The parks and recreation commission does an outstanding job of ensuring that Lewes parks are properly maintained and equipped. Their efforts would be aided by some clarifications from city officials.
In a parks and recreation commission discussion of the usage of city parks covered in an article in the Aug. 19 edition of the Cape Gazette, it was noted, "Officials say the parks and beaches are being underutilized ..." No information is presented as to what officials made the claim, nor is there a mention of the measures used to determine underutilization.
Given that underutilization is a phrase that could be made by a land developer looking at a farmer's cornfield, it would be useful to know what measures of either under or overutilization are used by city officials. Further clarity is not evident in the minutes of that meeting.
A permitting process will be of some help in developing a measure of utilization, with the shortcoming of overlooking usage by photographers, walkers, joggers, those who are fishing, those at a playground, and many others. An examination of the measures employed would be useful.
As for the cost of a permit, the fee could be proportional to the permit fee of the farmers market, which attracts significant crowds to city property. The permit fee could be developed based on income generated by an activity and the count of individuals engaged in the activity.
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