Vision 2030: The Parks and Recreation Strategic Plan
The results are in: Find out what Montgomery County residents are saying about parks and recreation services!
Make a real difference in how we live, work and play as a community – Join us!
- Vision2030 Preliminary Findings Presentation (500kb, PDF)
- Vision 2030 Survey Final Results Report (507kb, PDF)
Upcoming Public Meetings
Montgomery Parks, M-NCPPC, and the Montgomery County Recreation Department are hosting two public meetings in September.
We’ll be seeking feedback from the public on which types of activities and programs we should be offering, which should recover all costs through user fees and which services should be primarily cover by your tax dollars. Your input will help guide the long-term planning for our county’s parks and recreation services, facilities, and programs.
- Public Meeting #5
Monday September 13, from 7:00 PM- 8:30 PM
Gwendolyn Coffield Community Center
2450 Lyttonsville Rd., Silver Spring, MD 20910 - Public Meeting #6
Tuesday September 14, from 7:00- 8:30 PM
UpCounty Regional Services Center
Meeting Room A
12900 Middlebrook Road, Germantown, Maryland 20874
Past meeting information and a links have been posted on the project calendar below. Focus Group meeting notes are also available for you to review here. If you would like to submit comments on any of the focus group topic areas, please email us.
Help Shape the Future of Parks and Recreation in Montgomery County!
Project Background
Montgomery Parks, M-NCPPC, and the Montgomery County Department of Recreation are currently participating in a process to develop a vision and strategic plan for park and recreation services in Montgomery County. The project is being coordinated across both departments by GreenPlay, LLC and will take up to 18 months to complete.
Montgomery Parks, M-NCPPC, and the Montgomery County Department of Recreation are committed to making this project effective and productive. While the two departments manage different aspects of parks, stewardship of natural and cultural resources, and recreation and leisure, the needs and values of our customers transcend agency boundaries.
We see this as an opportunity to collaborate in the production of a vision and a set of recommendations that will best serve our County. We encourage you to send general comments to the project team at any stage of the project.
Values and Vision Statements
Value Statement (in no particular order)
The Departments of Parks and Recreation serve Montgomery County to:
- Promote healthy living through varied and safe recreation and leisure activities
- Protect natural, historical, and archaeological resources
- Promote sense of community and civic pride
- Nurture an appreciation for our natural, cultural legacy
- Provide lifelong learning opportunities
- Shape healthy, safe, green communities
- Attract knowledge-based businesses and promotes economic competitiveness
- Collaborate with partners to provide a wide-range of sustainable, accessible leisure opportunities
- Engage with the County’s diverse community and proactively respond to changing demographics, needs, and trends
- Acquire, maintain, and manage the parks and recreation environment
Vision Statement
Vision 2030 will guide the M-NCPPC Department of Parks and Montgomery County Department of Recreation to:
- Collaboratively lead the county’s efforts in stewardship of natural, historical and archaeological resources
- Provide opportunities for active life-long learning, leisure, and recreation
Project Scope
Purpose
The purpose of the project is:
- To reach consensus among residents, leaders and the M-NCPPC Department of Parks and the Montgomery County Department of Recreation staff on a future vision for the Park and Recreation system in Montgomery County, Maryland
- Develop planning tools to assist and guide leaders in making wise capital and operating investment decisions with respect to stewardship of the land and facilities as well as programs and services for a parks and recreation system
- To determine if people in different geographic areas or demographic and ethnic groups, use recreation services or view land stewardship differently
- Adopt progressive state-of-the-art approaches to planning that will maintain and promote the two Departments’ reputation for excellence
- Determine core services along with a resource allocation/cost recovery philosophy and policy for the park and recreation programs
Outcomes
The desired outcomes of the project are:
- A vision for the future parks and recreation system, based upon:
- Changing demographics
- Prospective development build-out of Montgomery County
- Changing and emerging recreation trends
- Desire to protect and promote the stewardship of the County’s Best Natural Areas and cultural resources (i.e., archaeological and historic sites).
- Community needs and priorities
- Determination of current and future need for programs based upon national and local trends, current availability, and resident desires
- Assessment of current supply and adequacy of land, facilities, and programs
- Projections of short and long-term need for land, facilities, and programs
- Customized needs-based standards for the distribution of land acreage and facilities
- Level of service guidelines for land, facilities, and programs
- Level of service capacity for land, facilities, and programs
- Performance measures and indicators that will be used to track and monitor progress
- Clearly articulated sets of objectives, strategies, and actions steps that will address current need and prepare to meet future needs
- Short and longer-term implementation priorities with action steps, priorities and sequencing, and assignment of responsibilities
- Identification of capital investment priorities
The project will also provide the foundation for the State-mandated update of the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Plan, also known as the Land Preservation, Park and Recreation Plan.
