Groundbreaking of new Mainlands park. From left: Parks and Rec Director Greg Warner, Assist City Manager Diane Phillips, Commissioner Pam Bushnell, Mayor Beth Talabisco, Mainlands Section 3 Resident Bill Villela and Patte Atkins-Grad

By: Sharon Aron Baron

Last Friday, the groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new Mainlands Park and attended by residents in the Mainlands Sections 3 and 4 subdivisions in Tamarac.

District 1 Commissioner Pamela Bushnell addresses Mainlands residents

The project site is located on a vacant 23-acre lot, which was previously part of the 48-acre Monterey Golf Club located east of the Turnpike off of Monterey Drive.

Once owned by father and son developer’s Bruce and Shawn Chait, the land for the park was offered as an incentive to the City of Tamarac in order to get their land deal through.  The land is currently owned by LDC Monterey Ventures LLC.

The City of Tamarac held two neighborhood meetings with Mainlands residents back in 2011 and discussed what type of amenities they would like the park to have.

The proposed amenities include:

• A concrete multi-use trail located along the perimeter of the park
• Six ADA accessible drinking fountains throughout park site
• Six shaded benches with trash receptacles
• Twelve fitness stations
• One nature kiosk
• One fishing pier/ observation platform
• Eight covered picnic tables with trash receptacle (two tables ADA accessible)
• One energy fitness station. Centralized fitness area consisting of a minimum of five pieces of equipment
• Landscaping and irrigation
• One restroom facility with security cameras, one ADA water fountain and one standard water fountain
• One parking lot – approximately 17 spaces

The project’s budget is $1,200,000 which includes a $200,000 from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) grand and $248,000 from the Recreational Trails Program (RTP).

After the groundbreaking, hotdogs, popcorn and the 1963 movie “Charade” was featured in the park.

The start of construction is estimated to begin in the late spring with completion in the spring of 2014.