Painting the town red

After learning of large groups of teenagers running rampant and brandishing paintball guns on private property, Palm Bay, Fla., officials took matters into their own hands. Rather than punishing the trespassers, however, they decided to find an alternate — and legal — location for the paintball enthusiasts to play. Unable to find a nearby paintball park, city officials built one.

The construction of Hurricane Paintball Park was completed in November after five months of using thousands of hours of volunteer labor, mostly from the former trespassers themselves. The 15-acre park, which is one of only a handful of municipal paintball parks in the nation, attracts more than 300 visitors each weekend, coinciding with a reduction in complaints of rogue paintball players.

Initially, city leaders needed a way to get the renegade players to pay to use a park rather than continuing to play for free on private property. Julio Bustamante, a senior recreation leader in the department, oversaw design of the park with some of the features designed by the players themselves.

By creating an environment that lends itself to scenario play — acting out various situations such as hostage crises — through the use of bunkers, bridges and buildings, the paintball players were given a terrain that would not have been available to them if they continued to play illegally elsewhere. “Since they had a hand in building the park, it’s more fun for them to play here now,” Bustamante says. In addition, those who assisted in the construction of the park were given an added incentive to cooperate: passes good for a lifetime of free play.

Paintball parks usually cost in excess of $120,000 to build. Palm Bay’s costs were contained to about a third of that by using volunteer labor, donated construction materials and construction resources already available through the Public Works and Parks and Recreation departments.

The Parks and Recreation Department had only a $10,000 seed budget for the project, which would not cover the cost of providing player equipment. Instead of attempting to secure additional funding, the parks department asked local paintball equipment dealers to bid on the opportunity to provide rentals to the new facility for those players who do not own their own equipment. The rental packages, which include markers, face shields, paintballs and air supplies, start at $20 per day. To ensure safety, the equipment vendor also inspects all individually owned equipment for possible safety hazards.

Operational costs are kept low by using Parks and Recreation Department employees as well as volunteers to staff the facility on Saturdays and Sundays, which are the only days the park is open for public use. Any player who volunteers as a referee for a half-day shift — after being screened by the city — is allowed a half day of play at no cost.

Since the park’s inception, it has continually seen positive cash flows, even with its minimal fees of $7.50 for youths aged 10 to 17 and $12 for adults for all-day play. Group rates apply to parties of 50 or more renting out the park on weekdays. Because of the park’s financial success, the Parks and Recreation Department plans to expand park operations, including adding camps during spring break week, increasing the number of tournaments and extending the summer schedule by opening for more days per week. As the facility generates more revenue, the parks department intends to upgrade it to include running water and restroom facilities.