The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 43

MfcIRO The Orlando Sentinel, l-nday, April 2QUu U-J crowded-school rule takes a hit Marline i By Jon Steinman New-homes project for east Orange wins a tentative OK OF.THE SENTINEL STAFF the high school are crowded. Some expect Martinez's plan to be challenged in court. Despite widespread praise for the plan from School Board officials, county officers and some senior state legislators, many developers have not shied from disparaging it. The next skirmish in the growth moratorium battle is likely to unfold next week at the county Development and Review Committee, when developer Doug Doudney seeks initial approval to build 300 apartments on Kirkman Road. The property is currently zoned for commercial, not residential, uses.

Fieldstream already has about 400 homes. Developers sought to change county land-use plans to allow part of the remaining 200 acres to go from industrial uses to residential. Despite Thursday's vote, Field-stream still faces further hearings, including one before county commissioners, who are expected to reject the development as planned. Fieldstream is served by two elementary schools, one middle school and a high school. All but sioners, who rule on land-use changes, agreed.

"This is an unfortunate test case," said Grant Downing, the commission chairman. "It was presented to us six hours after the chairman's initiative was presented to us, and I'm in favor of it. But this is not the strongest test case." The majority of commissioners questioned the fairness of applying the moratorium to a project already midway through the approval process. commissioners to overturn this position." Although planning commissioners spoke favorably of the moratorium, they decided that Thursday's case did not fit. They rejected a staff recommendation to deny the project.

Developer Casey Hill argued that Fieldstream already had earned a round of approvals from county and state agencies and would have a minimal impact on crowded schools. Planning and Zoning commis on allowing about 230 new homes in Fieldstream, on Lake Underbill Boulevard between Dean and Rouse roads. Martinez, who announced his policy last month, said he was disappointed with the vote and would redouble his efforts to sell his plan to county officials. "I think they obviously don't understand the seriousness of the overcrowding of our schools," Martinez said. "I hope they'll better understand this situation.

I fully expect the board of county Orange County Chairman Mel Martinez's moratorium on growth in areas with crowded schools hit a bump in the road Thursday a setback but not a death-knell. Only a few hours after being briefed about the idea, the county's Planning and Zoning Commission voted 8-1 to allow a development that many expected to be doomed by Martinez's initiative." Commissioner Ernesto Gonzalez-Chavez was the only dissenter Orlando may use merger to restore weather signal 7Tr- ti ,11 1 I 1 1 i kLU JV 1 i I WFTVs director of engineering Mike Tamme said his station is not making any money on the VBI. It is used largely for sending out the weather data and test signals, he said. "It's a public service," said Tamme, who is not sure who was or is picking up his station's VBI. The VBI is invisible to viewers unless they have special equipment to detect it.

The city employs a computer and software worth about $10,000 to read the weather data, Gentleman said. Pickett suggested the city install an antenna to receive the signal. But that option is not acceptable, Gentleman said. High winds could knock over the antenna and the logistics of installing one and hooking it up at the nine-story City Hall are daunting, Gentleman said. Even though Orlando approved Time Warner's ability to sell cable in the city, it does not have any power over programming, including the VBI.

But, the city has a small opening to discuss the VBI because of the merger with AOL, which is a $178 billion deal. Under the terms of Time Warner Cable's contract with Orlando, the City Council has the right to review the franchise agreement if there is any change in the company's management structure. The city has no intention of trying to muddle the transaction, said Orlando assistant city attorney Steve Zucker. Instead, he said, the city wants to find a way to restore the VBI. "This, we think, is a reasonable request," Zucker said.

City and Time Warner officials expect to talk soon. in i ii.i Firefighters need the frequency to keep up with the forecast during storms, the city said. By Dan Tracy OF THE SENTINEL STAFF Orlando hopes to take advantage of the largest merger in corporate history that of America Online Inc. and Time Warner to get an obscure television frequen-cyamscrambled. Public safety is at stake, according to Orlando officials.

