Batavia parks survey wants your opinion about what to do next
The Batavia Park District is moving into the second phase of its “community engagement” campaign, asking residents to take a survey at bataviaparks.org.
The survey is also printed in the Winter Fun Guide, which was delivered to households and is available at the Batavia Civic Center, 327 W. Wilson St., and the Eastside Community Center, 14 N. Van Buren St.
The 29-question survey is due Dec. 31.
It asks respondents whether the district should improve or expand current facilities, build new ones, or none of the above. It also asks in what programs the respondent participates, and why. For those who don’t use park programs, it would like to know why.
Participants in summer forums suggested the district needs more nature programming, so the survey wants to gauge interest in that, including hiring a naturalist.
It seeks to find out if people know where the closest park is, if they use it, and how it could be improved.
“It’s clear there is still a great desire to add more aquatics and fitness programming down the road,” Allison Niemela, marketing and public relations director, said of the summer forum participants. “Our residents were very clear they would like to see a well-conceived plan when the timing is right. They also would like to be a part of the discussion from the very first step. We are listening.”
In 2010 the park district planned to build a recreation center in a public-private commercial development in downtown Batavia. Residents forced the issue of its financing to a referendum ballot and soundly defeated the measure. In 2008, voters also rejected a plan to build a fitness center, including an indoor pool and revamped Harold Hall Quarry Beach, at Beach Park.
The district is in the middle of major repairs to stop water leakage at the Quarry.