The Bagdad Millsite Park promises to be robust by all accounts, but delays due to weather and unknown remnants of the previous occupants have pushed back the grand opening to mid to late summer. Bagdad Waterfronts Florida Partnership (BWFP) Chairman Doug Lasater said the original grand opening was going to coincide with a festival the BWFP plans holding annually at the park. Now, he said, locals can look forward to a soft opening of the park in the summer with the park’s festival scheduled for March of 2016.
Back in November, Lasater said the project lost two months due to the historic flood of 2014. “Weather had something to do with it, delayed some of it.” However, he said, “A lot had to do with substructure concrete the county wanted out of there…It was used for a dumping ground for concrete companies for years.”
Steve Furman, Santa Rosa County Public Works Director, said, “We knew going into it we didn't know how much that we'd hit…We kept uncovering more and more of that concrete…really unknown subsurface conditions going into it.” More concrete pulled out meant more space left in the ground, which meant more fill dirt needed, according to Furman.
The county found a silver lining to the digging, a pocket of gravel, according to Furman. “Rather than cover the gravel up, we excavated that gravel as a commodity and stock piled it to use as a sub-grade and even base material for the walking track. In the long term, we saved quite a bit of money not having to buy that material already on site.” He said the downside was the time it took to excavate and stockpile it. “Given gravel is high priced, we certainly didn't want to waste it.”
The other silver lining, according to Lasater will be the time nature has to smooth over the new flora to be planted in the park before the 2016 festival. “Pushing back a year for grand opening…will allows us to improve the park.” He said the native grass going in will have a year's growth before the festival. “We’re not happy we have to delay it,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Weather, concrete delay Bagdad Mill Site Park