Muncie parks will have updated safety features and improved facilities by summer 2009 if the latest plan is implemented.
The Delaware-Muncie Metropolitan Plan Commission and the Muncie Parks and Recreation Department conducted a survey last month to gather community input about Muncie parks. The results will help shape Muncie's Five-Year Park and Recreation Master Plan.
The survey includes questions about park size, changes to parks, preferred recreation activities and how changes should be funded.
Parks Superintendent Doug Zook said the survey gave the department direction.
"It's important for us to evolve," he said. "The park system is a living and breathing organism, and it needs to grow with the community."
The commission mailed 1,500 surveys to random Delaware County addresses. The survey also was posted online on the commission's Web site and MuncieDowntown.com. There were 335 surveys returned.
MuncieDowntown.com manager Carey Hays said she wanted to include the link to the survey on her Web site to make community members aware of how they can affect change.
"If decisions are left up to the government, we the people have to be happy with what we get," she said. "If there's no community input, it's not going to serve the needs of the community."
Of the 335 surveys returned, commission environmental planner Lorey Stinton said there was an overwhelming request for increased safety in Muncie parks, as well as updated facilities.
Zook said increased safety would probably involve more police patrolling and better lighting.
Stinton said they expected a low response rate; however, she said she wished more people would give input about the parks so the plan would meet the public's needs.
"The parks are a major public amenity," she said. "You can make the best plan, but if it doesn't reflect community interest, [the plan] doesn't matter."
Stinton said the commission and parks department were behind on planning. The last time a five-year plan was created was in 1998.
Zook, who was named superintendent in January, said he made it a priority to create an updated plan.
Stinton said many steps still must be completed before the plan is implemented. First, the survey results have to go to a steering committee in late July or early August. Then the preliminary plan will be written by the end of December. Finally, the plan must be approved by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources by April.
Zook said the completion of the plan would help the parks department seek grants to fund the proposed chances.
"I'm just excited to continue with the process and see what happens," he said.
This story was produced in conjunction with NewsLink Indiana.
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