A Promising Park?
Geez, my writing skills are flying out the door! I feel I never get
time to write anymore. Seems between work and kids, I don’t have enough
me time to actually sit my butt down and write.
Thankfully, I have today. Peace and quiet here at the house, doing loads of laundry in between. Tons to do, yet never enough time to do it all! But as I always say to myself, “One day at a time, slow and steady. Stay focused.” I guess it must be working because life is going quite smoothly and that’s always a good thing for anyone really.
Today I wanted to give an update on our Big Corkscrew Island Regional Park. I attended the April 7th meeting at the Commission chambers for a roundtable and found it a bit uplifting. I also stayed after for the soccer complex update as well. I feel better about that already too.
I did see that Brent Batten did go ahead and wrote something up the other day since the meeting. It was a good discussion on baseball here in our area and how it continues to lapse in playing for many kids above 12 right to becoming a Freshman. My child is one of those. You can find his article here. This way I don’t have to make this blog any longer than necessary.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/columnists/brent-batten/brent-batten-little-leagues-big-problem-in-collier-county_55287473
From my perspective, the most thing I found interesting was the PowerPoint presentation on the future of two parks. Our park, Big Corkscrew Island and Eagles Lake Community park in which resides in District 1 in East Naples.
I wish I could attach the PowerPoint to this blog, but I can’t figure it out? How hard can it be? Well, I tried to upload the file and it said it was unable. So hey, I tried. Best way to do this is to simply copy and paste what I feel is important on this PowerPoint, and I will give my thoughts on each. Fair enough?
Let’s start off with a bit on good to know information just to give you an idea of “what’s up” here in Collier County as far as our Parks and Rec. department goes.
*1,707 park acres in 64 parks
*4,066 preserve acres (Conservation Collier)
*193 full-time employees
*22 part-time
*125 seasonal
The question arose on this particular slide, was that it looked as
though we have a whole bunch of parks out here. But really, we only
have Max Hasse Community Park which is close to Collier Blvd/Golden Gate
Parkway. The rest of those little doo dads are schools that have
inter-local agreements with Parks and Rec. The Commission asked staff
to recolor code those schools because really, they are not parks. Which
I totally agree.
As you can clearly see, both District 1 and District 5 are going to be booming in the distant future. Commissioner Fiala’s district has come along greatly and is looking mighty fine! She also has her Community Center and now is getting a pretty nice pool there at Eagle Lakes Park. Now I will have to admit, people cannot understand why all this keeps happening in her district while we still sit and wait for a park in our district. Well folks, it is what it is, and thankfully we are all coming together as one to complete both parks as priority. And it’s starting to look good. (Well, kind of). I’ll get to that later.
This next set of information off the same PowerPoint.
**Project Funding for our park 2015
Big Corkscrew Island Park
FY 15 Amended Budget Current Available Budget $7,300,000 $5,219,000
**IF-Funded Project in the 10-Year Window
Big Corkscrew Island Park Lake Area
Estimated anticipated funding need-$8,000,000
**Project Cost Estimates
Site Work and Utilities-$1,550,000
4 Soccer Fields – $3,000,000
Hard Courts- $520,000
Pathways- $328,000
Aquatic Complex- $8,500,000
12,000 sq ft Community and Fitness Center – $3,600,000
GRAND TOTAL-$17,498,000
Now this is where I will throw in some thoughts as they were also discussed at the meeting. For one, look at the price of the aquatic complex! I say no way Jose! I know we had discussion at some of our community meetings about this, but really? Where are the baseball fields in this breakdown? Didn’t you just read Brent Battens article? Hello!!
I do love the fact of having a aquatic complex, yes. But the use of it has to be thoroughly discussed further. I understand the schools do have teams in which they compete with, but if the schools have any involvement in this, they have to pay! I say 50/50 all the way around or just forget it until sometime in the future. Thankfully Commissioner Nance agreed this should be possibly held off for the future.
Impact Fee Projections are key for us to raise money for our park. This is what is projected. Then from Year 2017 on, hopes of $6,000,000 each year.
