Review 2015 Recreational Opportunity Assessment

Note: This topic was reviewed with City Council at the September 27th, 2016 Work Session, and is being carried forward to the Park and Recreation Commission as an informational item.  No action is required.

As part of the preparation of the 2015-2018 Strategic Action Plan, under Strategic Imperative II: a Connected Community—the Strategic Initiative emerged of "Create a diverse and robust offering of recreational opportunities."

One of the primary work tasks*, or 'Tactic' of the above initiative was to develop an inventory of existing recreational offerings (public and private), and also to survey residents as to their desires for recreational opportunities—either in terms of priority, or to identify programs not presently available. The inventory was performed as part of the 2015 Park and Recreation Intern's work plan, and is attached. 

A non-scientific recreation survey was disseminated in August and September of 2016, the results of which may be collated for presentation at the meeting.  Approximately 17 surveys were returned from the Art in the Park and The Draw concert events, 40 from Happy Days, and 20 + were filled out on-line.



* Note: There were two dimensions of the aforementioned Strategic Initiative, the first of which this case discusses.  The second relates to aligning future park planning city-wide with the Capital Improvement Plan and is underway with the redesigned CIP format and timeline, and will be continued through the larger community planning in 2017-18 as part of the Comprehensive Plan processes. 
 

Staff will present an overview of the 130 categories of area Recreational Offerings, and provide observations on demographics in Ramsey and the most recent 2014 and 2016 Citizen Survey.

 

The proposed 2017 General Fund Budget has a $25,000 line item for contracted recreation programs.

Mark Riverblood

The primary outcome is to ensure staff's planning and organizing for recreational programming (2017-18) is aligned with Council expectations, and to 'check-in' to ensure there is consensus on what diverse and robust recreational offerings should represent to the community.