Redmond Area Park and Recreation District works closely with the City of Redmond to offer fun, social programs outdoors, in the many great park locations around Redmond.  The City currently maintains 20 parks, 3.8 miles of trails, and one dog park.  It is the responsibility of the City Parks Division to ensure that the system of parks, trails, and amenities Redmond offers meets the needs and expectations of our residents.  It is their job to make sure that when you and your family or friends go to a Redmond park, you can easily find out what kinds of equipment and facilities will be there before you go, and that you’ll have what you need for a great day out.

To do that difficult job, every 10 years, the Parks Division updates its citywide Parks Master Plan.  “The Master Plan gives us the bigger picture,” says Annie McVay, Parks Division Manager. “It helps us identify things getting outdated, big recreation trends, ways the community’s changing; the broader view of what parks need.”  The last time the plan was updated was in 2008, so the city is preparing for the next update.  The Master Plan update captures the accomplishments of the past 10 years, and identifies goals for parks development in the coming 10 years.  It will guide the Parks Division in the next decade as to which projects to build, how funding should be prioritized, and what should be undertaken first. 

Everything gets evaluated: which parks are being used and how people are using them, which trails are used and where new trails are needed to meet the desires of new and growing sports and recreation niche communities. 

Now, the parks update project team wants to hear from you.  What events and activities do you use Redmond city parks for?  Or, if you don’t currently use the parks, what new facilities or amenities would draw you to try them out?  “Redmond is very different than Prineville and Sisters and Bend, says McVay.  We want to reach out to the Redmond community to hear about their unique needs; what they like about our parks, parts of the park system they think could be improved.  We want to know what success in the next five years for Redmond parks means to you.”  She recalls, “Pickleball blindsided the nation a couple years ago, so if there are big recreation trends that are up and coming that aren’t aware of, let us know!”

The project team takes their job seriously and has planned a number of ways to try to get the community involved in the parks update process.  They want to make it as easy as possible to give them your feedback, so they have come up with a number of ways you can tell them what you think.  There is citywide survey sent out every year.  “Over the past couple years,” McVay reports, “we have had three large scale community surveys.  One was mailed to every resident.”  An interactive website called “My Sidewalk” issues weekly posts on different themes.  Last week’s asked residents to respond to the open-ended question, “What do you want your children to remember about playing in Redmond parks?”  In some communities, the “My Sidewalk” program has been a great tool for eliciting public feedback, but so far, Redmond has seen low participation.

Although the Master Plan project team stays up to date on the latest research and studies regarding community development and park planning, the participation of residents is key.  We can get a good idea of trends, but our planning should begin with the thoughts and the needs of the residents,” McVay explains.  “If we planned in a vacuum we’d miss a lot of things that are really important to people.”

McVay also discussed some of the challenges in uncovering Redmond’s park needs so far.  “The difficulty with the master plan is it is so big.  It is more abstract, not site-specific, so it is hard to get your head around.  A community park like Quince or Bowlby, everyone uses it and everyone knows what they want and don’t want.”  She gives some examples: “If you have kids, your biggest need might be playground equipment.  If you have school aged kids, your needs might be focused on sports fields.  But aggregating that to the big picture, and farther into the future, is more challenging” 

There’s more art than science to eliciting the information the city needs from residents about their park needs.  “If you just list a bunch of activities and facilities, everyone loves all of them, but that doesn’t get us to priorities.  So we use open-ended questions and people will respond with what matters to them most.  Our recent survey about Quince Park did a great job of capturing impressions.”  With regard to common themes among residents’ responses to open-ended surveys about the Master Plan, McVay observes, “One thing that always comes up as a really high priority is trails and connectivity.”

In an effort to offer a variety of forums for engagement, there is also a series of public meetings and other outreach to the community to invite you to contribute ideas, outline existing challenges, and get information about what could be possible for Redmond parks in the next 5-10 years.  The City is hosting an open house to seek public input about the future of Redmond’s parks, trails, natural lands, and outdoor recreation opportunities.  The open house will be on Wednesday, April 5th, at 5:30 pm at Redmond City Hall (formerly Evergreen school), in Civic Room #206.

There will be an opportunity at the open house for constituents of various demographics to have their voices heard.  The needs of hikers may not always match the needs of seniors, which may not always align with the needs of families with young children.  The Parks Division wants to respond to and balance these competing needs.  “There are different ways that different cultures use our parks,” McVay observes, “And a lot of our parks here are geared toward families with children, so we hear from senior citizens that we could meet their needs more.”  To gather the impressions of these user groups, the open house will feature thematic stations, like “Trails,” “Ball fields” etc. The Parks Division will also be able to present more information on what they’ve developed so far, which will hopefully make it easier for residents to comment on the Master Plan. “It can be harder in the abstract,” McVay says, “but once they see something in writing, people have a better sense of how to direct their comments.”

This will be only one of many platforms the city will provide to learn about the process and offer your guidance to the project team, but it is an important first step that will shape the Master Plan update by creating a framework and jumping off point for future engagement.  Don’t miss this chance to make your voice heard and make sure your city parks continue to meet your needs going forward as Redmond grows and evolves.