On Thursday, June 8th, the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency released three design options for the Northeast Park ahead of the June 15th meeting.
The project was put on hold during a previous meeting due to concerns of cost and scope.
Provided below is a comparison table and drawings of the three different cocnepts.
The changes to to the original proposal (Concept 1) are focused on altering the number of baseball fields and the lighting fixtures. No other amenities – sand volleyball, pickleball, sports court – where altered in any of the new concepts.
Comparison Table
Concept 1: Cost $18 million
Concept 2: Cost $12 million
Concept 3: Cost $10 million
Blueprint Provides Northeast Park Options Ahead of Meeting added by Steve Stewart on
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So it is an athletic complex and not a park, false advertising at best. How about a voter referendum on this?
Over-crowding on display. Over-regimentation & over-gov centralization on display. The proposed park area is too small for all these fixed athletics fields. Cut back to 1 baseball/softball field. Maybe 1 soccer field over-lapping it. Maybe a tether ball post. A couple picnic tables. They should budget more for mosquito control devices, chemicals, whatever (use geranium/rose oil, cedar oil, lemongrass oil if you must be freaky-deaky paranoid of “toxins”).
Kick-ball? Oh, that’s right, people no longer have yards around their homes because of the over-crowding, poison ivy & mosquito crops. (The tree root in front of the bush near the drive was home-plate, the maple tree 1st base, the bump in the middle of the yard from the decade-earlier flower bed was the pitcher’s mound, the pine tree & later the fence post was 2nd base, the bush next to the front steps was 3rd. The kick-ball field did triple-duty as the badminton court & croquet grounds. The city and county had “real” parks: each 500-1100 acres of groomed forest & picnic facilities, sealed city reservoir under shallow toy-boat sailing/ice-skating, another reservoir had paddle-boats & such for rent.)
A great deal more planning (with some common sense) is needed. The cost of any option is prohibitive, and many of those who will be paying the bill will not be able to use the facilities as planned. Who comes up with these ideas????
Option 1 is needed to meet future demands in NE Tallahassee. Build it and they will come!
Park V2 – If funded by tax dollars will we publicly see budget items and offer design ideas up to approval vote?
Thinking…
If the power group ‘against’ this valuable park for NE wanted to kill a community idea- pretty much spreading the $22 million rumor
without hard documentation is working unless more voices are heard in favor.
Meeting focus can be on scaling for budget max and take ideas for water and disc golf. Pavillions with roofs for solar fans and tech charging?
yes disc golf would be a worthwhile addition to this area! at a minimal cost.
Go with concept 2. A disc golf course would be nice. I know two men in Tallahassee that have designed courses in Tallahassee and Alaska.
We just had a grand opening for Four Oaks Park in Southwood. It has a similar list of amenities as Concept 1, but cost $3-4 Million. Why is concept 1 $18 Million? Looking at Concept 2 and 3, how do an extra 60 parking spots and one ball field come in at $2M? That should cost no more than $500k. Do we have any comprehensive studies into the utilization of the courts and fields at the other parks to help determine what type of field/court is most needed? How about adding a disc golf course, that shouldn’t be more than $40k ($500 per basket x 18 baskets = $9k + installation, signage for each hole and landscaping.
Option 3. Minimal lighting preferred. Where is the entrance and exit going to be? Charging stations??? People can charge their cars at home! Where are they coming from to play ball?!? Perry? That they need to charge their vehicles? Minimal parking, please! 309 spaces ridiculous? we are already seeing wildlife coming across Centerville into our neighborhood. Turkeys, deer, dead on the side of the road! Build a covered playground, water fountains, picnic areas, but after dark, everyone can go home. We don’t need more lighting and electrical waste.
“Could it be re-election, legacies, and bureaucracy leading the charge?”
Right-on Observer.
At election time, Welch just wants to be able to say, “Look what I built for you. Reelect me and I’ll do more of this kind of stuff.” Never mind that he’s using our tax money like it’s a charge-card with no spending limit.
