Park and Recreation Commission
Minutes of the Meeting
November 18th, 2009
Meeting called to order: 7:30pm.
Commissioners in Attendance: Andy Paterna, George Caye, Dave Romejko, Dan Rezende, Rob O’Connor, Al Larson, Ray Favreau
Also in Attendance: John Pelkey, Craig Zimmerman,
Approval of the October Minutes: Motion made to accept the October minutes and seconded. Voted and approved unanimously.
Andy introduced Mayor John Pelkey to the members as our new Town Council Liaison for PARC. John mentioned that at the previous Town council meeting there was talk about lighting the South Windsor Football Field. He also talked later in the meeting about having all travel teams (basketball, baseball, soccer, football, etc.) be equipped with AED’s to be taking with the teams for all away games. Due to the cost this would have to be phased into the town’s budget and the teams would need to share the devices depending on seasons and schedules. It was also brought up at the previous Town Council meeting about the use of the new fields at the High School. Now it is only the High School teams that are allowed on the field. This issue was originally brought to the town by the girls
lacrosse teams that were playing on the fields. They currently have no fields to practice on this spring. Ray is in contact with them and is working on a solution.
Special Reports: Craig Zimmerman came to the PARC with the final numbers for the Indoor Batting Facility. They are still $25,000 short and he is formally asking the PARC to allocate $25,000 to the facility. This would allow them to finish the building this year and hopefully have it open for late winter early spring in 2010. The foundation was poured on 11/17 and the building structure is being raised this weekend. A motion was made by Dave Romejko and seconded to allocate $25,000 to go to the completion of the Indoor Baseball/Softball Hitting and Pitching Practice Facility at Nevers Park. This was voted on and passed unanimously.
SWW&WW: Members were at the grand opening of Wapping Park assisting in tours of the new trails in the park. There was also a small presentation at the new Dero Bike Rack at Nevers Park for Meghan Dzen and her family on November 15th. Meghan was the winner of the logo contest for SWW&WW. The committee would like to purchase more t-shirts for the group. A motion was made by George Caye and seconded to spend up to $1000.00 for the purchase of 100 shirts for SWW&WW. Motion was voted on and passed unanimously.
Andy Paterna presented some draft proposals for the PARC Master Plan. They are as follows with discussion on each printed afterwards:
- Skate/Wheels/Park at TE: Begin construction of Phase 1 Skate/Wheels Park on
TE grounds. Location will be near the existing tennis courts.
Cost: Approx $150,000 for Phase 1 design and construction. Andy is meeting with
the Superintendant of the Schools on 11/24/09 (11am).
- Dog Park Upgrades and Parking Issues:
- Plant shrubs at the parking area (near stones away from the fence). Plant shrubs along the walking trail on Chief Ryan Way up to the entrance of the Bark Park.
Cost: Approx $1500 for 30 plantings of Pyramidal Arborvitae 48-60 inches at $24.00.
- Parking: Post sings on Chief Ryan Way stating; beginning January 1, 2010 there will be NO ON STREET PARKING (except for the lot adjacent to the park, which includes Disability/Accessible parking spaces). All Bark Park visitors should park at the Community Center Lot and walk through Nevers Park to the Bark Park.
Cost: Approx. $300.00
- Cricket Pitch: Purchase a Cricket Pitch/Synthetic Turf. PARC can establish dates
and times for 7-1- Cricket Matches during the spring/summer/fall. Location: Rye
Street Park or Duprey Field or the new field at the High School.
Cost: Approx $800.00
- Lawrence Road Park: Land Clearing and Trails Marked
A meeting date with Public Works to be determined. They have agreed to discuss possible in-house land clearing.
Cost: Approx. $50,000. Can PARC assist in the overtime pay for Public Works Staff? Cost of Trails: To be determined.
These are all great proposals and PARC needs to look at implementing all of these in some way. On the Skate Park, Andy has a meeting set up with Dr. K on changing the school policy on no skateboarding on school grounds. He wants to see if there is a possibility to have the Skate/Bike Park built next to the existing TE Tennis Courts. This would cut down the cost by already having parking spaces. Most of the kids who came to the previous PARC meeting were of middle school age. This makes this area the best place for a Skate Park. High School kids can drive to the park.
The Bark Park upgrades. A motion was made and seconded to pursue cost estimates for the planting and to speak with Chief Tyler for the placing of No Parking signs along both sides and the entire length of Chief Ryan Way. These signs can be covered to allow parking on the street for large events at Nevers Park. Motion was voted on and passed unanimously.
Cricket Pitch: A motion was made and seconded to purchase a Cricket Pitch for the Cricket Club. This will be used for Sunday games at Rye Street Park. Once the Pitch is purchased, Ray will get in touch with the club and try and set up some dates for games.
Lawrence Road Park: Andy has been talking with Mike Gantick about setting up a meeting to see if Public Works can begin removing some trees and get the trails started. If this becomes possible we can allocate some money from PARC to assist in the cost of the tree removal.
Report of the Recreation Director: Ray told us that our current fund balance is $332,950.16. If we are able to go through with all of Andy’s proposals this would use up all of the remaining balance.
- Rye Street Park Building: The only item to be finished with the Shelter is the dumpster privacy screen. Ray is trying to get this finished. A lock box will be placed on the building for the Fire Department. There has been some vandalism at the building. Someone was trying to drill holes around a lock to get in the building. Ray is in discussions with the Police Dept. to have security cameras installed around the building.
- Ken Offiaeli: His jerseys have been retired and will be placed at TE and the Community Center. A Jersey is also being presented to Ken’s parents.
- There are now 188 kids in the 4th R Program.
- The South Windsor Community Foundation has recently awarded the following grants: $1500 for the Batting Cage Facility; $350 for the Down to Earth Garden Club; $350 for the Monday Night Social Club.
- The Rec. Dept. web page is currently under reconstruction to be a web base system. The Dept. is using Prestosports to complete the project of a new user friendly web page. They hope to have this in place for the spring of 2010.
- Ray gave PARC members a Capitol Projects punch list that is separate from our Master Plan on things that will need to be addressed in South Windsor in the next 10-20 years. We should review the list and bring and suggestions for changes or additions to the December meeting.
PARC needs to elect a Chairperson, Vice Chairperson and a Secretary. A motion was made and seconded to keep the same slate as the previous year. This was voted on and accepted unanimously. What was old is now new. Andy Paterna is the Chairman; Al Larson is the Vice Chairman and George Caye is the Secretary. Here we go again.
East Windsor contacted Ray about joining towns to build a Skate Park. They have an area next to the downtown Broadbrook section of East Windsor. After some discussion it would be beneficial for our kids to have a Skate Park near the TE Middle School. Ray will talk to them about possibly sharing the costs of making constructions plans and drafts for a new Skate Park.
Meeting adjourned at 10:00 pm
Next Meeting: 7:30pm December 9, 2009
Respectfully Submitted
George S. Caye
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