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Vision 2030 Strategic Plan for Parks and Recreation in Montgomery County, MD

Upcoming Public Meetings | Project Background | Calendar & Meeting Notes

Shaped by more than a year of surveys, public meetings, and focus groups, this draft plan outlines our strategy for the future provision of parks and recreation services.

Strategic Plan
Results from the Needs & Resource Assessment

Parks and Recreation Project Background

Montgomery Parks, M-NCPPC, and the Montgomery County Department of Recreation have participated in a process to develop a vision and strategic plan for park and recreation services in Montgomery County. The project was coordinated across both departments by GreenPlay, LLC and took up to 18 months to complete.

Montgomery Parks, M-NCPPC, and the Montgomery County Department of Recreation are committed to making this project effective and productive. While the two departments manage different aspects of parks, stewardship of natural and cultural resources, and recreation and leisure, the needs and values of our customers transcend agency boundaries.

We see this as an opportunity to collaborate in the production of a vision and a set of recommendations that will best serve our County. We encourage you to send general comments to the project team at any stage of the project.

Values and Vision Statements

Value Statement (in no particular order)
The Departments of Parks and Recreation serve Montgomery County to:

  • Promote healthy living through varied and safe recreation and leisure activities
  • Protect natural, historical, and archaeological resources
  • Promote sense of community and civic pride
  • Nurture an appreciation for our natural, cultural legacy
  • Provide lifelong learning opportunities
  • Shape healthy, safe, green communities
  • Attract knowledge-based businesses and promotes economic competitiveness
  • Collaborate with partners to provide a wide-range of sustainable, accessible leisure opportunities
  • Engage with the County’s diverse community and proactively respond to changing demographics, needs, and trends
  • Acquire, maintain, and manage the parks and recreation environment

Vision Statement
Vision 2030 will guide the M-NCPPC Department of Parks and Montgomery County Department of Recreation to:

  • Collaboratively lead the county’s efforts in stewardship of natural, historical and archaeological resources
  • Provide opportunities for active life-long learning, leisure, and recreation

Historic resources in Montgomery ParksProject Scope

Purpose
The purpose of the project:

  • To reach consensus among residents, leaders and the M-NCPPC Department of Parks and the Montgomery County Department of Recreation staff on a future vision for the Park and Recreation system in Montgomery County, Maryland
  • Develop planning tools to assist and guide leaders in making wise capital and operating investment decisions with respect to stewardship of the land and facilities as well as programs and services for a parks and recreation system
  • To determine if people in different geographic areas or demographic and ethnic groups, use recreation services or view land stewardship differently
  • Adopt progressive state-of-the-art approaches to planning that will maintain and promote the two Departments’ reputation for excellence
  • Determine core services along with a resource allocation/cost recovery philosophy and policy for the park and recreation programs

Outcomes
The desired outcomes of the project:

  • A vision for the future parks and recreation system, based upon:
    • Changing demographics
    • Prospective development build-out of Montgomery County
    • Changing and emerging recreation trends
    • Desire to protect and promote the stewardship of the County’s Best Natural Areas and cultural resources (i.e., archaeological and historic sites).
    • Community needs and priorities
  • Determination of current and future need for programs based upon national and local trends, current availability, and resident desires
  • Assessment of current supply and adequacy of land, facilities, and programs
  • Projections of short and long-term need for land, facilities, and programs
  • Customized needs-based standards for the distribution of land acreage and facilities
  • Level of service guidelines for land, facilities, and programs
  • Level of service capacity for land, facilities, and programs
  • Performance measures and indicators that will be used to track and monitor progress
  • Clearly articulated sets of objectives, strategies, and actions steps that will address current need and prepare to meet future needs
  • Short and longer-term implementation priorities with action steps, priorities and sequencing, and assignment of responsibilities
  • Identification of capital investment priorities

The project will also provide the foundation for the State-mandated update of the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space (PROS) Plan update, also known as the Land Preservation, Park and Recreation Plan (LPPRP).

This project was guided by a staff Steering Committee and sub-committees, a series of Summits of community leaders and stakeholders, along with input from an extensive public process including focus groups and public meetings. Calendar following the planning process and timeline follows below.

Products

The products of the plan include:

The Strategic Plan

Results from the Needs & Resource Assessment

Implementation Plan and Staff Work Program Guide

Natural Resourcesback to top

 

Calendar & Meeting Notes

The calendar will be updated to include specific information for all meetings, focus groups and presentations scheduled for this project. Digital copies of the Meeting Notes and Planning Board Memos will be attached to each calendar event as it is completed.

Vision 2030 Public Meetings held at the M-NCPPC Main Regional Office will be streamed live and archived on our website at: http://www.montgomeryplanningboard.org/ . To find and view the meetings online, choose the "watch live / video recordings" in Planning Board Agenda section (upper left area of the blue background). Each meeting will be listed under “Live and Upcoming Events” and then added to the “Archived Videos” after the meeting is complete.

