Council OKs plan to upgrade Woodlawn Park

Physical activity is on the rise in St. Pete, with a particular interest in pickleball. 

While the City has tried to make pickleball courts more accessible, some of its courts are becoming overcrowded, upsetting nearby residents and players, according to Mike Jefferis, Director of Parks & Recreation of St. Pete.  

This has made the Parks & Rec team reevaluate spaces that could be utilized better. One of which is Woodlawn Park. 

Currently used by students of Woodlawn Elementary School, the park’s court area has been leased to the Pinellas County School District for years. It has four tennis courts, a basketball court, practice wall and racquetball court.  

The idea to update Woodlawn Park and make more of it accessible to the public has been long in the works. City Council Vice Chair Lisset Hanewicz played a crucial role in bringing it to the St. Pete Budget, Finance & Taxation Committee. 

Jefferis and his team outlined their $1.16 million redesign project to the committee May 29, explaining how the new additions would be mutually beneficial to St. Pete residents, and to Woodlawn students. 

Funding would be provided by the Weeki Wachee Fund, created after the City sold a 440-acre Hernando County recreation area to the Southwest Florida Water Management District for more than $15 million in 2021. 

Students would be able to use a locked, safe section during school hours and then it would open to the public once the school day is done.  

Another part of the park court area would remain open during school hours for the public, blocked by a 10 feet concrete wall so that students are not disturbed by the sound. 

“[We] are very excited at the possibility of having this partnership that’s going to provide better facilities both for the school and for our public and actually open up an area to the public that really hasn’t been used,” said Hanewicz. 

The proposed footprint for the redesigned park would include two tennis courts, a multipurpose court with a shaded structure requested by Woodlawn Elementary, six pickleball courts, a basketball court, practice wall and a racquetball court. 

One of the most attractive benefits of Woodlawn Park,Jefferis explained, is it already has a foundation his Parks & Rec team could build on. “It’s an exciting idea where you take something that we already have in place and we just improve it, polish it, we make it better,” he said. 

The team also plans to resurface the existing courts and reconfigure them. 

Additionally, the Parks & Rec team did extensive research when searching for locations for more public park space, and recognized that Woodlawn’s court area is not near any major residential areas. 

Jefferis highlighted how the redesigns could help solve the City’s current pickleball problem while keeping residents happy. 

“What we’re hoping this facility will become is a facility that can really be used for tournaments, can be used for larger gatherings of pickleball activity so we are really hoping this kind of takes some of the pressure off of some of our neighboring parks.” 

The new pickleball courts can be used by the school to encourage student attendance, behavior and participation. “We want to create opportunities for success,” he elaborated. 

The school could reward students when they reach milestones by teaching them pickleball. This could “get them excited about being at school” while introducing them to a lifelong sport they can participate in. 

Parks & Rec would even offer equipment for the children to use. 

Once Jefferis concluded his presentation, Council members shared their support of the project, particularly how it incorporates both public and school usage. 

“I do appreciate the fact that we are taking the children into accountability,” Council member Deborah Figgs-Sanders said. 

Council member Gina Driscoll agreed. “Just to see a park not only super active for the city as a whole but having this strong partnership with the school and having so many activities available to the children, that means a lot to me.” 

The council unanimously approved the project for Weeki Watchee funds.