MetRec reviews community recreation needs survey results

Major themes include rec paths and indoor recreation amenities

By Kendra Walker

The Gunnison County Metropolitan Recreation District (MetRec) is currently in the process of developing a master plan to help identify community recreation needs in the Gunnison Valley and create a guide to meet those needs over time. After spending the summer evaluating current recreation facilities and programs, conducting outreach to the community for feedback and holding stakeholders and advisory committee meetings, MetRec’s master planning team Norris Design is ready to head into the next phase of the master plan process. Over the next couple of months, the team will develop conceptual plans for how to improve existing recreation offerings, fill the gaps based on community needs and produce cost estimates for those capital improvements to help MetRec prioritize future programs and operations. 

During an August 28
MetRec work session, Norris Design presented the results of the summer’s community outreach efforts. In addition to talking with local recreational organizations and the major municipal stakeholders up and down valley, MetRec also provided several opportunities for community feedback. MetRec issued an online survey to develop a clear understanding of community needs and priorities and gathered in-person feedback at events like Alpenglow in Crested Butte and Sundays @ 6 in Gunnison. 

The online survey had more than 850 respondents, and asked questions such as: what would you spend money on recreation programming and facilities in the district; do you feel your indoor/outdoor recreation needs are being met; and what recreation amenities would be most vital to the community?

“We received great feedback,” said Tori Aidala of Norris Design, noting the number of responses was very strong for a community of this size. “The community’s top needs also really align well with what we heard from survey and stakeholder interviews. A lot of these things make sense and are connected.” 

Some of the major themes of the survey results included the desire for improved recreation connectivity, such as more rec path trails, and indoor recreation amenities and aquatics. Other themes included river access/amenities, multi-use fields and indoor youth and senior spaces. “Overall, it seems like outdoor recreation needs are being met a little better than indoor recreation needs,” said Aidala. “People feel their outdoor needs are mostly being met, it’s just that existing programs fill up quickly and there’s not enough space.”

Aidala also noted that while overall themes were similar between the north and south valleys, there were also some notable differences. For example, the north felt their indoor recreation needs weren’t being met compared to the south, due to a lack of facilities or folks having to travel too far to get to existing facilities. 

For indoor recreation, the top eight-needed amenities identified included fitness areas, teen gathering and activity spaces, lap swimming, a warm water activity pool, youth after school activities, group exercise rooms, a dedicated senior activity center and an indoor climbing wall/gym. When asked which amenities would be most vital to the community, respondents overall favored fitness areas, lap swimming and a warm water activity pool. 

For outdoor recreation, the top needed amenities included additional gravel, multi-use paved and singletrack rec paths, river access, winter trails, park amenities, multi-use fields and play area playgrounds. When asked which amenities would be most vital to the community, respondents favored a hardened all-weather trail rec path, soft surface trails and multi-use fields. 

When looking at programming needs, top results included aquatics, teen programs, youth sports, outdoor recreation, youth after school and summer camps, senior programs, fitness and wellness and adult sports. Other amenities that came up organically included a bowling alley, disc golf, pickleball and an outdoor amphitheater/music venue. 

When talking with folks at the community outreach events, Norris Design noted several themes between north and south valley community members. In Gunnison, the major themes included recreation connectivity, indoor recreation amenities, a bowling alley, river access and an outdoor music venue/amphitheater. In Crested Butte, major themes included aquatics, indoor recreation amenities, recreation connectivity, river access, a dog park, year-round indoor ice rink and multi-use fields. 

MetRec district manager Derrick Nehrenberg told the Crested Butte News that the community feedback results track with the different levels of analysis and community input MetRec has received over the past several years. “I also noticed a large diversity of needs,” he said. “The whole list of needs is pretty diverse across arts and culture and traditional recreation and not so traditional recreation. The interests of the community have grown and expanded. Just because the majority of people live here for obvious outdoor recreation reasons doesn’t mean it’s consistent across the board.”

The team will now take what they’ve heard and develop conceptual plans for how to improve on existing offerings and fill the gaps with proposed sites and programs. The conceptual plan will also include cost estimates for capital improvements, program implementation and ongoing operations and maintenance. Norris Design plans to present the conceptual design of the master plan to the MetRec board in October and will provide opportunities for the community to review and provide feedback. MetRec then plans to adopt the final master plan in January 2025. 

“The conceptual plan will give you parameters of what you might need if you were to partner with other groups providing programming or different stakeholders and accomplish something big,” explained Aidala. “You can take those cost estimates and figure out what you can possibly fund and accomplish. What is this going to cost, not only in a few years but in the long-term? Then you can prioritize based on funding from there.”

Several MetRec board members asked how the plan will help MetRec prioritize community needs, and how to differentiate between needs and wants. “Reflecting on a community of our size, are these things realistic for our community to support?” someone asked. “Is it realistic to have two rec centers in the valley?”

“That will come organically in this next phase as we start to look at some of these costs and requirements,” said Aidala. “We’ll also look at what we see at a national level in terms of trends and what communities can support.”

She continued, “Now that we’ve got an idea of what our dreams are, we’re going to get into that next phase. From there we can move forward and prioritize and phase in a way that won’t be overwhelming…we want to really provide you with a good roadmap.”

MetRec has allotted $230,000 for the master planning process, as part of its $962,341 budgeted recreation expenditures this year.

Nehrenburg told the News that MetRec hopes to align its master plan with other regional entities’ strategic plans as they come to fruition over the next year. “We want to make sure we’re not too far out in front, we want all these things aligned.”

Nehrenberg said that MetRec continues to encourage public engagement and feedback. “Showing up for public comment at meetings is most impactful, and people can always contact the district directly,” he said. “Thank you for the engagement we’ve received so far in this process, and keep it coming.”