The case for a Simmons Road Park – An opinion

By Matt Badiali
November 14, 2019

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

To many of us, Amelia Island is a beautiful town blessed with an abundance of greenspaces and parks.

Fort Clinch, a State Park, has lovely trails and beach access. The greenway offers views of wild life on winding dirt trails. On Atlantic Avenue, Central Park has a wide lawn, tennis courts, swings and a playground.

And there is the new fitness park at Egans Creek. Complete with fishing dock, landscaping and outdoor exercise equipment.

These are beautiful places. My family and I use them all. But they aren’t for everyone. In fact, there are many families here who can’t use any of those parks.

Sand, tree roots, noise, inappropriate equipment, etc. all pose insurmountable obstacles to many families. It hit home for me, when a family member visited. She was limited to a wheel chair.
As we took her around the island, to show off its many highlights, we were hit repeatedly with obstacles. It turns out that accessibility on the island is a real issue.

Many of the stores and restaurants in our historic downtown district are difficult to impossible to access in a simple wheel chair. There are only two beach accesses with sand covers that allow wheel chairs to get to the beach. Two spots on many miles of beach front.

In fact, when these families go to look for a playground, there is only one – the Pirate Playground. It’s tucked behind the Rec Center, nestled in a corner behind a ball field.

Built by 8 Flags Playscapes in 2014, its goal was to provide a play area for all. There was an impressive amount of study that went into its design. And now it is a destination park that draws people from all over.

Just one little park, with about a half an acre of playground.

8 Flags Playscapes also did a good job making Egans Creek Fitness Park accessible. But while it has parking and a hardscape for wheel chairs, nearly all of its equipment is off limits to most folks with special needs.

That means for many families in our community, the Pirate Park is the only one they can use. Because it’s the only park designed for all special needs.

That could change soon.

A 7-acre parcel of city land on Simmons Road could be the home of a new, fully inclusive city park. It is the perfect location. It’s large enough to include a nature trail that everyone can use. And, on that giant property, the city could build another little playground. Set in the woods, surrounded by nature and accessible to all.

It doesn’t seem like that big of a request.

Better yet, local non-profits began raising money to pay for the playground. Donations already cover more than 10% of the total cost of the park itself.

It’s wonderful, but there’s a catch.

There is a determined opposition to the playground. And while they won’t come right out and say they don’t want a playground, the suggestions for relocation aren’t well thought out.

Some folks want to relocate the playground to the treeless parcel near the airport. A loud, barren area adjacent to Amelia Parkway and the runways. While it may be a practical place, in the sense existing parking, it makes offers little aesthetic value. And it won’t be usable for many of our families due to the proximity to the road and runways.
Another suggestion is to plow under nine holes of the city golf course. I suspect that proposal will be met with more tumult than the current plan.

Frankly both ideas (and the others) miss the point entirely.

You see, relocating the playground may be good intentioned, but it carries another meaning. You see relocating the playground says to the families who need this park: “We don’t want you”.

Families who need accommodations see words like “simple”, “natural”, and “low impact” with a completely different point of view.

To us, it reads:

“…we don’t want all the contrivances that make the park usable to someone with disabilities”.
The idea is to build a “simple” nature park. But that means a park that excludes the folks in wheel chairs, with mobility issues or other impediments. And it totally excludes the families that need a quiet, secluded playground.
And if we do build an accessible park, then there really isn’t any reason to exclude the playground. It’s tiny, compared to the overall footprint. It will attract donations from local non-profits, including Project Chance. And it would address a severely underserved group in our community.

Please support the Simmons Road Park project. It’s a valuable addition to our beautiful island.

Editor’s Note:  Matt Badiali is a long-time member of the local community.  He serves on the board of a Project Chance,  a non-profit that raises and trains service dogs for children with autism and other disabilities –  https://projectchance.com/.

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Aaron Morgan
Aaron Morgan (@guest_56132)
4 years ago

Matt – Very well said. Thank you. I would like to add that Egans Creek Park was designed with accessibility as a priority. The workout equipment does have a number of accessible pieces. The kayak launch is accessible. The playground utilizes accessible surfacing and although a child in a wheelchair is unable to climb the piece, they are able to go inside of it and be part of the play.

Betsie Huben
Betsie Huben(@betsie-huben)
4 years ago

I am sorry that you were not in attendance at the recent meeting of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Had you been there, you would have been able to learn more about Mr. Eric Bartelt’s additional suggestion, the soccer field area. Likewise, you would have been able to study his decision matrix that was very interesting indeed. It documents there is a better place for this wonderful park concept that in fact will actually benefit more city residents than the current suggestion of putting this at Simmons Road. Hopefully you can catch up on the latest developments in this conversation via the recording of the meeting.

Cheryl Grant
Cheryl Grant(@cheryl-grant)
4 years ago

I appreciate your thoughts. Putting words to your feelings as if you know what someone else is probably saying is not appreciated. And totally inaccurate.