By Jessie-Lynne Kerr, Florida Times Union
April 2, 2000

The 42-acre Rondette Lake property, which the city wants to buy for $1 million to use as a passive park, turned out to be "totally clean" after environmental tests, according to a top city official.

Sam Mousa, deputy chief administrative officer, said the city now has the authority to purchase the property that sits in the 7000 block of Fort Caroline Road in front of Arlington Park at 3500 Rondette Lake Road.

There had been some talk that portions of the virgin tract had been contaminated because adjacent land where the city built Arlington Park years ago once had been a landfill used for disposal of construction and demolition debris.

"There was some question as to its environmental status," Mousa said, "so we had a full-blown environmental assessment done, and the project came back totally clean."

The money to purchase the land has been assembled. The city's Environmental Protection Board is appropriating $400,000, the public works department is kicking in $400,000 as part of a future project to widen Fort Caroline Road, City Councilman Lake Ray is allocating $100,000 from his district bond funds and the mayor's preservation program dollars are providing the last $100,000.

It will probably be the end of the year after the city's next fiscal year begins before the city closes on the land purchase, Mousa said. He added the land is appraised at $1.5 million.

Ray said the property will be developed by the city as a passive park with trails, a possible picnic area and access to a lake covering 10 acres of the property for fishing, rowboats and canoes.

"In the full scope," Ray said, "it will be part of Arlington Park, but it won't have the ballfields that that park has."

Because the Arlington branch of the YMCA is less than a tenth of a mile from the property, Ray said he would like the new park and lake available for some Y activities.

The city plans to widen Fort Caroline Road between Caroline Vale Boulevard and Hartsfield Road in the 2001-02 fiscal year and could use the natural lake on the property as a retention pond, Ray said.

Two years ago, developers targeted the property as a site for more than 300 apartments and condominiums. That proposal stirred neighborhood groups to protest because they feared increased traffic on already-congested roads.

The housing proposal also spurred Andy and Toni Crawford, nearby residents, to purchase the land to prevent its development.

"We want to preserve that area and make it available to the children of Arlington," Toni Crawford said. "We feel very strongly about preserving things like that."

The Crawfords want to be involved in the development of the park, she added.

"I've lived in Arlington for 30 years, and my children have gone to school here," Toni Crawford said. "Our sole goal was to keep that area pristine. We bought the property to make sure it would not be developed for housing and that more of a burden would not be placed on the schools in the area. It was a win-win situation, and the ultimate winners are going to be the children who'll be able to enjoy the park."