Oxford Park Commission and Green Play have completed a five-year strategic plan, which will help determine the park commission’s growth and direction moving forward.

During a recent meeting, Green Play, which is a parks and recreation consulting firm, presented to both OPC and the Oxford Board of Aldermen its five-year projection of revenue and expenses for the park commission. In order to reach these findings, OPC Executive Director Seth Gaines said a few methods were used.

“GreenPlay was [brought in] to help set up a strategic plan to see how to move forward in building a facility for the community and what all should be included in a master plan,” Gaines said. “They did focus groups, surveys, public forums and they would profile the community to make sure we looked at all options.”

One of those major options was the new Oxford Activity Center, which is about 50 percent complete according to Casey Rogers of Innovative Construction Management, the firm in charge of the project.

Gaines said the main focus of having a final presentation to bring to the aldermen was to examine where to budget for the new facility. While no action was taken by OPC or the board of aldermen following the presentation, he added that he felt it was a “really good starting point,” with more discussion to come.

The projected expenses for the new Oxford Activity Center Building are $228,458 in its first year, according to Green Play’s final budget report. By the fifth year, the activity center’s projected expenses are $255,287.

Projected revenue for the new activity center was determined using potential earnings from recreation programs, rentals and customer services. For the first year, revenue is estimated to be $40,238, which is expected to rise to $46,378 by the fifth year it is in operation. Revenue forecasts were based on current fees and the potential growth of each program beyond the current number of participants, according to the full report.

Another finding Gaines said he found positive is the projected increase of participants OPC is expecting to see once the new activity center opens. OPC has seen overcrowding in recent years, especially in its children’s athletics programs. With the new facility, OPC will be able to add up to 60 additional basketball participants, 80 day camp participants, 85 gymnastics participants, 50 youth volleyball players and 20 additional pickleball participants in the first year alone.

“I wouldn’t say it’s solving overcrowding ‘problems’ because we want our programs to continually grow. We are fortunate to have overcrowding; it’s a sign that we have a vibrant program that kids want to be involved in,” Gaines said. “We have kids on the waiting list for gymnastics now. With a larger space, we can work with the instructors on adding more participants. We are at the point where we will have to limit basketball players registrations without more space, and we still had kids on the waiting list for basketball.”

To view the full report on the board of aldermen agenda, visit http://oxfordms.net/board-of-aldermen-agenda.