The City of Brea prides itself on being a forward-thinking organization which takes proactive measures to make our community a great place to live, work and play. With that in mind, in 2017, the City took on a large-scale community engagement effort, Brea Envisions, to hear what residents were hoping to see in Brea in the coming years. Out of Brea Envisions a Community Strategic Plan was created highlighting various values and initiatives to focus on. Parallel to that, Public Works worked diligently to bring a Facilities Conditions Report before the Parks, Recreation and Human Services Commission in October 2018 which will help guide staff on the various infrastructure improvements (i.e. roofing replacement, irrigation repairs, etc.) that need to occur at our various facilities over the next 20 years.
Community Services is interested in taking the next step in determining the future of Brea's parks, recreation and human services facilities and programming. Staff is looking to solicit services from LPA, Inc., an architecture consultant with a wide range of experience in community planning. These services will include taking a current assessment of existing parks, recreation and human services facilities and programs, comparing those to current trends and neighboring markets, and ultimately preparing a gaps analysis summary showing facility and program needs for the future. LPA will take the findings from Brea Envisions, the Facilities Condition Report, as well as the recently approved goals of our Parks, Recreation and Human Services Commission into account throughout their assessment.
The objective of this project is to assist City staff in preparing a Parks, Recreation and Human Services Implementation Plan. This plan will be utilized to determine the parks, recreation and human services facility and programming gaps in the citywide system and to identify various needs for the community to focus on. In addition, with impending development, staff believes time is of the essence to gather this information in preparation for future discussions with the private land development community. Staff believes this unbiased, third-party assessment is vital to future discussions with developers as it will validate the desires of our community. Also included in the deliverable will be a mechanism which would obligate developers to pay their fair share of this assessment, in other words, reimburse the City for the cost of this project.
The assessment LPA will pinpoint broad concepts that Brea can strive towards achieving, rather than dictate what specific types of programming to add. City staff intends to incorporate further engagement efforts to determine exactly what Breans are looking for prior to new facilities or programs being added.
LPA has previously done work for Brea. LPA was the architect behind the Brea Community Center, completed in 1996, and the Brea Sports Park, completed in 2009. LPA is familiar with our community and staff has remained satisfied with their work and high quality staff. The term of the proposed PSA is until the project is completed which is expected to take 4-6 months. |