The City's Guiding Principles:
The city’s vision is guided in seven Guiding Principles: Well-managed growth; access to open lands and recreational opportunities; economic vitality; vibrant downtown and gateway corridors; livable neighborhoods; unique history and culture and; a connected community.
This week, we’ll be taking a look at the Master Plan draft currently under review by the city and its leadership.
A Master Plan is essentially the city’s blueprint for the next 20 years, which includes guidance and goals for growth, housing, economic development, natural resources, aesthetics, and much more.
The first Master Plan was adopted by Carson City in 1958, followed by five additional updates, the last being in 2006.
You can read the full overview in our previous reporting here.
The first topic covered by the Master Plan was the goals and priorities for well-managed growth.
Today, we’re taking a look at the second goal: Access to Open Lands and Recreational Opportunities.
Carson City residents value having access to scenic open spaces and recreational opportunities, so much so that in 1996, residents approve Ballot Question 18: The Quality of Life Initiative. This created a supplemental sales tax revenue source of a quarter of a cent for parks, open space, pathways, and associated maintenance.
This funding has allowed the city, in partnership with other organizations, to develop and maintain a number of facilities and programs including:
- The Open Space Program, providing residents and visitors access to scenic vistas and passive recreation opportunities, both inside and surrounding the city;
- The city’s parks system, including special use facilities such as the shooting range, sports complexes, golf courses, and a cemetery;
- Pathways throughout the city including trails, sidewalks, bike lanes and multi-use paths that support the use of non-automotive travel;
- Recreational facilities and gathering spaces such as the Community Center theater, Multi-Purpose Athletic Center (MAC), aquatic facility, sports complexes, and various off-site programs.
Goals
Carson City will continue to provide a diverse range of parks and recreational opportunities to include facilities and programming for all ages, abilities, and interests. The City will also continue to enhance connections to the community’s expansive open space network, providing residents and visitors with access to scenic vistas and both passive and active recreation. These recreational opportunities will serve both existing and future neighborhoods.
The main goals to achieve access to open lands and recreational opportunities include:
Enhance the City’s Parks, Trails, and Open Space Network
- Provide a range of parks and recreational opportunities
- Review future development proposals for consistency with open space
- Expand the city’s network for pathways consistent with the Unified Pathways Master Plan
- Ensure the goals and uses for the Carson River are consistent with the Carson River Master Plan
- Promote the Prison Hill Recreation Area as an amenity for both motorized and non-motorized trail use, and continue to support the maintenance and expansion of the area’s trail system
Improve Access to Parks and Recreation at a Neighborhood Level
- Ensure parks and recreational facilities are balanced and adequately meet the needs of the community throughout the city as a whole
- Improve the quality of existing parks and facilities, and create new facilities in underserved locations
- Pursue opportunities to improve the community center and pool
- Require new developments provide park facilitates
- Pursue cost-effective sharing of facilities and resources with existing and potential recreational partners
Promote Access to State and Federal Lands as a Community Amenity
- Discourage disposal of property identified as state and federal lands for private development when located outside the urban services boundary
- Monitor state or federal owned lands slated for disposal and identify opportunities for transferring to city ownership
- Ensure vehicular and pathway access to surrounding public lands are maintained as development occurs, and require pathways, bicycle facilities and roadway easements through future developments
Priorities
From these goals, staff is recommending the following priority, which means that the city should begin working towards this goals immediately following plan adoption:
Enhance the City’s Parks, Trails, and Open Space Network
Conduct a comprehensive update of the 2006 Parks and Recreation Master Plan to include: 1) an assessment of existing parks and recreation facility needs and community preferences; 2) a fiscally-constrained set of priorities for maintenance and improvements, and 3) a list of “as feasible” priorities that may be implemented through grant-funding or collaborative efforts with other agencies, non-profits, or volunteer organizations.
Check back tomorrow for Part III: Economic Vitality
The entirety of the Master Plan Update 2024 can be viewed here.
