This plan highlights park improvements, serving as a guide for city leaders to determine future parks and recreation needs.
The overview
Public Works Director Mark Wagster said the plan can be a tool that the city uses to apply for grants, and it helps in planning for future budget expenditures related to parks and recreation.
“When we are looking at park infrastructure, we can use the plan, and it will help guide us,” he said.
Leading up to the creation of the plan, city staff created a survey to gather data on how the community utilizes city parks.
According to the plan, around 75% of survey participants rated the city parks as a 4 or a 5 on a scale of 1 to 5.
Using a combination of city planning and survey data, the plan prioritizes areas of improvement for city parks.
Parks listed for improvements include Main City Park, the city pool complex, Woodcrest Nature Park and Montanio Park.
Other parks listed in the plan include the potential creation of Blaha Park, which would be located on the south side of the city near O’Connor Road, and the creation of a fitness park behind the fire department.
Council member Mendell Morgan Jr. said the proposed park behind the fire department has been a proposed development over the last few plans, and he would like to see a development in that area move forward in the near future.
“It has been a blighted area, and is an embarrassment really because it is pretty central,” he said.
Breaking it down
While the plan serves as a tool to apply for grant funding and account for future budget expenses, it does not allocate any funding to listed projects. Funding for projects will have to be brought back to the appropriate commissions before being approved by City Council.
Despite not providing funding, the plan lists potential expenses related to improvement projects at city parks.
According to the plan, the improvements of city parks and the potential costs for each park is as follows:
- Main City Park: $8.79 million
- Live Oak city pool complex: $1.26 million
- Woodcrest Nature Park: $1.92 million
- Montanio Park: $245,563
- Trail system additions (not within parks): $820,649
