One unique attribute of living in Flint? Nearly 1,900 acres of parks at more than 70 locations in all sections of the city, which provides more than an acre of park land per every 100 residents.
“One of the things that I love about our park system is they’re so community-focused and accessible in basically every pocket of the city,” said Diana Degner, who works in the city’s planning department and is focused on city parks. “You don’t have to travel far to get to a city of Flint park. I love the proximity of parks to people and to neighborhoods and also the different types of parks. We have large green spaces, we have parks with newer playground equipment, we have parks with water access along the Flint River and lakes. We have lots of ways for people to go out and be active if they choose.”
That much green space, and the complexity of the different types of environment in each park, require resources to maintain them, though. The city doesn’t have a traditional parks department like many large municipalities do – Degner is technically the only current city employee whose job is related to parks. That’s why an upcoming millage renewal in front of local voters on November 3 is critical.
The citywide parks, forestry, and recreation program millage renewal will ask voters to renew an existing .4963 mill tax (about $.49 cents per $1,000 of taxable property value) from 2027 through 2036 to support various maintenance and operational costs for the city’s parks. The millage, which was first approved by voters in 1996, has been renewed by voters twice, most recently in 2016 when voters passed a 10-year renewal. If renewed again by voters, it won’t be a tax increase, it will just continue a previously approved tax.
Degner said that the largest costs related to parks are simply mowing and basic maintenance. Flint’s parks also include many large, mature trees, so forestry costs can also be expensive if trees fall down during storms or need to be removed because they’re a safety hazard. Other maintenance costs include things like repairing broken equipment, lights, replacing cracked or hazardous concrete, and other upkeep.
Although Flint doesn’t have a traditional parks department, it has made use of creative partnerships with a wide range of organizations to support maintenance, programming, and provide other resources to residents over the years. Degner noted that Genesee County Parks, Keep Genesee County Beautiful’s Park Adopter program, the Flint River Watershed Coalition, and the Genesee Conservation District are among the many important relationships the city has to help make productive use of the many recreational spaces in Flint.
“Partnerships are vital to running the parks, and I think they have really been strengthened over the years,” Degner said. “The people that work in this space truly love what they do. It’s a passion, it’s not just a job, you know?”
Genesee County Parks is one of the main partners with the city for maintenance, since the larger county parks system is equipped with staff as well as mowers and other equipment to maintain outdoor spaces, and mowing is one of the biggest expenses associated with park upkeep. But Degner also noted that partnerships are important simply because they also facilitate information sharing among organizations. Members of Genesee Conservation District or the Flint River Watershed Coalition have specific expertise on trees or waterways in the city that can be shared, while organizations like Keep Genesee County Beautiful are in touch with dozens of neighborhood groups as well as many volunteers who regularly work on park cleanups and projects.
“The Park Adopters through Keep Genesee County Beautiful, they are very active,” Degner said. “We meet regularly with them to make sure that we have input from the community. They’re (the park adopters) constantly hearing from the community. So myself in this position, I wanna hear from them too, to make sure that the community voice is constantly in the conversation. I really value that Adopt a Park system and the partnership with Keep Genesee County Beautiful. It just really helps to stay informed of the heartbeat of the community and what they want to see for their parks.”
The millage funds are obviously important for maintaining present needs, but they’re also important with an eye toward the future. The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, as part of its 100th anniversary, pledged $20 million in funding to support park upgrades around the city. So far, about $7 million of those funds have gone toward replacing playground equipment at schools in the city. The other money will support parks projects that the community had a chance to provide input on earlier this year. Selected projects are expected to be completed next year, making millage funds to maintain those upgrades important.
“There’s going to be quite a bit of upcoming new investment from that commitment from the C.S. Mott Foundation,” Degner said. “So beyond that initial commitment and investment in new amenities at the parks, those things will need to be maintained. So it’s really important for us to have funding to support that investment. We want to definitely be able to come in behind that and keep those new things well-maintained. So we are maintaining what we have, but we’re also looking ahead to say, ;Okay, we’re getting new things, and we want to be able to keep those to a standard of excellence.’”
In addition to those planned upgrades thanks to the Mott Foundation funding, Degner hopes to just continue collecting resident input and using it to make informed decisions about park improvements in safety and lighting to programming and recreational opportunities.
“We have all this space, we need to activate it and make it safe,” Degner said. “That’s something that I would like the community to know, that as we’re trying to highlight these outdoor spaces, engage with them more, activate them more, that we’re also thinking about the safety of the people in the spaces, making sure that people are comfortable and feel welcome and safe. Parks are an easy way to have a picnic or family time or get people outside. We have so many unique spaces I would just like to encourage people to engage with more.”
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