Columbia County is in the next phase of an elaborate new undertaking to adapt to its steady growth and development.
Recreate Columbia County is the name given to brand the Master Plan Project of the Parks, Recreation and Events Department, which is designed to update and revitalize areas throughout the county. The document explicating the plan is an agreement made last fall between Columbia County and land planning and architecture firm Wood + Partners, Inc.
Recreate Columbia County is being implemented in what Community Services Division director John Luton describes as three key parts.
“Where we are today, where we’re going and how do we get there, those are the three major sections,” said Luton.
The first steps primarily consisted of information gathering, starting with a self-assessment: an inventory and inspection of the county’s parks and facilities, their amenities and of the various services and programs offered by the department.
“That was sort of the sort of the first stage of the plan,” said Luton. “Where are today. The second big portion of the plan will show us where we are going.”
Luton called the next stage the “feedback portion,” in which the community and leisure department pulls from census information, analyzes demographics and tracks trends to develop a good sense of what Columbia County’s recreational services should look like in the next five to 10 years.
This stage also entails gathering public input via public meetings, calls and emails, meetings with community and organizational leaders and allowing citizens to offer feedback on the department website.
“It’s been a widespread sharing of ideas through the public. It would be hard to say at this point that one type of park or amenity or facility is being requested more than another, because it’s been really everything.”
A key element in this phase is a community survey questionnaire that has been mailed out to 500 randomly selected households per district throughout the county. The survey asks a wide variety of queries including as what sort of facilities or amenities members of the household might need such was fishing areas, community gardens and recreational centers; or what sort of programs, such as performing arts and youth sports; as well as what could residents feel could use improvement, such as more neighborhood parks.
After the mail-in surveys have sufficiently circulated, and to discourage confusion among anyone who has already received it, the same questionnaire will be available online soon—Luton estimates about two weeks—for anyone who wants to didn’t receive it in the mail but still wants give feedback.
Since it’s online and therefore wouldn’t provide a control sample group, the online survey is not considered statistically valid, but Luton says that its results will still be used for informational purposes as well. He urges any resident who has received the questionnaire to take 10 to 15 minutes to fill out and return it so the department could meet its quota of responses.
“We’re hoping the surveys will compile all that data and information,” said Luton. “In combination with all the feedback we’ve already received throughout the earlier process, we feel like we’ll be able to have a pretty good understanding of community wants and needs.”
Luton notes that this information would contribute to several recommended developments, including projects that end up on the special purpose local option sales tax list, though he says Recreate Columbia County is not necessarily the department’s “SPLOST plan.”
The next steps would be further assessment of all this data toward putting together a final, comprehensive version of the master plan to present before the Board of Commissioners. Luton anticipates this final phase of project completing in the spring. He emphasizes that the participation of Columbia County’s citizens is the integral factor determining what the project will ultimately consist of, whether that’s updated parks, an indoor swimming facility, a community center or any number of new programs.
“We as a staff have an idea of what we feel would be needed what is successful,” said Luton. “But before any formal recommendations are made, we are waiting on the public info on that.”
For more information on Recreate Columbia County, visit its website at https://recreatecolumbiacounty.com/.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering Columbia County with The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
