With Peachtree City’s 50th birthday coming up in 2009, there is a big push at the Recreation Department to get all its parks in tip-top shape.

Included in the plans is the possibility of adding restrooms to parks such as Blue Smoke, Three Ponds, Luther Glass, Picnic Park and Beaver Dam. Restrooms are seen as important because those attractions draw folks for more than just a few minutes at a time, particularly with the presence of playgrounds, said Randy Gaddo, the city’s director of leisure services.

Likewise, some parks that don’t have picnic facilities need some picnic tables too, Gaddo added.

“Take a passive park like Blue Smoke, which is a beautiful area,” Gaddo said. “People could use it more.”

The city’s Recreation Commission will consider adding such programs to its master plan, which is nearing completion. Also under consideration is the linear park concept, which would use a trail system (and existing golf cart paths) to link City Hall, Drake Field, Picnic Park, the Pebblestump playground and Pebblepocket Park.

That plan, being referred to as a “central park” concept because of the central location the parks occupy in the city, might even include exercise stations on the trail with some stations aimed specifically at senior citizens, Gaddo said.

Building a bridge over the creek dividing Picnic Park and Drake Field would open up the area to being used more, Gaddo said.

Another project the commission has discussed including in the master plan is the creation of multi-use sports fields. The city tracks participation in its various sports over five years, and there is an increasing need for additional soccer, football and lacrosse fields. The latter two sports share Riley Field, which consequently gets very little down time to recover, Gaddo said.

And of course, soccer fields are in demand due to high participation in the soccer program, Gaddo added. The multi-use fields could be reconfigured from season to season so perhaps football fields go from north to south then lacrosse fields run from east to west, Gaddo said.

The multi-purpose fields would be located at the Ga. Highway 74 South baseball and soccer complex, which has 22 acres of undeveloped land, said Sherry McHugh, the city’s recreation administrator.

Of course, already on tap is construction of a building expansion for The Gathering Place, which provides recreation opportunities for senior adults. There’s money in this year’s budget to design the expansion, with construction occurring next year.

Still, the department has a lack of space to offer programming, particularly in the late afternoon to early evening which is when most people have time to attend special programs, Gaddo said. To that end, the department is looking to partner with other facilities so it can provide more programming than is currently possible, he added.