2019-9-3_PR Comm Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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1. Review of city policy for assigning names to city facilities 2. Solicitation of suggestions from the neighborhood and community 3. Discussion of the history of the property 4. Discussion of options for names 5. Recommendation of Unity Park to the City Council Following several months of discussion, the Commission recommended the name for the new park to be Unity Park to signify everyone coming together in “Unity” to suggest something out of the ordinary, The Unity name honored the partners who made the park possible and was particularly significant with the future direction. The specifics of the planning process included the following Tuesday, June 27, 2017 - Information gathering – listening session event “Popsicles in the Park” (60 attendees) Wednesday, June 28, 2017 - Information gathering – listening session “Discover Your Parks” Program at Tamarack Park (100 attendees) Tuesday, September 12, 2017 – Information gathering – on site listening session (75 attendees) Tuesday, October 17, 2017 - Community concept design review and listening session on site (55 attendees) Tuesday, October 17, 2017 - Community concept design review and listening session at Galilee Church (10 attendees) Saturday, October 13, 2018 - Community Playground Build at Unity Park On Saturday, October 13, a successful Volunteer Community Build Day at Unity Park with more than 75 people participating. Volunteers organized into three working groups to include 1) area cleanup, 2) playground build and 3) garden plantings. Big thanks goes out to Grace Church, Kiwanis and all those who came out to help Other communication tools used for the planning process included: the city website, phone calls, information at city facilities, door knocking and city news. Individual meetings were also encouraged, offered and utilized. A newly established Rec-Connect Youth Outreach Recreation Program was established specifically for this area as a pilot program to introduce New Americans to public parks. It was a very helpful way to connect with people of all generations, get to know the neighborhood for not only the planning process but to establish future confidence and trust for ongoing communications. Each planning and public engagement strategy is a bit different and all involves gathering information and feedback using a variety of methods. Multigenerational communication opportunities were provided and well attended. Although various languages were spoken, a good avenue of communication was established through interpreters, one on one and other basic means. Overall, very good participation and input was received to arrive at the community preferred Park Master Plan. 13