“Underutilized” Sheffield Park set to shine
The City of Oldsmar is home to 10 parks and preserves, so it’s only natural that some get more attention from residents and visitors—and city officials—than others.
Canal Park, with its world class BMX track and plan to turn it into a multi-purpose sports complex, Mobbly Bayou Preserve and its zipline adventure park, plus R.E. Olds and Veterans Memorial parks, tend to attract a wide range of guests for a wide variety of reasons.
But thanks to some new projects, including a disc golf course and a public art installation, and a renewed focus from city officials, previously “underutilized” Sheffield Park could soon be transformed into another crown jewel in the city’s public park system.
“Sheffield Park is an incredible piece of land that we own and it’s…not utilized hardly at all,” City Council member Jerry Beverland said during the March 7 council meeting.
When Mayor Doug Bevis suggested the park was underutilized, Beverland added, “It’s extremely underutilized.”
Beverland said there is enough land at the park, which is located at 1923 Cutty Bay Court in northwest Oldsmar, to do many different things there, to which Bevis replied that was the intention behind installing the disc golf course there.
“I think that’s why the Frisbee golf wound up going down there,” he said. “It will attract people down there.”
Indeed, a trip to Sheffield Park, which is somewhat hidden at the back of a residential neighborhood, reveals a quiet, picturesque setting with a dog park, a playground, a baseball field and tennis courts, and plenty of wide open space, space that, as Beverland mentioned, that could soon be filled with disc golf fans.
According to course designer Trevor Toenjes, the plan is to make Oldsmar’s disc golf course one of the best of its kind in the Tampa Bay area.
“I’ve designed this to be a signature disc golf course that will help put Oldsmar on the map as far as disc golf,” Toenjes, who has designed several courses in the area and runs the disc golf program at Spectrum Field in Clearwater, said from the site earlier this week.
“There are no disc golf courses in North Pinellas County, so this course will attract players from all over the area.”
Toenjes said he has been working with city officials since December laying out the course, which has involved the clearing of massive clumps of Brazilian peppers as well as fitting the course into the park’s unique layout.
“You have some parts of the park that are wide open and completely flat, and then you have some parts that are hilly and covered in trees and vegetation,” Toenjes said. “So it’s been a challenge to make sure the course is laid out just right based on the parameters we have to work with.”
Toejnes said they hope to have a soft opening for the course in May with an eye towards a grand opening sometime this summer.
“The City has been absolutely phenomenal with their commitment to making this happen,” he said.
“I’m excited about what we’re going to do here.”
In addition to the disc golf, the council elected to install the painted crosswalk project proposed by the North Pinellas Cultural Alliance at Sheffield Park, also.
During the meeting, the mayor and other officials said they were unsure of the status of the project, but according to NPCA board member and former Council member Linda Norris, the project is moving forward.
“We’re in the process of making a resource kit to present to artists that will show them the criteria involved with the project, then we will put out a call for artists and eventually bring their ideas to the council,” Norris said by phone.
“We have to give them ideas, and all they have to do is choose the one they like and tell us where they want it!”
Based on the council’s plan to make Sheffield Park a priority, that decision has already been made.
“Sheffield Park will be the next big push for the city of Oldsmar,” Beverland promised.
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This is the stupidest idea. You driven off nesting eagles, there is no parking, as it is when there is baseball game or any other event here people are parking up and down the streets blocking residents. As for the park being under utlized I guess that depends on your point of view. $$$ are not being brought in. The park is used by local residents to walk, bike and rollerblade. The playground gets just as much use as RE Olds. There are frequently people out birding and fishing in the canal. The way you are tearing out the “Brazilian pepper trees” is indescriminate of badly needed native trees and plants. This quiet residential park was why many of us chose to buy in this neighborhood. Your improvements will be reason we leave.
I think it is great because the park is indeed under utilized. I doubt that disc golf is going to result in some massive increase in utilization however. I’m not opposed to disc golf being there, just that it is a niche hobby and unlikely to attract many people.
That might be good news who want this to remain a “quiet neighborhood park”. I certainly wouldn’t want it to become anything close to Canal Park in terms of utilization – that would be way too much. It is a great overflow park – quite often us locals are displaced from Canal Park because of events like BMX. Happy to have BMX in Oldsmar, but I also think that we have stretched Canal Park near capacity and should look at Sheffield as part of the solution. Our community is growing!
This is a good problem to have, yet still a problem. We should look at traffic impact on the subdivision and address concerns. How much of a footprint does disc golf take? And what remains under-utilized?
If the fields weren’t soggy and infested with ants and mosquitoes, plus had trees strategically placed to make a game of pickup football or kite flying impossible I think it might be used more without any major changes. I think the city council and mayor should have themselves a picnic out there in that wide open field near the dock and they will see what I’m talking about. It won’t be a pleasant picnic because of insects, lack of shelter, and soggy grounds. There is also plenty of room for more picnic pavilions. As for the baseball and soccer fields, it’s a great place to sprain an ankle.
I suggest we make what we have more usable and see how that impacts utilization first. People go to Sheffield for walks, jogging, and birthday parties. As for baseball, softball, and soccer Sheffield Park could be called “plan b”. The fields are clearly not a top priority.
Completely demolishing the park, to set up a game for disc golf is ridiculous. Fix up what already is there, and draw attention to the existing developments currently in the park. For instance fix the baseball fields, and MAINTAIN them frequently. Put score boards up. Confession stands. Fix the basketball area. There is minimal parking for anything to be added. Every day, I walk my dogs and there is a constant flow of people there. But taking a walk back through the nature trail, there is NOT much nature left to look at anymore. As You have DEMOLISHED it throughout the years and again you are doing it for a GAME that is not something of a real sport, but more of a hobby. And with this new game, it will be left unkept (Like everything else), and the parts where you demolish will some how HOPEFULLY GROW BACK and this will too be a waste as it will be forgotten by the city to maintain. You couldn’t have thought of something better to use the grant money on?.. People will not be parking in front on my house to go there and if so, they can expect to be towed. I am appalled at the lack of judgement here on how to utilize this park. Our community is growing, yes that is a good thing, but taking out the wonderful landscape of this NATURE PARK was and will never be the answer. Pretty soon It will just be an empty field full of ants.
I believe the addition of disc golf courses to underutilized parks greatly impact its value. Local clubs and groups of people who actually play keep up with the grounds side by side with the parks and rec division of the city in order to maintain cleanliness. the size of the course expected in sheffield will absolutely bring in more foot traffic. For those who will apply disc golf as a niche market, the response to a growing sport can be seen on espn sports center top 10 frequently. the pinellas county market for disc golf is massive.
I was someone who visited the park frequently, before they tore down and cleared the areas now used for the “disc gulf course” it was a great park, but now its kind of ruined in my opinion. Instead of adding the course i think they should have improved some other aspect of the park that does not interfere with other activities.