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Assessment of Need 31CITY OF NEW BRIGHTON PARK AND TRAIL SYSTEM MASTER PLAN - DRAFT <br />Key Initiatives <br />The City of New Brighton, in collaboration with their partners, should set realistic goals focused <br />on a few key issues to strengthen the athletic facilities and programs with an emphasis on <br />healthy youth development. Key initiatives include: <br /> »Emphasis the value of sports in positively shaping the lives of young people <br /> »Maximize the value of current facilities through collective monitoring, programming, <br />management and maintenance <br /> »Make strategic investments with the capital funds that are available and supplement with <br />partnerships and potential grant opportunities <br /> »Build a strong level of trust and partnerships with the local associations and the Mounds <br />View School District <br /> »Collaboratively meet programming needs while avoiding over-duplication of facilities, <br />services, and programs among the various agencies <br />Athletics Assessment & Recommendations <br />Caution is advised on making significant changes to the number of facilities available unless it <br />is clear that the demand will be sustained over an extended period of time. Some athletics have <br />more significant increases or decreases that are based on current trends in popularity and can <br />tend to level off over time and significant investments based on future growth projections are not <br />advised. <br />The City of New Brighton also has budgetary and physical limitations that need to be considered <br />for any significant changes in athletics. Due to a limited availability of lands for future growth, <br />the city will have to be more strategic and work on partnerships in order to meet any future <br />increases in athletic demands. Where all programs are of value at some level, not all will be <br />found to be of equal value and certain programs may be considered more essential than others. <br />It is also advised to build in some flexibility into the system to account for the changes in trends <br />so it can be more easily altered over time and to allow existing facilities time to rest, though this <br />is more difficult to accomplish with little land available for growth. <br />The communities that are served by the Mounds View School District and the local associations <br />can utilize numerous community facilities to meet the needs of their athletics and it should be <br />a shared effort in terms of overall investment, programming and decision-making. Now more <br />than ever, greater reliance on cooperative funding approaches will have to be looked at as the <br />means for improving facilities. For instance, the School District may have more opportunity to <br />provide some of the athletic facilities and the city and associations may be able to provide more <br />of the ongoing maintenance and operations. In other cases where schools are expanding, the <br />School District may need to rely on the city for built facilities but can help with funding of the <br />improvements. Capital investments must have a mutual benefit to each organization involved <br />and go a long way toward assuring that capital is being spent where it will have the greatest <br />value. This partnership approach can also lead to a higher quality of facilities typically not <br />achievable by one organization since more resources are contributing. A Joint Cooperative <br />Agreement should continue to be utilized to clearly identify what the roles and requirements are <br />for each partner.