Seaside's Parks and Recreation Commission on Monday reviewed a draft 10-year Parks and Recreation Master Plan that consultants said is built from nearly 600 public participants and extensive site analyses.

Consultant Steve Dood of Conservation Techniques said the plan is intended to guide the city's parks investments and programming for the next decade, laying out goals on engagement, accessibility, maintenance, resilience and trails and proposing a project list that sums to about $44,000,000. Dood told the commission roughly half of that total is related to land acquisitions identified to fill service gaps in underserved neighborhoods.

The plan uses travel-shed mapping and national benchmarks to compare Seaside's offerings to similar jurisdictions. Dood said the city provides about 1.9 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents compared with a national median of about 10 acres per 1,000, and noted shortfalls in rectangular multi-use fields used for soccer.

Commissioners pressed for clarity and context. Commissioner Walton asked about the map legend and how the columns roll up to medians; Dood explained the charts are per-resident metrics and compared the city to the national and population-band medians. Commissioner Lobo said the 205-page draft arrived only days earlier and asked whether undeveloped acreage is included; Dood said the analysis represents current acres and amenities and that undeveloped parcels were not counted in the present totals.

Commissioner Daniels urged stronger treatment of recreation programs in the draft, saying residents want more indoor programming. Dan Milosz, identified in the meeting as the recreation director, said program expansion is constrained by staffing and indoor facility space and recommended future community-space assessments to increase indoor capacity.

Several commissioners and members of the public asked about implementation and funding. Dood said the project list is intended as a budgeting tool and that specific projects will be sequenced and costed as the city pursues grants, acquisitions or dedications. The consultant said state grant programs and other funding sources are listed in the plan appendix; commissioners asked staff to add the recently awarded Laguna Grande trails grant into the final draft before council review.

Public commenters welcomed the plan and pushed for practical implementation. "Great work, city staff in receiving that big grant for Laguna Grande Park," said Tanya Russ of Blue Zones Project Monterey County. Ramona, representing FASPA, asked whether large projects such as Capra Park (a capital estimate of about $1,000,000 was mentioned in the meeting) could be phased instead of funded as a single lump sum.

The commission may forward the revised draft to the City Council for adoption; staff said a council date is being coordinated for either March 21 or April 4. The commission approved the minutes from its Jan. 22 meeting earlier in the session.

Next steps: staff asked commissioners to submit any final comments by the coming week so staff can incorporate them before the council hearing.