2020-107 City of Denton TrailsDate: December 18, 2020 Report No. 2020-107
INFORMAL STAFF REPORT TO MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL SUBJECT: Provide an overview of the City of Denton trails in comparison to other municipalities in Texas and Nationwide. BACKGROUND: On November 10, Council Member Meltzer requested more information about trails and how the
City of Denton ranks against other municipalities on trails provided to the public.
DISCUSSION: Currently, the City of Denton offers approximately 53 trail miles.
Research To get the best results for the trail research, data was collected from the National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA) metrics data. (https://www.nrpa.org/publications-research/ParkMetrics/).
The NRPA is nationally recognized as the hub for Parks and Recreation professionals to gain education, training, and insights into improving their organization’s performance. Municipal organizations in the United States, and Canada, can input their agency performance through the NRPA website. This reporting tool can benchmark performance against other institutions that input
and report their data on the website.
The research is categorized by five sections: 1. Top Reported Texas Cities for 2020 & 2019 by trail miles (Between 100,000 – 249,999 Population)
2. Top Fifteen Report Nationwide for 2020 by trail miles (Between 100,000 – 249,999 Population) 3. Top Fifteen Report Nationwide for 2019 by trail miles (Between 100,000 – 249,999 Population) 4. 2020 NRPA Metrics Nationwide Category Breakdown
5. Other Metrics
Please note that not all agencies have inputted their data for 2020. Therefore, 2019 data was also used in this research to get a better estimate of how the City of Denton compares to other municipal organizations.
Lastly, the data is continually evolving and updated frequently as more agencies input their data in the NRPA Metrics website. The data presented is a snapshot as of today and ranked accordingly.
Date: Report No.
Top Reported Texas Cities for 2020 & 2019 (Between 100,000 – 249,999 Population) Based on the National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA) metrics data, the top Texas cities
in 2020 and 2019 that reported their trail miles by the agency’s jurisdiction population (between
100,000 -249,000) are: 2020 [Data Pending]
1. The Woodlands Parks and Recreation
Dept. (240 trail miles)
2. Garland Parks, Recreation & Cultural Art (55.1 trail miles)
3. Denton Parks & Recreation (53 miles)** 4. Amarillo Parks and Recreation Depart-ment (22.2 trail miles)
2019
1. City of Allen (70.5 Trail Miles)*
2. City of McKinney (60 Trail Miles) 3. Denton Parks & Recreation (53
miles)**
4. City of Grand Prairie (40.2 Miles)*
(*) Represents NRPA Gold Medal Award (**) City of Denton Gold Medal Award in 1985, 2003 Top Fifteen Report Nationwide for 2020 by trail miles (Between 100,000 – 249,999 Population) City of Denton ranks eighth nationwide out of 37 reported municipalities in trail miles in 2020. Below is a list of the top 15 reported municipal organizations trail miles in 2020 from highest to
lowest based on population size between 100,000 to 249,999.
2020
Agency State Total number of trail miles managed
or maintained by the agency
The Woodlands Parks and Recreation Dept. TX 240
Conejo Recreation & Park District CA 152
Westminster Parks, Recreation and Libraries* CO 150
Thornton (City of) Parks and Open Spaces CO 147
Boise Parks and Recreation ID 137
Metro Parks Tacoma* WA 87
Boulder Parks and Recreation CO 57
City of Denton Parks and Recreation** TX 53
Forsyth County Parks and Recreation GA 52.9
Glendale Parks and Recreation AZ 47.1
Gainesville (City of) Dept. of Parks, Rec., and Cultural Affairs FL 47
Chesapeake (City of) VA 46.28
Fort Collins Parks Department CO 43
Santa Rosa (City of) CA 41
Salt Lake City Natural Lands UT 39.5
Date: Report No.
(*) Represents NRPA Gold Medal Award (**) City of Denton Gold Medal Award in 1985, 2003
Top Fifteen Report Nationwide for 2019 by trail miles (Between 100,000 – 249,999 Population) City of Denton ranks 14th nationwide out of 64 reported municipalities in trail miles in 2019. Below is a list of the top fifteen (15) reported municipal organizations trail miles in 2019 from highest to lowest based on population size between 100,000 to 249,999.
2019
Agency State Total number of trail miles managed
or maintained by the agency
Conejo Recreation & Park District CA 152
Westminster Parks, Recreation and Libraries* CO 150
Boise Parks and Recreation ID 137
South Suburban Parks and Recreation District* CO 115.12
Fargo Park District ND 110
Linn County Conservation Board IA 100
Bellevue Parks & Community Services Department* WA 97
Town of Cary Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources* NC 93
Naperville Park District IL 76
Allen (City of) Parks and Recreation Department* TX 70.51
McKinney (City of) Parks, Recreation and Open Space TX 60
Wright County Parks and Recreation Department MN 60
Boulder Parks and Recreation CO 57
City of Denton Parks and Recreation** TX 53
Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation VA 53
(*) Represents NRPA Gold Medal Award (**) City of Denton Gold Medal Award in 1985, 2003 2020 NRPA Metrics Category Breakdown Ten categories organize the data below, and the City of Denton benchmarked against all organizations. Based on the data below, the City of Denton is under the median for one category-
3,500 acres of Parkland Maintained. However, the City of Denton is under the upper median quartile for three categories: Agency Budget Range, Acres of Parkland Maintained, and Number of FTEs (over 100 +).
CATEGORY
DENTON
MEDIAN QUARTILE
UPPER
(MEDIAN) QUARTILE
All Parks and Recreation Agencies 53 11 32
Agency’s Jurisdiction Population (100,000 – 249,000) 53 25 47
Additional Jurisdiction by Population Breaks (Less than 250,000) 53 9.0 21.7
Agency Budget Range ($10,000,000 +) 53 37.3 98
Date: Report No.
Acres of Parkland Maintained (Over 3,500) 53 92 163
Number of FTEs at Agency (100 +) 53 37.4 85.2
Number of Parks Maintained (20-49) 53 15 32
Agency’s Jurisdiction Population by square miles (500 – 1,500) 53 10 35
Agency Jurisdiction Type (City) 53 13 31
Agency Region (Southwest) 53 14.5 42.5
Other Metrics This metric is categorized as a roll-up for Texas Cities and nationwide by previous years and
population. As noted below, the City of Denton is above the median quartile for all categories.
However, Denton is below the upper median quartile for 2020 Texas Cities.
CATEGORY
DENTON
MEDIAN
QUARTILE
UPPER (MEDIAN)
QUARTILE
2020 Texas Cities [Data Pending] 53 22.2 67
2020 Texas Cities by Population (100,000 - 250,000)
[Data Pending]
53 22 22.1
2019 Texas Cities 53 19.9 43.8
2019 Texas Cities by Population (100,000 - 250,000) 53 33.6 50.1
2019 NRPA Metrics 53 17.9 50
2019 NRPA Metrics Cities by Population (100,000 - 250,000) 53 32 51.5
STAFF CONTACT: Eddie Valdez, Management Analyst (940) 349-8748 Eddie.Valdez@cityofdenton.com
REQUESTOR: Council Member Paul Meltzer PARTICIPATING DEPARTMENTS:
Parks and Recreation
Public Works, Business Services STAFF TIME TO COMPLETE REPORT: 10 Hours