News

Nov 03, 2024

The numbers are in: Parks, playgrounds suffered major damage • St Pete Catalyst

Published on By St. Petersburg’s nationally acclaimed park system suffered extensive damage during Hurricane Milton, and 11 playgrounds remain closed. The unsung department’s staff has also cleared

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St. Petersburg’s nationally acclaimed park system suffered extensive damage during Hurricane Milton, and 11 playgrounds remain closed. The unsung department’s staff has also cleared 28,000 cubic yards of debris daily.

Parks along the downtown waterfront serve as a barrier island to bustling Beach Drive, and greenspace provides a natural buffer for neighborhoods.

Mike Jefferis, community enrichment administrator, told the city council Thursday that roughly 600 trees succumbed to Milton’s winds in the Boyd Hill Nature Preserve.

St. Petersburg’s Parks and Recreation Department’s scope of responsibilities extends far beyond greenspaces and recreation centers before, during and after natural disasters. Jefferis led those efforts and said he and his team continue prioritizing clearing public areas.

“I want to give you some statistics that are really kind of staggering,” Jefferis said. “Trees in right-of-ways, roads and sidewalks – we’ve had over 2,000 reported. We have solved 900 of those.”

Despite widespread damage, all city parks and athletic facilities are now open. However, Jefferis warned those might “not look exactly the same” as before the storms.

He also noted that baseball and softball fields “lost many dugouts.” Jefferis said Boyd Hill, Maximo Park, Lake Maggiore Park and Dell Homes Park were among the hardest hit during the back-to-back hurricanes.

Most of Boyd Hill’s popular walking trails are open. Jefferis said the preserve hosted a Halloween event Thursday afternoon, “all in an effort to return back to normal life as quickly as we can.”

Lake Vista Recreation Center suffered extensive flooding as the city received 20 inches of rain in one day. That shattered the previous seven-inch daily benchmark set in September 2001.

“We did have raw sewage in the building, and we did have flooding that flowed in from the lake behind the building,” Jefferis said. “Our goal is to open that facility for summer play camp.”

The city has collected enough debris to fill an over 20-story building the length of the building a football field.

He said the hardwood basketball court is “completely gone” and resembles a skate park. Crews had to remove nearly all the facility’s drywall.

Jefferis said staff transported children that attend the South St. Petersburg facility to the Childs Park, Frank Pierce and Thomas Jett Jackson Recreational Centers. “We were able to serve that need. I’m very proud of the staff for being able to come up with that.”

The St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club’s grandstand suffered damage. The Garden Club flooded during Hurricanes Helene and Milton, and the latter storm’s winds exacerbated issues.

Jefferis said the University of South Florida’s Clam Bayou Marine Education Center’s boat house and dock have “extreme damage.” The boat ramp at Maximo is now partially open, while the Bay Vista remains closed indefinitely.

“The framework for the ramp itself shifted,” Jefferis said. “So, we’re seeing maximum damage out at that property.”

The 11 closed playgrounds are at Coffee Pot, Crisp, Harbordale, Lake Maggiore, Live Oak, Shore Acres Mini, Puryear, Westminister Community and Venetian Bay parks. Exercise zones at Lake Vista and North Shore Parks also remain closed.

“It’s due to the subsurface … the padding and the turf,” Jefferis said of the closures. “I know many of you were interested in seeing those playgrounds returned to service as quickly as possible, and we’re working with our vendors to get timelines on that.”

Jefferis said the St. Petersburg Municipal Beach at Treasure Island’s concession facility is “almost a total loss.” The playground is “completely eroded and will need to be fully replaced.”

The Leisure Services Administration building also flooded. Jefferis hopes a Pinellas County-owned property can temporarily host their headquarters.

The departments he oversees are the city’s lead debris management agency during storms. Staff spend the first 72 hours following a disaster completing a “first push” to ensure first responders can reach residents.

Jefferis said employees ensured officials could open comfort stations with water, power and air-conditioning. “I’ve got a thousand trees down in parks alone, and we haven’t even tackled those yet,” he added.

“We’ve been working on the public areas first.”

Staff have removed 225 trees from alleys, in addition to the 900 along roads and sidewalks. Officials – with the Florida Army National Guard, city contractors and residents participating in the Hometown Haulers program’s help – have cleared over 400,000 cubic yards of storm debris.

“The best visual would be a building the size of a football field and over 20 stories tall,” Jefferis said. “That’s the amount of debris we’ve removed so far.

“I understand the frustration that residents feel. I understand it’s a trigger and a constant reminder of the damage that’s occurred by seeing the debris out in your front yard.”

Danny White

November 2, 2024at10:53 am

Every resident in the city has been impacted by the ‘terrible twosome’ that wrecked historic havoc in our communities. Hats off to Mike Jeffries and his entire staff for tackling such a Herculean tasks to help us return to life before the storms. It will take time and patience.

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