Master Plan Final Report
City of Tucson Parks and Recreation System Master Plan (Final Report, 10/5/2016)(PDF, 18MB)
About the Master Plan
On Wednesday, October 5, 2016, the Mayor and Tucson City Council approved the adoption of the Tucson Parks and Recreation System Master Plan. In April 2015, after a competitive selection process, a consultant team lead by Norris Design, and including Gordley Group, ETC Institute/Leisure Vision and the Trust for Public Land, was chosen to develop and deliver a new City of Tucson Parks and Recreation System Master Plan. The Master Plan has been a collaborative process between the City of Tucson and its residents, partners, and stakeholders. The Master Plan serves as a roadmap to navigate community goals and build recommendations that provide policymakers an approach to leverage the City's parks and recreation resources with other community partners and initiatives.
The City of Tucson Parks and Recreation System Master Plan was developed through extensive public outreach in order to understand the community's perspective and establish support for the Five-Year plan. It began with a review of existing park facilities, maintenance practices, and programs. Included in this review was GIS data collection to gauge the condition of the City's park infrastructure, as well as to analyze the distribution of park facilities relative to Tucson's population.
A variety of methods were used to gather community and stakeholder input regarding the City's Parks and Recreation system, including public open house meetings, stakeholder meetings, face-to-face questionnaires, and online comment site, comment cards distributed at recreation centers, and a mailed random household survey. Additionally, an analysis was conducted by the Trust for Public Land to measure the economic impact of Tucson's Parks and Recreation system, and a benchmarking analysis was performed to gauge how Tucson's Parks and Recreation system compares to similar cities in the southwestern states, as well as to the national average.
Recommendations made in the plan, as the result of extensive community outreach and data-driven analyses, include a Prioritized Action Plan categorized by the four areas of focus -- reinvestment, awareness, health and wellness, and partnerships. Also included in the plan's recommendations are capital improvement projects that respond to the community's call for reinvestment in existing facilities -- playgrounds, ramadas, restrooms, sports fields and lighting, recreation centers and pools, as well as for investment in expanded connectivity with the development of multipurpose paths that connect existing parks to neighborhoods. Staff will use the approved plan to guide parks and recreation decision making over the next five years.