The goal is to build new parks, but that takes more green than just grass and trees

Fresno has historically been at or near the bottom of city rankings when it comes to the availability of parks for its residents. A new Parks Master Plan, adopted last week by the Fresno City Council, will serve as a guide to more than double park space and create them in neighborhoods where none exist now.

The plan was developed over 18 months and included community meetings and surveys of residents.

Fresno now has about 1,023 acres of parks. That may sound like a lot, but it’s less than half of what the plan suggests is needed to adequately serve the current population of more than half a million people. What parks the city does have are not distributed evenly, and many aren’t in good shape, particularly in central and south Fresno neighborhoods.

The master plan that was unanimously approved by council members outlines the need to add 1,113 acres of parks and other green space just to meet current demands.

And the plan looks into the future, estimating that by 2035 – when the city’s population is forecast to balloon to more than 656,000 – Fresno will need nearly 1,800 more acres of parks than it has now to meet recreation demands.

It’s one thing to set a goal to build new parks and to maintain and improve old ones. Achieving that goal, however, will be neither easy nor cheap. One of the key findings in the 670-page plan is that “Fresno’s park and open space system is dominated by parks in poor condition that suffer from lack of investment, lack of adequate maintenance, and public safety concerns due to inappropriate activities.”

About half of Fresno’s current parks are considered to be in fair condition, while almost one-third are in poor condition. Only about 20 percent are considered in good shape.

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“The harsh reality of this plan points out that as a result of years of deferred maintenance and investment in these parks, we have accumulated at least $110 million to $112 million of deferred maintenance,” interim Assistant City Manager Bruce Rudd told the council. “If we had $110 million to spend today, that is what we would need to bring all of our parks back into a state of good repair.”

Just keeping parks from sliding further into disrepair, Rudd added, would take an extra $5 million for parks maintenance each year. And neither the upkeep nor deferred maintenance figures count what it will cost to buy the land and build and develop the extra park acreage that Fresno needs.

What parks the city has are not evenly distributed, creating what the plan describes as “park deserts” of neighborhoods in which there are no parks or green space within walking or biking distance. Fifty-four percent of the residents surveyed said they felt there was a lack of usable green space in their neighborhoods.

The plan recommends three keys to providing enough parks for residents: improving the parks that exist; filling gaps in the system; and securing the parks with staffing and amenities so that people use the parks more and dissuade crime and loitering.

While the plan does not propose specific sites for new parks, it does outline priorities for closing the gaps in Fresno’s system: expanding agreements with schools to allow the public to use sports fields and playgrounds on weekends, prioritizing renovations in areas with a concentration of parks in poor condition, and either buying land or using existing city-owned property to build new parks and trails in “high-need, ‘park-poor’ areas” – including large parts of southeast and southwest Fresno.

Community advocates said they appreciate the plan, but worry that it doesn’t go far enough to ensure that the city follows through with strategies and recommendations for investing in parks in poorer parts of the city.

“We hear about gang violence, we hear about all kinds of things … But children need opportunities, and we need to hold high expectations for all of our children regardless of what (ZIP code) they live in,” said Mary Curry, a community leader in southwest Fresno. “There are a lot of good kids in west Fresno. They just need opportunities. … Look to building some parks in west Fresno so children have equal opportunities to grow up in healthy communities.”

Curry’s daughter, Venise Curry, said the new plan fails to address a disparity in park acreage between northern and southern portions of Fresno. “It does not address the disparity because there isn’t a real recommendation for pushing for new parkland acquisition,” she said. “I understand that it is costly … and yet if we only focus on maintaining the current parks that we have, we absolutely won’t be addressing the No. 1 issue, which is that disparity. Maintenance alone is not going to solve the issue of there not being enough park space in south Fresno.”

Where the money will come from for catching up on postponed repairs, keeping up with maintenance and developing new parks remains a major question. The plan identifies a potential 2018 state bond as a possible source for repairs and improvements to existing parks, but also notes that if the bond passes, money could not be used for ongoing park maintenance or operations.

Other possible funding options include reliance on volunteers, foundations, private donations and “friends of the parks” groups to help raise money; partnerships between the city and other agencies; corporate sponsorships; selling naming rights; increases to sales, property or hotel taxes; advertising sales; crowd funding; user fees; permit fees for commercial use of parks; and concession agreements.

The plan notes that about 52 percent of residents surveyed reported that they are willing to support an increase in public funding for parks.

This story was originally published January 29, 2018 at 2:23 PM with the headline "The goal is to build new parks, but that takes more green than just grass and trees."