FORT LAUDERDALE — A wooden boardwalk that winds through a scenic hardwood hammock at Snyder Park is all boarded up, closed to visitors since 2024.

The nature trail, declared a safety hazard, is rickety and missing some of its wooden planks. Repairs are at least two years away, much to the angst of those who miss walking through the shady oasis.

Residents point to the shuttered trail as just another sign of Fort Lauderdale’s bungled rollout of the $200 million parks bond approved by voters more than seven years ago.

Snyder Park, in line for $6.6 million in upgrades, is one of several city parks sitting on the back burner due to a backlog in projects and a funding shortfall caused by skyrocketing costs.

The trail was closed in 2024, but neighboring residents say it feels like forever ago.

Under the current plan, construction work will not begin until 2028.

“By then there will be nothing left,” said Kitty McGowan, president of the Edgewood Civic Association. “The wood will be so disintegrated. And by the time they go to do it, the money will be worth half and the damage will be double.”

A new and improved walking trail is on the wish list along with replacement playgrounds, repairs to the Caldwell Pavilion, restroom and office renovations, lighting and parking renovations.

“Are people complaining? Yes,” McGowan said. “In the summer time, that trail is at least 10 degrees cooler because of the tree cover and shade. And now Stranahan High School is on that (parks bond) list to redo their tennis courts. How it that on the list ahead Snyder Park? Let’s get stuff finished that’s been on the list for six, seven years.”

Vice Mayor Ben Sorensen, the district commissioner, says he understands the frustration and is doing all he can to speed things along.

“I hear concerns about all parks that are not finished in District 4,” he said. “I work on them daily. I’m pushing for the upgrades on Snyder Park to start in 2027. But this is just one park within the entire city. So I’m competing for resources and so forth.”

Sorensen left office in November 2022, ran for reelection two years later and was back on the dais by December 2024.

“The frustration around Snyder Park is real,” he said. “It should have been fully designed in 2023.”

But while he was out of office, Sorensen says no design work was done for Snyder Park.

“It should have gone into design,” he said. “That never happened. I came back in December 2024. I wanted to know the status of Snyder Park. Nothing had happened. No design. No allocation of funding.”

Some residents, including McGowan, blame the slow rollout of the parks bond on the City Commission.

Sorensen agrees.

A military man, Sorensen compared it to the Navy. If a member of the crew steers a ship into another ship at 2 a.m., the commanding officer is responsible — even if asleep in a bunk when it happens.

“We have a chain of command in the military,” Sorensen said. “The buck stops with the commanding officer. And if parks aren’t getting done, the buck stops with the City Commission. It’s up to them to check in, follow up, engage with the city manager to work toward completion.”

Sorensen added: “Is the commissioner installing the playground themselves? Of course not. But they set the budget. They set the priorities. In my case with Snyder Park, hey, the buck stops with me. And now that I’m back on the commission, I’m driving it forward.”

McGowan questioned why some parks are given priority and others put lower down on the list.

In pitching the parks bond, Fort Lauderdale officials told voters the city’s four signature parks would be done in four to six years — but even those are taking longer than expected.

Those signature parks:

— Lockhart Park in District 1, which has yet to break ground.

— Holiday Park in District 2, where some projects have been completed but others are still underway or have yet to break ground.

— Joseph C. Carter Park in District 3, where work is not expected to be complete until 2028 or 2029.

— Tunnel Top Plaza in District 4, where the city is still waiting on a new shade structure after another set of shade sails was gone with the wind two months after being installed.

Another 92 parks also made the parks bond list.

In the meantime, Snyder Park is still waiting on the city to replace a pavilion that burned down two years ago after being hit by lightning, McGowan said.

“Snyder Park is still on the wait list,” she said. “So is Floyd Hull. That park is not just an Edgewood Park. It used to be like our Yankee Stadium. Floyd Hull was supposed to be started this year and now it’s been pushed back to 2028. And it should have been started years ago. People are pissed.”

But on Friday, in another part of the city, Fort Lauderdale hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for a slew of long-awaited improvements at Holiday Park: a new playground, dog park, shade improvements for the baseball dugout, wayfinding signage, landscaping and trail enhancements.

There for the occasion was Commissioner Steve Glassman and folks from the neighborhood.

“We had a nice little crowd,” Glassman said. “We were all so frustrated with the delay. I said I wanted to apologize to the families here who felt they needed to have more kids so they could still use the playground.”

Glassman said staff decides which projects are given priority.

Phase 1 of the Holiday Park upgrades focused on the redesign of the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center that opened in October.

Friday’s groundbreaking was for Phase 2, Glassman said.

“Next we will work on Phase 3 and 4,” he said. “The bigger projects do take more time. The good news is we are finally moving on these things.”

Fort Lauderdale is now making up for lost time, Glassman added.

“And I’m hoping that we can just keep accelerating the pace and get this done not just for my district, but for the entire city.”

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