FY 15 budgeted = $6,100,000
FY 16 projected = $6,219,000
Additional Monies:
Completed projects = $67,000
Unbudgeted carry forward = $667,000
Reserves = $4.7MReduce
IF Operating budget in FY 17 = $150,000
So from what I gave you this far could either be just a whole bunch of numbers you could care less about or a much bigger idea of where we stand for our park. Technically, we can start our park sometime this year and work on it in sections until we are happy with it all around. But there are many factors here many don’t think about because more than likely they do not know. Well, for one or many, where the park is to be located is one big mess! We have tons of land to work on, but we also have a nasty ole lake that needs to be cleaned up, a new utilities plant that will be built on the north end, and a recycling facility to be built as well. So what now? How do we get all of these entities together under one roof and hash this stuff out? We can talk about it until the cows come home, but at this time, I don’t see any movement on this park until all of this mess is cleaned up. So who’s going to do this? That’s my big question.
All of this including other projects puts us in the “red” each year thru 2024. As the PowerPoint suggested, if they take off some projects, including that aquatic complex at our park, we would be in the “black.”
So let’s be smart and stay in the black!
There are other resources in the works for future fundraising and the possibility of selling the 47 acre there at the Randall Curve. Not only to get our park up and running, but to complete Eagle Lakes Park. Other suggestions were municipal bonds. The interest rates are very attractive right now. This would have us go from pay as you go to debt payment.
The question is, what do us taxpayers want? I hate debt, but the interest rates are very enticing and I foresee strong growth with the mix of continued impact fees coming in. But we also can’t forget about that huge debt we still owe on Sun and Fun Lagoon which expires in 2026. On top of that, operating expenses. Almost 2 million a year alone just for Big Corkscrew Island Park. About 1 million a year at Eagle Lakes. Geez Louise!!
So there you have it in a nut shell. I know it would have been much easier to just put up the PowerPoint from Parks and Rec and be done with it. But since it didn’t work, I have struggled through the copy and paste method for just about 2 hours now. Oh, and I folded a couple of loads of laundry in between as well. I call that progress!
I will make one small note on the soccer complex debacle that I fought the hell out of. It looks as though this gigantic 130,000 square foot facility just may be pointed in the direction on the south side of the lake at North Collier Regional Park. Yes, more conservation land wiped out. But that’s where the mitigation credit/debit comes in.
I must ask? What’s the backup going to be on the contract from our County to Adrenaline Soccer if they go belly up?
My Thoughts Exactly!
Thankfully, I have today. Peace and quiet here at the house, doing loads of laundry in between. Tons to do, yet never enough time to do it all! But as I always say to myself, “One day at a time, slow and steady. Stay focused.” I guess it must be working because life is going quite smoothly and that’s always a good thing for anyone really.
Today I wanted to give an update on our Big Corkscrew Island Regional Park. I attended the April 7th meeting at the Commission chambers for a roundtable and found it a bit uplifting. I also stayed after for the soccer complex update as well. I feel better about that already too.
I did see that Brent Batten did go ahead and wrote something up the other day since the meeting. It was a good discussion on baseball here in our area and how it continues to lapse in playing for many kids above 12 right to becoming a Freshman. My child is one of those. You can find his article here. This way I don’t have to make this blog any longer than necessary.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/columnists/brent-batten/brent-batten-little-leagues-big-problem-in-collier-county_55287473
From my perspective, the most thing I found interesting was the PowerPoint presentation on the future of two parks. Our park, Big Corkscrew Island and Eagles Lake Community park in which resides in District 1 in East Naples.
I wish I could attach the PowerPoint to this blog, but I can’t figure it out? How hard can it be? Well, I tried to upload the file and it said it was unable. So hey, I tried. Best way to do this is to simply copy and paste what I feel is important on this PowerPoint, and I will give my thoughts on each. Fair enough?
Let’s start off with a bit on good to know information just to give you an idea of “what’s up” here in Collier County as far as our Parks and Rec. department goes.
*1,707 park acres in 64 parks
*4,066 preserve acres (Conservation Collier)
*193 full-time employees
*22 part-time
*125 seasonal
PARK LOCATIONS
As you can clearly see, both District 1 and District 5 are going to be booming in the distant future. Commissioner Fiala’s district has come along greatly and is looking mighty fine! She also has her Community Center and now is getting a pretty nice pool there at Eagle Lakes Park. Now I will have to admit, people cannot understand why all this keeps happening in her district while we still sit and wait for a park in our district. Well folks, it is what it is, and thankfully we are all coming together as one to complete both parks as priority. And it’s starting to look good. (Well, kind of). I’ll get to that later.
