January 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 50

Parks as Community Value

Understanding and Explaining the PRORAGIS Eco-Benefit Calculator

N SEPTEMBER 2012 , NRPA added the Eco-Beneﬁt Calculator as a new feature to PRORAGIS to

quantify the community values inherent in the acquisition and stewardship of parklands. The current calculator is a work in progress that quantiﬁes some values, but others will be added as units of
measure are researched and veriﬁed. Some agencies that have used the calculator found that their
community's annual investment in parks and recreation is repaid up to three times over in beneﬁts.
Importance of Context
For parks to have community value, they must beneﬁt users
and non-users alike, such as through ecological values, economic beneﬁts, indirect revenue, and the potential for smart
growth strategies. However, every community has unique
differences that will affect the magnitude of the beneﬁts and
values. A community in a forested area will differ from one in
prairie or densely developed area so a variety of topographical,
geological, vegetation, and built environment attributes must
be factored. And the beneﬁts derived from any given park can
be assessed differently than for a system of parks. A single
park can be ecologically poor, developed entirely into facilities for users and so forth. Thus, it is important to consider the
COMMUNITY VALUE FOR ALL RESIDENTS

parks as a system of several parks featuring open space and
undeveloped lands as well as parks with major community
and tourist user facilities and attractions. It is this system that
distributes the beneﬁts throughout the community.

The Community Value Table
The Community Value Table shown below identiﬁes and
deﬁnes each of the values. Where adequate research exists to
enable the value to be quantiﬁed in dollars the value is added to
the Eco-Beneﬁt Calculator located in the PRORAGIS database.
Some of the values below are provided despite not yet having
quantiﬁable multipliers. NRPA will continue to research those
values to develop reliable quantiﬁers for use in the calculator.
TRENDS FOR THE NEAR-TERM FUTURE

Ecological Values
Air Quality-Ecological services provided by vegetation
cover have a significant impact on the community.

Urban and suburban parks will become increasingly important, due to climatic
concerns, particularly in areas subject to intensive development. Pollution
abatement, oxygen production, cooling effects, and noise reduction are benefits
accruing from a sustainable vegetative cover.

Water Quality-Vegetation, particularly trees, provides
many services including reduced runoff, nutrient recovery,
reduced erosion, and improved recovery of groundwater.

Water control provided by vegetative cover will be recognized as a low-cost
value for its benefits of reduced water runoff, mitigation of the costs of erosion
impacts, and nutrient and groundwater retention. In many cases, particularly
where parks are located on riparian corridors, flood mitigation and water quality
improvements are significant services provided by parks.

Economic Values
Proximate Value-The percentage increase of property
tax value as a result of proximity to parkland properties.

As the proximate value is more widely recognized, both residential and commercial projects will feature parks as an amenity. Recent examples include the
Hi-Line Park in New York City and numerous residential developments around
the country.

Smart Growth Sustainable Strategies-Denser housing,
walkable communities, and other strategies avoid budgetdraining impacts of providing public services.

Results in nearly 100 studies show that it costs communities $1.16 to provide
services for every dollar received in tax revenues over the life of the development. More communities will seek to add passive park spaces or developments
centered around parks to offset these costs.

Tourism-Most special events are associated with attractions managed by the parks and recreation department.

Park and recreation departments, in partnership with convention bureaus and
others, will place greater emphasis on events that add tourist dollars to the
community's resources.

Direct Revenue-Almost all park and recreation departments recover some of their costs through program and
class fees, entry fees, rentals, permits, and similar.

Nationally, most park and recreation departments generate revenues averaging about 23 percent cost recovery. More effective management and marketing
strategies will enable departments to increase their cost recovery while maintaining social equity.

Indirect Revenue-Agency budgets include both salaries
and the purchase of goods and services that generate
additional jobs and sources of income.

Park and recreation lands, facilities, and services generate jobs and expenditures that support the local economy. As communities recognize this multiplier
effect, communities will further benefit economically.

Future
Social Values-Parks and recreation will further affect
health and wellness, community cohesiveness, and educational performance.

2013 PARKS and RECREATION SPECIAL REPORT

Research studies indicate that data may be available to quantify the social
values of parks. NRPA will seek to add those to the PRORAGIS as soon as a
research is adequate to provide for measurement.

www.nrpa.org

January 2013 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2013 - Parks & Recreation