The Lincoln Estates neighborhood in Gainesville will have a new public space for residents to enjoy this coming June.
The Lincoln Yard Trail at 2099 SE Eighth Ave. will be a new park containing a one-third-mile walking trail, a stormwater pond, a playground and an adult fitness station. The linear park will span from Southeast 10th Place to Southeast Eighth Avenue and will be in the company of Lincoln Estates’ Lincoln Park and T.B. McPherson Recreation Center.
Projects like these in Gainesville are funded by the Wild Spaces and Public Places program, a 0.5% sales tax passed by Alachua County voters in November 2022. The program, which was voted to run until the end of 2032, ran for 1-year and 5-year iterations previously. Betsy Waite, the director of Wild Spaces and Public Places, believes in the uniqueness of the program and values the community backing it has received.
“I think it's fantastic that the neighbors here in Gainesville and Alachua County have voted in favor of this program three times in a row,” said Waite. “I've lived in a lot of other places where you don't have this level of support for parks and recreation. So yeah, kudos to Alachua County.”
Waite said that Gainesville is following a popular urban design trend of having a park within a 10-minute walking distance from anyone in the city.
According to Waite, the City of Gainesville owned and used the Lincoln Yard Trail property for stormwater treatment for around 20 years before the park’s construction began. The new park will continue to function as a stormwater treatment facility alongside its new public access.
Construction on the park began in December 2023, and the city estimates the cost will come to $346,082. Waite said construction costs are on budget thanks to there being no major issues so far.
Some residents in Lincoln Estates are unhappy with the construction at Lincoln Yard Trail.
Doris Edwards is a resident of Lincoln Estates and the chairwoman of the Lincoln Estates Neighborhood Watch Committee, which was formed in 2007 in response to an increase in crime in the community at the time. Edwards said that since the neighborhood’s creation in 1960, she has felt the City of Gainesville has not given the neighborhood the appropriate attention it deserves.
“I was angry because I've been following Wild Spaces and Public Places, and I've seen projects added and completed while ours still sits there and does nothing,” Edwards said. “Finally we get it, and we only get a pinch of it: $350,000.”
Edwards has been working on possibilities for a park in that spot of Lincoln Estates since 2001. Multiple renderings for the location over the years have included basketball courts, a recreation pavilion, and a community living room. The renderings were created by Martin Gold, an associate professor at the University of Florida School of Architecture and principal of Martin Gold Architects, with feedback from Edwards and others.
Edwards said she feels that her plan, which would need another $3 million to $4 million is what the community deserves. The rendition from 2001 would have extended past where the current construction ends on Southeast 10th Place and continue onto 15th Avenue.
Edwards said communication between her and the city about this trail stopped in 2018 and was never picked back up because of the COVID-19 pandemic. When Edwards was informed of the new park and its design, she felt blindsided.
“Nobody called us or anything, we didn’t know that they were putting this,” Edwards said. “They didn’t even have compassion about us, the neighborhood, the people, that have to use it to tell us.”
Edwards said she would have preferred it if the city had just taken the $350,000 spent on Lincoln Yard Trail and instead invested it into Lincoln Park, which she feels is lacking in care from the city.
Waite said that the city plans to construct multi-use trails on Eighth Avenue and 15th Street to improve connectivity between Lincoln Yard Trail, T.B. McPherson Recreation Complex and Lincoln Park.
Waite predicts construction on the park will finish in late May and a ceremonial opening of some sort will follow in early June. And once that opening does occur, Edwards said she will be there.
“It does not help for me to have animosity about what is. The world treats poor people in rural areas and lower standard areas different … I made up my mind,” she said. “I will show no animosity. I will say no bad words. You won't hear it. It accomplishes nothing. It's already there.”