Ready ... aim ... paintball! The city of Palm Bay turned a community paintballing problem into a major park money-maker.

Located on Florida's east coast, the city of Palm Bay may be close to Walt Disney World and the Kennedy Space Center, but it isn't known for Mickey Mouse or space shuttles. Instead, the city has become known as the home of the Rogue Warriors, Air Assault and Palm Bay Ball Hogs--just three of the many paintball teams that come to battle in Palm Bay's Hurricane Paintball Park, the only public paintball park in the nation.

Palm Bay is Florida's eighth largest city encompassing almost 70 square miles. With its population of more than 90,000 people, the city still remains lightly developed in some areas and largely residential in the remainder of the city. The problem existed, however, that while there were many retailers from which to purchase paintball equipment, there was no place locally to play the sport. Before the opening of the Hurricane Paintball Park, there existed no private or commercially run paintball fields less than an hour's drive away for local players use.

Even though they are within the city limits, many areas of Palm Bay could be considered rural, with large stands of palmetto palms and pines. These rural conditions provided areas for paintball players to set up courses for weekend play on private property, however the property owners never gave permission. The renegade play grew in popularity until it was not uncommon for 100 or more players to turn out for these weekend events. Once property owners became aware of these trespassers, they called the police department to remove the paintball players from these sites. Property owners expressed fear that they would be held legally and personally responsible for any injuries to paintball players using their property.

Because of these complaints from property owners and the potential for more accidents, the first reaction by city authorities could have been to shut down the paintball games and make some arrests. City Manager Lee Feldman, with the consensus and support of the mayor and city council, decided to try a different approach, and to work with these paintball-playing enthusiasts to investigate other possible solutions to this problem.

The parks and recreation department staff, led by Senior Recreation Leader Julio Bustamante, met with the paintball players to investigate other possibilities for the sport. It quickly became apparent that the idea of developing a paintball park operated by the city was the best solution. Such a facility, it was argued, could provide a safe, supervised park within the community for both experienced players and for the youth of the community just starting to play this sport. With the endorsement of the mayor and city council, and $10,000 of seed money, Bustamante started the task of actually building a park for this activity.

As with the construction of any recreation facility, there were nuances with this sport that had to be considered. For those unfamiliar with paintball, there are two different variations practiced (see sidebar on page TK), so the facility had to accommodate both. An undeveloped park of approximately 15 acres located in the rural area of the city was selected as the site of the new facility because it contained both a wooded area and an open clearing, making it suitable for both variations of the games played.

The construction of this type of facility could have exceeded $120,000 with the costs of land clearing, netting to enclose the playing fields and the construction of bunkers and barriers, but with just $10,000 to work with, Bustamante enlisted the help of the former renegade players to design and build the park.

Once a design was finalized, the parks and recreation department maintenance staff utilized city equipment to clear the property and to erect the netting around the park's playing fields, but much of the construction was done by the members of the Rogue Warriors and other volunteers. These players took what they had learned from playing in other paintball parks in the state and built the various bunkers and walls necessary. The park is the result of many hours of volunteer labor, limited city funding and the traditional scrounging of needed materials. Costing only $40,000 instead of the $120,000 estimated for the project, the thousands of hours of volunteer labor, use of city staff and equipment, and donations from community construction companies saved the city the additional $80,000 it would have cost.

The result of this unique partnership is the city owned and operated Hurricane Paintball Park. The park opened in November 2003 and attracted 300 players each weekend through the winter months, and 150 players each weekend during the hot Florida summer. Tournaments and 24-hour scenario games are planned for the facility this winter. The facility is also available for private group rentals, leagues, camps and safety instruction programs. The paintball park is fee supported, generating the income for staffing and operating the facility.

To save money on referees and supervision, Hurricane Paintball Park has a policy of free play in exchange for serving as referees during the scheduled play times. A player who volunteers to serve as a referee during a three-hour session can then receive three hours of play at no cost. The parks and recreation department screens the volunteer referees to make sure they know the rules and are competent to enforce them. One parent e-mailed the mayor about his/her experience saying, "I was instantly impressed with the way everything is run, with the number of referees per game probably being the most impressive. Because they have enough referees, there are plenty of games each day ... In short, my son had a wonderful, safe experience and we will definitely come back."

