WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. – If your kids play sports in Central Florida, there’s a good chance they’ve played at one of the largest and most-used parks in Seminole County: Central Winds Park.
If they haven’t, there’s a good chance it’s because only half of the park’s fields are lighted at night.
More than 1,000 parents, athletes, and coaches are petitioning Winter Springs commissioners to change that.
Dave Bear, father of three young athletes and president of Save Rural Seminole, said the lack of lighted fields has directly affected his family.
“So this past year we signed our kids up for Winter Springs baseball and soccer and come about December, all of a sudden we’re kicked out of Central Winds Park,” Bear said. “Because the fields we were playing on aren’t lit. And so it became very apparent there’s a problem which is the City of Winter Springs doesn’t have enough practice fields for all its sports teams.”
Bear is one of the parents behind the petition.
“The fields here are generally divided into upper fields and lower fields,” Bear said. “The upper fields are lit and great for games that are going on right now behind us. But the lower fields where a lot of the practices are, are not lit. So about half the fields are candidly unavailable during the weekdays at least for almost half the year.”
Winter Springs spokesperson Matt Reeser confirmed the lighting situation.
“Currently, lighting is concentrated in the Upper Fields, with some additional lighting provided in parking lots and at the Pickleball Complex,” Reeser said. “While these concerns from Facebook weren’t mentioned in recent discussions, the city has been taking a comprehensive approach, with public feedback playing a significant consideration in future planning.”
So far, there has been no discussion on adding lights to the lower fields.
But during the city’s Nov. 18 commission meeting, “the commission decided to table a proposed $1.2 million lighting project that would replace the old lights currently at the upper ball fields with LED lighting, feeling that the priority should be addressing the city’s critical infrastructure needs first,” Reeser said.
News 6 has reported on the city’s ongoing struggle to replace the aging water treatment facility and find funding to pay for it.
Winter Springs Mayor Kevin McCann said the city does plan to replace the upper field lights and install new lighting on the lower fields at some point in the future.
“Actually we have budgeted to replace [upper field lights], we’re going to switch from conventional [lighting] to LED [lighting], we have budgeted for that,” McCann said. “I think with the election that just took place, we have a new commission, they just wanted to take a step back, take a breath and study the issues before we spend $1.3 million just in upgrading some lights.”
McCann said currently the money is not there to add new lights to the lower fields.
“The money is not there to build new lighting, that’s easily $2.5 million, and the design, construction, infrastructure, the utilities, none of those things are there,” McCann said. “And those those fields flood. We have to deal with the flooding issues first before we double or triple the usage of them because they are unusable.”
But Bear said funding for field lighting and critical infrastructure comes from two different city budgets.
“I think that’s actually a false dichotomy because just like in federal and state and local government, you have different budget line items with different things,” Bear said. “And so in this case you have Enterprise funds which are used for infrastructure such as a water treatment facility and roads, then you have parks budget line items such as impact fee revenues and things like that, which go to park funds. You have grants that are available which are park grants. So these are two different pockets of funds that are used for different things. In addition, I think it’s short-sighted for any government just like for any business to only look at the cost.”
Bear said he and other parents plan to speak to commissioners at Monday night’s commission meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Winter Springs City Hall. The agenda can be found HERE.
“Part of the reason to add lights to the lower field is to increase the revenue to the city, and increase the revenue to the city by driving additional traffic here to Central Winds Park in the evening,” Bear said. “The city of course should be aware of its budget, but also how do we make this city vibrant and healthy. And so our ask of the city is to add lights the lower field, one, because it’s good for the budget of the city looking forward, but, two, maybe more importantly, it increases the quality of life for all the families who live here.”
McCann said the petitioners' “voices are being heard” and “their advocacy will help move up the timelines.”
“But it is important to note that the city only recoups about 7% of the usage,” McCann said. “The cost of those teams, those organized teams using those fields, the city only recoups about 7%. The national average is 25%. If these families, and a very large percentage of them are coming from outside of Winter Springs, want us to put in that massive infrastructure, they must be prepared to share the burden. And I think that’s a critical thing. We can’t ask Winter Springs residents to pay for something solely on their own, where a very large percentage of the people using it are from outside the city.”
Reeser said at Monday night’s commission meeting, GAI Consultants will present a finalized report of recommendations for various Central Winds Park area improvements, “including trail connections, wayfinding, gathering spaces, and potential upgrades to the fields and passive park areas.”
Video of the most recent GAI presentation can be found below.