This next set of information off the same PowerPoint.
**Project Funding for our park 2015
Big Corkscrew Island Park
FY 15 Amended Budget Current Available Budget $7,300,000 $5,219,000
**IF-Funded Project in the 10-Year Window
Big Corkscrew Island Park Lake Area
Estimated anticipated funding need-$8,000,000
**Project Cost Estimates
Site Work and Utilities-$1,550,000
4 Soccer Fields – $3,000,000
Hard Courts- $520,000
Pathways- $328,000
Aquatic Complex- $8,500,000
12,000 sq ft Community and Fitness Center – $3,600,000
GRAND TOTAL-$17,498,000
Now this is where I will throw in some thoughts as they were also discussed at the meeting. For one, look at the price of the aquatic complex! I say no way Jose! I know we had discussion at some of our community meetings about this, but really? Where are the baseball fields in this breakdown? Didn’t you just read Brent Battens article? Hello!!
I do love the fact of having a aquatic complex, yes. But the use of it has to be thoroughly discussed further. I understand the schools do have teams in which they compete with, but if the schools have any involvement in this, they have to pay! I say 50/50 all the way around or just forget it until sometime in the future. Thankfully Commissioner Nance agreed this should be possibly held off for the future.
Impact Fee Projections are key for us to raise money for our park. This is what is projected. Then from Year 2017 on, hopes of $6,000,000 each year.
FY 15 budgeted = $6,100,000
FY 16 projected = $6,219,000
Additional Monies:
Completed projects = $67,000
Unbudgeted carry forward = $667,000
Reserves = $4.7MReduce
IF Operating budget in FY 17 = $150,000
So from what I gave you this far could either be just a whole bunch of numbers you could care less about or a much bigger idea of where we stand for our park. Technically, we can start our park sometime this year and work on it in sections until we are happy with it all around. But there are many factors here many don’t think about because more than likely they do not know. Well, for one or many, where the park is to be located is one big mess! We have tons of land to work on, but we also have a nasty ole lake that needs to be cleaned up, a new utilities plant that will be built on the north end, and a recycling facility to be built as well. So what now? How do we get all of these entities together under one roof and hash this stuff out? We can talk about it until the cows come home, but at this time, I don’t see any movement on this park until all of this mess is cleaned up. So who’s going to do this? That’s my big question.
All of this including other projects puts us in the “red” each year thru 2024. As the PowerPoint suggested, if they take off some projects, including that aquatic complex at our park, we would be in the “black.”
So let’s be smart and stay in the black!
There are other resources in the works for future fundraising and the possibility of selling the 47 acre there at the Randall Curve. Not only to get our park up and running, but to complete Eagle Lakes Park. Other suggestions were municipal bonds. The interest rates are very attractive right now. This would have us go from pay as you go to debt payment.
The question is, what do us taxpayers want? I hate debt, but the interest rates are very enticing and I foresee strong growth with the mix of continued impact fees coming in. But we also can’t forget about that huge debt we still owe on Sun and Fun Lagoon which expires in 2026. On top of that, operating expenses. Almost 2 million a year alone just for Big Corkscrew Island Park. About 1 million a year at Eagle Lakes. Geez Louise!!
So there you have it in a nut shell. I know it would have been much easier to just put up the PowerPoint from Parks and Rec and be done with it. But since it didn’t work, I have struggled through the copy and paste method for just about 2 hours now. Oh, and I folded a couple of loads of laundry in between as well. I call that progress!
I will make one small note on the soccer complex debacle that I fought the hell out of. It looks as though this gigantic 130,000 square foot facility just may be pointed in the direction on the south side of the lake at North Collier Regional Park. Yes, more conservation land wiped out. But that’s where the mitigation credit/debit comes in.
I must ask? What’s the backup going to be on the contract from our County to Adrenaline Soccer if they go belly up?
My Thoughts Exactly!
Comments
Post a Comment