DeSantis veto puts Round Lake Park Community Center plans at risk

A much-anticipated addition to the Round Lake Park Community Center may be scrapped after a key veto by Gov. Ron DeSantis, with leaders considering a smaller renovation for the site.

The City of Oviedo hoped to get $500,000 in additional funds for the project, but it was stymied as part of the nearly $950 million in vetoes from the state’s $116.5 billion state budget in June. 

“This budget delivers historic support for education, infrastructure, and conservation, yet spends less than the year before and includes major tax relief,” DeSantis said in a news release. DeSantis addressed the full scope of vetoes in a written message. 

“Governments should strive to do more with less. It can be done, and my action today cements that lesson for the nation,” he said. “Florida leads the way, yet again.”

A nearly $500,000 African American Historical and Cultural Grant was awarded to Oviedo in December of 2022 to help develop a cultural and arts center at Round Lake Park. However, rising costs led to the city asking for the additional funding to move forward with the project.

“There’s a lot of other cities that, from the information I was given by the grant manager, there’s a lot of project scopes that are being adjusted because of the fact escalated costs are out there and they’re not able to complete what was intended,” Oviedo’s Recreation and Parks Director Paul Belden said.

To receive the grant money, the project needs to be fully completed by the end of 2026, Belden said.

The funds were planned to be used to renovate the current 900-square-foot building at the park, located at 891 E. Broadway St. into a museum. The funds would also have been used to build an approximately 2,000-square-foot addition, offering space for civic meetings and other community uses, such as educational opportunities for local students to learn more about Oviedo’s history and contributions by African American figures throughout the years.

“I was somewhat shocked and in disbelief that we were disqualified from the additional funding,” Belden said. “It was just disheartening that we had to go back to work to try to fund the additional funding if we can.”

Others, however, were not as surprised.

“Because the funds [weren’t] secured prior to the budget being passed, I didn’t get my hopes in it,” William Jackson, Johnson Hill Washington Heights Community Outreach treasurer, said. “Like [the saying goes], don’t count your chickens before they hatch.”

What’s next for the Round Lake Park Community Center?

Now, however, the plans are expected to undergo significant reductions. 

A July 9 meeting between multiple entities, including Oviedo Citizens in Action (OCIA), which uses the facility for its meetings, the city’s Recreation and Parks Department and other community leaders led to discussion of potentially scrapping the new building for more affordable renovations to the existing structure. A more clear picture of the project and possibilities of other funding sources will be available in the next month or two, Belden said.

“The city is exploring options to team up with Seminole County for additional funding resources,” Belden said. “In addition, there may be some minimal resources available, but not to the extent of $500,000 to $1 million extra.”

The park also hosts the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration and Juneteenth event, as well as is home to a mural celebrating prominent Black figures in Oviedo’s history and a plaque honoring Dr. King. But it’s more than just meeting space for OCIA. 

“It’s housed around the Black community,” Kathy Hunt, president of OCIA, said.

While a larger complex may not be possible without additional funding, the hope is that the renovated structure can still house scaled-down versions of the original plans.

“I think we need to incorporate the spirit of the grant into whatever we do,” Jackson said.

Without incorporating the spirit of the grant into the new plans, there may be additional local hurdles for the city to overcome in its renovation plans.

Hunt said the organization would only support the city using the existing grant money for the renovations if the plans also continue to include highlighting African American contributions to the area inside the building and possibly re-naming it. 

“OCIA will support the proposed [project] amendment to utilize funds from the grant to provide renovations to the existing building at Round Lake [Park] if there is language included to appropriate funds to complete the spirit of the initial grant to honor those African Americans [who have] made significant contributions to the history of Oviedo,” Hunt said.

The request for additional state funds was initially submitted in November 2023, and sponsored by state Rep. Susan Plasencia and Sen. Jason Brodeur. The city’s original ask was for $1 million, but it was cut in half through legislative process. The proposal said “the project will have an immediate economic impact through the creation of local job opportunities relating to the construction of the facilities.”

Sen. Brodeur sent a statement via email to OCN:

“I sponsored the appropriation item at the request of the City of Oviedo. I’m the only state senator in Seminole county, if I don’t file a local project, it is likely that no one else will. 

I wasn’t entirely surprised at the veto. Funding for Oviedo’s community center could be considered a responsibility of the city, not statewide taxpayers. The question can be asked why taxpayers of Miami-Dade or Duval counties should shoulder the burden of building a community center for Oviedo.

I made the argument that the community center could have regional value in Central Florida, making it the responsibility of the state. Unfortunately, the Governor did not see it that way. 

I am happy to help all of the communities that I represent, but conservative government and checks and balances are still alive and well.”

Similarly, Plasencia said in an emailed statement to OCN: 

“When I was elected, I promised to sponsor and fight for projects that would help our community or lessen their tax burden. This year when Oviedo, the only municipality in my district, requested support for the Round Lake Park Community Center, my answer was an unequivocal ‘yes,’ and I successfully passed $500,000 into the State Budget for the project. I cannot speak to the Governor’s intentions for any of his line-item vetoes, so you’ll have to speak with his office.”

While Belden is looking for additional funds elsewhere to make the project as substantive as possible, the lack of funding for the project directly from the City of Oviedo is noticeable.

“I am concerned about the lack of the City of Oviedo offering some funding to assist with the shortfall this grant has experienced,’” Hunt said. “We are hopeful for a win-win for all as we work together on creating the proposed amendment to [the] grant.”

Jackson said it is noticeable which projects are funded by the city over ones like the Round Lake Park Community Center addition, such as new pickleball courts.

“I’ve got nothing against pickleball … but look at who benefits the most from it and if it’s supposed to be for the community, then it should be for the community,” he said. “It’s not the top priority as far as the city goes right now, in my opinion. It’s a priority, but it’s not a funded priority.

“For Oviedo to be one of the top-ranked cities in the country, I do not feel like, in a lot of ways, that the impact that the Black community has given to this city is recognized enough,” he said. “I don’t know that we could even recognize it enough.”