A coffee house in a historic Oviedo-area building? Meeting next week for Slavia Station project

A historic building just west of Oviedo city limits, recognizable for the settlement name “SLAVIA” adorning its face, will have a public hearing next week to determine its fate.

The Slavia Station project, just northeast of the Lukas Nursery on Aloma Avenue, could breathe new life into a building more than a century old. According to a flier posted at the site, the public hearing will be held May 6 at 6 p.m. at the Seminole County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.

*Largely disused for decades, the former Slavia Filling Station, preserved as a cultural artifact along S.R. 426, could see a new life as a coffee house. – Photo by Isaac Benjamin Babcock*

The community for which the structure takes its name was founded by Slovakian immigrants a century ago, including the prominent Duda family. Slavia is mostly just a name on a map these days, a vestige of a time when Central Florida was dotted with agricultural towns that have since faded into obscurity, including nearby Snow Hill and Osceola.

Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek said people are “frazzled” by the idea of something happening to the old historic building, an enduring icon of the Slavia community. But that’s before they realize the plan is to keep the building intact to build a coffee house.

“We all need to champion this,” Sladek said.

You can read an agenda for the meeting here. You can download the development master plan here.

The plan is to renovate the building, built in 1922. Additionally, the plan is to build a covered outdoor pavilion and new restrooms.

The Slavia Filling Station advertises soft drinks, candy, tobacco, cigars and cigarettes alongside State Road 426 in this photo dated 1929. The building still stands. – Photo courtesy Chase Collection, UCF RICHES.

“Art and small music events will be provided periodically,” the applicant wrote in documents to the county. “The County will benefit from the neighborhood get-togethers and periodic events offered at the site. The site is within walking distance from several residential areas and near the Cross Seminole Trail for an easy stop-over break and refresher.”

The project is a 1.45 acre site, and will have 17 parking spaces. It will include 3,711 square feet of commercial space.

Calls to the applicant and to the consultant on the project were not returned before OCN’s press deadline. Seminole County Commissioner Bob Dallari, who represents Oviedo, said he doesn’t look at projects until after they have been voted on by the Planning and Zoning Commission.

“The project consists of renovating an existing one-story building with interior renovations, a new toilet addition and new covered entry portico addition with ADA handicap ramp access,” the applicant wrote in the narrative, which you can read here. “New construction will include a new free-standing detached building and new free-standing outdoor covered pavilion for an outdoor exhibit area.”

Staff is recommending approval of the project. If ultimately approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission, it would also need to get final approval from the Seminole County Commission.

Want to contact your elected leaders and weigh in on this topic? Find their contact information here. Have a news tip or opinion to share with OCN? Do that here.

“We are recommending approval with the proposed Development Order,” wrote Kaitlyn Apgar, a senior planner with Seminole County, in an email to Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek.

Abe Aboraya is a Report for America corps member.