Asking for input

EPRD board working on a survey on facilities, programs

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

It’s not easy devising questions to learn what recreation wishes the Evergreen community has.

e Evergreen Park & Recreation District board spent nearly four hours on Feb. 16 poring over the questions for a survey it plans to send to district residents as it creates a ve-year strategic plan and considers asking voters for more money in November.

e timeline is tight if the board wants to ask for additional property tax dollars. It must decide by July 30, which is the date it must inform Je erson County that it wants to put something on the ballot.

e board has hired consultant BerryDunn to help facilitate the survey, and board members had their rst look at the questions. At the end of the meeting, the board created two committees to continue looking at the survey: one to examine the questions themselves to determine whether they provide important information to the decision-making process and the other to create a list of possible projects to gauge residents’ interest.

Ultimately, the board will decide what projects it wants to complete in the next three to ve years, what it can a ord and when it might be able to partner with other entities to provide services. High on the list is tackling some of the deferred maintenance of its current facilities.

Discovery sessions e EPRD board embarked on a month-long endeavor to get feedback from the community about what programs and facilities it wants and what the district’s future should look like. Six discovery sessions, plus feedback from groups, sta and more were used to garner information, and 629 people provided input, according to Chris Dropinski with BerryDunn. e top ve facilities people listed were indoor tennis or pickleball courts, indoor space for sports activities in the winter, a dog park, inclusive playground equipment and a kids bike park. ey also asked for more programs for children and seniors, and more outdoor recreation programs.

While the information is anecdotal, the board agreed it was a good starting point to help develop the survey.

Long-term, people suggested expanding parking at Evergreen Lake, more aquatic amenities, increased trail connectivity, an indoor track, updating the pool area at the Wulf