The city's first Parks Master Plan highlights residents' priorities for water features, playgrounds, shade and trails while outlining long-term improvements across Redlands.
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The city's first Parks Master Plan highlights residents' priorities for water features, playgrounds, shade and trails while outlining long-term improvements across Redlands.
REDLANDS, Calif. — Redlands residents say they value the city’s trails and historic parks, but many are also asking for more places where children can play, cool off and spend time outdoors close to home.
The findings were presented June 16 as the Redlands City Council adopted the city’s first Parks Master Plan, a long-term roadmap for park improvements, recreation programming and future capital investments.
The plan was developed with RHA Landscape Architects-Planners and shaped by more than 1,200 participants, including 414 responses to a statistically valid survey, 755 online community survey responses, community workshops and focus groups.
Doug Grove, president of RHA Landscape Architects-Planners, told the council that Redlands residents were more engaged in the planning process than those in many similarly sized cities.
“Redlands is very involved in its community, which was great,” Grove said.
The survey found 87% of residents use city parks, above the national average of 81%, Grove said. But residents also identified several barriers to using parks more often, including fear of criminal activity, lack of safety, lack of shade and aging infrastructure.
“The only challenge here is the parks are old, and we’re working on that, getting those things fixed,” Grove said. “Texonia is the next one on the list here to get fixed up.”
The survey found residents' highest priorities for facility investments included trails and walking paths, followed closely by splash pads and swimming pools.
Also on the list of priorities were investments in restrooms, small neighborhood parks and bicycle and pedestrian access to parks.
Large community parks, community gardens and environmental and nature education ranked lower on the list.
Grove said the priority rankings reflect where the city has the greatest unmet need.
“Obviously, we don’t have any splash pads. We don’t have a swimming pool. We would like to have more restrooms,” Grove said. “Those are things that are priority.”
Grove said survey respondents favored improving existing parks and facilities over building entirely new amenities. When asked how they would allocate $100 in parks and recreation spending, residents put about 44% to 45% toward fixing and upgrading existing parks and indoor spaces.
The master plan identifies several park projects for future funding, including a splash pad and inclusive playground at Texonia Park as early as fiscal year 2026-27.
Additional long-term projects proposed for fiscal year 2028 and beyond include:
The plan also calls for about 2.6 miles of new trails, upgrades to the Joe R. Gonzales Community Center and Eddie and Gloria Flores Senior Center, improvements at the Joslyn Senior Center and rehabilitation of the historic Carriage House at Prospect Park.
Most of the projects are long-term priorities that have not yet been funded. Grove told the council the city currently has about $8 million in funded parks projects and another $35 million in identified improvements that will require future funding through grants, capital planning and other sources.
Council member Denise Davis said she was especially encouraged to see proposed improvements for Brookside Park and Heritage Park on the city’s west side.
“I have to be honest — a lot of us who live on the west side and have little ones go to Loma Linda,” Davis said. “Citrus Trails Park is amazing and I hope that we can turn Brookside Park or Heritage Park into something like that.”
Davis said Heritage Park remains underused.
“It’s still a relatively new park, a lot of people don’t know it’s there,” Davis said. “There’s nothing to do there other than walk around.”
The discussion also highlighted the city’s lack of public swimming facilities. Council member Paul Barich said he has asked the city to explore partnerships with Redlands Unified School District because local high schools have pools.
“When I grew up, we had the big Sylvan Plunge and that was very helpful,” Barich said.
Barich said demand for swimming options grows during the hottest months of the year.
“I get a lot of people asking, especially now when it gets over 100 degrees,” Barich said.
Grove said outdoor swimming pools are expensive to build and maintain, and recommended that the city pursue partnerships or conduct a feasibility study before moving forward with a pool project.
Grove described the implementation list as an evolving action plan that city staff can update as projects move forward and funding becomes available.
The council adopted the plan unanimously.
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