Payne Park future plans
Payne Park Short-term plans
The Legacy Trail has come to Payne Park (2022). The City is seeking funding for a bike/ped continuation westbound across the south edge of Payne Park, to Alderman Street at Payne Parkway (by Sarasota Ford), also with a new (bike/ped) entrance planned through what is now that breeze block wall at the north stub of East Avenue. (Short route to the Publix!) For this extension, plans include NO IMPACT to the row of oak trees along that route, and a slight realignment of one hole of the disc golf course there.
Jerry Fogle, Parks Dept Head, notes that maintenance of City parks is the only short-term plan (other than the Legacy Trail related continuation, above), given budget considerations and priorities. Scroll down below to see Q&A excerpts with Mr. Fogle, 2021, far below.
Payne Park Long-term plans
You can view excerpts from Phase III of that old 2003 master plan for Payne Park. 2003 Master Plan. Through the years since, of course, many things have changed: the popular disc golf course was not in that 2003 plan; the east field is now regularly used for frequent soccer games, ...
Mr. Fogle provided the following long-term plans, with the caveat that "The below items will need to be revisited to ensure the improvements still meet the needs of the citizens."
Improvements to Payne Park are scheduled to be implemented in year 6 (2027/2028) of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan, depending on funding and Commission approval during the budget process.
Improvements to Payne Park are scheduled to be implemented in year 8 (2029/2030) of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan, depending on funding and Commission approval during the budget process.
Improvements to Payne Park are scheduled to be implemented in year 6 (2027/2028) of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan, depending on funding and Commission approval during the budget process.
- Build out the remaining planned park development on the South side of Payne Park per the 2003 Payne Park Master Plan
- Additional Parking Spaces
- Legacy Trail Connection (plans are to complete this in the near future)
Improvements to Payne Park are scheduled to be implemented in year 8 (2029/2030) of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan, depending on funding and Commission approval during the budget process.
- Build out the remaining planned park development on the East side of Payne Park per the 2003 Payne Park Master Plan
- Multipurpose recreational sports fields (croquet, putting green)
- Lawn Bowling (moved to Bobby Jones)
- Shuffleboard
- Additional Parking space
- Add new seating areas
- Add new restrooms
- Add pavilions
- Add native landscaping wildlife habitat
Short Term excerpts Q&A
June 2021 email Q&A with Jerry Fogle regarding plans for Payne Park improvements in next 3 years.
JF: "At this time, the only planned improvements for the park in the next few years is the Legacy Trail Connection. We are closely following our Master Plan where we are working primarily on deferred maintenance and asset stability. This is a large list of items we need to get repaired or replaced before we begin adding new park amenities in our 61 park and recreation facilities. Below is a list of the deferred maintenance items we identified in the Master Plan and what our progress has been with that work.
Playground Surfacing $275k, Playground Components $30k, Maintenance Building Exterior $10k, Post & Rail Fence $7k, Asphalt Jogging Track $15k, Parking Signage $5k, Cafe/Skate Park Building Paint $35k, Bollards $10k, Cafe Pond $5k, Amphitheater Stones $15k, Sidewalks $25k, Landscape $15k, Parking Lot $100k, Special Event Power Pedestals $10k, Cafe Roof $100k, Design Fees $36k.
We have completed: playground resurfaced; replaced playground components; replaced post and rail fence; replaced some jogging trail material; painted the café and skatepark buildings; redesigned and replanted the café streambed; repaired ¾ of the sidewalks; installed ½ of the landscape replacements; and replaced missing amphitheater stones. We will continue to make these identified repairs over the next few years.
All parks are identified to receive improvements, as soon as the deferred maintenance is addressed. As you can imagine, we cannot get to all of them as quickly as we would like, but we do have a 10-year plan in place. The Priority List ranked all parks based on seven scoring criteria. Payne Park is scheduled for improvements beginning in 2026, but this could change due to a variety of reasons (i.e. approval of budgets and staffing, etc.). We are also slightly behind our targets due to the pandemic. As we get closer to scheduling improvements for the parks and recreation facilities, we will schedule meetings with affected neighborhoods to discuss the improvements."
June 2021 email Q&A with Jerry Fogle regarding plans for Payne Park improvements in next 3 years.
JF: "At this time, the only planned improvements for the park in the next few years is the Legacy Trail Connection. We are closely following our Master Plan where we are working primarily on deferred maintenance and asset stability. This is a large list of items we need to get repaired or replaced before we begin adding new park amenities in our 61 park and recreation facilities. Below is a list of the deferred maintenance items we identified in the Master Plan and what our progress has been with that work.
Playground Surfacing $275k, Playground Components $30k, Maintenance Building Exterior $10k, Post & Rail Fence $7k, Asphalt Jogging Track $15k, Parking Signage $5k, Cafe/Skate Park Building Paint $35k, Bollards $10k, Cafe Pond $5k, Amphitheater Stones $15k, Sidewalks $25k, Landscape $15k, Parking Lot $100k, Special Event Power Pedestals $10k, Cafe Roof $100k, Design Fees $36k.
We have completed: playground resurfaced; replaced playground components; replaced post and rail fence; replaced some jogging trail material; painted the café and skatepark buildings; redesigned and replanted the café streambed; repaired ¾ of the sidewalks; installed ½ of the landscape replacements; and replaced missing amphitheater stones. We will continue to make these identified repairs over the next few years.
All parks are identified to receive improvements, as soon as the deferred maintenance is addressed. As you can imagine, we cannot get to all of them as quickly as we would like, but we do have a 10-year plan in place. The Priority List ranked all parks based on seven scoring criteria. Payne Park is scheduled for improvements beginning in 2026, but this could change due to a variety of reasons (i.e. approval of budgets and staffing, etc.). We are also slightly behind our targets due to the pandemic. As we get closer to scheduling improvements for the parks and recreation facilities, we will schedule meetings with affected neighborhoods to discuss the improvements."
