Parks board supports incorporating community feedback
Parks and Recreation board members told a visiting consultant what they’d like to see in the final draft of the Parks and Green Space Strategic Plan at their meeting Thursday night, including incorporating feedback from the Environment Board and volunteer land stewards and prioritizing partnerships with educational entities.
Once completed, this strategic plan will shape the long-term goals and priorities for maintaining Evanston’s parks, recreational facilities and natural spaces.
This plan has been in the works for three years, starting in 2022. Since then, 700 people have participated in public engagement meetings, 469 people participated in an online survey, and 70 comments have been given to the first version of the draft plan.
Plan basics
The five-chapter plan focuses on equitable access to Evanston’s parks and green spaces, natural experiences, sustainable operations, welcoming water access and adaptability to the changing landscape and climate of the planet.
Each of these five goals breaks out into 80 individual action items, with fifteen of those action items marked highest priority. These action items aren’t things like “Renovate Twiggs Park,” but rather provide a framework for how to prioritize changes.
Consultant and urban planner Rhiannon Sinclair explained that this differs from the previous Evanston parks plan from 2001, which proposed specific projects.
“That framework helps the city to have autonomy over decision making, to work with community members when there is a park that needs reinvestment, to make good decisions aligned with community needs, but also adapt as new things come,” Sinclair said.
In the actual text, this might look like an action item stating, “Prioritize park capital investments in high-need areas (higher prevalence of multi-family units, and vulnerable populations) where park use might be more valued, especially in areas with more park amenities beyond their recommended lifespan and lower diversity of park experiences,” instead of an action item stating a specific park to be invested in.
Board member Omar Brown noted that he thinks this flexible approach is definitely on the right track.
“This strategic plan is built on flexibility and adaptability for the department,” he said. “You have this framework which allows you to do your job.”
Incorporating more feedback
At least one volunteer land steward also spoke during public comment at the start of the meeting, urging that the plan better address city staff managing volunteers. Two public commenters at the meeting, Jerri Garl and land steward Charles Smith, also recently submitted a letter to the editor on the subject.
Parks and Recreation board members supported this during their own discussion, as well as incorporating feedback from the Environment Board.
The RoundTable spoke to Environment Board co-chair Katarina Topalov before this meeting. She described the initial version of the plan the Environment Board (the June 2024 draft, available online) saw as “not bad, but we wish it went a step or two deeper into the things that ultimately are going to help our community.”
These include things like water-absorbing green space to help prevent flooding, proper tree canopy to reduce the ambient temperature, plants to help erosion and specifically native plants that might be more robust and help local pollinators.
Topalov also submitted a written comment to the Parks board letting them know the Environment Board will be providing more written feedback on the latest version (available in the Parks and Recreation Board packet) in the next few weeks. Although the public feedback period for this June draft has closed, Sinclair said the board should still have time to incorporate the comments.
“I think that with the Environment Board, it should be an ongoing partnership, mainly because they know exactly where we need more tree canopy, they know exactly where the pollution is in Evanston,” board member Ndona Muboyayi said. “They know what’s going on in our parks.”
Remaining concerns
Some board members had extensive concerns about the project, though.
Board vice president Robert Bush voiced his frustration with not having more time to provide feedback about the draft.
“It seems like this is our only opportunity to have a discussion about it,” he commented.
He also expressed concern about the Parks and Recreation Board not being mentioned by name in the draft and why it does not recommend consolidating the many departments that involve parks. He also questioned the validity of the survey results, given the low numbers.
Other board members also had concerns. Mary Rosinski suggested that the plan better incorporate suggestions for partnerships with some of the educational bodies in Evanston, like the high school and Northwestern University.
Board president Ellie Shevick also supported the idea of evaluating some consolidations as well as a potential future lakefront ordinance.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct that Jerri Garl is not a land steward and to differentiate between the two available versions of the plan.
Related Stories
link
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/modern-farmhouse-style-2213409-hero-e44ed0a59aab467b9aa810c943debb93.jpg "All About Modern Farmhouse Style")
