The Oceanside Parks and Recreation Master Plan (PRMP) provides a guide for the orderly development of future park, recreation, and open space facilities and programs in order to meet the community’s current and future needs. It represents the latest update in a series of revisions that the City of Oceanside began in 1974. The purpose of this plan is to develop a vision for the parks and recreation system through 2030, to facilitate the SANDAG Smart Growth strategies in the City, and to provide guidance for the prioritization of necessary actions to meet Oceanside’s unique needs including demographic changes, future trends, and aging facilities and parks.

The Oceanside PRMP is based on a comprehensive planning process that involved extensive research and analysis of the existing parks and playgrounds, as well as staff and community input. The plan took a holistic approach integrating the following key elements:

  • Investigated household participation in outdoor activities, team sports, assessed community priorities and needs, and compared with nationwide fitness activity trends to inform the recommended park and amenity level of service standard;
  • Analyzed equitable distribution of parks, assessed the coverage of park service area, identified gaps and barriers for park access;
  • Evaluated park connectivity for all modes, included a trail development effort;
    Organized community workshops, stakeholder interviews and pop-up events to document the needs of the community;
  • Developed a metric and methodology to assess the level of service of parks and recreation facilities based on current and future population;
  • Delineated infill potential and access improvement opportunities for 25 parks, and identified 10 opportunity sites in three major geographic gaps in park facilities;
  • Recommend strategies that help to fill in park service coverage gaps, leverage existing parklands, amenities and school facilities, identify potential land availability for infill or new parks to keep the city up to its adopted standards for future population growth; and
  • Incorporated park design and maintenance guidelines to enhance park accessibility, safety, user experience and sustainability, and formed the long-term foundation for plan implementation and quality maintenance practices.

    A major goal of the PRMP was to develop long-term strategies for a sustainable healthy park system that optimizes existing parkland and amenity use, while maintaining the natural character of open space. Based on field observation, data-driven spatial analysis, and public input, the project team developed 24 recommendations in 8 categories, depicted an improved and interconnected park system with detailed guidance for site-based actions as well as funding strategies.