At the Houston Public Library on May 8 an open house for the parks and recreation 10 year master plan was held by UrbanSystems, hired consultants by the District of Houston.
There were two available times between 4 p.m to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. for the public to participate in an interactive workshop with clickers.
Around 10 people in total attended the workshops.
The District of Houston has never had a master plan for parks and recreation until now.
At the evening workshop, District of Houston mayor Shane Brienen attended as well as counsellor John Siebenga.
In total the District of Houston has 16 parks all together including multi-use, neighbourhood, school fields, and natural and outdoor parks. As well as three facilities including the Houston Leisure Facility, the Claude Parish Memorial arena, and theHouston Community Hall.
The beginning of the workshop focused on hashing out what Houston residents most liked and least liked about the parksand recreation opportunities in Houston.
Accessibility to trails and parks, the swimming pools, Steelhead park, the recreation centre, duck pond, and the neighbourhood parks were mentioned as the most liked features.
Input from the public was that the Twain Sullivan Elementary school field being in bad condition, making more use of all facilities especially the amphitheatre, an enclosed space for music and theatre for those no longer in high school, a municipal campground, and signs for the duck pond to be maintained were some of the suggestions and least liked attributes of current parks and recreation.
After receiving feedback on what the public least liked about the District of Houston’s parks and recreation, input on what the visions and objectives should be to guide the master plan were also contributed.
Environmental appreciation, youth inclusion, and continuity of the plan were deliberated as the top three visionary objectives from the public.
Specific recommendations were welcomed and it was found that trail markers, more use of the amphitheatre, and school swim programs were the top three recommended projects.
After data from the surveys and the workshops are collected, Urban Systems plans on having a draft of the master plan completed by August and out for review online.
To participate in the survey visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HoustonParksandRec. The survey closes Monday, May22, 2017.