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City of Arden Hills – 2030 Comprehensive Plan Approved: September 28, 2009 9-2 9.1 PARKS, TRAILS AND OPEN SPACE PLAN The City recognizes that demographic, recreation, and environmental trends will impact park, recreation, trail, and open space user needs. To prepare for future needs, the City of Arden Hills completed the Parks, Trails, and Open Space (PTOS) Plan in 2002. The PTOS Plan analyzed the City’s current parks and recreation system facilities and developed a long-term vision for the City’s parks and recreation system. In order to realize the City’s vision, the PTOS Plan recommended improvements to increase efficiency and achieve the long-term parks and recreation vision and priorities for the City. The vision and goals in the 2002 PTOS Plan were updated by the Parks, Trails, and Recreation Committee and adopted by the City Council in 2006. Progress has been made on implementing the 2002 PTOS Plan. Since the PTOS Plan was intended to guide programs, improvements, and decision-making through 2020, this chapter largely reflects the content in the PTOS Plan and the 2006 update to the PTOS plan. As part of the 2002 PTOS planning process, the City identified long-term trends to help determine future park, trail, and recreation needs. Recreation interests and participation are influenced by a number of factors, including, age, access to facilities, income, available leisure time, interest in the environment, new recreation technology, and social trends. In general, people are looking for quality recreation that is close to home, but they are willing to travel to obtain higher quality or more specialized activities or environments. 9.2 REGIONAL PARK AND RECREATION SYSTEM Although the Arden Hills Comprehensive Plan focuses on local needs, the community recognizes that Arden Hills is connected to and participates in a larger, regional network of parks, pathways, and open spaces. The Metropolitan Council’s regional park system includes 49 regional parks and park preserves that cover more than 52,000 acres. The regional system also boasts 28 regional trails that span 170 miles. Arden Hills is linked to three regional trails and is home to one regional park (Figure 9.1). The Highway 96 Regional Trail crosses the City from east to west adjacent to Highway 96. The trail is primarily on the south side of the highway; however, it remains incomplete between Highway 10 in Arden Hills and old County Road 8 in the City of New Brighton. The proposed reconstruction of Highway 96 in this vicinity includes completing this trail, which would connect Arden Hills to Long Lake Regional Park in New Brighton. Completion of this trail is supported by the City.