On December 16, 2023, the DC Department of Parks & Recreation released Ready2Play, a 20-year parks and recreation plan. The project website has a handy storymap that provides an easy way to walk through the plan, starting with a high level overview and priorities before getting to specific recommendations. Probably the easiest way to see site-specific recommendations is by looking at the capital blueprint. That section contains charts with recommendations for specific parks and recreation centers.

Those who followed the process will notice that while the draft plan included specific funding year recommendations for many of the site-specific recommendations, the final plan does not because there is a budget process for getting things funded. The final plan denotes those projects that are currently funded and DPR substantially revised the implementation section (beginning on p. 110 of the plan) so it now includes a description of short-term, medium-term, and long-term actions. DPR describes the implementation section as follows:

The implementation section lays out an action-by-action guide on how the success of each action will be measured. For some actions, there are relevant metrics that will be tracked and reported on annually. For others, there are implementation outputs or deliverables that will be an initial measure of success for that action. Every action is also assigned a projected timeframe for when its achievement seems most possible and practical. Some actions are ongoing, while others are categorized into short-, medium- or long-term timeframes. Short-term actions are anticipated to be completed by the end of FY26, medium-term actions are anticipated to be completed by the end of FY30, and long-term actions are anticipated to be completed in the years following FY30. Each of the actions also has a corresponding funding value that estimates the range of funding that implementing the action will require. If the funding value is listed
as N/A, it is anticipated that DPR can complete this task in-house or with the resources already available within current operating or capital budget funding levels.

I attended the Ready2Play plan release party and neighbor Gavin also took a look at the plan for mentions of parks and recs in Riggs Park and nearby areas. I think the plan for our neighborhood parks & rec centers largely reflects the important long-term advocacy of neighbors as well as our engagement throughout the Ready2Play process. It does not contain everything we need or want in our neighborhood parks and rec centers, but it is a useful tool that can be used by neighbors to advocate for funding for implementation of pieces of the plan in the future.

Neighborhood site-specific Ready2Play recommendations listed below.

Riggs-LaSalle Recreation Center

• Update of existing amenities: Rec center, spray park

• New amenities: Tennis court, community garden, exercise equipment, track/fitness loop; “safety and inclusion” improvements (funded)

These recommendations are mostly the same as the draft plan, but the “safety and inclusion” column is new. DPR defines safety and inclusion element this way:

A safety and inclusive space highlights areas where there will be an enhanced security upgrade to protect the safety of users of the facility. This could include new cameras, security staff, lighting or other site improvements to enhance the safety of site users.

The Friends of Riggs-LaSalle Rec advocated for these safety features during the public process.

Riggs Road and South Dakota Park

• New amenities: “General improvements”

This item refers to the District-owned green space on the southwest corner of South Dakota Avenue & Riggs Road NE. It is part of the portfolio of the District Department of Transportation (DDOT). The neighborhood’s 2009 area development plan envisioned this site as park space.

This site was not listed in the DPR’s draft plan, but residents continued our yearslong advocacy for funding and to have this space included in DPR’s master plan. We worked with ANC 5A, former and current Ward 5 councilmember, and others to make this happen.

There is (a little bit of) money in the budget for this park space. My understanding is that DPR is waiting for DDOT to complete the land transfer.

Lamond Recreation Center

• Update of existing amenities: Playground, field

• New amenities: Community garden

The draft plan included new exercise equipment, but a FitLot was installed late summer 2022.

Keene Field

• Update of existing amenities: Field

• New amenities: Tennis court, community garden, exercise equipment, track/fitness loop

This is the same as the draft plan.

Gavin points out that the plan also lists Keene under “Recommended natural areas | forest patches,” but it is not listed on the site table for Keene.

North Michigan Park Recreation Center

• Update of existing amenities: Rec center

• New amenities: Spray park, exercise equipment, track/fitness loop, nature trails or connection enhancement, natural areas/forest patches, adaptive recreation

This is the same as the draft plan.

Reservation 0574 (New Hampshire, Ingraham, and 1st Sts., NW)

• New amenities: Playground, exercise equipment

This is the same as the draft plan.

National Park Service Partnership Recommendations

The Ready2Play plan includes sites for potential partnerships with the National Park Service (NPS). Fort Totten Park and Fort Circle Park on South Dakota Avenue NE are included in the list of sites to “assess and discuss with NPS for further collaboration, based on neighborhood desire, need, and quality of site/amenity,” and shown as recommended NPS sites for transfers of jurisdiction (TOJ) or cooperative management agreements (CMA). These were recommendations in the draft plan as well. The implementation plan shows that these TOJ/CMA discussions with NPS are ongoing.

At the release party, DPR staff stated that DPR is looking to use TOJs more (transferring ownership of park space owned by federal government to District government) to transfer bundles of park spaces together rather than pursuing transfers one by one. In addition, I was told that current DPR staff believe that TOJs rather than CMAs would be more useful for long-term goals because with a TOJ, park space owned by the federal government would be transferred to the District government. By having ownership of the park space, the District would then have more authority and control over what can be done with the parks. With CMAs, the District can use invest its own capital funding in federal parks for enjoyment of residents and visitors, but the federal government still retains ownership and therefore still has to approve what types of activities/amenities/programming can be done in the park. (A recent example of a CMA is Franklin Park downtown).

Future Planning and Other Recommendations

The Ready2Play plan includes sites for potential planning efforts. North Michigan Park/Queens Chapel, Brightwood Park/Manor Park, and MBT & Piney Branch are recommended as “areas to study for potential park expansion.” These were recommendations in the draft plan as well.

The draft plan recommended, “Work with DDOT and NPS to further develop the Fort Circle Park hiker/biker trail system.” This recommendation is not listed in the final plan. Unclear why this was removed or if it is somehow incorporated into another recommendation, such as the TOJ/CMA recommendations. I will just note that a trail along the perimeter of Fort Circle Park is an element of the neighborhood’s 2009 area development plan as well as the National Capital Trail Network.

Next Steps

This is quick snapshot of recommendations relevant to the neighborhood in the Ready2Play plan. The plan was an ambitious undertaking for DPR. It is worth taking some time to look at the plan not just for recommendations specific to the neighborhood, but also to see all of the really cool things envisioned for the city, such as the District’s first net-zero rec center as well as what sounds like a massive planned project for Kenilworth Park (125 acres!). It will be up to neighbors to continue advocating for improvements to our neighborhood parks and rec centers, and that includes some specific things that did not make it into the final plan (we can make it fit though).