Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
PALM SPRINGS – — PALM SPRINGS — The ideas of five fifth-graders will be used to design a new park at the south end of the village.
The student park designs were submitted as part of a contest the village organized in October to engage youths in the workings of city government during Florida City Government Week.
The students’ ideas for the park site include basketball courts, benches, playground equipment, a dog park, a jogging trail, pavilions, fishing docks and landscaping.
Each of the five park-design finalists — Kate Pinder and Vanessa Medrano from C.O. Taylor/Kirklane Elementary and Isabel Garcia, Colton Martinez and Tommy Dague from the St. Luke School — will be given checks for $25 and certificates of achievement by the village council Thursday night.
Some of the students submitted detailed analyses of the cost of each feature in the park — and ideas for fund-raisers to cover the cost.
They also answered questions about who will use the park and what should be done to make it inviting to the public.
“People who are polite and caring should be the people using the park,” wrote Kate from Kirklane Elementary.
Colton from St. Luke School downloaded a photo of the Blue Ridge Mountaineer swing set he wanted to include in the park along with an itemized park budget totaling $11,127.
Tommy of St. Luke School included basketball courts, a small parking lot, fishing docks and a pavilion in his design. His park budget: $185,000.
Bill Golson, the village’s leisure services director, is expected to integrate the students’ ideas into a conceptual design for presentation to the village council later this year. The village’s capital budget will likely pay for the park facilities, though the village also is pursuing grant money.
“They were very creative and very thorough in their designs,” Golson said. “It was an eye-opening experience.”
The village council agreed to buy the lot for the park at 3702 Davis Road in August.
Village Manager Karl Umberger said the schedule for building the park has not been set. He said it’s possible the park could be developed and ready to use by next fall.
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