SANFORD, Fla. – Officials with the city of Sanford say they have no choice but to close the restrooms at Coastline Park because of repeated vandalism. The city’s parks department says people have stolen items from the park bathrooms and damaged others. It’s costing taxpayers thousands of dollars to fix, according to the city.
The frequent damage includes stealing toilet paper and soap dispensers and burning trash cans and picnic tabletops at the park, which is located on West Ninth Street south of the downtown area. The city also says the playground equipment has been painted and trash has been thrown in the 100-year-old fountain. That’s caused the motor to burn up three times and led to time-consuming and expensive repairs.
News 6 spoke to Robert Beall, the city’s Parks and Grounds Operations Manager about the vandalism issue in 2019. Back then, the city installed a camera to keep a watchful eye.
Beall said the parks and recreation budget does not allow for them to simply go out and buy new equipment to replace items that are damaged or stolen.
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“It’s not money we have available to replace, so the trash cans are going to stay where they are at until we can get funding to replace them,” Beall said.
No one else from the city was available to speak with News 6 on camera Monday, but they did say they still need new soap dispensers and to repair the fountain.
News 6 also reached out to the Sanford Police Department. A spokesperson there said they patrol all city parks, but in this case, most of the vandalism has not been reported.
Most of the damage has been found by the city’s park employees.
The city is encouraging anyone with questions regarding this or any other park please call 407-688-5103.
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