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Parks director outlines master-plan goals and capital shortfall; Cascades irrigation and cameras among priorities
Summary
Parks Director Tim Street summarized four master-plan goals (community impact, invest in existing facilities, financial sustainability, staff support), said the department is compiling a prioritized capital‑needs list, and flagged potential revenue‑bond funding for irrigation at Cascades Golf Course and interest in adding security cameras.
Tim Street, director of parks and recreation, used the town hall to summarize a newly adopted parks master plan and detail capital needs across city facilities.
"Our four master plan goals ... are number one we need to have meaningful community impact ... number two is invest in what we have ... number three is financial sustainability ... and number four is how we do all that, which is with a strong connected parks staff," Street said, outlining priorities the department will present to the Park Board and public.
Street said the department is compiling a prioritized list of capital needs—pools, the ice arena, Winslow Sports and other aging facilities—and acknowledged limited funding. "Spoiler alert, we don't have enough money to address all of those capital needs at once," he said, adding that the department expects to work with the parks board and city council on investment options.
On specific projects, Street said crews identified an underground leak at Mills Pool (a 1960s facility) that required a leak‑detection contractor; mitigation work will allow Mills Pool to open for the remainder of the season, but further repairs will be required after the season. He also described a planned one‑mile power line trail that will connect to nearby developments and use a glow aggregate topping to provide limited nighttime illumination without vertical infrastructure under Duke Energy lines.
A resident asked about promised irrigation and security cameras at Cascades Golf Course. Street said irrigation replacement is a high priority, that the original 18‑hole irrigation system is roughly 25 years old and the department is exploring a revenue bond using Cascades revenue to fund a full irrigation redo; he also said staff will explore installing basic security cameras.
Street listed near‑term public programming at Switchyard Park, including Juneteenth and a ticketed concert, and said a parks board meeting focused on capital investment will be scheduled after the summer to solicit public input on priorities.
