FAU nudging Park District off fields at Henderson School

Published June 29th, 2008

By Dale M. King
CITY EDITOR

Twenty-odd years ago, Florida Atlantic University and the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Parks District combined to create athletic fields near the A.D. Henderson Laboratory School on FAU’s Boca Raton campus.

“We both kicked in,” said Bob Langford, the district’s executive director.  “We put up the money and the university put up the land.”

Over the years, as the university has grown, so have the needs of its students to use all the fields available.  As a result, Langford said, the amount of time that the district can use the fields is diminishing.

The Beach & Parks boss did say that the district and the university have had a long and cordial relationship – and it continues. But the demands of a growing campus are cutting into the district’s time to use the field.

More students are living on campus – and that leaves many of them with time at the end of the day to take part in athletic activities.

Actually, said Langford, the district and FAU share two fields near A.D. Henderson and three fields on the west side of the campus. These fields – all-purpose, rectangular playing areas – are visible from cars passing on I-95. 

The agreement for the two fields at Henderson is about to run out.  The pact for the other three “will continue into the next decade,” he said.

Boca Raton in general is getting a lesson about the need for athletic fields.  The Greater Beach & Parks District is working with the city to install eight of them at de Hoernle Park. That’s an ongoing project that will depend on financing.

He said all five of the fields at FAU are the same – rectangular – and can be used for a variety of different athletic events.  Most, he said, are used for soccer. 

Langford emphasized that the district “is not cut off” from using the fields near Henderson. “But there is less time, and less usage.”

“It just so happens that the time when students want to use the fields is the same time we need them.”

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