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FOUNDERS PARK: RECOMMENDED SOLUTIONS
Recommended Solutions
- The Policy drafted and accepted in 2007 should be re-evaluated to include other pressures on the road that now exist in “Season,” on Holiday weekends, and because of additional special events going on throughout the Keys.
- The Parks and Recs Committee should be consulted pro-actively to determine if an event is feasible, and if impacts are tolerable. A checklist or point system should be created (to approve events) that is clear and follows guidelines and recommendations made to the Council.
- This could be facilitated by the Parks and Recs Committee meeting more than quarterly, perhaps once a month.
- The Village Council should then decide proactively live on TV during a public meeting if an event will or will not be considered or re-considered.
- The neighborhoods most affected should be well-represented on the committee, recruited, consulted, and involved in the evaluation and suitability of events to be executed in their neighborhood, as there are close to 40 events now that occur, throughout the year. Nearly all events impact parking and the ability to get out onto US 1 to complete routine household errands, and several impact the Old Highway, especially the Rotary Flea Market and the chamber of commerce's Island Fest.
- The agencies and entities involved should be included in the planning and evaluation of all events as it impacts their agency, police, fire, safety, sewers, and parking.
- Artificial commercial stages should not be brought in, the amphitheater stage ONLY should be used.
- Excessive prices -- such as was charged with a 2018 concert that brought in its own stage -- ($75) should not be allowed. That is not affordable to many citizens.
- The park should NOT be closed to residents so an event can do sound checks and set up all day prior to their performance, as was done for the Florida Bay Music Festival on Nov. 3, 2018.
- Contractual hours for contracts should be strictly enforced, regardless of weather, honoring the adjacent neighborhoods tolerance levels for continuing noise throughout the year from events they are not attending.
- The number of events allowed, particularly large events, should be greatly curtailed based on factors above.
- Private citizens should not be allowed to park cars in their driveways for profit during events, as it causes additional traffic build up on residential roads and the Old Road.
- The park should not, under any circumstances, become a venue for large sponsors or mega-events, and food trucks should be strictly limited. Citizens should be allowed to bring in their own food and water if they wish. Not everyone can afford the kind of pricing that is escalating in the park by the ”for profit” caterers.
Do you have an idea that you would like to submit to help with this issue? Please email us at info@Islamorada.org
