New trail to connect Oviedo Sports Complex and Shane Kelly Park in Oviedo

Oviedo’s path to becoming a more-connected and mobile city has taken another step forward.

Following the April 2023 approval of a Recreation and Trails Program Grant Agreement with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for $320,000, the City Council voted 3-2 on Monday night in favor of moving forward with fully funding and constructing a 4,400 linear foot — or 0.83-mile — asphalt trail connecting the Oviedo Sports Complex to Shane Kelly Park. The grant requires the city to match 20% — or $80,000 — bringing the grant funding up to $400,000. But the project’s total cost could reach $718,000, including contingency budget, bringing the total the city would pay for the project to $398,000.

The funds needed in addition to the grant money will mostly be taken from the Recreation Impact Fee Funds. Impact fees are charged to developers during the approval process and help provide funding to various city services, such as fire rescue, law enforcement, transportation and parks and recreation. 

The trail will be a paved pedestrian pathway, and the project is expected to include gates, benches, a pavilion with a metal roof, trash receptacles and safety bollards. 

“This trail is attractive,” Oviedo Recreation and Parks Director Paul Belden said. “You will attract runners, bikers, leisure walkers, families that do want to connect between the two facilities.

“It’s a good hike,” he said. “You also have residents that want to go from one end of the city to the other and they don’t want to just stop at [Oviedo Sports Complex] or Shane Kelly. They might want to continue up Lockwood, or continue down toward the gym and aquatic facility or Center Lake Park. And this helps, gives the connectivity for that.”

A rendering of the proposed trail connecting the Oviedo Sports Complex and Shane Kelly Park (Photo courtesy of the City of Oviedo)

Oviedo’s 2045 mobility plan has a goal to “provide a sustainable multimodal transportation system that aims to: balance pedestrian, motorized and non-motorized vehicular traffic through safe, efficient, aesthetically pleasing, feasible and cost-effective improvements; reduce pollution by encouraging the use of alternative fuels and nonmotorized transportation modes; and preserve the quality of life and unique character of the City’s neighborhoods through traffic calming and other strategies.”

Included in that is adding walkable connectivity throughout the city, specifically between Oviedo on the Park and the historic downtown.

“This [project] feeds directly into what we’ve been pushing for, which is walkability, connectivity, everything we want to encourage people to do,” Councilmember Natalie Teuchert, who was elected Deputy Mayor by her peers during the meeting, said. “It would be nice to put in a trail that can help take those people out of their cars and promote some walkability.”

The project has not been one that has had full support of everyone on council. Mayor Megan Sladek voted against pursuing the initial grant because “essentially, it’s an 80% off coupon to build something that I don’t think there’s any demand for,” while newly elected council member Alan Ott voiced concerns about the demand for the trail.

“The people I know who currently use this path are trail runners, [and] they don’t want it to be paved,” Sladek said. “There are people who actively do not want this to happen.”

In addition to their concerns about the usage of the trail are those about ongoing maintenance. 

“What happens at the end of the first life cycle?” she asked. “Are we going to raise taxes so that we can replace a thing that is going to cost us $718,000 to put there in the first place?”

Belden said that with the expected proper maintenance, and since it will be limited to foot traffic, bicycles and similar transportation devices, the asphalt should last about 12 years and, after that, repairs would be minimal, such as filling potholes, rather than a full repaving of the trail. 

About $36,000 of the funds will go toward gopher tortoise survey and removal, as four potentially occupied tortoise burrows were found within the project’s corridor. If needed, any tortoises and burrows would be relocated through a live capture to the nearest appropriate location.

“It’s a big cost, but by law we’ve got to abide by those guidelines,” he said. 

In all, Belden expects the project to take about a year to complete.

Want to let your elected officials know what you think of this plan? Find contacts for the Oviedo City Council here.