Chart Our Future City of Lake Forest Parks & Recreation Master Plan | Page 4

executive summary
Together, we’ve Charted our Future!
The Chart our Future 10-year Strategic Master Plan has been a year in the
making and is the roadmap for the City of Lake Forest Parks and Recreation key
stakeholders to align and drive continual growth and improvement of open
space, facilities, recreation systems, and services. A coordinated team from
the Lake Forest Parks and Recreation Department (LFPRD) and the Friends of
Lake Forest Parks and Recreation Foundation drove and funded this planning
project. We listened carefully and are thrilled by how the community helped
shape this vision, including its purpose-driven Action Plan (page 34) to guide
development. The Parks and Recreation Department adopted its previous plan in
1995 and issued an update in 2008. This plan was instrumental in developing the
successful parks and recreation system enjoyed by Lake Forest residents today.
The goal of this new 2019-2029 10-Year Strategic Master Plan is to expand
on the previous plan’s success and outline how our community and key
stakeholders, led by LFRPD, will continue to provide quality parks, facilities,
and services to current and future Lake Forest residents. The planning process
identified infrastructure requirements, recreation trends, community needs, and
resident expectations through an extensive data-gathering and community
outreach process.
This process included public workshops, focus groups, and surveys with over
740 Lake Forest residents participating. The focus groups also included key
individuals in the community with 13 participants representing 9 organizations
including program/athletic associations and other public or not-for profit
agencies. This information was supplemented with an analysis of regional, state,
and local demographics and recreation trends. In addition to the extensive
community outreach, a detailed inventory of the City’s parks, open space, and
indoor recreational facilities was conducted comparing them to national, state,
and regional benchmarks of similar neighboring communities.
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These results were used to develop 27 goals for facility, park and open space,
and planning and policy improvements ranging in scope and scale, organized
in the action plan. Goals rising to the top of the list included:
• Improve existing and/or add new indoor recreational space
• Systematically upgrade and improve the most utilized and/or aging parks
including athletic field conditions and drainage; and
• Evaluate new park amenities to bring into the community.
This Action Plan is a living-document that will be updated regularly to achieve
the targeted-objectives in a fiscally responsible manner. The plan targets the
highest priority items early in the timeline to enable appropriate feasibility
assessments and provide time to seek public-private partnerships to help fund
and implement the plan. As the strategy unfolds, the objectives will advance
until the plan is accomplished. If funding or community priorities change, the
timing of the objectives may shift to provide the sustainable future this plan
prescribes.
We believe Chart our Future accurately responds to the City of Lake Forest
Parks and Recreation Department’s current context, and future position in the
community. As Chart our Future is implemented over the next ten years, it
will continue to support the City’s mission to “be the best-managed, fiscally-
responsible, and appealing community which promotes a community spirit of
trust, respect, and citizen involvement”. Residents are encouraged to provide
ongoing feedback, which will be incorporated as the plan advances.
Thanks for your help, and we’ll see you at the park!
CITY OF LAKE FOREST PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT COMPREHENSIVE MASTER PLAN