PARK-BY-PARK ASSESSMENT

A park-by-park condition assessment in July and August 2019 documented general condition, park access and usability.

Over half of the parks were rated as being in good or excellent condition (a rating of 4 or 5). This included two thirds of the parks with funding through the General Fund (more on this in the following pages).

The most commonly reported condition needs in Tracy parks were related to:

> Playgrounds and play areas in poor condition or need to be replaced to meet current standards (e.g., replacing wooden play structures and structures placed on sand.)

> Amenities including benches, tables, and trash bins in poor condition and/or don’t meet current City standards;

> Cracking surfaces on basketball and tennis courts;

> Need to replace sand in play areas with new resilient surfacing material;

> Shrubs in poor condition, or the absence of plantings;

> Turf with dry or wet areas related to irrigation or drainage issues. With regard to park access, twothirds of the parks were given the top rating of “5”, with the remainder considered good or fair (“3”s and “4”s.) Many parks were noted for being well-integrated into neighborhoods and with adjacent schools. Connections to bike paths were noted in a few cases, but there may be room for improvement. In some cases, the rear yards and fences of homes face onto parks, which is not ideal from an access or visibility standpoint.

Observed use was evaluated for 12 parks. Of these, half were viewed as having excellent use characteristics, and half were good or fair. Parks were noted for their good combinations of active and passive use areas and facilities. In some cases, facilities were seen as having little use (e.g. the overgrown bocce courts in Galli Family Park.) Elsewhere, robust use was observed, including lots of people using the loop trail at Clyde Bland Park; several families using the play facilities and splash pad area at Lincoln Park; and many dog walkers at Edgar Thoming Park.

A park-by-park ADA assessment of the park system was concluded in July and August of 2020. The results of that analysis are summarized separately.