Lake Baldwin Park pet memorial put on hold

A tribute to Winter Park’s departed pets set for Lake Baldwin Park is resting in peace for now.

The city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board began talks last year to construct a proposed 1,600-square-foot pet memorial in Lake Baldwin Park, which would have included four columbaria walls, brick pavers inscribed with pet names and a decorative iron fence.

The city recently ran its proposal by the state, which initially gave Winter Park a $100,000 grant to develop the park space back in the 1970s.

But Florida officials ruled the memorial was prohibited, as the original grant only allows for recreational amenities. It’s also illegal to place pet remains in the park.

“It was actually not allowed to have remains, except for veterans, as part of the park,” Parks and Recreations Director John Holland said during the June 24 advisory board meeting. “At this point, unless there’s some alternate direction you’d like to go with, we’ll close the subject.”

Carla Lubet, treasurer and secretary for Friends of Lake Baldwin Park, said an alternative solution might be in the works despite the memorial being shot down.

“That was really, really disappointing to us,” Lubet said. “It’s off the table for now, but I’m still going to have ongoing conversations with John Holland and staff.”

One suggestion Lubet made during last week’s meeting was placing brick pavers around a flagpole in the park with some added bench seating instead, but Holland warned the project may not be financially feasible without the columbaria walls, which would have each contained 46 urns available for sale.

“We’ll work up some costs on that, but I don’t think without the cremorials our budget will come anywhere close to paying for it,” Holland said.

Lubet said that Friends of Lake Baldwin Park currently has $6,000 in the bank, and will continue to raise money selling memorial brick pavers.

A pet memorial would be another addition to a park residents feared would close five years ago. Lake Baldwin Park came under fire in October 2010 when the City Commission passed a series of fees charging residents for bringing their dogs.

Residents had to pay $75 for the first dog and $50 for all additional dogs in a household, granting them a year of access to the park.

It appeared to be an effort by some Commissioners to have the park shut down, former Mayor Ken Bradley told the Observer that year.

The fees were later repealed in March 2011 and the park has evolved ever since. In the past four years the park has seen the addition of a new playground, a little free library and a designated small dog area.

Lubet said she is still hopeful that a pet tribute will be added to Lake Baldwin Park.

“We design our homes to accommodate our pets and we take vacations based around our pets,” Lubet said when the Observer spoke with her last July. “They’re a big part of our lives.”