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Roseville Review Parks and recreation survey hits the streets Page 1 of 2 wr W N s x7iL lZeview.co'm e e Parks and recreation survey hits the streets Alex Holmquist Review staff The city of Roseville needs your help to determine the future of its parks and recreation system. A statistically valid community survey is currently being conducted to gauge support for the Parks and Recreation Master Plan and to establish priorities for future improvement of community parks and recreation facilities, programs and services. The survey was sent out to 1,500 randomly selected Roseville residents,who would have likely received it sometime last week. It only takes between 10 and 15 minutes to complete,said Parks and Recreation Commission Chair Jason Etten, and he encouraged residents to fill it out and send it back. "It will be crucial to how we move forward with the implementation process,"Etten said. The total cost for the survey is$21,000 to be paid for out of the$50,000 master plan implementation budget that was approved by the city council in January. At the April 18 city council meeting, Etten gave an overview of the survey,which is being conducted through a market research firm called Leisure Vision. Leisure Vision tested the survey on a small group of Roseville residents by phone before it was mailed out to make sure there didn't seem to be any problems with it. As part of the survey,the city was divided into four sectors,with Snelling Avenue serving at the east/west divider line and Hwy.36 serving at the north/south divider line. Leisure Vision has guaranteed 600 responses, and will make followup phone calls if necessary to ensure that the four sectors are equally represented. Etten said preliminary results of the survey will be received by May 9,just in time for the May 11 community implementation team meeting to be held at 7 p.m. in the Rose Room of the Roseville Skating Center.At that meeting, the preliminary results of the survey will be announced, and future plans for the implementation process will be discussed. Etten said he expects more finalized results of the survey to be announced in June. A much-needed update Roseville's original Parks and Recreation Master Plan was written more than 50 years ago, and much of the city's current parks and recreation system was constructed soon after. Now,the system is in need of changes. In November, the Roseville City Council adopted the new Parks and Recreation Master Plan,which provides a framework for the long-term future of Roseville's parks, recreation programs and facilities. The plan guides investments in the parks and recreation system for the next 20 years, and even provides direction for the system after that. Today, at least 280,000 people are involved in more than 1,860 parks and recreation programs,services and events each year, and that number will likely continue to grow.The new,fully comprehensive plan will allow Roseville to maintain many of its programs and services. Roseville currently has 679 acres of parkland, 30 parks, numerous facilities and many other opportunities for recreation. Now, city officials and citizens are working together on the implementation process. Etten and Parks and Recreation Commissioner Randall Doneen provided an update on the Master Plan implementation process at the April 18 city council meeting. The implementation team,which currently consist of of about 100 citizens, is broken down into five work groups:financing and communications, natural resources and trails, implementation partners, constellation representatives, and community organizations and facilities. This month,the groups are meeting individually to familiarize themselves with the new Master Plan and gather information on their group's particular focus. Doneen,who leads the natural resources and trails work group,said his team aims to communicate effectively with the community and develop priorities for Roseville's natural resources and trails.They're off to a great start, he added. "I was really impressed with the interest,experience and expertise of the citizen members in the natural resource work group,"Doneen said. Parks and Recreation Director Lonnie Brokke also addressed the council at the April 18 meeting, and said he'd like to thank Etten and everyone else who has been involved in the Master Plan updating process. http://rosevillereview.com/print.asp?ArticleID=5893&SectionID=1&SubSectionID=295 4/28/2011