{"id":243740,"date":"2026-04-23T20:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/243740\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T20:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:12:13","slug":"residents-say-north-miamis-enchanted-forest-park-isnt-living-up-to-to-its-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/243740\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents say North Miami\u2019s Enchanted Forest Park isn\u2019t living up to to its name"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story was originally published on the\u00a0Biscayne Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NORTH MIAMI \u2014 North Miami resident Ursula Casta\u00f1eda often spends time at the Elaine Gordon Enchanted Forest Park \u2014 a 22-acre swath of nature located in the heart of the city.<\/p>\n

The popular park, where special events and programs are held throughout the year, features scenic trails, subtropical plants, and a barn that offers pony rides. It also boasts a petting zoo with goats, chickens and pigs, gardens, and grill stations. An LGBTQ monument \u2014 among Miami-Dade County\u2019s first \u2014 was installed there in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my kids\u2019 backyard,\u201d Casta\u00f1eda, a park volunteer, said of her three children, ages 11, 9 and 4. \u201cIt\u2019s pure\u2026raw nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

But now Casta\u00f1eda and other regular park-goers have become increasingly concerned about the city\u2019s years-long neglect of the facilities, lack of basic maintenance and improvements that they say are diminishing enjoyment of the park, which is named after Elaine Gordon, a longtime member of the Florida House of Representatives, Democrat and fervent supporter of women\u2019s rights who died in 2000. She helped secure the funding to establish the park in the 1980\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Both of the park\u2019s two picnic shelters remain closed for public rentals, according to the city\u2019s website, their roofs covered by plastic tarps. With its roof in danger of collapse, the West Shelter has been fenced off and curious passersby are greeted with a \u201cKeep Out\u201d sign.<\/p>\n

In addition, the park has been plagued by difficulty in removing massive piles of manure from horses in the barn and the lengthy closure of its Community Center, which has classrooms and had often been used by schools.<\/p>\n

North Miami resident Leon Sylvain, who has been frequenting the park for over 20 years, said the broken down condition of the picnic shelters makes him feel \u201cunsafe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at the roof,\u201d Sylvain said in disgust, adding, \u201cThat place right there [the East Shelter] is the dirtiest place you\u2019ll find in a park in the whole world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ongoing picnic shelters\u2019 closure left park-goer Cleeford Thomas wondering what the structures were.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it\u2019s not [a picnic shelter] anymore,\u201d Thomas, who has been visiting the park for the last several years, said of the West shelter. \u201cThis has been closed for quite some time.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the past, the picnic shelters were rented out to host parties and events and were a source of revenue for the park. Today, they are \u201cclosed until further notice,\u201d the website says. Casta\u00f1eda said the picnic shelters have been unavailable for bookings since 2023.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Kevin Burns, who represents North Miami District 1, where the park is located, said the West shelter is fenced off because the structure isn\u2019t stable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too dangerous to walk underneath it,\u201d Burns, a former North Miami mayor, said in an interview, adding that the East shelter has experienced water leaks, but the structure is \u201cnot in a position to collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: As North Miami turns 100, residents reflect on growth, diversity and what comes next<\/a><\/p>\n

Burns said the City Council approved funding to fix the shelters, but \u201cthe money just sat there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is ridiculous,\u201d Burns said, \u201cthat the city had these two shelters, that are really popular when they are running, closed down.\u201d<\/p>\n

North Miami\u2019s 2025-2026 budget shows that funding for the Enchanted park has been raised to $463,000 for the current fiscal year, an increase of about $255,000 over the prior year. The funds are to be used to \u201cprovide daily maintenance, supervision, programming, and operation\u201d of the park facilities.<\/p>\n

The budget also says that one of the city\u2019s \u201cmajor projects and initiatives\u201d for the park is completing a 40-year certification, which documents describe as an electrical upgrade to comply with Miami-Dade County safety standards. The cost was estimated at $240,000.<\/p>\n

North Miami officials are keeping mum. Parks and Recreation Interim Director, Yama Paillere declined an interview request, an aide said. Mayor Alix Desulme did not respond to an interview request by deadline for this story. City Manager Theresa Therilus and Senior Assistant John Lorfils did not respond to several attempts by phone and email to reach them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a difficult job,\u201d Burns, a Realtor in South Florida, said of repairing the shelters. \u201cIt\u2019s a very simple roofing job.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the dilapidated picnic shelters, the park also has been facing problems removing manure left by the horses in the shed. It piles up behind the barn and during hot weather the animal waste can release significant levels of nitrogen that can kill nearby oak trees, some more than 100 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a waste hazard,\u201d said Sara McDevitt, who serves on the board of \u201cFriends of Enchanted Forest NoMi.\u201d The nonprofit group advocates for the park by promoting volunteer activities and hosting meetings with city officials to discuss budgeting strategies for the park\u2019s maintenance.<\/p>\n

McDevitt noted what she called \u201cdistress and concern within the community\u201d with the condition of the park.<\/p>\n

Burns said the huge manure pit is at least four-feet deep and 100-feet wide. He noted that an oak tree, surrounded by the waste, had died.<\/p>\n

Burns said after a waste removal company left years ago, he arranged with his own hauler to take on the job. \u201cWe have to get that done,\u201d said Burns, referring to the proper and regular removal of the manure.<\/p>\n

There also have been problems with the park\u2019s Community Center, which McDevitt said had been closed for several years.<\/p>\n

Due to the lack of maintenance, the center\u2019s roof was left deteriorating and once a contractor was finally hired to fix it, significant amounts of mold were found, lengthening the timeline for repairs.<\/p>\n

Burns said the Community Center has just reopened.<\/p>\n

He also said a contractor has been hired to fix the picnic shelters and the work will start within the next four-to-six weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been that story for a couple of years,\u201d a doubtful Casta\u00f1eda said, noting previous announcements of upcoming repairs that never happened. \u201cIt\u2019s sad, because this is a very special place.\u201d<\/p>\n

For her part, McDevitt said, \u201cIt\u2019s a commitment that the city needs to make to its parks and its residents. The community is frustrated and tired of having poorly maintained things in our city.\u201d<\/p>\n

The story was originally published by Caplin News, a publication of FIU’s Lee Caplin School of Journalism & Media, as part of an editorial content partnership with the WLRN newsroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story was originally published on the\u00a0Biscayne Times. NORTH MIAMI \u2014 North Miami resident Ursula Casta\u00f1eda often spends…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-243740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}