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Highlands Today

Momentum For Civic Center, Shelter Gathers Steam

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

Maryel "Mel" Clare, of the Greater Lake Placid Chamber of Commerce, shows off plans for a $4 milllion Lake Placid civic center and hurricane shelter.

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By Bill Rettew Jr. | Highlands Today

Published: October 12, 2007

LAKE PLACID — Progress on a new civic center and shelter is well under way.
Land was obtained, architectural plans were drawn and about 10 percent of the funding was tentatively promised, leaving only the major question of how to fund a proposed $4 million civic center and hurricane shelter.

The planned one-story, 22,000-square-foot Lake Placid Ridge Community Center would accommodate 500 wedding or banquet guests at tables; 1,000 theater or concertgoers; or serve 1,500 people as a hurricane shelter.
It would be Lake Placid's first and Highlands County's seventh wind-compliant shelter.

The nearest wind-complaint shelter for Lake Placid residents is Fred Wild Elementary School. Wind compliant shelters are typically built stronger than present building codes – typically at least 15 percent stronger.

The Red Cross of Highlands County would help staff the new shelter in an emergency and its director, Art Harriman, projected that 90 percent of those who would use the shelter would be Highlands County residents.

"We need it bad," said Harriman. "It's inconvenient for Lake Placid residents to go to Sebring and they literally won't travel."

Division of Emergency Management officials and Lake Placid planners discussed bringing the sole Lake Placid shelter at the Lake Placid High School up to hurricane wind-compliant standards, but the idea was scrapped in favor of the planned structure.

The county had earmarked $440,000 in county funds for high school renovations, but on Tuesday commissioners instead tentatively committed those monies as a local match for the new center.
Commissioners tried unsuccessfully to shift an application for a $1.3 million federal grant for hurricane shelters from the high school retrofit project to the civic center.

The 11.9-acre parcel of land behind Lake Placid Middle School was donated by Alan Grigsby. The architectural plans were prepared without a fee by Mike Chapman, of Chapman's Construction Company.

The building will contain a wellness center, offices that might be rented to the public, conference rooms and a large meeting space where nationally recognized performers might perform.

Eileen May, Greater Lake Placid Chamber of Commerce CEO/president of operations, is spearheading an effort to partially fund the project with a combination of community donations and corporate and public funding.

The town of Lake Placid will assume control when the facility is completed, according to May.
The chamber director is seeking $1,000 in sponsorships to create a brochure to target 5,000 prospective public donors.

"We have a lovely town here and we draw a lot of people from the coasts," said May. "Who says a Fort Lauderdale company can't rent a conference room for a week-long conference and stay at a Lake Placid hotel?"

Highlands Today reporter Jim Konkoly contributed to this article.

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