Month: April 2025

Parks, Open Space, and Trail System Planning

by Candace Amberg
Feb. 6, 2015

Quality of life in any community is dependent on that community’s character, physical environment, and personal living space. These can all be improved when a community includes parks, natural open spaces, trails, and recreational opportunities.
The most successful approach to developing a park system plan – or any comprehensive planning project – is through a robust public engagement process. This will achieve the best understanding of constituent needs, resulting in local confidence that planning decisions align with and are relevant to the interests of the population being served. It is particularly important to engage the public when considering a referendum. The graphic below illustrations how a public engagement process can avoid wasted resources or community dissatisfaction.

Modern park system planning should be based on the specific needs of the community and citizens that the parks will serve. The process of developing and maintaining public space is costly and time intensive, and should be conducted through a thorough and transparent needs assessment and public process. This routinely involves hosting several input and review meetings with a wide variety of individuals, committees and stakeholders. Digital communications, social media, and other survey techniques may be effective ways to reach the right audiences.

The goal is ultimately to ensure that the findings and recommendations are a synthesis of the input from the residents, elected officials, city staff, and other community members. Following is a partial list of considerations that are typically explored when considering long-term improvements to a community’s park system.

• History of the system
• Previous planning studies and reports
• Demographics
• Recreation trends
• System-wide property and facility assessment
• Public input/needs and desires of the community
• Active/programmed recreation, as well as passive uses
• Community image, tourism, and economic development
• Trail network – internal and external connections
• Natural resource management
• Budget
• Safety and accessibility
• Flexibility of spaces to create a variety of experiences
• Operations and maintenance

Over, Under, Through, Across: A Right of Way Rule of Thumb

Ensuring we have the necessary land rights is the first step that we take on all public and private projects. A simple way to determine if you need to consult the Right of Way Department for a new project is to ask the following question:

Does the project or the people who will be working on it have to go over, under, through, or across any land that is not currently owned by your client either temporarily or permanently?

Over: The Right of Way Department often must acquire land for overhead easements and projects that include things like telephone lines, electrical transmission or distribution lines, and other utilities. You may not install anything overhead that crosses private property without an easement providing the right to do so.

Under: Sewer lines, along with various other utilities, are often installed under someone’s land. Whether you need to dig up or directionally bore under private property, installing something under the land requires that rights must be acquired from the property owner.

Through: Any project requiring any access to travel through – or work in/on – any private property requires land rights.

Across: Anything installed across private property, either permanently or temporarily, also requires the right of way process be followed. Sidewalks, trails, roads, and light rail are all great examples of projects that may go across private property.

The Right of Way Department needs to be involved as early as possible on any project that must go over, under, through, or across private land. We follow all federal and state processes when acquiring land for projects. This process can be complicated and take time, but it is critical that we abide by and comply with the law.

Additionally, if federal funding is involved with any aspect of the project, we must act in accordance with the Uniform Act when purchasing land rights from property owners. Not following that process could risk federal funding being rescinded.

Stepping onto private property at any time without the appropriate rights to do so – even temporarily – leaves clients open to both legal and civil consequences.

We provide our clients with the technical excellence and quality projects they deserve. In the Right of Way Department, we are also indebted to our landowners. We must treat landowners fairly and lawfully, and always provide them with just compensation for the land rights our clients need. To maintain this standard of excellence, we always apply the Over, Under, Through, Across rule to all projects from the very beginning.