OVIEDO, Fla. — A community center in Oviedo remains closed nearly 10 months after Hurricane Ian hit, sending 25 inches of water into the building.
Last week, the Oviedo City Council approved funding to get repairs at Riverside Park moving.
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“We had some severe damage in the overall facility. Flooding in the pool, tennis courts were damaged,” said Paul Belden, Oviedo’s director of recreation and parks.
Belden said the flooding caused between $648,000 and $766,000 in damage.
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“We couldn’t just enter the facility, we had to be safe and secure. So we had to get several assessments before we can enter the building to get the visual assessment for insurance purposes,” Belden said.
Insurance assessments held up the repairs, and the city also had to get FEMA funding.
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Now that the city’s overcome the funding hurdle, remediation work at Riverside is underway. The tennis courts are back open, but will be resurfaced, and the pool has been drained.
Belden said the plan is to have everything back open by January.
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