By Anita Todd
HAINES CITY – On Aug. 7, the Haines City Commission voted 3-1 to approve the purchase of an 11-acre property on Johnson Avenue.
Terrell Griffin, Director of Parks and Recreation, presented the proposal, noting that the $860,000 purchase will be funded through recreation impact fees. The property will provide much-needed additional parking for the Larry Parrish Baseball Complex and the planned 32-acre sports complex expansion. It will also serve as the site for a new lift station.
Griffin explained, “The parcel can serve as a future location for additional parking capacity to support both existing and future recreation facilities. In addition, the site provides a suitable area to address utility infrastructure needs, including the installation of a lift station which is necessary for the expansion project and broader utility planning in that specific area.”
Mayor Morris West, Vice Mayor Vernel Smith, and Commissioner Omar Arroyo voiced strong support for the acquisition. “This is dual purpose,” West said. “We need that parcel of land.”
Arroyo agreed, adding, “I’m glad this parcel came up as available. Parking (at Larry Parrish Baseball Complex) is crazy. This is more of a necessity. We are killing two birds with one stone.”
Commissioner Kim Downing cast the lone opposing vote, expressing concerns about the concentration of recreation investments in one area. “I just see us spending a lot of recreation money just in one particular area,” Downing said. “The majority of the impact fees is coming from the homes sold in the northside of Haines City. We have yet to go to canvas that particular area to give the people who live in the northside of Haines City any type of recreation. We are putting all recreation in one two-mile radius.”
Vice Mayor Smith supported the purchase but acknowledged the need for future projects in other parts of the city. “After this, we need to look at the north end of the city near the hospital,” he said.
West, Arroyo, and Smith voted in favor of the purchase. Commissioner Anne Huffman was absent from the meeting.
