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Inverness gets look at plans for park
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET © St. Petersburg Times, published May 15, 2001 INVERNESS -- For years, the city has talked about developing a waterfront linear park that would run down the west end of Lake Henderson and around Cooter Pond. Now the first phase of that vision has been put to paper. During its 5:30 p.m. meeting today, the Inverness City Council will view conceptual drawings of the North Apopka property, the 4-acre site that will serve as the trail head for the linear park. The engineer's plans call for mulched paths, clusters of trees, two picnic pavilions and a canoe launch at the site. A boardwalk running through a strip of wetlands would connect the North Apopka property to Wallace Brooks Park, which is less than 1,000 feet down the shore. With the council's approval, the city would use a $50,000 state grant to turn its vision for the North Apopka site into reality. "We most likely will not be able to do all of (the construction) with the $50,000," said city parks director Pati Smith. "But we're looking for the council's blessing to proceed to do what we can with this grant money and then go for future funding." While plans for the linear park's north end are coming into focus, however, the fate of the park's south side is becoming increasingly unclear. The city had qualified for a $200,000 state grant to buy the 1.74-acre Inez Smith property, just south of Wallace Brooks Park, but the discovery of contamination on the site has delayed the city's plans to buy it. The gasoline or diesel fuel contamination probably came from the days when the property was a distribution center for Standard Oil, said Leslie Pedigo, an environmental specialist with the state Department of Environmental Protection in Tampa. Tests have shown that the fuel contamination has seeped into the aquifer, she said. A geologist at the department's Tallahassee headquarters is working on a report that will detail the extent of the contamination and recommend a cleanup plan, Pedigo said. City officials want to make sure there is a cleanup plan in place before they close on the property, Smith said, but the clock is ticking. The $200,000 state grant for buying the property expires Nov. 8, Smith said, and it is anyone's guess whether the state would give the city another extension. "This has been going on for a couple of years now," Smith said. "They keep giving us extensions, and they really need to close out on this project." The city must also decide whether to keep pursuing the Larkin property, a 20-acre site along the east side of Cooter Pond. The city failed last year to get a $1-million state grant to buy the site, Smith said, and the owner has yet to execute a "willing owner statement" saying she wishes to sell the property. It will be up to the council to decide whether to renew its $1-million funding request to buy the Larkin property through Florida Communities Trust, a program for buying environmentally sensitive properties for preservation and use as passive parks. Smith said both properties would add something to the linear park, but neither piece is crucial. The Inez Smith property would add more waterfront views and space for spillover parking for Wallace Brooks Park, and the orange groves at the Larkin property could make for scenic trails, she said. "They would be nice additions as part of the overall package," Smith said. "But (not getting either property) will not interfere with us developing what we said we were going to develop."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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