Grant Funding Park Improvements

    A $100,000 Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program (FRDAP) grant from the State of Florida is funding a variety of recreation upgrades in Umatilla. Two town parks, Cadwell and Southside, are receiving upgrades from the funds.
    At the Southside park facility, located along SR 19 and north of Ball Park Road, the city is replacing a basketball court, will add playground pieces, and install upgrades to the dugout facilities at the baseball field there. Cadwell Park, located downtown along Cassady Street, will receive new playground pieces and a sidewalk extension from the community building in the park to Trowell Avenue.
    City director of development and public services, Aaron Mercer, this week said that the improvements in Cadwell Park will include a swing and a zip line.
    “It is similar to the one at Venetian Gardens in Leesburg.”
    Upgrading recreational offerings is a priority in the city, and Mercer said that paving projects being undertaken along Trowell Avenue will include new striping to facilitate more clearly defined bicycle lanes.
    “The resurfacing of Trowell Avenue will include a narrowing of the travel lane and widening the striped area adjacent to the curb. This will put an extra two feet between any bicycles and vehicles,” Mercer said.   Mercer said the larger goal is to link Cadwell Park to the bike lane along SR 19 at the McDonald’s restaurant on Bulldog Lane, and on to the parking lot of the city library to the north.
    “Still trying to figure out how to connect them with minimal interface with traffic,” he said.