By Rich Pollack
Laura Thurston wanted to take her 2-year-old grandson to a playground with swings and slides and all things designed for small kids who just want to have fun.
A resident of Boca Highland Beach Club and Marina at the south end of Highland Beach, Thurston loaded up a stroller and made the mile-long trek to Spanish River Park, rather than drive and deal with parking rates that are $35 a day during the week and $50 on weekends for non-Boca Raton residents.
“It’s a lot to bring kids that far,” she said, adding that she raced home to accommodate an increasingly impatient toddler.
Thurston and several other Highland Beach grandparents, who point out that the town is a public playground desert, say Milani Park would be a great place for swings, slides and maybe a seesaw.
But when the Palm Beach County park opens some time in 2028, a playground will be nowhere to be found.
“There’s the missing component,” says Debbie Shulman Brecher, another Highland Beach grandmother. “People have expressed a desire for something for kids.”
County Parks and Recreation Director Jennifer Cirillo says there will be things for kids to do — just not on playground equipment — at the 5.6-acre park straddling State Road A1A.
The roadblock, she said, is a 2010 settlement agreement between the county and the town that designates much of what can and can’t be part of the park.
“Although we did have community requests for a more traditional playground in the park, this park design is following the Stipulated Settlement Agreement and conceptual design approved by the town,” she said.
But the architects and engineers who are designing the park have included some elements with children in mind, she said.
“We did have several people reach out through our public meetings stating they are excited to bring their children and grandchildren to the park with them, so we are being intentional in the design to have experiences for intergenerational memories,” she said.
There will be wildlife appreciation and educational signage and elements along a boardwalk on the east side that Cirillo said will be “artistic and playful.”
The design process is ongoing, she said, and the design team has been discussing having areas along the boardwalk near trees “for reflection that are for all ages but could be considered more appealing to children.”
On the west side, near the wetland area, there will be a boardwalk with signage about the environment and history of the site. The area could also have an Art in Public Places installation, Cirillo said.
“I am excited to hear of the outcome in the new year of the Art in Public Places process and particularly how grandparents, children and grandchildren together may interact with the art selected,” she said.
An open green space on the west side of the park will be available for unstructured play.
Then, of course, there’s the beach, where kids can play in the sand and surf under the watchful eyes of lifeguards.
All of that is good, Thurston and Shulman Brecher say, but it’s not enough.
Thurston understands that the county is trying to make the park as much fun for kids as it can, but she would like to see it more interactive.
“Kids need to be kids,” she said. “Children want to run and scream — they don’t want to sit and talk.”
Shulman Brecher thinks she and Thurston are not alone in wanting their small town to be more accommodating to young children.
“I think a lot of people would like to have a place for kids,” she said.
Thurston is hoping the county can find ways to make the park more attractive to active kids while at the same time staying within the bounds of the settlement agreement.
A playground, she said, would give her grandkids an extra reason to want to go visit grandma.
“I’m just a grandmother who wants my grandkids to have a place to have fun,” Thurston said.
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