Parks and Recreation Needs Assessment

1. The City of College Station
Parks and Recreation Needs
Assessment Study
December 13, 2018 1

2. Page
Survey Objectives and Methodology 3
How did you find out about the City of College Station online survey? 5
In which sector of College Station do you reside? 6
Frequency of Use - College Station Facilities 7
Maintenance Rating – Parks/Facilities 9
Participation in College Station Recreation/Leisure Programs 11
Interest in College Station Recreation/Leisure Programs 12
Programs of Interest 13
Park Facility Needs 14
Recreation Facility Preferred at Thomas Park 16
Funding Priorities 17
Support for Funding Sources for Parks/Facilities 18
Preferred Method of Communication 19
Comments 20
Demographics 23
Conclusions 27
Contact Information: National Service Research 32
Table of Contents
2

3. Survey Objectives and Methodology
3
• National Service Research (NSR) completed a comprehensive needs assessment study for
the City of College Station Parks and Recreation Department. The purpose of the needs
assessment study was to provide guidance regarding park, recreation and open space citizen
needs and priorities. NSR worked closely with City of College Station staff throughout the
research process.
• In order to complete this study effort, National Service Research worked with the City of
College Station staff on developing the survey instrument. The final survey instrument was
available online through the City’s website and various social media sites. A Facebook ad
was also placed during the data collection phase. Additionally the survey was mailed to
8,000 randomly selected households throughout College Station. Those who received the
mailed survey had the option of completing the mailed survey or the online survey.
• The online survey was posted October 17, 2018 and closed November 23, 2018.
• A total of 271 mailed survey responses and 873 online responses were received for a total of
1,144. The margin of error of this sample size at a 95% confidence level is plus or minus
3.3%.

4. 4
Survey Objectives and Methodology
• The research objectives were to identify:
Maintenance Rating of Parks and Recreation Facilities
Recreation Programs of Interest
Park Facility Needs
Frequency of Park and Recreation Use

5. 5
Q. How did you find out about the City of College Station Park
and Recreation Online Survey
N=873 Online Respondents Only
0% 20% 40% 60%
Other
Nextdoor
Professor/class
Friend/family
City website
College Station Little League
Email
Homeowner's Association
Received mailed survey and completed it online
Social media
5%
1%
2%
2%
6%
6%
8%
13%
18%
42%
42% of online respondents found out about the survey through social media, while 18%
received a mailed survey and opted to complete it online.
Percentages will total to more than 100% due to multiple responses allowed

6. 6
Q. In which sector of College Station do you reside?
N=1,144
Area of Residence Survey
Response
Area 1 1.5%
Area 2 13.2
Area 3 2.9
Area 4 3.6
Area 5 14.1
Area 6 11.3
Area 7 1.0
Area 8 5.2
Area 9 1.9
Area 10 17.2
Area 11 14.0
Area 12 3.3
Area 13 7.3
Area 15 2.5
Area 16 0.3
Area 19 0.9

7. 7
5%
8%
18%
24%
36%
12%
11%
20%
15%
28%
15%
15%
15%
9%
17%
25%
25%
14%
13%
12%
43%
41%
33%
39%
7%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Lick Creek Nature
Center
Pools
Playgrounds
Athletic Fields
Parks
At Least Weekly At Least Monthly At Least Quarterly Twice a year or less Never
Overall, 64% use parks, 39% use the athletic fields and 38% use playgrounds monthly or more.
Frequency of Use – College Station Facilities
Q. Within the past year, how often has someone in your household visited or used the facilities listed below in College Station?
N=1,144

8. 8
7%
3%
3%
4%
5%
7%
4%
3%
6%
7%
10%
16%
10%
13%
12%
10%
14%
30%
82%
79%
77%
72%
69%
44%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Lincoln Recreation
Center
Southwood
Community Center
Tennis Courts
Dog Parks
Splash Pad
Pavilions
At Least Weekly At Least Monthly At Least Quarterly Twice a year or less Never
Frequency of Use – College Station Facilities - Continued
Q. Within the past year, how often has someone in your household visited or used the facilities listed below in College Station?
N=1,144
Overall, 11% use dog parks and 10% use the pavilions monthly or more.

