Consultants outline parks and recreation master plan and public outreach; kickoff set for May 22

SCJ Alliance representatives presented the scope and public participation plan for an update to the City of Liberty Lake parks and recreation master plan at the Parks and Arts Commission meeting on April 14.

The consultant team, led by senior project manager Jen Dial and planner Lauren Schubringer, said the work will include a parks inventory, a demands-and-needs analysis, level-of-service recommendations tailored to Liberty Lake, an arts inventory and a set of funding-ready goals and recommendations. Dial said staff interviews and demographic research already have started and that the process is being structured to support outside funding eligibility and Growth Management Act requirements.

“The level of service standard will be uniquely tailored to Liberty Lake based on that qualitative data that we get out of the interactions with the public,” Dial said.

Lauren Schubringer described a multi-channel outreach program meant to reach a broad cross section of residents. Outreach tools planned include a project webpage hosted on the city website, social media, mailers, local newspapers, pop-up events and partnerships with local organizations. Key engagement milestones include stakeholder interviews in April–May, a kickoff workshop on Thursday, May 22 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Trailhead Event Center, a community needs survey launched at the workshop and open through June 25, online mapping via Social Pinpoint in early July, and subsequent pop-up and priority-ranking events ahead of draft recommendations.

Schubringer said the team will produce summaries at each engagement step and wants commission input on where to conduct pop-ups and how to reach groups who use parks differently, including youth and people with disabilities.

Commissioners asked how the consultants will reach schools and families. Commissioner Katie Farris encouraged outreach at school events; Schubringer said the team will add school visits and classroom engagement techniques to the public participation plan. Commissioner Laura Frank recommended using the library’s event calendar as an outreach channel; the consultants agreed to include that.

Commissioners also asked the consultants to coordinate the master plan outreach with the Pavilion Park playground replacement so the plan’s survey can collect park-specific input and avoid duplicative efforts. City recreation staff had previously supplied a question list for the pavilion project that Schubringer said could be folded into the broader needs-assessment survey.

In public comment earlier in the meeting, student Kerrigan Nguyen said she wants to wrap a traffic control box with student artwork; Dial said the master plan’s arts inventory and the city’s student art programs could provide a path to include such small-scale projects.

The consultants asked the commission for suggestions on community events and groups to include; they will present the public participation plan to the city’s Public Engagement Commission on the following Wednesday and will return to the Parks and Arts Commission to report engagement results and draft recommendations later in the process.

The presentation provided a timeline that extends engagement through the summer and into September, with exact dates and deliverables to be refined as the project proceeds.