10-25-04 Parks, Arts, Recreation and Culture

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Park Superintendent Phil St. Clair made the presentation. He thanked the Council Members for the opportunity to briefly review the document. He stated that a master plan is necessary for grant applications at the state and federal levels. It gives a blue print which is not carved in stone but rather is a working document which can be tweaked each year. Input was received from meetings held in each of the six (6) Councilmanic Districts and questions were submitted in order to get feedback. He noted that Section "K" addresses "Issues" and that Section"M"addresses the"Action Plan". Mr. St. Clair summarized the following in comparing the City of South Bend parks to the national standards: Community parks: traditional park-like settings 568 acres in the city 757 acres= national standard Block parks: very small attracting visitors from a one(1)block area 24 acres in the city 54 acres= national standard Neighborhood parks:227 acres in the city 324=national standard Mr. St. Clair stated that the city has a total of 840 acres dedicated to parks, plus "special parks" which have 470 acres. The national standard is 1,140 acres for a city of our size. The City Administration is looking at ways to develop and acquire more green space and to develop standards for them. He noted that the Master Plan also provides a history for the past five (5) years, provides analysis, and rates various issues from "1"being the best to "7" being the worst. He noted that aquatics come up periodically through the survey. He stated that they would be going back into the Council Districts and make a more thorough presentation with maps. Council President White inquired about how the Park Master Plan would be integrated with the City Plan. Mr. St. Clair stated that a meeting would be held on November 6th to start that discussion. Dr. Varner inquired whether the bike paths and the walk ways were included in the acreage and was advised that they were. He suggested that quality parks and quality programs are more important than complying with acerage requirements, noting the the city has great golf courses. He further suggested that the city needs to look at maintenance costs and costs to upgrade and improve park facilities. Mr. St. Clair clarified his figures and stated that the city has 1,290 park acres now and that only 330 acres would be called for under the national standards. He also noted that school green spaces cannot be counted toward the national standards. Council Member Coleman inquired about the process and the time table for discussion of the proposed Park Master Plan. Mr. St. Clair stated that he would be getting the schedule of meetings out to the Council within the next two(2)weeks. Parks, Arts,Recreation and Culture(PARC)Committee October 25,2004 Page 2