This article, originally published by Al Zucaro on BocaWatch.org, is preserved for historical purposes by Massive Impressions Online Marketing in Boca Raton.
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Deerfield Beach held their grand opening of Sullivan Park upgrades on Saturday, February 25, 2017. So on Sunday I took time to visit the park – It is wonderful!! Worth noting is that this park is located on the northwest side of the Hillsboro Bridge, so Deerfield had to solve all the same issues Boca has been unsuccessful at solving so far for the Wildflower Park. Multi-use – solved! Something for all ages – solved! Boat docks, solved! Floating dock for paddleboards – solved! Promenade under the Hillsboro Bridge – solved! Playgrounds – solved! Picnic areas – solved! Parking – solved! Meandering walkways – solved! The water feature mosaic was laid by all volunteers – beautiful! There is a climbing tower so one can overlook the ICW, the Park, etc. The landscaping is subtle, beautiful and inviting. I was there early, and there were already dozens of people and families enjoying the place. Boats were docked so people are arriving via water. It is very exciting to see what can be done with a little imagination and courage – a beautiful and a shining example of things done right. I encourage our city council and park planners to go take a look!
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Thank you Joe…an outstanding article. Just goes to show what elected officials can do when they listens to the voice of the residents. Boca Raton has an incredible Intracoastal Waterway that the residents have spoken about on November 8th. . Recreation purposes is the residents’ direction and starting March 28th Recreational purposes it will be. Alfred ‘Al’ Zucaro
I sure hope so. This property has been open for public use for exactly one evening (2016 boat parade) in the eight years we have owned it. $7.5 mega-bucks for one evening’s entertainment. We are, indeed blessed to be able to afford such luxury 🙂
You left out the fact that Sullivan Park is about 8 acres in size and the Wildflower property is only a little larger than 2 acres. You’re not actually comparing apples to apples…
Size matters, design matters even more, and imagination and courage most of all. The major point is that Deerfield took what they had and made the most of it. We (Boca) still have a blighted industrial wasteland on possibly the most valuable piece of public property in the whole city. Vision. Courage. Imagination. All lacking…..
From: Kris Mory
Subject: Sullivan Park Acreage
Date: March 1, 2017 at 10:47:00 AM EST
To: “info@bocawatch.org”
Good morning!
Someone forwarded me a copy of a recent article regarding Sullivan Park. Our team is happy that the author is pleased with this project, but I in response to one of the comments I just wanted to clarify that Sullivan Park is a hair under 3 acres in size.
Kris Mory
Director of Economic Development
City of Deerfield Beach
150 NE 2nd Avenue
Deerfield Beach, FL 33441
P: 954.480.4317
F: 954.480.4268
The City of Deerfield Beach is governed by the Public Records Act as set forth in Chapter 119, Florida Statutes. Emails and email addresses are subject to the Public Records Act and are public records subject to disclosure. All emails, and any corresponding email addresses, sent or received are retained by the City of Deerfield Beach as public records. If you do not want your email or email address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact the City Clerk’s office by phone at 954-480-4213 or in writing.
You can call it what you like, but according to the Broward County Property Appraiser’s website, the land area and supporting parking owned by the City of Deerfield Beach is 361,763 SF or 8.30 acres. So if you want to compare apples to apples, you need to include the supporting parking. So even if the City of Boca includes the existing dock and parking on the south side of Palmetto Park and disconnected from the subject site, it still only totals 6.48 acres. Still not apples-to-apples.
Then the key point is lost on you, It’s not about size, it’s about doing something useful and creative with a piece of prime public property. Deerfield did something useful and creative with theirs. Boca has a derelict piece of abandoned property. After eight years of ownership!
I got your point. My was simply that your article was misleading people to believe that everything you mentioned about Sullivan Park could be done on the Wildflower site. I simply stated that you should have qualified the size difference, while at the same time calling out that it would be nice to have a couple of similar offerings in Boca.
It’s really embarrassing that this type of park could have been part of Boca residents’ everyday lives at the Wildflower site for many years already if not for the greed factor. And it’s not over yet, as Mike Arts sues the City to overturn the will of the people. Stop it already and turn the page. Enough downtown development has been completed already and more has already started. It’s seems they won’t be happy until all the meat has been scraped off the bones.
It really is an embarrassment, agreed.
What is an embarrassment is the use of Deerfield as an exhibit for a case against development. I guess you want to turn the boca beachfront into something like Deerfield’s then? Deerfield already has their selection of waterfront dining. Now they can add the park. The fact that world renown Boca Raton has 1 waterfront dining establishment is disgraceful.
Agree Joe. Your article is about best practices. Which raises a point: why didn’t the City of Boca Raton get grant money for the purchase of the Wildflower property? The entire $7.5M purchase price fell on the taxpayers of Boca Raton. Deerfield Beach, on the other hand, won $2.03M in grants to partially fund the $3.9M Sullivan Park upgrade. http://fw.to/EWiSuwX
The residents of Boca Raton need a city council that practices better financial management and can get things done!