Residents pitch park ideas
BY FRANKLIN HAYES Gulf Breeze News franklin@gulfbreezenews.com

Franklin Hayes/Gulf Breeze News Gulf Breeze, Tiger Point and Midway residents gather to place colored stickers next to their favorite recreation improvement ideas at Oriole BEach Elementary School Sept. 18.

A concentration of orange, blue and green stickers showed local residents want better maintenance, more land, and additional ball fields for their parks.

But what do colored stickers have to do with park planning?

Orange stickers represented votes for key issues, blue represented needed amenities and green represented funding options. That's how approximately 60 residents of Midway, Tiger Point and Gulf Breeze were asked to vote for their favorite recreation improvement ideas after a brainstorming session at Oriole Beach Elementary School, Sept. 18. The meeting was held to gain public input for the District 5 Recreation Master Plan, which will provide an outline for future county recreation spending. District 5 is represented by Santa Rosa County Commissioner John Broxson and encompasses much of the Gulf Breeze peninsula, from the city itself to the intersection of Edgewood Drive and U.S. 98 near Navarre.

Franklin Hayes/Gulf Breeze News Commissioner John Broxson (center) addresses residents.

"I really want to test your vision," Broxson said to those gathered in the school's cafeteria. "What is your vision? What quality of life issues are important to you? I want you to step outside of the box a little bit and talk about your vision and what it would take in South Santa Rosa to increase our quality of life and make this an even better place to live."

A majority of residents in attendance were interested in improving Tiger Point Park, District 5's largest recreational facility. Several residents voiced concerns that facilities in Pace, the City of Gulf Breeze, and Navarre were better than Tiger Point Park.

"We're the only ones that don't have a facility like that," Tiger Point Baseball Coach Rip Hanks said in reference to parks outside of District 5. "We're a pretty strong tax base in our little nucleus area. So I would think that we deserve it."

Residents in attendance were also asked to think of new ways to fund suggested improvements. Broxson said recreation funding is tight now because the state is considering measures to reduce tax revenues at the state and county levels. Currently, District 5 is allotted $250,000 per year for recreation spending. At the meeting, the most popular option among residents was to sell empty lots or land occupied by smaller parks in the area, such as Reservation Road Park, Cypress Tree Park or Swenson Park.

"When you have a little park here that does not appear to be very well known, much less used, and it's on a waterfront lot, I say sell it and invest the money where we need it," said Kim Heatley.

Santa Rosa Shores resident Margaret Cunningham has been instrumental in improving amenities at Swenson Park and said small neighborhood parks are a vital resource for communities.

"I like our small parks," Cunningham said. "I think they're very important for the neighborhoods and the areas. Those areas were set aside when the developments were first put in for those areas. I know from our own reconstruction of our little park that it has become a very important part of our area."

Other funding options discussed included public/private partnerships, a District 5 only sales tax and Municipal Service Benefit Unit (MSBU) assessments.

County commissioners contracted consulting firm PBS&J to develop and implement the master plan at a cost of $42,000. Of that funding, PBS&J representative Kristin Caborn said approximately $4,000 of that was spent developing the Recreation Survey of Public Opinion on Needs and Desires (RESPOND). At the public meeting Sept. 18, Caborn said the firm had collected 177 responses to the survey, which was open to District 5 residents until Sept 21. Public input gathered at the meeting and through survey results will be included in the overall master plan. PBS&J representatives said they expect to have the plan ready by the end of 2007.

"Right now we need to take care of what we have," said Gulf Breeze resident Cindy Gross. "I'd like to see us do more, but money is a big concern for Santa Rosa County right now."