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Parks presents Plan to Play update; staff says condition assessment finds $215M in deferred maintenance
Summary
The parks department and consultant Kimley-Horn presented a high-level update to Plan to Play, the countywide parks and greenways master plan, including public engagement results and a $215 million deferred-maintenance estimate from a park facilities condition assessment.
Tim Naish and Cindy Harrison, co-managers of the Plan to Play update, briefed the Metropolitan Board of Parks and Recreation on the status of the countywide parks and greenways master plan update first completed in 2017.
Naish told the board the update is an amendment and expansion of the 2017 plan rather than a replacement. The project team — led by consultant Kimley-Horn — is revising an inventory of parks and facilities, updating status on 2017 recommendations and creating a five-year action plan informed by public engagement and benchmarking.
Cindy Harrison said staff are conducting a condition assessment that shows about $215 million in deferred maintenance across park facilities. The consultants and Parks staff have completed an initial public-engagement phase that yielded more than 2,500 survey participants and about 1,500 site-specific comments via an interactive map. The engagement effort also included five open houses and presence at 11 community events.
Naish described the metrics staff use to evaluate park service levels, including acres of parkland per 1,000 residents and per-capita facility counts. He said the department has added more than 500 acres of parkland since 2017 but that population growth has slightly reduced the parks-per-capita metric (from 22.05 to about 21.9 acres per 1,000 residents). He said trail and greenway facilities have generally outpaced population growth, while some facility types such as basketball courts, tennis courts and community-center square footage have trended downward.
The next steps are continued analysis of operations and funding, a second phase of public engagement planned after the new year, and completion of draft recommendations with associated cost estimates and a five-year action plan targeted for completion by March next year.
“Of all of the needs of our park system, how should we prioritize them in 2025 and going forward?” Naish said, summarizing the core question driving the update. The department will share the presentation materials and continue to provide opportunities for public input as the update progresses.
