NRPA Benchmark Survey, April 2009

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Trends Affecting the Division Planning For the Future of Eugene's Parks In 2006, Eugene voters approved a $27.5 million bond measure for Parks and Open Space. The bond identifies funding for many top priority projects, with a particular emphasis on the acquisition of additional park lands. Specific acquisition projects include: • 13 new neighborhood park sites • A community park for Santa Clara • An expansion of Amazon Park • Improving access to Skinner Butte Park at the Shelton- McMurphy- Johnson House • Natural area parks While progress has been made in the community park and natural area park categories, finding undeveloped sites between 2 and 4 acres in size that are suitable to neighborhood park development and are within existing or developing neighborhoods is proving to be a difficult task. Looking to land that already has some level of development on it will increase the cost of park acquisition, but may be necessary to secure the land in some neighborhoods. As we plan for the future of Eugene's park system through the acquisition of new lands, we must also be good stewards of our existing assets. Planning for the long term sustainability of Eugene's park infrastructure is an ongoing work item and a continuing challenge. While work is underway to repair or upgrade a number of popular park amenities, such as wading pools and tennis courts, some of these facilities are falling into disrepair with inadequate funding to renovate all of them. This issue is exacerbated by a lack of day to day operational resources to provide general maintenance support for our growing park system. Addressing Funding Challenges for Park Operations — Focusing on Restoration and Rehabilitation From Hendricks Park, the City's oldest park, to Rosetta Park, its newest, the City's system of developed parks consists of over 1,000 acres of parkland scattered across the city in over 50 developed neighborhood and community parks. Maintenance and operation of the developed parkland system is the responsibility of the Park Operations section, a dedicated team of 35 general- funded FTE park workers who perform all the vegetation management and daily facility maintenance for the system which includes playgrounds, shelters, trees and planted beds, over 250 acres of irrigated turf and over 20 permanent restrooms. Although many new parks were constructed during the past decade, most of our system's parks are much older and as the infrastructure ages, the required maintenance inputs has increased steadily. In contrast to the trees and other vegetation in our parks, which matures and gets better with age, much of the built infrastructure has a more limited life span and eventually it must be rehabilitated or replaced in order to maintain functionality and preserve the intended service level. In addition to extending the life of a park or facility, improving functions and improving service levels, rehabilitation of outdated systems with new materials, construction methods, and integrated technologies can also significantly reduce the required maintenance. A team of staff from Park Operations, Public Works Engineering and Parks and Open Space Planning are developing several rehabilitation projects for completion in FY10. A new irrigation system, being developed for the large lawn at Alton Baker Park, will be managed remotely by a weather - controlled computer system, and will significantly increase turf health, reduce water use, and minimize maintenance requirements. The rehabilitation work at Alton Baker Park will also include vehicular and pedestrian access improvements that will facilitate use of the park and reduce the turf damage caused when large events are staged in the park.