Chart Our Future City of Lake Forest Parks & Recreation Master Plan | Page 66

Acreage
Acreage Level of Service benchmarks are calculations of the recommended amount of
land required to provide recreation activities and the facilities to support them.
The NRPA’s population ratio method (acres/1,000
population) emphasizes the direct relationship between
recreation spaces and people and is the most common
method of estimating an agency’s level of service for
parkland and open space. In addition to the baseline of 10
acres/1,000 population used in this analysis, Park Metrics
benchmarks are also used to understand how the Parks
and Recreation Department compares to agencies of
similar population size and region. When all Department-owned and maintained open space
is added to the Level of Service analysis, the Department
has 242.1 acres more than the NRPA recommended 193.8
acres. This Level of Service gauge includes Special Use
Sites, Trails, Corridors, and Linear Parks, and Undeveloped
Parks, in addition to Mini, Neighborhood and Community
Parks. When including all of these properties, the
Department has an overall level of service of 21.5 acres
per 1,000 population.
Based on the NRPA benchmark of 10 acres per 1,000
population, 193.8 acres of Mini, Neighborhood, and
Community Park space is recommended for the City
of Lake Forest Parks and Recreation Department. The
table on the right designates these park assets as
“Active Recreation Areas.” With 170.5 acres of open space
dedicated to Mini, Neighborhood, and Community Park
uses, the Department has a 23.2-acre deficiency compared
to this benchmark. The Department has a level of service
of 8.8 acres per 1,000 population, which is also below the
NRPA recommended 10 acres per 1,000. The Park Metrics database was referenced to understand
how the Parks and Recreation Department compares to
agencies across the nation with similar population sizes.
The City of Lake Forest has a population of 19,375. Out of
over 600 agencies reporting, there were 27 agencies with
populations between 15,000 and 25,000. Park Metrics
provided information on the following level of service
benchmarks:
• Total Number of Parks
• Total Park Acres
• Total Acres Managed
• Acres of Parks per 1,000 Residents
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The City of Lake Forest Parks and Recreation Department
has 19 parks that total 435.8 acres, this is comparable with
the median of 19 total parks but about double the median
of 280 acres as reported by Park Metrics.
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CITY OF LAKE FOREST PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT COMPREHENSIVE MASTER PLAN
CHAPTER 3