AUSTIN, Texas — Editor's note: The attached video is about pets off their leashes in Austin parks.
The Austin Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) announced the Austin City Council has adopted its Long Range Plan as a guide for the growth and development of the city's parks and recreation system.
The plan is titled "Our Parks, Our Future," and according to PARD reflects Austin's desire to expand the city's trail system, natural experience and arts and culture programming in parks.
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The Long Range Plan is developed every decade and serves to guide land acquisition, capital improvements and the development of new programs and amenities.
“Parks and public spaces play a central role in creating community. They bring people together, improve physical and mental fitness, offer recreational opportunities and provide critical environmental benefits,” said Kimberly McNeeley, the director of PARD. “We are thrilled about the adoption of Our Parks, Our Future, the community-based vision for our parks and recreation system.”
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According to a PARD press release, the department began planning the Our Parks, Our Future plan in fall 2018 with the following goals in mind: "Assessing the state of the current park system, creating a renewed vision, guiding future growth and development and creating strategies, actions and priorities that can be implemented and tracked. Public outreach played a critical role throughout the process, with in-depth engagement of citizens, park supporters, conservancies, neighborhood associations, nonprofit organizations and public partners."
The major recommendations included in the plan are the following:
- Adding anywhere between 4,000 to 8,000 acres of park space to the system
- Closing gaps along watersheds to create a trail system throughout the city
- Expanding community gardens
- Providing safe accessibility to parks through more sidewalks, bicycle facilities, public transit and safer intersections.
- Planning more new parks and trails throughout the city
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