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DRAFT SEPTEh1BED2.2Q11 <br />Focus Area 4 - Adequate Parks, Recreation, and <br />Open Space <br />Parks and recreation facilities are an essential part of a healthy, <br />Parks <br />Acres <br />quality, and vibrant community environment. They provide the <br />necessary components for events outside the home and after <br />14th Street Park <br />24 <br />Bay Oaks Park <br />70enMead7ows7 <br />1,2 <br />work and after school activities, Whether for passive or active <br />use, parks and recreation facilities are an important factor of <br />Brookglen Park <br />2 <br />everyday living, active living — serving health benefits for children, <br />seniors, and people of all ages. The park system also enhances the <br />Central Park <br />4.6 <br />Creekmont Park <br />35 <br />community's "quality of life" factor, boosting economic <br />development efforts to recruit and retain a skilled workforce; <br />build a strong tax base to finance system expansion, facility <br />8.13 <br />Ohio Street <br />0.93 <br />enhancements, and maintenance; and attract retirees. <br />Pete Gilliam <br />12 <br />Pfeiffer <br />1.2 <br />It is clear that La Porte places high value on its park and <br />Pine Bluff <br />0.11 <br />recreation system. Subsequent to the last comprehensive <br />Seabreeze <br />3.13 <br />planning process, in 1998, the City prepared and adopted a <br />separate Parks and Open Space Master Plan (2002; amended <br />2008) and Bicycle and Pedestrian Trail Implementation Plan <br />(2003); both of which the City has been actively implementing in <br />Spenwick <br />0.5 <br />Tom Brown <br />0.57 <br />Woodfalls <br />8.3 <br />Neighborhood Park <br />the over the past several years. This section of the Comprehensive <br />Subtotal <br />37.77 <br />Plan is not intended to supplant those separate specific master <br />plans; rather it is intended to review those plans in terms of how <br />they currently fit within the overall framework of a 20-year <br />Par4s <br />Acres <br />planning horizon —meaning, will the full implementation of those <br />Fairmont Park <br />17.7 <br />plans achieve the goals of creating a park, recreation, and open <br />space system that is high quality (safe and well maintained), <br />Little Cedar Bayou <br />34,7 <br />convenient and accessible (to its users), diversified (in its <br />Lomax <br />10 <br />activities), and interconnected (to the community), while trying to <br />Northside Park <br />2.7 <br />preserve and protect La Porte's natural assets. Note that while <br />Northwest <br />25 <br />trails are an integral part of a park and recreation system, they <br />Pecan Park <br />33 <br />are an equally important part of the City's non -vehicular mobility <br />system, and as such, will be discussed in Chapter 4, Community <br />Community Park <br />123.1 <br />Subtotal <br />Mobility. <br />Total <br />160.87 <br />The City Parks and Recreation Department is responsible for the <br />operation and maintenance of all parks and recreational facilities. <br />Their ultimate <br />goal is to "to provide and manage superior parks and <br />recreational <br />facilities, innovative programs, and services that will provide our <br />customers <br />with pleasure and enrichment." <br />Existing Park Inventory <br />The foundation for establishing an adequate park and rocmaa1inm system is <br />the availability and condition ofthe existing parks and recreation areas, Tn <br />assess the projected future need for additional land, facilities, and <br />improvements, it is essential to first determine the level of service provided <br />