Sarasota begins parks and recreation master plan

At noon on Nov. 4, Jerry Fogle stood in the center of Payne Park Auditorium, surrounded by dozens of poster-sized sheets of paper decorated with colorful stickers and sticky notes.

For Fogle, the open house was a landmark moment in his effort to reshape the way the city approaches its parks and recreation offerings. Fogle has served as the city’s parks and recreation director since March 2016. It was a newly created position, one way in which city officials were responding to resident demand for parks improvements.

Fogle’s job has focused on continuing to address that demand. Residents had plenty of requests for improvements. So many, in fact, that there was no procedure for how to address them.

Fogle determined the city needed a parks and recreation master plan.

“Instead of what we’re doing now — having residents say, ‘We need this; we need that,’ and we’re trying to make it work — it’ll actually give us an opportunity to plan and strategically meet our residents’ needs,” Fogle said.

On Nov. 2 and Nov. 4, the city held its first public events associated with master planning. The pair of open-house workshops offered residents an array of opportunities to share their thoughts.

On some tables at Payne Park Auditorium, visitors could write comments about specific city parks. On others, people were asked to place stickers on various recreational opportunities they’d like to see, such as youth camps or adult fitness classes.

Tahiti Park residents Steve Neuschulz and Cassandra Mercier attended Saturday’s workshop. The two were interested in the city’s plans for their neighborhood park, Whitaker Gateway Park, but also in the future of bayfront parkland. Seizing the opportunity to share specific thoughts, Neuschulz and Mercier expressed a general desire to see a parks department that encourages more activity.

“I think anything that brings the people out and activates the park is a plus, that’s for sure,” Neuschulz said.

The city is working with Gainesville-based consultant Barth Associates on the master plan. David Barth, a parks and recreation professional, said the team wants to take a thorough approach to gathering information on all 51 parks in the city.

“You gotta start with what you have, doing an evaluation of the existing system,” Barth said. “And then you move into needs — we’ve got the open house, we’ve got surveys, we’ve got different techniques for assessing needs. And then you go from there.”

Barth is organizing a mailed survey of more than 500 residences. The city will also post an online survey and hold neighborhood meetings with a similar format to the open houses.

“Even if you can’t make some of these meetings and you’re not able to do some of the surveys, you can always reach out to the parks and recreation department and share your thoughts or your ideas,” Fogle said.

The goal is to return to the City Commission in the spring with a list of community needs and wants. From there, Fogle, Barth and city staff will discuss priorities and funding. Ultimately, Fogle wants not only a long-term guide for park improvements, but also a clear path for implementing those improvements.

Fogle and Barth acknowledge not everything residents ask for will be feasible. Still, they say having a vetted list of community goals will put the city in a better position to take thoughtful action — and capital on unforeseen opportunities as they arise.

“Ultimately, you get to a plan that everybody says they can live with,” Barth said. “And then, you leave the door open — ‘If we get that grant, if we could get that philanthropist…’ We always have those nice surprises. It’s a living document.”