New park opens on Island Park Drive
Yet another park has joined the growing list of developments on Daniel Island. The new recreation and relaxation area is staked out at 509 Island Park Drive, and is open to residents.
Situated in the same area as the golf courses and the Daniel Island Park clubhouse, the unnamed park will provide residents with a pastime option geared towards families and small children. Two jungle gyms, a gazebo, and plenty of greenspace highlight the spot for both tranquil and busy outdoor activities.
At the park’s opening on May 15, there were already children on the playground equipment and people walking the area.
“Ever since we’ve been working on the park, before it was technically open, parents and grandparents are coming out here every day and the children are playing on the playground equipment,” said City of Charleston Director of Parks Jason Kronsberg.
Mayor John Tecklenburg told The Daniel Island News that parks like this “add to our collective quality of life.”
“Since I’ve been mayor I haven’t had anyone come forward to say ‘Mayor, we’ve got too many parks in this city. You know, our citizens don’t like all these parks that y’all are building,’” Mayor Tecklenburg joked at the ribbon cutting ceremony. “There were budgetary constraints, and we made it happen, and rather than this being a row of townhouses over there, this is a beautiful park for our citizens to enjoy forever, and to create that space for the public realm, particularly a space where children can enjoy. I just believe it’s a joy for our community and a real blessing.”
Councilmember Gary White showed enthusiasm for the area going to public use. “This park could have gone one of two ways, and I think the fact that we were able to bring this to become a park, and not become another piece of development — this is such a tremendous space with the oak trees and the trees in general — just being able to use them in a way that we have,” White stated. “I’m completely excited where we are today with this park.”
“It’s amazing what you can do with space and leveraging and using the resources that were already in place,” the Councilmember added.
According to Tecklenburg and White, a lot of the work on the park was done by city workers.
“It was more efficient economically to do it that way, and we have budget constraints with the development agreement, how much money we had allotted for the park,” Kronsberg explained about that decision. “Our own masons laid the floor here in the gazebo, our electricians ran all the electrical power, our plumbers installed the water fountain, so it was just a really big team effort.”
The park is still going through its naming process which is expected to continue with a Citizens Recreation Commission meeting in July, according to City of Charleston Director of Communications Jack O’Toole.