CITY COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM

 

Department:

Parks and Recreation

Commission Meeting Date:  Sept. 13, 2016

Staff Contact:

Ernie Shaw, Interim Parks and Recreation Director

Recommendations/Options/Action Requested:

 

Work Session: Review and provide input to the draft of the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department comprehensive Master Plan.

 

Executive Summary:

In February of 2016, the Parks & Recreation Department contracted with GreenPlay LLC to update the department Master Plan. The following items were included in the scope of services to be provided by the consultant:

 

  • Parks and Recreation Facilities Inventory
  • Organizational structure and staffing needs 
  • Recreation program and services inventory
  • Benchmarking/Comparison of  resource standards
  • Prioritize land acquisition
  • Prioritize Parks and Recreation facilities maintenance and renovation
  • Parks and Recreations role in future City development / economic impact 
  • Marketing/Positioning the Department

The goal of the project is to develop a community-supported plan that provides guidance for future development, maintenance, funding and redevelopment of all these elements.  The Master Plan will help guide policy development, funding, delivery of city services, prioritize demands, opportunities, and generate an action plan to provide a 10 year vision for the City of Lawrence.   A 16-person steering committee of a cross-section of community leaders was appointed by the commission to guide the project.  A series of focus groups with user groups and at-large, public meetings aided in the development of a public survey that would be used to help develop the overall plan. The random, statistically-valid survey was mailed to 4000 households in Lawrence and had more than a 15 percent response rate (588 responses). An open-link, online survey was also made available to the public at-large with a total of 1,382 responses received from the online survey.  The data collected from the surveys, focus groups, user groups, public meetings, staff and steering committee were then used to help develop the DRAFT Lawrence Parks and Recreation Master Plan.   

Strategic Goal Area:

Parks and Recreation 10yr Master Plan/ Horizon 20/20 reference

Fiscal Impact (Amount/Source):

 Unknown  

Attachments:

Draft Master Plan (Replaced 09/09/16)