Anchorage Daily News
(Published: October 19, 2003)
Trails are the most popular part of the Anchorage parks and recreation system, a new public survey done for the city Parks and Recreation Division shows.
"All indications show trails are our most valued recreational resources and will continue to be in high demand," the city and its consultants wrote in a recent report.
Of the top half-dozen recreational activities people say they do the most, five had something to do with trails: riding bikes, walking, skiing, running, or going into Chugach State Park by any nonmotorized means. The most popular non-trail activity was using picnic areas in parks.
At the same time, participation in organized sports over the past three to five years appears to be leveling off or decreasing, in line with national trends, the report says. The planners, after analyzing what's available in Anchorage, concluded there may be enough athletic fields here to meet the demand now and for some time in the future.
The city is in the middle of an update of the city parks and open space plan and did a mail survey to see how local residents use their parks and trails, and what else they want and don't want in the city parks system.
The parks plan promises to reinvigorate longtime conflicts of values, such as wild parks versus developed ones and trails versus ball fields.
But the result should be a vision and some standards for what's needed in new neighborhoods and in each part of town, said Jeff Dillon of Land Design North, a local landscape architecture firm helping the city create the plan, along with some national consultants.
The plan will be completed next spring. Last week, planners made presentations on what they've learned so far.
A smaller than desired number of people, 259, or 18 percent of those targeted, returned the survey questionnaires. Because of that, statistically the conclusions could be off by 10 percent in either direction, said Van Le of Land Design North, who administered the poll.
The survey was of randomly selected addresses culled from Permanent Fund dividend recipients, so it didn't get newcomers. And people who responded are more likely homeowners and longer-term residents, Le said.
To supplement the mail survey results, the consultants will also interview people at the city recreation centers and collect views from people representing organizations ranging from the Chamber of Commerce to the Anchorage Horse Council, Dillon said.
University of Alaska Anchorage economist Matt Berman said a mail-in poll with a low return rate makes it difficult, without costly follow-ups, to tell whether the people who responded are biased, for example, by caring more about parks than the general population does.
But, he said, such a survey is still useful as one source of information for policy-makers, even if it's not perfect.
"Nobody's going to actually decide on the basis of the survey. It's at least as valid as any of the other information people are getting."
• People think the city needs to improve maintenance of the parks and trails it has. Asked how they would spend a hypothetical dollar in property taxes for recreation, those surveyed said nearly half should go to maintenance, a third to additional parklands and trails, and the balance to new recreation programs and facilities.
• Residents should be able to engage in recreation more in and outside of public schools, those surveyed said. The city needs more trails, greenbelts and parks connected to neighborhoods, and it needs better trail access to the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge, which runs along the coastline. A continuation of the existing trail is proposed but is stalled at the moment.
• While people said they use trails the most, they ranked the city's most important recreational assets as streams and creeks in natural areas, other natural areas, lakes, paved multi- use trails and nature trails.
• Of 36 recreational areas and activities, people said they are most satisfied with both the paved and unpaved trails for cross-country skiing, running, riding horses, exploring nature and skijoring. They are least satisfied with the opportunities available here for skateboarding, swimming, off-road vehicles, summer youth programs and soccer fields.
Some elements the parks planners propose to improve the parks system tie in closely with the survey.
They say, for example, that the schools and parks officials need a tighter working relationship to get more community recreational use from school facilities; that somehow the city must improve maintenance even though local government budgets have been shrinking; and that parks should be viewed as providing the quality of life that drives the local economy.
Since the consultants' early conclusions are just out, city Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission members say they're still studying it.
Commission member Sandy Traini, wife of Assemblyman Dick Traini, thinks the consultants may be weighing the survey too heavily in analyzing the needs of the parks system. "It's a small amount of people."
Victor Mollozzi, a banker, volunteered to be on the commission after seeing how difficult it was to get agreement on new ball fields for the Simonian Little League. The city proposes that the commission become more visible in representing the park system in the community -- such as telling the Rotary about bond issues -- and Mollozzi agrees with that.
Voters turned down bonds for parks in both Eagle River and Anchorage this year, though taxpayers would have had to pay just $3 to $8 per year for $100,000 in property to pay off the bonds.
If people support parks as much as the recent survey showed, "let's vote for the park issues," Mollozzi said. "I think somebody related it to five lattes."
Daily News reporter Rosemary Shinohara can be reached at rshinohara@adn.com or 257-4340.