do show that mortality in tournament-caught bass, as well as post-tournament mortality, is most significant in hot weather. Because of this, FWC will not issue Bass Tournament Exemption Permits in the summertime between June 15, 2023, to Sept. 15, 2023, as part of the Florida Trophy Bass Project.

Bass clubs and tournament organizations looking to apply for summertime tournament waivers will receive this FWC message: “During this time, water temperature is at its highest. Despite anglers’ best efforts, recent research has estimated that on average 40% of the bass caught in summer tournaments in Florida die within a few days due to the stress of being hauled in live wells and weighed in tournaments.”

Orange Lake is unique in that the bass exhibit fast growth rates and bass of very old age have been documented from the lake when water remains in the lake long enough. This is a great combination for growing trophy bass in excess of 13 pounds.

The lake is also entering into a window where conditions are right to continue to produce many trophy-sized bass over the next few years. By protecting the trophy bass currently in the lake, more and larger trophy fish should be caught for several years.

Anglers wishing to hold tournaments on Orange and Lochloosa Lakes during this time (June 15 through Sept. 15) must do so within current bag and length regulations, and FWC encourages those anglers to consider tournament formats that include catch, weigh, and immediate-release format.”

If convinced of its merit, I believe tournament anglers love their bass and will generally support this new rule.

Heagy-Burry Boat Ramp in north Marion County, a popular boating and fishing access point for Orange Lake, will be among the latest of the county’s parks to be modernized, thanks to nearly $1.9 million in renovations planned.

County commissioners approved the project earlier this year and adjusted the budgeting for it at their meeting last week to designate appropriate grants and funds for remodeling the boat ramp to two lanes and implementing more handicap accessible features, among other renovations.

“It's been on our project list for a long time, and there’s been a need for a longer time than that, so just getting it going is exciting for us,” Parks and Recreation Director Jim Couillard told the Star-Banner. “We're happy to be able to do this for the community.”

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Many upgrades planned to rudimentary ramp, park

The park, which is a little less than nine acres in size, is located just south of McIntosh at 5040 NW 191st Place. Its primary features are a boat ramp and fishing pier on Orange Lake.

“Right now, it's a lime rock parking lot with one ramp with a portalet up there,” Couillard said. “It’s just time to modernize it and get it ready for the long haul. We take a lot of pride in our water access parks.”

He said the ramp is considered a “complex ramp” and that despite its popularity, the condition may deter some boaters who would otherwise like to use the lake.

“There's some issues with it as far as it being slick sometimes, or it's got some humps in it, so it's hard to recover a wet boat trailer,” he noted.

The 2016 Parks and Recreation Master Plan for Marion County also described a “rudimentary” and “cracking” boat launch facility and unpaved parking area, though there are picnic tables and the fishing pier in good shape. It summarized that “the park does not have the amenities to draw users seeking a traditional park experience.”

Couillard elaborated that the boat ramp will be remodeled, turned and widened to two lanes. There will be handicap accessible gangways going down to floating courtesy docks, similar to the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant docks at Hope Boat Ramp and Carney Island. The fishing platform will also be relocated and realigned, and the shoreline stabilized with retaining walls.

“Upland, we are going to be adding a bathroom facility, ADA parking for boat trailers and for the general public, and then paved parking,” he said. “Then we have future plans to expand the parking so that that can be a base for fishing tournaments.”

Restored Orange Lake is popular fishing, recreation spot

Heagy-Burry is the only boat ramp that allows access to Orange Lake when water levels go down, unlike others in Alachua County or privately owned ramps. Covering 12,550 acres, it is the largest lake in North Central Florida.

“Orange Lake has went through a huge habitat restoration project with Fish and Wildlife a few years ago, and the water quality up at Orange Lake is just unbelievably good,” Couillard said. “It's good for fishing, it's good for airboating, it's good for duck hunting, a lot of really cool aquatic-oriented recreation out there.”

Orange Lake generates an estimated $2 million economic impact from outdoor recreation annually.

“It's very well used, especially in the local communities in that area,” he said. “We do get people that come down from Alachua County to use it. I know people from the Tampa area that drive up there for the duck hunting, so it is well known.”

The total amount allotted to the project is $1,878,666. Parks and Recreation has allocated $909,402 for its portion, which comes from user fees, not taxes. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission awarded a Sport Fish Restoration grant totaling the remaining $969,264, or 53.1% of the share.

There is no timeline on the project yet, but Couillard says Kimley Horn, the engineer on record, is assessing the county’s current permitting at Heagy-Burry and ensuring adherence to the Land Development Code.

“As soon as they get done and we get a clean archaeological report, we're going out to bid,” he said. “It'll be a long-term project. I'm thinking nine months.”

Ray Wayside improvements in the works

Meanwhile, at Ray Wayside Park near Silver Springs, plans approved last year include replacing the two boat ramps, replacing the wooden docks with a floating dock system, constructing new restrooms and adding a handicap accessible kayak launch and fishing platform.

