Maitland’s downtown revitalization moves forward — but can it work?

Maitland has a beautiful lakefront park, a historical museum and a SunRail station.

But its new downtown won’t be next to any of them.

The city’s vision for a downtown district centers on Independence Lane, a one-block strand next to City Hall on the west side of the old Winn-Dixie property along U.S. Highway 17-92.

Independence Lane would be turned into a “festival street,” a pedestrian-friendly area lined with shops, restaurants and also a home for concerts and other entertainment.

City leaders say this is their best option for creating a successful city center similar to those in Winter Garden, Altamonte Springs and Oviedo.

Even though the festival-street plan likely would be no bigger than two or three blocks adjacent to City Hall and disconnected from other city venues, Council member Ivan Valdes said anything would be an improvement over the long-closed Winn-Dixie property.

“Right now, there’s nothing,” Valdes said.

But not all city officials agree. The festival street project is tied directly into the Maitland City Centre project,a six-story, 250-unit residential complex with retail space on Independence Lane that was opposed by new Mayor Dale McDonald when it was approved in November

Now that the city is committed to the festival-street plan, McDonald said it must go forward, like it or not. But he doesn’t think it should be as ornate as the latest plans suggest.

The nearly complete design plans for the first phase of festival street were sent to the city last week and would include granite-faced pavers, a curbless street and special lighting.

McDonald and the City Council almost held off developing plans for the project in June when they originally balked at the $1.25 million price tag estimated by Chris Hite of Dix Hite and Associates, a festival-street consultant also working with developer David Lamm on City Centre.

Though Lamm has committed more than $500,000 in impact fees to the city as part of the City Centre deal — about the same as the proposed cost for the street’s underground infrastructure improvements — McDonald said that it was still the city’s money to use as it wished.

“It’s my personal opinion that there are lots of other needs in this city,” McDonald said. “[The city might] spend a million-plus dollars on the festival street while at the same time I’ve got to tell moms and dads on the Tuscarora Trail that their kids are still going to stand in the dark to get the school bus because we don’t have money in the budget to get sidewalks.”

But the city committed to the project when it approved City Centre, he said. And in addition to the $500,000 in infrastructure costs, an additional $744,000 was put aside for the project in the proposed 2016 budget.

Whether all of that is eventually spent on the plans as developed by Dix-Hite is yet to be determined.

In the end, McDonald said, “people have to be engaged instead of just coming down, having dinner and going home. … It needs to become its own place.”

Planning experts said that was the key: creating an accessible, walkable, vibrant place.

“I think Maitland could certainly create a successful downtown,” said Jay Jurie, associate professor of public administration and planning at the University of Central Florida. “Neighboring Altamonte Springs did it, if we consider Cranes Roost to be a de facto downtown.

“Of course Altamonte had the advantage of the lake; Maitland doesn’t.”

Some kind of connection with the SunRail station a mile away would also be helpful, Jurie said, such as a shuttle or eventually a light-rail trolley.

However, he said, “a business draw is always problematic, and there’s also the problem of virtually no inherently stable model. What works today may quickly become obsolete.”

Valdes, a longtime backer of the project, said there don’t need to be a dozen businesses on the street — “We just need four or five of them: a coffee shop, a pastry shop, a wine [bar], a deli. Right now, when residents need that atmosphere, they have to go to Winter Park or College Park.”

The city required Lamm to have the retail in the City Centre project face the street and not face inward, he said, specifically to create the festival street.

“I can never imagine seeing someone sitting in front of a restaurant on a Saturday night facing [U.S.] 17-92,” Valdes said. “We had no choice but to bring that atmosphere to the west side of the block.”

“And the street has a lot of potential,” Valdes said, suggesting it could host farmers markets, plus “concerts on Friday night.”

Festivals and concerts are a big part of Oviedo on the Park in Oviedo, which recently completed its first phase after 15 years of talks and development.

“It’s really becoming the gathering point we knew it would become,” Oviedo Mayor Dominic Persampiere said.

Oviedo on the Park surrounds a lake, though the pedestrian walkway leading south from Independence Lane does connect to Maitland’s Lake Lily about a quarter-mile away.

“It can be much more than a drive-through street,” Valdes said of Independence Lane. “It can hopefully be something we can be proud of.”

“We’re obligated to do something,” McDonald said, more cautiously. “We need to utilize the street as much as possible — without feeling like ego has to be caught up in it, and it has to be the biggest and baddest one block in Florida.”

slemongello@tribpub.com or 407-418-5920