Parks, Landscape & Urban Design

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  • 1.  Park garden beds and turf condition ratings

    Posted 02-02-2012 12:22

    Has anyone developed condition rating criteria for garden beds and turf areas in parks (ie not sportsgrounds turf)? Is it useful?!

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    Liz Paterson
    Parks & Reserves Technical Officer
    Willoughby City Council
    CHATSWOOD NSW

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  • 2.  RE:Park garden beds and turf condition ratings

    Posted 02-02-2012 14:15
    Hi Liz

    We did some work some years back grading our parks rather than turf / garden beds. it was based on usage v's maintenance. The classifications we had were:
    • Regional - Users from outside the municipality would travel to. E.g. scenic lookouts, major playgrounds, historic areas or areas booking could be made for weddings / bbqs. Playground would cater for 20+ kids at a time
    • District - users from other suburbs would travel to. Playground would cater for 5 - 15 kids at a time
    • Neighbourhood - users would most likely walk to. Playground would cater for up to 5-7 kids at a time.

    It also was for looking at issues such as toilets, seating etc. Maintenance was based upon usage.

    The concept was good but it did not get adopted at the time. Just recently our parks planning team has picked this up and is trying to grade our parks. If you want more details email me your details and I will pass them on to one of the team.

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    Peter Kerstan
    Operations Manager Parks
    Hobart City Council
    HOBART TAS

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  • 3.  RE:Park garden beds and turf condition ratings

    Posted 07-02-2012 07:01

    In NZ, we developed parks and recreation condition grading guidelines which includes a section on turf and horticulture. While about 10 years old now, there is nothing better that we are aware of.

    I can send you a copy if you contact me on brian@xyst.biz

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    Brian Milne
    Director
    Xyst Ltd
    Christchurch, NZ

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  • 4.  RE:Park garden beds and turf condition ratings

    Posted 07-02-2012 09:37
    Liz I am assuming you want to know whether other councils have conditon ratings their gardens etc on a C=1 to C=5 basis. I do not think so. I have been in this business for awhile now and the soft assets (in Parks & Reserves) are not often covered in AM assessments and plans. I am planning to do something at Warringah. I am just not sure what. There is very little in the IIMM manual, just a very basic bit on Sportsfields! This area certainly needs more work. My initial question is for gardens and turfed areas, do we need to care? Why are we condition rating anyway - perhaps to determine whether and asset needs repalcing or not and to work out what the capital costs might be in the future - asset management planning. For gardens we probably maintain and replace under maintenance - so yes we need to know when and how and at what cost, but generally this would be done when we had some excess money in the maintenance budget. And I am not sure about Willoughby but at Warringah we tend over spend our budget most years (without really trying!). Keep in touch and I will let you know what we decide to do. Regards Darron ------------------------------------------- Darron Passlow Asset Planning PRF Warringah Council DEE WHY NSW -------------------------------------------
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  • 5.  RE:Park garden beds and turf condition ratings

    Posted 07-02-2012 17:52
    Hi Liz, Darron,

    The upcoming IPWEA Annual Parks Seminars series will cover condition grading of soft assets as part of this years sessions.

    Key Topics Explored:

    • Asset Management for "Green Infrastructure"
      • How do we apply AM techniques to our green assets?
      • Asset registers
      • Condition and performance assessment
      • Valuation and depreciation of green assets
      • Maintenance and renewal planning
    • Levels of Service for Green Assets
      • Recap level of service fundamentals
      • How to develop alternative LOS using practical examples
      • Consultation methods and options
      • Case studies and examples
    Workshops are being held across all States from 27 Feb - 8 March.

    Further details are available at www.ipwea.org/ParkSeminar2012.


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    Chris Champion
    CEO
    IPWEA
    Sydney NSW

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  • 6.  RE:Park garden beds and turf condition ratings

    Posted 07-02-2012 15:37

    Hi Liz,

    Before you go looking for a condition rating tool, have you established the levels of service for the landscape areas you are looking to rate? For instance have you written standards for turf - percentage of bare areas, percentage of weeds, type of weeds/unacceptable weeds, soil compaction, acceptable/desireable grass species, general health/colour/vigour of grass; or in garden areas - depth of mulch, density of plants, number of plants from original design, general health/colour/vigour of plants, pests on plants, pruning of plants to desired shape etc. 

    Once you have your standards in place for each of the park types in your hierarchy you are well on your way to having the basics for your condition rating tool.  These standards will also be essential in measuring the effectiveness of your operations as well - eg how often to mow, herbicide applications, aeration etc. With the service standards in place you can then look at whether you are over or under servicing for the agreed level of service with your community and in partnership with data from community surveys you will be in a better position to compete for funds at the budget table.

    Peter
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    Peter Savage
    Savage Consulting
    Everton Park QLD

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