Parks and Recreation Public Health

Abstract

In the Community of public health it is known to have park and recreational. When talking about a department with so much going on for a small town with many different recreation having said that Turlock is a town that has it all in one place. Turlock is a community with a lot of developments that are being stricter as we speak. For this mission of the Department of Parks and Recreation is to implement the policies established by the Board of Supervisors pertaining to parks which include acquiring, developing, and maintaining recreation areas serving every segment of society, including the disabled and the economically disadvantaged; providing the leadership necessary to develop and manage parks and recreational facilities in ways that will provide the best possible experience for people to enjoy the out-of-doors at the most reasonable costs. The program also provides an opportunity for its members to connect, discuss and exchange ideas with each other and current community leaders, and to motivate and build strong minded leaders to assume leadership roles in our community. The Parks, Arts and Recreation Commission shall encourage, stimulate, promote and foster programs for the enrichment of the City and hereby contribute to the quality of life in Turlock and develop awareness in the business community, in local government and in the general public of the value and benefits of the constructive use of leisure time in Turlock.

Windshield Survey

Community parks serve all ages and may include facilities for low-intensity/passive recreation use, lighted fields, courts, swimming pools, and areas and buildings for community festivals and civic events, as well as for organized sport and athletic competitions. Generally restrooms and some off-street parking are provided. While community parks serve larger areas of the City than do neighborhood-serving city parks, they may also meet the recreation/open space needs of the adjacent neighborhood. Turlock has three community parks, ranging in size from approximately 25 to 32 acres (not including ponds or storm drainage basins). Turlock's 85 acres of community park land represent one third of all park land in the City. See Table 4-1, Existing Parks and Recreational Open Space. The park alone the 1992-2012 General Plan established a citywide standard of 4.2 acres of public parks per 1,000 residents, to be split evenly between community parks and neighborhood and parks. For the purpose of setting acreage requirements, neighborhood-serving city parks and neighborhood school parks are both included in the neighborhood parks category. When the Plan was updated in 2002, the ratio of neighborhood park acres and community park acres was adjusted to 2-to-1, to reflect the ratio as calculated at that time. At the time of this General Plan, the City's actual park land ratio is 3.5 acres of park land per 1,000 residents, with 66 percent of this acreage in neighborhood parks and 34 percent in community parks. This General Plan emphasizes development of linear parks, which are counted toward neighborhood park land. The General Plan establishes a citywide standard of 3.5 acres of park land per 1,000 residents, matching what is currently provided, and sets an upper level goal for a 3-to-1 (or 75%/25%) ratio of neighborhood to community parks. Because this will vary over time as the park system develops, the General Plan provides acreage standards by park type in a range, to be achieved on a citywide basis, as follows:
• Community Parks: 0.9 to 1.2 acres per 1,000 residents.
• Neighborhood Parks: 2.3 to 2.6 acres per 1,000 residents.
• Total: 3.5 acres per 1000 residents.

Gap Analysis

Facilities and Enrollment
The Study Area is served by 13 elementary schools (ten in the Turlock USD, one each in Denair,
Chatom, and Keyes), five junior high schools, and three comprehensive high schools. There
are also four small alternative programs and a K-12 charter school. Some of these schools serve
students from within the Study Area as well as students from surrounding rural areas. . Table 4-6
lists 2008-2009 enrollments for all schools in the Turlock, Denair, and Chatom School Districts.
Chatom and Keyes schools serve fewer students in rural portions of the Study Area, and no
additional residential growth is proposed within their jurisdictions as part of the General Plan
update. In the 2008-09 academic years, TUSD counted 13,828 enrolled students. The Denair School district had a total enrollment of 1,599, and grew by 4.2 percent between 2004 and 2007, largely owing to residential development in the Northeast Turlock Specific Plan area. TUSD has added significant capacity in recent years, with the opening of its second high school, John Pitman, in 2001, followed by Medeiros Elementary and Walnut Education Center in 2006 and 2007.

Projections and Future Plans

When the most recent student generation rates for TUSD is applied to new housing facilitated by this General Plan, a total of approximately 5,870 additional students are expected to attend schools in the Turlock Planning Area. A majority (55 percent) would be in elementary school.
As shown in Table 4-7, TUSD plans for elementary schools with 880 students, middle schools
with 1,100 students, and high schools with 2,100 students. The proposed new middle school
would be developed at half of the typical size during the planning period to match growth.

Facilities

CSUS was opened in temporary quarters in Turlock in 1960 with a continuing mandate to serve
Counties: Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Merced, Calaveras, Tuolumne, and Mariposa. The university
has occupied its 228-acre campus on the north side of Turlock since 1965. CSUS counted
6,713 full-time equivalent (FTE) students in 2008. Enrollment is projected to grow 3percent
annually in the coming years, and to reach its designated capacity of 12,000 FTE students within 20 years. Enrollment is currently frozen due to state budget constraints.

Recommendations

My recommendations are to have only quality programs and activities assist in developing healthy minds and bodies by: Fighting Obesity and stress through physical activity. Developing problem solving and leadership skills by working in groups and participating on teams. Learning to think abstractly through the arts. Allowing for the creativity to generate situations and experiences with freedom through play. Developing social skills such as negotiation, persuasion and language through positive interaction and working with people of all ages and cultures. Focusing attention spans on what it is you are doing. Allowing for the practice and tuning of life time skills.

Community's fabric, health and well-being, economic base and a security. Through the years, the Turlock community has valued neighborhoods, natural places where they can relax, walk, recreate and enjoy family time. Through quality programming and implementation, Recreation Services provides safe, supervised activities residents of all ages. Families and individuals of all ages have the opportunity to enhance their lives by participating in Fitness programs, Sports activities, Family Events, Community Traditions, Arts, Social and Educational Activities and a wide range of enrichment classes. Having three boys of my own we get to enjoy all the wonderful activates that Turlock California has to offer. Many more of the developments are in working process. Can't wait for new development to start and finish.