As a Palm Beach County Department, Parks and Recreation is aligned with the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) seven Strategic Priorities and the County’s mission, vision, and goals.
1. Economic Development: Studies show that well-planned Parks and Recreation systems can serve as a driver for a community’s economic vitality, tourism and economic investment. Sports tourism, eco-tourism, historic tourism and leisure tourism all depend on a robust and well maintained park system. Beaches are the top tourist destination in our County. Parks and Recreation operates fourteen public beach parks in Palm Beach County. The film industry utilizes our park system frequently through the PBC Film Commission and we enjoy a Mutual Use Agreement with the Palm Beach County School District for Recreation Facility Use. Parks and Recreation facilities contribute to the quality of life in our County enticing both employers and workers to settle here. The equitable distribution of parks is a priority with a County-wide goal to have a quality park accessible within a 10-minute walk of every resident. According to the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) “The Economic Impact of Parks,” parks in the State of Florida generated $2.6 billion in labor income, over 71,000 jobs and $10.1 billion in economic transactions. These results are proof that parks are robust engines of economic activity.
2. Unsheltered Residents: People without housing seek a shelter of last resort often in public park land not knowing where else to turn. Our staff work continuously to connect homeless individuals and families we interface with in Parks and Recreation programs to resources in our community for shelter and wrap around services.
3. Housing: Our Parks 2 Work program in collaboration with Community Services, the Philip D. Lewis Center and the PBC Homeless Coalition, employs people to work improving our public parks while also providing supportive on the job training, work reference resume building, shelter and a stipend to work toward permanent employment and housing. Staff will also continue to evaluate park standards for greater housing density in our communities.
4. Environmental Protection: The Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation system encompasses more than 8,300 acres of park land providing native wildlife habitat and opportunities for both passive and active recreation. Environmental best practices such as integrated pest management, balloon free coastal parks, smart irrigation and lighting efficiencies continue to be implemented. Planning efforts include climate resiliency and water conservation strategies. All five public golf facilities are certified Audubon Sanctuaries and maintain this certification annually.
5. Infrastructure: Parks and Recreation develops and maintains vital public infrastructure including green and blue spaces, piers, seawalls, bridges, culverts, dune crossovers, bio swales and retention areas, civic use buildings, and cultural and recreational facilities. This critical infrastructure helps manage water resources and mitigate flooding, provide tree canopy to cool and recharge the air we breath, connect routes of alternate transportation for people, provide wildlife habitat and corridors, serve as emergency response resources, and serve the public through a multitude of recreation opportunities utilizing this infrastructure.
The Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation system is exciting, beautiful, and aging. The Parks and Recreation Department began in 1972 with several infrastructure assets pre-dating its 50 year history. Several Bonds were passed to support development, re-development, and repair of infrastructure through the 1980’s, 1990’s and early 2000’s. An Infrastructure Sales Surtax was passed by voters in 2016 to address some of our deferred infrastructure needs.
Keeping the Parks and Recreation infrastructure functional and modern to meet the needs of the public is an ongoing challenge and opportunity.
6. Public Safety: Safety in our parks is our number one priority. In addition to our routine park safety inspections and maintenance standards, we provide award-wining Ocean Rescue lifeguard services at our beach park locations with designated swim areas and we have a Park Ranger section serving as public ambassadors. The Park Ranger Section along with contractual security personnel keep an eye on our parks while calling for law enforcement response when needed. Larger special events often necessitate contractual law enforcement and crowd management techniques to be implemented.
Our Aquatic Centers provide youth and adult swim lessons, working with The Drowning Prevention Coalition of Palm Beach County and American Red Cross Centennial Program to offer free vouchers for the public to access this life-saving training.
7. Substance Use & Behavior Disorders: Parks and Recreation offers free and affordable low-barrier access to public Parks and Recreation activities. As such, we interface with many millions of members of the public each year. Parks also provide a place of peace and tranquility where people seek to escape the every-day stressors, improve their outlook, seek both connection and self-expression, and achieve physical, mental and spiritual well-being.
Spending time in nature has proven to reduce stress and improve mental-health. Unfortunately, the beautiful places we steward also attract people in mental health crisis. We have partnered with Josh’s Benches to provide Suicide Prevention Lifeline information in our Recreation Centers and have trained staff in Mental Health First Aid. Our staff take precaution when finding any drug paraphernalia to dispose of it properly and our Ocean Rescue Lifeguarding staff keep Narcan in their medical supplies should it be needed in a medical emergency.