Village may drop park entrance fee

Deck

The Pinecrest Village Council Tuesday debated dropping the entrance fee at Pinecrest Gardens to encourage attendance and named a park after former Mayor Evelyn Greer.

Pinecrest’s new Mayor Gary Matzner attempted to fulfill one of his campaign promises Tuesday when he proposed eliminating Pinecrest Gardens’ admission fee.

The Village Council, though, decided to take up the issue at its next meeting Dec. 9. Matzner argued that the admission fee curtails park usage because residents can go to nearby Pinecrest Park for free. Entrance to Pinecrest Gardens, the former Parrot Jungle property, is $5 for adults, $3 for children under 12 and $4 for seniors.

“Lately, I’ve spent many beautiful days at the Gardens where the only people in the park were me and my son,” Matzner said. “The Gardens are a hidden treasure, and I hate to see it go to waste. Basically, the entrance fee is a barrier to entry for the community.”

Councilman Robert Hingston agreed.

“No fee would mean an immediate increase in park usage,” Hingston said, “and that’s what we want: to not have a pristinely maintained facility that never gets used.”

Village Manager Peter Lombardi asked how the council would deal with residents who have purchased annual memberships to the park once the admission fee is dropped. Those cost is $60 for a family of four. The council decided it needed more research on the effects of dropping the admission fee and will debate it Dec. 9.

The council also decided to dedicate Pinecrest Park to the village’s former mayor, renaming it Evelyn Langlieb Greer Park.

Matzner noted that before Greer lobbied for the creation of Pinecrest Park, the area was a “trailer park filled with sewage and crime” and that the land was slated for development into a Publix food store.

“Without Greer personally intervening, Pinecrest would never have a park like this,” Matzner said.

Also Tuesday, a Kendall car dealership’s proposed building changes stirred up complaints from a few Pinecrest residents.

Kendall Imports, 10775-10945 S. Dixie Hwy., filed an application with the village two months ago requesting approval to build an emergency generator next to the dealership.

The village recommended that the generator be built on top of the dealership to reduce noise and be more aesthetically pleasing, said Village Clerk Guido Inguanzo.

Before the hearing even began, Jerry Proctor, the attorney representing Kendall Imports, asked the council to defer the hearing until Dec. 9 so that the dealership could modify its proposal to meet the village’s recommendations.

Regardless, residents like Mimi Oliveira, one of two to speak at the meeting, opposed the plans in their entirety. Oliveira lives in the 7000 block of Southwest 106th Terrace, in one of the homes closest to Kendall Imports. She said that a generator of this size will not only be an eyesore but a source of constant noise pollution to her and other nearby residences.