Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Parks Recreation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Parks leaders earmark Treaty Park trail and boardwalks as top near-term priorities
Summary
St. Johns County parks staff told commissioners that Treaty Park’s heavily used trail needs replacement this year and that the F Street boardwalk is the highest-priority boardwalk to replace; staff recommended funding the work through the parks repair-and-replacement program or general fund tradeoffs, and flagged $250,000 for systemwide safety responsiveness and limited camera expansion.
Chair opened the meeting saying staff would finish CIP topics for the session and that internal priority ratings are tentative. Parks & Recreation staff identified the countywide trail program as recently resurfacing Alpine and canopy trails and said Treaty Park’s internal trail is the department’s highest priority for the coming year because of its heavy use and poor condition. "As a department head, I would probably say no. I think the condition of Treaty Park and the use of that trail… it's needed at this point in time," the Parks & Recreation department head said.
The presentation laid out funding options and tradeoffs. Staff recommended the Treaty Park work could be absorbed into the regular general-fund park repair-and-replacement program rather than built out as a standalone CIP item, allowing flexibility across competing general-fund capital requests. Commissioners discussed placing Treaty Park work into the countywide repair-and-replacement schedule to balance other priorities.
Staff also prioritized three boardwalks and said F Street should be the first to be replaced. The department noted it currently lacks a formal scoring matrix to evaluate boardwalk condition and would work with facility management to develop a prioritization matrix. On safety, parks staff said cameras exist at fewer than 10 park sites and proposed a $250,000 allocation across 100+ park sites to allow the department to react to safety and ADA issues as they arise during the year.
Other parks items on the five-year plan — including Plantation Park phase 2 (restrooms and bleachers), Schoolhouse upgrades at the fairgrounds, Rivertown concession/restroom improvements and several boat-ramp or pavilion concepts — were listed as shovel-ready where designs exist but without current funding. Staff described multiple funding sources they may draw from (TDT/TDC, CRA, impact-fee zones and general fund) and advised commissioners that some projects will move forward when impact-fee collections, grant opportunities or partner contributions allow.
Commissioners discussed longer-term regional park planning (the 207 Regional Park acreage and per-acre cost estimates), potential private-public partnerships and whether certain recreation assets (for example, an indoor pickleball facility) could be financed as a stand-alone special-revenue program. Staff said they would perform feasibility work and return with cost and program designs if the board wants to pursue those models.
The parks segment concluded with staff noting which items are shovel-ready and which remain contingent on future funding, and commissioners signaled support for further feasibility and prioritization work before formal adoption of any new CIP authorizations.
