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Financially Challenged

Creative, low-cost strategies can help small communities improve aging recreation facilities without overwhelming limited budgets.

5 min read

Photo Credit: Ayres Associates

For small communities with limited budgets, the struggle to make improvements is real. Maintenance is needed—well overdue, in many cases—but financial limitations too often make these important facility renovations and upgrades out of reach.

Or do they?

As a landscape architect and park planner who’s been providing recreational-facility site analysis, planning, design, and implementation for nearly two decades, I’ve seen it all; I’ve worked with municipalities and park districts—large and small—around the country, and all report the same fundamental challenge: how to take on these park projects without busting the budget. The following are a few strategies that have proven to be successful through the years: