County lacks park funds
BY FRANKLIN HAYES Gulf Breeze News franklin@gulfbreezenews.com

Scott Page/Gulf Breeze News Jennifer Corbin, swings her sons Tyler and Malachi at Tiger Point Park.

According to the results of a recent study, county residents want more bike trails and land for recreational purposes.

Approximately two dozen residents and various local government officials gathered in the Oriole Beach Elementary cafeteria last Monday to discuss the future of recreation in District Five, otherwise known as the unincorporated peninsula of Santa Rosa County.

Much of the meeting focused on the results of a survey conducted by the consulting firm PBS&J over recent months. Bike riding and multi-use trails was ranked as a number one priority for 64.9 percent of survey respondents and purchasing land ranked second with 57.5 percent. Of those who took the online or paper survey, 66.8 percent said they frequently visited Tiger Point Park, and 40.7 percent said they visited Shoreline Park North most.

The study, which cost District Five $40,000 in recreation funding, listed specific improvements for 10 of the county's parks, ranging in size from five to 75 acres.

Franklin Hayes/Gulf Breeze News District Five County Commissioner John Broxson reads a prepared statement before a collection of onlookers at the District Five Recreation Master Plan meeting on Feb. 4.

County Commissioner for District Five, John Broxson, said the study is meant to be a guideline for future leadership, and added that county funding at this time would be limited at best, citing recent state cutbacks.

"One department alone has 16 vacant spots," Broxson said. "There is no plan to fill these vacancies (due to funding restraints.)"

His immediate plan is to appoint a parks advisory board, with 10 residents from the district. Broxson said the board would meet monthly and that he is currently accepting resumes for the proposed board.

Lauretta Aiken, who recently filed to run against Broxson for the District Five seat on the county's board of commissioners, said she thought the plan was an expensive alternative to doing a similar study with residents and county staff.

"Why do we always have to hire consultants," she asked via email. "Why not get citizens involved and then hire consultants if needed?"

"When elected I will not scrap the plan because it has merit but would ask that citizens get together and meet at each facility and see what they want and think is important," She added. "Then we would look at the recreation budget and see how much money is available. If we need new playground equipment, tables, benches, etc. and we do not have the funds either find grants or ask citizens to buy a bench and have their name placed on there or a table or playground equipment."

Specific improvements to Tiger Point Park included providing picnic tables and trash cans, creating a large "destination playground," installing mile markers for walkers and painting the existing buildings.

Suggested improvements to Swenson Park included resurfacing the tennis court and basketball goals. PBS&J estimated all the improvements to cost between $10 and $13 million between now and 2013.

Funding suggestions included impact fees, Multiple Service Benefit Unit (MSBU), park naming, user fees, grants and partnerships.