Your voice matters! Asheville Parks & Recreation (APR) has released a draft of Recreate Asheville: Shaping Our City’s Parks, a 10-year plan built by community members to guide the City of Asheville’s parks and recreation decisions. This plan identifies which areas need the most work, which projects will be most beneficial, and strategies to keep Asheville’s parks and recreation system in great shape for the community.
What’s Been Done So Far:
- Gathered community feedback through surveys, workshops, and events
- Analyzed peer cities, current needs, and future trends
- Created a draft plan outlining priorities
What You Can Do Now:
- Read the draft plan and give feedback by July 7: REVIEW PLAN
- Learn more about the Recreate Asheville plan and frequently asked questions on the City of Asheville’s website
- View a presentation to the City of Asheville’s Environment and Safety Committee summarizing the draft plan.
What Happens Next:
- Updates to the draft plan will incorporate additional community feedback
- After review, City Council will vote to adopt a final 10-year strategic action plan to guide investments in parks, community centers, pools, and recreational facilities
- Voters make a choice during fall elections whether to issue general obligation (GO) bonds to fund strategic projects identified in the Recreate Asheville plan
What is Recreate Asheville: Shaping Our City’s Parks?
Recreate Asheville: Shaping Our City’s Parks is a community-built comprehensive plan to guide long-range planning, address service gaps, and identify opportunities for improvements. It is a visionary document that sets the values and goals for systemwide investments and a framework to guide future investments in recreation programs and spaces.
It is not an operations model or financial budget, though it is a method to inform capital expenditures. The Recreate Asheville plan does not contain detailed design proposals for specific neighborhoods, parks, or facilities. As a method to inform future budgets and possible general obligation (GO) bonds, providing feedback is an excellent way to advocate for systemwide courts, pools, skating rinks, and other amenities for our city.
If You Have More Questions:
Building the plan takes a lot of time and many people – including you! Please reach out to parks@ashevillenc.gov or (828) 259-5800 with any additional questions.