9. 9
Maintenance Rating – Parks/Facilities
Q. How would you rate the overall maintenance of the following parks/facilities in College Station? N=1,144
14% 17% 15% 20%
36%
49% 49%
58%
57%
51%
27% 20%
23% 20%
11%
10% 14%
4% 3% 2%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Pools Athletic Fields Playgrounds Parks Lick Creek
Nature Center
Needs Much
Improvement
Needs Some
Improvement
Good
Excellent
 Overall, 9out of 10respondents rated the maintenance of Lick Creek Nature Center as
excellent or good. 77% rated parks as excellent or good.
 37% reported pools, 34% said athletic fields, 27% playgrounds and 23% said parks need
some or much improvement .
Percentages EXCLUDE don’t know/not familiar responses
% who use these facilities
monthly or more17%64%38%39%19%

10. 10
Maintenance Rating – Parks/Facilities - Continued
Q. How would you rate the overall maintenance of the following parks/facilities in College Station? N=1,144
10% 13% 14% 19% 19% 15%
54% 48%
56%
58% 58% 63%
30%
29%
21%
20% 19% 20%
6% 10% 9%
3% 4% 2%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Tennis
Courts
Dog Parks Splash Pad Lincoln
Recreation
Center
Southwood
Community
Center
Pavilions
Needs Much
Improvement
Needs Some
Improvement
Good
Excellent
 Overall, 8out of 10respondents rated the maintenance of pavilions, Southwood
Community Center and Lincoln Recreation Center as excellent or good.
 39% reported dog parks, 36% said tennis courts, 30% splash pad, and 23% mentioned Lincoln
Recreation Center and 23% said Southwood Community Center need some or much
improvement .
Percentages EXCLUDE don’t know/not familiar responses
% who use these
facilities monthly or
more5% 7% 4% 5% 10%11%

11. Participation in College Station Recreation/Leisure Programs
Q. Within the past year, what age groups in your household have participated in a City of College Station
recreation or leisure program? N=1,144
Overall, 7out of 10respondents have participated in a City of College Station recreation or
leisure program within the past year.
11
None
Over 65
50 to 65
30 to 49
18 to 29
11 to 17
6 to 10
Under 5 years of age
31%
10%
9%
14%
12%
19%
30%
16%
Percentages will total to more than 100% due to multiple responses allowed

12. 12
Interest in College Station Recreation/Leisure Programs
Q. Which age groups in your household would be interested in participating in a City of College Station
recreation or leisure program? N=1,144
None
Over 65
50 to 65
30 to 49
18 to 29
11 to 17
6 to 10
Under 5 years of age
11%
14%
16%
25%
18%
24%
32%
22%
Overall, 9out of 10respondents are interested in participating in a City of College Station
recreation or leisure program .
Percentages will total to more than 100% due to multiple responses allowed

13. 13
Programs of Interest
Q. Which of these programs would you and your household members (of any age) be MOST INTERESTED in participating? N=1,144
Walking/hiking, festivals/events, aquatic programs and fitness classes/events were programs
of most interest to the respondents.
Programs of Interest %
Walking/Hiking 53%
Festivals/Events 43%
Aquatic programs 32%
Fitness classes/events 32%
Baseball 30%
Arts & Crafts 30%
Biking 26%
Fishing 26%
Family programs 25%
Health/wellness classes 25%
Summer youth programs 24%
Music/dance/drama 24%
Soccer 23%
Programs of Interest %
Basketball 21%
Nature/interpretive programs 20%
Races (like 5K runs) 19%
Senior programs 18%
Flag football 17%
Parent/child programs 17%
Archery range 16%
Youth camps 16%
Preschool/toddler programs 15%
Softball 12%
Tennis 12%
Disc golf 10%
Indoor volleyball 10%
Programs of Interest %
Teen programs 9%
After school youth programs 9%
Sand volleyball 8%
Kickball 7%
Horseshoes 6%
Ultimate Frisbee 5%
Pickle ball 5%
Spikeball 2%
Lacrosse 2%
Futsal 1%
Other 6%
None/not interested 4%
Percentages will total to more than 100% due to multiple responses allowed

14. 14
Park Facility Needs
Q. Which facilities listed below do you feel are MOST needed in College Station Parks?
(Choose your TOP FIVE facilities in order of preference) N=1,144
The top three park facility needs are additional trails with connections in the City, additional
nature trails, and additional open spaces.
PARK FACILITIES
RANKING
(# of respondents ranking each
facility 1-5)
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 TOTAL RANK
Additional hike/bike trails with connections in the City 168 131 116 92 96 603 1
Additional nature trails/greenway corridors 80 169 124 96 74 543 2
Additional open spaces natural areas 36 78 118 89 68 389 3
Botanical gardens 30 51 72 106 104 363 4
Additional benches/seating in parks 55 58 58 78 87 336 5
New indoor aquatic center 59 66 57 64 55 301 6
New outdoor aquatic center 113 49 43 45 39 289 7
New indoor aquatic center in south College Station 65 64 63 42 43 277 8
Additional baseball fields 194 30 16 8 23 271 9
Additional playgrounds 28 44 56 76 66 270 10
Additional splash pad 42 62 49 51 61 265 11
Additional picnic shelters/pavilions 12 29 56 76 69 242 12
Additional dog park 52 30 26 30 38 176 13

