Winter Park project could add parking at Casa Feliz, golf course

Plans are in the works to add more parking to Casa Feliz and the Winter Park Golf Course — an effort to fill a need by both entities as they continue to thrive.

Winter Park’s Community Redevelopment Agency soon may vote on a proposed project to add 27 parking spaces to the existing parking lot shared by the golf course and the historic home off of North Park Avenue. 

Both entities will have access to the spaces, CRA Manager Kyle Dudgeon said.

“With the success of the renovated golf course, we have had a demand for additional parking,” Assistant Director of Communications Craig O’Neil said. “It is especially busy when Casa Feliz is also hosting an event.”

That project also would include the addition of bricking through a portion of the lot, improved landscaping with a moonlight garden, and a walking path through the Morse linear park.

“From a landscape perspective, the scope removes diseased trees and invasive species, and replaces them with healthy shade and understory trees,” city officials road in the March 22 CRA Advisory Board meeting agenda.

An archway from the original Annie Russell Home also may be part of the project, O’Neil said.

The joint project involves cooperation between the city, the Morse Genius Foundation (which dedicated the park area to the city) and Casa Feliz.

Winter Park’s CRA Advisory Board approved up to $35,000 in joint funding from the CRA, which also would be supplemented by the city. Dudgeon said the CRA portion of the funding likely would pay for the landscaping and irrigation, while the city likely would pay for the bricking.

Every member of the board present at the meeting gave a vote of approval.

“I like this plan, because what you’re doing is creating an arrival experience where there isn’t (one),” board chair Javier Omana said. 

This project was proposed to CRA for funding, but the city currently is working with the Morse Genius Foundation and Casa Feliz to get a final approval before they begin construction, O’Neil said.

If approved, the city anticipates construction in July or August.