Marquette, Mich. (WZMQ) – The Marquette Department of Parks and Recreation held an open house today to share with the public the department’s five year master plan. This public forum allows residents to see current and future projects that will be included in the plan, as well as ask questions and provide their input. The master plan includes the rebuilding of the Presque Isle bandshell, optimizing use of the city’s ball fields, Lake Shore trail maintenance, improvements to Lakeview arena, a year round dog park and upgrades to several city parks among other projects. Community Services Director John Swenson says that maintaining the current facilities is job one.
“I think that the biggest thing that we’re trying to emphasize with this plan is that we really need to take care of the things that we’re gonna have. So we want to make sure that we’re able to maintain the things that we have and to improve those spaces in those facilities as needed.” Said Swenson.
The plan also seeks to keep up with changing trends in athletics, and trends in technology that affect the way we use our trails. Like what to do with E bikes.
“There’s a lot of changes within industry that are driving folks wanting to be able to use the existing facilities in different ways.” Said Swenson.”So we’re interested in hearing all of that.”
Richard Horton, a consultant to the master plan, believes public input is essential.
“Everyone is interested in knowing what their citizens think about their current Parks and Recreation system, but also their ideas about what their future kind of preferred future Parks and Recreation system might look like. Said Horton. ”The Parks and Rec master plan will be laid out during a presentation tomorrow night at Lakeview arena at 5pm.
