Cozumel Park overhaul sees light of day

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

The renovation of Cozumel Park is about to become obvious.

City commissioners approved a $550,000 overhaul of the underused park eight months ago and the city Community Services Department has been working on plans ever since. But the visible results of the project have yet to materialize. That changed at the Jan. 4 city commission meeting, where a $85,000 contract to purchase new playground equipment was approved.

Marcus Davila, community services deputy director, said once the playground is finished, city staff will then install a small “splash pad” water feature, renovate the existing bathroom and install a new artificial turf field.

“We’re basically working from the back out,” Davila told commissioners. “It will speed up a lot now. Everything is going to speed up very fast.”

The renovation of the park, located at the end of 19th Terrace, should be completed by the beginning of summer. Funds to pay for the project came out of the $2.1 million the city received as its part of the BP oil spill settlement.

That settlement will also pay for a $500,000 project in Bayview Park, where an existing storage shed will be turned into a permanent home for the Southernmost Boys & Girls Club. The shed is current used to store city park maintenance equipment and as a concession stand.

Three small new parks have also been proposed to be funded by the BP oil spill money. One would be a boardwalk extending out into the water and circling the mangroves at the end of 10th Street. A ramp to launch small boats would also be built. Total cost would be $250,000.

A more ambitious pocket park would be built at the south end of Duval Street, taking over the public parking lot next to The Southernmost House. Seating, decorative paving and other amenities could be installed to link visitors to the ocean at that point. The cost would be $300,000.

The last pocket park would be built at the north end of Simonton Street, where a small beach currently exists. Under that plan, the beach would be expanded and seating would be installed to make it a nice space for visitors at a cost of $300,000.

“The idea is to create civic spaces for the residents,” City Planner Thaddeus Cohen said last April about the proposed parks plan. “To be able to create an open vista that overlooks the water.”

City commissioners gave the go-ahead to begin work on the Bayview Park shed and Cozumel Park renovations immediately. More discussion is still to come on the three pocket parks.

[livemarket market_name="KONK Life LiveMarket" limit=3 category=“” show_signup=0 show_more=0]