Whiteland Parks board launches master-plan survey, plans outreach at July events

Whiteland Town Parks and Recreation Board members were briefed on a community survey and outreach schedule aimed at completing a parks master plan that staff said is required for upcoming Department of Natural Resources grant deadlines.

Carmen, parks department staff, told the board the online survey will open tentatively on July 11 and run through Aug. 15, and that staff plan in-person outreach at the town’s Summer Fest on July 25 using display boards, postcards with QR codes and small activities to attract families.

The master plan matters because it is tied to eligibility for Department of Natural Resources grants and will inform the board’s budget requests, Carmen said. The board also discussed forming a steering committee to guide the plan and target outreach to specific community groups.

Board members and staff debated survey design and outreach. Carmen said she had shortened and reordered some questions to avoid participant drop-off and had asked that demographic and income questions not be required. “The survey will be open, tentatively from July 11 to August 15, so it would be a month,” Carmen said. She also said the survey platform can track how many people open the survey and how far respondents progress, and that QR codes can be tied to specific outreach channels such as a postcard or a social-media post.

The board discussed in-person distribution opportunities between July 11 and Aug. 15. Planned or suggested events included a movie night tied to little-league activities on July 11, the town Summer Fest on July 25, farmers markets, school registration/back-to-school events the week of July 21, and the Whiteland Warriors youth football jamboree on Aug. 9. Sign-ups for youth football were described as running through mid-July with teams to be formed Aug. 4.

Carmen said the consultant team plans to staff a booth at Summer Fest and to provide display boards the board and volunteers can check out for other events. She described an outreach tactic used at Cedar Lake—rock painting for children—to draw families to the booth so staff can talk with parents about the survey.

On governance, Carmen said the consultant recommends a 5-to-7-person steering committee and that including more board members or other town representatives could trigger open-meeting rules similar to regular board meetings. She said she had reached out to “Dr. Edsall,” who had agreed to serve on the steering committee, and that she would also contact local senior-services and library representatives as stakeholders.

Board members raised user-experience concerns and recommended placing demographic questions near the end of the survey so respondents answer priority items first. Carmen said respondents will be able to skip questions and that survey responses will be anonymous unless participants choose to provide contact information. She also said staff would check whether any questions are required by DNR grant guidance or by Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility requirements.

Carmen reminded the board that the town’s parks fund balance is about $78,000 and said that major projects such as new trail segments are costly; she cited an order-of-magnitude figure of about $1 million per mile for trail construction as context for later grant and budget planning. She asked board members to send any final comments on the draft survey by Monday because of the holiday weekend so staff can finalize outreach materials.

No formal votes were taken on the survey or the steering committee at the meeting; the board adjourned without additional actions.

The board will receive a preliminary parks budget as part of the town’s budget season; staff said they will circulate dates and outreach plans to the board ahead of the next meeting.