That project is currently under design, and construction money becomes available Oct. 1.

Contact reporter Danielle Johnson at djohnson@gannett.com.

Hurricane Idalia spared Central Florida overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, with the Orlando area receiving several bands of rain and gusts of winds – though a far cry from devastation experienced elsewhere in the state.

No major damage was reported in Orange, Seminole, Lake and Osceola counties by authorities. Orange saw between 1.5 and 2.5 inches of rain as the hurricane blew by, Mayor Jerry Demings said.

“Storms are unpredictable,” Demings said at a Wednesday news conference. “Always treat them like they are serious. We always plan for the worst and we hope for the best. While we may have been less impacted by the storm than some areas, that storm could have turned and we could have been more impacted.”

Government operations ranging from public schools, city halls and county administration offices are due to reopen Thursday, as garbage collection and other services resume.

One large tree was reported down in the Conway area, while the Orlando Utilities Commission had about 28 outages related to the storm, and Duke Energy peaked at around 500 outages, Demings said. Of more than 700 traffic signals countywide, just nine were damaged Demings said.

Shelters in Orange and Lake counties were closed by midday Wednesday. Orange County officials say 151 people used them and 90% were unhoused.

Overall, it was a sigh of relief, compared with dramatic images of storm surge and devastation in the Big Bend, where the Category 3 hurricane made landfall near Keaton Beach.

“This is a good test run for the next storm, and I’m sure they’ll be one,” said Lauraleigh Avery, the emergency manager for Orange County.

In Osceola, emergency manager Bill Litton said government operations would reopen Thursday and traffic signals were all operational.

“The good news is, we have no damages to report throughout the county,” he said in a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.

Orlando experienced minimal impacts from the storm, city officials said.

Lake County plans to reopen its government operations on Thursday, said James Frye, a county spokesperson.

By midday, Seminole County had nearly deactivated its emergency response center after reports of “minimal damage,” across the county, according to county spokesperson Andy Wontor.

“It really wasn’t that bad,” she said, regarding reports of storm damage.

Martin Comas of the Sentinel staff contributed.

The body of water known as Orange Lake was there long before a settlement grew up on its western shore. The lake spills into both Marion and Alachua counties.

The town of Orange Lake is part of Marion County's Farmland Preservation Area, and the community's early prosperity came from the growing of citrus.

The town, located south of McIntosh on US 441, was probably not much more than a trading post in 1847, when the first post office was established, with James A. Terry as postmaster.

Today, the small community includes several locally owned businesses, along with churches, parks, VFW and AmVets posts, and Marion County Fire Rescue Station 9.

Some of the earliest orange groves in Florida grew in this area, according to the book “Salty Crackers,” written by the late Sybil Bray. She also wrote that there were several very large landholders in the area and some of the earliest inhabitants were the Mizell brothers, who settled there by 1832.

Orange Lake, at more than 12,000 acres, is the largest lake in the North Central Region, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. It is a fish management area and averages 5.5 feet deep, with a maximum depth of 12 feet. The lake gets inflow from Newnans Lake through the River Styx and from Lochloosa Lake through Cross Creek

According to Bray, growers shipped their produce and citrus on boats that crossed the big lake to connecting waterways to the north and east, until the early 1880s, after which crops were shipped by rail.

The advent of automobiles and the development of roads, one of which became U.S. 441, brought significant change to the town.

Lucia Logan Vranizan a resident and owner of a small plant nursery in the town, says a current must-see today “would be to go down to Heagy Burry Park to view the lake and see the tussocks, which are small islands of grass that float on the lake.

Marion County and the FWC together funded a fishing pier at the park. The pier is handicap-accessible.

There have been years where record-size bass were hauled out of the lake, and other years in which low water levels seriously impacted the fishing opportunities. There was a time when there actually was a restaurant on one of the floating “islands.”

On the southern edge of the lake is the expansive Grand Lake RV and Golf Resort, which includes the Eagles Nest Café, a great place for a meal and bird watching.

Near the entrance to the resort is Ocala Poker and Jai Alai. Nowadays the venue is more about gaming than the sport of jai alai, which, in its heyday, attracted huge crowds from north and south of town.

A few miles further east is the University of Florida's IFAS Plant Science Research and Education Unit.

On the west side of the town is the former Silver Leaf Horse Farm, which Vranizan describes as “looking like Churchill Downs in Kentucky.”

That 600-plus acre farm is now Besilu Stables, home of the Besilu Collection of world class Paso Fino horses, among other equines.

Perhaps the most iconic attraction in town, easily seen while traveling US 441, is the Orange Lake Antique Village and Trading Post, where rows and rows of tables hold items called junk by some and treasures by others.

There are no longer orange groves in Orange Lake, but people still come to the area to fish and farm, and enjoy the rich agricultural heritage that set fruit here so long ago.