14 News
The COASTAL STAR
June/July 2021
OCEAN STRAND
Continued from page 1
path installation, and estimate the number of days needed for archaeological supervision. “The revised plan allows for the cleanup of the central hammock by hand with archaeological oversight and provides for an ADA-accessible path into the park and to a picnic table near the current asphalt path. Mulch trails will be utilized in other areas of the park,” she said. Harms also said the district should forgo removing Brazilian pepper on the north and south sides of Ocean Strand and concentrate on the center area where the path will be. “For a pedestrian park it doesn’t seem the best use of taxpayer dollars,” she said. Commissioners approved trimming the park’s $600,000 construction budget by almost $279,000 meant to cover machine-clearing of the exotic growth. They originally budgeted $75,000 in March 2020 for the whole project with hopes of opening the park by last September. Decisions to make Ocean Strand, located north of the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, accessible to people with disabilities and to pay for the city-required archaeology report added to the price. Robert Carr, executive
Evidence surfaces of people inhabiting the land that is now Ocean Strand between A.D. 600 to 1400. LEFT: Oyster shells scattered at the surface. RIGHT: A prehistoric ceramic potsherd. Photos provided. BELOW: Ocean Strand, stretching from the Intracoastal Waterway to the Atlantic, is the last large undeveloped oceanfront parcel remaining in Boca Raton. Coastal Star file photo
director of the not-for-profit Archaeological and Historical Conservancy, which conducted the $4,800 study, said Ocean Strand is “likely to provide valuable information about the prehistory of the area.” “The discovery of the site does not preclude park improvements; however, the
improvements should avoid direct impacts to the principal site area,” his group reported. The principal site is roughly the western half of the parkland west of State Road A1A. Carr’s team did not study the beachfront portion east of the highway. The midden, or waste heap, is “dense with oyster shell,
with some faunal bone and ceramics,” the archaeologists said. The sherds date the site to A.D. 600 to 1400. Commissioner Craig Ehrnst asked whether the district could enlist volunteers to clear exotic vegetation and keep costs down. “The midden thing looks like an obstacle, but I guess I look at
it more as an opportunity,” he said. “It creates another special component of the whole park that will preserve it.” Further development of the park will require up to $1 million for more archaeological studies and three to five years to complete, Harms said. In the meantime, she said, a family that did not want to be identified yet wants to make a “significant” donation to the park in exchange for placement of a couple of benches and a plaque to remember a son’s untimely death. She will ask the commission to approve a document detailing the contribution at a future meeting. Ú
