Park and Recreation Commission
Minutes of the Meeting
November 12, 2008
Meeting called to order: 7:30 pm
Commissioners in Attendance: Dave Romejko, George Caye, Dan Rezende Al Larson, Rob O’Connor, Jason Race, Steve Harz, Sharon Parlapiano, Katie Graham, Ray Favreau
Also in Attendance: Sgt Elsie Diaz, Officer Peggy Clouser,, Craig Zimmerman, Gary Bazzano, (Town Council Liaison).
Public Input:
1) South Windsor Youth Service Officer Peggy Clouser has asked PARC to partner with Police Services for the construction of a Skate Park in town. There is a large group of “tweens” as she calls them that can’t drive yet and do not play group sports. They are between 11 and 15 years of age. They skateboard throughout town mainly at St. Francis Church steps and around the Country Store. She would like us to consider an area around this part of town. Chief Tyler is backing this project. There is a large group of kids at TE and also a group that presented to PARC at a 2007 meeting asking for a Skate Park. She is requesting a 10,000 square foot area open to the public with no staffing. She has support from other people to help with the project. A similar park was built in
Wethersfield for about $150,000. She asked that PARC consider moving the skate park project up in their master plan.
2) Joe Perna from the town engineering department presented plans showing the location of the Concession/Restroom/Storage building for Rye St. Park. It also showed the location of the septic system for the building. The only issue was a telephone pole that could not be moved that may interfere with the overhead storage doors. A request was made to possibly move the building a little south toward the parking lot. He will try and see if this will fit in the area. He is still waiting for the final plans of the building so he can finish his work and present the project to Planning and Zoning in January. He is also looking into trying to tie into municipal sewer on Rye Street but thinks the cost will prohibit connecting to the town septic system. Ray is still waiting for a final estimate from New England
Buildings.
3) Craig Zimmerman gave us an update on the Indoor Batting Cage Building. They have sent a deposit to the builder to get the final plans. Once he has these he can present them to P & Z for approval. He is still about $35,000 short for the total cost. He would like PARC to move the money ($50,000) set aside for the project in 2012-13 to 2009-10. PARC is reviewing the master plan now and will move the project to next year.
Council Liaison: Gary Bazzano informed PARC members that Councilor Hale has withdrawn her motion to suspend all funds for Lawrence Road Park. The Town Council wants us to move forward with Lawrence Road Park. $247,000 is earmarked for Site Work and an Open Field in the area to begin in 2009. Gary is also trying to have Steve Lavenger attend our December meeting.
Report of the Recreation Director:
1) VMP: The Town Council has approved spending $40,000 too update security at the pool. The funds are to come out of the Recreation Department contingency fund. The Drains in the three pools may need to be changed due to the new “Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Safety Act”. Assessment and determination is being investigated by appropriate town staff.
2) Nevers Park: Construction has begun on the expansion of the Rotary Pavilion. It should be completed this fall. The total cost of $100,000 is being paid for by the Rotary Club. The Boundless Playground was featured this morning (11/12) on the Martha Stewart Show. The Woman who started the foundation was honored on the show and they featured our playground. There are currently 146 playgrounds that have been constructed in the last ten years.
3) TE Tennis Courts: Bids to repair the courts were around $25,000 and the town budgets only $15,000 for the year to repair all the courts. Some work may be done in the spring of 2009. We may want to look into using some of the Court space to build the future Skate Park.
4) Orchard Hill Soccer Field: The Parks & Grounds Dept. is trying to crush the drainage pipes but is not having to much success.
5) Youth Sports Initiative: Joe Ehrman talk was a success. Over three hundred people attended the talk. The pre-event function sponsored by PARC was well attended also. A special thanks to Todd Pineo for catering the event. $1083 was spent by PARC for the food.
6) Safe Routes to School: Orchard Hill had their monthly walk to school event on 11/12. There were 280 kids walking to school. The numbers are increasing each month.
7) The Town of South Windsor is providing a training session on Monday November 24th from 6-7 in the Town Council chambers. The training will be on “Roberts Rules of Order”. All PARC members a requested to e-mail Ray Favreau by November 19th if they are going to attend.
8) SWW&WW: A final logo design was picked by the committee for all signs and letterhead related to the group. They are also working on their master plan to present to PARC and eventually to the Town Council for their approval.
9) The PARC budget was presented by Ray for discussion. We will keep our budget of $4500 for the 2009-10 year.
Jason Race: Talked to members about starting a liaison program that would reach out to all sports groups and senior groups in town. This group would allow us to keep these groups informed if any issues come up pertaining to specific groups. The would be important if any resolutions were coming up at a Town Council meeting and would allow us to get a group mobilized to voice opinions on issues.
Lawrence Road Park: Stantec has sent 85% complete plans for the park but without any final costs. This is what we are waiting for so we can move forward with plans to start clearing the area. The final costs should be in soon. Ray will send and e-mail to all members as soon as it comes in. PARC may want to send a request to the Town Manager to try and get as much of the clearing s possible through the town to reduce some of the costs. This may allow us to get some trails set up in the park in the near future.
Master Plan: The Ten Year PARC Master Plan was discussed at the end of the meeting. Recommendations were made to move some projects and a new project was added to repair the Basketball/Baseball/Soccer fields at Ellsworth at a cost of $250,000. The new draft will be discussed at the December meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 10:45 pm
Next Meeting: December 10th, 2008 7:30pm
Respectfully Submitted
George S. Caye
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