Good news on state parks: DeLeon may not have midweek closings

BEACON PHOTO/PAT HATFIELD
Variety of delights – DeLeon Springs State Park offers a variety of activities, as these swimmers and restaurant patrons can attest. There are also boat rentals, hiking trails, a history center, a playground, picnic tables, grills and a butterfly garden.

BEACON PHOTO/PAT HATFIELD
Watching the water flow – Visitors to DeLeon Springs State Park watch water flow from the springs toward the Lake Woodruff conservation area. The park was targeted for closure at least two days a week, to save money. Now, that may not be necessary.

Budgets to shrink 10 percent, not 20 percent

By Pat Hatfield
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Apr 2, 2009 - 7:48:36pm

There is good news for park-lovers. DeLeon Springs State Park may not be forced to close two or three days a week to save money.

As reported in our March 26-29 Weekend edition, state officials were considering closing 58 state parks, including DeLeon Springs, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, due to budget cuts proposed in the current session of the Florida Legislature.

Only day parks were eyed for closing. Blue Spring State Park in Orange City, which has camping, was not on the list.

State Sen. Carey Baker, chairman of the Senate Committee on General Government Appropriations, told The Beacon, “We were able to find new sources of money to pay for some of this.”

The parks are now looking at cutting their budgets by 10 percent or less. They had been preparing for a 20-percent cut.

Baker said after talking with The Beacon March 24 about DeLeon Springs State Park, and learning about the number of people who visit the park and its restaurant on weekdays, he called park-system officials in Tallahassee and told them to take a second look at such popular parks.

Baker said midweek closings would be more reasonable for parks with poor attendance.

“The park system is also going to be examining their fee structure. A modest increase might be enough to keep them going,” Baker said.

Entrance fees have not been raised in a while, he said. It costs $5 for a carload of visitors and $3 for a car with a single passenger to enter the park. Parks also collect fees for reserving picnic pavilions, boat rentals, and the like.

“Parks are such an affordable and enjoyable recreational facility for people. We’re just struggling to fund all this,” Baker said.

He emphasized budget hearings will continue through the end of April.

“Nothing’s set in stone yet,” Baker said.

He said his office has been getting calls and e-mails, objecting to the midweek closings. He’s heard from locals and from a bicycle group that visits one of the parks every day. Quite a few members of Friends of Florida State Parks contacted his office.

That group has led the charge to keep the parks open.

In District 26, state Rep. Pat Patterson’s office has been hearing from people, too. An assistant said the Tallahassee office has received some contacts about it. Patterson’s DeLand office has received quite a few.

State Rep. Dwayne Taylor’s aides in Tallahassee and Daytona Beach have received a lot of letters and e-mails and some calls, aide Shannee Green said.

“They’re asking to preserve our parks,” she said. Correspondents see the parks as important local assets that should be kept open for recreation.

“We’re keeping our eye on it, especially when it comes to us,” Green said, referring to Taylor’s District 27, which includes West Volusia.

— pat@beacononlinenews.com

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