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greenways through ownership and/or easements is a priority of the Parks and Recreation Department.

Open Space: public land masses serving as aesthetic enhancements to the community at large or significant natural resources that are set aside for preservation. Open space is often a linear space that acts as a visual and physical buffer area and links neighborhoods, thus allowing residents and visitors to socialize and strengthen community bonds. These areas are not typically conducive to organized activities but may provide space for recreational programming.

Regional Parks: metropolitan park systems operate independently from both state and local governmental agencies. They provide natural resource conservation and the natural area parks. The Franklin County Metro Parks is this area’s regional park system.

Community Parks: larger parks that serve the entire community by supporting organized community activities that would not be conducive to neighborhood settings and/or that preserve and protect natural areas. Typical development components may (but are not required to) include parking lots, sport fields, courts, skate parks, amphitheaters, boardwalks, stocked ponds, nature paths, grasslands, historically significant sites, specialty facilities

such as the Miracle League Field, recreation centers and community pools. Often the facilities have lighting to extend public use hours. These parks also could be undeveloped, such as larger tracts of woods and prairies.

Neighborhood Park: the most basic kind of park, housing both active and passive recreational activities and planned with surrounding neighborhood needs in mind. Typical development components may (but are not required to) include shelters, gazebos, site furnishings, playgrounds, tennis courts, basketball courts, specialty gardens, nature paths, stocked ponds, bike paths and

open/informal play spaces. Parking is generally limited and lighting is restricted in the neighborhood developments.

In coordination with its park system, Dublin provides its residents more than 88 miles of paths suitable for a variety of pedestrian-oriented activities, including biking, jogging and walking. These paths integrate the parks, City facilities, surrounding communities and open spaces while supporting healthy lifestyles and encouraging residents to engage in recreational pursuits.

As part of this master plan development, meetings were held with employees of the Mid-