Auburn residents will be able find out and discuss what additions and changes will be made for Auburn parks during a parks, recreation and culture master plan meeting set for Thursday.
The meeting is open to the general public and includes opportunities for expressing comments and concerns to Parks and Recreation Department officials and consultants from over 60 stakeholders interested in investing into the Auburn area.
The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. at the Harris Center off of Opelika Road, directly across the street from the post office. The purpose of the meeting is to start the planning process between parks and recreation and the Auburn Public Library for newer amenities, programs and services for the Auburn area.
“The consultants that we are working with have been here acquiring information and have interviewed approximately 60 stakeholder groups of varying interest ranging from sports, the arts and special needs groups ... all interests in parks and recreation and culture,” said Becky Richardson, director of the Parks and Recreation Department.
Stakeholders include the local master gardeners' group, the Auburn Humane Society, members of a local Hispanic soccer group and representatives of senior programs.
At the meeting the consultants will review their findings from the interviews with stakeholders. After the review will be an open floor for public comments and question.
This meeting is the first of several that will take place throughout the year.
Another public meeting will be scheduled in October.
Parks and Recreation will also send out a culture and library needs assessment survey in October to a selected number of households within Auburn, similar to the needs assessment for parks and recreation sent last year.
This survey will be used for the first of the year preliminary master plan and presentation of findings, followed by scheduling another public meeting and presentation of the final plan.
There are three other meetings in the Harris Center Activity Room specific to the Auburn Public library scheduled Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 2, 4 and 6 p.m.
Minutes of the meetings will be provided online. Another option is to forward comments to the Auburn Parks and Recreation web address.
Richardson said she has high hopes for the meeting.
“I think it will be interesting," Richardson said. "I am always interested in hearing comments. The stakeholders’ meetings were great. ... Sixty different groups have their own interests, that was pretty interesting. We’re looking forward to it."
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