Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces - Moreno Valley

CHAPTER 4–P ARKS , R EC . & OPEN SPACE MORENO VALLEY GENERAL PLANone of the City’s trail systems. BaysidePark and Vista Lomas Park are the onlymini parks in the City.Moreno Valley Ranch Golf Coursec. Neighborhood ParksNeighborhood parks range from 5 to 20acres in size, although the size may varydepending on the size of the neighborhoodand the proximity to a community park.Neighborhood parks are specificallyoriented to serving residents within a ¼ to ½mile radius of their homes. Ideally, theneighborhood park should be built inconjunction with a school facility in order tomaximize community funds and costefficiency. Facilities in neighborhood parksare geared toward the recreation needs ofchildren and provide for the daily recreationneeds of residents in the areas surroundingthese parks.Linear parks fall within the neighborhoodpark category. These parks lie in utilityeasements or along the California aqueduct.Similarly, mini parks fall under theneighborhood park category and arecharacterized as a park of less than fiveacres. Because of their small size and/orconfiguration, these parks provide limitedactive and passive recreation opportunitiesand do not include restrooms or parking.Future mini parks will require a specificfunding mechanism for operation andmaintenance, due to the high costs ofbuilding and maintaining these facilities.Where possible, mini parks should beadjacent to greenways, linear parks, and/orPreviously, the neighborhood park wasdefined as passive in nature. The trend,however, has been to include limited activerecreation opportunities such as hardsurface playing courts and multi-purposefields. Due to high demand, neighborhoodparks now frequently provide practice andgame areas for many of the organizedsports groups in the City, although heavyprogramming is not to be considered adesign feature of the neighborhood park.Passive recreation, such as picnicking,strolling and informal play is a priority for theneighborhood park. Unlike communityparks, on-site parking and restrooms are notprovided.There were 19 neighborhood parks inMoreno Valley, encompassing 150 acres.New development of neighborhood parksshould seek to achieve a balance betweenactive and passive park uses and toaccommodate a wide variety of age anduser groups.d. School FacilitiesSchool facilities provide significantrecreational opportunities in Moreno Valley.By combining resources of public agencies,Page 4-10 July 11, 2006