Round Lake Park plans downgraded after DeSantis’ veto

The years-long uncertainty surrounding the Round Lake Park African-American Cultural and Historical Grant is finally coming to an end — one that will lead to some anticipated development, but not to the level once hoped for.

The state awarded Oviedo the $500,000 grant in December 2022 with the expectation of funding a new cultural and arts center and museum around Round Lake Park, in addition to renovations to the existing building, located at 891 E. Broadway St. After multiple extensions to begin work, rising construction costs led the city to ask the state for an additional $500,000 to $1 million for the project. But Gov. Ron DeSantis denied that request as part of his $950 million in vetoes from the state’s $116.5 billion budget in June.

The existing community center building at Round Lake Park (Photo by Eric Orvieto)

In addition to renovating the current 900-square-foot building, the plan was to also build a 2,000-3,000 square-foot addition for a community space to house civic meetings and educational opportunities for local students to learn about Oviedo’s Black history. 

With the news of the veto, officials from the city and local groups such as Johnson Hill Washington Heights Community Outreach and Oviedo Citizens in Action (OCIA), which uses the building for its regular meetings, met to discuss how to move forward. To receive the grant money,any project must have funds obligated to it by the end of 2024 and construction completed by the end of 2026.

During City Council’s Aug. 24 work session, Recreation and Parks Director Paul Belden laid out a new plan for the grant money: A renovation of the existing building that would include knocking down interior walls to make a more open layout, painting the remaining walls, replacing doors and windows, a raised roof, a new air conditioning unit, new gutters and bathroom renovations.

Additionally, the plan is to add new outdoor landscaping, a pavilion and other upgrades such as picnic tables and benches to provide additional meeting space outside.

The plan also recommends that in addition to structural and aesthetic work, the inside and outside feature “a cultural, historical, or art component be included in the project to provide elements such as bronze sculptures, artwork, pictures or murals.”

“It will be set up to highlight what its intent was, to highlight African-Americans in the city of Oviedo and surrounding areas that have made a difference, a marked difference to the history, that added to the history of Oviedo,” OCIA president Kathy Hunt said.

The knocking down of walls in the current building, which has two offices in addition to the meeting space, will be welcomed by those who use the building.

“The room right now is insanely small, and so it fills up and it’s ridiculously tight,” council member Natalie Teuchert said. “[The renovation] makes the possibility for other groups to come in and use that space. It turns something that’s, like, falling apart into something very useful for the community.”

Hunt said with the help of a new committee, the building will be named in honor of a local African-American family or individual who helped make a difference in the community. 

But not all hope is lost for the park to see more grand updates in the future.

“It’s kind of bittersweet,” Hunt said. “I am disappointed that we had to step back and take [what we could]. But then it’s sweet knowing that it is moving forward in a smaller way … something is happening. Everything has to have a beginning. So it may not have been the grand expectations that we had, but at least it’s moving forward.

”This is a start,” Hunt said. “We’re hoping and praying that maybe some other funding will come along — maybe even, I’m hoping and praying, that the city of Oviedo could plan to find other funding that will move this forward and keep building.”