City Of Benicia Parks, Trails & Open Space Master Plan Update Begins

Press release from the City of Benicia:

April 7, 2021

BENICIA, CA — The City of Benicia has begun work to update the 1997 Parks, Trails, and Open Space Master Plan to guide the planning, maintenance, development, and rehabilitation of Benicia’s parks, trails, and open space system. Benicia residents are invited to join in the process, which will be led by the Parks & Community Services Department, as the City seeks feedback from all members of the community about the future of Benicia’s parks, trails, and
open space system.

The City of Benicia Parks & Community Services Department manages 28 parks totaling approximately 700 acres, including the 577-acre Lake Herman Regional Park and the 50-acre Benicia Community Park, all of which is managed under a system Master Plan that was adopted in 1997.

The updated Master Plan will serve as a long-range planning and asset management document that provides a framework for understanding the financial investments needed to maintain and improve the parks, trails, and open space assets the City of Benicia owns. The plan will provide a better understanding of the current and future maintenance needs and a capital improvement program to guide reinvestment.

Mayor Steve Young encourages the community to get involved, stating, “It has been 24 years since Benicia reviewed its parks program. While we know our parks are loved by our community, it is time to look to a plan for improving them and sustaining them into the future. This review process needs the considered comments of our community. Please watch for opportunities to get involved.”

The City has hired a consultant team that includes RHA Landscape ArchitectsPlanners, PROS Consulting, WRT Planning + Design, and the ETC Institute.

Doug Grove, RHA President, said, “Benicia has such a wonderful collection of parks, trails, and open space it is clear why residents are so proud of their city. Our goal is to engage the community in the most inclusive and innovative manner possible and to let the community’s values and unmet needs drive the priorities for Benicia’s future.”

The consulting team has developed an ADA-accessible, crowdsourcing website to guide this project at www.LoveBeniciaParks.com. This site will serve as the one-stop shop to provide all plan updates, list meeting dates, host online surveys and provide the community opportunities to continue sharing their feedback throughout the planning process.

The City will conduct two identical virtual public input meetings to gather feedback from residents. These meetings, which will be open to the public, seek to engage the Benicia community to obtain their input through live polling, Q&A, and public comments. The meetings will be held on Wednesday, April 28 and again on Thursday, April 29 from 6 – 7 p.m.

Those who are unable to attend a virtual public meetings may view the recordings of the meetings at www.LoveBeniciaParks.com and share their feedback later. Additionally, there will be follow up meetings later in the year to present the findings from the study and gather additional input from the community.

“We are very excited about updating the Parks, Trails and Open Space master plan and engaging the community in virtual focus groups and public meetings. We look forward to the Benicia community guiding our efforts to improve our very expansive parks, trails and open space system and assist in planning for the future. This process will include prioritizing projects, maintenance, policy, and funding,” said Parks and Community Services Director Mike Dotson.

Meetings with key City leaders and staff have already taken place, with stakeholder focus groups planned for mid-April. A statistically valid survey will be mailed to a random sample of Benicia residents this summer.

Registration for the Virtual Public Meetings is available at LoveBeniciaParks.com.

This press release was produced by the City of Benicia. The views expressed are the author's own.