About 40 people attended an open house Monday evening to learn more about regional parks being considered in the northern part of the county. The meeting was held at THE PLAYERS Community Senior Center.
“The major focus of tonight is to get community input of what you would want at four parcels that the county owns that have been identified to be future parks at some point in time,” said St. Johns County Director of Parks and Recreation Ryan Kane.
Joining Kane were representatives of the design team: Bruce Hall, landscape architect for Catalyst Design Group, and Dan Kelbach, sports field design specialist for OSPORTS architectural firm.
The parks under consideration are: Nocatee Park, with 50 acres; Northwest Park, with 63 acres; Silverleaf Park, with 40 acres; and Shearwater Park, with 10 acres. The latter two would border the property of future K-8 school NN.
Kane said about $14.5 million has been approved through the county’s budgeting process for development of these parks.
“We are using some of that for the design and planning and for the early engineering,” he said.
Actual work on the parks is still aways off as there are a number of steps to be taken prior to the beginning of construction, but Kane said the project would be accomplished in a phased approach, with cost estimates associated with each phase.
Those in attendance were asked to signify which attributes they would like to see — or not see — at these parks. Options were displayed on large cards set up on easels. Ideas and comments could also be handwritten on large paper tablets.
The results will be included in the planning process.
County residents who were unable to attend the meeting can still make their preferences known by going to ppd.mysocialpinpoint.com/st-johns-county-four-county-parks, where they will find a survey.
Also, at that site, residents can learn more about each of the proposed park sites and follow the progress of the project.
The four projects are among several happening across the county. Currently, Treaty Park, located off Wildwood Drive (which is off State Road 207 south of St. Augustine), is undergoing a $1.4 million renovation.
