$42 million Parks and Rec Master Plan draft presented at public meeting

Renovating and expanding Mountain Brook parks could take up to $42 million dollars.

Representatives from Lose and Associates presented a draft of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan at a public meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 27.  The proposed plan accounted for $13 million in renovation and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, $10 million for a new community center, $19 million for new parks and greenways and $140,000 for design studies and development for standards of the parks.

“This meeting tonight will be our last public input meeting before we present the plan as a final document to the council,” said Lose and Associates President and co-owner Chris Camp.

During the presentation, Camp and Mary Henderson discussed survey results and suggestions for the future of Mountain Brook parks. Camp said 1,158 community members responded to the survey, which asked questions about current amenities and hopes for future amenities.

Camp noted that while more than 260 respondents said they would like to participate in adult sport activates in the community, only 68 said they have participated in adult sport activities. These numbers contrasted with the more than 500 respondents who said their children have participated in youth sports activities.  

“In the 500s for youth, and less than 100 for adults, which tells us you need to provide more adult programming amenities,” Camp said.

Henderson said while Mountain Brook has several parks, there are not as many coordinated recreation efforts. She encouraged the city to work toward planning more structured activities within the parks.

“By programming in your parks, you are activating your parks, and you’re going to bring more people into your parks and they’re going to be more interested in those parks,” she said.

Henderson also provided programming recommendations, which were divided into three tiers. In the first tier, which has a goal completion timeline of two years, she included empowering the Park Board and volunteers to initiate city-offered recreation programs, collaborating with the Chamber of Commerce and Mountain Brook Arts Association on existing events, developing new community events, managing new contracts with youth sports and taking a more active role in field schedules.

Some longer-term goals included tennis instruction, adult sports programming, locating an indoor recreation space, a public art program, regular assessments and other goals.

Henderson also discussed more staffing in the Parks and Recreation Department, including instructors for classes and programs and a new recreation superintendent.

“To be able to offer recreation programs, you really have to have that staff that does programing,” Henderson said.

In addition to programming and operational changes, the plan included proposals for new parks, greenways and other facilities. One proposal was a community center.

The community center would cost around $10 million, Camp said, and was recommended based on public input that supported an aquatic center, indoor recreation and community meeting rooms.

Because Mountain Brook is a land-locked city that is almost completely built out, Camp said they recommended the city purchase new land that is adjacent to the city. When discussing facility recommendations, Camp said acquiring new property for a park was in tier one, or set for completion in the next two years.

As he discussed facilities, Camp also suggested several updates to the city’s parks. Some old equipment was not up to safety standards, and many parks are not ADA compliant, he said, and would need to be brought into compliance during renovations.

The age of facilities factored into the renovation and ADA upgrade cost, which could be around $13 million.

“If you think about the age of most of your park facilities, they’re pretty old,” Camp said.

Following the presentation, community members were allowed to ask questions and comment on the plan. Several discussed ADA compliance and asked how soon those changes would need to be made as well as how the changes could impact the aesthetics of the park.

Camp said the changes would need to be made whenever the parks were renovated, but the city also needs to have a plan of action for bringing all of its parks into compliance. He also said the variety of available materials could accommodate ADA regulations without taking away from the look of the parks.

Following the meeting, Camp and Henderson also passed out comment cards to audience members. Camp said they will consider public input and make changes before submitting a final document to the council.