Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 02/08/2018

Home

Regional Park Study Areas Typically, new regional parks are proposed as search areas that have been identified based on high - quality natural resources located in portions of the region where population growth is expected. However, there are times when a regional park implementing agency may want to propose including existing parks into the Regional Park System. In an effort to make an informed decision, further study is required to assess whether the proposed addition is of regional significance. The proposed area for consideration is called a Regional Park Study Area. Designation as a Regional Park Study Area does not guarantee that a park will become part of the Regional Parks System. It acknowledges that studies would need to be conducted to determine whether the facility warrants regional status. Once these studies are complete, the information would be presented to the Metropolitan Parks and Open Space Commission and the Council for evaluation. The Council's 2008 Regional Parks and Trails Survey shows that at least 40% of visits to most regional parks are made by people who do not live in the jurisdiction of the respective regional park implementing agency where the park is located. Therefore, the benchmark applied for qualifying as a regional distribution of visitation is 40% non -local visits in evaluating a regional park study area. Deletion of a Proposed Regional Park Study Area The 2030 Regional Parks Policy Plan included a regional park study area in northern Dakota County. Dakota County proposed evaluating the feasibility of combining Thompson County Park in West St. Paul with Kaposia Park and Kaposia Landing, two local parks in South St. Paul, into one regional park unit. Council staff worked with Dakota County to conduct visitor origin surveys at these parks in 2012. The results of the study determined that 16.7 percent of visits were non -local and that the Thompson Kaposia Study Area did not meet the regional visitation distribution criteria. The Thompson-Kaposia Regional Park Study Area has been removed from the System Plan Map as part of the 2040 Regional Parks Policy Plan. 2040 Regional Parks System Plan Summary As Figure 3-11 illustrates, the 2040 System Plan includes: • Existing Regional Parks System facilities (2014) 42 regional parks 12 park reserves 8 special recreation features 40 regional trails, consisting of 340 miles • Planned Regional Parks System facilities that are not yet open to the public 4 regional parks 1 park reserve 12 regional trails, consisting of 147 miles • Regional Parks System Boundary Adjustments 2 regional parks 1 park reserve