Pulling double-duty
Port Orange, Fla., recently opened the 23-acre Buschman Stormwater Park, its fifth park to be used both for recreation and stormwater treatment. Buschman Park is unique among the five, however, because it also is contributing to the $32 million restoration of Florida’s Rose Bay.
Since the 1990s, Port Orange, spurred by a grassroots effort of its residents, has been collaborating with Volusia County, the St. John’s River Water Management District (RWMD), the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to repair the damage done to Rose Bay and its surrounding wildlife during the last century. Three canals — Halifax, B-23 and Cambridge — were built in the 1930s and ‘40s to provide drainage throughout the city as part of a mosquito-control plan. According to officials, once residential development and the construction of asphalt roads began in the area, the canals started to pollute Rose Bay, killing plants and wildlife.
To reduce the amount of stormwater running into the bay, the city decided to create a lake to collect and treat runoff before it reached the bay. To get double-duty out of the lake, the city designed a park around it. “Why acquire land for two different purposes when you can join the recreation and stormwater needs and create an aesthetically pleasing facility as opposed to a fenced-in pond?” says Kent Donahue, public information officer for Port Orange.
The city, with the help of RWMD and Volusia County, purchased the property for Buschman Park from Miriam Buschman in 1997. Buschman and her husband had lived on the property for thirty years, raising a variety of animals, including horses, cattle, ducks, peacocks and even a Brahma bull.
The site was chosen because it was the last undeveloped, large parcel located adjacent to the Halifax Canal. The restoration team dug a 7-acre lake on the property. Water from the canal spills over a rock weir into the lake and then slowly continues south over another weir back into the canal. The water, which comes from a 1.5-square-mile drainage basin, is treated for 30 percent of suspended solids and turbidity. The slow flow of water not only removes pollutants, but also decreases the amount of fresh water entering the bay, which causes just as much damage to saltwater ecosystems as pollutants.
The park itself features a pedestrian bridge over the canal, a walking path around the lake and parking. A fountain, a playground and restrooms also will be added. The city predicts the park will receive between 7,000 and 10,000 visitors per year.
The lake is open for fishing and is full of various aquatic animals, including bass, mullett and blue crabs. Buschman Park also is home to approximately 50 types of birds — including the Great Blue Heron, the Red-tailed Hawk and the Northern Parula — according to the Florida Audubon Society. Officials say they were able to survey and maintain most large tree specimens.
Other elements of the Rose Bay restoration plan include the FDOT’s new US 1 bridge that will replace the Dixie Highway Causeway, which blocks the natural flow of the bay and causes sediment buildup; the installation of central sewer lines and the elimination of septic tanks in the area, scheduled for completion in 2005; and the dredging of the bay to its historic depth by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Port Orange Mayor Dorothy Hukill says that the wildlife and habitats contained in Buschman Park will remind residents of “old Florida.” If the park and the other restoration projects are successful, this slice of old Florida should give Rose Bay a new lease on life.