The City Council of DeFuniak Springs met this past week when council members received an update from Josh Ervin, Executive Director of the Community Revitalization Agency (CRA), regarding the proposed Veterans Memorial to be constructed in DeFuniak Springs. Ervin invited Rudy Mall, Civil Engineer at Dewberry Engineering, to present the proposed plan and location for the memorial. In his opening remarks, Ervin provided a brief history of the efforts made by the CRA and Dewberry to involve both the City Council and the citizens of DeFuniak Springs. Ervin referred to the initial meetings as “visioning sessions,” and these gatherings were initially held with the City Council beginning last October (2024). Following, in November, a meeting was held at the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), where Erwin stated, “We had a meeting at the DAV where multiple chapters were present, and we discussed the ‘labyrinth concept’ [proposed for the Veterans Memorial] and the potential locations. It was at this point that Dewberry Engineering began to look closely at three potential locations, and they developed high-level concept drawings “to focus primarily on the general scale and the accessibility for each [proposed] location.”
What is a labyrinth?
The Labyrinth Society describes a labyrinth as “an ancient archetype dating back 4,000 years or more. They are used symbolically, as a walking meditation, choreographed dance, or site of rituals and ceremony, among other things. Labyrinths are tools for personal, psychological and spiritual transformation. They evoke metaphor, sacred geometry, spiritual pilgrimage, religious practice, mindfulness, environmental art, and community building.” (Labyrinthsociety.org)
During the meeting, Councilman Todd Bierbaum (Seat 1) and some of the citizens who spoke on the topic shared that the idea of using a labyrinth had been placed before the council over a number of years for different reasons. Inferences were made that the proposed labyrinth for a Veterans Memorial was a way to obtain a labyrinth in the city by using the Veterans Memorial as a method to obtain that objective.
Ervin shared that during the recent May 22 meeting held to discuss the proposed Veterans Memorial, “We introduced the technical side of each location and we allowed the participants to rank them in accordance with their preferences…Through that exercise (that we had over 2 dozen in attendance), we saw that there was a strong [sic] favor for the original location, which is here on Main Avenue in Circle Drive, in that depressed area where the circular sidewalk section is.” This area is referred to as the Lakeyard and Chipley Park for local residents.
After giving a brief overview of the numerous meetings held, providing the means used for publicizing scheduled workshops, and listing a number of unanswered questions, Erwin concluded his remarks by saying, “Tonight, we are kind of at a crossroads where we have this information. We would like to move forward with [the] formal design development. But considering that it is Chipley Park and property of the City, we would like to ask your permission to move forward with that [the Veterans Memorial], so we can answer some more of those questions.
One councilman asked about the number of meetings that the public had been invited to attend. Ervin replied, “All of them,” and explained their marketing strategy.
Councilman Bierbaum asked Mall, the engineer, for a cost estimate on the proposed memorial. Mall said that the costs of the construction would depend on the materials used and the yet ‘to be determined’ details of the overall plans. With a brief pause, Councilman Bierbaum said, “ Moll, how much was the cost for your task order to develop those plans [referring to the work and services billed to this point?] Moll looked toward Ervin (seated behind him) and then looked back to the dais and said, “$22,500 dollars.” To which Bierbaum responded, “So we spent $22,000, had 10 public meetings, and we are no further along than when we discussed this last time?”
Mall stressed the two obstacles that remain in the way of further development. The first is selecting a location, and the second is determining the concept for the Veterans Memorial. He said, “Now once we decide on the site [memorial location] and I believe that is what this whole meeting [was designed to accomplish] – this workshop meeting was to help [us] take a step forward – to get everyone on board with a site, and then part of my scope was to finish out the basic concept to a more detailed engineering concept and provide an engineering cost …for that project.
Councilman Bierbaum came back once more very directly and said, “So, in your presentations, you showed a labyrinth. You didn’t consider any sort of other design [other than the labyrinth] that could be implemented to honor veterans, is that correct? Mall’s reply was, “Correct.”
Councilman Glen Harrison (Seat 4) supported the concerns expressed by Bierbaum and indicated that he had received many public comments from individuals who are in opposition to the Lakeyard. In addition, he expressed (what two citizens at the meeting shared) that the City Council had expressed, in past meetings, a strong objection to any additional building at the Lakeyard. He provided strong reservation about any additional building “phases” that could follow the development of the initial memorial.
Councilman Danny Casson (Seat 5) said, “I am 100 percent for the Veterans Memorial. However, I am opposed to the [proposed] location. Y’all got [sic] the same emails I did.” The councilman made a motion to “disapprove the [proposed Lakeyard] location.”
And once again, Councilman Bierbaum spoke to challenge the direction that the CRA and the consulting firm were proposing. Bierbaum said, “The Labyrinth is the only option that was provided… [This is] “what I have heard from people that were at these other public meetings. There is only one option that’s continually presented over and over and over again at all these meetings, and yet I’ve heard from other people that have said, “The Council’s considering the Linear Park [in West DeFuniak Springs] that was presented by Scenic Walton and actually handed to us on a silver platter.” With this new option presented, the Councilman expressed the idea that there are more options than currently being proposed.
In his final statement on this subject, Bierbaum expressed strongest opposition saying, “I guess I’ll be ‘the jerk’ that says this, but that concept of a labyrinth in the Lakeyard has already been presented to previous councils and has been voted down. And I find it [the proposed Labyrinth] as the son of an air force veteran – I find it offensive to just ‘slap the word’ Veterans on something and then say we’re going to do this for ‘veterans’ when it was not approved previously for something else.
Several veterans spoke before the City Council, and one individual in particular (a retired Major) stressed in his remarks that there needs to be an effort to work together to come to a solution [building a place to honor and remember our veterans]. When asked by Councilman Cosson where the Major would like to see the memorial located – he said that he believed the Lakeyard would be his choice.
Kim Wennerberg, a resident of DeFuniak Springs, paid tribute to the Veterans of our armed forces, and she reiterated that no one is against the Veterans Memorial. She added, “I am personally extremely opposed to it [the Lakeyard placement for the memorial], and this is a hill that I will die on because our Lakeyard is precious. We have managed to protect it for 150 years by not “mucking it up” with stuff. And I don’t mean that the Veterans Memorial is ‘stuff,’ but potential bathrooms, sidewalks, and pavilions – all of that is not appropriate for the Lakeyard…There is a deed that protects [designates] what can be put in the Lakeyard. If you haven’t seen it, there are some pretty good protections in there [the deed]. Ms Wennerberg concluded by saying that, “I will echo what Randi Lightner (citizen also speaking in opposition to the placement of the Veterans Memorial in the Lakeyard,] said, ‘It is bothersome that this ‘was a labyrinth’ until it was a Veteran’s Memorial. And it was a labyrinth that couldn’t stand on its own merit for a number of years, and the veterans got attached to it. And I don’t like that. The veterans deserve their memorial – the way they want it with their support.”
A motion was made to support and continue the Veterans Memorial, but the proposed location of the Lakeyard (also known as Chipley Park) was rejected.
Pro Communi Bono
St. Francis De Sales, Ora Pro Nobis!
