By Morgan Harvey
Intern

Years of careful planning and dedication to the overall improvement of Chambers Park in the North Kissimmee Community came to a tearful and well-deserved end Friday with the ribbon cutting of the Tot Lot.

The Tot Lot is a publicly funded playground located in the center of McLaren Circle, which is off Orange Blossom Trail. The playground allows for younger children, particularly those between the ages of 2 and 5, to play and be more easily supervised by parents and adults instead of running into trouble with the older children on the park’s football field.

The playground was a joint effort of the neighborhood’s Citizens’ Advisory Committee and the city Development Services and Parks and Recreation departments.

After input by the residents and representatives from the committee and North Kissimmee Community, the city added the Tot Lot to the list of improvements planned for the park. Over the last five years, park improvements have included a new football field, outdoor restrooms and an expanded community center.

“They told us what was wrong with it. They told us what they wanted fixed. They told us what they wanted left alone, so the plan was very resident-driven. This was the last project that they requested in the plan. So we were very, very excited for today. This is a great sense of accomplishment for the city and for the citizens that worked on it,” said Amy Carbajal, the principal planner with the Development Services Department who worked closely with the committee.  

Several city officials came out for the ribbon-cutting, including Mayor Jim Swan, who gave a short speech praising the cooperation between the city and the neighborhood in bettering the area.

“This is a great day and it’s proof that a joint effort between a city and a neighborhood can make a huge difference in that neighborhood and our hats are off to Amy and her staff and all the folks in our Parks and Recreation Department,” Swan said. “This has been an enormous effort by everyone involved.”

Commissioner Jerry Gemskie, Parks and Recreation director Dan Loubier and Assistant Director Steve Lackey also attended. Lackey, who spearheaded the actual construction of the site, looked on with pride as the children swarmed the new playground.  

“This was a totally vacant lot, there was nothing in here but some shrub trees and weeds and just garbage. It was a cut-through lot for neighbors and it really was not a safe area,” Lackey said. “I wish we had the before and after shots to show everybody. It was just a vacant parcel of land that had gone to a rustic-look with all the debris and all of the trees and now it’s transformed into an area that kids can play safely inside the gate.”

The playground itself is state-of-the-art and cost-effective for the community, requiring very little maintenance, thanks to its design, Lackey said. He also said the new playground comes fully equipped with current safety components that easily establishes it as the premiere playground in Kissimmee.  

“We were fortunate enough to have enough money to do a project that would be safe and functional and yet low maintenance,” Lackey said. “We’ve done a lot in the past couple years to transform this area, North Kissimmee, and bring it up to a standard that we would want for the entire city of Kissimmee.”