Park and Recreation System Master Plan Table of Contents 1.0 Executive Summary ............................................................................................................. 5 2.0 Introduction .........................................................................................................................10 3.0 Demographic Analysis ̀ ...................................................................................................14 4.0 Relationships to Plans and Documents. .............................................................................24 5.0 Community Survey Report Analysis ....................................................................................30 6.0 Benchmarking and Park Metrics ..........................................................................................68 7.0 Recreation Planning Analysis ..............................................................................................76 8.0 Park Inventory and Planning Analysis .................................................................................95 9.0 Operations and Maintenance Analysis .............................................................................. 116 10.0 Forestry Planning Analysis ............................................................................................. 120 11.0 Level of Service Analysis ................................................................................................ 124 12.0 Resource and Funding Analysis ...................................................................................... 130 13.0 Economic Impact Analysis .......................................................................................... 151 14.0 Trends Analysis............................................................................................................... 154 15.0 Implementation Strategies for Recommendation ............................................................. 167 Appendix A: Document and Plan Website Links ..................................................................... 171 Appendix B: Community Survey Results ................................................................................ 173 Appendix C: Inventory Analysis and Level of Service Standards ............................................ 209 Appendix D: Park Metrics Matrix ........................................................................................ 216 Appendix E: Cost Recovery, Fees & Charges Matrices .......................................................... 231 Park and Recreation System Master Plan ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Parks and Recreation System Master Plan team would like to recognize the Eau Claire community, professional team, City leadership, and facility stakeholders for their guidance, insight, and commitment during the development of the Master Plan. The plan is a primary resource for determining and identifying strategies to address the parks and recreational needs of the community. EAU CLAIRE CITY COUNCIL Kerry Kincaid, President Kathy Mitchell, Vice President Kate Beaton Catherine Emmanuelle David Klinkhammer David Strobel Tim Tewalt Bob VonHaden Terry Weld Andrew Werthmann Michael Xiong WATERWAYS & PARKS COMMISSION Vacancy, Chair Tom Fiedler, Vice Chair Susan McLeod, Secretary Meredith Ball Ron Doering Jason Duba Megan Kremer David Leaman Joshua Miller Jenni Sterling Kate Beaton, City Council Rep Terry Weld, City Council Rep CITY OF EAU CLAIRE STAFF Dale Peters Patrick Newkirk Jeff Pippenger Carrie Ottum Tiffany Weiss Jay Winzenz Todd Chwala Patty LaPoint Pat Ivory Steve Roscoe Marybeth Berry Dawn Comte John Lofgren Addy Gutsch Chad Duerkop Matt Staudenmaier CONSULTATION TEAMS Ayres Associates ETC Institute Davey Resource Group Visit Eau Claire Park and Recreation System Master Plan EAU CLAIRE PARKS, RECREATION AND FORESTRY PROFILE Eau Claire manages 1,122 acres of parkland, calculating to 16.75 managed park acres per thousand residents. ____________________________________________________________________________ Eau Claire Parks, Recreation and Forestry provide programming that serves abroad diversity of Eau Claire’s population. ____________________________________________________________________________ As part of the community outreach, there have been several in-person meetings consisting of stakeholder focus groups and City-wide public open houses. Eau Claire Parks, Recreation and Forestry also perform a major community survey every 5 years that reaches hundreds of community members. ____________________________________________________________________________ The agency manages over 100 special event applications that attract tens of thousands of people annually. ____________________________________________________________________________ Eau Claire maintains over 30 miles of trails including a portion of the Chippewa River State Trail. ____________________________________________________________________________ Over 10,000 community members register for programs and leagues on an annual basis. ____________________________________________________________________________ There are 59 diamond and rectangular athletic fields in Eau Claire’s Parks system. ____________________________________________________________________________ Eau Claire operates 4 concession operations with $240,000 in annual revenue. ____________________________________________________________________________ An average of 65,000 people visit Fairfax Outdoor Pool every year during a 14 week season. ____________________________________________________________________________ Hobbs Ice Arena rents over 4,400 ice hours every year and attracts nearly 8,000 patrons during open skates. 2 Park and Recreation System Master Plan STATEMENT OF PURPOSE BY DIVISION ADMINISTRATION DIVISION The primary responsibility of this division is to provide administrative assistance to all other Parks and Recreation divisions and to advise the general public on parks and recreation related matters. ____________________________________________________________________________ RECREATION DIVISION The Recreation Division provides a diverse selection of programs, services, and facilities for the citizens of Eau Claire that focus on healthy lifestyles, social equity, and collaboration within the community. ____________________________________________________________________________ PARKS DIVISION The primary responsibility of the parks operation is to develop and maintain all parklands, playgrounds, waterways, ski areas, historical sites, beaches, stadiums, ball fields, and other leisure time facilities. ____________________________________________________________________________ FORESTRY DIVISION The division is responsible for the development, implementation and direction of programs in urban forestry that shall ensure the health and quality of the urban forest now and in the future. ____________________________________________________________________________ CEMETERY DIVISION The Cemetery Division is responsible for the effective and efficient management of all cemetery operation activities, ie., administration, personnel, rendering services, planning and development, facilities, grounds maintenance and budgeting. ____________________________________________________________________________ 3 Park and Recreation System Master Plan 1.0 Executive Summary 5 Park and Recreation System Master Plan EXECUTIVE SUMMARY City of Eau Claire Parks and Recreation economic downturn. The development of Mission, “To provide exceptional Park, the Master Plan is timely as the City begins Recreation, and Forestry services that will to experience new growth. The master plan enrich our citizens and visitors.” process supports the reevaluation of the community’s priorities to develop The Community Services Department, measureable, realistic goals for Parks, Recreation Division is pleased to implementation over the next five years. present the City of Eau Claire Parks and Recreation System Master Plan, developed Purpose through extensive public outreach to The purpose of the Eau Claire Parks understand the community’s perspective and Recreation System Master Plan is and establish support for the 5-Year plan. to: The System Master Plan has been a Guide decision-making; collaborative process between the City of Provide insight into changing Eau Claire, its residents, partners, and community needs and perspectives; stakeholders. The Master Plan serves as a Understand the level of service being roadmap to navigate community goals and provided to the community; build recommendations that provide policy makers an approach to leverage the City’s Evaluate available resources and how parks and recreation resources with other to most strategically invest; community partners and initiatives. The Develop a prioritized action plan that System Master Plan reinforces the objective is Manager and Council approved; to maintain the City of Eau Claire Parks and Reinforce Plan Eau Claire; and, Recreation national accreditation by the Support CAPRA accreditation. National Recreation and Parks Association’s (NRPA) Commission for Approach Accreditation of Park and Recreation The planning process for the Parks and Agencies (CAPRA). The Master Plan is a Recreation System Master Plan is based on “living document” that adapts to changes extensive community outreach combined within the community over time. with data-driven analyses of parameters of Eau Claire Parks and Recreation master Special thanks to the City of Eau Claire plan team listened