Residents have an opportunity to influence the city of Kent’s parks system for years to come.
The city invites the community to share their priorities for Kent’s parks system via an online survey at MyKentParks.com.
Every six years, the city is required by the state to update its Park and Open Space Plan, which covers all facilities and programs available for parks and recreation in Kent, as well as community centers, greenways and open space.
According to Jeff Watling, city Parks, Recreation and Community Services Director, the update aims to keep in touch with the community’s interests and priorities and how those align, or not, with the city budget.
“Kent has a number of great parks,” Watling said. “Unfortunately, a lot of the city’s parks contain amenities that are close to the end of their useful life. And recent capital budgets have not been nearly enough to fix everything that needs fixing.
“The short survey asks what people like, and what they don’t like about Kent’s park system. We also need to know if parks are meeting the needs of our residents, and if not, we need to hear ideas on how the system could be improved to better meet them.”
City staff and Kent Parks Commissioners will be at a number of community events this summer, reaching out to the public, and asking them to go online to take the survey.
The input from the surveys will be used to help make recommendations for the park system for the next several years.
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