05 - NEEDS ASSESSMENT Introduction:
In order to prepare this Master Plan, the needs of the community should be determined. This is a critical step in the Master Planning process. Similar to the 2011 Master Plan with small modifications the following approaches were used to determine the park, trail, open-space, and recreation needs for DeSoto: • Demand-Based Needs – approach relies on information gathered from participation rates, surveys, and other information that indicates how much a population wants certain types of facilities. • Standards-Based Needs – uses established standards to determine facilities and park areas needed to meet the needs of a given population size. The standards may be based on demand studies or the professional judgment of park and recreation planners and designers. • Resource-Based Needs – uses current resources and existing area wide conditions to determine needs for a particular section or area of the community. This Plan utilizes a combination of all three approaches, complemented and informed by community feedback, to determine the needs of the Parks and Recreation system. The combination approach resulted in the following two assessments to establish Level of Service (LOS) for parks and open spaces specifically: • Population-based assessment – Provides a ratio of acreage to population. • Pedestrian Shed- based assessment- Provides a geographic range of where certain parks and/or open space may be needed, measured against a standard quarter mile radius for typical maximum pedestrian walk. • Community Based Needs: Minimum standard for park amenities that the community expects to have present in the park system based on community input.
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