FAYETTEVILLE -- Community or regional parks? Elaborate amenities or bocce ball? Preserve more land or upgrade what the city already owns? Why not a little bit of everything?
The first round of public input for the city's outreach campaign, Imagine Tomorrow's Parks, posed such questions to residents.
Parks officials want to update a 17-year-old master plan. The feedback will help officials prioritize projects over the next decade, said Connie Edmonston, parks director. The plan will guide decisions on a variety of issues, including splash pads and geocaching locations.
"We're very interested in what kinds of parks people want," she said. "We just don't want to guess or say, 'This is what I like.' There are so many opinions out there, and we want to get it right."
The city has 37 parks and manages 3,938 acres, according to its website. The parks fund this year calls for $3.2 million in expenses, including $1.8 million for personnel, $789,000 for capital projects and $22,000 for maintenance, according to the budget. Revenue, mostly from half of the city's 2 percent hotel, motel and restaurant sales tax, is estimated at $3.5 million.
The Parks Department has $200,000 set aside in the capital improvements budget to develop the plan, using $50,000 this year and $150,000 next year. A dozen public-input sessions were held in April and May throughout the city, with 428 paper surveys filled out and 655 responses submitted online.
The answers provided a picture of how residents spend their time at parks and where their interests lie. For example, the park that respondents visited most often was Wilson Park, which lies in a historic neighborhood between Maple and North streets.
Respondents listed open green space for picnicking and gatherings and off-leash dog parks among their favorite recreational amenities.
The most popular sport played at the city's parks, by far, is soccer. Basketball and baseball or T-ball come next.
According to the findings, the parks system as a whole is well-maintained, though respondents expressed a slight desire to improve the overall quality. Residents want parks distributed equally around the city.
Residents are split on how the Parks Department should focus its efforts. About 32 percent wanted more time and money spent on community parks. Twenty-six percent called for small neighborhood parks. Twenty-three percent said the city should acquire more land for recreation or preservation. The remaining 19 percent wanted the emphasis to be on regional, tourist-attracting parks.
The second round of surveys will help parks officials decipher specifics, said Ted Jack, a park planner. For example, land acquisition received more support than expected. The next survey will ask what residents want with new parkland -- to preserve it as open space, turn it into community parks, put in an aquatics center, or other ideas.
Springdale was just granted $21.3 million for parks and trails after voters approved a bond issue in February. Constructing the 120-acre Shaw Family Park on the northwest part of town is the priority after not being able to take on the project during the city's previous bond issue in 2012, said Bill Mock, parks director. Sprucing up the decades-old Tyson Recreational Complex is also on the list, he said.
Many of the city's park projects carry over from previous years, Mock said.
"We've got a pecking order, so to speak," he said.
Springdale generally holds public-input sessions at City Hall so residents can submit feedback and ask questions, said Ashley Earhart with the mayor's office.
Rogers has a bond referendum coming up Aug. 14. For parks, the city hopes to build out Mount Hebron Park, a 70-plus-acre property the city bought in 2011 for just more than $1 million on the west side of town. Plans also are in the works to redesign downtown's Frisco Park through a grant from the Walton Family Foundation.
The city has held public-input sessions and posted surveys online for both projects, spokesman Ben Cline said.
Questions on Fayetteville's next round of surveys also will touch on specific parts of the city. For instance, park planners would like to know what else should go at Millsaps Mountain other than mountain biking facilities. The city recently acquired the land through a grant from the Walton Family Foundation.
Another possibility involves the Old Post Office on the square, which is up for sale. Parks officials want to gauge residents' interest in the property.
Residents who didn't take the first survey can take the second. Another round of public-input sessions will follow.
The city is also gearing up for a bond renewal vote next year, which would help pay for a number of capital improvements, including parks. Information from the surveys will be used to come up with a list of projects, Edmonston said.
"The bond will be for the next three years or so," she said. "That's kind of short term. Ten years is as long term as we want to stick our neck out -- people are always changing in recreation. We've got to change with them."
A finalized parks master plan update is expected to be ready by fall 2019.
Metro on 07/01/2018