Orange County Parks and Recreation will cut the ribbon on Watermark Park at 8 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 31, marking the debut of a $1.8 million neighborhood park built directly in front of Panther Lake Elementary School at 9940 Seidel Road. The 5.69-acre site includes a dog park for both small and large dogs, shaded playgrounds split for ages 2 to 5 and 5 to 12, a paved perimeter walking path, open green space and a picnic pavilion.
The grand opening caps a project that broke ground on July 30, 2025, with Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and Orange County Commissioner Nicole Wilson on hand for the groundbreaking celebration, according to the West Orange Times & Observer. Watermark Park became Orange County’s 115th park site at that groundbreaking, part of a network that now spans nearly 15,000 acres of parkland, trails and public facilities across more than 114 operational sites countywide, according to OCFL Newsroom.
Built to Walk To, Not Drive To
Watermark Park was intentionally designed without dedicated parking spaces or public restroom facilities, meaning it’s meant to function strictly as a walk-up park for the surrounding neighborhood rather than a regional draw. County planners connected the site directly to existing neighborhood sidewalks so residents can reach it on foot rather than by car, the newspaper’s reporting notes. The park’s picnic pavilion is also non-rentable, open on a first-come, first-served basis for gatherings of 24 people or fewer, with larger groups directed to reservable pavilions at bigger regional parks.
Placing Watermark Park directly in front of Panther Lake Elementary, which opened in August 2022 as a 96,600-square-foot campus built to relieve overcrowding at Castleview, Summerlake and Water Spring elementary schools, fits a broader pattern in the county’s growth playbook, per Florida Neighborhood Realty. Orange County Parks and Recreation has used the same approach elsewhere, including the 6.5-acre Taborfield Park built next to Castleview Elementary, a strategy aimed at giving suburban families immediate walking access to green space near their kids’ schools.
A Small Park Amid a Much Bigger Boom
Watermark Park’s scale looks modest next to Orange County’s other big Horizon West investment: the 215-acre Horizon West Regional Park, where the county opened a $15.6 million Phase 1A in February 2026 and broke ground on a $5.5 million Phase 1B expansion in June 2026 that will add a splash pad, kayak launch and space for a farmers market. That contrast underscores how the county is pairing small walk-up parks with larger regional facilities as it tries to keep pace with Horizon West’s growth…