Delmar Avenue ‘park’ may see improvements
Planned improvements at the bay end of Delmar Avenue have had residents of the neighborhood upset.
At Monday’s workshop, Councilwoman Rexann Hosafros confirmed she has been receiving many inquiries about the improvements. She has also visited the site.
“I always remain open to improvements. If staff can figure out anything else to do down there to add to it and make it a little nicer than what it is, I’d like to see that happen,” she said.
At the beginning of the year, the bayside access at Delmar Avenue received “heightened concern” due to a proposed observation deck, but the final plans eliminated that feature. Other plans that were supposed to occur include an ADA access walkway over existing rip-rap, sand for kayak launching, mangrove trimming to improve the bay view visual corridor, a bike rack, a ‘no parking’ sign and a ‘paddle craft only’ sign or ‘no motorized vessels’ sign overlooking the bay, according to Town records in January 2015.
While there was no clear Council direction, Town staff is expected to revisit the site to see what improvements could be done to buoy concerns.
One expressed issue is that when one sits on the bench, the railing of the “deck” is eye level.
“That is code requirement,” said Town Manager Don Stilwell. “There is not any way to get around it.”
Stilwell explained the project started out on a wish list and was expected to be grandiose with Lee County Tourist Development Council taxes funding it. The bench appears to be wedged into the “deck” area, and it was explained that the bench was donated.
“We found out it is a very confined area,” he said. “The Town did everything we could that made sense. We are being thrown in the middle of a neighborhood quarrel. We put a lot more in then people realize. We re-shored that whole bank that was eroding away, and we put rocks in there to stabilize it.”
Back in January, then-Town Environmental Science Coordinator Keith Laakkonen provided a power point presentation, specifically for the proposed Delmar park due to heightened public concern and to present options. Several Delmar Street residents weighed in during public comment. The majority who spoke were in favor of the upgrade at the bay end of their street as long as the design did not include an observation or boat deck or parking spots. Opposition points also included concerns such as traffic, party spot and boaters tying up and leaving their boats unattended.
Residents had already created a small path over the rip-rap for paddle craft launching. Safety concerns due to a drop-off and balance instability on rocks played a role in adding features.
Town manager Don Stilwell wanted to keep the plan simple as to not attract many nonresidents to the site. He thought keeping it a neighborhood park without parking would be best.
“If we don’t keep it very simple, it is going to attract people to the neighborhood and then people will be very concerned about parking on (street residents’) property,” he said then. “We are setting a precedent if we open this up.”
Delmar Street resident Jim Maxim called the project “a true waste of time and money” in his letter to the editor this week.
“We donated a bench, but to sit on it you must climb over and then all you see is the railing of the 5 foot by 8 foot deck. The sand put there is washing away, and the drains may be hazardous to children,” he wrote. “All we ask for originally was two benches, a deck and a place to launch kayaks with an unobstructed view of the bay.”
Back in April 2014, Council approved recommendations made by the Community Resources Advisory Board and granted a planning process for Town staff to move forward on. The proposal included improvements at four water accesses and involved beach accesses at Gulf Road and Canal Street as well as Gulf Beach Road bayside access and the one at Delemar Avenue.
The overall improvements project was called a beautification program and was to be closely related with the Town’s continuing activities to improve ADA accessibilites to the accesses.