ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. — A new park is now open for walkers and bikers in Escambia County.<\/p>\n
This park is not only giving people a new place to get out and get active — it’s also helping to restore the wetlands.<\/p>\n
Pensacola’s newest park is now open and features bridges like this, turning the wetlands into walking paths. <\/p>\n
“This was a degraded piece of property; the wetlands were degraded, and there was an old landfill on the property when we started doing excavation work,” Escambia County Natural Resources Department director Chip Kirschenfeld said. “We unearthed several old septic tanks and old 55-gallon drums that we had to dispose of properly.<\/p>\n
What was once damaged is now clean and open to the public.<\/p>\n
From walking paths to picnic tables, pollinator gardens, and plenty of turtles to see, the new Carpenter Creek Headwaters Park off East Olive Road offers people a chance to enjoy over 7 acres of recreation while also helping reduce pollution and improve flood protection.<\/p>\n
This is done by building it as a stormwater park.<\/p>\n
“There are several features of this park that are rather unique,” Kirschenfeld said. “It’s stormwater best management practices; there is a 2-acre wet stormwater pond, and then that discharges into a half-acre dry pond.”<\/p>\n
The $3.8 million project is funded through Escambia County local option sales tax dollars, grants from the Florida Department, and money from “Triumph Gulf Coast.”<\/p>\n
With the Sunshine State actively pursuing property tax reductions, District Three County Commissioner Lumon May says it can be important to fund these types of collaborative projects<\/p>\n
“When you look at this park, it’s something that brings communities together,” Escambia County District 3 Commissioner Lumon May said. “It brings the environmental side, the recreational side, and also the economic development side, because this has enhanced and improved the quality of life for the citizens in this neighborhood, as well as the commercial corridor on Olive Road.”<\/p>\n
The park will be open from dawn until dusk<\/p>\n