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January 29, 1991 <br />TO: Steve Sarkozy <br />FROM: Bob Bierscheid <br />RE: Park Improvement Program - P.I.P. <br />For, the last year City Staff has been working on developing a <br />park improvement program to deal with the 23 parks and <br />approximate 500 acres of park land under the city's jurisdiction. <br />The purpose of this investigation was to determine the best <br />technique for identifying the conditions and problems of all of <br />the parks and preparing a program to upgrade park facilities at <br />minimum cost. That study has now been completed and is ready for <br />presentation to the City Council. <br />As stated above the City has 23 parks divided into the following <br />classifications: <br />• playlots <br />• neighborhood parks <br />• community parks <br />• urban park <br />Many of these parks and their amenities are over 20 years old. <br />They are also some of the most extensively used city parks in the <br />metropolitan area. The importance of this park system cannot be <br />overstated. The investment the City has made represents millions <br />of dollars in land and materials. How this is managed and <br />maintained, therefore, is very critical. <br />The current practice, today, is to treat all .parks the same in <br />regard to maintenance activities. Repairs are made on a case by <br />case 'basis as problems arise. Little is being done to provide <br />significant upgrades and preventive maintenance. This.approach <br />has resulted in a rapid degradation of our park facilities. In <br />an effort to find a better way to deal with this situation, a <br />team approach was used to guide the development of the PIP. <br />The first step was to have a detailed field investigation of <br />every park in the city. Working with the Parks and Recreation <br />Commission, goals were then adopted and development principles <br />and a systematic process were created to insure that our approach <br />was professional, consistent and cost - effective. <br />The key to this program is in getting the reconstruction <br />accomplished at the appropriate time based upon the PIP <br />evaluation system. Our goal was to systematically refurbish <br />entire parks at one time. However, during the first year <br />program, there were some individual amenities in certain parks <br />that were in dire need of redevelopment and, therefore, had to be <br />