PARKS
The 3,700-foot Moore’s Creek Linear Park is soon to be a neighborhood gathering spot. Four new pink and white bridges span the newly curving creek.
A winding sidewalk and bike path, benches, lights and landscaping will make it an attractive place to visit with neighbors.
beneath the waves.
The linear park, so named because it is much longer than
it is wide, is the first new park the city has constructed in
decades, said Fort Pierce Redevelopment director Jon Ward.
“This is an interesting concept to give people access to the
waterfront where there was none before,” Ward said. “We
consider this a destination park which relies on the natural
beauty of the area for its attractiveness.”
The $680,000 inlet park was paid for by the Fort Pierce
Redevelopment Agency. It begins at the west end of Jetty
Park and runs for 1,500 feet to Mangrove Mattie’s restaurant,
where it will connect to Seaway Drive. The park’s width
varies from 8 feet to 14 feet. A second phase, when funding is
found, will add benches, lighting, landscaping and irrigation.
A second linear park, this one much more extensive, will
cut a curving, green swath along Moore’s Creek from North
Seventh Street to North 15th Street, adding a new greenway
to the city’s paved streets between Avenue B and Avenue C.
The 3,700-foot park varies in width from 80 feet to 220 feet.
“Moore’s Creek Linear Park will tie the community together,”
Ward said. “This will become a neighborhood park where
people can meet and talk and enjoy each other’s company.”
Hassie Russ, co-owner with her husband, Charles, of
nearby Granny’s Kitchen restaurant, said she has been watching
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the park develop. “I’ve seen it, and I think it’s wonderful,
and I can’t wait for it to be finished,” she said.
Mounds of dirt and partially poured, winding sidewalks
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mark the new park’s path right now. Four distinctive bridges
arch across the creek, with balustrade-style white concrete
side rails and pink brick sides.
“We’re transforming what was a drainage ditch back into a
beautiful, meandering stream with green spaces and walkways
on both sides,” Ward said. “The water will be much
deeper, encouraging the restoration of wildlife habitat, and
the banks will slope more gently.”
Egrets already pick along the new sloping banks, hunting
choice tidbits.
“I never thought I’d live long enough to see that area
improved in that way,” Hassie Russ said. “I’m especially
excited that you will be able to walk or ride a bike along the
creek. I think it’s going to bring people together and make it
more of a community. The young people and young families
will really get a chance to enjoy it.”
In the past year, The Oaks on Moore’s Creek, a 12-home development
on park-like grounds bordering the creek at North
13th Street, was completed.
The work on the project improved the area’s stormwater
drainage, decreasing the likelihood of flooding during heavy
storms. The original creek bed had been straightened and
turned into a drainage ditch back in the 1950s.
More than half the $7.6 million project was paid for by
grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and
the South Florida Water Management District. The new park
is expected to be complete by the end of the year.