City of Yuma Parks and Recreation Master Plan update

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - The Parks and Recreation team provided an update on the Yuma Park Master Plan at Tuesday’s city council work session.

The goal is to create a framework for the development, planning, and maintenance of Yuma parks, arts, trails, facilities, and programs.

The improvements and changes will take place over the next 10 years.

They have already taken surveys from the public to see what they would like.

“The ten-year plan starts by getting the residents' input as to what they wanted to see out of parks and recreation next phase is going to be prioritized and then from there, we’re going to be able to get a sense of okay this is the top thing that we have to pay attention,” said City of Yuma Public Affairs Coordinator, Dave Nash.

The first part of the plan is conducting a survey where over 1,500 people took part in sharing what they would like to see.

"Well the good news that we found is the community truly values park and recreation," said the Director of Parks and Recreation, Eric Urfer. "98% of those taking the survey all said that that’s a valuable asset to continue to have within the city of Yuma that’s extremely valuable to know… second is that we have extremely high park use more so, the consultant tells us, than most communities that they have surveyed."

The local questionnaire indicated people want to see more music festivals, farmers' markets, and theatre productions on their wish list. 

However, the main thing people want to see is taking care of what is already there.

“Primarily really the most important thing to the residents at this point is for us to simply take care of what we have they want us to reinvest in parks and that’s great news so they want new playgrounds, they want new remades, they want things of that nature new amenities throughout the parks,” said Urfer.

The second set of surveys will be available next month.