Internal engagement with ACCGov Staff will include a survey, interviews, and focus groups with all members of the Department to collect input on activities, focusing on recreation programs, services, and facility operations. These meetings will provide internal stakeholders an opportunity to provide input related to the future direction of ACCGov’s parks, recreation programming, cultural and arts resources. Staff perspectives are extremely important and BerryDunn’s approach intentionally involves staff throughout the entire process, as they will have responsibility for implementing the recommendations. The internal engagement will be carefully planned with the ACCGov leadership and included in the Engagement Strategy.

To gather information related to needs and interests, BerryDunn will hold meetings with key stakeholders composed of community leaders from ACCGov, Clarke County school district representatives, user groups, friend groups, alternative providers, and other groups or individuals relevant to the community and Master Planning Process.

BerryDunn will facilitate public focus groups to collect input from key community stakeholders. BerryDunn will also seek input from businesses, nonprofits, homeowner associations, neighborhood associations, public agencies, and volunteer partners, as well as any neighborhood alliances and representatives. Further, BerryDunn will reach out to representatives of identified under-represented population groups and engage them in the assessment and recommendations development process, helping to ensure an inclusive and equitable engagement process

BerryDunn will provide a summary of insights gleaned throughout the engagement process. Key findings generated from the demographics analysis, staff engagement, and community engagement activities will be assessed in relationship to each other. BerryDunn will identify the common themes woven throughout the meetings, electronic engagement tools, and identify potential service gaps, as well as pertinent observations garnered through the feedback. This assessment of community needs will inform recommendations.

BerryDunn will utilize all available base GIS materials to compile an updated assessment of parks, recreation programming, cultural, and arts resources, open spaces, trails, and amenities within ACCGov. BerryDunn will supplement the inventory with various tasks including research, mapping, and personal inspection, noting conditions of parks, open spaces, natural areas, and trails.

To help ensure ACCGov and its community have a clear understanding of the key topics and trends influencing the next several years, BerryDunn will compare the agency to similar providers. BerryDunn will look at comparative trends and available benchmarks for financial sustainability, asset management, programs and services, and related planning aspects. Additional topics may be identified to help understand and prioritize other community concerns, including but not limited to sustainability and resilience, social equity and affordability, and other industry trends.

BerryDunn will develop an inventory of existing programs offered by the Department and subsequently compare the inventory to feedback collected during the engagement process. This will help ensure program offerings are aligned appropriately with community needs. BerryDunn typically reviews programs according to the following age groups:

· Early Childhood: 0 to 5 years

· Youth: ages 6 – 12 years

· Teens: ages 13 – 17 years

· Adults: ages 18 – 54 years

· Seniors: ages 55+ years

These age groups can be customized to meet the needs of ACCGov and the adult age group can be broken down further if desired.

The program and services inventory will be matched up to the parks, facilities, open space, natural areas, and trails analysis to help ensure there are appropriate spaces for future programs. The Recreation Assessment will also include a review of arts and culture resources and similar providers.

BerryDunn will lead a strategic trends analysis that will consider demographic shifts and their impact on future parks, recreation, and cultural arts provisions. This analysis will identify interest and participation levels for a variety of activities and assess how services are provided through both administrative and planning trends. This process also includes strategic analysis of local, state, and national best practices, along with the latest parks and recreation industry trends.

BerryDunn will assess the Department and relevant internal partners to inform plan recommendations, including reviewing the organizational structure, service delivery plans, shared use agreements, reviewing applicable operating, special fund, and capital budgets, and reviewing personnel capacity and resources.

Based on the BerryDunn analysis, site visits, stakeholder, and community engagement, the consulting team will develop a series of prioritized recommendations that align with goals established for the plan. The consulting team will hold a visioning session to collaboratively develop recommendations with Department Leadership.

Based on the review of existing conditions and agreed upon expansion and changes to the Leisure Services Department, the consulting team will recommend a park classification system. This new park classification system may impact the Department’s targeted audience, programming, and capital improvements.

