From Brown to Green: Transforming Urban Infrastructure in Lakeland, Florida


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From a Baygall Swamp to a bustling railyard that served as the largest employer in Central Florida, Lake Bonnet and its surrounding land played a myriad of roles throughout its history. This 180-acre piece of land adjacent to downtown Lakeland, FL was a working piece of infrastructure up until the 1950s. Fast-forward 60 years to today and to the next role of this derelict brownfield site: a public park. Bonnet Springs Park's visionary mission and technical challenge are to reverse the impacts of former Lakeland Rail Yard operations and create a site where wetlands work to manage and clean an urban watershed, artful landforms conceal decades of contamination, and imaginative horticulture encourages a connection to nature for future generations. This session will explore how innovative designs for brownfield sites, partnering, and funding is remediating the land and transforming it into a new Central Park for Florida.


Learning Objectives
Following this session, learners will be able to:

  1. Understand the organizational structure and funding strategies to design, build, and operate a privately-funded public park.
  2. Explore the phases of design and permitting needed to transform a derelict piece of land into a successful urban park.
  3. Investigate the latest technologies in remediation, water management, and trash collection and how they serve as infrastructure for the larger urban fabric.

Anna Cawrse (she/her)

Associate Principal

Sasaki

Anna is a landscape architect and Co-Director of Sasaki’s office in Denver. She has worked on and managed complex built projects and master plans across North America. From large regional parks along major waterways to small pocket parks within the urban fabric of cities, Anna brings an expertise on how to transition master planning of the public realm into realized space. At every design scale, she has committed her practice to bringing nature into cities based on context-sensitive solutions and looks for innovative ways to create these connections. Anna is dedicated to engaging the community in all of her
projects and strives to create designs that reflect the current and future communities’ needs.

Bill Tinsley

President

Bonnet Springs Park

Todd Kafka

Principal Hydrogeologist

Geosyntec Consultants

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