Special Needs Park One Step Closer To Reality in Niceville

In Brief:

•Niceville’s Meigs Park will be transformed into a special needs play facility, the first of its kind in Okaloosa County, featuring fields, playgrounds, and other amenities.

•The project secured $750,000 in matching funds from both the State of Florida and Okaloosa County, highlighting cooperation across city, county, and state governments.

•Major construction is expected to begin in December 2024, with a completion timeline of around one year.

As the ceremony for the groundbreaking for the Meigs Special Needs ‘Field of Dreams’ park ended, a surprise guest rode the thermals above the gathering.

An American Bald Eagle wafted its way above the scene, causing more than one person in the group to remark that the appearance was a blessing on the endeavor – which seeks to make the only play facility for children specially outfitted for children with special needs.

The park, owned by the city of Niceville and in the middle of a residential neighborhood behind city hall, will dedicate most of its acreage to special needs baseball and other fields. The facility will also feature restrooms, a 6,800-square-foot league-style play area, a pavilion, pickleball courts, a multi-purpose field, and a walking path.

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A Place for Everyone

Meigs Park was initially intended for something other than the Field of Dreams Park.

Cathy Alley, a Niceville City Councilwoman, and Okaloosa County Commissioner Mel Ponder had many ideas on where to place it inside Okaloosa County. One by one, those other places fell through.

Alley believes that the optimal place to put this would have been the Mullet Festival Grounds, which the city is negotiating to lease long-term with the Air Force.

Without a lease in hand, the working group had to look elsewhere.

Other spots, near Silver Sands School in Fort Walton Beach, The Emerald Coast Autism Center in Niceville, and the Richbourg School in Crestview, didn’t work out either.

That’s when, according to Ponder, the Niceville City Manager devised a solution to keep the special needs park in the area and give it the space it deserved. They would remodel Meigs Park to fill the children’s needs without a specialized place to play between Panama City and Pensacola.

Funding for This Project

County Commissioner Mel Ponder emphasized the cooperation between various levels of government in our area and made this project happen: “We have a city, a county, and a state that will focus on who we are

and how we can work together,” Ponder said.

With the help of State Representative T. Patterson Maney and the city council and county commission’s endorsement, the effort received $750,000 in a matching grant from the State of Florida for the project, which allowed the city to move forward in earnest.

Okaloosa County provided the match of $750,000 through TDC Hotel Tax. That money, which could only be used in Destin, Okaloosa Island, and a portion of Fort Walton Beach, can now be spent in Niceville and the rest of the county – thanks to the passage of a county-wide bed tax referendum earlier this decade.

“I’ve thought about what makes Niceville a truly nice ville,” the State Representative and retired Army General said in his trademark gravelly voice with a hint of Kentucky Bluegrass, “your leadership has always looked at ways to serve the public.”

The project has a way to go before it is open to the public. Sources with knowledge at the City of Niceville say it will take about a year to remodel the park into the finished product the group has for it. According to Councilwoman Alley, the park will begin significant construction remodeling in December 2024.