Once the project team establishes overall policy recommendations and priorities for natural and cultural resource management, the consulting team will recommend improvements and adjustments to specific sites. These recommendations will prioritize site improvements that can support long-term resiliency of individual assets and align with specific location needs and any applicable governing documents. Special emphasis will be placed on the Rock & Shoals natural area

Stakeholder and staff engagement, along with a gap analysis, will help inform the criteria for evaluating potential acquisitions. ACCGov currently has SPLOST funds designated for the purchase of property to develop a west side community park so land acquisition in this area will be a priority. The consulting team will use a scoring matrix to identify potential available land for acquisition. Another factor will be land ACCGov already owns and has been conceptually master planning. Programming for future park sites will further inform the analysis. Pond will provide ACCGov with a list of recommended potential acquisitions; specific acquisition sites will be listed outside of the publicly available master plan document.

Following a review of ACCGov’s facilities, the consulting team will provide a list of recommended and prioritized improvements. The Greenway Network Plan and Athens-In-Motion Plans will inform these recommendations that will consider both on-site improvements and improved connections for greater accessibility.

The consulting team will map existing municipal-owned parcels and areas of public rights-of-way to understand the potential for new pocket park locations. Feedback from community and staff coupled with on-site evaluations will help determine the best locations. ACCGov owns

several sites that could be considered for Pocket Parks and these would be prioritized over new land acquisition. Pond will develop criteria for establishing a pocket park, operational needs, and budgetary impacts. Recommendations will also include a resources allocation and implementation plan. Pond will create categories for Pocket Parks and create conceptual graphics of potential designs and precedent imagery. Review of ACCGov any regulations, ordinance, set-backs, and best practices will be referenced for right-of way areas

The consulting team will analyze the information on usage, needs, desires, operations, maintenance, land use trends, and make recommendations. The consulting team will identify areas of service shortfalls and projected impact of future trends.

Using results of the inventory and community and stakeholder engagement, the consulting team will identify areas of significant recreation opportunities. These may include, but will not be limited to, events, open spaces, connectivity networks, etc.

Based on the organizational assessment conducted as part of Phase 3, BerryDunn will develop a summary report of current and future staffing and operational needs. This report will include incremental implementation steps and suggested job descriptions and duties. ACCGov may request examples of additional job descriptions as needed.

The consulting team will assign budgetary numbers for all capital improvements. These costs will be high-level and single line-item numbers for each park/recommendation. These will be summarized in a matrix with potential timelines and prioritization ratings.

Following the development of recommendations and public presentation, BerryDunn will develop Yearly Goals and Objectives. This report will contain action steps with a step-by-step checklist and timeline. The plan will also present prioritized strategic initiatives based on staff

input, aligned with a clear timeline for implementation and outlining feasible funding strategies to fill potential funding gaps.

D10: Yearly Goals and Objectives

Since this plan will be based heavily on community engagement, it is important to involve the public in its implementation. BerryDunn will develop a Storytelling Guide that identifies wins and milestones to share on ACCGov’s website and social media. This will keep the public informed of plan progress

The consulting team will identify key partners in the community throughout the planning process and can provide recommendations to enhance partnership agreements and deliverables. Additional opportunities for funding will also be assessed in this area.

The consulting team will summarize and synthesize all research and stakeholder input and develop recommendations and priorities into a Draft Leisure Services Comprehensive Master Plan. The consulting team will work with ACCGov’s project team to prioritize recommendations, balancing needs and cost/benefit analyses, capacity of ACCGov, and potential budgetary realities. The result will be a set of recommendations phased into immediate, near-term, and long-term time frames that address goals and action strategies. The consulting team will present the final master plan report to the Mayor and Commission (M&C). Presentations are typically scheduled during the monthly M&C work sessions, which are hld the 2nd Tuesday of each month. ACCGov staff will need to request time on the agenda 3 to 4 months in advance.

After applying first round edits, BerryDunn will facilitate a review session with ACCGov to discuss feedback and recommendations within the plan. BerryDunn will plan to include a section in the Leisure Services Comprehensive Master Plan that will provide a detailed sequence of steps needed for successful implementation, as well as review techniques to effectively deploy the plan with ACCGov.

BerryDunn will present the Leisure Services Comprehensive Master Plan Final Draft to the ACCGov Mayor and Commission to provide an opportunity for review and final edits.