A festive outdoor event with a bounce house as the main attraction, surrounded by a diverse group of people enjoying a sunny day in the park.

Charlottesville, VA Parks and Recreation Master Plan (2024)

Why

Charlottesville Parks and Recreation had never developed a full master plan, just a needs assessment (2007) and community survey (2017) in previous years. In addition to these assessments, the department had developed many localized master plans for specific parks or natural areas. Therefore, the department desired to create a comprehensive Parks and Recreation Master Plan to provide guidance for both short- and long-range planning for the park system by integrating community input, stakeholder and focus group feedback, past and current plans, staff input, and City Council priorities. At the end of the process, the department desired to have clear direction on how to prioritize improvements and connections of current facilities, parks and trails, a buildout strategy, recommendations pertaining to recreation program offerings, recommendations on how best to utilize recreation centers, and recommendations for equitable advancing of recreation and health throughout the city.

HOW

Zec Eight Insights partnered with PROS Consulting and Kimley-Horn for the planning process. Zec Eight Insights focused on performing recreation and service analyses. The process involved conducting an internal staff workshop, analyzing five years of registered program data, studying historical use patterns, and comparing results to industry best practices.

What

The final Parks and Recreation Master Plan included recommendations to further refine the department’s service delivery model, considerations for expanding and divesting programs, ideas for new or expanded core program areas, geospatial distribution of programs offered, and potential partnership/collaboration opportunities.

Reference
William Bassett, Management Specialist II
Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Department
(434) 970-3298
bassett@charlottesville.gov
501 E Main Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902