Public Outreach Results Reflect Strong Support for Investment in City Parks, Trails and Open Space
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – June 17, 2015 (Gephardt Daily) – With a wide-reaching public engagement process and public opinion poll complete, City residents have reported that they love their parks, trails and open spaces, they want them improved and they want to “fill in the gaps” with outdoor opportunities the City lacks. They also say they’re willing to pay for additions and improvements via a General Obligation bond election this November.
“I’m very excited to see the positive responses we’ve had from residents,” said Mayor Ralph Becker. “We know how important a high quality of life and outdoors opportunities are to all who call Salt Lake City home. I look forward to hearing more input as we work to put a detailed plan together that reflects the parks, trails and open space needs of our community.”
“It’s clear that Salt Lakers want to see an upgraded parks and recreation system,” said City Council Member Kyle LaMalfa, whose district includes the Glendale area. “The City is committed to transforming these spaces into excellent areas for all residents to enjoy, and we wanted to hear directly from them about what they would like to see created in their place,”
Here’s a summary of what the public had to say:
Residents expressed strong interest for adding new parks and recreation opportunities, including:
• Natural open spaces within the City, which could include urban farms and nature centers
• Mountain biking parks
• Places to engage in more water-related sports, such as along the Jordan River
They also said they want more of the following:
• Connectivity between trails throughout the City
• Unpaved trails in the foothills
• Spaces for specific types of activities, such as disc golf
Finally, residents want the City to take better care of the facilities we already have:
• Maintain and improve existing park spaces
• Weave sustainable principles into all parks and recreation facilities and services
• Switch to secondary water for irrigation wherever possible
Golf course closures prompt process
The feedback-gathering processes were prompted by the City’s decision to close and repurpose the Glendale and Jordan River Par 3 golf courses (the Wingpointe Golf Course at the International Airport is also slated for closure, but is not part of this process).
Additionally, the completion of a number of neighborhood and Citywide plans, as well as high interest from residents asking for parks improvements, encouraged the Mayor and Council to seek public input to guide the development of a package of improvement projects that the Council may elect to place on the November ballot in the form of a bond proposal.
The process began with researchers reviewing resident input from more than 25 planning documents from 1992 through 2015, and then creating a list of concepts and projects from those plans. Open house and online participants were asked to comment on the projects they’d like to see, as well as to suggest new ideas.
Open House, Polling Results Fairly Similar
Feedback from the qualitative public engagement process – about 1,000 comments received at open houses, stakeholder workshops and an online survey on Open City Hall – was mostly consistent with residents’ responses to a quantitative opinion survey of 406 respondents from all seven City Council districts.
There were a few exceptions where results diverged between the two feedback-gathering methods. Although a variety of interest groups-supporters of cycling, golf and disc golf, in particular-were well represented during a series of open houses, those interests didn’t rise to the top in the public opinion survey, which provides a statistically representative selection of City residents.
In addition, the number of those wanting to keep Glendale Golf Course open was much higher in the open houses and online survey than in the opinion poll. Just fewer than one in four poll respondents said they had used a City golf course in the past year, and only 6 percent suggested keeping the Glendale and Jordan River courses open for golf. On the other hand, more than 90 percent said they had used a neighborhood park and more than 60 percent polled have used foothill trails in the past year.
Next steps
The feedback from the outreach processes will be used by the mayor’s team to develop a list of projects, including cost estimates, to submit to the Council in early July. The Council will then review and adjust the project list and seek further input from residents before deciding by Aug. 18 whether they’ll place the package on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Further information on the effort, including the full results of the survey, can be reviewed at http://ouroutdoorsslc.com/.
