June 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 16

Who, What, Where & how Around the Parks

Beating Back Prop 13
In Monterey County more was better than less.
By Pete Dangermond and Pete Soderberg

t was 1978, and California
had just passed Proposition 13,
the initiative that severely cut
and limited local property taxes. This dramatically reduced
funding to local agencies and many
parks departments faced cutbacks, service reductions, and park closures.
Monterey County Parks Department
chose to meet the fiscal crisis through
an approach of its own design. Rather
than cutting services
and costs, it chose
to i ncrease services to generate
more park visitation, increase
revenues, and
reduce subsidies. Simultaneously, costs were
agg ressively contained and, where possible, transferred
to nonprofit corporations and volunteers.
This was accomplished without compromising the department's mission or public service philosophy.
The authors of this rather contrarian concept were Pete Dangermond, the
county parks director, and his assistant
director, Pete Soderberg. They had relocated to Monterey, coming from the
Riverside County Parks Department
where they had spent three years developing these program concepts. In
Riverside they developed a systemwide plan entitled " Target Zero, " which
involved the upgrading and re-development of eight regional parks in the 20park system in order to increase public
service, achieve financial self-sufficiency, and stimulate private enterprise jobs.

How

DID IT

14 Parks & Recreation

JUNE 2010

Implementing the plan was costly and
the board of supervisors was reluctant,
so Dangermond took the concept to the
Monterey County Board of Supervisors,
whose parks director and assistant director had both recently retired. They
approved the concept as a positive way
of dealing with Proposition 13.

The Monterey County Park System
In 1978, the Monterey County Park System included 13 park units encompassing 20,000 acres of land and 10,000
acres of water. There were two public
5,000-surface-acre reservoirs in South
Monterey County, an unimproved automobile raceway near Monterey, a natural area preserve overlooking Monterey
Bay, three large day-use parks, a landbanked future park site, and five small
undeveloped sites.
After some review of potentials, Dangermond developed draft concepts of
what the park system could look like if
upgraded for enhanced service and revenue generation, while simultaneously
preserving community cultural values.
These concepts were then reviewed with
individual board members, park commissioners, community opinion leaders, and department staff. As concepts
were refined and strategies developed,
the public service and financial potential of the park system emerged and the
detailed concepts gained broad citizen
and political support. This participatory
approach to system-wide and individual
park planning became a most important
component of the overall program.
T he system-w ide prog ra m t hat
emerged included upgrading the two
reservoirs, the automobile racetrack,

www.NRPA .ORG

and one of the regional parks with visitor serving/revenue generating facilities
and programs. The two other large dayuse parks were maintained as is, along
with the natural area preserve. A youth
sports complex was joint-ventured with a
nonprofit who then took over operations.
The five small undeveloped sites were
transferred to other entities.
Eleven planning-related self-sufficiency principles and concepts were applied
to the system. Seven examples are illustrated at San Lorenzo Park. (Please see
companion article on page 16.)
■■ Create

recreation destination facilities, themed upon community and regional values.
■■ Expand and enhance revenue-generating facilities.
■■ Create a balance between programs/
projects that generate net income (income centers) or net costs (cost centers).
■■ Create settings for private enterprise
development and operations.
■■ Develop an appropriate scale of the
primary infrastructure and facilities
required to support synergistic companion revenue activities.
■■ Develop group multiple-use facilities
■■ Develop park venues for special events

Goals and Objectives
Dangermond and Soderberg knew what
they wanted to accomplish: To create a
park system where operating costs are
offset by revenues. At the onset of the
program in 1978-79, the department was
48 percent self sufficient. The board of
supervisors approved the goal and five
objectives in its support:
■■ Objective 1: Provide activities and pro-

grams supported by fees,

June 2010 - Parks & Recreation

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