Sartell Approves First Master Parks Plan

(KNSI) — Sartell approved its first master parks plan during Monday night’s city council meeting to act as a guide to aid in future development.

The plan includes the creation of a park commission which the city will begin to form. Sartell Administrator Anna Gruber tells KNSI News the study took a deep dive into the land study, calling it “A very thorough, comprehensive document that we can use in guiding our parks department, public works department, our elected officials, our staff, and then of course, that future park commission.” Gruber says everyone is excited and “looking forward to putting it into play.”

The study did a full park needs assessment, including an inventory of every park’s amenities and acreage. The city has 700 acres of parkland divided into 14 neighborhood parks and 12 regional parks.

She says part of the plan has been establishing a network of interconnected trails for walking, biking and hiking. “What we did was tried to identify key loops where you can start in one spot and loop all the way around and end in that spot and have a variety of different lengths. And so we identified eight total loop trails.”

The city has 25 miles of trails connected into eight loops. It’s among the cities with 70 miles of paved off-road trails.

The document also looked at current community trends and public input from a survey taken in the fall, showing respondents wanted an outdoor pool the most, so the city will look to put a price tag on a potential pool. Other amenities people requested were pickleball courts and water access to the Mississippi, Watab and Sauk Rivers.

To view the master plan for yourself, click here.

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