Alachua’s Legacy Park - Master Plan Adopted

 

ALACHUA – The Alachua City Commission unanimously approved on Monday the implementation of a master plan to construct a large city park adjacent to the Hal Brady Recreation Complex.

The City of Alachua purchased the 105-acre parcel in 2012 with this intention. The parcel had previously been approved for a 200-home residential community.

The Legacy Park Master Plan proposes four phases of construction that would include two regulation-size baseball fields, two Little League fields, tennis courts, a multi-purpose center, two game fields, a tournament field with stadium seating, an amphitheater with stage, a disc golf course, two dog parks, and walking trails.

Elisabeth Manley, a landscape architect Buford Davis and Associates, estimated the cost for the entire park to be between $19.7 to $20 million.

“We want to integrate Legacy Park with Hal Brady to create one park,” she said.

Manley also stated that the first phase of construction would focus on creating the main entrance off of Peggy Road along with building the approximately 36,000 square foot multi-purpose center.

She said the estimation for Phase I costs is $9 million.

Assistant City Manager Adam Boukari said the City is soliciting proposals for construction documents for Phase I, with target dates for design completion set for February 2016 and start of construction for April 2016.

The initial design of the multi-purpose center calls for a single space of nearly 26,000 square feet to hold four basketball courts with motorized bleachers seating 460 people.

Some of the proposed walking trails would also be included in Phase I, trails that Manley said would eventually cover over one mile after the park’s completion.

The other four construction phases are not yet prioritized but are instead temporarily labeled as Phase North, Phase South and Phase West.

Phase North includes the baseball and Little League fields as well as the tennis courts; Phase South the game and tournament fields and amphitheater with stage; and Phase West the dog parks, disc golf course and additional walking trails.

During commission discussion, Mayor Gib Coerper voiced concern that approving the master plan might commit future Alachua City Commissions to an undesired course of action.

“We’re not talking about [park completion] tomorrow or next week – this is years,” he said. “Are we going to bind future commissions?”

Assistant City Manager Boukari assured Coerper that any commission could decide to change any portion of the plan whenever desired.

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