By Kiara Velez, Interning Correspondent for The Apopka Voice
What started as a distant goal is coming closer to reality.
Over five years ago, Apopka, Orange Audubon, and the St. Johns River Water Management District envisioned a birding park at the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive. Now, in 2024, the vision is less than a year away.
Radley Williams, Apopka Parks and Recreation Director, updated the City Council about the progress of the birding park at its October 16th meeting.
The Apopka Birding Park is a 69.5-acre park located right next to Wildlife Drive, and renovations began in April. The project for a new 'Educational Center' is set to be completed in the Summer of 2025.
Deborah Green is president of the Audubon Society and has been working with the city since 2018. She spoke at the council meeting and explained renovation plans for "the old truck shop" to be developed into an education center.
What she's referring to is the large cement block industrial building on the site.
"It was a truck shop where the nurserymen would let the farmers fix their trucks. It's a sturdy cement block building and we determined it would be better to renovate, more ecological to renovate," said Green.
However, past the building is over 60 acres of old nursery site to restore. Williams continued the presentation by providing an updated look at the progress since the ground lease was finalized in March 2024.
The entire site, previously known as the 'Hickerson Property,' was conveyed to the city by the St. Johns River Water Management District in 2018 in exchange for a 5-acre city-owned parcel, which we now know as Apopka Birding Park.
Plans for the park have been in motion since April, focusing on transforming the area into an educational center to benefit the city of Apopka and strengthen important 'upland' habitats for wildlife.
Lead architect Phillip Donovan came to the stand next, and presented designs for the Orange Audubon Nature Center at Birding Park, emphasizing the project's commitment to ecological integrity. "Our ethos is to ensure the building serves the restoration project, minimizing resource use while enhancing the living systems on site," Donovan, from Little Diversified Architectural Consulting said.
The project also includes a one-acre development to support local wildlife along Wildlife Drive, offering visitors an incredible opportunity to learn about the area's natural and rich ecosystems.
Donovan showcased its complex design concepts focused on optimizing water and energy usage. Plans include rainwater collection systems, solar power roofing, and a metal canopy roof reminiscent of a bird's wing to maximize natural light.
However, the plans have not gone through entirely without some setbacks first. At the meeting, Green showcased images of remnants of a greenhouse on the site that burned down in 1999. The foundation can still be seen lingering in the form of concrete pads on the land, posing significant challenges to the restoration efforts. Fortunately, she explained that the District is set to remove these obstacles in due time.
"Another major challenge is the invasive Cogongrass, one of the world's most problematic weeds," said Green. "Efforts are underway to secure a grant from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to combat this issue".
The initiative is more than just a building renovation; it represents a landscape plan to revitalize local wildlife, create educational buildings to benefit the community, and bring out the beauty of Apopka's natural spaces.
Visitors are invited to explore Apopka's Birding Park in the summer of 2025.
