TO: Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Commission

FROM: Ad Hoc Park Committee Chair Bonnie Johnson

CC: Lawrence City Commission and Douglas County Commission

RE: Update of Comprehensive Plan Chapter 9: Park, Recreation, Open Space Areas and Facilities — Revisions

DATE: September 9, 2005

 

Based on comments from the Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Commission and the public at the May 25, 2005 Planning Commission Meeting, the Ad Hoc Park Committee has made revisions to the plan. A list of the comments is below. Also, the new draft contains maps from the Parks and Recreation Master Plan that should be adopted with the park chapter of the Comprehensive Plan. The Commission will be particularly interested in the map showing areas for future park locations. If approved, this would be the map the Parks Department will use when looking for new parkland.

 

Comments

 

The comments from the Planning Commission concerned the following:

-          No mention of historic sites in definitions and goals.

-          No mention of connectivity to rivers in the policies portion of the plan. Need to add the word "safe" to the definition of bike route.

-          Need to clarify if the Planning Commission should adopt the Parks and Recreation Comprehensive Master Plan.

Lack of park standards for the County.

 

 

Comments from the League of Women Voters (LWV) concerned the following:

-          Some on the Planning Commission and the LWV were not comfortable with downplaying the future creation of mini-parks.

The definition of "natural areas" conflicts with that in the Background Section of the Comprehensive Plan.

-          Some on the Planning Commission and the LWV thought some open space should not have trails through it and should just be left as is.

Farmland is not just "yet to be developed land."

 

Revisions to the Plan Based on Comments

 

Page 9-3 — Added into first paragraph a line about some greenways not having trails. Page 9-4 — Added "historic sites" under "Open Space & Greenways" description. Page 9-5 — Added "connectivity" to "Community Parks" and "Regional Parks"; added "historic sites" and what we intend to connect, like rivers, under "Open Space & Greenways"; removed the word "productive" from in front of "agricultural lands". Page 9-8 — Under "Special Use Acquisition Techniques" the techniques just applied to historic buildings so the wording was changed to "historic site" so things like prairies or particular locations could be included.

Page 9-9 – Added "safe" under "Bike Route"; added "connectivity" under "Greenway"; added wording to definition of "natural area" to coordinate with definition in Background Section.

Page 9-10 – Added "arboretum" and "historic sites" under "Recreation, Passive."

Page 9-11 – Added Policy 1.1, e. on the County getting standards; added Policy 1.1, f. on coordinating with the County, added a start year for the updating of the Parks and Recreation Comprehensive Master Plan.

Page 9-12 – Added "and/or historic" in Policy 12, a, b, and c.

Page 9-16 – Added Policy 3.1, f, g, and h to cover connection to rivers, working with farmers to preserve open space, and adding historic sites.

Page 9-23 – Added historic sites and prairie in Policy 6.1, e.

Revisions Not Made

 

There were no revisions made to the status of mini-parks. The assessment of the Parks and Recreation Department is that these are too expensive to maintain at this time. An alternative could be encouraging developers to provide such parks with homeowners associations providing the maintenance. However, this does not provide these parks uniformly throughout the community or make them accessible to all. There is the potential that mini-parks would be feasible within New Urbanism type developments. Perhaps this could be part of the on-going assessment of introducing New Urbanism techniques to Lawrence.

 

The League of Women Voters' concern about farmland not being portrayed as "yet to be developed land" is a broader policy concern that goes beyond the update to the parks and recreation plan. The word "productive" was eliminated from in front of the words "agricultural land" in the plan to show that agricultural land is valued as open space.

 

Adoption of the Parks and Recreation Comprehensive Master Plan

 

The coordination of the Parks and Recreation Chapter of Horizon 2020 and the Parks and Recreation Comprehensive Master Plan (PRCMP) is important. This revised chapter incorporates maps from the PRCMP to help with awareness and coordination. The Park Board reviewed and approved the last set of revisions to the chapter and will be looking at these latest revisions. The revised chapter does reference the PRCMP. To increase the Planning Commission's comfort level with a chapter of the comprehensive plan referencing another plan, the Planning Commission should at least review the PRCMP and approve it. In this way they will be aware of what it says and reinforce staff's ability to confidently utilize the Parks and Recreation Chapter and the PRCMP when working with citizens, developers, and the Commission.