Marquette-area residents were able to give their feedback Monday night on the city’s five-year Parks and Recreation Master Plan currently in the works. Staff from the Community Services Department, which includes Arts and Culture, Parks and Recreation, The Senior Center and Lakeview Arena, were on hand to address questions and concerns. (Journal photo by Jaymie Depew)

MARQUETTE — Marquette’s Community Services Department received feedback from residents about the department’s parks and recreation plan during a public forum at Lakeview Arena Monday evening.

With the help of Dick Horton Consulting, city staff is in the process of crafting its five-year Parks and Recreation Master Plan. The city’s last plan was for fiscal years 2011-2016, which Horton’s firm also worked on.

Jon Swenson, director of community services, said having an updated plan is a requirement to seek some grant funding and will lead to policy changes and capital improvements. Due to recent changes in city staff, the plan wasn’t updated earlier than it would have been. Some projects were shifted around, Swenson said, but “it’s worked out.”

A survey was sent to random households about two months ago, asking for residents’ input regarding the city’s parks and recreation system. Horton and Swenson discussed the results of the survey during the forum.

The message is clear — residents are passionate and protective of recreational activities, facilities and parks in the city.

According to the results, around 62 percent of people said they would like to see improvements on existing amenities at Presque Isle Park, while 13 percent want more amenities and 25 percent want to leave the park just as it is.

“We all know and love Presque Isle,” Swenson said. “This was very interesting to us because last time we did this, people told us not to touch it. This time, you all said, ‘Let’s fix what we have out there, but then don’t touch it. Let’s make that stuff better, but don’t change the rest of it.'”

The survey also suggests most people are in favor of creating multipurpose trails, updating existing playgrounds, parks and winter facilities, and creating an additional off-leash dog park.

There were split results in regard to allowing motorized recreational vehicles like side-by-sides, ORVs and ATVs in specific areas that have permanent signed routes, but staff said it’s highly due to residents not fully understanding what the question was asking.

After discussing the results, people were asked to visit various stations that were set up around the Citizens Forum room. Each station had a different theme, including general concerns, future needs, arts and cultural, parks and facilities, and trails. Attendees walked to different stations and wrote down their ideas, which were then evaluated by the entire group.

A common theme shared among the categories included “using what the city has, but improving them.” Several attendees said Hurley Field in south Marquette is desperately in need of upgrades but fear it’ll be pushed to the side since it didn’t rank higher in the survey results. Other suggestions involved incorporating more arts and cultural activities within parks, such as screening films outdoors.

The public forum was the first of several opportunities the public will have to learn about the plan or have concerns addressed.

Swenson said about 80 percent of the plan should be completed next month for review and will be discussed at several upcoming meetings of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and the Parks and Rec Master Plan Ad Hoc Steering Committee, which was formed in February to specifically help with the foundation of the plan. The meetings aren’t currently scheduled, but will be posted on the city’s website at www.marquettemi.gov.

Horton, who resides in Kansas City, has been working alongside two former U.P. Engineers & Architects Inc. employees and city staff for several months.

“For the next five weeks or so, I will be compiling all of the data, the assessment data that we’ve collected over the last few months and analyzing it, writing, formatting it and always working with Jon and his staff,” Horton said.

Horton is scheduled to present the plan to the city commission on Jan. 8.

Swenson said the public process is really important.

“The more the public can get involved with it, the more the plan becomes theirs,” he said.