Outlining a recreational future

CHENEY – City officials are in the process of updating the 10-year parks and recreation comprehensive plan — and they want to know what residents think and would like to see in the way or recreational opportunities and amenities.

To that end, the city has posted a 2021 Parks Survey – Questionnaire online they are asking residents to complete. The five-page survey, which takes about 5-10 minutes to fill out, asks users for demographic information, parks and/or recreation programs usage and what they might want to see offered in the future.

“We want to have all this information at our disposal when we discuss (the plan),” City Administrator Mark Schuller said. “We don’t want to invest in things people don’t want.”

The survey also asks several questions about funding for parks and recreation, specifically user’s feelings on the affordability of existing fees and willingness to pay for a portion of the costs that might be associated with any improvements, such as with the city’s over half-century old municipal pool. The plan also helps city officials’ ability to seek outside funding to help support and/or pay for programs and more or update amenities.

“This plan allows us to apply for grant money to fund infrastructure programs, capital improvements, etc.,” Recreation Director Kelly McGinley Ashe wrote in an email.

Two of the five pages ask respondents to rate the importance of a number of activities and features on a 1-6 scale. These include items such as a dog park, disc golf course, aquatic programs, natural areas and exercise and fitness offering along with the city’s seven parks, Wren Pierson Community Center and other athletic venues.

As an example, Schuller said they have been getting a number of requests for some sort of pickleball facility. Last year the city purchased some equipment to set up a court in the Wren Pierson multipurpose room, but Schuller said there has been interest in something like this as an outside, more permanent feature.

Another page of the survey asks for a rating on the quality of the city’s programs, while the first page requires making selections from lists of a number of programs and features users might want to see included in programs or at parks. Several questions center on the pool, what upgrades users might want to see, added features that could be included and even the location itself in Hagelin Park near Betz Elementary School.

Schuller said the city is planning on issuing a separate request for proposal for an outside organization to take a pool at the pool and provide possible suggestions on what to do with it, whether it should be improved, replaced or even moved. He listed a number of ongoing issues with the structure that needed addressing, such as electrical and physical upgrades to the pool house to mechanical issues and replacement of the heating system.

“Do we keep investing in band-aids with the pool or do we do something more substantial?” he said the city hoped to find out by issuing the RFP.

While some improvements to the pool might include amenities like water slides, Schuller said most likely it will remain as an actual swimming pool. Public input indicates residents prefer it as such, and the department gets a fair amount of revenue from holding swimming lessons and other programs.

Schuller also said the city is hoping to perform some needed upgrades to its parks system this year, such as improvements to restroom facilities to parks such as Salnave. Those improvements have been put in the department’s 2021 budget.

To take the city parks and recreation 2021 survey and questionnaire, go to https://forms.gle/rTMHf6svuroTK2ub8. Respondents have until March 5 to fill out the survey.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].