Check; no checkmate at Chess Park in Downtown DeLand

By Al Everson
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Apr 11, 2009 - 11:07:26pm

The trees have been planted. The sod has been laid. The fountain and walls are in place. The lights burn nightly.

And the gates of Chess Park in Downtown DeLand are still locked.

No game of chess was ever more complex than machinations between the City of DeLand and Volusia County, as the two governments inch toward opening the $1.2 million-plus park.

Planning and building Chess Park has now taken longer than the U.S. was involved in World War II.

The final touches involve legal questions about who owns what, who is responsible for what, and how all that should be described in documents that transfer the park ownership.

Chess Park is supposed to be an example of collaboration between the City of DeLand and Volusia County to improve the county seat.

The county provided ECHO grant money for the park. The city chipped in the cost of the restroom building.

As in chess itself, however, the two governments have distinct constituencies and missions. Unlike chess, they aren’t striving for victory through domination.

“The county owns the park. The city permitted the park,” County Capital Facilities Director Fred Schwenck said.

Before the park can open, the county must secure a certificate of occupancy from the City of DeLand.

Then, the county will transfer ownership and maintenance to the city.

But the county owns the Historic Courthouse. Chess Park is built on its east side. The county must have access to its east courthouse doors. And the generator supplying the Historic Courthouse is on the other side of Chess Park. The county must maintain ownership of that island parcel.

The city will own the two gated concrete enclosures on Chess Park’s southwest corner. Inside those enclosures will be toters for county trash. The enclosures were built to hold Dumpsters, but trash trucks couldn’t empty Dumpsters from the narrow alley along Chess Park’s east side.

Two grass lawns in front of Chess Park, on New York Avenue, are separated by the park’s brick entryway. The county will own one patch of grass; the city will own the other.

“We will either need to coordinate mowing schedules with the Historic Courthouse lawn or mow a small portion of their yard so it doesn’t look funny,” DeLand Assistant Manager Dale Arrington wrote in a memo about Chess Park.

The park is so named because it is supposed to attract chess players to use the checkerboard tables in the park. The park is also intended as a quiet place to relax or read, with beautiful trees and a stage with a waterfall effect providing a peaceful setting. A mural may be added.

Supporters of the park hope it will be the site of chess competitions. MainStreet DeLand Association Executive Director Jack Becker said he has already had two calls of interest from chess clubs in the Midwest.

Chess Park was supposed to have opened in October. Unforeseen problems delayed construction, such as the discovery of an old septic tank and a series of cold snaps that delayed concrete work.

Workers also had to do a face-lift on the side of one building that had been hidden from view, after demolishing another building to make way for the park.

Anticipating the opening, the city already added an employee to maintain Chess Park, but found other work for him temporarily.

“I think constructing it was more complicated than the county had thought,” Arrington said.

One thing the county is sure of: It doesn’t want to be responsible for what goes on in the park.

During construction, the county installed video-surveillance cameras so action in the park could be monitored. Now the county is going to take them out.

The city had hoped the county would leave the cameras, and allow the city to monitor the pictures they took, via the Internet.

The county said no. Merely leaving county cameras in the park could make the county liable for security, County Manager James Dinneen decided.

Concerns about nightly activity in Chess Park have been expressed by many in Downtown DeLand. Plans call for locking the restrooms and gates at night, but the fence in front is only about 3 feet high.

The chairs will be chained to the chess tables at night, and 3-foot-high plastic chess pieces, for use on an 8-foot-square chessboard in the park, will be stored in a vault in the restroom building.

The City of DeLand has estimated the cost of park maintenance at about $13,000 a year. The new maintenance employee’s salary will be paid partly by DeLand’s special Downtown DeLand tax fund.

But when will the park open?

“My understanding is the county will deed it to us, and it will probably be opened after that,” Arrington said. “Once we get it, we will have a soft opening, a little celebration.”

Arrington’s memo said the transfer could be approved by both the City Commission and the County Council by late May.

DeLand architect Alan Cajacob, who designed the park, is satisfied with the outcome and will welcome the opening. He’s been getting calls from chess enthusiasts who are anxious to play.

“We started working on the project over four years ago,” Cajacob said. “It’s a great project. It takes so long for the design phase, then you have to get the funding, and then get agreement on the actual construction documents, and then get the permits.”

Despite the tedium of final details, many are pleased with the park, Cajacob said.

“In this case, it was a project everybody believed in and supported,” he said.

Additional talks between the two governments will take place, once a survey of the park property is complete.

Shoemaker Construction Co. Inc., of Sanford, is the contractor for Chess Park. The county awarded Shoemaker a $1.2 million contract. The City of DeLand paid $250,000 to the county to cover the cost of the restrooms.

The construction problems prompted the County Council last year to set aside an additional $257,000 to cover cost overruns. The final cost is yet to be determined.

— al@beacononlinenews.com

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