The Dept. of Parks & Recreation has not acknowledged publicly 4 critical things:
- Arlington’s fields have NOT been well managed or maintained. And it is creating a false perception of field unavailability even as “reserved” fields sit empty.
- This is confirmed by outside consultants’ reports, DPR’s staff “rover” reports on field usage, and DPR’s analyses on over-scheduling See more
- There is a considerable excess of diamond fields that demand cannot even reach existing fields’ capacity beyond 2035.
- DPR’s analyses showed there will still be excess diamond fields beyond 2035 without adding any new lights, investments in synthetic turf, or new fields at schools. All recreational field usage/needs should be reviewed.
- DPR is NOT using a sound methodology for the recommendations within the 20 year Public Spaces Master Plan and has cherry-picked variables from the Population Based Level of Service to substantiate the Level of Service Recommendations.
- These recommendations are tied to the Capital Improvements such as the $29M for synthetic turf, $75M for parks maintenance capital, of which the vast majority goes toward recreational infrastructure.
- DPR did NOT disclose to the public the full expert consultant’s methodology statement which should have been part of the public POPS document.
- This statements states supply/demand current and future projections are to be part of the best practices to apply Population Based LOS recommendations. Consultant’s Methodology Statement and the Response to Katie Cristol‘s letter explaining the missing supply/demand data from the methodology.