Lawrence Parks and Rec asks for more input on 10-year master plan

City of Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department

Lawrence Parks and Recreation is creating a new, 10-year master plan, and it’s looking for more input on what residents want and need recreationally.

Parks and Rec Director Ernie Shaw told the department’s advisory board Tuesday that questionnaires will be mailed to 4,000 households this week for a random, statistically valid survey. GreenPlay LLC, a city-hired consulting firm, will review the results and present them to a committee formed to update the master plan.

Parks and Rec’s current master plan was adopted in 2000.

GreenPlay is hoping to have the survey results ready for a July 12 meeting with committee members. The following day, July 13, committee members and the Parks and Rec advisory board will meet to put recommendations together for what the master plan should include.

Lawrence will also put a survey online for anyone to take. It will go up June 23 and be available through July 3. The online responses will be included in a final report.

On August 23, the groups will meet to review a draft of the plan, which GreenPlay LLC will have put together by then. Parks and Rec will present the plan to the City Commission in September and return to the commission in October for a vote on it, Shaw said.

Lawrence residents told GreenPlay and Parks and Rec staff at two public meetings earlier this year what they want to see prioritized for park facilities. GreenPlay has also hosted more than a dozen focus groups.

Some ideas mentioned at one of those meetings included adding more “pocket parks,” building a multi-use sports court and offering more activities directed at teens and tweens.


In other business:

• The Parks and Rec advisory board received a report Tuesday on Sports Pavilion Lawrence, which opened 18 months ago. About 30,500 people hold key cards to the facility. Of those, the average age is 40. This year, average attendance to Sports Pavilion Lawrence has been 57,247 each month, and 2,629 people are participating in classes there.

• Board members received a report on how Park and Rec’s recreation division performed in May. The division earned $618,812, which Assistant Director Mark Hecker said was “fabulous” but wouldn’t last. Because Parks and Rec pays more part-time staff during the summer months, its expenses would be more than in May, he said.

• The board received a financial report on Eagle Bend Golf Course. It operated at a deficit of about $35,000 in May and has seen 7,382 rounds played so far this year, 1,376 fewer than the year-to-date at this time in 2015.