Arlington seeks input on public parks

The city of Arlington hopes to receive feedback about what the community wants for the future of their parks.

They are currently in the process of updating their Parks and Recreation Master Plan, which guides the city’s decisions about current and potential future city parks.

A survey for community members at surveymonkey.com/r/PRMPpriorities will be available until the end of the month.

The city has contracted with a consulting group to update their Parks and Recreation Master Plan, which needed an update because it hasn’t received a new version in a number of years, said Sarah Lopez, community engagement director with the city.

A master plan will provide a list of the current parks, potential improvements to those areas and potential future parks.

“It gives an inventory of what we have now and what is within a 5-minute walk of each neighborhood,” said Lopez. “If there are places we need to build more parks or more amenities to make them accessible, we list those as well."

The city is forecasting continuing growth for Arlington in the next 20 years.

“That helps us plan for future growth in the city,” said Lopez. “That helps us to budget in the future and tell us what our priorities should be."

Many local municipal parks projects are funded by state and federal grants, and often having a plan in place ahead of time helps to increase chances to be awarded those funds.

“A lot of the time we apply for Washington State Recreation grants and those usually have a requirement where the project must be listed in the master plan,” said Lopez.

The community survey is meant to gather feedback about where the city could improve their facilities, where more parks are needed and what community members want from their parks.

The city is gathering opinions on a number of subjects.

“It will ask how important it is to you to enhance creek corridors, have shelters and park tables, have off-road trails, have playgrounds areas and have athletic fields,” said Lopez.

After gathering feedback the consultant group will update the Parks and Recreation Master Plan and present it to the Arlington City Council for approval, who plan to use it for future guidance, said Lopez.

The city of Arlington is also looking for a couple new members for their Parks, Arts & Recreation Commission.

The commission is composed of Arlington residents who advise the mayor and Arlington City Council on decisions related to parks and recreation facilities and programs.

Candidates must live inside Arlington city limits and be able to attend the commission’s monthly meeting.

More information about the commission is available at [email protected].