Parks commission gives input on city’s plans

By Jean Reid Norman

Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009 | 4:45 p.m.

The Parks and Recreation Commission has given Boulder City a head start on a long-overdue revision of the city's strategic plan and master plan.

The commission has combed through both documents looking at every reference to parks and recreation and made recommendations of the ways in which the two plans can be updated in those areas. It voted unanimously July 29 to forward the recommendations to the City Council.

"We've selected what was in our lane and nothing else," Parks and Recreation Commissioner Daniel Hearn said. "Our thought and our way ahead is to take those things that were good, take a look at them and evaluate the progress that's been made or the progress that's ongoing."

The strategic plan, which specifies that it will be updated every five years, is dated November 2000, and the master plan was last updated in December 2003.

Community Development Director Brok Armantrout told the commissioners that the city is beginning a long process of updating the two plans. It has $80,000 set aside in the current budget to begin the process, and Armantrout said the city plans to begin with a survey of residents to see what their priorities are.

The Boulder City Police Department has already begun that process for its own strategic plan. The survey is available on the city's Web site, bcnv.org. Paper copies are also available at the Police Station, 1005 Arizona St.

Providing funding is available, the city plans to have its entire strategic plan updated in 2011, Armantrout said. The master plan is scheduled to be updated in 2012 and 2013.

Some of the Parks and Recreation Commission's recommendations include adding the words "enhancing our quality of life" to the city's vision statement, writing a marketing plan for recreation programs and developing a policy regarding drug usage in the youth sports program.