Town of Hadley

Department of Planning 100 Middle Street, Hadley, MA 01035

MEMORANDUM TO: Gail Reardon, Recreation Plan Committee Chair FROM: Kyle Richard, Planning Director REGARDING: Findings of Recreation Needs Assessment. Background: In conduction this assessment, the intended goal is to assess the needs of the community in regards to accommodations for recreational facilities and associated activities as compared to the standards established by the National Recreation and Parks Association. This assessment specifically seeks out to determine what the park acreage per 1,000 residents is and how that compares to the guidelines set by the NRPA as well as determining what areas are not within adequate proximity to a recreational area, the parameters of which are also specified by the NPRA. Along with these observed physical constraints, the study also aims to determine which age groups of residents are expected to exhibit growth and how this growth should be accommodated. Inventory and Assessment: The Town of Hadley is currently 5,250 square miles (3,360,000 sq. acres) in size, only 40.2 of which are designated as recreational areas. Within the town limits, there are currently 20 different recreational facilities varying in size and in purpose. The smallest of these parks is only .2 acres in size and consisting of only benches for recreational elements where as the largest park parcel is 5.81 acres in size consisting of benches as well as a boat ramp and a baseball diamond. In terms of the ratio of acres per 1000 residents required by the guidelines established by the NPRA, there are three different categories of parks that vary in size and in service radius being a mini-park, neighborhood park and community park. Currently, the majority of the parks within

Hadley are considered to be mini-marks with only 2 being just large enough to be considered neighborhood parks and not being large enough to fall under community park size. In terms of total acreage, there is a supple amount of recreational land in Hadley, however, because the land is not concentrated and centrally located, but rather spread thin throughout the town and in small concentrations, the parks do little in the way of accommodating the patron, but more importantly, smaller size parks permit drastically smaller service radiuses and as a result, there are numerous areas within the town that are not adequately accessible by any recreational facility. Demographic Outlook: The wants of the town residents in terms to recreational elements compared to the elements that are established are as follows. The top elements specified by town residents that they would like to see put in place are multiuse trails followed by more fishing piers, picnic sites, playgrounds, swimming areas and various other sports fields. In terms of playground consisting of 4 and picnic areas consisting of 5, the town seems adequately equipped to appease these desires of the public, not to say that more could not be added. Fishing areas and fishing piers however, there are a limited number of both, however, given that both elements pertain to the water, if shoreline property could be attained, it would be a rather simple process to clear beachfront area and build fishing piers. The number one concern is that of the multi-use trails for it is the number one desire listed by the town residents and yet the only element specified that does not exist within the town limits. Given that this is the most pressing of the concerns specified, it must take priority over the other desired recreational elements. During the 20-year period between the censuses of 1990 and 2010, the population has grown over 100 people in size. During this time, the age group which exhibited the largest amount of change was the 35-44 age group which exhibited a decline of 7.1 percent followed closely by the 25-34 age group which saw a decline of 6.2 percent. The age groups exhibiting the most growth would be the ages of 50-59, and as a result, recreational elements appropriate for this age group should receive emphasis such as boat ramps and fishing areas as well as park benches and walking paths. Conclusion: Two Prevalent conditions exist as observed by the results of is recreational assessment and inventory. The recreational facilities within the town limits generally are smaller than what is needed to accommodate the needs of the population and making them larger would not only increase

their versatility and allow for more possibilities for park elements, but will also aid in accessibility for the town residents given that larger parks allow for larger service radiuses. In terms of what elements should be added to the parks, these elements should be added based on the fact that the rate of retired individuals in town is on the rise and that the town wishes to see more semi active elements put in place such as picnic areas and walking trails. Subsequently, this group of people should be made the main target to be accommodated with the renovations to be made to the towns recreational. areas. In terms of planning for future use of and properly accommodating residents with adequate facilities, the number of mid size and larger recreational areas must increase along with the addition of foremost multiuse trails along with more waterfront recreational elements. Furthermore, I would like to exclaim that it has been a pleasure to collect this data along with any data in the future that you would like me to evaluate for you and if such be the case, please feel free to contact our department again.