City of Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department

Ideas mentioned at the first public meeting about upgrading the Lawrence Parks and Recreation master plan included adding more “pocket parks,” building a multi-use sports court and offering more activities directed toward teens and tweens.

On a smaller scale, Lawrence residents also suggested adding bathrooms at and dispelling geese from the Rotary Arboretum, using native plants in public landscaping and installing bicycle racks at city parks.

Thursday night’s meeting at Sports Pavilion Lawrence drew a few dozen people, many of whom offered suggestions on what the department’s priorities should be over the next 10 years. The city established a 16-person steering committee to guide the process of upgrading the now 16-year-old master plan and hired consulting firm GreenPlay LLC to lead the effort.

Pat O’Toole, with GreenPlay, said Thursday it’s estimated a new plan would be finished in September. The City Commission is scheduled to have a work session on the issue Aug. 23.

“I truly believe that Parks and Recreation is so important to our health and well-being that we need to have a very good plan moving forward,” said City Commissioner Lisa Larsen immediately before Thursday’s meeting. “Along that line, our goal is to develop a plan with your voice, your vision. We need your input.”

Lawrence resident Aida Alaka said she’d like to see more small “pocket parks” as new neighborhoods are developed. She noted a lack of small parks and gathering spaces in newer areas of the city.

Jared Scholz, with Greenhouse Culture, and Sean Ingram, bike polo player and president of Lawrence’s Blue Collar Press, came prepared with a suggestion to build a multi-use hard-court space that could be a site for roller skating, roller derby, bike polo, cricket and bicycle safety courses, among other uses.

“We’d like to see some sort of multi-use court that could be used for both roller-skating and a lot of other sports there, as well,” Scholz said. “The skate park is great; there are guys there who are really good, but I have a 4-year-old trying to stay on a bike. It’s nice, it’s just not real safe.”

Creating the future of the Parks and Recreation in Lawrence at the first of two public meetings. pic.twitter.com/pynDUkDgP3

— LPRD (@lprdks) April 15, 2016

Other ideas voiced Thursday included adding: more diamond ballfields, batting cages, outdoor classes, a therapeutic pool, a swimming pool, a zipline course, a Bocce ball space and parks and recreation amenities in southeastern and northern Lawrence.

There was also talk of how the city could fund more facilities and services in coming years.

“Everything you see up here — there’s more than there is money to do,” O’Toole said.

Charlie Bryan, a community health planner with the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department, said the city should consider allotting a portion of the transient guest tax fund toward Parks and Rec projects and possibly raising the tax amount.

Transient guest tax is the 6 percent tax the city collects on all overnight hotel stays in Lawrence.

“The most important part is establishing that Parks and Rec impacts the utilization of our hotels and should be a part of that,” Bryan said.

Attendees were also asked to weigh in on sponsorship opportunities, such as giving businesses naming privileges if they donated a certain amount toward a facility or allowing restaurants to put up banners at sports tournaments. Some of those who commented on the issue Thursday said they’d be comfortable with it, as long as the businesses weren’t ones that went against the message of health and wellness.

Over the past week, GreenPlay hosted nine focus groups, ranging from seven to 14 people and seniors to children. The focus groups will continue next week, and there’s another public meeting planned for Thursday, April 21 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the commons area of Lawrence High School.

Once the meetings are complete, the city in May will conduct a statistically valid, random survey of Lawrence residents.