What's going on in the background?

We launched a series of community and stakeholder meetings in early August to kick off the Parks and Recreation Strategic Plan project. As we continue to seek community feedback through pop-ups, intercept surveys, and the project website, we are actively working on various tasks in the background. Here’s what’s happening from September through December 2023:

Park Assessments

In late September, the consulting team began completing Park Assessments of Mountain View’s 45 parks. These assessments include inventorying and assessing the existing parks, recreation facilities, trails and open spaces. While the team visits the site, they conduct an evaluation of the park, open space, facility or trail, confirming the number and location of recreation amenities and gaining an understanding of visible conditions, access characteristics and design quality/functionality. Following the assessment, the team will record their findings for each park and facility in a report highlighting key themes and critical issues.

Recreation Program Assessments

Recreation programs and events are the key tools to bringing the community together, activating facilities and determining future spaces, be it parks or recreation facilities/complexes. City staff, in conjunction with the consulting team, is inventorying and assessing Recreation programs to review how well the offerings are aligned with community values, user demographics, program trends, underserved needs and envisions what future service delivery would look like. This process will provide strategies and recommendations for innovative and inclusive program offerings and will help identify any unmet programmatic needs of our diverse community.

Organizational Culture Assessment

As part of the plan development process and for the Community Services Department’s continued commitment to growth and development, staff participated in an IMPACT Culture Assessment. This assessment will deepen our understanding of the Department’s cultural dynamics that define and drive our organization and determine readiness to move forward on key recommendations that could come from the Plan.

What else is next?

We are still in the community input phase and want your continued input for this plan! We hosted a pop-up table at the Celebrate Shoreline event on Sunday, Oct. 15 and Saturday, Oct. 28 at Monster Bash where over 150 people at each event provided feedback on park and recreation features, vision for the future of Mountain View parks and recreation, and weighed in on where more park space is desired in Mountain View. We will be working towards scheduling more pop-ups this fall, and we will post the information on this website once it is available.

Two surveys will also be conducted in early 2024. One is a statistically valid survey that will be sent by mail to a sample of households in Mountain View. This survey will be anonymous and will take about 10 - 15 minutes to complete. If randomly selected, residents are encouraged to take the time to complete the survey and weigh in on the type of new parks, activities and amenities they would like to see. The second survey is an online opportunity for the community to provide input. This will be shared via project website and open to all residents to take.

Following the surveys, the City will host additional community meetings during which the results of the public input will be shared. The meetings will also provide additional opportunities for residents to give feedback on the future of Mountain View’s parks and recreation.

In the meantime, please add your Ideas by clicking on the “Ideas” button next to “Newsfeed” and post your ideas for the future of Mountain View parks and recreation. See an idea you like on the board? Give it a thumbs up.

Keep checking back, and we will post updates on the plan’s progress!

Thank you for helping us #ImagineMVParks