Input sought on park needs-Pottawattamie County

Three public meetings will be held next week to gather public comment and ideas on parks, recreation and leisure facility needs throughout Pottawattamie County.

Recreation planning consultants from Winston Associates and Ballard-King & Associates will describe their work and invite input from a broad cross-section of county residents. The needs assessment is being funded by the Iowa West Foundation.

The three public meetings are scheduled in Council Bluffs, Carson and Avoca as follows:

• Monday, April 25, beginning at 7 p.m., at the Lied Center on the campus of Iowa School for the Deaf in Council Bluffs. 
• Tuesday, April 26, also at 7 p.m., at Carson Community Center in Carson. 
• Wednesday, April 27, beginning at 5 p.m., at A-H-S-T High School in Avoca.

The public and media are encouraged to attend. Each meeting will last up to two hours. The meetings will feature keypad-voting devices for audience participation.

The study will be further informed by 5,000 mail-back surveys that will soon be mailed to randomly selected residents in the county, in proportion to population of each municipality.

Two weeks following the random survey, the survey will be open online to any county resident. A texting survey for Pottawattamie County youth between 13 and 21 years old is now “live” and can be accessed at (712) 560-9078.

Survey results and other information will be posted online to a dedicated website,
IowaWestRecStudy.org, where residents can monitor the progress of the study and post comments.

Consultants are assessing existing assets and future needs in order to offer analysis-based recommendations in regard to what facilities are needed in the county and where those facilities could best serve the residents.

There is also a countywide Recreation Needs Assessment Advisory Group including 27 local representatives from the county.

Parks Group Wants Your Opinion-Public input effort begins with on-line survey

The Iowa Parks Foundation is asking park users and members of the general public to share their opinions about recent experiences in Iowa’s parks.

“Before this new organization jumps into comprehensive planning for ‘green infrastructure’ or begins a major fund-raising campaign; we want to understand how parks are used today and Iowans’ expectations for the future.” says Kent Sovern, Executive Director of the Parks Foundation.

The on-line survey is the first step in a citizen engagement process that will include community meetings that will be scheduled around the state in the late fall and early winter. The Foundation will host community forums as well as smaller targeted focus groups in each region of the state.

“We have designed an online assessment tool to help identify recreational interests, patterns of park use, quality and condition of state park facilities and user priorities for park improvements for the future.” Sovern said. “With broad-based citizen and community input, we hope to create an action plan that preserves, enhances and transforms the recreational and natural resources environment throughout Iowa.”

To participate in the survey, visit the Foundation’s web site at www.iaparks.org and click on the IPF logo on the right hand side of the page. It will take between 10 and 15 minutes to complete the survey.