Park Planning

Parks & Recreation Master Plan Background

In 2022, the City of Muskegon hired a consultant to create a Parks & Recreation Master Plan. This plan outlined the physical conditions of each our nearly 40 city parks and will be used to apply for future grant funding opportunities.

In 2023, the new Parks & Recreation Department enhanced that Master Plan by undergoing a robust public engagement and capital planning effort (read about it here). This process allowed the Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee and the City Commission to approve a 2024 Parks & Recreation Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The original master plan, 2023 engagement results, and the 2024 CIP guided the Parks & Recreation Department in selecting FIVE specific parks to undergo more intensive park planning. These new park plans will become a component of the Parks & Recreation Master Plan.

The FIVE selected parks are:

• Norman F. Kruse Park: https://muskegon-mi.gov/parks/kruse/
• Richards Park: https://muskegon-mi.gov/parks/richards/
• McGraft Park: https://muskegon-mi.gov/parks/mcgraft/
• Campbell Field: https://muskegon-mi.gov/parks/campbell-field/
• Hartshorn Marina: https://muskegon-mi.gov/parks/hartshorn-marina-2/

Park Planning Guidelines
The plans for each park should identify upgrades to existing amenities and identify new amenities that fit the park’s character. The plans should be realistic based on financial goals. The plans should be understandable by the public, but specific enough to allow the city to hire a final design consultant at a future date.

A draft of park plans will be created utilizing ideas submitted by the community and the master plan survey data. The plans will be presented to the community for feedback, both in person (one meeting per park) and online, and then be revised accordingly and shared online. Staff will then proceed to issue RFPs for work and apply for additional funding. Having these plans will assist in receiving additional grant funds.

Budgets
The City of Muskegon has budgeted substantial resources for capital investment in existing parks over the next three fiscal years. The allocated funds from the CIP for the four parks are listed in the table below (Hartshorn to be added soon). You can see that in addition to these CIP funds, the city will be applying for grants to increase the budgets for each park. If grants are not awarded, the Parks & Recreation Department will continue to apply for more funds. Park projects will be done in phases according to funds and feasibility.