The Power of Giving

By Jenny Boyle, regional editor

This conceptual design for the maze entrance features a two-story structure so that visitors can overlook the garden.

John Powers, president of Powers Design, Inc., a landscape architecture firm in Jacksonville, Fla., is well known for the many projects he’s completed in the area. So when members of a volunteer group approached his firm about designing a conceptual plan for the Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Library Park, he was all-too-happy to give back to the community that has given him so much.

Famed golf course architect Bobby Weed had originally created a site plan for the park. Powers’ firm was asked to pick up where Weed left off and develop the theming for the park. Tom Reidenbach and Eric Lanehart are the driving force behind the new design. “There were some site planning issues that needed to be addressed,” says Lanehart, a landscape architect with Powers Design. “Tom had a background in themed architecture and [the volunteer group] wanted us to take a look at what Bobby had done and add to it.”

Bobby Weed’s designs focused on a Florida eco-habitat theme with different stations to represent local ecological communities. Reidenbach, senior vice president in charge of themed architecture at Powers Design, was excited to step in and emphasize what had already been done. “We knew we were going to follow the theme,” he says. “We were actually trying to create a story.”

The overall site plan includes an interactive maze of shrubs at the park’s entrance. The park will also encompass a storytelling tree area with a small amphitheatre for children, sculptures by local artists of animals native to Florida and areas along the boardwalk with freshwater habitats and Florida Dune habitats. The park’s existing bird sanctuary has also been carefully developed into the plans.

Though the team had originally toyed with the idea of an English country garden, they ended up with several conceptual ideas to represent Florida’s major ecosystems; including coastal dunes, upland hammocks, lakes and freshwater marshes. A 2.4-acre lake will be the park’s main feature, surrounded by a boardwalk that weaves throughout the park. Also featured, will be an existing bird sanctuary. “The bird rookery is a pretty sensitive 50 foot by 50 foot piece of mud in the middle of the lake,” says Lanehart. “It’s got a tree in the middle that these birds just flock to.”

Since the entire park has a real educational focus, highlighting the rookery was an easy choice. But visitors will get to observe more than just the birds?EUR??,,????'??+a sculpture garden is planned for the site where local artisans will display their work. Reidenbach has also developed a shrub maze in the shape of a sea turtle and a storytelling area for visiting children.

Though the details are still in the works, he says the volunteer group is really getting excited about the designs. “It’s those little things that we’ve done that will make this place very special,” he says.

All those ‘little things’ take time to mull over. Reidenbach and Lanehart say they have given the volunteer group a lot to think about and it might take another six months to get the design just right by everyone’s standards. “At least 50 people are involved in this,” says Lanehart. “I would like to see everyone’s goals met. The goal is to be able to create this all-inclusive area, study art, see eco-systems, create a peaceful area to walk through and also observe the natural rookery. Innately, if we get an approval from all these people then every visitor is going to come away with something.”