At the Tuesday, May 10 meeting of the Madison City Commissioners, one of the items up for discussion was an upcoming Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program (FRDAP) grant that the city could apply for.
The grant’s purpose would be to improve local parks that were within city limits and City Manager Tim Bennett brought before the commission the four parks that could be up for selection to receive renovation.
The first park was Jesse Solomon Park. Bennett’s suggestions for renovation would be to provide additional lighting, new fencing, a walking trail, an aeration fountain for the pond, a covered picnic area, a horseshoe pit, a shuffleboard/hopscotch platform and an amphitheater at the base of the hill near the water’s edge; the amphitheater would be facing a terraced hillside where event attendees could place lawn chairs and blankets to enjoy whatever type of performance or event was taking place.
The second park was Lanier Field. Bennett’s suggestions, should the city commission choose to allot the grant’s goals towards Lanier Field, would be to add an adult tennis court, new restrooms, repair and replace exercise equipment, make drainage repairs and repaint the children’s water park.
The third park was Miller Park. Bennett’s suggestions for Miller Park included resurfacing the basketball court, replacing the wooden fence around the court, and putting in new basketball goals, new exercise equipment and new signage.
The fourth park suggestion was Lake Frances. If the commissioners chose to go with this option, Bennett suggested that they look into acquiring a nearby property that bordered the lake and begin planning on putting up a children’s playground.
After Bennett proposed that the commissioners choose two parks to allot the upcoming FRDAP grant’s funds towards, much discussion passed between the commissioners as to which of the parks needed the improvements the most.
Ultimately, however, the commissioners decided that Jesse Solomon Park required the most attention and that, with the updates and improvements, it could be a truly promising area for the community to gather. Miller Park was also chosen as the second, as no work had been done with it in years.
Commissioner Rayne Cooks made the motion to approve the grant to go towards Jesse Solomon Park and Miller Park and Commissioner Judy Townsend seconded the motion.
Commissioner Marcus Hawkins asserted that he believed that Lanier Field would be the more worthy of the options, as the park is host to many events and fairs throughout the year.
The discussion came up regarding Lanier Field and the condition of the bathrooms.
“[The bathrooms] are an ongoing problem,” said Bennett. He went on to say that the bathroom door is regularly vandalized and the bathroom is a frequent location of improper activities; graffiti and human feces also cover the walls. “It has been a constant public works nightmare in those restrooms,” said Bennett.
Commissioner Cooks questioned whether the solution for Lanier Park’s bathrooms would be to have them torn them down and require event-holders to have portable restrooms on the property during their event.
“[The Lanier Field bathrooms] are part of the reason that I’m glad there are no restrooms at Jesse Solomon Park,” said Cooks.
“What would be the downside to just taking the [Lanier Field] bathrooms out?” asked Commissioner Townsend, furthering the discussion. “The city is having problems maintaining them and keeping them clean; why not take them out?”
As it is, the bathrooms are only open during events and Bennett informed the commissioners that, due to the bathroom doors constantly being stolen, the city installed steel doors and a security light. “[The doors are] still a risk, in terms of people vandalizing it,” said Bennett. “I really like the idea of shutting down [the restrooms] at Lanier Field.”
The discussion on how to handle the bathrooms at Lanier Park was tabled until a later point as Mayor Catron brought the discussion back to the item on the agenda; two parks needed to be approved for the grant request to be filed.
The vote to approve the motion to make the grant request for improvements and updates at Miller Park and Jesse Solomon Park was made and the commissioners voted 5-0 to proceed with the two parks.
The FRDAP grant is to be filed in the fall of 2016.
City employees are watching out for more opportunities regarding Madison’s park and recreation needs.
Currently, Lanier Field and Sumpter James Park have $50,000 in FRDAP grants and as the city can have no more than two FRDAP projects ongoing simultaneously, city staff members will be setting goals to complete both projects in time to apply for the newest FRDAP grant.