2005 Parks & Recreation Master Plan

The Town of Wake Forest continues to undergo steady expansion in terms of both population and developed land within its jurisdiction. Through the early 1980's, Wake Forest managed to accommodate recreation needs for a relatively small, stable population through the core park lands long established in the heart of town. By the mid-1980's, however, the population growth and transformation of Wake County began to influence Wake Forest. It became evident that long-established parks could no longer adequately serve the anticipated population growth and that a broader geographic distribution of park lands would be needed to truly serve the expanding horizons of a growing community.

Today, some 20 years after the first pressures of growth and transformation became unavoidably evident, the Town of Wake Forest is a vibrant community within Wake County and, indeed, a nucleus to more rural and newly developing areas to the north and east beyond county boundaries. The desire to provide parks for residents to enjoy today while preserving park lands for future generations is not only alive and well, but gaining in momentum as new residents seek to enrich and enjoy their newfound community.

The purpose of the Parks & Recreation Master Plan Update is to review, refresh and expand the framework for town leaders and the Parks and Recreation staff to use as they chart the course for programming, maintenance and development of the park system over the next 10 years.

The planning effort is a deliberate means to step back in order to assess progress and determine needs. The planning effort is also a means to inject public input into the process of programming and developing a parks system so that the town leaders and staff stay attuned to specific interests and broader sentiments of the citizens they ultimately serve.

The plan itself serves as a foundation for budget projections and for grant applications. The town has been repeatedly successful in being awarded grants for recreational purposes. This success, in significant part, is founded upon the commitments expressed in previous master plan documents and the direct links between such commitments and actual accomplishments. This plan will build upon and reinforce such commitments.

The Parks and Recreation Master Plan Update will use a combination of national planning guidelines and community and staff input, along with the Recreation Participation and Preference Survey, to provide the Town of Wake Forest with the foundation to envision and sustain its park system over the next decade.

For more information, contact Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources Director Ruben Wall at 919-435-9560.