Stolley Park East, (City of Grand Island, Courtesy)
GRAND ISLAND — The opportunity to give input on Grand Island’s parks during a two-hour session at the Grand Island Public Library drew a crowd to the activity on Tuesday, June 4.
Shortly after the event opened at 4 p.m. Tuesday, people were lined up in the library’s lobby, waiting to get into Meeting Room B, where the event was headquartered.
The event occurred to get public input for a master plan for Grand Island’s parks.
Todd McCoy is Grand Island’s parks and recreation director.
“We haven’t done one in a long time,” McCoy said about having a parks masterplan. “We were due.”
Another public input session will occur later in the summer, but McCoy didn’t have a date for that event.
“Eventually a plan will go to city council for approval,” he said. “Then, we’ll start using the plan.
The city hired Confluence based in Omaha to gather information for and write the master plan.
Caitlin Bolte is a landscape architect for Confluence.
“We’re going to take everything from today and start to tabulate it,” she said. The company will “analyze the information to see what’s a priority to the community.”
“We’re going to start drafting recommendations for the parks master plan to be shared with the steering committee and the public for input,” she said.
“It is clear that the Parks Department has a lot of pride and that they’re (parks) well-maintained.”
When people checked in at the entrance to Meeting Room B, they received a brochure about the master plan, a survey to complete, six adhesive blue dots and six adhesive green dots.
As people moved counterclockwise around the room, the first thing they encountered were charts showing activities, supported by easels.
There were 76 activities. People were directed to use one set of adhesive dots to “vote” for activities they’d like to see. Popular activities were indoor and outdoor pickleball, indoor and outdoor tennis, miniature golf, ziplines, paved trains, water activities, and natural trails. Other activities included outdoor theater/stage, greenhouse, movie screen, flat top grill, fire pit, water play, outdoor exercise stations, golf course/driving range and ball fields.
After people “voted” for their favorite activities or features, they then moved around the exterior of the room where aerial maps of each city park were attached to long tables. People used adhesive dots to mark where they’d like to see specific activities located.
Four tables were in the middle of the room. People sat around the tables and completed an eight-page survey about Grand Island’s parks.
The Parks Division is responsible for all maintenance and management of 34 parks and mini parks, covering a total of 437 acres across Grand Island. This features 22 ball fields, 21 playground, 16 tennis courts and three lakes.
The Recreation Division provides summer youth programs, special events and helps operate the Community Fieldhouse among other things. The division also oversees both Lincoln Pool and the Island Oasis Water Park.
Ken Tell of Grand Island looks at photos of various activities and parks features and decides whether he wants to place an adhesive dot to show that he likes the activity, (Carol Bryant, Central Nebraska Today)
People complete surveys that will be incorporated into the creation of a Parks and Recreation Department master plan, (Carol Bryant, Central Nebraska Today)
This is an aerial photo of Stolley Park. The blue dots represent “votes” of sports or parks features that people would like to see at the park, (Carol Bryant, Central Nebraska Today)