The frequency is being jammed by Time Warner Cable, a Time Warner holding which has 670,000 cable-television subscribers in nine Central Florida counties including Orlando. The block, instituted March 1, is keeping the Orlando Fire Department from getting weather data put out over the airwaves by WFTV-Channel 9. That information, said OFD spokesman Greg Gentleman, gives the department "real-time" updates, allowing them to plan for severe storms and hurricanes. "You can see what's coming. You don't have to wait for the updates from the weather station," Gentleman said.

"Time Warner obstructed the signal known as a vertical blanking interval or VBI because the company did not know yhat kind of information was being transmitted, who was receiving it or if any money was being made on the procedure, said spokeswoman Diane Pickett. "This is not an authorized use pf our system," Pickett said. PHOTOS BY JOE BURBANKTHE ORLANDO SENTINEL Blue Jacket. The Naval Training Center's land-locked training ship gets an inspection Thursday from members of the auction team. Bidders can find really big lots The Naval Training Center sale for serious bidders will be industrial-strength.

By Sandra Mathers OF THE SENTINEL STAFF i 1 "Air in I i JJ i Launcher. Auction-organizer Brad Waisbren examines an item from the upcoming sale: a modified torpedo launcher. New TV station offers 4 reruns and talk shows If you're looking for a final souvenir from Orlando's Naval Training Center before bulldozers finish leveling the place, mark April 28 on your calendar. A California auction house will put the last scraps from the old base up for public bids, beginning at 10 a.m. "We'll be selling thousands of items, mostly in lots," said Brad Waisbren, who's organizing the sale for an auction company, The Weiler Group of Chatsworth, Calif.

"This is kind of the end of the line We're the last people who turn out the lights," Waisbren said. But, beware. This isn't your average, everyday auction. This is an "industrial" By Jim Abbott OF THE SENTINEL STAFF given the option of visiting about a dozen base inspection sites where sale items will be displayed, Waisbren said. "Serious" means folks who show up with $500 cash in their pockets or who present a bank letter of irrevocable credit at least two days before the auction.

Oh, and don't show up in shorts or sandals. The Occupational Safety and doesn't sell in a day, will be scrapped." So what does an unusable torpedo launcher cost, exactly? Nobody seems to know. Not the Pentagon. Not the auctioneer. Not the co-owner of The Weiler Group.

"If the Navy didn't take it, it isn't of much value," said Glenn Flood, a Pentagon press officer in Washington, D.C. Okay, so what can a sawy auctioneer expect to get for the airtight ships' doors on the stationary ship, the Blue Jacket, or for the entire electric substation that once powered the base? "There's no telling," said Howard Richmond of Auction World in Orlando, who will call the sale. "Someone may offer $100, and I take it up from there. The sky's the limit." Like most of the folks involved, Richmond has never sold off the remnants of 300 buildings on a military base before. Neither has Lee Weiler, co-owner of The Weiler Group.

His Fox Sports Net coverage of at least 25 Tampa Devil Rays professional baseball games this season. Other time periods will be filled by paid programming. WRDQ is owned by Reece Associates an Orlando company operated by Marsha and Rudy Reece. Marsha Reece is a former reporter and anchor at WFTV-Channel 9, where she worked from 1978 to 1992. Studio facilities and programming are being provided by WFTV through a local management agreement.

Time Warner announced that it would be carrying WRDQ in January, but the station just recently completed work on its transmission tower in Kissimmee. There are no immediate plans to air local news on WRDQ, Marsha Reece said. With a connection to WRDQ, WFTV expects to increase its advertising reach and ability to acquire programming, said Jimmy Sanders, WFTV program director. UUaHBM I Items to be auctioned April 28 at the Orlando Naval Training Center are open for public viewing, by appointment only, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. For information and auction catalogs, call 407-894-9121. From base phones, call 407-894-6715. Health Administration won't allow it. The base, which is being demolished to make way for a large residential and office development, is hard-hat country.

