Work Continues at Veterans Community Park

Work continues on a number of major capital projects undertaken by the City of Marco Island. One project that continues to draw attention and questions about its progress, is the work being done at Veterans Community Park.

The community recognized the value of the Veterans Community Park purchase when the Christmas Island Style volunteer committee approached the city in 2008 with the idea of moving the annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony to the park. 

Since then, other events such as concerts, the Rotary Seafood Festival, and the popular Farmers Market have found a home at Veterans Community Park.

The original Veterans Community Park Planning Committee began its 5–7-month’s work on the park’s first Master Plan in 2008-2009. That ad-hoc committee held numerous open meeting and public charrettes to gather residents’ input. The Veterans Community Park Master Plan was then developed by the committee with the assistance of Kimley-Horn and Associates. That plan was delivered to the Marco Island City Council in 2009.

Nine years later, an entirely new council chose to take a second look at the plans that were developed almost a decade before. Kimley-Horn was again contracted to take a second look at the original plan. Again, considerable time elapsed, and the result was a plan similar to the one that was developed a decade prior. Finally, in the early fall of 2021, city councilors gathered at a ceremonial gold shovel event and construction on the project began.

The project will entail a new bandshell, public restrooms, parking improvements, drainage and utility enhancements, and the planting of new trees and lighting upgrades.

One of the first stages of the project was the removal of donated trees that were planted as part of a “Trees are Cool” citizen project. That project was responsible for the planting of numerous trees, made possible by donations from the community. All of the old underground utilities have also been removed. Enhanced drainage, utility upgrades and the foundations for both the new restroom facilities and the new amphitheater are being developed.

The city’s plans for the proper handling of stormwater discharge were submitted to the State of Florida. The plans have been reviewed and approved. The plans involve installation of “exfiltration trenches,” with gravel surrounding numerous 24-inch diameter piping. Surface stormwater that flows into the piping will flow out of the perforated piping into the gravel trenches along its underground run. 

Numerous new commercial projects on and off the island are utilizing similar exfiltration technology to deal with stormwater drain-off. 

Once the work is completed on the area that will be sodded, the old parking lot will be excavated and the proper stormwater drain-off process installed. The proposed new parking area will have a similar stormwater plan instituted for dealing with that runoff. That plan has also been submitted to the State of Florida and approved. 

The foundation for the new amphitheater and the utilities to service the addition have been installed, and the steel structure to support the amphitheater roof has been delivered. It is anticipated that those structural components will be hoisted into place sometime during the last week of January and first week of February.

Much of the work being done to facilitate the improvements to the park cannot be seen because they are below ground, such as the electrical, water, wastewater and irrigation work. LCEC will be upgrading the available electrical services to accommodate the anticipated increase in the demand load from the many uses of the park once improvements and additions are completed.

Coastal Breeze News will continue to update the community on this and other major construction projects on the island as progress is made. Breaking news can always be found on our Facebook Page or by checking www.coastalbreezenews.com.