Survey says – Mexico residents don't want more parks. They just want to improve the ones they already have.

The city of Mexico Parks and Recreation and SWT Designs held its second community meeting Aug. 6 to discuss the master plan for the future of Mexico’s parks and recreation at the Mexico Area Family YMCA.

In May, the city of Mexico Parks and Recreation departments put together a survey with SWT Design to gain a better understanding of what community members wanted from their parks.

“Every community is unique,” said John Wohlschlaeger, landscape architect and partner at SWT Design. “We really want to find out what each individual community is looking for in their parks, so what the survey helps us do is understand if there’s any sort of thru lines or consensus desires or concerns that a community has about their parks.”

The goal was 600 responses by July 14 because it represents 5% of the population. SWT reported 623 surveys collected, which represents 5.4% of Mexico’s population, and 79.8% of respondents identified as city of Mexico residents.

Some common elements from the survey stuck out to Wohlschlaeger.

The two most common responses they got, Wohlschlaeger said, was that more attention be paid to the maintenance and upkeep of what the parks already provide to the community along with a desire for trails and connectivity.

“Probably if you would have done surveys 30 years ago, a lot of things were about team sports,” said Parks and Recreation Director Chad Unterreiner. “Now you’re seeing more of the individualized (activities) – the going out and doing things on your own.”

Unterreiner explained that the call for more trails and the interconnectivity of parks is an exciting trend to see nationwide.

The survey revealed the top reasons that prevent residents from visiting Mexico Parks were the lack of restrooms, lack of amenities, lack of awareness of the parks’ and facilities’ offerings and that people did not feel safe using the parks and its facilities.

SWT presented the data collected from the surveys at the community meeting and while the survey has closed, city officials are still collecting input from the community before moving forward with any concrete plans.

“Whenever we’re doing a master plan, usually it’s in the 10-15 year range,” Unterreiner said.

One of the reasons parks and recreation chose SWT was because of their flexibility, Unterreiner said. While this plan will be years in the making, SWT provided both short and long term goals for the city.

The city of Mexico’s fiscal years go from October through September so the budget for this year is already set. SWT will formally present the data to Unterreiner and the rest of the Parks and Recreation board this fall. They expect to deliver the final master plan documents by early September.

Based on the survey, SWT and the parks board have decided that when the time comes, they will focus their attention on improvements to Fairgrounds Park first.

Recommendations for Fairgrounds Park include replacing the old tennis courts and adding additional courts, solving drainage issues in the sports fields, improving ADA accessibility, improving safety with amenities such as lighting along pathways and more signage, improved parking and more interactive amenities.

“We are doing our fiscal year right now,” Unterreiner said. “We won't implement any of the ideas, more than likely, until fiscal year 27.”

Until then, tweaks and adjustments will be made to the master plan that will eventually be able to help the Parks and Recreation department with grant applications to fund the improvements the city so desperately wants.