To cover any potential problems that do arise, the city has a separate liability insurance policy to cover the operations at Hurricane Paintball Park, obtained through the national association for the sport, the American Paintball League. All players must sign a waiver prior to playing at the facility and players under the age of 18 must have the waiver signed by a parent or guardian. Waivers are required for each use of the facility for all players. The department does not permit children under 10 years old to utilize this facility during open play hours, but does schedule separate times for the younger children to play. Additionally, legislation was enacted by the State of Florida in 2004 adding municipally operated paintball parks to the liability law limits already in place, which shield cities from injury liability for activities associated with municipal skatepark operation.

Although the city created a place for paintballers to play, covering equipment costs became the next obstacle to overcome. To solve the problem, the city contracted with all outside vendor to provide equipment packages for those needing to rent the equipment necessary to play, including the marker, face shield, paintballs and air supply needed to enjoy the game. The vendor additionally assists the parks and recreation department staff with the inspection of all individually-owned equipment used at the facility, to insure that all equipment meets the required safety regulations.

Additionally, with the exception of the special 24-hour scenario games and tournaments, players are permitted to "BYOP" (Bring Your Own Paintballs) purchased from other sources. Most private paintball parks require the purchase of field paint at the site--the vendor contracted by the city offers field paints at prices, which are competitive to other sources, but players aren't required to buy the paint there.

When the Parks and Recreation Department staff first considered the operation of the Hurricane Paintball Park, there was no indication of the possible revenue generation from this type of facility--the department simply wanted to respond to an unsafe situation present in the community. Once the paintball park opened, it was quickly apparent that this facility was one that the community truly needed.

The FY 2004/2005 budgeted revenue for Hurricane Paintball Park is $130,000, while expenses (part-time staff and supplies) are budgeted for only $50,000. It is anticipated that the balance will be utilized to make additional capital improvements at the facility. The generation of this additional revenue from former trespassers, who are now volunteers and patrons, assists the department with its total mission of providing recreation programs for the total community.

Palm Bay resident and avid paintball enthusiast, Troy Palmer says "I've played since 1982 and traveled as far as Europe to play at tournaments. The fun thing about it is that, no matter what age or how athletic you are, you can play. It promotes a lot of team work, and I play it with my son, and it builds camaraderie between me and him."

The success experienced by the city of Palm Bay with the Hurricane Paintball Park is not only due to the need for this type of facility within the community, but also the result of an extraordinary spirit of cooperation and partnership. The endorsement of the mayor and council, the vision of the city manager, the enthusiastic work of the parks and recreation department staff and the hard work of the paintball-playing volunteers, all contributed to the reality of this municipal paintball park. The success of the paintball park is defined not only by a positive cash flow and happy customers, but also by the positive response and the appreciation of city residents for being responsive to a clearly expressed community need.

Two Ways to Play Paintball

1. The first is the more traditional scenario games. These games are played on wooded properties and feature different styles of props and bunkers. Scenario games can last anywhere from 20 minutes to 24 hours with many different missions attempted. To name a few, these different missions include attack and defend games, total elimination games and capture-the-flag style games. Scenario games can be played by large numbers of players and by players of all skill levels participating in the same mission.

2. The second variation is known as speedball or X-Ball. This tournament play is played by two teams on a much smaller field, and uses an equal amount of bunkers on each side of the playing area. These games are played much more rapidly than scenario games, and usually do not last more than three minutes each. Most games consist of a points system, collected from the number of opposing players eliminated and the capture of the flag before the opposing team.

The main difference between scenario games and speedball games is that the first is geared to utilize strategy and team work, while the latter is geared for speed and high impact action.

For more information on Hurricane Paintball Park contact the city of Palm Bay Park and Recreation Department at [e-mail] or visit the city of Palm Bay web site at www. palmbayflorida.org. For more information about paint ball visit www.warpig. com.