A sculptural stand of picturesque Sand Pines made Tequesta Park a cool, shady environment for birthday parties and craft festivals. Unfortunately, hurricanes destroyed the beautiful stand of trees that provided shade throughout the park. Yet, large areas of native scrub vegetation remained that provided a popular trail for running and dog walking. The large open areas left by hurricane destruction offered opportunities to develop additional park facilities. The Village of Tequesta commissioned SPROUT Roy-Fisher Associates to conduct a public survey to determine what the Village residents would like to include in the Tequesta Park renovations.
The goal of the resulting master plan design was to realize the maximum benefit of the outstanding qualities of Tequesta Park: its natural habitat, large open spaces and longstanding history within the Tequesta Community while incorporating Village residents’ requests for trees, renovated tennis facilities, areas to walk dogs, improved pathways, a new tot lot and more sports fields.
The plan preserves, protects and enhances natural habitats and incorporates sustainable practices reducing turf and adding shade. Park elements are arranged for maximum use while creating minimum disturbance to natural habitats, taking advantage of areas that are already cleared and open or are overrun by exotic vegetation for project development.
Special features include a tot lot that educates about this special ecosystem, tunnels of vegetation, large areas of wildflowers to reduce turf and an area for community gardens. Large areas of tree and seedling plantings are included in the plan. SPROUT Roy-Fisher Associates determined phases for construction as well as presented ideas for community participation in the development of the park.