15. 15
Park Facility Needs - Continued
Q. Which facilities listed below do you feel are MOST needed in College Station Parks?
(Choose your TOP FIVE facilities in order of preference) N=1,144
PARK FACILITIES
RANKING
(# of respondents ranking each
facility 1-5)
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 TOTAL RANK
Additional football/soccer/lacrosse fields 30 56 34 31 22 173 14
Additional recreation center 13 22 42 43 34 154 15
Additional senior center 31 20 29 21 32 133 16
Additional basketball courts 8 31 24 20 17 100 17
Additional softball fields 10 27 21 13 14 85 18
New indoor tennis center 15 13 19 11 17 75 19
New disc golf course 7 12 7 13 19 58 20
Additional tennis courts 3 13 9 16 16 57 21
New BMX track 4 5 15 14 10 48 22
New indoor pickle ball court 4 7 10 8 7 36 23
Additional skate park 4 4 5 9 11 33 24
Additional outdoor pickle ball courts 2 4 12 5 9 32 25

16. 16
Recreation Facility Preferred at Thomas Park
Q. What type of recreational facility would you prefer as an addition to Thomas Park?
N=1,032 Respondents answering
 This was an open-ended question and all answers provided were coded.
 The top facilities respondents would prefer at Thomas Park are a new pool, followed by a
splash pad and dog park.
0% 20% 40%
Not familiar/don't use
No opinion
Disc golf
Botanic gardens
Pickle ball court
Picnic areas/pavilions
Green space/nature areas
Playground
Skate park
Indoor aquatic center
Trails
Athletic fields
Dog park
Splash pad
New pool
4%
7%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
2%
2%
3%
5%
6%
14%
21%
36%
Percentages will total to more than 100% due to multiple responses allowed

17. 17
Funding Priorities
Q. To assist the City of College Station develop future funding priorities, rank how you feel the funding
should be prioritized? N=1,144
More than one-third ranked “renovate existing parks and facilities” as a “4” or a top priority for
funding . This funding priority had the highest mean score of 3.05.
28% 27% 22%
35%
15%
24%
29%
34%20%
19%
26%
20%30% 21%
15%
5%
7% 9% 8% 6%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Build new facilities Maintain existing
maintenance and service
levels
Enhance park maintenance Renovate existing parks
and facilities
No Opinion
1-Low Priority
2
3
4-Top Priority
Mean Score3.052.622.622.45

18. 18
Support for Funding Sources for Parks and Facilities
Q. How strongly do you support EACH option to fund new parks and facilities and/or additions to existing
parks and facilities? N=1,144
60% of respondents support increased user fees and 54% support bonds to fund new parks and
facilities and/or additions to existing parks and facilities.
6%
27%
26%
13%
27%
34%
18%
29%
17%
20%
7%
11%
43%
10%
12%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Increased Property Taxes
Bonds
Increased User Fees
Strong Support Mildly Support Neutral Midly Oppose Strongly Oppose

19. 19
Preferred Method of Communication
Q. What is your PREFERRED method(s) for receiving information related to parks and recreation activities and
programs in College Station? N=1,144
Respondents prefer to receive information related to parks and recreation activities and
programs via email and social media the most.
0% 20% 40% 60%
Other
Word of mouth
Poster/flyers
Radio
Newspaper
Parks guide
City website
Utility bill insert
Social media
Email
2%
3%
5%
6%
9%
21%
21%
27%
40%
43%
Percentages will total to more than 100% due to multiple responses allowed

20. 20
COMMENTS
Q. Additional information or comments you would like to bring to the Parks and Recreation
Department’s attention. N=436 Respondents answering
A total of 436 respondents provided comments.
Top Mentions – number of mentions:
 Fields - 156
 Baseball - 98
 Thomas Park - 67
 Trails/paths – 65
 Dog parks/dogs – 65
 Maintenance - 53
 Restrooms – 34
 Turf fields - 28
 Splash pads – 26
 Practice fields – 25
 Thanks - 24

21. 21
Comments - Continued
Q. Additional information or comments you would like to bring to the Parks and Recreation
Department’s attention. N=436 respondents answering
A few comments from respondents:
 “More baseball fields including some artificial turf so we can practice more.”
 “More baseball fields, better maintenance of Bachmann baseball fields, better flag football fields, better
maintenance of flag football fields.”
 “Maintain all facilities better.”
 “More dog parks are needed.”
 “Steeplechase Dog Park needs better maintenance and drains needs to be cleaned out as park floods after
rains. I am a daily dog park user and we have a great group of people that utilize this facility and we even
have a Facebook group called Steeplechase Dog Park.”
 “Please don’t get rid of Thomas Park pool, increase hours so more will use it, open earlier on the weekends
also.“
 “Please rebuild Thomas Park pool.”
 “Please fix Thomas Park pool. In addition to general public use, it is used for school programs, after school
programs, and private organizations. Due to it's use schedule, there is limited times that it is open to use
by general public located within the neighborhood/College Hills geographic area. Please expand it's hours
of operation.”
 “Please improve restroom facilities at the baseball parks and at Central Park. The ones at Veterans are so
nice comparatively.”
 “Please more restroom facilities, it's hard taking little children to a park without facilities. We are very
excited for the library renovation a second library would be nice.”

