Mayor of St. Petersburg,FL Increases Number of Playgrounds by Establishing Shared Use Agreements with Schools

Share On Social!

In 2001, Mayor Rick Baker of St. Petersburg Florida started The Play ‘N’ Close to Home initiative, with the intent of making playgrounds available within 1/2 mile of every child in St. Petersburg, Florida. Pinellas County entered shared use agreements and developed new playgrounds to  increase the amount of play space and now 75% of children in St. Petersburg have a playground located less that 1/2 a mile away from where they live.

According to a KaBoom success story, before the Play N’ Close to Home initiative, only 49% of residents under the age of 18 lived within half a mile of a playground. Mayor Baker stood fully committed to ensuring that Play ‘n’ Close to Home was enacted and to ensure proper implementation he assigned high-level staff to gather support from key partners in the community. City staff gathered data and provided information on the the costs and benefits of playgrounds. They pointed out to the community that well maintained playgrounds have a life span of 20 years, serve thousands of children, and only cost about $5,000/year to maintain.

Although, Mayor Baker did not face any opposition, he did face a challenge in that the city was already 95% developed, and that land was only available at a premium. This is when the idea of shared use agreements came about. Because Mayor Baker had a good relationship with school board members, he was able to negotiate terms which would allow shared use of school property. The agreement would benefit both parties because the city would pay for playground maintenance, while the schools would allow playgrounds to be open to the community. Seven years after implementing the Play ‘n’ Close to Home policy, the amount of playgrounds within half a mile of children has increased to 75%.

To learn more about this story, read the KaBoom Story “Play N’ Close to Home: A Playground Near Every Child.”

Resources

A Resolution Authorizing the Toussie Terrace Community Playground

This document is an example of a resolution used to develop a community playground as part of the Play ‘N’ Close To Home Initiative.

Parks & Schools/ Partnered Playgrounds

This map displays playgrounds that existed prior to April 1, 2001 and those that were built after.

Information from the city of St. Petersburg on the Play ‘N’ Close to Home Initiative

After conducting a GIS survey, results indicated that there were areas of St. Petersburg that lacked playgrounds. The Play ‘n’ Close to Home initiative was enacted in 2004 when the city had only 47 playgrounds. Soon the city’s staff worked with the Pinellas County School Board to remove any barriers to shared use agreements. In March of 2004, Mt. Vernon Elementary School became the first joint use playground in the city and by 2005 St. Petersburg planned on adding 14 new playgrounds to its inventory.