Abundant Urban Green Space and Recreation Areas

Featured Project: Tucson Parks and Recreation Master Plan 2010

Description
The purpose of this project is to produce a comprehensive plan for parks, recreation programs, and facilities. The plan will guide the City of Tucson to the year 2010 in meeting the leisure needs and demands of its citizens for urban green space and recreation areas.

Partnerships and collaborations will remain an important part of meeting the city's parks, recreation programs, and facilities' needs. Because resources will continue to be limited, shared responsibility will be the emphasis. Community priorities will be taken into account as demands for new services are considered during the planning process. Existing policies and services will also be reviewed against community priorities.

Key Features

• Conduct a comprehensive public input and participation process, with the assistance of city staff, to analyze citywide leisure needs and demands, current park, recreation program and facility usage, and the willingness of the community to support existing and new levels of each.
• Planning efforts must not just address new facilities but also address the future of existing, aging facilities that are in need of renovation or disposition.

Partners
In planning for the future of Tucson parks, the development of recreation programs and facilities must be customer driven and oriented. Input from city residents; community leaders; federal, state, and county natural resource agencies; and other community stakeholders must be aggressively sought and integrated into the resulting Master Plan. However, staff proposes not to limit such input to city residents only. It is assumed that residents and visitors from outside the city will continue to use the city's traditional urban recreation facilities. For this reason, Pima County will likely continue to financially support park development within the city, as reflected in the 1997 Pima County Bond Program.

Impact
Tucson's population is increasing and the demand for traditional parks, recreation programs, and facilities is increasing at a rate faster than current resources will allow the city to adequately provide. At the same time, the community is voicing a need for the protection of natural desert areas, the development of natural resource parks, and related recreation services. This demand will require a new approach in urban park development that establishes and connects resource lands in the city. It will require a new approach in meeting the diverse demands that often compete for the same limited resource of land.

For more information about the Parks Master Plan, contact Peg Weber, 791-4873 pweber1@ci.tucson.az.us

• Neighborhood Pocket Parks
• New Quincy Douglas Neighborhood Center and Challenger Little League Fields
• Clements Recreation Center