Winters Park gets $2M upgrade
The $2 million project to provide upgrades at Bert Winters Park — including better boat ramps and more boat trailer parking — is on schedule to open next fall.
“We are providing more efficient boating access in north county,” said Bob Hamilton, director of park development for the county’s parks and recreation department.
As boating grows in popularity — there are about 40,000 registered boaters in Palm Beach County — public ramps are becoming more crowded. Boating generates about 18,000 jobs in Palm Beach County, according to the Marine Industries of Palm Beach County.
The public boat ramps at Bert Winters Park — named after the lawyer for Harry Kelsey, founder of Kelsey City, later Lake Park — are closed while construction continues. The 17-acre Palm Beach County park is on the east side of the Intracoastal Waterway just south of Donald Ross Road.
The new ramps will have the same less-slippery surface that was installed on the new boat ramps at Waterway Park in Jupiter. The new ramps at Bert Winters Park will accommodate three boats at the same time, said Hamilton.
Last year, about $7 million was spent to build Waterway Park and about $1 million to spruce up Burt Reynolds Park West.
Waterway Park, on the southwest corner of the Intracoastal Waterway and Indiantown Road, opened in April. The park has three boat ramps, a launch basin, a fishing pier and overlook, a restroom building, 52 boat trailer parking spaces and 20 vehicle spaces at the 30-acre site, adjacent to the Jonathan’s Landing gated community.
The improvements to Burt Reynolds Park West in Jupiter were finished about three months later.
About two dozen boattrailer parking spaces were added to the 39 spaces at Burt Reynolds Park West, one of the busiest in the county. The number of parking spaces for vehicles without trailers was reduced from 26 to 10. A walkway for pedestrians was built underneath U.S. 1. No changes were made to the public boat ramps.
Bert Winters Park upgrades:
■ 45 new boat trailer parking spaces
■ A new entry/exit for vehicles on the north side of the park at Ellison Wilson Road
■ Renovations to existing boat ramps.
■ Three staging areas are being built. Staging areas are stationary docks boaters use to unload their gear while waiting their turn at the ramp.
■ A new restroom.
■ A less slippery surface on the boat ramp.
■ Ballfields and playground are open during construction.