This project is being guided by a staff Steering Committee and sub-committees, a series of Summits of community leaders and stakeholders, along with input from an extensive public process including focus groups and public meetings. Calendar following the planning process and timeline follows.
Products
The products of the plan will include:
- Needs/Analysis Inventory
- Services Assessment, Resource Allocation, and Cost Recovery
- 2030 Framework Plan
- Ten-Year Strategic Plan
- Six-Year Implementation Plan
We Need Your Input
The Vision2030 project has an extensive public outreach component, designed to gather input from users, non-users, and stakeholders of our park and recreation programs and facilities.
The outreach methodologies include multiple public meetings throughout the process, up to twenty focus groups on selected topic areas, this website which will be kept up-to-date with the latest information and summaries of all meetings, a statistically valid survey to solicit public input, and a Summit series for stakeholders from government, citizenry, non-profits, businesses, and staff, to help guide the process.
Our first step will be to gather input on the public vision and values for parks and recreation which will become guiding principles throughout the project against which to test findings and recommendations.
We encourage you to send general comments to the project team at any stage of the project.
Calendar & Meeting Notes
The calendar will be updated to include specific information for all meetings, focus groups and presentations scheduled for this project. Digital copies of the Meeting Notes and Planning Board Memos will be attached to each calendar event as it is completed.
Vision 2030 Public Meetings held at the M-NCPPC Main Regional Office will be streamed live and archived on our website at: http://www.montgomeryplanningboard.org/ . To find and view the meetings online, choose the "watch live / video recordings" in Planning Board Agenda section (upper left area of the blue background). Each meeting will be listed under “Live and Upcoming Events” and then added to the “Archived Videos” after the meeting is complete.
| Date | Time | Vision Montgomery 2030 Project Phases & Meeting Dates |
Comments, Meeting Notes, Opportunities for Input |
INFORMATION GATHERING PHASE |
||
| 2010 | ||
|---|---|---|
Feb. 23 |
Public Meeting 1 |
General comments? Email us. |
Feb. 24 |
Public Meeting 2 |
General comments? Email us. |
Feb. 24 |
Vision Montgomery 2030 Summit Meetings |
NOTE: Participation in this summit is limited to select county leaders, policy and decision makers, community leaders, and agency staff, and is by invitation only. |
Feb. – May |
Focus Group Meetings |
NOTE: If you are interested in being involved in a specific focus group, please contact us. If you would like to submit comments on any of the focus group topic areas, please email us. |
Jan. – April |
Inventory and Analysis of Existing Facilities (internal) |
Conduct inventory and analysis of county parks, open space, trails and facilities |
Feb. – May |
Service Assessment and Cost Recovery Analysis (internal) |
- Conduct staff assessment of all services |
March – May |
Survey |
A statistically-valid mail survey will be sent to a random sampling of county residents. |
Feb. – May |
Demographic and Trends Analysis (internal) |
- Review county demographics and population projections |
FINDINGS AND VISIONS PHASE |
||
June – Sept. |
Public Meetings - Findings and Visioning Staff and Community Review. Dates, times and locations for public meetings will be posted here when available. |
- Present and validate key findings to staff and summit participants |
July 27 7:00- 8:30 pm |
Public Meeting #3 - M-NCPPC Montgomery Regional Office (MRO) Auditorium. 8787 Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring, MD 20910 |
-
Live video stream of the meeting is located here. |
July 28 7:00-8:30 pm |
Public Meeting #4 - Up-County Government Center, Meeting Room A - 12900 Middlebrook Road, Germantown, MD 20874 | |
July 29 |
Planning Board Presentation agenda item #11 |
- Live video stream of the whole meeting is located here. - Vision2030 Preliminary Findings (500KB, PDF) - Vision 2030 Survey Final Results Report (507KB, PDF) |
Monday |
Public Meeting #5 Gwendolyn Coffield Community Center 2450 Lyttonsville Rd., Silver Spring, MD 20910 |
|
Tuesday September 14 7:00- 8:30 PM |
Public Meeting #6 UpCounty Regional Services Center Meeting Room A., 12900 Middlebrook Road, Germantown, Maryland |
|
PLAN DEVELOPMENT PHASE |
||
| 2011 | ||
Oct.2010 – March 2011 |
Draft Plan Review |
- Draft 2030 Vision and 10-year strategic plan |
PLAN ADOPTION |
||
March 2011 |
Plan Adoption |
|
Contact Us
To submit written comments or request more information, please contact:
- Brooke Farquhar, Project Manager
301-650-4388
Vision2030@MontgomeryParks.org
top - Last update: August 31, 2010