Parks Master Plan Update

Findings PresentationJune 27, 2017

• Community Input• Focus Groups• Stakeholder Meetings• Survey

• Inventory• Analysis• Level of Service• Maintenance

• Findings Presentation• Draft Plan & Presentation• Final Plan & Presentation

Project Approach

• Draft Plan Comments

Focus Group Meetings

• 7 stakeholder/focusgroup meetings

• 64 participants• Over 60 county

organizations

December 6-8, 2016

• Size of the system• Distribution throughout county• Diversity of opportunities all seasons• Open access - no daily user fees

• WPA era structures• Distinct natural resources in historic parks• Good trail system - all seasons and multi-use• Diversity of habitat for wildlife• Resources are undeveloped

• Partnerships with surrounding agencies• Passion of staff• Great management given limited resources

Focus Group: Findings

Strengths of the system:

• Inventory assets to prioritize/address deficiency• Stabilize the current system/address deferred

maintenance• Address lake quality• Maintain WPA structures

• Create/update management plans (forestry,invasive species)

• Develop individual park plans to provide betterfunctional spaces

• Upgrade branding/messaging• Create more effective partnerships• Create a volunteer program• Create education and outreach programs• Engage youth populations

• Update and repair shelters• Remove/replace play equipment

• Repurpose parks spaces• Identify recreational tourism opportunities

Focus Group: Findings

Top Priorities for the system:

Community Survey• 5,000 random mailed

surveys, geographically

distributed• 585 random mailed surveys returned

• 301 additional returned Open Link surveys

Usage of Existing Facilities;

- Only Chestnut Ridge and Riverwalk have been used by over half of invitation respondents in

the past year (69% and 51%, respectively). The remaining facilities are used much less

frequently by invitation respondents, who identified a lack of awareness as the primary reason for not using existing facilities (47%).

Community

Survey: Findings

Trails/Pathways are Most-Used Amenity.

Respondents indicated they are most likely to use trails/pathways (74%), picnic shelters (56%), and playgrounds (48%) on a regular basis.

Community

Survey: Findings

Long-Term Areas of Focus Should Include Preservation of Natural Areas and Protecting the

Environment.

Respondents most commonly chose preserving natural areas (49%) and protecting the environment (46%) as long-term focus areas. These priorities are further corroborated by

other survey results, both quantitative and qualitative.

Community

Survey: Findings

Top Future Priorities for Improvement Include Lake Quality, Trails/Pathways, and

Restrooms.

- Respondents rated lake quality (87%), trail and pathway connectivity (82%), and restrooms (80%) as most important priorities.

Community

Survey: Findings

Respondents Support Increasing Funding, but Not if it Impacts their Personal Finances.

- Invitation respondents indicated that they support a variety of funding sources for Erie

County parks and recreation offerings. However, they were less likely to support funding

sources that directly impact them financially, such as an increase in property taxes

(average rating 2.0), a new property tax (2.1), or new user fees (2.5).

Community

Survey: Findings

Focus on Improving Communication.

- Almost two-thirds (63%) of invitation respondents rated Erie County’s effectiveness at reaching them with parks and recreation information as a “1” or a “2” indicating that

improvements to existing communications could be beneficial.

- Familiarity with Erie County Parks facilities and services is also relatively low, with 31%

indicating that they are familiar.

- Local media (62%) and the Internet/website (51%) topped the list of best ways to reach invitation respondents with parks and recreation information.

Community

Survey: Findings

Maintaining and Improving the Condition of Existing Facilities is Critical.

- When asked what areas, if addressed by the County, would increase their usage of parks

and recreation facilities, the top response among invitation respondents was condition/

maintenance of parks or facilities (67%).

- Respondents also allocated the most amount of money on average towards improving and/

or renovating existing amenities at parks and facilities in an exercise where they allocated a

hypothetical $100 towards various parks and recreation amenities.

- Finally, in the open-ended comments, many responses requested various upgrades and

improvements to existing Erie County facilities.

Community

Survey: Findings

Questions? Comments?Visit erie.gov/environment