2013-040 Adopting a Parks Master Plan for the City of Paris

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• The city needs to consider an increase in the maintenance budget and/or staff in order to maintain existing and future facilities. • The City needs to provide more programming - educating and encouraging youth to be more active as parks are upgraded and renovated. • Additional tennis courts are needed. • A large, multi - purpose lighted open lawn area is needed for different sports practices and general play. • A large, covered and lighted concrete slab is needed for multiple different activities, including roller derby, basketball, volleyball, tennis, etc. • Additional restrooms are needed at several parks and the existing restrooms need to be maintained at a higher level. New Parks - Needs Each park within the park network has a service radius to identify how far people are typically willing to travel to a particular park from the surrounding area. It is estimated that people are most often willing to walk' /2 mile to a neighborhood park. When asked if residents could reasonably and safely walk to a city park in Paris from their home, a mere thirty -nine percent (39 %) of the respondents stated yes. Only about half of the city (west side) is covered by the 1/2 mile service radii from all the parks. (Reference the Existing Parks and Open Space Map on page 14.) Additional neighborhood parks are needed in the eastern half of the City of Paris in order to have a park within walking distance (I/2 mile) of every home. Based on responses from the citizen survey, input from focus groups and the public input meeting it is apparent that the City of Paris needs to develop new and additional recreational facilities within the city; however, the need for additional facilities in existing parks is a higher priority. A total of sixty -nine percent (69 %) of the survey respondents feel that additional parks and facilities are needed in Paris. The City of Paris has an acceptable Level of Service of 9.33 acres of developed park acres per 1,000 residents and an admirable total of 16.13 acres of total park acres per 1,000 residents. It is apparent that Paris has enough park acreage to satisfy the need for new parks within the city limits. With that being said, the city has nearly 180 acres of undeveloped property that can be developed with new recreational amenities. If land becomes available at a reasonable price or by donation, then the city should not hesitate to purchase or accept the land as long as it follows the goals and objectives of this plan. 7 ' City of Paris Parks, Recreation & Open Space Master Plan 2013 -2023 Page 22