22. 22
A few comments from respondents:
 “The trails in Lick Creek Park are in terrible condition. The City is spending a lot of money on a new “fun for
all” park when the biggest park that they have is 'inaccessible to most'.”
 “There needs to be increased maintenance to the already existing parks and trails - so much trash. Maybe
have a cleanup event . It would be awesome to have longer walking trails if possible, like three to four miles.”
 “Splash pads please! The Lincoln Center splash pad is always dirty.”
 “Lack of available fields to practice.”
 “City needs to work with external groups more, such as CS Little league. It is ridiculous we can't get field time
to practice and play baseball games. Need to work together better for the youth of our city.”
 “Thank you for listening to residents.”
Comments - Continued
Q. Additional information or comments you would like to bring to the Parks and Recreation
Department’s attention. N=436 respondents answering

23. Respondent Demographics
23

24. Respondent Demographics
Own
Rent
24
Respondent Age – Mean Age: 42.9 years of age
11% 18% 30% 13% 12% 16%
Under 25 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65+25 to 34
How long have you been a resident of College Station?
Less than 2 years
2 to 5 years
11 to 20 years
32%
23%
16%
20%
9%
6 to 10 years
Over 20 years
City of College Station Employee?
No
97%
Yes 3%

25. Respondent Demographics
Household Size
22%
24%
17%
28%
9%One
Two
Three
Four
Five+
25
Own vs. Rent
Own
74%
Rent
26%
What age groups of children are represented in your
household?
45%
16%
21%
32%
25%0 to 5 years of age
6 to 10 years of age
11 to 13 years of age
14 to 18 years of age
No children under 19
Percentages will total to more than 100% due to multiple responses allowed

26. 26
Respondent Demographics
Do you attend Texas A&M or Blinn College?
Neither
81%
17%
3%
Percentages will total to more than 100% due to multiple responses allowed

27. Conclusions
27

28. Conclusions
28
MAINTENANCE
 Overall 77% of respondents rated the maintenance of parks as excellent or good.
 Consider addressing maintenance of these park facilities (below) where needed.
Facility Needs Some
Improvement
Needs Much
Improvement
TOTAL
Dog parks 29% 10% 39%
Pools 27% 10% 37%
Tennis courts 30% 6% 36%
Athletic fields 20% 14% 34%
Splash pads 21% 9% 30%
PROGRAMS
 9 out of 10 respondents are interested in participating in a City of College Station
recreation program.
 Top programs of interest:
 Walking/Hiking - 53%
 Festivals/events – 43%
 Aquatic programs – 32%
 Fitness classes/events – 32%

29. Conclusions
29
PARK NEEDS
 The top ten park needs in rank order:
Park Facility RANK
Additional hike/bike trails with connections in the City 1
Additional nature trails/greenway corridors 2
Additional open spaces natural areas 3
Botanical gardens 4
Additional benches/seating in parks 5
New indoor aquatic center 6
New outdoor aquatic center 7
New indoor aquatic center in south College Station 8
Additional baseball fields 9
Additional playgrounds 10

30. 30
Conclusions
FUNDING PRIORITIES
 More than one-third (35%) ranked “renovate existing parks and facilities” as a “4” or a top priority
for funding. This funding priority had the highest mean score of 3.05.
FUNDING SOURCES
 60% support increased user fees and 54% support bonds to fund new parks and facilities and/or
additions to existing parks and facilities. Only 19% support increased property taxes.
Funding Priority
Mean Score
(“4” is highest rank, “1” is lowest
rank)
Renovate existing parks and facilities 3.05
Enhance park maintenance 2.62
Maintain existing service levels 2.62
Build new facilities 2.45

31. 62
31
Conclusions – WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
• Community
• EmployeesCommunicate
• Budgeting
• Resource Allocation/
Planning
Use results to
inform decision
making

32. Contact: Andrea Thomas, Owner
2601 Ridgmar Plaza, Suite 2
Fort Worth, Texas 76116
817-312-3606
e-mail: andrea@nationalserviceresearch.com
web site: www.nationalserviceresearch.com
National Service Research (NSR), founded in 1989, is a full-service
market research consulting firm and conducts market studies for the
public and private sector. NSR conducts various types of consumer
and business research including focus groups and surveys
nationwide. NSR’s owner and founder, Andrea Thomas, over thirty-
five years of professional market research experience.
63
32
National Service Research
Background/Contact Information