City of Petoskey

Department of Parks and Recreation Master Plan 2008-2012

Introduction:

An examination of Petoskey’s current parks and recreational system quickly reveals the progress that has been made over the last 110 years, since the City’s incorporation. A strong vision and sustained commitment by both City leaders and active community members has enabled the City of Petoskey to develop an extensive, high-quality park system. In the spirit of continuous improvement, the City of Petoskey is seeking to continue the development of its recreational programs and facilities, ensuring it can satisfy not only the community’s current recreational demands, but those of the future as well.

The creation of this Parks and Recreation Master Plan is a critical component in this continuous improvement process, providing a roadmap that will help guide community leaders toward the City’s desired future. This document provides an analysis of current recreational opportunities that exist within the City of Petoskey, evaluating these programs and facilities against the recreational demands of the Petoskey community. Based on the results of this analysis, the Parks and Recreation Master Plan provides a strategy for how these future needs can best be met.

While the focus of this plan is the development of parks and recreational opportunities within the City of Petoskey, it would be remiss if it did not also examine the community’s larger context, looking for connections and opportunities that exist outside the City that may provide regional amenities for an even larger user group. Petoskey’s long history of partnership and cooperation with the adjacent Townships and with the County of Emmet demonstrate the desire to protect the valuable natural resources of the area, while still providing the quality recreational experiences that both residents and visitors desire.

This Parks and Recreation Master Plan examines a series of topics that provide an understanding of the Petoskey community, documents the wishes of its residents, describes the current recreational assets and deficiencies, and proposes a plan for addressing these issues.

Topics addressed within this plan include:
• Analysis of Petoskey’s social and physical characteristics
• Description of the current administrative structure
• Description of the parks and recreation planning process
• Inventory of current parks and recreational amenities
• Documentation of current trends, issues, and opportunities related to the park system
• Documentation of parks and recreational goals that meet the desires of the local community
• Documentation of the action items and implementation plans needed to realize the goals