Crest Lake Park Improvement Plan to be Unveiled This Summer

Doreen Hock-Dipolito celebrated her daughter’s first birthday at Crest Lake Park.

But that was in 1989 and the park has changed since then, the city council member said.

She wants to see children enjoy ducks, boat races and other community events there again. Hock-Dipolito talked about her hopes for the park after voting to demolish the bathrooms at Crest Lake Park Thursday.

“We want to demo these bathrooms not to take them away from you, but to put new ones up, to make the park beautiful,” she said. “If we make it beautiful then we will not see people peeing on a tree.”

The potential plans to revamp the public space including what type of amenities, financing for them and the different stakeholders who will be involved in the process were discussed by the council Thursday.

Leaders expect to see a list of estimated costs for different types of amenities and figure out the different community groups to involve in the planning process for the park this summer.

City leaders voted 3-2 to demolish the bathrooms at Crest Lake Park, with council members Bill Jonson and Jay Polglaze in opposition, during the city council meeting Thursday. Destruction will likely happen within 30 days and cost up to $9,000.

Under the plan, which still needs funding, the park’s berms could be removed, interactive activities for children would be added, as well as a possible veterans memorial.

Hock-Dipolito said the new park would be an inviting space with irrigation, community events and maybe a memorial to Jason Paul, who was found stabbed near the park in January. His murder is still unsolved. Paul was a personal friend, she said.

Other possible amenities, and their costs, including restrooms would be listed for the council to review sometime in the summer. Determing the stakeholder group to plan the park, including members from neighborhood, veterans and other community groups would also be part of the future discussion.

A master plan for the park was created about 10 years ago, said Kevin Dunbar, director of the city's parks and recreation department. In it, Penny for Pinellas III funding was planned for improvements there, he said. 

That is where officials have said financing for the grand plan could come from maybe in 2017, however, it has competing projects.

Dunbar said he would compile a list of amenities and typical costs for them.

Already about $1.5 million is set aside in future budgets for the park. The possible design costs for the park could be $40-65,000 and could be paid from general reserves.

Council member Paul Gibson said a replanned “Centennial Park” would change the neighborhood.

It would be buzzing with cars and people using the revamped public space.

Jonson, who voted against destroying the restrooms, suggested a more incremental approach rather than a full scale redevelopment.

“I'm not sure that in the next few years we will have resources to make significant improvement," he said.

The park could be improved by adding lighting and some other minor upgrades over the next few years, rather than pouring millions into a redeveloped park, neighbors did not ask for, Polglaze said.

The cost to maintain the bathrooms is $35,000 a year, which includes locking, unlocking and daily cleaning. Maintenance costs for Crest Lake Park total about $86,000.

There are 23 other parks that residents also would like restrooms at, Dunbar said. The cost could be $1 million to add facilities at all locations.

“It appears to me, when we talk about parks and recreation, the majority of the cuts did not come from the recreation side, but came from the parks side," said Shelley Kuroghlian, who does not live near the park but used to walk around its mile sidewalk. “It is kind of a pay-to-play situation. I feel as residents and taxpayers we pay to play with our taxes.”

Polglaze agreed with Kuroghlian. The answer is not to spend millions but to keep the restrooms open and available for use during special events, add lights, make some other improvements and people would start coming back, he said.

“Things are better in that park,” he said.

Related Coverage:

• Crest Lake Park Bathroom Demolition Vote Set for Thursday
• Crest Lake Park Bathrooms Likely to Be Destroyed
• Crest Lake Park Plans to be Unveiled in March
• Skycrest Neighbors: Open the Bathrooms, Have More Events at Crest Lake Park
• How Can Crest Lake Park Be Improved?
• What Are Your Ideas for Fun at Crest Lake Park?
• Stabbing Sparks Question of Safety at Crest Lake Park
• What Clearwater's Saying: Safety at Crest Lake Park

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