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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Publisher’s note: With the filing of the legal action with regards to the wildflower cite reported on today, progress at the wildflower site may be affected. BocaWatch will report on any change in projected timelines as they are identified. Al Zucaro
The City of Boca Raton has started several tasks to open the Wildflower Park for citizen enjoyment. These tasks fall into the short, intermediate and long term planning horizons. This article provides an update on status.
The following chart provides a graphical view of planning progress.
For the short term, the City opened the park for viewing of the Boat Parade on Saturday, 12/17. Due to safety issues at the site, such as the deteriorating seawall, the park was closed after the Boat Parade ended.
For the intermediate term, the City Manager was asked at the 12/13 City Council meeting to develop alternative uses of the park that can be implemented in a reasonable timeframe. He committed to develop the alternatives and present them to the City Council in early 2017. This schedule will be shown in the above chart under the Passive Park heading.
For the long term, at the 12/13 meeting the City Council approved the first work order for EDSA, Inc. to start the development of a Comprehensive Master Plan for the City-owned lands adjacent to the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. This is shown as Task 1 – Conceptual Plan in the above chart. The dates are approximate and include two public outreaches to get input from citizens on desired uses. Task 1 is scheduled to end in late July with a presentation of EDSA’s report and conceptual plan at a City Council workshop meeting. The City Council must then decide on next steps, which hopefully will be the approval Task 2, the development of a master plan for the waterfront lands.
The waterfront study will include a plan for the long term use of the Wildflower Park in the master plan. We’re not sure of the schedule for the master plan’s completion, but it will probably be no earlier than late 2017. The next steps after that will be decision-making, budgeting, RFP’s, construction, etc., which could take another year depending on the scope of changes decided for the park. Because of this long timeframe, it is necessary to open the Wildflower as a passive park until the waterfront study master plan specifies desired changes to the passive park, if any.
Bocawatch will continue to report updated status.
how about a park where one could rent or launch a sailboat (sunfish), paddle board or kayak? If we throw in some parking and a bathroom and a trash can we would have a good start. Not a lot of planning or money required for that.
Boca Raton is a beautiful city but it is being overbuilt. It seems to have no zoning laws concerning this. Floridas coastal ecology is fragile and will not support unbridled growth.