By Jane Smith
Veterans Park visitors have access to more benches where they can sit and view the Intracoastal Waterway now that Delray Beach has replaced ones that were rotting away and closed off to the public for two years.
Four corroded benches were replaced with temporary metal ones in mid-March, city spokeswoman Gina Carter said.
The four had been surrounded by wooden dune fencing for nearly two years, initially to stop the public from using them while COVID restrictions were in place.
In March 2020, the city had closed all facilities, including parks, following county orders to pass restrictions against gathering, Parks and Recreation Director Sam Metott said on March 25.
“Soon we were getting phone calls that people were still using the parks and sitting on the benches,” he said. All six benches in Veterans Park were then enclosed in the dune fencing on March 30, 2020, to prevent people from sitting on them, according to Metott.
When the city lifted the restrictions in its parks a few months later, four of the six benches in the park were found to be corroded and not usable. The four remained enclosed in the dune fencing.
Last August, the City Commission approved using part of its recreation funds to beautify Veterans Park in the summer of 2022. The $150,000 project will cover the benches, gazebo and trellises, according to an email from Carter.
The new benches will be made of concrete, according to Carter. They already are ordered, but their delivery is subject to supply chain issues caused by the pandemic.
Veterans Park has had limited access to the public the past 18 months because of the nearby Atlantic Crossing development construction.
Northeast First Street, between Northeast Sixth and Northeast Seventh avenues, was closed periodically during the first phase of construction. The road surface remains torn up from the heavy construction vehicles traveling on it.
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