Envision a Hurricane Creek with easy access, boat launches, rock climbing and classes to teach children about ecosystems, or a more aesthetically appealing Snow Hinton Park that allows runners and families to feel more detached from the traffic of McFarland Boulevard.

These are among key elements in a far-sighted plan being discussed by the Tuscaloosa County Parks and Recreation Authority (PARA) that will possibly set a countywide course of action for the next several years. These and other prospects were aired at a public meeting sponsored by PARA to discuss a survey some 600 citizens took online and to view a future park plan.

“First, you have to have a vision to show people and that’s what this is,” Gary Minor, executive director of PARA, said. “We are trying to get the community input and all the park and rec officials and get some consulting for this. We want to create a vision for our elected officials to get this funded.”

PARA generates funding through program fees and charges, but relies primarily on funding from the City of Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County Commission and the City of Northport. The authority currently operates and maintains 36 parks, five of which were chosen to be included in the comprehensive plan.

PARA paid $50,000 to Lose & Associates, a Nashville-based consulting firm, to conduct a thorough analysis of parks, programs and operations maintained by the authority. Elements of the analysis included an online survey seeking community opinion and a public meeting held on Feb. 12 at the Belk Activity Center at Bowers Park.

“Part of the plan concerns the whole organization, but we picked five particular parks because they were spread out,” Minor said. “Not all were in the county, not all were in the city and we chose mostly big parks. Money limited us to how much we could do. If we did all of the parks it would be very expensive.”

The parks included in the plan to be constructed or renovated are Hurricane Creek, Sexton Bend on Lake Tuscaloosa, Palmore Park, Snow Hinton Park and Munny Sokol Park.

Although a long-range plan could take around 20 years to complete, Minor said PARA took on the project because the authority wants Tuscaloosa to be one of the best places in Alabama.

Hurricane Creek, located off of Hwy 216, is currently an entirely wooded property of 249 acres and was proposed to become an outdoor adventure park.

Chris Camp of Lose & Associates explained the components of an outdoor adventure park, which include a nature center, various trails for walkers and bikers, better creek access, campsites and areas for bouldering and rappelling.

“We’re recommending you build a nature center where you can do outdoor programs that focus on nature, wildlife as well as plants and animals,” he said. “[We suggest] that you put a canoe and kayak launching point; there are some wonderful boulders out there and bluffs that you could do rock climbing and repelling, and a zip line that overlooks the paved path.”

If additional land is acquired, Camp said there is a possibility to add extra trails and a swinging bridge.

Tom Land, a University of Alabama institutional records analyst, Tuscaloosa resident and advisor for the Alabama Kayak Club, supported the proposed plans for Hurricane Creek and felt this development would be great for the Tuscaloosa outdoor community.

“It will help with the little bit of lawlessness that has been there in the past,” Land said. “My group as well as other groups have done clean ups in the past because it’s been trashed; I’ve seen vehicles trying to mud ride across the creek and just basically tear it up. So any work by PARA would be welcomed by most of the outdoor community.”

Camp said this park was included in the comprehensive plan because survey results displayed there was a community need for more biking trails, walking trails and trails catering to senior citizens.

Friends of Hurricane Creek is a local non-profit group dedicated to learning, preserving and protecting the respected Hurricane Creek watershed. John Wathen, Hurricane Creekkeeper, attended PARA’s public meeting for the park proposal and said parts of the plan are moving in the right direction.

“Hurricane Creek is a very special ecosystem,” Wathen said. “Hurricane Creek is the most southern free-flowing stream of the Appalachian Mountain chain. The Appalachian Mountains are the oldest mountains in the world and so Hurricane Creek could well be one of the oldest streams in the world.”

Wathen said the opportunity to preserve this area of land is definitely worth it for more than one reason.

“We have an opportunity to forever preserve this 250-acre microcosm that’s just a wonderful one of a kind stream,” Wathen said. “I see biology, geology or anthropology – all of the ‘ologies’ can come together out there for teaching. There will be teaching facilities where grammar school students can come out there and learn first hand what it is to see and touch running water. Our inner city students have been robbed of that opportunity. We’ve got to give these kids someplace to go and experience other than the asphalt jungle. Our kids deserve better.”

Another significant park renovation included in the plans is Snow Hinton Park located off of McFarland Boulevard. Plans include moving all vehicular circulation out of the park to make it safer, widening the walking pathways, adding visual art, creating a central plaza and breaking up the green spaces. One of the green spaces would become a synthetic field for pick-up sports.

Several community members attending the meeting were worried that breaking up the grassy areas would limit the space for organized pick-up sports, however Minor clarified the park’s intended use.

“The family that donated the park wanted it to be a passive park,” Minor said. “They really don’t want people to come out there and have soccer leagues on the field. But kind of as a compromise, we would make this synthetic area that doesn’t beat the turf to death and give some folks a place to play pick-up football. But it’s not a place we would like to have organized sports, per se.”

To address the community’s need of space for organized sports, the plan includes a large renovation of Munny Sokol Park. The currently six-field park would be transformed, creating three multi-use fields in the front, and a 10-field soccer complex. Additionally, a connector road would be built through the park, and a greenway trail, an indoor practice facility and aquatic center would be constructed.

Although PARA is still in the planning phases, Minor said he was pleased with the diverse crowd attendance at the meeting and is optimistic about future plans.

“We are still using this information to develop the plan,” Minor said. “We will have the finished product within the next couple of months.”

Minor said cost estimates for the park renovations will come with the final plan and are included with PARA’s contract with Lose & Associates. Once the final plan is ready for approval, PARA will present the details to elected officials of Tuscaloosa City Council and Tuscaloosa County Commission.

“It’s not funded, so this is a vision where we think the community wants to go and where the park and recreation officials also think we need to go,” Minor said. “We’ve got to then take it to the elected officials to get it funded. I’m really hoping it fires people up about the possibilities for recreation in the community.”