The memorial to honor those who died in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland has broken ground and much of the first phase of landscaping is complete.
But the foundation is waiting for more donations before construction can proceed.
Members of the Parkland 17 Memorial Foundation said they expect this to be a multimillion-dollar project, but costs have yet to be finalized. The proceeds will cover the price of construction and future maintenance.
“Every bit of money is going to help build this amazing memorial,” said Michael Moser, the foundation chair and the Coral Springs deputy fire chief. “We are certainly looking in any direction to be able to successfully raise the money that we need.”
Since the memorial design was chosen in February, the foundation has implemented multiple changes to the site, a 1-acre field on the border of Parkland and Coral Springs at the former Heron Bay Golf Club.
Moser said pipes to support water, electricity and gas have been brought in and that the previously uneven golf course terrain has been leveled. The tiled walkway and the base of the memorial have also been built, including 17 squares — one for each of the students and staff members who were killed in the shooting on Feb. 14, 2018.
The landscaping that’s been done was accomplished, in part, through the organization’s partnership with the North Springs Improvement District. Moser said the district donated supplies, such as pipes, and used dirt from other projects to build the berm for the memorial.
“It does look completely different than it did before,” he said. “And it’s because of that earthwork that they had to do.”
The North Springs Improvement District also is establishing a nature preserve within the site that will surround the memorial. It will include a welcome center, art installments and walking paths. Two silver bird sculptures have already been placed on the grounds.
The foundation’s vice chairman Tony Montalto, whose daughter Gina died in the shooting, said the memorial is being built within the nature preserve so people don’t have to see it if they don’t want to.
“We think that it should be an intentional act to come visit the memorial,” he said. “We’re not ashamed of it, by any means, but again, not everybody wants to remember what happened. Some people look at it as memorializing the tragedy, whereas we look at it as memorializing the victims.”
Montalto is also a liaison to the victims’ families for the foundation. Through that role, he worked with the families on selecting the design for the memorial. The chosen plan was developed by Gordon Huether, of Gordon Huether Studio in Napa, Calif., and is based around concentric circles.
“Personally, for my family,” Montalto said, “it’s important to have each individual recognized as well as have it recognized that they were unfortunately taken from us together.”
There will be 17 limestone obelisks that will include the names and information of the victims on them. A water fountain will sit at the center of the structure, and 17 royal palm trees plus an outer seating wall will border the outside of the pillars for the victims. A poem will also be engraved on the plaza.
(Parkland 17 Memorial Foundation/Courtesy)
This rendering by Gordon Huether, of Gordon Huether Studio in Napa, Calif., depicts the design chose for the memorial to the 17 students and staff who died in the Parkland school shooting in 2018. (Parkland 17 Memorial Foundation/Courtesy)
Montalto said the timeline for completion of the memorial is contingent upon donations. The foundation is currently fundraising before proceeding with construction.
Other memorials for similar tragedies often take a decade before completion and can cost at least $10 million, Montalto said. He’s aiming for the Parkland memorial to come in under that.
“We hope that people will be able to donate what they can so that we can have this important memorial in place where people will have a chance to come and remember the victims again for who they were — remember their smiles and their laughter — rather than the way they were taken from this world,” he said.
Donations can be submitted online at https://parkland17.org/donate/.
