New parks, more facilities and organizational changes could be in store for the Starkville Parks and Recreation Department, under an outline planning officials unveiled at a public meeting Wednesday.
The comprehensive plan was developed by Dalhoff Thomas Design following three public input sessions in February and an extensive study of the parks system leading up to Wednesday's presentation. During the public forums, 101 residents were polled over various aspects of the current system.
"They spent a lot of time meeting with community members and stakeholders," Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman said. "They did an excellent job of engaging the citizens of Starkville at-large through both the public forums they held, but as well as the survey they conducted."
The plan offered tiered recommendations for city leaders to approach making changes to the current parks system. First-tier recommendations were to ensure all parks and playground facilities were ADA accessible, adding a playground safety inspection plan, upgrade security for the entire parks system and providing quality maintenance for all existing facilities.
Of the 101 respondents, over 55 percent of those voting agreed SPRD should "renovate and maintain the existing facilities." Residents said maintenance should take a central role moving into the future of the parks system, with nearly a third of respondents claiming a lack of maintenance was the top weakness for the system.
The goals of the comprehensive plan are to: connect and serve the entire community, allow Starkville to be recognized as a high quality parks and recreation system and to promote the health and well-being within the community, according to the presentation.
Looking forward, the plan suggests ways for city leaders to renovate and maintain the existing system, expand access and connectivity between the parks and community and pursue the development of new parks.
Planning officials proposed the addition of two small-scale parks, four neighborhood parks and one large community park for possible expansions of the current system. The proposed areas for the new parks spanned all quarters of Starkville. The plan also explained options for how city leaders could add a new tournament-ready field facility for soccer, baseball and softball to draw in more visitors and revenue to the area.
Starkville currently has eight parks totaling approximately 147 acres. The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) recommends around 10.5 acres of park per every 1,000 residents. Based on the 2020 population projections, Starkville should seek to provide 265 acres of developed park land to the community, according to the presentation.
The current system provides just over half of the recommended acreage of required park land to keep up with the 2020 projection. At least 100 acres of developed park land would need to be added to the existing total to match population growth, the presentation showed.
"It's a good first step," said Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker. "Now it's a matter or realizing we have lots of deficiencies but lots of opportunities and how do we take those over the next year and implement part of this plan into action."
The document will be finalized by the middle of the summer, Walker said. After the draft is finalized, aldermen will begin discussions to determine what aspects of the plan should be addressed quickly.
Organizational changes
After touching on citywide park improvements, planners presented avenues for streamlining and improving the administrative operations of the current parks system staff. The plan recommended adding two directors of maintenance and recreation and sports to help coordinate all maintenance and programming operations.
The plan also encouraged city leaders to institute a parks maintenance management plan to identify all procedures involved with maintaing the facilities.
Wiseman did not specify if the budget for the department would be increased to offset new employee hirings in the next fiscal year.
"I certainly expect our board to take this master plan into account as they are setting budget priorities for the [parks department] in the next fiscal year," he said.
The department recently began operating in the black after settling years of unpaid utility bills during the department's time as a private entity. Aldermen took the department over last year and implemented an aggressive repayment plan.
The document recommended city leaders investigate compiling a capital improvement and financial plan to outline future needs and priorities as new projects are approved.
"Now is the time for us to act," Walker said. "This fiscal year is the time for us to act on some of those things where we are able to. "
Tournament facility
Over 80 percent of public participants said the city should investigate adding a "high quality sports complex" capable of hosting youth tournaments during the spring, summer and fall.
Based on facility needs projections, Starkville needs additional baseball, softball and multipurpose fields to meet the current and future recreational demands. Planners recommended aldermen conduct economic feasibility and site feasibility studies to determine the future viability of a large tournament facility.
Planners estimated that based on a weekend baseball tournament with 50 teams where approximately 90 percent are considered visitors from out of town, Starkville could see an influx of $182,880 in direct spending with the current facilities.
Officials proposed adding either an 8-field or 12-field option to include baseball, softball or soccer facilities.
With the proposed fields, Starkville could generate $576,000 in direct tournament spending from an 8-field baseball tournament. For soccer tournaments, Starkville could possibly net $864,000 in direct tournament spending from a 12-filed system and generate $433,589 in new spending in the city, according to the presentation.
The plan outlined various mix-and-match redesign options for each park in Starkville. To view the exact recommendations, visit cityofstarkville.org.