And leave the kids at home. Nobody under 18 auction for dealers and contractors. Unless you're in need of such arcane stuff as generators, boilers, pumps, church pews and a steeple, restaurant ovens, a torpedo tube trainer launcher or a TV viewers, with a thirst for alk shows, vintage television shows and baseball are the target Audience for WRDQ-Channel 27, en Orlando independent TV station-that launches Sunday. I The station, scheduled to sign tn at 8 a.m., is available on channel 21 for Time Warner Communications cable customers. It will air reruns of Perry Mason, Guns-moke, Gomer Pyle, I Love Lucy and other classic TV shows from noon to 8 p.m.

on weekdays. In prime time, WRDQ will carry the Leeza talk show, which is 'moving from late nights on WFTV-Channel 9. WRDQ's prime-time schedule also includes repeats of Jenny Jones and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah will be shown on a one-week delay. WRDQ will carry children's programs on Sunday morning and For sale.

The steeple of the NTC's wooden chapel will be on the auction block April 28. company was hired by salvor M.L. Electrical Equipment of Van Nuys, to sell off the base equipment. He said the base auction is the biggest job his company, which specializes in commercial and supermarket equipment, has ever done. "We expect a very profitable auction," Weiler said from California.

How profitable? Weiler's not telling. Too many people pay in cash, and the risk of a robbery is too great, he said. will be admitted. "You can't just buy one door," Waisbren warned. "We're selling in big quantities, like 50 fire extinguishers in one lot.

"What well-used 10-cell brig, you may not find much you can easily cart home. Or afford, for that matter. Only "serious" bidders will be 6 that two downtown business association members have planned to draw tourists as well as residents downtown. Thursday at an on-campus fraternity house hours after a celebration with friends, police said. Matthew A.

Kaminer, 19, of Boca Raton went to sleep between 3:30 and 4 a.m. and did not respond when a resident at the Alpha Epsilon Pi House tried to rouse him in midafternoon, according to university police. No foul play was suspected and the cause of death was not immediately known, said police spokesman Joe Sharkey. Sharkey said alcohol was involved in the previous evening's activities. Typically, many folks are on vacation this weekend, so the blood supply drops.

The main branch of the Central Florida Blood Bank is at 32 W. Gore St. If you're looking for a closer branch, call 407-849-6100. ELSEWHERE UF student discovered dead in fraternity room GAINESVILLE A University of Florida student was found dead drafting class have spent the past semester creating floor plans and two-dimensional renderings of Key's Service Center, a dusty former gas station that once was a Kissimmee institution. The documents will be used as a jumping-off point for architects.

The city's redevelopment agency wants to transform the old building at Broadway and Drury avenues into a welcome center, complete with a pair of 1924 reproduction gas pumps and rocking chairs outside. The building would be a major stop on a historic walking tour inspecting pilings on a pier being built for the Canaveral Port Authority when he radioed to coworkers that he had become entangled, Heller said. When he was pulled from the water, he was not wearing the helmet that supplied air through a hose. OSCEOLA Gateway students help on welcome-center plans KISSIMMEE Students of Gateway High School's advanced BREVARD Commercial diver drowns while checking pilings PORT CANAVERAL A commercial diver drowned Thursday while inspecting pilings on a pier. Eric Joseph Primavera, 30, a diver for Denizens of the Deep of Frostproof, was pulled to the surface by co-workers who tried to revive i'him, said Brevard sheriff's spokeswoman Joan Heller.

He was pronounced dead at Cape-Canaveral Hospital. of Cocoa Beach was ORANGE Blood Bank is working to increase donations Give blood, get a free T-shirt. That's the deal the Central Florida Blood Bank is offering today and Monday in an effort to increase blood donations during the Easter and Passover holidays. 1.