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81 Orange County Comprehensive Parks and Recreation.Master Plan CHAPTER 9- What Does It All Mean:Summary and Findings from Inventories, Research,and Input With the lack of national or state standards, and the No NRPA award-winning systems were identified move to community needs-based standards to that were comparable to Orange County. Almost all recognize the unique nature and desires of systems were municipalities or large counties or individual communities,the County must attempt to regional park districts that bear little resemblance to determine these community needs. Fortunately, Orange County.The following is a brief case study of many if not most of the recommended methods for a similar county and its approach to parks and exploring these needs have been accomplished by recreation programs: this master plan: With the lack of national or state standards, and the • The community needs assessment (CNA) surveys move to community needs-based standards to (statistical random-sample, online and targeted) recognize the unique nature and desires of individu- solicited information of many of the bullet items al communities, the County must attempt to listed above. determine these community needs. Fortunately, • The County has an established set of goals and many if not most of the recommended methods for objectives from the 2030 Comprehensive Plan to exploring these needs have been accomplished by help frame the context of future planning. this master plan: • The surveys reached both frequent users and 1 persons who were not familiar with the County's C. Guiding Principles for the Use of Park Standards parks and programs. They asked about satisfaction Given the lack of a national set of standards for use with and perceptions of current facilities and programs,and interests for the future needs. but the historical practice of using this as a measur- • The County's Capital Investment Plan offers a time ing tool for park needs, and mindful of the case line and plan for future parks and nature preserve studies and information gleaned from the outreach investments. (This will be explored in greater detail conducted as part of this plan, a set of guiding prin- in Chapter XII). ciples would be useful to govern how to use and • Existing facilities and programs offered by the develop standards and determine future needs. The county and other providers have been inventoried following "Proposed Guiding Principles for Park as part of this project. Standards" attempts to balance the expectation of a • New partnerships with non-profit recreation community needs based approach with the popula- providers have enabled an understanding of how their programs and facilities are run. tion-based standards of the past as a check or com- parative tool. It also includes the Park Classification However, there are a few areas of additional Scheme outlined previously in this chapter. research listed by the consultant that may be useful: • Examination of programs and facilities by the State and for-profit recreation providers • Examination of programs and facilities offered by similar counties • Examination of programs and facilities from NRPA award-winning parks and recreation systems of a comparable size. 9-5