May 2021 - Parks & Recreation - 19

ing into an unfamiliar commercial
establishment. This enables them to
try out the facility. If it is a positive
experience, then they can subsequently enroll as a regular user.

Restoring an Exploited
Natural Resource
In some communities, it has been
possible to finance park and recreation facilities by permitting controlled exploitation of a resource
owned by a government entity and
using the accruing revenues to develop the site for recreational purposes.
The mining of sand and gravel deposits is a common example. The
mining fees pay for the site's transformation to recreational use, and
the mining is done in accordance
with the agency's specifications to
ensure a well-designed recreation
area when the mining is completed.
More than 60 golf courses have
been constructed nationwide on
landfills. They have to conform
with environmental regulations addressing such issues as settlement,
leachate and gas emissions, but improvements in construction technology in recent years have made
such facilities feasible.
Closed landfills often are one of
the few large open spaces in dense
metropolitan areas. In a study of
their potential for recreation, Peter
Harnik noted, " they may be as small
as dozens of acres or as large as
1,000 or more and the land may be
free or inexpensive to buy or possibly
even come with its own supporting
funds for environmental restitution. "

Expansion of Existing
Public Facilities
In northern states with long winters, outdoor facilities have a limited season. Some communities have

joined with private-sector partners
who provide additional investment
to convert facilities to accommodate
indoor use in the winter months.
The following is a typical example:
A city leased an existing fivecourt outdoor tennis complex to a
private partner for 10 years, with
two successive five-year options to
extend the lease. The leasee paid
the city 5 percent of gross revenue. The developer constructed
an air-supported structure over
the courts and built a permanent
support building. The partner had
exclusive use of the courts for a
32-week winter season and erected
and dismantled the structure at the
beginning and ending of each season. The city had exclusive use for
the 20-week summer season.

The remarkable creativity that
characterizes many partnerships
is indicative of the changing role
of a recreation manager. No longer is this person limited to being
an administrator who is given tax
funds to deliver services. Rather, the manager's role has transitioned and expanded to that of a
public-sector entrepreneur who is
given a relatively small allocation
of tax funds and is expected to use
them to leverage additional funds
from partners to deliver desired
programs and facilities.
John L. Crompton, Ph.D., is a University Distinguished
Professor, Regents Professor and Presidential Professor for
Teaching Excellence in the Department of Recreation, Park
and Tourism Sciences at Texas A&M University and an
elected Councilmember for the City of College Station
(jcrompton@tamu.edu).

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