Pleasanton Parks and Recreation Master Plan

1-2 Pleasanton Parks and Recreation Master Plan Section One ‐ Introduction 2014 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. Over the years, the City of Pleasanton has actively undertaken a variety of planning efforts pertaining to recreation and community services programs, individual park or facility Master Plans, Land Use studies, and Specific Plans. The Master Plan builds on many of these previous planning efforts and obtains new community input that has resulted in providing an up‐to‐date understanding of current and future recreation needs and opportunities specific to Pleasanton. There is a strong connection between open space and recreation in Pleasanton. Natural open space is also strongly connected to community identity in many ways, including as reinforcement of the area’s “El Alisal” or early days heritage. The City’s General Plan addresses open space comprehensively, including open space for non‐recreation purposes. 1.2 Approach and Document Organization The Master Plan document is organized into the following sections: Section Two: Recreation Facility Needs Assessment This section summarizes the Master Plan’s purpose and process. The current demographic composition of Pleasanton and implications for recreation trends is briefly outlined. A list of related documents that were reviewed as part of the Master Plan is identified. Understanding the existing conditions in the community is an essential step in the Master Plan process. The Needs Assessment provides an inventory of the City’s parks and recreation facilities as well as other recreation facilities open to the public and includes discussions of public school facilities, private recreation facilities, and a listing of other publicly‐owned lands (opportunity sites) within and surrounding the City limits. The Needs Assessment further provides a detailed assessment of the recreation facility needs of the Pleasanton community. Data from the community was obtained to develop an understanding of the demand for a variety of facilities. Both qualitative and quantitative information sources are discussed. The assessment utilizes the following needs identification tools: Community Outreach: Information gathered from the community through a series of workshops, stakeholder interviews, workshop participant questionnaires, sports organization and community organization questionnaires. Community‐Wide Telephone Survey: The phone survey provides current, statistically valid information specific to Pleasanton that gives detailed information for the types of recreation facilities most often utilized by Pleasanton residents. A total of 300 randomly selected, geographically distributed households in the City of Pleasanton were interviewed.