Nearly 100 signs reading “Keep the Deen House a historic home” have been put up by members of the Lake Morton Neighborhood Association. The group opposes a proposal to convert the historic house to a preschool.
“The LMNA Board, on behalf of the neighborhood, prefers that the historic Deen House remain a single-family home,” reads its website. “Though it is zoned, multi-family now, LMNA plans to lobby the city in the coming weeks to change the zoning back to single-family as part of the Lake Morton Neighborhood Plan.”
The idea for lawn signs came from Lake Morton resident Kimberly McCole, according to Townsend, to serve as a visual display of the community’s united opposition.
“If we feel strongly about this as a neighborhood, then we need to show our feelings,” she said.
Supporters of Thomas Brawner and his wife, Madison, who hope to turn the property into the future home of Alta Schoolhouse, wore bright blue T-shirts to the Oct. 15 public hearing. Townsend said the neighborhood association hopes the lawn signs will bring the issue to a larger audience.
“We want the whole community to know what’s happening,” she said. “We want anyone who drives up and down the streets on their way to downtown, or worships at the churches near Lake Morton, to know.”
The Brawners were denied permission to add two fire escapes to the building’s exterior in order to meet state fire code by the city’s Historic Board Preservation last month, but will go back with revised plans. A request for a conditional use permit to run a preschool is tentatively scheduled to go before the city’s Planning and Zoning Board on Nov. 19.
Townsend said the neighborhood association has not attempted to sit down and talk with the Brawners about the residents’ concerns.
“Whether or not Lakeland needs another preschool is irrelevant, this is the wrong location for this type of use,” she said. “There is no common ground for us to discuss.”
The publicity of the neighborhood association’s actions may also serve a dual purpose. The Deen House was put up for sale in August 2017 by property owner Steve Shelnut, who said he had not received a single offer to purchase it as a residential home.