OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEPARTMENT COLLABORATION

This section lists actions that the City can undertake to implement the previously discussed special area park strategies. Additional details are included in the implementation action plan in Chapter 7.

• Major streets (six lanes in Legacy Area and four lanes in downtown area) should have walks that are at least 10’ wide with a 5’ buffer from the roadway. Developers should be required to fund construction of these walks when new development occurs. In areas where walks were not required when the original development occurred, the city should seek out partnerships with business owners or corporations to construct walks.

• Revise requirements for dedication of open space in the existing zoning district to ensure that meaningful public open space is included. Sometimes, developers count landscaped edges and fountains as open space, which is not worthwhile open space. There could also be stricter maintenance standards, but the city wants to maintain flexibility to continue to attract employers.

• Seek partnerships with corporations for shared use of land. Many of the corporations have significant acreage of open space or natural areas that the City could help maintain in exchange for public access of the site.

• Use unique pavement treatment to distinguish between different areas. For example, brick pavers should only be in the historic downtown core. Other types of pavement treatment such as colored and stamped concrete, or decorative concrete pavers could be used in other districts.

• In the Legacy area, consider incorporating an outdoor performance area. There is currently no such facility on the west side of the city. The performance area should be designed to be easily maintained so as to not be an additional burden on staff.

• Include space for public art. This is a relatively inexpensive strategy to integrate culture into existing parks or public spaces. As new special area parks are developed in the two study areas, public art should be considered.

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Special Review Park And Recreation Facility Assessment

Since there were over eighty parks in the city’s system in 2017, the project team worked with staff to identify parks that would be reviewed more closely as part of the 2018 plan. Since 2018, some of these parks have significant improvements planned and underway, so they were removed from the assessment for the 2023 plan update. The recommendations for these parks discussed in this section could be applied to other parks in the system as well. This section also includes a more in-depth review of each of the existing recreation and aquatic facilities.