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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTequesta Park_Courier_01/17/2010ity Sports Y, JANUARY 17, 2010 TCPALM.COM Grants urs Te uesta Park im rovements p q p Village develops master plan to guide renovations at area's oldest playground BY MIKE ENGLISH mike.english(wscripps.com Tequesta Park, the JTAAs original playing field, is getting spruced up for 2010. Thanks to a $100,000 state grant, the improvements are already under way at the 45-acre park on County Line Road, said Tequesta Parks and Recreation Director Greg Corbitt. It's a lengthy to-do list. "We're going to be re-surfacing the basketball courts, re-surfacing the tennis courts. We're going to be putting in a new walking path. We're going to be putting in a bunch of landscaping and we're going to be renovating the picnic pavilion," Corbitt said. A crew is already replacing the pavilion roof. "We're addressing things that have been neglected for a few years," said Corbitt. "We've got grant money to push these improvements through." The grant was from the Florida Recreation Development Assis- tance Program. "It is anon-matching grant, so there is no cost to the village," Corbitt said. Tequesta Park, which was opened in the late 1950s, was rav- aged during the 2004 hurricane season. The park's trademark pine trees were leveled, the play- ground flattened and tennis and basketball courts damaged. Repairs eventually got the park up and running, but the trees and the playground were lost. As part of the grant process, the Village developed a master plan for Tequesta Park. "That's something we have never done," Corbitt said. Tequesta Park is located on the north side of County Line Road, in Martin County and outside the Village limits. The site is also located in the state's Jonathan Dickinson State Park. To get the plan approved, the Village had to consult with the "The master plan shows a lot of major changes (for the park), but it's a plan and it's not anything we're going to be doing real soon," Corbitt said. "Right now, we're trying to take care of things that have been neglected so that people can start using it again." Until Jupiter Community Park opened in the early 1990s, Tequesta Park was the only home for JTAA soccer and baseball. The JTAA baseball program still uses the park for practices, some JTAA basketball teams use the courts for practices and the JTAA rugby program uses the back fields for practices. The park has four lighted tennis courts and two lighted basketball courts, afull-sized lighted base- ballfield and two softball/baseball fields in the back, one used as the home field for Jupiter Christian School's softball team. The master plan includes a special events area, expanded parking (there are 110 spaces now), expanded baseball facili- ties (a quad complex to replace the two back fields) and a new playgroLmd. There are no changes planned for the Village's Constitution Park on Seabrook Road. That 3.94-acre park includes a 5,000 square-foot skate park, a playground, rock climbing wall and two basketball courts. "(Constitution Park) is pretty much built out," Corbitt said. "I would say it's probably one of the busiest parks in Palm Beach County. We have people coming from Wellington, Boca and Hobe Sound. "It really is a challenge for us to manage it." Parks and Recreation is also going to provide more recreation opportunities at Constitution Park, Corbitt added. "We show movies at the park. We have concerts, an Easter Egg hunt and the Spring Zing Thing," he said. "The Run 4 The Pies (on Thanksgiving Day) gets bigger and bigger every year." They also offer a variety of classes at the Constitution Park rec center, including gymnastics, karate, art and fencing classes and more. "We're dealing with (the economy) in several different ways," Corbitt said. "Everybody is wearing more than one hat and we're still trying to offer more services to our residents in this time without more money or expenditures. "We just trying to be more cre- ative and innovative, he said." Some of the parks department's focus this year will be on develop- ingParadise Park, a new two-acre facility on Tequesta Drive located east of Alt. AlA on the site of the old Tequesta Plaza. "It's been designed as a passive park," Corbitt said. "There is nothing much there except grass right now, but we are going to start utilizing it." The first big event will be a grand opening on Valentine's Day that will feature a classic car show, with food, a stage and "lots of activities for kids," he said. "Our annual Harvest Festi- val, with rides and live music, will move there this year (in November)." For information on Tequesta Parks and Recreation, go to www tequesta.org or call (561) 575-1285. MIKE ENGLISH • mike.englishLscripps.com A crew replaces the roof at the Tequesta Park picnic pavillion. One of the oldest parks in the North County will be getting much-needed renovations this year.