Parks and Recreation System Master Plan Update (2016) parks_and_recreation_system_master_plan_update_oct | Page 14

groups, extensive interagency coordination and interaction with other planning efforts, and
work with the Parks and Open Space Executive Committee (POSEC).
The 1995 Plan development process involved the following steps:
1. Community resources and trends existing at the time were evaluated to
understand the context and establish the issues to be addressed in the Plan.
This evaluation considered natural and cultural resources, demographics
including population projections to the year 2020, the City of Louisville and
Jefferson County’s development patterns, and the administrative and financial
context within which the parks system was managed by the Louisville Metro
Parks and Recreation Department (in 1995 known as the Louisville/Jefferson
County Parks Department).The community’s needs for additional parks and
recreational facilities were analyzed by inventorying then existing facilities,
comparing parks and recreational facility standards recommended by national
organizations or in place in Louisville and other communities to the existing
inventory, and assessing current levels of facility use and special conditions in
Louisville and Jefferson County at that time. Based on this analysis, population
ratio standards (i.e., acres or number of facilities per 1,000 people) were
developed to generally guide the quantity of parkland and types of recreational
facilities such as playgrounds and outdoor basketball courts to be provided in
the future by the Louisville Metro Parks and Recreation Department (LMPRD).
2. A series of guiding principles and supporting goals, objectives, and policies were
developed in 1995 to define a “grand vision” for Louisville and Jefferson
County’s parks and open spaces in the twenty-first century and to guide
implementation of the vision. As part of this update, these principles, goals,
objectives and policies have been reviewed and adjusted to reflect demographic
and land use changes since 1995 as well as park, recreation and open space
trends within our community, region and nation.
3. Building from the existing inventory of parks and open spaces that was
completed in 1995 and the guiding principles, a concept plan and program were
developed for acquisition and improvement of open spaces, parks, and
recreational facilities to be added to the parks system by the year 2020. This
plan update includes new acres of parkland, new facilities and new programs
and services that have been added.
4. Estimates of capital and operations and maintenances costs were developed
and a range of options identified for implementing the plan in 1995.
12
I. INTRODUCTION | October 2016 Update