Everyone, keep this in mind when you vote in 2024.
The parks are a treasure is this community. I haven’t seen how this fits into the rest of the budget, and what we might forgo in the community with each option. The Northeast does not have a sports park and there are certainly many people in the NORTHEAST community who would benefit. It also benefits the nearby elementary and middle schools. It preserves property and open space for future generations to enjoy.
Concept 2 offers the opportunity to expand the sports offerings in a future budget and maybe the reasonable option if the budget isn’t there for concept 3.
I wonder why there is only one access to a water fountain listed? I am a senior citizen new to Pickleball. Tallahassee’s heat can be dangerous. Individuals should have easy access to refill water bottles/jugs.
What does the much compared Southwood park have?
Option 3 or not at all…who thinks this is necessary? They already built a Publix that no one goes to in Killearn. Most long time residents would prefer the trees and happy wildlife.
I have always been in favor of the smallest park plan, number 3 is my choice
project needs to be killed, save $22 million of our money
Committing 5x more for Gateway/Welaunee while the agency is in disarray would be reckless. Heavy Maddox influence courses through the veins of Blueprint to this day, arguably more than ever.
Ingress and egress and their effects on Killearn? It appears that it is less important than pickleball, volleyball, softball, and baseball, as it is not addressed in any of the options. Come on, politicians, planners, and staff–use your heads. There is more at stake! Could it be re-election, legacies, and bureaucracy leading the charge?
Clear the Property like in Concept 1, put in 2 Baseball Fields, 2 Soccer Fields, 3 Pickle Ball Courts, 3 Sand Volleyball Courts, 2 Restroom Buildings on opposite ends of the Fields and the needed Scoreboards, Bleachers, etc. And design it where one Field is not on top of another so more than one sport can be played at a time.
Concept 3 for the win. If the pickle ball and sand volleyball folks really want lit fields than get out there and fund raise. Concept 3 is best for a local neighborhood park and apparently the most cost effective. Oh, and ditch the nonsense of infastructure for future electric vehicle charging stations for even more savings. If the local neighborhood folks using this park can’t charge their elitist, overpriced and environmentally destroying (look it up buttercup) EV vehicles before coming to the park that’s on them.
Go with option 2 ($12-million) – but – provide for the additional court and field lights by eliminating the wasteful and unnecessary future EV charging stations. Modify the community room layout to double as a concession stand. All options must include a maintenance shed.
These changes and modifications should be absorbed within the existing $12-million budget… not a penny more.
My comment is awaiting moderation… I guess we know where Steve stands on the issue.
This is insane, I played little league, Babe Ruth, and Legion Ball. When I played for Hatcher Opticians, later Post 250, we played at Capital Park and sometimes we practiced at Myers park.
The last thing we need in this town right now is a 22-million-dollar baseball field! We need a higher quality of fiduciary responsibility with our do-ray-mi more than Welch’s stupid baseball field.
We are supposed to be Ok with spending over 40 million dollars of our hard earned tax dollars for a football field that will be used 6 times a year (not used by the city or county either) and the fat daddy crown jewel of travel ball parks when our city is being overrun by violent crime, rampant homelessness, and a general sense of lawlessness the likes of which I have never seen in Tallahassee before.
Meanwhile, it takes more than 5 hours to play 18 holes of Golf at Hilaman! This county and city are governed by cretins. We should get at least a 9 hole course with a 22 million dollar park, don’t you think…?
Build the park they built in Southwood for 3 million. If you have to have more, raise the money and build it yourself.
To eliminate cost of the proposed facility the number of baseball fields must be reduced per options presented.
By presenting only these options Blueprint folks are gambling others are gullible and will say “We want 4 fields for $18 million instead of 1 field for $10 million”.
FOLLOW THE MONEY! Some folks are going to benefit from this and it isn’t the taxpayers.