Residents Question Timing of Several Park Closures

SPRING HILL – A very popular Hernando County Park is set to close this summer, due to scheduled maintenance and repairs, making it the third closing over the summer school break this year.

According to a media release from Hernando County Government, Hernando County Parks and Recreation will close Delta Woods Park on June 19th and partially reopen on June 30th.

Officials say the closure is for the demolition of the current playground, general maintenance, and tree removal, and will remain closed for approximately one month. The playground area will be replaced with new ADA accessible equipment and surfacing. Delta Woods Park is located at 3400 Deltona Blvd in Spring Hill.

Pioneer Park (Stewy's Skate Park) located at 6799 Pinehurst Drive closed last Tuesday for a remodeling of the facility's restroom. It is scheduled to reopen on July 30th.

Additionally, the tennis courts at Hernando Park located at 205 E. Ft. Dade Ave closed on May 30th and is scheduled to reopen on June 30th.

Some people questioned the timing of the closures on the Parks and Recreation Facebook page, arguing that children will have less places to spend time outdoors during the summer break. Dana Dubock Leadmon stated, "Why in the world would it take two months to do this and why is it scheduled at the beginning of summer when kids could use it the most." Jamie Maddy says,

"Last summer Rogers Park was closed. Communities depend on these resources when kids are out of school. We need to keep children active and playing safely and off the streets."

A spokesperson for Parks and Recreation provided this explanation for the inconvenient scheduling of repairs. "With working on a fiscal year budget (Oct.-Sept.), funding becomes available and approved on Oct.1. Then Parks and Recreation submit for quotes in October/November. Parks and Recreation will then receive the designs and quotes in December/January. Parks and Recreation then schedules to award the contract February/March. Which then leads to actual construction happening in June after the materials are shipped. To be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and complete projects within the proper guidelines and procedures, the timing of the projects sometimes land in the summer. These time frames provided are approximate estimates depending on the size of the project and will vary."