Planning staff in collaboration with the County Parks and Recreation Department have reviewed and proposed updates to the draft Parks and Recreation Section of the Comprehensive Plan's Public Facilities Element. The draft amendments are attached in redline markup format to clearly identify where amendments have been proposed.  A clean version of the Parks and Recreation Section is provided as well.  Due to the section’s specialized focus, County Parks and Recreation staff will be present during the meeting should technical or operational questions arise.  

As part of this process staff proposes to review, update, and consolidate critical information from the adopted 2009 Spotsylvania County Parks and Recreation Master Plan (updated in 2011 to reference the Trailways Master Plan) into the Parks and Recreation Section of the Comprehensive Plan. The 2009 Plan has been a standalone document without a major update since its adoption. This is a similar proposal to one presented to the Planning Commission on November 7, 2018 at work session where staff proposed consolidating the Trailways Master Plan into the Transportation Element of the Comprehensive Plan. The Planning Commission was supportive of that concept. Like the Transportation Element proposal, staff feels abandoning the standalone and currently outdated 2009 Parks and Recreation Master Plan in favor of the Comprehensive Plan better positions it for continued monitor, implementation, and review and update consistent with the five (5) year update cycle. Rather than maintaining separate plan documents with a variety of goals and different planning periods, staff believes creation of a centralized “one stop shop” Plan for Parks and Recreation is more efficient and easier to follow from an interested stakeholder and/or public standpoint. Otherwise staff has found there tends to be little impetus and limited resources available to update separate standalone plans that may become outdated.  

The draft update was presented to the County Parks and Recreation Commission initially on December 20, 2018. Following that meeting staff was able to respond to questions received and make additional edits. Responses to the Parks and Recreation Commissions questions were compiled and have been provided as an attachment here for reference. Staff feels this information may provide more background concerning the draft. With further updates in place the draft was again presented to the Parks and Recreation Commission on April 18, 2019. At that time the Parks and Recreation Commission endorsed the attached draft, sending it forward to the Planning Commission for review.  

Substantive updates to the draft have been summarized below:

Existing Parks and Recreation Lands and Facilities Inventory and Activities

Within the draft, staff has proposed adding a new table to track various organized field activities within the most recent fiscal year. This is a gauge to show community usage and demands on some popular Parks and Recreation services (lands and facilities).  In fiscal year 2018 there were over 5,000 organized field/ gym rentals through the Parks and Recreation Department including games and practices. Going forward this rental activity for a variety of sports can help gauge growing or declining popularity of certain sports within the County and help guide the County identify where community interest and demands are most notable as new or improved park developments are considered. 

One of the most crucial elements of the Parks and Recreation Facilities update involves an update of County Parks and Recreation Park Acreage (Lands) and Facilities inventory information from the Parks and Recreation Master Plan within the Comprehensive Plan. This inventory update includes: existing County Park acres (lands) and their facilities (ball fields, tennis and basketball courts, etc.); County School Shared Use Recreational Spaces (land and facilities); community centers (land and facilities); acknowledgement of future County Park sites not yet developed or accessible as public parks; acknowledgement of complementary parks and recreation related facilities not managed by County Parks and Recreation such as HOA open space areas or privately owned and operated recreational facilities; acknowledgement of parklands managed by Federal, State, historic preservation entities. The existing inventory is the basis for determining whether surpluses or deficits exist based on the County’s adopted level of service standard based on current and projected future populations. In order to maintain a consistent level of service for County residents, as population grows so too would available parks and recreation services (land and facilities).  

In the interest of enhancing the Comprehensive Plan Parks and Recreation Facilities, staff has expanded and infused the draft with additional descriptive language and inventory tables from the 2009 adopted Parks and Recreation Master Plan in order to “paint a clearer picture”. Throughout the inventory, Planning staff worked closely with the Parks and Recreation Department to provide a current comprehensive inventory. Planning staff also reached out to Federal and State Agencies, and historic preservation organizations like the Civil War Trust to acknowledge and report on their complementary Parks and Recreation contributions within the County.

Parks and Recreation Level of Service Standards  

The existing County Park Acreage (land) and facilities (ball fields, community centers, swimming pools, etc.) inventory noted above was then input into the Levels of Service standards tables and identification of any surpluses or deficits was realized looking at existing populations and future projected populations though 2040. County Parks and Recreation Levels of Service Standards were established as part of the 2008 Comprehensive Plan and the 2009 Parks and Recreation Master Plan. With set levels of service standards, the only variables to change from prior plans are based on current and future populations. In consultation with the Parks and Recreation Department, staff has identified no need to further amend the adopted standards with the exception being proposed removal of the 9-hole golf standard (considered a niche facility), addition of pickle ball courts, and accommodation of specialized or niche facilities. As part of this update, due to increasing popularity of pickle ball, staff has proposed adding a new level of service standard to address pickle ball courts. The draft acknowledges that pickle ball can be added exclusively or by dual purpose courts that can also provide facilities for tennis. There are instances within the County where tennis courts with added paint striping already serve such a dual game purpose. Lesser known or more niche parks facilities that may not be expected or found widely among County Parks such as golf courses, disc golf, skate park, climbing walls, etc. have been acknowledged as part of the Levels of Service standards table but due to their specialization have been found not to warrant specific level of service standards. Instead staff recommends considering warrant for such facilities on a case by case basis considering uniqueness and demand. This approach has gained favor with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation recently with the development of the Virginia Outdoors Plan as opposed to a strictly level of service based model. Staff feels this is appropriate for specialized or niche Parks and Recreation Facilities.  

In order to achieve adopted LOS, an identified deficit serves as warrant and Comprehensive Plan support for future CIP additions. CIP projects also correlate to the calculation of Parks and Recreation related proffers as a means to offset demand increases resulting from development. Proactive identification of capital projects is a key element of the function of the Comprehensive Plan when considering the Code of Virginia Sect. 15.2-2232 (attached for reference). Additionally, identified needs lend support for various other funding sources such as grant applications.

Recommendations 

Updated recommendations are based on a 20-year Comprehensive Plan horizon and are based on warrant for need established by the level of service standards based on population over time. Specifically identified short and long term recommended projects are tied to level of service warrants and location based demands or presence of existing infrastructure and opportunities for co-location or expansion. For instance, extension of the existing Virginia Central Rail Trail from its current terminations at Salem Church Road and Gordon Road provides the ability to reduce level of service deficits and expand upon an existing trail system. Cognizant of the Trailways Master Plan, at Salem Church Road a Planning opportunity exists to close the gap between the Spotsylvania VCR Trail and the City of Fredericksburg portion of the trail; could be paired with Harrison Road improvements. This gap closure would greatly enhance the usability and accessibility of that recreational trail in the County. In addition to project specific recommendations there are efforts to achieve efficiencies to achieve two or more goals. Co-location of future schools, community centers, and parks is one example where the Plan seeks to achieve efficiencies as part of the Planning process.