Rutherford Park also boasts expanded mangrove boardwalk
By Steve Plunkett
Boca Raton will celebrate the opening of the refurbished Rutherford and Lake Wyman parks with a ribbon cutting on April 27.
“It was supposed to be the 5th but got pushed back for some last-minute punch items,” city spokeswoman Anne Marie Connelly said.
The parks will have a soft opening “within the next couple of weeks,” she said.
The almost-completed $9.5 million do-over dredged long-neglected canoe trails and rebuilt and extended a boardwalk to connect the parks, which abut each other near the Fifth Avenue Shops. Rutherford is at 600 NE 24th St. and Wyman is at 1500 NE Fifth Ave. The parks are on the west side of the Intracoastal Waterway across from Ocean Strand Park.
Besides restoration of the silted-in canoe trails, the parks now have two kayak launch sites and a boardwalk connection to the parking lot. Plans called for use of native plants, removal of invasive vegetation, and trimming and planting of mangroves.
The city used a $2.7 million grant from the Florida Inland Navigation District for part of the project. Construction began after Thanksgiving 2022.
At one point the construction estimate soared to $15.5 million, but the city rebid the project and decided not to build new restrooms and not to extend the boardwalk northward to save money.
The canoe trails had become a distant memory for residents who once entertained their children and grandchildren at the parks.
In 2012 the city rejected a plan put together by former Mayor and then-County Commissioner Steven Abrams that would have restored Rutherford Park’s canoe trails, extended its boardwalk and created a sea grass basin, dubbed by some a “manatee restaurant,” on a large spoil island just east of Lake Wyman Park.
That project would have been funded by a $2.1 million grant from FIND and $450,000 from Palm Beach County, with the city and the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District each chipping in $225,000.
City officials were tempted by the outside money but ultimately did not want to cede control of the project to others.
In 2016, the city drew up a $6.5 million plan that included two double boat ramps in Rutherford Park and no money from FIND. That plan was dropped in favor of the current configuration.
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