City Rectifies Misuse of Public Parkland

Dunedin Fire Department is striking a deal to gain obscure park space being misused as city storage.

Dunedin's public works department has used a small, 3.43-acre parcel near the intersection of Belcher and Evans Roads as a storage site for the past 30 years.

"The former fire chief and I realized what was going on," Tom Trask, city attorney, said, "and knowing that the new fire station was going to be built, we were trying to solve two problems at one time." 

Use of that parcel for non-park purposes is prohibited because it was acquired from a developer under the Land Dedication Ordinance, a city law that preserves a certain amount of green space from incoming residential developments. Land acquired under the Land Dedication Ordinance is required to be used as public park space.

"At the time, in the early '80s, Belcher Road was a one-lane road," Matthew Campbell, assistant to the city manager, said during a June 6 commission meeting. "This was more or less out in the hinterlands of the city, and the city didn't have any plans of putting a park on the site."

To rectify the illegitimate use, city officials agreed to trade spaces with present-day, soon-to-be demolished Fire Station 61 on Ed Eckerd Drive.

The square-foot-for-square-foot deal, which was unanimously approved by city leaders June 6, means more recreational space at Highlander Park and a training ground for Dunedin firefighters.

Once the out-dated fire station is torn down, its land, which is situated near the baseball fields, can be re-appropriated as recreation space at Highlander Park. In exchange, the firefighters will get to use a part of the Belcher Road Park site for training exercises.

A new and advanced Fire Station 61 will be constructed at the corner of Michigan Boulevard and Ed Eckerd Drive, which once served as a recycle collection site. The up-and-coming station will be near its present-day site.

"Has anybody looked to see if we have this situation anywhere else?" asked Vice Mayor Julie Ward Bujalski.

"I think it is more or less a fluke," Campbell said.

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