At the last Huntsville City Council session, one of the agenda items was to authorize the City Manager to enter into an agreement with Burditt Consultants for the development of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan. They voted to move the item from the “Consent Agenda” to the “Statutory Agenda” for a discussion and vote. Councilmember McKenzie recommended dropping the sports complex study from the agreement.
The council voted to drop the sports complex study from the agreement and voted in approval of the rest of the agreement.Looking at the agenda packet, the Master Plan would be a “5-year plan [to] serve as a roadmap for future development, maintenance, and enhancement of our parks system and recreation programming.”
The plan is to hire Burditt Consultants and, with the inclusion of community and staff members, put together an “updated comprehensive parks and Recreation Master Plan.”
The agreement includes:
–Initiating a comprehensive assessment and inventory of Huntsville’s recreation facilities and parks.
–Soliciting stake holders views including those of community groups, residents, members of the Parks and Recreation Board and City staff.
–Holding an Open House event, implementing workshops, participating in meetings of the city, and putting together an online survey to find out needs and preferences.
–Evaluating and prioritizing future and current usage of the parks and recreational programming to arrive at a “preliminary Master Plan for review.”
–Forming clear objectives and goals, implementing plans for “designs of priority projects, park renderings and opinions of probable costs.”
–Recommending priorities for maintenance and capital improvements.
–Delivering the final Master Plan draft to the council.
The contract was for $100,000.
