Park and Recreation Commission
Minutes of the Meeting
November 14th, 2007
Meeting called to order: 7:36pm
Commissioners in Attendance: Andy Paterna, George Caye, Al Larson, Rob O'Connor, Dan Rezende, Andrea Momnie, Jason Race, Ray Favreau
Also in Attendance: Chief Tyler, Sergeant Dobler, Srinivasa Chalikonda, Satyabrat Tewari, Dr. Gerald Schwatz, Town Physician.
Minutes of the October meeting were approved and seconded.
Public Input: Chief Tyler gave the PARC an update on the Bark Park. The Park will be finished this Friday November 16th. The Grand opening will be Sunday November 18th at 1:00pm at Nevers Park. The original cost was about $66,000. Chief Tyler was able to get most of the materials from donations. The total cost for the park was $20,067.94. The park was completed in two months. Chief Tyler also had five fire hydrants donated which will be sand blasted and given to each of the elementary schools for an art project to paint them. There is still approx. $15,000 left from the original that PARC authorized to build the park. Ray Favreau will look into a rain collection system to put in the Bark Park for water for the dogs.
Dr Schwartz, who is the pediatric doctor for the SW school system asked the PARC to look into fencing in one of the playgrounds in the parks. This would be to help in keeping autistic children from running away from the playgrounds. He would like to see fencing placed around the boundless playground. The PARC will look into the cost of fencing the playground.
Report of the Recreation Director: Ray Favreau went to the future Lawrence Road Park with the architects, town conservation officer, and tree warden to look the set up of the walking trails. The plan 3 design will be changed to keep some of the trees and bushes intact on the site. Designs are being completed to allow for bidding to begin when the lawsuit is settled in 2008.
Costs for repairing the damage at VMP are ongoing. May have a new security system installed.
Winter Wonderland, sponsored by Karen O'Connor of Coldwell Banker, will be held at the Community Center Saturday December 8th from 10am to 12pm. Kids 2-10 and their parents are invited.
Coaches Clinic: Saturday Nov. 17th with Jack Phalen from 9am-11am at TE. The State Judicial System is fully sponsoring Joe Ehrmann to speak in South Windsor in January. PARC will look into paying for refreshments at this event.
The biking subcommittee held its first meeting on Nov. 7th. There was a lot of enthusiasm at the meeting. We have a few important things to get started on for the next meeting. First is a name for the committee and a mission statement. Some at the meeting want to bring walking and biking into the mix. We will also be identifying all of the biking/walking trails that already exist in town so we can get a map made for people to obtain at town offices and on the town website. The next meeting will be held on Dec. 5th at a site TBD.
The revised PARC master plan dated 12/13/2006 was given to all present members. We need to review and prioritize what PARC wants to accomplish in the next ten years. Try and find a year to put in a cricket field in town. Another idea brought up by Ray Favreau was to build a nine hole Disc Golf course at one of the parks. We will be finalizing the PARC Master Plan at the next meeting. There is currently $343,526 in our budget for 07-08 minus the $20,000 for the Bark Park.
Meeting adjourned at 10:30pm
Next Meeting: 7:30pm December 12th, 2007
Respectfully Submitted
George S. Caye
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