Nicer restrooms, bridges and pavilions are coming to C.B. Smith Park as part of the Broward County Safe Parks and Preservation Bond Program that voters approved two years ago.
“You go through the park and you just see things that need fixing; it’s time to do it,” said Jaime Plana, an architect hired by the county to oversee bond construction. The work likely will be done next year.
About $125 million of the $400 million bond program is going toward upgrading current parks. The current working figure for C.B. Smith Park upgrades is $3.1 million.
The restrooms and pavilions would get new roofs. The bridges would be resurfaced with plastic lumber and some of them would be replaced completely. Replacing the concession area deck and paving repair work are also in the plans, as are improvements to the meeting cabin, playground area and water-play area at C.B. Smith.
The 320-acre park, at 900 N. Flamingo Road, is a popular spot for weekend and holiday picnics and gatherings. Based on estimates and gate receipts, about 500,000 people — 10,000 a week — visited the park last year.
There are four large (160 capacity) picnic shelters and 15 smaller ones, all with tables, grills, water and electricity. A meeting cabin that can hold about 300 people is located in the southwest corner of the park. An RV campground, tennis courts, basketball courts, boating area and a water park, Flume Lagoon, are also in the park.
The work is much needed, said Cynthia Lopez of Pembroke Pines, who had arranged a family gathering at a picnic shelter one Sunday.
“The park is OK as it is, but it could be much, much nicer,” she said. “Some places in the bathrooms look like they’d collapse if you hit them really hard in the right place.”
The park, which originally started as a gun range, was named C.B. Smith Park in 1967 in honor of the former Hollywood and Broward County commissioner.
It was used as a picnic spot in the 1970s, even though it had no drinking water. Most of the pavilions and restrooms were built before 1982, when it became a regional park.
Park-by-park improvements are being handled by committees divided into nine sections by County Commission district.
Plana said C.B. Smith Park and the rest of the parks in Commission District 5 are ahead of other Broward areas because the committee overseeing improvements has already selected an architect, Robert Walters of Fort Lauderdale. The selection still must be approved by the County Commission.
After that will come more government paperwork, including getting bids and hiring contractors, so Plana said he is hesitant to provide an exact date for when park visitors will be seeing the improvements. Work could begin in 2003, he said.
About $200 million of the bond money is scheduled to be used to buy new land in Broward County that will be converted to parks.
Nick Sortal can be reached at or 954-385-7906.
