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Community garden proposed for Holmes Beach

Community garden proposed for Holmes Beach

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – The city’s Parks and Beautification Committee members are considering a new project – the possibility of installing a community garden.

Holmes Beach resident Mary Catherine Melancon and committee Chair Mary Lange presented the idea during a Feb. 5 committee meeting.

Melancon said the idea would be to have a community garden where people in the community could participate in growing vegetables, fruits and herbs in a social setting.

Lange said that while she would like the city to purchase the vacant lot located between Key Royale and Marina drives, she knows that might not be possible. Instead, Lange suggested identifying one or more areas in city parks that could be used for the community gardening project. After the meeting concluded, Lange and Melancon walked to Memorial Park, located adjacent to Holmes Beach City Hall, to see if there was enough flat, raised green space between the park and the Island Branch Library to place a few raised gardening beds as a pilot program. The two plan to report back to the committee in March after looking at other potential locations. The women also agreed to develop a presentation on the project and a cost estimate to present to city commissioners.

Director of Development Services Eran Wasserman said he thinks the idea is a good one, but that the project would need to be a spot where the large gardening beds could be placed, has access to irrigation, is safe for pedestrians to walk to and would have easy parking. Melancon added that there should be fencing or some kind of barrier to prevent people not a part of the gardening project from picking the produce.

If the committee opts to move the project forward, it will need approval from city commissioners before any construction on the gardening beds can begin.

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Progress made on park improvements

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – City engineer Lynn Burnett gave a presentation on capital improvement projects during the June 27 commission meeting and gave commissioners hope that progress will soon be seen in city parks.

Burnett opened her presentation with a bit of surprising news: Holmes Beach property owner Nora Scholan is willing to donate 26 acres of waterfront property to the city to extend Grassy Point Preserve. Burnett said all that Scholan asks in return is access through a city right of way to a half acre buildable plot of land adjacent to the land being donated. Burnett suggested the new addition be named Hames Preserve after Scholan’s family.

“I think this is a great, great opportunity,” Commissioner Carol Soustek said. “We do appreciate it very much.”

Commissioners agreed to the deal and Burnett said she’d bring contracts back to the July 9 meeting.

At Spring Lake, Burnett said the water would soon be bubbling as the aeration system is scheduled for installation and is expected to be operational by the end of July. The aeration system will push air bubbles to the surface of the water, helping to refresh the water column and dissipate some of the remaining acidity in the water.

Burnett also said that work is scheduled to begin on grading and installation of stormwater drainage at the new location for the city’s dog park following the July 9 meeting. With work getting started, the hope is that the park will be fully operational before the winter season begins.

Progress made on park improvements
This mockup of the new Holmes Beach skate park is about to be replaced with an updated design of what the park will look like.

Drainage and ground preparation work also are beginning following the July 9 meeting for the Holmes Beach Skate Park. Burnett said that new designs for that park will be delivered to commissioners during the July 9 meeting, including designs for the additional bowl area for which she said a donor may have been identified to help fund.

Commissioners continued discussions about the possibility of adding a 900-square-foot splash pad to the entrance to the city park complex. With major concerns about safety, maintenance, high cost and maintaining the health of people who use the splash pad, commissioners eventually dismissed the idea with Commissioner Jim Kihm the only one in favor of continuing discussions.

“Well, I tried,” he said when the consensus was taken to not move forward with a splash pad.

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No plans made for future Grassy Point development

No plans made for future Grassy Point development

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – There may be some improvements coming to Grassy Point Preserve in the future, but city commissioners want to weigh all of their options before making any decisions.

City Engineer Lynn Burnett appeared before commissioners at an April 10 work session to present an update on the passive park. She said that a survey of the city’s property and surrounding area is complete along with topographical elevations. With a normal high tide, she said the area of Grassy Point closest to the water remains relatively dry, however during king tides and other abnormally high tide events, the area floods. In her suggestions for the future development of the site, Burnett said a passive walkway, a raised boardwalk and building berms with culverts underneath and WaStop valves to combat sea level rise may all be good options for consideration.

“It’s a beautiful asset,” she said of the park.

Burnett is planning to present renderings of possible additions to the current park pathways to the city’s Parks and Beautification Committee during their Wednesday, May 1 meeting to get feedback before presenting the sketches to commissioners.

Commissioner Carol Soustek said she’s happy to know what property, submerged and otherwise, the city owns, however on second thought and after getting feedback from some residents, she’s unsure that a raised boardwalk or kayak launch are good options for Grassy Point.

With the renderings being presented at the commission’s first May work session, which is not yet scheduled, she recommended that any residents with suggestions or concerns email city hall or bring them before commissioners at that meeting.

Another topic for commission discussion is the nearly 30 unbuildable lots surrounding the city’s Grassy Point property. Attorney Patricia Petruff said the lots were declared wetlands and unbuildable by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection nearly 25 years ago, lowering the assessed value of each lot to somewhere around $500. Soustek suggested the city look into purchasing as many of the lots as possible to incorporate into Grassy Point as conservation lands.

Commissioner Kim Rash took the suggestion a step further, suggesting the city offer some sort of tax incentive to have people donate the land to Holmes Beach since it is considered unbuildable.

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skate park closed

Skate park improvements underway

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – After being closed for several months, work is getting underway to reopen the gates of the Holmes Beach Skate Park.

While commissioners allocated $100,000 for improvements to the Parks and Beautification Committee, City Engineer Lynn Burnett is already hard at work to make changes to the aging skate park. During a discussion with commissioners, Burnett revealed she’s already in talks with contractors to replace the current fencing and gates to make the park safer for users. She also is attempting to have a specialist come to the city to evaluate the existing skate ramps and obstacles. Part of the evaluation will include repair of existing facilities.

Once these improvements are in place, Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer has a plan to more closely monitor who’s using the park to help lessen liability to the city and keep users safer while on premises. His department, charged with monitoring the skate park, purchased a camera system to be placed at both entrances to the park. The new system will allow police department personnel to monitor users without having to station an officer at the park. All skate park users are required to complete a form releasing the city from liability if injured and file it with the police department.

When the park comes under the planning authority of the Parks and Beautification Committee, Commissioner Judy Titsworth said she’d like to see the group discuss the possibility of increasing the size of the park to appeal to older children and teenagers. Currently, the skate park’s size and design are geared toward younger children and beginning skaters. Titsworth said she’d like to enhance the park to keep older children from leaving the Island to go skate at the larger park in downtown Bradenton.

“I’m hoping we can improve it for kids of all ages,” she said.