Agenda - 02-11-2014 - 2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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73 Orange County Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Master Plan CHAPTER 8- Economic, Health and Environmental Impacts of Parks and Recreation S The following are local examples of the gaps in work, or community destinations. The Orange access for Orange County residents. First, there is County Community Health Assessment found that only one free, public swimming pool—the A.D. Clark during the period 2005-2009, 5.4% and 1.6% of Pool located at the Hargraves Community Center in county residents walked or biked to work, respec- Chapel Hill,which operates only from Memorial Day tively.25 In Chapel Hill, 11.2% of commuters walked to Labor Day. Second, despite the abundance of and in Carrboro, 3.0%walked to work. This suggests parks in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Hillsborough a much lower percentage of walking and cycling as vicinities, there is insufficient recreational space or active transport to desired destinations in rural athletic sports fields in the rural parts of the county, Orange County, due in large part to the higher den- particularly in the southeast and northern areas. sity and greater transportation infrastructure in the Thus, the rural populations do not have access to as municipalities. many free recreational spaces as urbanites. While Connecting parks and recreation facilities with com- rural populations may have an abundance of beauti- munity efforts to increase the walkability and ful open spaces they may lack accessibility to formal bikeability of Orange County will help residents' use recreation areas. This lack of recreational opportu- their everyday travel to achieve their regular physi- nities in the northern and southwest regions of Or- cal activity milestones using time they already need ange County was identified in the 2011 Community to devote to reaching destinations. Health Assessment. Therefore, residents without the financial means to pay for unsubsidized recreation have to use free recreation opportunities, which may be difficult to ;. . access depending on their location in the county. !; Furthermore, most of the community centers and exercise facilities that offer physical activity classes in the county require payment, isolating indigent members of the population who may need more group encouragement to partake in physical activity. Finally, gaps in recreation access are further compounded by lack of private and public transpor- tation. They are limited to opportunities reachable by public transportation or personal means like `; walking or biking. For rural residents, public !; 1 transport access to parks is, for the most part, infea- sible. As one way to operationalize access, consider that 3,400 Orange County households do not have access to vehicles, with roughly 3,000 of them farther than one mile from a bus stop (which are primarily located near Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough).25 This issue of access also highlights the increased national emphasis on incorporating f " parks and recreation areas into broader community changes to facilitate active transport to school, 8-7