More water activities, upgrades to the Maple Grove Community Center, increased educational options through parks.
Those are some of the items included in a proposed Clay County Parks and Recreation Master Plan unveiled Wednesday night during a town hall event. Clay County Executive Dale Reagan said the county has wanted to make a plan for a long time, but they have not been able to afford it. Reagan said this plan is an investment in the residents, so it was important to get their feedback in the plan.
“It’s their parks,” Reagan said. “We’re here to help try to get the resources that we can available to help improve, but it’s their parks. So, I mean, you know, we’re doing it for the citizens of the county, the city, and everyone. It belongs to them.”
Reagan said having the master plan not only helps the county plan future improvements, but it can help with grant applications. Reagan said a master plan is the ticket for more and larger grants to put toward Parks and Recreation.
“Well we can just pull this guide out and look, and here’s what we looked at and everything,” Reagan said. “That’s what we decided to do. For the next five years, we’re going to try to work on that. We may not be able to do everything. We might not be able to do one thing out of it, but at least we’ve got a plan in place that would be able to get us started in that direction.’
The master plan funded with a $20,000 grant.
Reagan said the Hermitage Springs playground has shown the impact of new parks facilities on areas of the county.
“There’s other things we’d like to see done, like extend the walking trail and stuff in that park,” Reagan said. And that gives the people down there more. We’ve been talking about a little foot crossing bridge to go across that little creek down there, which would extend the walking trail. And it would enable our elementary school down there to be able to take advantage of that park.”
Reagan said those projects need to be in the plan if they are going to happen. Other items to be included are an increase of water activities and upgrades to the community center in the Maple Grove area in eastern Clay County.
UCDD Community Development Planner Megan Reagan said more people participated in the survey than expected. She said now that the public has seen the draft and provided more feedback, the plan can be tweaked before it goes before the County Commission for approval.
