Parks and Recreation Consulting | Master Planning

Innovative strategies for parks, recreation, and libraries

BerryDunn's consultants work with you to improve operations, drive innovation, identify improvements to services based on community need, and elevate your brand and image―all from the perspective of our team’s combined 100 years of hands-on experience. We provide practical park solutions, recreation expertise, and library consulting.

Services

Our services are tailored for each client and can be applied across park planning, recreation programs, and library and university settings.

Strategic planning

Master planning

Feasibility studies

Operational assessments

Pricing and cost recovery studies

Strategic planning

Envision, create, and implement a plan to bring your agency's mission, vision, and values to life. Our comprehensive process includes an environmental scan, community needs assessment, and most importantly, staff engagement. The planning process also includes how to successfully implement strategic recommendations.

Community engagement

We help you engage constituents, prioritize needs, and develop goals to create the programs and services for your community to thrive.

Visioning

We encourage you to ask, “What if?” and think beyond what you thought was possible and develop a focal point for long-term, continuous improvement.

Implementation

We develop action plans, timelines, and KPIs necessary to make your plan real—because strategic plans aren’t meant to sit on shelves.

Master planning

Our master planning process for parks and recreation, libraries, and university settings includes a robust community engagement component as well as assessments and analyses of demographics, infrastructure, levels of service standards, and operations to provide you with a well-defined action plan—created in collaboration with you and through a lens of equity and inclusion.

Community engagement

We help you engage constituents, prioritize needs, and develop goals to create the programs and services for your community to thrive.

Facility and system assessment

We assess your system through the lens of what is achievable, analyzing service levels, gaps, locations, space, and fiscal impacts.

Program and service assessment

We help you consider accessibility and equity and help you align your services to community needs and industry trends.

Visioning

We encourage you to ask, “What if?” and think beyond what you thought was possible and develop a focal point for long-term, continuous improvement.

Implementation

We develop action plans, timelines, and KPIs necessary to bring your master plan to life—in partnership with you and through a lens of equity and inclusion.

Feasibility studies

Our feasibility studies help you determine the financial viability and ROI of a new facility or amenity. Serving as an unbiased third-party, we provide market analysis, operating requirements, revenue generation recommendations, and a pro forma that predicts future revenues, expenses, and any subsidy requirements.

Community engagement

We help you engage constituents, prioritize needs, and develop goals to create the programs and services for your community to thrive.

Market analysis

We provide insight into your program opportunities, regional service providers, and demographics of the markets you seek to serve.

Financial modeling and pro forma

We provide realistic, detailed projections of expenses and revenues, and guidance around planned staffing, operations, and partnerships.

Operational assessments

Our operational analyses provide expert, objective perspective of the internal workings of your organization. Our approach brings staffing, culture and service delivery, workforce capacity, leadership, finance, and technology into focus, providing organizations with a clear picture of where they are now, and recommendations for improving areas for higher performance.

Staff engagement

We actively collaborate with your staff, providing input on identified focus areas and issues and always seeking to understand your goals.

Organizational structure analysis

We analyze workflow, organization charts, onboarding/training, culture, capacity, and policy to develop outcome-based recommendations.

Level of service assessment

We assess staffing to ensure levels are aligned with goals and expectations, and help you thoughtfully maximize limited resources.

Change management

We work with you to understand the emotional and strategic implications of change, guided by our practical experience in the field.

Pricing and cost recovery

Our customized pricing and cost recovery studies include a review of your revenue plan, subsidy levels, and pricing policies—positioning your agency to be resilient and successful, regardless of the economic or political climate. Explore how you can benefit from an impact fee study or cost of service study.

Impact fee studies

We start with what you already have and build from there, customizing a library, recreation, or park solution that helps you plan for new projects and services.

Cost of service and fee studies

We help you measure what it takes to provide quality services in response to your community’s needs—now and into the future.

Cost recovery studies

We work with you to assess your current fees and build a tailored model to evaluate your programs and maintain sustainable service offerings.

Let's Talk Parks

Change the way you think about your impact. Tune in to the Let's Talk Parks with BerryDunn podcast. Our host, parks and recreation consultant Becky Dunlap, invites experienced professionals from the field to join her for inspiring conversations. Get fresh ideas and learn new approaches to advance park planning innovation.

Listen to the podcast

Meet our professionals

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Featured content

featured news + insights events success stories

Podcast

Looking Ahead: 2025 Trends in Parks, Recreation, and Libraries

Podcast

Personal journeys: An interview with Women in Parks

Newsletter

Parks and Recreation Insights January 2025

Youth Sports Strategic Plan

BerryDunn led a two-year project to develop a Youth Sports Strategic Plan for the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), which serves more than 1.4 million residents in Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties. M-NCPPC identified the need for a centralized system of youth sports information management and infrastructure to support the overall provision of sports opportunities.

Project highlights

Inventory assessment to support diverse community needs
Engagement and planning activities with equity, transparency, and customer-centric solutions
Expanded partner engagement and formalized relationships with partners
Technological and physical access considerations for youth sports information and connections

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Client spotlight

Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission

Integrated Community Services Master Plan

BerryDunn worked with Los Alamos County to develop a plan that assessed existing programs, services, and facilities, as well as to identify gaps and potential future needs. We gathered data and community input from a variety of sources including a community survey, in-person and virtual focus groups, level of service analysis, maintenance practices, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Audit and Transition Plan for the County.

Our team noticed early on in the process that access to community facilities for engagement activities varied across the county. To address the disparity, we suggested choosing multi-purpose facilities for public input that were aligned with demographics and age, transportation access, and proximity to high-access facilities, like schools.

The final plan is designed to help the Community Services Department plan and prioritize its program and services investments over the next decade, as well as implement best practices.

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Testimonial
“BerryDunn recently completed the Los Alamos County Integrated Master Plan for the Community Services Department. This plan is a bit different than other parks and recreation master plans as we requested the integration of the library, social services, and cultural services be considered across our platform. BerryDunn was up to the challenge and provided a well-rounded and actionable Integrated Master Plan that meets our needs today and for the next 7-10 years. I am very pleased with the process and product delivered and would not hesitate to use them again.”

- Cory Styron, Community Services Director

Client spotlight

Los Alamos County, New Mexico

Parks, Recreation, & Community Services Strategic Plan

BerryDunn recently completed a strategic plan for the Loudoun County Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services (PRCS). Loudoun County is a complex and growing local government organization in Virginia, serving nearly 400,000 residents with over 600 full-time employees. This project involved staff and stakeholder engagement, an evaluation of the organizational functionality, an analysis of the organizational culture, and an evaluation of staff training and development, culminating in a final strategic plan and plan reporting mechanism.

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Client spotlight

Loudoun County, Virginia

Parks and Recreation Master Plan

BerryDunn led the master planning effort for the Parkland, Florida, Parks and Recreation Department. Key project components included a statistically valid survey, inclusive community outreach and engagement efforts, demographics report, level of service assessment, organizational assessment, and recreation programs assessment. The unique factor in this project was the client’s expressed desire for a fast-tracked process. The BerryDunn team successfully completed a final master plan aligned with the city’s timeline, with the final plan approved in July 2020.

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Testimonial
“The BerryDunn team was professional, attentive, followed through with deadlines, and understood the scope of our project. Their combined experience, not just in master planning but working in the parks and recreation field allowed, for a clear understanding of expectations and a wealth of great ideas and recommendations.”

- Christine Garcia, Director of Parks and Recreation