2020 Parks & Recreation Master Plan - Town of Huntersville

2020 PARKS & RECREATION MASTER PLANEXECUTIVE SUMMARYPlanning ProcessThis section summarizes the major findings and recommendations of the 2020 Huntersville Parksand Recreation Master Plan. The main purpose of this document is to provide the Town ofHuntersville with an accurate, usable plan to guide its actions and decisions concerning theoverall parks and recreation system. The first Huntersville Parks and Recreation Master Planwas adopted in 1998 and had been updated in 2004. This revised plan incorporates some of thedata from 2004 as well as the major additions and changes that have taken place since then.The most up-to-date demographic information relating to the Town of Huntersville has beenreviewed to gain an understanding of the unique characteristics of the community and to identifyfactors that may influence future recreation and park planning.The inventory of existing public and private facilities in Huntersville was conducted by Parksand Recreation Staff and Parks and Recreation Commission members. The inventory focused ondetermining the number and types of facilities provided at each site to determine the areas andsegments of our community lacking access to recreation facilities and opportunities. Theinventory of existing park facilities within the Town of Huntersville indicates that there areapproximately seventy-six (76) separate recreational sites now used by the public within theTown. Seventeen sites (17) are offered by the Town of Huntersville and three (3) sites byMecklenburg County and more than fifty-six (56) sites are available through subdivisions andchurches.The one major change to this master plan was to the standards that were used for parkdevelopment needs. In the past, generic standards were used from the National Recreation andParks Association. This plan used more town specific recommendations that were related to thecurrent level of service and the current use of existing facilities which determined in what areasthose levels of service are adequate and which levels of services needed to be adjusted.Growth & PopulationThis plan looked at population growth as well as recreation program growth. The estimatedpopulation from the 2004 plan for the year 2010 was between 44,000 and 60,000. The actual2010 population was just over 48,000. While it is important to look at overall population growthit is even more important to look at the growth of the recreation programs as well. The growth ofprograms has increased more than two times that of the total population growth. Huntersvillepopulation was just over 36,000 in 2004. Population estimates from 2010 is over 48,000 (33%increase) and for the year 2020 is estimated to be over 60,000.………………………………………………………………………………………………………NOVEMBER 7, 20114