Could a reopened Bay Bluffs Park have expanded overlooks, bike trails, or maybe even a zip line?
Well, probably not the zipline, but that was one suggestion given by an attendee at Pensacola’s listening session for the restoration of Bay Bluffs Park at the Vickery Community Center on Oct. 22.
The event marked the start of the long-awaited effort to reopen the park after it was closed in 2023 because of fears the boardwalk could collapse.
In August, the city finally gained access to a $2.2 million grant to tear down the unsafe portions of the boardwalk and rebuild some type of public access to the park.
Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves told the group of about 30 people in attendance at the Vickery Center that nothing was off the table at this point in the process.
“This is truly listening to every idea that you have — no idea is out of bounds,” Reeves said. “But we want to start this process while we finish up the long, laborious paperwork of having three state agencies saying that you got $2 million, which is, by the way, going on about two years.”
The $2.2 million is coming from a state grant to the city of Pensacola and the non-profit Conservation Florida. With Conservation Florida a part of the project, the parts of Bay Bluffs Park that are not already conservation land will be preserved as a nature park.
The city has hired the engineering firm HDR to design the new Bay Bluffs Park.
Reeves told the News Journal that there’s early discussion with HDR that parts of the boardwalk may have been preventing erosion on the sandy bluff, so they may have to be restored, but he added that it was still very early to know for sure.
Many suggestions from those in attendance for the park were left with notes written on a map of the park, including better access to the beach, better lighting, more trash cans in the park, bike trails, and even one suggestion for a zip line. An online survey for suggestions is also available.
Reeves said exactly what can be done at the park will be limited by the $2 million budget.
“I will remind you $2 million will not build a palatial community center,” Reeves said at the meeting. “Don’t suggest that, but it will certainly allow us to reopen something that we can be proud of.”
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: ‘No idea out of bounds’ for Bay Bluffs Park restoration, Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves says
Reporting by Jim Little, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
