August 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 53

assessment that individuals can fill
out at our community events to give
us feedback on parks. "
Coffey also believes he's very
fortunate to encounter community
members who want to be involved
and provide input in the city's
planning process. He says that of
the $40,000 grant that his agency received, he " anticipates using
$32,000 of that for the consultant
and professional support for developing the master plan. " Coffey
notes about $3,000 of the funding
already went to staff training, while
the remaining $5,000 will go toward
incidentals related to community
engagement events and meetings.
Coffey adds that this plan will
affect about 15 parks throughout
Winooski and will encompass retrofitting and renovation projects.
However, he quickly points out
that how these projects will be prioritized will be a community-driven process. " We will be focusing
on the riverwalk area, given the
need to make sure that downtown
development doesn't get ahead of
our process, " he says. " But in terms
of the rest of the process, we don't
want to have any presumptions going in. " Thus, his agency will leave
it in the community's hands to
make those determinations.
Jones says prior to learning about
the 10-Minute Walk, " we had a
rather large goal put out there by
our mayor of a multiphase recreation project, which would include
a splash pad, an amphitheater, renovation of a playground, expansive dog park and campsites, and it
was kind of just his dream of what
could be in our town at a certain

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CITY OF WINOOSKI

Rotary Park is quite literally at the heart
of Winooski - providing an amazing
green space with park benches.

location. So, when this grant came
along, we thought it was the best
way to achieve that goal for that
multiphase recreation project.
" Going through the process of
writing the grant and doing our research...we found other underlying
issues - whether it's walkability,
traffic-calming measures, completed streets and things [of that nature], it was kind of like peeling the
layers back on an onion. You start in
one spot and as you...delve into it...
you kind of create this major goal
of what you'd like, " she explains.
Taking Small Steps
Do these park agencies have an
established timeline for their projects? According to Coffey, his team
anticipates having a development
plan for the parks and open spaces solidified by late March to early
April 2020. " Building from that, we
have some money that's been generally allocated to parks development
and/or park capital improvements.
Our hope is that from there, we
would use that plan to create an
investment strategy and a spending
plan for those capital dollars. So,
we could see projects potentially beginning as early as spring 2020, de-

pending on the scope and scale that
come out of the planning process. "
As for Bennettsville's master
plan, Jones says it would be great
to have at least a draft by the end
of this year that would serve as a
road map moving forward. In the
meantime, the agency is focused
on some of its short-term goals.
McNiel says, " We are just in the
process of completing a dog park
in one of our city parks that's on a
major traffic thoroughfare for tourists as they travel to and from the
Grand Strand of South Carolina's
beach area. So, we anticipate being
able to get some travelers to Bennettsville for a little while to enjoy
our parks and see our community. "
" The 10-Minute Walk and park
equity really have opened our
eyes to what our parks are lacking
and areas of growth for us in the
short term and the long term, "
says Jones. " We still want that
huge multiphase recreation project to happen, but we're going to
keep taking the baby steps to get
there. "

Vitisia Paynich is a Southern California-based Freelance Writer
for Parks and Recreation magazine.

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August 2019 - Parks & Recreation

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