Neighborhood Parks in Sebastian — Sebastian, Florida

Beyond its riverfront and sports parks, the City of Sebastian runs a set of small neighborhood parks scattered through the residential streets west of U.S. 1. The city's Parks and Facilities page lists 23 parks and facilities with over 125 acres of developed park land, 244 acres of nature preserve and over 50 acres of unimproved potential future park sites. This page groups ten of the listed sites as neighborhood parks: Hardee Park, Schumann Drive Park, Easy Street Park, Blossom Street Park, Bryant Court Park, Filbert Street Park, Garden Club Park, George Street Park, Periwinkle Park and Kildare Park. All carry Sebastian, FL 32958 addresses.

The city's own pages use the term directly: Blossom Street Park is described as one of the community neighborhood parks, and George Street Park as part of Sebastian's neighborhood park system. In a 2015 survey of the system, Vero News reported that Riverview Park was only one of 20 parks in the city inventory at the time, some on main thoroughfares and others tucked into quiet residential neighborhoods. Mayor Richard Gillmor told the paper he had not appreciated how many parks Sebastian had until he walked the neighborhoods while campaigning in 2008.

The neighborhood parks are maintained by the Sebastian Parks and Recreation Department, which reports landscape maintenance at 17 parks, upkeep of restroom facilities in nine parks and repairs to playground and picnic facilities. Of the ten neighborhood parks, only Hardee Park and Schumann Drive Park list restrooms on their city pages.

Hardee Park is the largest of the group. The city's Hardee Park page gives the address as 530 Barber Street and places the park on the north end of Barber Street, on the west side of the Lake Drive Bridge. It offers a half mile walking trail with exercise stations positioned along the entire route, a large open space field, playground equipment and restroom facilities. Vero News described it in 2015 as the centrally located 13-acre Hardee Park north of CR 512, where Barber, Lake Drive and Main Street converge, with a lake and fitness stations.

The playground dates to a 2010 decision. Vero News reported on September 29, 2010 that the Sebastian parks and recreation committee had selected playground equipment for Hardee Park within $25,000 allocated in the Parks and Recreation Department budget, choosing a playground and swing set over resurfacing the walking and jogging trail. In July 2011, Vero News reported that the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee proposed Hardee Park as a fallback site for a $26,000 pavilion first planned for Riverview Park, and that residents adjacent to Hardee Park objected that a pavilion would draw events, noise and parking to a park they saw as recreational and fitness oriented.

Hardee Park also anchors the north end of Sebastian's canal network. Vero News reported in October 2014 that City Engineer Frank Watanabe described an earlier $4 million federally funded project that repaired seawalls and dredged the Collier Canal all the way from the Hardee Park Dam to County Road 512. The city page does not record the origin of the Hardee name, and no source consulted ties this park to a specific namesake.

Schumann Drive Park at 1096 Schumann Drive is the neighborhood park with the most active recreation. The city's Schumann Drive Park page calls it a Community Park that is home to the City's asphalt tennis courts: 6 lighted tennis courts, 2 of which also carry pickleball lines, and 2 lighted basketball courts. It also has a playground, swing set, shade shelters, a pavilion and restrooms. Vero News called it Schumann Tennis Park in 2015 and separately listed Schumann Lake Island, with a small boat ramp and a pedestrian bridge to the island.

The current buildings and playground followed a run of Sebastian projects. Vero News reported on August 31, 2010 that the restroom at Schumann Park would be replaced, with the new structure designed in a Florida Vernacular style with porches and cupolas, and that the playground would be relocated to make room for it. On June 26, 2012, Vero News reported that the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, with almost $437,000 in Recreation Impact Fees to allocate, agreed to put $25,000 toward playground equipment at Schumann Park. A committee member noted at that meeting that the earlier improvements had drawn a lot of traffic to the park.

Several Sebastian neighborhood parks sit on the stormwater lakes and canals that thread through the city. The Easy Street Park page places the park at the intersections of Easy and Lake Street, home to Easy Lake, with playground equipment, shaded picnic tables and a 1/3 mile walkway that loops around the lake. In 2015 Council member Andrea Coy told Vero News that the ducks and geese at Easy Street Park were interesting for young and old.

Periwinkle Park, at 444 Periwinkle Drive about a half mile west of Barber Street, is listed by the city as a neighborhood park with a lake. Garden Club Park, at 1028 Barber Street on the corner of Rose Arbor Drive, is described as one of Sebastian's passive parks, with a scenic view of the lake, a gazebo and native plantings; Vero News noted its memorial trees and fountain in 2015. Blossom Street Park, at 940 Cody Avenue on Blossom Drive, offers a pond, open space, a swing set, slides, play equipment and shade shelters with picnic tables.

Kildare Park, reached from Kildare Drive off Schumann Drive at 130 Kildare Drive, is the water access site of the group, with walking trails, fishing and canoe and boat launch facilities; the city notes that motorized boats are prohibited in the waterway. Fishing in these waters has been discussed at city level: Vero News reported on March 7, 2014 that the Sebastian Recreation Advisory Committee voted 3-1 to recommend catch-and-release-only fishing in the Stormwater Park and drainage canals, with members reporting bass in the Hardee Park and Schumann canals.

Three Sebastian sites function as pocket playgrounds for nearby blocks. Bryant Court Park, at 117 Bryant Court, has a walking trail through a wooded part of the park, a playground and benches. Filbert Street Park, at 170 Filbert Street, offers a playground, shade shelters, open space and benches. George Street Park, at 1270 George Street at the intersection of Barber and George Streets, has a playground with slides, swings and picnic tables. Vero News also described Filbert Street Park with a walking trail and pavilion in 2015.

Park decisions in Sebastian run through an appointed board. The city's Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee has 5 members and 2 alternates, meets at 6 p.m. on the 4th Monday of each month, and reviews the city park system and recreational programs before making recommendations to the Sebastian City Council. As early as August 2010 the committee asked for signs marking the neighborhood parks, after a member noted he had driven past Hardee Park many times without knowing which park it was.

Maintenance practices are set citywide. The city's Integrated Pest Management Plan for Parks and Properties was approved by Resolution No. R-20-12 at the October 14, 2020 Sebastian City Council meeting, and the plan counts 11 playgrounds, 10 tennis courts and 8 pickleball courts across city parks.