Peck Sink Preserve deserves more than a fence

Here is Hernando Commissioner Jim Adkins' vision of a public park: Dig a drainage pond, put a fence around it and if somebody wants to walk in to look at it, they can. Sadly, it's a definition of passive recreation shared by Commissioners David Russell and John Druzbick.

Hernando County, said Russell, has more parks than it knows what to do with and doesn't know if it can afford to maintain what it has. More parks than it knows what to do with? Certainly urbanized counties to the south would be envious.

Questions about long-term maintenance costs are legitimate, but the commissioners' dismissive response wasn't to a plan to sod ball fields, install light poles and crank out the high intensity use that comes with organized sports. The recreational aspect of the Peck Sink Preserve is to educate the public about nature, allow a family an opportunity to picnic, or even provide a park bench for someone to sit and enjoy a book amid an unspoiled piece of Florida. The unfortunate reaction to the conceptual plan for the Peck Sink Preserve is indicative of a commission majority that fails to value continued quality of life enhancements.

The plan, not yet in the formal design stages, calls for new drainage ponds on the 111-acre Peck Sink site between Cortez Boulevard and Wiscon Road. The preserved land, acquisition of which was jointly funded by state agencies and Hernando County, is intended to improve the quality of stormwater that accumulates from a 17-mile area in the Brooksville vicinity and drains through the sinkhole to the aquifer.

A secondary use is passive recreation and the drawings calling for a paved driveway into the site, parking, a picnic pavilion and other amenities for public use drew a rebuke from the commission majority. The austere use advocated by Adkins and Russell — who suggested inviting public use by not posting a "no trespassing" sign — should not be the long-range goal of this or future commissions.

Granted, initial conceptual plans tend to be the Cadillac versions and this one, with a large picnic pavilion for group use and individual picnic shelters for others, just might be providing an oversupply of eating areas for a passive park. But access is important and a driveway for vehicles shouldn't get short shrift. It also is noteworthy that the only parking spots to be paved are for handicapped use, so concerns about runoff should be minimal.

But trails, a restroom and a volunteer-maintained native flower garden are too much for these commissioners who apparently didn't heed the consulting engineer's statements that construction would be phased in as county funds become available. Considering these same commissioners just halved the park impact fee for the next 12 months, that construction money won't be accumulating at a significant rate, anyway.

Commissioners, both current and past, were flummoxed by recent attempts at park system management whether it was asking athletes to pony up an annual fee to maintain sports fields, getting a dog park built in a timely manner or even blessing a parks and recreation department attempt at alternative fundraising through beer and wine sales, which won narrow approval.

A public park is a long-term asset that can make Hernando a more pleasant place to live and invite the kind of economic investment the commission continues to seek. There is no need to expedite development of Peck Sink Preserve's recreation, but there is no need to ignore it either. The community acquired this land and deserves more than a fenced in pond as a return on its investment.