Consultants present parks and recreation master plan draft; public engagement tallies 'almost 750,000 touch points'

Consultants from Barry Dunn presented an update on the city's Parks and Recreation Master Plan, describing a 10-year guidance document that integrates with citywide strategic planning and emphasizes community engagement results.

Rich Newman, who led public engagement, summarized outreach that included events, focus groups and a statistically valid survey and said the team's outreach produced "It's literally almost 750000 touch points." Jason Genick and the consulting team said the highest priorities that emerged were trails and pathways, land acquisition for parks and natural areas, community and neighborhood parks, and arts and culture programming; medium priorities included senior programming, wellness and shade/trees. The consultants reported that roughly 56% of residents live within a 10-minute walk (0.5 mile) of a city-provided outdoor parks and recreation service.

Council members pressed on operational and funding questions. Consultants said they are conducting an operations assessment to ensure recommended investments align with staffing and budget realities and emphasized rightsizing priorities to sustain operations over time. Councilors also asked about creative uses for smaller, underutilized parcels, increased tree canopy to mitigate heat-island effects, and maintenance strategies for aging parks. Consultants and staff said those topics are part of the analysis and would be included in the final plan, which staff said could come back for consideration by the end of the calendar year.