Vandalism, abuse and flooding destroy boardwalks
BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
LAKE BUTLER— A contractor will remove the boardwalks and fishing pier from Chastain-Seay Park over the next four weeks, closing the facility for a least a month.
Town Councilman Shane Massey said the wooden structures will not be replaced, bringing the facility back to a more natural setting.
“They are taking everything wooden out,” he said, “including the pilings,” Massey said of the $20,000 project. “The boardwalks are unsafe, and to replace them would require extensive permitting from the water management district.”
Massey added that the bathroom structure will remain, but because of repeated vandalism, the building will likely remain closed, even after the park reopens.
In December deputies arrested two juveniles for damaging the facility: ages 10 and 11. But shortly after the arrests, the town reported more vandalism of the restroom, including broken windows and flooding of the building.
Massey said unauthorized ATV riding on the boardwalk contributed to the walkway’s demise, but he said repeated flooding of the park, which leaves the boardwalk completely submerged, also damaged the wood structures.
Mark Link, who lives downstream from the park complained to the town council about the facility’s deteriorating condition.
He said trash accumulating at the park winds up in the river during a flood.
Link said before COVID, inmates assisted the town with park maintenance and cleanup, but the Department of Corrections cut back on work crews during the pandemic, and city officials didn’t come up with a replacement for the inmates.
The 37-year Santa Fe River resident said he and his wife Ellen pick up trash at the park on a regular basis, but they cannot keep up with it.
Recently, he and Ellen collected trash that filled up four, 55-gallon drums at Chastain-Seay.
Massey refused to place the blame for the garbage buildup on the lack of inmate crews alone. He said irresponsible visitors to the facility are also responsible.
“The labor shortage is not the only factor,” he said. “People are littering a lot. We used to have volunteers that kept the facility clean, but their number has dwindled.”
“If the only trashcan there is full, and you leave garbage there anyway, that’s littering,” he added.
The town councilman said he has talked with hundreds of people at the facility, confronting unauthorized ATV riding at the park.
“I’ve pleaded with many people down there,” he said. “Some are nice, some are not. I’ve talked to kids on four-wheelers. They agreed that what they were doing wasn’t right and they moved their vehicles.
Massey said that after the wood structures are removed, he hoped the town can remove some fallen trees within the park, upgrade its playground equipment and get overgrown vegetation under control.
He also hopes the town can obtain garbage cans that seal, preventing trash from escaping to the river during a flood.
And he hopes to improve the facility’s security system, which he describes as outdated.
“We need to get smart about how we maintain the park,” he said.
Massey said that what Chastain-Seay needs most are more people like the Links, citizens who care about the facility and take pride in their community.
“We need some presence down there,” he said. “We want people to enjoy the park and respect the park.”
