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

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miles of the West Paris multi - purpose trail. It is important to make sure all the trails are connected so that the individual trails become a purposeful trail system that connects residential areas, schools, parks and businesses. Not only do trails provide a safe alternative to driving, they provide an opportunity for more walking, jogging and exercising. Multi- purpose trails ranked number seven in the citizen survey and a total of sixty -two percent (62 %) of the respondents strongly agreed or agreed that residential neighborhoods, schools and parks should be connected with linear parks such as trails along creeks and other corridors. Downtown Paris is a high traffic generator and trails and sidewalks are needed to adjoin the downtown area to other parts of the community. In addition, bike racks are needed throughout the community as more and more people are using bicycles as a means for transportation and recreationally. It is apparent that more trails and trail connections are needed in the City of Paris. In addition, multi - purpose trails and soft - surfaced trails are needed in and throughout individual parks for walking, jogging and other forms of exercise. Natural Open Space - Needs The City of Paris needs to preserve natural open spaces within the community in order to provide spaces for primitive recreation and to preserve valuable ecosystems. Water features (creeks, ponds, small lakes) ranked as number ten on the citizen survey and nature areas ranked as number thirteen. Lake Crook and Gibbons Lake are both natural open space properties with water resources in Paris and need to be preserved. Indoor Recreation Center - Needs Paris' existing city -wide park system does not currently include any indoor recreational opportunities. An indoor recreation center ranked as the number one most desired recreational facility on the citizen survey. In addition, recreation centers were discussed in detail at both the focus group meetings and the public input meeting. Indoor recreation centers provide a wide variety of recreational opportunities in a controlled setting which allows citizens to enjoy year 1 City of Paris Parks, Recreation & Open Space Master Plan 2013 -2023 Page 30