Winter Parkers fight to keep library out of park

The ongoing conflict in Winter Park over the site of its new library/civic center will shift clearer into focus on Monday as a disgruntled group of residents will plead their case for why the facility shouldn’t be placed in Martin Luther King Jr. Park – and how they have the legal right to make sure it stays out.

The political action committee made up of Winter Park residents recently received confirmation that they had submitted enough petition signatures to bring their case before the City Commission. It all came about in response to the up to $30 million bond referendum to fund construction of a new library/civic center that was narrowly voted through by 51 percent of voters back in March.

Petitioners were required to gather 2,011 – 10 percent of the registered voters in Winter Park – to proceed.

The political action committee brought forth 2,256 signatures and had 2,034 approved.

Michael Poole, one of the residents behind the committee, told the Observer that the group could likely have obtained thousands more, but were only seeking to meet the minimum requirement.

But the group of residents also received a certificate of insufficiency from city, which claims that the political action committee did not submit their petition paperwork within the 30 days of the March 15 election – a requirement for a “reconsideration of a referendum.”

That isn’t stopping the residents, however, as they intend on filing the petition as an “initiative,” which has no such time limit.

The last time residents pushed an “initiative” through was to keep a minor league baseball stadium out of the same park last June. The group of residents submitted more than 2,000 signatures to keep out the proposed ballpark.

The city of Winter Park meanwhile plans to embark on a bond validation process before Ninth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Margaret Schreiber within the coming months. The process gives the city assurance that the bond referendum process is moving forward appropriately, City Attorney Kurt Ardaman said, adding that a judicial approval would protect the city from a party challenging its legality, in turn wasting money, time and effort.

Just as the fate of Winter Park’s proposed library/civic center hangs in limbo, so does the Rachel D. Murrah Civic Center – the proposed site of the new facility. The City Commission had originally planned to close the center on Dec. 31, but that may get pushed back by a couple months depending on when the bond validation process takes place, City Manager Randy Knight said.

The political action committee is pushing for residents to show up to the City Commission meeting on Aug. 8 to have their voices heard.

“Here is where we need your help,” Resident Sally Flynn wrote in a mass email. “We need as many of you as possible to attend the meeting and show support for the petition.”

“We must show our activism and support to save MLK Park.”