Pleasanton Parks and Recreation Master Plan

i Pleasanton Parks and Recreation Master Plan Executive Summary 2014 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this Master Plan is to provide a realistic and visionary guide for the creative, orderly development and management of parks, recreation facilities and programs for the City, now and into the future. The Master Plan is an implementation tool of the General Plan, providing strategies for addressing the General Plan’s vision, as well as goals and policies based on current analysis and community input. The Master Plan’s findings and recommendations are based on a combination of community input derived from community workshops and targeted surveys and staff’s technical analysis and as such, in many respects, they represent community expectations and observations which may exceed or be different from, those developed as part of national or state recreational organizations. Notwithstanding this, importance has been placed on assuring the Master Plan is consistent with the Pleasanton General Plan 2005 to 2025 and it provides a framework for meeting its vision, goals, policies and programs, specifically those related to the Public Facilities and Community Programs, Conservation and Open Space, Community Character and Energy Elements. Further this Master Plan has taken into consideration existing advance planning and other planning documents such as the City’s Youth Master Plan, Pedestrian, Bicycle and Trails Master Plan, Stoneridge Drive Specific Plan Amendment/Staples Ranch, and other related plans. Recreation Facility Needs Assessment As part of the 12‐month master plan process, considerable effort was devoted initially to identifying existing recreation resources as detailed in Section Two and then interacting with the community and frequent facility users in an attempt to identify specific interests, needs and satisfaction with City programming and facilities. In addition, a considerable amount of technical analysis was conducted regarding programs and facilities. A significant portion of this process included data gathering in an attempt to assess community expectations, facility requirements, and demand and needs analysis. A summary of these efforts are as follows: Community Workshops: A total of three facilitated community workshops were conducted. The first workshop identified community perceptions of the City’s overall character and its recreation facilities. The second focused on identifying the most and least favorite facilities. The third discussed program and facility priorities. Sports Organization Questionnaires: All of the City’s twenty sports organizations responded to a questionnaire designed to gather information about participation, needs, and facilities used. Community Organization Questionnaires: Twenty‐one community organizations responded to a questionnaire designed to gather information about participation, needs, and facilities utilized by the groups for programs, meetings and events. Community‐Wide Telephone Survey: A total of 300 interviews were completed, contacted through use of a random digit dial sample. The purpose was to provide a statistically valid basis for determining how residents participate in recreation activities. The survey was validated by comparing demographic results of the survey to overall City resident demographics and by a manual audit of 10% of the surveys.