City asks residents for views on parks
By Ty Johnson
Published in News on July 31, 2012 1:46 PM
Citizens will have their final chance to contribute to Goldsboro's master plan for its parks and recreation department this week as consultants will be on hand at two community meetings Wednesday.
The first will be held at noon at the Day Circle Community Building at 2300 Day Circle.
The second meeting will be at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church at 200 N. James St. at 5:45 p.m.
The Goldsboro Fire Department will help set up its mobile spray park at South End Park during the noon meeting to occupy children while parents and others discuss the master plan. There will also be pizza during the noon meeting to encourage participation.
Parks and Recreation Director Scott Barnard said that following more than a half dozen community meetings earlier this summer, the public input period was practically wrapped up, but he heard from several citizens that they weren't aware of the meetings and wanted a chance to contribute.
Barnard quickly put together a pair of meetings to give the public one last shot to help shape the department's long-term vision.
"We're looking for folks to tell us where they'd like to see the parks department in the future," he said. "We want folks to come and dream big."
Small issues and problems that are raised at the meetings are handled quickly, Barnard said, while more visionary concepts are being considered for addition to the department's master plan, which is being performed at a bargain rate by the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The city paid just $5,000 for the consultant work.
Previous meetings during the summer attracted only a handful of people in most cases, but Barnard said in late June that the feedback he and his associates had received was helpful in establishing what the public wants from its parks.
"We've felt like what we've had is good, it's just more would be better," he said.