Clermont City Council threw its support behind a long-discussed Lincoln Park community center on Oct. 27, voting 4-1 to back a McKinney Park location and directing city staff to work with the group pushing the project. Council member Alison Strange's motion also calls for the city to allocate funds to help the Lincoln Park South Lake Alliance apply for outside grants to get the effort moving.
The vote marks a new chapter in a push that Alliance representative Paula Hoisington said has been years in the making — she told council the organization began discussing preservation and a community center seven years, nine months and eight days earlier. According to Mid Florida Newspapers, the Lincoln Park South Lake Alliance is a nonprofit focused on community, creativity and educational opportunities in Clermont's historic Lincoln Park neighborhood. Hoisington asked council to designate McKinney Park as the preferred site, arguing the location is central to the neighborhood and has sufficient land to support the project.
Not every council member was convinced. Mayor Tim Murry cast the lone no vote and questioned whether adding a center at McKinney Park would eat into space used for baseball and soccer. He also suggested the city explore whether land on nearby Highland Avenue might be a more appropriate fit, per the same report.
A Ballfield Site With Existing Amenities
The Alliance's current plan calls for locating the proposed center at the McKinney Park ballfield on Bloxam Avenue, Hoisington told council. McKinney Park is already a city-owned community park stocked with a playground, fitness trail, softball field, basketball courts, a pavilion and open grassy areas, according to the outlet's reporting. Separately, Citizen Portal reported that council members and residents have discussed potential sites including a 4.2-acre McKinney parcel and a smaller alternative, as the city also weighs basketball and tennis court resurfacing at the park. The mayor has said that resurfacing is needed after residents and police interactions brought attention to the courts' conditions, and that prior budget attempts to fund the work hadn't lined up with timing, Citizen Portal reported.
City council also agreed to survey residents' opinions as the project moves forward, according to Mid Florida Newspapers. Architect Alex Busto presented renderings of possible community-center buildings to council members during the meeting, with the artwork credited to Gator Sktch, a Clermont-based architectural company that provided the rendering work free of charge.
What the Center Would Offer
Hoisington told council that a central location could connect people and open up more opportunities for local residents. The proposed community center would include classrooms for youth and adult education aimed at building workforce skills, and it would provide wellbeing resources through multi-agency partnerships along with resources for local youth, per the report.
That vision echoes an earlier iteration of the project. A 2021 account from the South Lake Tablet described the Alliance, which was established as a 501(c)(3) in July 2020, pursuing a center with programs including early learning, GED classes, youth programs and STEM/STEAM offerings. At the time, the Alliance was asking the city for $3.6 million to help renovate the former Clermont Elementary School campus and its buildings, and the outlet reported a survey showing a 90% favorable response to moving the project forward — though that figure reflects community sentiment from 2021, not necessarily today.
Why the Project Changed Course
The Clermont Elementary School plan once looked like it would be the Alliance's path forward. The organization's own website notes the center was approved in June 2023 to take shape on that campus, but the plan ultimately stalled. The Lincoln Park South Lake Alliance says the effort “did not come to fruition due to structural barriers, capacity limits, complexities to adding multiple programs on one site, and other reasons.”
Despite that setback, the group says its mission hasn't wavered. The Alliance states it “remains steadfast in advocating for a community center in South Lake,” a commitment that now centers on the McKinney Park proposal following council's vote. With staff directed to coordinate with the Alliance and pursue grant funding, the project's design, cost and timeline remain to be worked out in the months ahead.
