Ruling may let Winter Park library plan proceed

A ruling by a panel of judges this week has paved the way for Winter Park to move forward on its $30 million library and civic center project.

The decision by the Orange Circuit Court to throw out a lawsuit against the project is a victory for the city, which can now complete a deal with an architect to begin designing the new 50,000-square-foot library in Martin Luther King Jr. Park.

City Manager Randy Knight said the city will wait for the appeals period to pass before moving forward.

“We’re certainly pleased with the ruling and think it’s the right ruling,” he said.

The project also includes an 8,500-square-foot civic center and a 200-vehicle parking garage on the site of the current civic center.

Designing the new space had been delayed by a lawsuit filed by a group of citizens who opposed its construction in the park.

The suit was filed after voters narrowly approved selling up to $30 million in bonds for the project last year.

There was no response to calls to Michael Poole, who chairs the committee that filed suit, and Virginia Cassady, the attorney representing the group.

It’s unclear if the group will appeal.

City spokesman Craig O’Neil said the city has been billed $246,113 in legal costs to date stemming from the fight.

Commissioners agreed last week to keep the current civic center open through January 2018.

They also said the city would bond $27.5 million, and the library would raise the remaining $2.5 million.

Knight said the architects plan to hold multiple public meetings to garner input on the design, once a deal is final.

Library executive director Shawn Shaffer said the new library will allow for more programs and improved technology than at the 33,000square-foot library now on New England Avenue.

Librarians have to take a book off the shelf if they add a new one to the children’s section, Shaffer said. The new library will house a larger children’s section with space for a story room and a classroom.

“What we definitely need, and this current building will never have, is flexible space,” he said.

The new library will be built in the northwest portion of MLK Park on West Morse Boulevard and Harper Street.

The Rachel D. Murrah Civic Center in MLK Park will be razed to make way for the new facility.

Library officials previously told the Orlando Sentinel the parking garage will be constructed where the civic center’s parking lot is and will only take up an additional 1 percent of the park’s green space.

“The ability for somebody to read a book in the park is going to be really great,” Shaffer said.