By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                Williston City Council members on Tuesday approved spending $465,000 of state grant money to improve Cornelius Williams Sports Complex but the money won’t be spent on any cool stuff like picnic pavilions, playground equipment, a concession stand, or a football field as some council members envisioned.

            The grant was secured from the Florida Department of State and Gov. Ron DeSantis for the purpose of providing paved parking areas on two sides of the complex, a six-foot chain link perimeter fence, a handicap-accessible sidewalk to bathrooms, water and sewer lines, more electric power for future sports facilities, plus a paved driveway in the back that would allow kids to reach the park from County Road 318 without walking or bicycling on nearby U.S. 27.

            City staff said a panel of state officials listened to the city’s presentation in Tallahassee last year and moved Phase 1 of the project 24 spaces higher than it would have ranked if Williston had been asking for things like picnic pavilions and sports fields instead of the infrastructure needed to build a top-flight sports complex from the ground up.

            “If I went after a specific grant for a basketball court, it’s hard to win the grant without the utilities and the infrastructure already being there,” said City Planner Laura Jones in an interview. “Once we have the infrastructure there and we have a plan, it’s easier to go after grants if we can say this is what we want, this is where we want it, and yes it has power, it has driveways – it’s easier to get things done. We were very happy Gov. DeSantis gave us this money because this money is hard to get. Typically, this infrastructure money opens the door to get a lot more grants.”

            Cornelius Williams Sports Complex is located in a minority community at the edge of east Williston and has always been open to the public regardless of race, ethnic, or cultural background, orientation, etc., but the city’s approach to securing the grant was based on the fact that the complex is in a minority community.

            “This grant was specifically for African American arts, culture, and parks,” Jones said. One of the future facilities to be constructed at the park is the Cornelius Williams Homestead Museum.

            Despite the good intentions of staff, City Council President Debra Jones said she was surprised and disappointed that a nearly half-million-dollar state grant is being spent strictly on infrastructure and not some of the facilities the city really wanted for members of the public. She wondered if half the grant could be spent on things like picnic pavilions and the other half on fences and driveways. Staff said the grant application was focused on infrastructure.

            Utilities Supervisor Donald Barber said the only reason the review panel moved the project higher was the city’s approach to asking for infrastructure rather than basketball courts, picnic pavilions, and facilities of that nature.

            “That’s the only reason they moved us up because if we had tried to go for a ballfield without this infrastructure and foundation first, state officials felt the money would be squandered, so they did that ranking based on the fencing, securing the site, getting the parking and all those things. I don’t think we would have got the grant if we didn’t address those things first,” Barber said.

             “I agree with that statement,” said Jones, “except I don’t know where we’re going to get another half million dollars to do the rest of it.”

            “We are coming back for additional grants,” Barber responded.

            Jones was asked in the interview about the city council agenda item that listed the full buildout of the park including two improved ball fields with bleachers, two improved basketball courts with bleachers, two soccer fields with bleachers, an improved children’s play area, and a pavilion that would house the concession stand, stage and announcer’s booth near the ball fields, but made no specific mention of stadium lighting for the two existing ball fields nor was there any mention of security lighting that could automatically turn off at sunrise and turn on at sunset to bath the park in low-level light for better security.

            “We have a master plan for the park of what we want and what the master plan says we should have, but the smaller details like the type of lights and when they would turn on and off – we don’t have money for that yet,” Jones said.

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City of Williston Regular Meeting March 21, 2023; Posted March 24, 2023