Eggs were everywhere Saturday, March 22, roughly 15,000 of them, making it a hectic and thrilling scene at Edmonds’ City Park for the 1,500 kids who showed up to hunt for candies and toys.
Chocolates! Toys! Easter baskets! (Some tears).
It has been a slightly less thrilling, but no less interesting, year for officials and volunteers who have hunted in and around Edmonds’ parks since 2007 for a less immediate reward: answers regarding the future of the city’s parks and cultural programs.
The process — officially the parks and open space comprehensive plan — has had bumps in the road.
For instance, while hundreds of young couples gathered in City Park Saturday, very few young people were consulted during the year’s most inclusive efforts. Only 2 percent of people surveyed in the city’s official telephone survey were under 34 years of age. The survey was a significant part of the overall $50,000 study.
Over 80 percent of respondents were older than 50, even though less than half of the city’s population is older than 45, according to the most recent Census data. Nobody under the age of 24 was surveyed.
“Obviously, there are plenty of people under 24 living here in Edmonds,” Mayor Gary Haakenson said. “How we couldn’t get one of them for a telephone survey surprises me.”
The telephone survey was administered randomly, calling various numbers at different times of day and week, said consultant Juliet Vong, of Hough Beck and Baird. In addition to the survey, the parks plan was built around input from two advisory committees, staff, the consultant, and input from community groups.
Now, the city is nearing completion on its plan, a once-every-six year effort that launched in March 2007 and will guide the parks department until 2014. The City Council has scheduled a final review April 15. A cultural plan is also included.
While some age groups were under represented in the survey, the final plan nevertheless does a good job of reflecting the city’s recreational needs, said parks director Brian McIntosh.
“I think the people we did get were pretty honest about their observations and their needs,” he said March 24. “That’s what we needed them to be. Not just ‘Me, me, me,’ but to talk about all of what they’ve seen.”
They’ve seen a need for more walking trails, more connections between parks and an improved aquatic facility, he said. The city will look to expand its walking offerings in coming years.
How an improved aquatic facility will look is still up in the air. In a few months, the city will launch a $60,000 effort to study Yost Pool. It could be renovated, or covered, or completely rebuilt, officials said. A solution with a price tag could find its way onto Edmonds ballots as soon as 2009, McIntosh said.
What the survey respondents did not see was a great need for new athletic fields. The plan said there was a “moderate” need for new soccer and baseball fields, compared to other facility needs.
However the need is ranked, more fields are definitely required, said Bill Liley, senior program director for the Sno-King Youth Club. The city of Edmonds has always been good to Sno-King, and the group was consulting during the parks planning process, he said.
“But because they have been good to us does not mean there is any less of a need in Edmonds,” Liley said March 24. “There are way more kids than necessary fields.”
Parents from Edmonds are shipping their kids to other sports associations outside Edmonds, particularly to play soccer, Liley said.
At City Park, of course, the most immediate need seemed to come from youngsters who wanted more candy. Young parents said they were happy with the city’s parks system.
If they had any suggestions, they seemed to match those in the current plan.
Trails and connections between parks would be excellent, said Elisa Brame, 27. Brame’s 6-year-old daughter just started riding her bike, and if there were safer places to ride, and easier ways to get to parks, the family would really benefit, she said.
Other parents mentioned Yost Pool, and the need to make it year-round like Mukilteo’s pool or Mountlake Terrace’s.
“But they have been talking about that forever,” said Jim Fahey, a 32-year-old father of two toddlers. Fahey grew up in Edmonds. Still, “We love the parks here. They are great.”
Reporter Chris Fyall: 425-673-6525 or cfyall@heraldnet.com
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