Barbara Gibson was among the first citizens to arrive at the Collegedale parks and recreation community forum. She was there because one of the primary reasons she moved to Collegedale from East Brainerd in the fall of 2016 was the outdoor offerings available in the small city that abuts Chattanooga.
"I will power-walk the greenway four times a week, maybe five, for an hour," Gibson said. "I really enjoy being outside, and Collegedale offers lots of different things. I love hiking and I am looking forward to finding the trails they say are near the college. It's all very positive."
Gibson is just the kind of person Traci Bennett-Hobek was hoping would attend the meeting. A former three-sport athlete, Bennett-Hobek was hired as Collegedale's parks and recreation director in 2017. She is now developing a master plan for the city's parks and recreational offerings, and getting input from citizens is necessary for that plan, she said.
About 30 citizens attended the forum, which featured stations for different areas of interest, such as the greenway, The Commons and Veterans Memorial Park.
"All the people working the tables tonight are volunteers, and attracting more volunteers is something else I hope comes out of this," Bennett-Hobek said. Among the 13-15 volunteers working different tables were Collegedale commissioners Phil Garver and Debbie Baker, along with City Manager Ted Rogers.
Bennett-Hobek will share the information she gathers as part of her master plan with the parks and recreation officials at Hamilton County, which recently released a new master plan for county government.
Though there is still more work to be done, she already knows one of the outcomes in the city's plan will be the need for new ballfields.
"I don't know if people will bring it up at the meeting, but people needing ballfields is what makes my phone ring every day," she said.
There are three complexes in Collegedale, none owned by the city. Southern Adventist University has several fields, the county operates a complex off Little Debbie Parkway, and the city of Chattanooga owns the Summit complex on Apison Pike.
"We need the athletic fields, but not just for baseball or softball, because I can turn those fields into kickball fields or wiffle ball fields," Bennett-Hobek said.
Gibson said the variety of parks and recreational activities in Collegedale, along with those put on by the independent Collegedale Tomorrow Foundation at The Commons, is more than enough to meet her needs.
"When I moved here from Pennsylvania, everybody said I should live downtown," said Gibson, who works in the hospitality industry. "I like Chattanooga for many reasons, but it is nice to be able to come home to your own enclave and be able to get outside with different things to do. It's good to get away from the congestion."