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City of Kissimmee opens Lakefront Park

Ken Jackson • Apr 18, 2013
Hamilton Disston, the Philadelphia industrialist and land developer who purchased 4 million acres of land in and around the Kissimmee River basin in the 1880s, would likely be pleased today with Kissimmee’s new Lakefront Park.
 
So much that he’d probably be happy to hitch up one of his steamboats at the park’s slips or docks or its proposed expanded marina.

The first two phases of the new park, which became a concept in 2006 and a construction site in 2007, are now a finished product that opened this week.

Stages I and II of the park include covered picnic areas, two playgrounds, a fishing dock and boat ramp, stage, more than 275,000 square feet of concrete and bricked walkways and two lawn areas, one expansive enough for community events and the other intimate for weddings and other small affairs.

The park also was built with environmental sensitivity in mind. A rain garden was created to absorb runoff from local roofs, roads and sidewalks and divert pollution from Lake Tohopekaliga and other natural waterways. Native oak trees already in the park were kept, and to prevent stormwater runoff, the Department of Public Works and Engineering installed several “Baffle Boxes.” They will treat stormwater to remove litter and pollutants and filter dissolved nutrients, and clean water will flow out of the box and into the lake.

The first two phases were finished more than a month ahead of schedule and about $1.7 million under the city’s original $20 million budget. It’s statistics that Kissimmee Parks and Recreation Director Dan Loubier rattled off with a big grin at a presentation at the park on Friday for city staff, community leaders and members of the design and construction teams.

“This represents six years of work. In a tough economy, we were able to put people to work,” he said. “Even though this was developed during a downturn, the City Commission, its attorneys and managers never wavered on the vision to complete this.”

Phase III of the park will include more spaces for events and fishing tournaments, a children’s splash pad, another playground, 475 feet of boardwalks and a retrofitted marina around the Big Toho Marina. It is slated to open Oct. 31, 2014, two months ahead of its original projected delivery date.

Project management company AECOM developed the master plan and landscape architecture for the new park that was constructed by Burkhardt Construction. The end result is a park that creates a new connection to both downtown Kissimmee and Lake Toho.

At the end of Ruby Plaza, which features an area of covered tables that juts out into the lake, is a sign that harkens back over 150 years, when Disston’s steamboats used Lake Tohopekaliga as a pass through from points north toward Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades in the south, moving goods and people.

Kissimmee Mayor Jim Swan has been a key contributor and overseer of the project, and swelled with civic pride as he toured the final product Friday.

“I’ve been in here a few times, but now that it’s done it’s amazing,” he said. “I can’t wait to see the citizens’ reaction. They’re going to be thrilled.

“Before I got elected, a developer wanted to build condos on the lakefront. The community got a little excited about that, and I think what has resulted reflects the desires of our citizens.”

Among the guests at Friday’s unveiling was Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, a late 1970s alumnus of Osceola High School, was a guest of Swan’s.

“Looks a lot different than the last time I was here,” Dyer said.

New development should come on the other side of Lakeview Drive once the former Roy E. Hansell Plant is torn down and a Kissimmee Utility Authority substation is refurbished to have a smaller footprint in the area.

“It’s been an interesting evolution, and there’s more to come,” Swan said.

Loubier thanked city administrators, such as city construction manager Ken Barnett and others he worked with so long on the project.

“Ken, Jeff Sizemore, Scott Murray, Mike Brown, we all attended every design meeting,” he said. “We may have spent more time together in the past six years than we have with our own families.”

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