MILTON — The newly formed Riverfront Redevelopment Team, part of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, has one main goal: research opportunities for improving Carpenter’s Park.
The park, located on Munson Highway along the Blackwater River, should benefit from a recently received Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program grant. The grant will fund playground equipment, public restroom renovations and fishing pier improvements.
In addition to exploring options that would add more shade and perhaps more parking, the citizen-led team will explore the possibility of adding a splash pad area for children.
Shani Simpson, who just moved to Milton from Navarre, is the mother of one who likes the idea of adding more shaded areas and having a splash pad.
“It would definitely be nice to have one,” she said.
Simpson recently visited Carpenter’s Park for the first time with a friend and mother of four, Kylee Lester, who resides in Navarre. Lester said she likes all amenities the park currently offers.
“There is lots of playground equipment; it’s nice and spread out for different age groups,” she said. “(There) are two boat ramps which is awesome.”
Lester also favored the pavilions and picnic area, but like Simpson, she would prefer there to be more shade and likes the idea of adding a splash pad.
“My biggest thing is to have some sort of shade; I mean we live in Florida,” she said. “I would not come here in the middle of summer … but if you throw in a splash pad and some shade, it would be very different.”
Adding a splash pad to Carpenter’s Park is far from official at this time, City Manager Brian Watkins said. Many aspects of adding a splash pad would need to be explored. These include determining recurring maintenance costs and deciding how often the splash pad would be available to the public.
Lester and Simpson are familiar with the splash pad in Navarre. Simpson said a splash pad offers a safer option.
“It’s better and safer than going to a pool,” Simpson said.
Obviously, children playing at a foam-based splash pad are less likely to be injured or to drown than at a swimming pool. Lester favors taking her family to a splash pad than the beach, which she said can be stressful along with dealing with beach sand when leaving.
She said a splash pad for kids offers less stress.
“With my 3- and my 1-year-old, if we are at a pool they have to have Floaties and a life vest, I have to be in the water with them,” Lester said. “With a splash pad, I don’t necessarily have to be in the splash pad with them. They still get in the water and play and run around.
“It cools them off. It’s especially great to have here in Florida.”
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Committee to explore Carpenter’s Park improvements