Tequesta Notes
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Saturday, April 30, 2022
The Parks Plan
On Monday the Council will consider design recommendations for Tequesta and Remembrance Parks (see below) based on surveys and studies conducted by Nilsa's Community Development team since October. Nilsa's team have put together much more reasonable design proposals for these park spaces and we are very grateful for her work and the work of all her associates.
While it is reassuring that the surveys resulted in designs prioritizing natural space, it is also important to note that this is what is right for the village and this is what Tequesta needs and we can reach the same conclusions by reason and not just by polls.
In fact, the strategic decision of how to use these remaining bits of land in our current circumstances is not a mere matter of subjective preference. These conclusions follow necessarily from our circumstances and strategic priorities as articulated in the Comprehensive Development Plan, in particular as to our conservation and environmental custodianship goals to protect the village environmentally for the long term. In fact, in addition to all of th other excellent, specific guidance on conservation, the Tequesta Comprehensive Plan explicitly stipulates:
The Village shall maintain and seek to expand the Village's inventory of green permeable open space so as to provide maximum area for shallow aquifer recharge and Stormwater filtration/percolation, oxygen production, visual buffer and wildlife habitat. This shall be accomplished through implementation of land development regulations, additional parks and open space. Tequesta Comprehensive Plan, Conservation Element Policy 2.15.18.
The right way forward for the village today is to increase the quantity and quality of the natural spaces in this community because that is better for the village and for village residents under every important metric: community health, human health, environmental and ecological benefits, flood mitigation characteristics, and fiscal prudence. For more on this, see the reasons set out in the first part of this article from last fall: The Superiority of Natural Parks.
Here is a quick summary of the Community Development team's findings and recommendations (click on images for a bigger format):
Tequesta Park Survey Summary
"Most favored elements: 1) preserve the natural environment; more native species to expand preserve area."
Tequesta Park Proposed Design
Tequesta Park Satellite Image Reference
Remembrance Park Survey Summary
Remembrance Park Proposed Design
Next Steps
Tequesta Needs More Natural Spaces
If you look at the accounting of parks in the parks plan report you will see that the administration relies on Tequesta Park for the entirety of the Community Park requirement. There are several problems with this. First, the Code requirement provides for parks (community and neighborhood) "within Tequesta." Tequesta Park is not within Tequesta. In fact, it is not even contiguous with Tequesta as a municipality but rather with county-governed neighborhoods. The reason why this matters is that the whole point of parks is ready access to residents. An additional issue with this over-reliance on Tequesta Park is that this park is leased from the state and we think it would be wise to secure the benefits of parks for this community more permanently for the long term.
Additionally, if you consider the accounting for "neighborhood parks," you will see a heavy reliance on Linear Park. This land belongs to the FEC and for this reason the administration has been reluctant to invest money in its beautification (lest the FEC trash any improvements). As a practical matter, this space has been far less useful than it could be to residents. In all likelihood it would be smarter not to continue leasing this land from the FEC but rather to save the money from lease and maintenance to invest in purchasing land for pocket parks in the neighborhoods (see below). At the same time, the village might coordinate with the county to secure a good shaded side-walk along Old Dixie, thereby achieving even better than the current arrangements along this road for far less cost.
If you consider the parks accounting in the report, and you remove Tequesta Park and Linear Park, really all there is currently in the village is the little Constitution Park. Hopefully, of course, Remembrance Park will come online soon, but even with that, the municipality is not providing the park spaces required under the Code (12 acres of neighborhood parks and 12 acres of community parks for the current population). The Council should plan to remedy this deficiency, for example, by setting aside funds to purchase land for pocket parks. We thank Mayor Young and Mrs Brandon for recently raising the idea of creating a separate fund dedicated exclusively to purchasing new park space to ensure that there is more and better natural space within the community of the village in the future.
Pocket Parks Toolkit
The benefits of park spaces are so widely recognized and the lack of parks in many communities is quite common, that many municipalities are working to increase these spaces available to their residents. So, for example, here is a neat little pdf from Los Angeles detailing the benefits of parks for a community and also providing advice on how to add more parks to a municipality. We post this here in the hope of inspiring our municipal leadership to take action to improve the quantity and quality of natural spaces in the village.
The Pocket Park Toolkit (pdf). ("This Toolkit provides a snapshot of successful strategies and case studies
partnered with checklists and templates to empower folks to work with their neighbors to build more parks
and stronger, healthier, and more connected communities.")
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