Tequesta Notes
a citizens' initiative
please share with friends
our resident constituents say unanimously:
"we need more natural parks"
(and they are also better for everyone)
Sunday, October 10, 2021
The Superiority of
Natural Parks
As announced last week at a Council workshop, this week the village will rush into a surprise parks master planning process of strategic long-term importance (with no vote of approval from the Council). Three of the scheduled planning opportunities will happen this week. Residents have been given more notice for the Halloween Party than for this parks planning process—a once-in-a-generation strategic initiative.
In any event, we encourage residents to go and share your preferences for parks in the village. And because the newly announced process has failed adequately to consider the great benefits of natural parks over other highly intensive rec programs, we want to set out here why the village should prioritize natural parks in every bit of space that remains. And we encourage you to make this viewpoint clear to the Council (email addresses below) and through whatever means the process provides to collect preferences from residents. Natural parks are far and away the superior choice for Tequesta at this point in time in the little space that remains and also they are far less expensive than what the mayor has been proposing since he floated his extravagantly expensive athletics fields complex concept for Tequesta Park.
A natural park is a park space devoted essentially to native habitat restoration and conservation with paths and park benches and small pavilions for residents to be able to walk, run, exercise, get a breath of fresh air, take short breaks during the day, and gather in a beautiful natural space under the shade of native trees like oaks and sand pines.
Natural parks are much less expensive. They are less expensive to build than intensively structured rec programs. They are also much less expensive to maintain and to staff.
With the money that the village saves by investing in natural parks instead of structured rec programs, the village can also purchase more properties in the neighbhoods to add more pocket parks closer to more residents. Also, as recent Council discussions made clear, the staff requirements for the new multi-million dollar rec center were underestimated during the planning process for that project. The cost of the additional staff should have been considered, disclosed, and budgeted for. But it wasn't. Let's not repeat the same mistake with any of our park plans and with Tequesta Park in particular.
The village already has a substantial rec program including now the new rec center. On the other hand, the village has a desperate need for more natural space for many reasons (some of which are set out below) directed to the human, environmental, and financial health of this community.
There are many structured rec programs all around this region. We do not need more of this kind of development.
Natural parks offer versatile recreation for everyone all the time. From walking or running in a beautiful space, to pick-up ball games or simply getting outside for a few moments or meeting up with friends, natural parks offer versatile space for innumerable activities. And in this regard natural parks really serve to strengthen community much better than additional intensive rec programs. This is true in Florida all year round but especially during the hot summer months. When it is hot, people go into the river, the intra-coastal, the ocean, and also into the natural parks where there is shade and it is cooler. You will see then the athletic fields totally deserted. No one is on them because it is so hot on the fields. Most of the time in the life of an athletic field, nobody is on the field. In contrast, you will always find people in the natural park spaces.
Natural parks provide versatile recreation in a way that is much more socially equitable and accessible. Unlike the highly structured and organized rec programs, natural parks do not require additional fees or any kind of sign up. They are available to everyone from gate opening to gate closing for no charge.
Natural parks provide essential ecological services all the time. Even when the park gates are closed, natural parks are providing essential ecological services that benefit the health of the land and the water—our whole community well beyond the park gates. In contrast, athletic fields not only do not provide these essential ecological services, they actually cause harm because of all the chemical treatments and other intensive maintenance they require and the fact that nothing beneficial lives on the turfgrass. Moreover the turfgrass maintenance requires enormous amounts of water and in this way we continue to deplete our fresh water resources.
Natural parks enhance the storm resilience of our community. These space and their native plants are far superior to athletic complexes in being able to absorb intense rainfall and in enabling water infiltration in place. Natural parks can be designed with greatly enhanced storm water absorbtion and infiltration capabilities. This is a critical advantage in our location where storm water flows into the river, estuary, and ocean. Storm water run-off carries poisons and pollutants directly into our imperiled waters and in this we would be further harming the water, our most valuable asset and our most valuable recreation asset in particular. This makes no sense at all. It is so much smarter simply to proritize more natural parks.
Natural parks clean water before it flows into the river. By providing greater water infiltration, natural parks make it possible for plants to absorb poisons and so prevent them from flowing into the river. The turfgrass and pavement of athletic complexes do exactly the opposite. They facilitate the flow of destructive run-off right into the river.
This is not 1971 anymore. We have so taxed our land and water, we should really be looking for every opportunity possible to restore natural habitat in our communities and to nurture the beneficial plants and animals that are necessary for healthy land and water. This is not a matter of want. This is a matter of need in order to achieve a healthier balance on the land and to secure a healthy village in the future.
Specific Requests For Each Park
Tequesta Park
Say NO! to the mayor's extravagantly expensive high intensity athletic fields complex with more pavement and parking. The whole concept must be thrown out. The village of Tequesta can do much better at much lower cost. We don't need the additional rec infrastructure and we definitely do not need more parking lot and pavement. Here below see a reasonable alternative by way of example.
a reasonable alternative, for example
(click here for a bigger image)
The Cypress Natural Area
There is one acre of village-owned land between the railroad track and Cypress Drive south of Tequesta Drive, which should be a beautiful natural park and so we will call it informally the Cypress Natural Area. Tell the Council to plant this as a natural space to make it a beautiful screen between the village and the railroad track and also a little green space in the middle of town. Recall earlier in the year, the mayor and Mr Prince tried really hard to sell this property and they have not even included it in the list of parks for consideration. Tell the Council to prioritize making this a natural park. It would be foolish to sell this land which is only going to increase in value.
Remembrance Park
This should be turned into a natural park as soon as possible. The drawings that have been part of the Council meetings are inadequate, in particular in featuring too much sod and far too few trees.
Email the Council
Please email the Council and tell them to dedicate what little space remains to natural parks. Tell them also explicitly to dispose of the mayor's whole concept for Tequesta Park.
→ Kyle Stone kstone@tequesta.org.
→ Laurie Brandon lbrandon@tequesta.org.
→ Molly Young myoung@tequesta.org.
→ Mayor Frank D’Ambra fdambra@tequesta.org.
→ Bruce Prince bprince@tequesta.org.
If you have any questions, please send us a note at hello@TequestaNotes.org.
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