BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph Staff Writer
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS—Florida TaxWatch said a $1 million state appropriation for a regional sports complex in Clay County is a budget turkey.
The watchdog group said the park, under construction now near Camp Blanding, is one of 30 housing and community development projects totaling $41 million that should not have been funded through the state’s budget.
“These are projects that a local community would love to have,” TaxWatch said in its 2023 Budget Turkey Watch Report, “but it is questionable as to whether the state should be funding them at all.”
The report added that at least most of the projects have other avenues for funding assistance from the state and federal governments.
In addition to Clay’s regional sports park, the list also includes $9 million for Phase 2 of the Inverness Airport Business Park in Citrus County, $5 million for the Cox Science Center and Aquarium expansion in Palm Beach County and $4.8 million for the Collier Housing Resilience Project.
At a groundbreaking ceremony for the park in March, County Manager Howard Wanamaker said Phase 1 of the park is being funded by a $3 million matching grant from the state and $3 million in county funds. The state grant was secured several years ago.
The 2023, $1 million appropriation would be to finance additional project phases.
Justin Pierce, the county’s parks and recreation director, said Phase 1 of the project will include eight multipurpose fields, a restroom facility, shade structures, ponds, a driveway, 350-plus parking spaces and a three-quarters of a mile walking trail.
Pierce said Phase 1 will be completed in November, and the park will be available for use in early 2024.
County Commission Chair Betsy Condon said that in addition to the 250 acres the fully built-out park will occupy, an additional 800 acres of forest is owned by the North Florida Land Trust adjacent to the park’s south side, running almost to State Road 16.
