Park and Recreation Commission
Minutes of the Meeting
September 8, 2010
Meeting called to order: 7:35pm.
Commissioners in Attendance: Andy Paterna, George Caye, Dan Rezende, Al Larson, Sharon Parlapiano, Rob O’Connor, Craig Zimmerman, Ray Favreau
Also in Attendance: Mayor John Pelkey, Kevin McCann, and Gary Bazzano
Approval of Minutes: Approval of July Minutes.
Public Input: None
Special Report: Town Council member Kevin McCann asked the PARC members to consider, along with the Public Park, Open Space and Facility Naming Committee, a Town Council Proposal to name a Youth Athletic Field in Commemoration of the service of Craig Pepin to Youth Sports in South Windsor. They would like PARC to recommend to Town Council a field to be named in his memory. The Little League Organization and the Pepin Family have indicated that they would like the Major A field in the Little League Complex to be considered. Craig Zimmerman brought up the point that even though this is under very different circumstances, he has other names (Fred Hammick, Ralph Giansanti, Coach Sharos, and Dick Pelikan) who should also be looked at for naming. A point was made that there are other people
alive that more deserve to be named for baseball fields based on what they have been doing for the sport over the years and what they will continue to do for baseball. We really need to look at all the facts because once the field is named it would be hard to try and move the name to a different facility because of wanting to put a more deserving person’s name on the original field. Craig suggested that we support the idea of naming a field in Mr. Pepin’s honor but not name a specific field. Andy and Rob would like it to be field specific. Rob suggested that we think about a memorial plaque in the complex that can have names added to it in the future instead of one field. Eventually the town will run out of specific fields or areas to name and a memorial area in the complexes or parks will allow names to be added. Mayor Pelkey had a couple of points. PARC will only make a recommendation to the Town Council who will make the
final decision. The High School has set up a Memorial Garden at the entrance to the school with names of teachers and students who have passed away. Ray had an idea that PARC become responsible for a Memorial Garden at one of the Athletic Complexes. He would like PARC to think about ideas for Craig Pepin and also for Jim Snow for the October meeting.
Council Liaison: Mayor John Pelkey: The Town Attorney is looking at draft 9 of the Tobacco Ban Ordinance. Craig wanted to know if the parking lots would still be available to smokers and if the Ordinance could also include pick-up games and not just scheduled youth events. It was decide that Section A 3 be changed to read; “Youth Event” means any gathering of participants under the age of eighteen (18) years for any scheduled games, matches, practices, team meetings, parent meetings, contests, or activities.
OSTF: No Report
Report of Parks and Rec. Director: Ray has spent most of the summer with the Park Dept. getting things in order. Nevers Baseball Field is getting a new infield and new dugout benches.
Ray is working on a new Field Policy to address field assignments and other issues when it comes to multi-sport fields. This will allow him to assign fields to priority seasons (Soccer in the fall and Lacrosse in the spring).
Capital Projects Committee: Town Council approved the transfer of $175,000 to our budget.
There has been some graffiti spray painted on the basketball court at Oak Street Park and the town is working on getting it removed.
Ray received an e-mail from David Laiuppa who would like to come to a PARC meeting to talk about setting up a disc gold course in town. He is willing to look for a site, design the course and help in setting the course up. He estimates the cost at $15,000 to $30,000 depending on the materials used for the baskets.
SWW&WW: All 8 pre-concert rides by the group were well attended. LL Bean raffled of a bike to one of the riders from all the rides at the last concert. There will be Bicycle Education Class for Senior Citizens on Sept. 18th at the Community Center. The group has completed over 50% of the application to become a “Bicycle Friendly Community”. They were also instrumental in having bike lanes painted on the new Sand Hill Road project which is almost complete. They are waiting to put up signs on the road. A motion was made to approve a $3740.00 expenditure to pay for the Sand Hill Road bike lanes for striping the lane, 6 bike markings and 6 signs. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Mayor Pelkey suggested that SWW&WW try and give an award at a Chamber meeting for the most bicycle friendly business. Possibly give them a bike rack for the business
Lawrence Road Park: Alan Witkin sent Ray a picture from his plane of the future parking lot for the park which was cleared for storing equipment for the Lawrence Road reconstruction project. The town will use this area this winter to begin clearing the trails when Parks crew has some down time.
Indoor Batting Facility: The paint is peeling on the siding. Mayor Pelkey is trying to get all the panels replaced and have contracted with Bill Jodice to rebuild the facility. John and Craig will be meeting with the insurance inspector this week to look at the problems.
Bark Park: Ray has met with the Friends of the Park Group. The group will for now be responsible for inside the fences of the Bark Park and the Parks crew will take care of the outside including mowing outside the fences and fence repairs.
A Motion was made to spend $15,000 of PARC money to help in the repairs needed on the Timothy Edwards Tennis Courts. Ray is waiting for bids to come back from contractors. Vote was taken and passed unanimously.
Andy has also been in contact with the new School Superintendant about keeping the location of a Skate Park in the Timothy Edwards area. He has also talked with the food service director Mrs. Lopez about an Edible Schoolyard which would have children clear an area on the school grounds and plant a garden with the produce used in the lunches for the kids and teachers. She suggested that Pleasant Valley be the pilot school.
Meeting adjourned at 10:15 pm
Next Meeting: 7:30pm October 13th, 2010
Respectfully Submitted
George S. Caye
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