Andria Herr is an incumbent Republican District 5 Seminole Board of County Commissioners candidate. She is the executive vice president of insurance brokerage firm Hylant. She is on the governing board of the Central Florida Expressway Authority. She was previously the board chair of The Foundation for Seminole County Public Schools, Private Business Association of Seminole County, Seminole County Regional Chamber and Women’s & Girls’ Cancer Alliance. Herr also served as a board member of Foundation for Seminole State College and Leadership Seminole Inc.
Herr’s platform focuses on creating high-quality jobs; keeping taxes, fees and housing costs down to achieve a lower cost of living; public safety and responsible growth, specifically improving infrastructure such as clean water and safe roads and protecting the rural boundary.
Herr has received $95,118.17 in monetary and in-kind contributions. She has spent $18,409.89. In Herr’s more recent report, over $2,000 worth of contributions were from out of state. $1,176 was self contributed. Learn more.
OCN Q&A
OCN created a profile for each candidate and sent each candidate a list of questions that we created based on input from residents of Greater Oviedo and Winter Springs. Each candidate within a specific race got the same list of questions at the same time and had a 50-word limit per question. Answers were only edited for grammar and clarity.
Growth
Q: How do you feel about the idea of a densification zone in Seminole County where developers redevelop upward, rather than outward?
A: Developing up is a good solution if it fits into the surrounding land use. Transitional areas will be the key to success with this approach.
Q: Once land is zoned for development, local governments cannot downgrade that zoning, meaning that local government has little power in the development of zoned land unowned by them. What do you think the local government can do, if anything, to preserve as much of the green space and charm of the area as possible?
A: Local government can acquire land for preservation, and they can be judicious with granting exceptions to current or future zoning.
Q: Residents expressed concern about increasing development density in more rural areas, saying they want more of the area’s green space and charm to be preserved. How do you plan to vote when a developer approaches the board about rezoning to a higher density?
A: To give a blanket answer to the question would simply be dishonest. Each request has to be handled with respect to the facts of the request, the conformity to the surrounding development (or lack thereof) and with respect to the overall impact to the area.
Q: Some residents are concerned about a lack of notifications for key votes on development. What will you do to increase transparency in the development proposal process?
A: We have expanded the notification circumference as well as the public posting expectations for the county team. I was a key voice in changing those requirements to include more neighbors in the notifications. If it is not enough, we can certainly readdress it.
Taxes
Q: With Oviedo having a tax hike on the ballot, some residents worry that taxes being raised might be used to fund unnecessary projects. That’s a fear residents have in other cities like Winter Springs, where some have questioned the need for a pickleball facility while the city tackles water issues. Are there any projects that have happened recently in the county that you would have voted against? What would you do to add public input and transparency to these decisions by the County Commission?
A: One project comes to mind and I was the dissenting vote. We voted to spend about 50% more to build a pedestrian tunnel in unincorporated Altamonte Springs. A bridge is not only safer than a tunnel, but it does not require staff to open and close it daily. Overall, we have a very fiscally responsible board.
Traffic and transportation
Q: Residents are concerned that development in the area is outpacing the infrastructure, including water, housing, schools and roads. For instance, back in 2022, OCN reported that Seminole County is responsible for grading road capacity locally and that it uses total daily traffic numbers instead of the numbers at peak traffic times to determine if they’re at capacity, which is why roads commonly show that they have capacity for growth even though motorists experience congestion. What will you do to ensure that population growth does not overburden local roads?
A: Seminole County uses traffic measurement according to state regulations. If we built all roads to peak numbers, we would spend considerably more money on roads, and it would drive to more development. This is not what our citizens want.
Housing
Q: Some residents say they’re being driven out of the parts of the county by a shortage of affordable housing. According to the University of Florida’s Shimberg Center for Housing Studies’ 2023 annual report, the statewide median single-family home price hit a new peak of $400,000 in the first half of 2023. Seminole County was in the third most expensive housing price range in the state with $400,000 to $499,000 as the median single-family home price. The graph below compares the statewide affordable/available housing supply to renter households for six income groups, divided by how much they earn relative to the area median income (AMI): 0-30%, 0-40%, 0-50%, 0-60%, 0-80%, and 0-120%. For example, if the area median income is $50,000, somebody earning $25,000 would be at 50% AMI. Somebody earning $60,000 would be at 120% AMI.
How, if at all, would you address that problem?
A: This is a question of supply and demand. If we don’t keep up with the demand, we will no longer be able to afford to live in our own community. This is a highly desirable state, and we have new people moving here every day.
Infrastructure
Q: With increasing resident concern about the availability of potable water, what will you do to help cut the county’s reliance on potable water for irrigation, cut down on septic system use and to improve the quality of the potable water we have?
A: We are working through our water policy and it includes reclaimed, education, resources to conserve and revisions to code on plantings for new development.
Public safety
Q: Rising costs for police and fire protection have residents worried about the county’s ability to fund its public safety. What will you do to ensure the city has adequate police and fire funding in the future?
A: We are doing it now, cut in other areas of spending.
Q: What do you say to residents who argue that pedestrian safety is poor in Seminole County and that the county needs more uniform signage and safer crosswalks?
A: I would let them know I agree!
Q: As local roads widen to cope with more traffic flow, will you push for more aggressive policing of speeders in the area? If yes, how will you make that happen?
A: Yes, I have pushed for this and I have asked for lowered speed limits and traffic calming. It is not as easy as one would think. Speed bumps slow down fire trucks – just one example of the issues we have to address as we come to a good policy to protect walkers and bikers. We have to minimize unintended consequences.
Q: With increased instances of heavy rain and flooding in the area, what will you do to ensure that local government is taking the necessary steps to keep people, their homes and roadways safe, including improving stormwater drainage?
A: This is a continued focus for the county and we have to do the studies and the plans and execute on them. This requires us to be fully staffed, focused on the mission and to measure the results AND REPORT THEM publicly.
Environmental
Q: What do you say to residents who think that local parks are being mismanaged with chemical use, weed-whacked shorelines, etc.? If change is necessary, what would you do if elected to office?
A: I have asked about this and we are working within state guidelines and best practices. We need to question the best practices for sure.