Berk Consulting Inc. 1/5/2021 - Laserfiche WebLink

Introduction PURPOSE AND NEED Everett is a metropolitan city serving a diverse community in Snohomish County. Through foresight, investments, and partnerships, the City has acquired park and trail lands over time, but trends and community needs have changed. Like many communities, Everett is challenged with limited resources to improve parks, recreation, and trail facilities to meet changing community needs. Everett strives to make quality improvements with available resources and is conscious of ensuring sustainable ongoing operations and maintenance. Everett desires a comprehensive update of its Parks, Recreation, and Open Space (PROS) Plan Update to help it make wise choices about its parks and recreation system for today and tomorrow. The PROS Plan Update will be designed to: • Provide a community-inspired vision for parks, recreation, open space, and trail assets; • Guide recreation offerings to meet community needs and trends; • Support quality maintenance and operations; and • Promote fiscal sustainability. A community vision, as well as funding and partnership opportunities, will guide system acquisition, development, programming, and management. The PROS plan will dovetail with City goals for livability and economic development. It will draw from and support existing plans and initiatives such as urban forestry policy and strategies, climate action plan, station area plans, and the City's overall comprehensive plan. Community outreach and engagement is essential to developing an inspired and implementable plan. This document presents a preliminary outreach plan to conduct community-wide engagement, with targeted outreach to underrepresented communities, including but not limited to communities of color, low-income communities, immigrant and refugee communities, communities facing health disparities, elderly residents, and more. We anticipate and welcome adaptations and changes to this plan based on City staff review and review by the Board of Park Commissioners and other stakeholders. Objectives This plan seeks to: • Conduct outreach to raise awareness of this planning effort and engage the full Everett community, including those who don't typically engage in civic processes, and those who don't currently use the City's parks and recreation programming. • Offer a wide variety of ways to participate. • Engage and invest in the City's existing networks and legislative bodies. il,l DRAFT November 2020 Everett PROS Plan Update Preliminary Outreach and Engagement Plan 11 2