On Feb. 22, the city of Magnolia held a workshop for its parks and recreation master plan at City Hall, seeking input and feedback from local residents on what they want to see when it comes to parks and recreation in the city.
What happened
During the workshop, attendees discussed four topics—path, shelter, play and people—in small groups, coming up with ideas and feedback for those topics. After all the topics were discussed, each small group had one person present their ideas, feedback and thoughts.
During the presentations, the presenters spoke about ideas such as walking trails, shaded areas, multipurpose shelters, water features, sidewalks, pocket parks, more restrooms, accessibility, dog parks and pickleball courts.
How we got here
The Magnolia Economic Development 4B Corp., which helps fund quality-of-life projects in the city, is working with Burditt Consultants LLC to develop a parks and recreation master plan, according to prior reporting. The master plan will include:
- An existing conditions assessment that will include an inventory of existing city-owned parks and properties
- A needs assessment that will compile information on the city’s demographics, recreation behavior and recreation trends
- Community and stakeholder engagement that will include facilitating events and an online survey to receive input
- A five-year action plan
What they’re saying
- “We are very excited to see you all here, and thanks for hanging and bringing us this much input,” Magnolia Economic Development Director Rachel Steele said during the workshop. “It really is a value.”
- “The vibrancy and the energy in Magnolia makes me excited every day,” said Sandy Hoffman, 4B Corp. Position 4 director, during the workshop.
What else?
The city of Magnolia has two parks—Unity Park and Sullivan Park—said Shane Howard, senior vice president for Burditt Consultants, during the workshop.
“Unity Park is a great park,” Shane Howard said. “And one of the things that [Project Manager] Paul [Howard] and I, and the team have been working on is ways to enhance that a little bit.”
Shane Howard also said the master plan’s online survey, which launched in January, has received over 500 responses so far.
“We work in communities [that have] 50 [thousand], 60 [thousand], 75,000 people. If we get 100 responses, we’re typically pretty happy with that,” Shane Howard said. “So the fact that we’ve gotten 500, that really reflects well on the commitment of people here.”
Project Manager Paul Howard said the online survey will be open for about another month.
Stay tuned
Burditt Consultants will be finishing up the master plan in the next two to three months, with another open house planned after some of the recommendations are developed, Paul Howard said.
Paul Howard also said the draft of the master plan is anticipated to be presented to Magnolia City Council in late April or early May.
