Greensboro Plan2Play Parks and Recreation Master Plan 2019

GREENSBORO PLAN2PLAY MASTER PLAN - 55

Amenities and Facilities Needs Assessment

Greensboro’s parks and facilities host many flexible amenities that promote recreation, sports, gathering, and social activities. According to peer city benchmarks, compiled from the NRPA and adjusted regionally based on the Sports Facilities Advisory Group’s experience and regional understanding, Greensboro is well served among many amenities, but has a few key gaps that will only increase with the growing population. In particular, the community has ample playgrounds, rectangular fields, tennis courts and picnic shelters - all essential ingredients of everyday play and recreation that support the city’s focus on neighborhood needs. In some cases, an oversupply of an amenity is an opportunity to consider transforming it into a new community offering. For example, if a neighborhood is well served by playgrounds or tennis courts, some may be able to be retrofit or replaced to new amenities like pickleball courts,

spraygrounds or other offerings. These changes should be implemented through a process that includes community input to the ultimate users. Beyond the basics, there is room to expand and diversify offerings like baseball and softball fields, basketball courts, dog parks, spraygrounds, and community gardens. The findings from this analysis form the basis for more holistic recommendations and next steps for the optimization of the Department related to facilities and programming. See the Plan2Play Vision and Framework chapter for recommendations on closing the identified gaps.

Figure 33. Greensboro recreation participation trends.