Fresno Parks Master Plan
WRT completed work on the City of Fresno’s Park Master Plan Update, Imagine Your Parks 2050. This is the first Parks Plan for Fresno since 1989, and it comes at a much needed time for the city given their growth over the past 27 years.
The parks master plan articulates a vision for improving Fresno's park and open space system based on robust community engagement and throuhg analysis. The planning process began with a detailed needs assessment conducted by consultants, City of Fresno staff, residents, and stakeholders. This included examining the City's General Plan park land acreage goals, population growth, and demographic information as part of a comprehensive level of service evaluation.
Mapping and analysis of existing parks and their service areas revealed how well or inadequately each neighborhood is currently served by parks and recreation ameneties. Recreational programs were also evaluated. The financial health of the park system was studied, including benchmarking Fresno's expesnditures with comparable cities. Overall, from vision through recommendations, this parks master plan reflects priorities of Fresno community members, institutional leaders, and City Council members who habe the common goal of wanting to see their park system thrive.
The team worked with the City of Fresno Parks Department to re-evaluate its level of service classification and analyze areas of need and plan for future growth with on-the-ground parks assessments and extensive GIS mapping related to current access, park amenities, and demographics. The plan focuses on the principles of access, equity, health, and safety. The plan consists of a high level vision component and a more robust master plan that focuses on design standards, maintenance practices, funding, and operations. The written plan is complemented by community outreach with stakeholders, mobile workshops with citizens and city-wide meetings.
