The soon-to-be revitalized Thelma Boltin Center site had its second planning meeting Sept. 29, where planners heard from community members about what they wanted from the project.
The community workshop was just one meeting in an effort to be transparent with Gainesville residents after the city commission voted to tear down the building in 2025, according to project manager and director of Wild Spaces and Public Places (WSPP) Rachel Mandell.
A year later, the city plans to honor the center’s history, making it the trailhead of the Sweetwater Trail Loop System that connects multiple Gainesville neighborhoods and parks.
Mandell said there is frustration among the community because of the commission’s decision, so they are taking steps to ensure they lay out everything for the project.
“A big part of our goal with this project is really ensuring the community is really involved in the planning process and that we’re as transparent as possible,” Mandell said.
The project has three final goals as outlined by the city commission, but the Tuesday meeting heavily focused on the first: to reimagine the Thelma Boltin Trailhead with a $2 million budget from WSPP and other city funds. Mandell said improvements will honor Boltin, the center’s first director, and honor its World War ll history. The center, built in 1942, was originally an entertainment place for U.S. service members stationed at nearby bases. The city bought the building four years later and turned it into a multipurpose building managed by the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs. After years of being run-down, the city commission voted 6-1 to tear down the building even after community dissent, said Mandell.
One of those community members is former city commissioner and musician Gary Gordon, who played music at the site when it was running. Because the infrastructure was failing, the commission held hearings to improve it. According to Gordon, they went on for too long, and when the damage got too bad, they made the decision to remove the building. He said he wished they acted faster so the building wasn’t torn down.
“If they’d have done it, you’d have this historical building as a memorial to the history that went on,” Gordon said. “Now it’s a matter of markers and signage, which is a shame.”
The lack of communication prompted Mandell and the rest of the team to host the planning meetings for the public. To raise awareness for it, WSPP sent online announcements in their newsletter and posted physical papers throughout the site.
Around 50 people of all ages gathered at the Matheson History Museum for the second meeting. As people entered, they took time to look over plans on easels lining the walls. Each chair also got a copy of the plans with a pen to write comments and questions. This was an effort to combine the wants of as many people as possible, according to Mandell.
“Different opinions, different ideas, different goals, it’s a challenging part of the project, but it’s also what makes it as efficient and effective as possible,” Mandell said. “It’s kind of give and pull from every group, but I think at least most people are seeing something that they want on the site.”
Throughout the meeting, project worker Laurie Hall answered a slew of questions from concerned citizens like Gordon, who worried that planners were not placing enough credit on the musicians who made the site special.
“Gainesville music is one of the things, in addition to the Gators and Gatorade, that puts Gainesville on the map, and all of us who ever played, even if we didn’t become famous, are pretty proud of that,” Gordon said.
His vision is to have a music stage called the Hall of Fame Stage that honors Gainesville musicians like Tom Petty and Eagles members Bernie Leadon and Don Felder.
The community workshops are just one way the project is trying to raise awareness. Between the first and second workshop, there were four focus groups. One of these focus groups was with the Duckpond Neighborhood Association, which is nearby. Mike Ryan Simonovich has lived at the Duckpond for 12 years and serves on the board for the neighborhood. Throughout the meeting, he advocated for a park that catered towards bicycles and humans, rather than cars, to bring more foot traffic while maintaining the scenery he describes as that of a Norman Rockwell painting.
“We’re about to disrupt the site drastically, and so in the interest of conservatism and traditional development patterns, we should build with an eye to the future, so we don’t have to disrupt this site again for 50 years,” Ryan Simonovich said.
The commission’s future goals for the project include a path for the Sweetwater Greenway Loop Trail running up Northeast Boulevard and improvements to prevent stormwater runoff. Their next community workshop is yet to be scheduled, but will include a draft of conceptual site plans.