Draft parks and recreation master plan urges reinvestment, sports-tourism strategy for Goldsboro

McGill Associates presented a draft Goldsboro Parks & Recreation Master Plan at the Nov. 17 City Council meeting, offering a high-level strategy to reinvest in existing facilities, consider a new neighborhood park in the northeast, and capitalize on sports tourism to drive local economic activity.

Nate Halukka, who introduced the draft, framed parks on a spectrum from expense to investment and said the plan aims to help the city "leverage your local investment to go after those grant funds." He told council, "Your parks are serving more than just the residents of Goldsboro," citing anonymous cell-phone visitation data and benchmarking that shows Goldsboro—s system draws visitors from across the region. The consultants reported public engagement included four public meetings with more than 300 participants and five focus groups.

Key recommendations in the draft include reinvesting in aging parks rather than immediately building a new indoor aquatics center, reducing the maintenance footprint where practical, prioritizing a new park in the Northeast area, and enhancing branding and marketing to capture visitor spending from tournaments and other events. The plan also emphasizes partnership opportunities (county coordination, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base connections) and sequences action items for implementation.

Council discussion focused on funding and intergovernmental partnership. Several members urged staff to formally approach Wayne County with the plan and suggested using the plan—s data to request shared funding. Manager Livingston said the plan—s resolution will be placed on the consent agenda at the next meeting to allow council time to digest details and propose edits.

Next steps: Council will review the full draft and an accompanying resolution; the resolution will be placed on the next meeting—s consent agenda for possible adoption and further direction on funding and county partnership.