Village critical of Parrot Jungle
With less than a week to go before Pinecrest closes on the Parrot Jungle property, village officials say they’re not happy with park owner Bern Levine.
They say Levine “dropped the ball” on maintenance of the grounds - to the tune of $100,000 - once he knew the park was going to be sold.
PINECREST
At Tuesday night’s Village Council meeting, Vice Mayor Barry Blaxberg said he took a tour of the site last week and was “appalled” by what he found: overgrown vines choking off neighboring plants and ground cover, unkempt grounds and mud- and leaf-filled ponds that once held crystal-clear water.
“I was very taken aback at the condition of the property when I looked at it thoroughly,” Blaxberg said. “It really looked like somebody intentionally dropped the ball. I think it harmed a lot of the foliage and trees that are there.”
Officials at Parrot Jungle said they were surprised to hear the complaint. They said they worked to help Pinecrest get the park ready to open as Pinecrest Gardens the day after closing - set for Wednesday.
“This is distressing,” said Barbara “Bobbie” Ibarra, the park’s general manager. “They have been walking through this park for the last three months regularly. It’s disappointing to Dr. Levine and the rest of the Parrot Jungle team that the village would take this position.”
Ibarra said no one has been skimping on upkeep of the property.
“We have continued to entertain guests here as late as Nov. 3, and we would not compromise on the park experience because that would be a disappointment to our guests,” she said.
This is not the only spat between Pinecrest and Levine as the $12.5 million purchase moves closer to a conclusion.
A while back, Pinecrest employees thought Parrot Jungle workers were taking orchids from the park.
Parrot Jungle denied the claim.
Blaxberg says he doesn’t see this latest problem as a deal-breaker. He and the rest of the council agreed to let lawyers handle it.
“The intent is to handle it as you would any closing-related dispute,” he said. “The buyer is expecting what they’re buying to be in a particular condition as required by the contract, and it’s not. They can either fix it, or pay up the cost to put it in the proper condition.”
So Village Attorney Cynthia Everett will prepare a letter to fire off to Levine’s attorneys as Pinecrest gets ready for opening day.
On Tuesday, the council unanimously adopted a pricing scheme that covers everything from park admission to rental fees.
On opening day, adults will pay $5 to visit the park. Children will pay $3 and senior citizens will pay $4.
Assistant Village Manager Yocelyn Galiano Gomez said she came up with the pricing plan by comparing Pinecrest Gardens to other botanical gardens in South Florida.
Village Manager Peter Lombardi said the village decided to stick to the lower end of the price scale because there will be little to offer at the park in the beginning.
“As the programming grows, as the activities grow, then the fee structure will probably also grow,” he said.
In other business Tuesday, the council:
- Dropped the county’s schedule of fines for code enforcement violations and adopted a simpler schedule, divided into six categories by severity of the offense.
- Raised zoning and planning application fees to make the department self-supporting.
- Decided to go ahead with plans for a new Village Hall and police department at the former Carpet Mart site at U.S. 1 and Southwest 126th Street, even though the project is estimated to cost $800,000 more than the $3.5 million budgeted for it.
Architects Wolfberg Alvarez suggested project cuts that would reduce the overrun to $248,000, and promised to look for more savings.
Photograph
JEFF SHIMONSKI / FOR THE HERALD
BYE BYE, BIRDIE: The huge symbol of Parrot Jungle is removed from the park’s former site in Pinecrest.