Public Space Management Plan

About the Public Space Management Plan

The purpose of this project is to develop a Public Space Management Plan to provide a vision, goals, and guidance on how public space will be used and maintained in Takoma Park. This plan will be an update to the City’s 1994 Open Space Plan (amended in 1999).

Public space includes:

• parks, playgrounds and playing fields
• plazas and places to gather like the Gazebo
• natural spaces and wooded areas like Sligo Creek and Long Branch stream valley parks
• streets that may be used for alternative activities like outdoor cafe seating or bike lanes

Let us know what you value!

Public Space Management Survey

Public Space Management Plan

City staff developed draft goals and scope of work for City Council review (see information regarding Council review under “Links” in the right column).  Next steps include public input and Council adoption.

The Takoma Park Streetscape Manual, which deals with public space improvements in the right-of-way, was adopted by City Council on July 20, 2016. An update will be posted in Fall, 2020.

Assessment of Park Quality, Proximity, and Race, Summer 2020

Planning staff is developing tools to guide decisions about access and improvements in public space. These tools include a park amenity data collection process, a park grading scale, and an analytic distance matrix process with racial demographics to look at accessibility.

The Assessment of Park Quality, Proximity, and Race will help to identify gaps where the city can improve on public space quality and accessibility with respect to racial demographics. When combined with Census block group racial demographic data, the Mapbox Matrix API portion of this project provides data on park proximity within the city on different racial groups and what kinds of parks and amenities are most accessible to these same demographics (active parks or passive parks). These preliminary findings may help the city prioritize the development of more public space amenities for underserved people and areas in the City.

Planning staff has created two interactive webmaps which can be used to visualized data from this three part analysis. The webmaps can be viewed using the links below.

Park Inventory and Quality Assessment
Proximity Analysis

Project Lead & Contact Info

Jamee Ernst
Planner
Phone: 301-891-7213
Email: jameee@takomaparkmd.gov

Quicklinks

• Planning and Community Development
• Bikeways Program
• Bus Stop Improvements
• City Planning
• Development Review
• New Ave Bikeway
• Parking Management Plan
• Public Space Management Plan
• Safe Routes to School
• Transportation Planning

Links & Notes

July 29, 2020 — City Staff presented a Public Space assessment to Council on park quality, proximity, and race. Agenda; Video of Council Presentation; Presentation Slides

January 22, 2020 — Council Work Session to Review Scope of Work, Draft Goals, and Timeline for Public Space Management Plan

November 14, 2018 — Council Work Session on the Review of Scope of Work for Public Lands Management Plan

July 20, 2016 — Resolution Adopting the Takoma Park Streetscape Manual

March 3, 2015 — Council Discussion of Public Land and Open Space Management Planning

Research Documents