Date | Time Vision Montgomery 2030
Project Phases & Meeting Dates		 Comments, Meeting Notes,
Opportunities for Input

INFORMATION GATHERING PHASE

2010    

Feb. 23
7-8:30pm

Public Meeting #1
M-NCPPC Montgomery Regional Office (MRO) Auditorium. 8787 Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring, MD 20910 - Event Poster (pdf, 103KB)

General comments? Email us.
Archived video of the meeting
Meeting Notes (143kb, pdf)

Feb. 24
7-8:30pm

Public Meeting #2
UpCounty Regional Services Center,
12900 Middlebrook Rd., Germantown, MD 20874 - Event Poster (pdf, 103KB)

General comments? Email us.
Meeting Notes (127kb, pdf)

Feb. 24
9am-Noon

Vision Montgomery 2030 Summit Meetings

NOTE: Participation in this summit is limited to select county leaders, policy and decision makers, community leaders, and agency staff, and is by invitation only.

Feb. – May

Focus Group Meetings
A list of focus groups to be conducted is in development and meetings have started.

NOTE: If you are interested in being involved in a specific focus group, please contact us. If you would like to submit comments on any of the focus group topic areas, please email us.

Jan. – April

Inventory and Analysis of Existing Facilities (internal)

Conduct inventory and analysis of county parks, open space, trails and facilities

Feb. – May

Service Assessment and Cost Recovery Analysis (internal)

- Conduct staff assessment of all services
- Develop resource allocation assessment and resource allocation philosophy

March – May

Survey

A statistically-valid mail survey will be sent to a random sampling of county residents.

Feb. – May

Demographic and Trends Analysis (internal)

- Review county demographics and population projections
- Identify parks and recreation-related trends

FINDINGS AND VISIONS PHASE

June – Sept.

Public Meetings - Findings and Visioning Staff and Community Review. Dates, times and locations for public meetings will be posted here when available.

- Present and validate key findings to staff and summit participants
- Invite public review and suggestions for strategies
- Identify community goals and priorities
July 27
7:00- 8:30 pm

Public Meeting #3 - M-NCPPC Montgomery Regional Office (MRO) Auditorium. 8787 Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring, MD 20910

- Live video stream of the meeting is located here.
- Meeting summaries (368KB, PDF)

July 28
7:00-8:30 pm
 Public Meeting #4 - UpCounty Regional Services Center, Meeting Room A - 12900 Middlebrook Road, Germantown, MD 20874
July 29
Planning Board Presentation -
agenda item #11 		- Live video stream of the whole meeting is located here.
- Vision2030 Preliminary Findings (500KB, PDF, 12pgs)
- Vision 2030 Survey Final Results Report (507KB, PDF, 50pgs)

September 13
7:00 - 8:30 PM

 Public Meeting #5 -Workshop II
Gwendolyn Coffield Community Center
2450 Lyttonsville Rd., Silver Spring, MD 20910		 - Presentation: Financial Resource Allocation Philoshopy Feedback from the public on which types of activities and programs we should be offering, which should recover all costs through user fees and which services should be primarily cover by your tax dollars.
September 14
7:00- 8:30 PM
 Public Meeting #6 - Workshop II
UpCounty Regional Services Center
Meeting Room A., 12900 Middlebrook Road, Germantown, Maryland

PLAN DEVELOPMENT PHASE
2011    
Oct. 2010  – March 2011 Draft Plan Review
Dates, times and locations for public meetings will be posted here when available.		 - Draft 2030 Vision and 10-year strategic plan document
- Staff review of plan
- Invite public review through meetings and/or website
- Public review of plan via hearings, work sessions
January 25
 Public Meeting #7 - Review of Draft Plan
M-NCPPC Montgomery Regional Office (MRO) Auditorium. 8787 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910

Phase 2: Strategic Plan Draft
 - Vision 2030 Strategic Plan Executive Summary - DRAFT(2.7MB, PDF, 24pgs)
- Volume 2: Strategic Plan-Draft (4.5MB, PDF, 101pgs)

Phase 1: Results from the Needs & Resource Assessment
Overview PowerPoint Presentation Vision 2030 Volume 2 (1mb, PDF, 19pgs)
Vision2030 Preliminary Findings Presentation (500kb, PDF, 12 pages)
Vision 2030 Survey Final Results Report (507kb, PDF, 50 pages)
Vision 2030 Volume 1: Needs and Resource Assessment ( 2.5mb, PDF, 172 pages)

January 26

Public Meeting #8 - Review of Draft Plan
CANCELLED - due to inclement weather
January 27
 Planning Board Discussion of Draft Plan
M-NCPPC Montgomery Regional Office (MRO)
8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Check the Planning Board Agenda for the exact time and to listen live.

February 10
 RESCHEDULED - Planning Board Discussion of Draft Plan
M-NCPPC Montgomery Regional Office (MRO)
8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Check the Planning Board Agenda for the exact time and to listen live.
February 23
 RESCHEDULED - Public Meeting #8
New Date & Time - Review of Draft Plan
UpCounty Regional Services Center, Meeting Room A, 12900 Middlebrook Rd., Germantown, MD 20874

PLAN COMPLETION AND REVIEW

June 2

Planning Board Discussion
M-NCPPC Montgomery Regional Office (MRO)
8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Check the Planning Board Agenda for the exact time and to listen live.

Strategic Plan - FINAL DRAFT
Vision 2030 Strategic Plan Executive Summary - FINAL DRAFT (2.5mb, PDF, 32 pages)
Vision 2030 Volume 2: Strategic Plan - FINAL DRAFT (2.6mb, PDF, 105 pages)
Vision 2030 Overview PowerPoint (1.8mb, PDF, 29 pages)

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top - Last update: October 11, 2011