Park and Recreation Commission
Minutes of the Meeting
April 10th, 2013
Meeting called to order: 7:35 pm.
Commissioners in Attendance: Rob O’Connor, Bill Nowak, George Caye, Dave Romejko, Dan Rezende, Dan Van Horn, Al Larson, Katie Graham, Craig Zimmerman, John Caldwell and Ray Favreau
Also in Attendance: Tom Bartemelli, Suzanne Erickson, Mary Sullivan, Deb Morrison, Cricket Players: Srinivasa Chalikonda & Laxmikanth D.
Approval of Minutes: March Minutes Approved.
Public Input: 1) Tom Bartenelli represented the Pickle Ball Players and told the group they have around 20 players show up at Ellsworth. They are concerned with space this summer and would like to see more courts for the group. There are two courts at TE striped for Pickle Ball. Ray will see if the other two can be finished. They would also like to get reserved time but Ray explained it would be hard to do because of it being an individual sport and everyone would have to come to the Rec. Dept and register to get time on the courts. Wapping can’t be striped because the High School Tennis Team uses the courts and CIAC rules prohibit any other lines on the courts. Rye Street Courts are closed.
2) Suzanne Erickson and Mary Sullivan spoke against putting new fields and lights at
Nevers Park around there houses on Wyndemere Court. They have a meeting on April 18th at 7 pm at 102 Wyndemere Court and invited Gary Bazzano and any other members to explain what is being proposed for the area. Ray and John said they would attend with Gary and answer any questions they have about the project. Mary thinks there are too many fields for kids now and would like to see more sidewalks around town center and the town buildings in that area and around the High School and Wapping. She is concerned because right now there are no sidewalks connecting the schools to any of the fields and more fields would mean more pedestrian traffic with no sidewalks. She also suggested that the Priest Property might be a better location for fields. Mary would also like to see a
community garden in Nevers Park. Al informed them that SWW&WW has a master plan to connect the schools and town buildings. Ray said there are two sidewalk plans in the works; one is to connect the Town Center to Evergreen Walk on Buckland Road and the other is for sidewalks on Ayers Road. Rob also let them know that the Field Subcommittee was formed by the Town Council and not PARC and that after their meeting on April 18th, they may want to go to a Town Council meeting and voice their concerns.
3) Deb Morrison from 167 Ayers Road asked that the lights on the fields be turned off after ten. There were a few times last year where they were on after midnight. The SWPD calls John who has to call Al to turn them off. Ray said that they may have to install a timer to automatically shut off the light s at 9:30. She wanted to tell us that people are using her yard to cut through to the all purpose field from the lower field on Nevers instead of going up Ayers during lacrosse games. John will look at putting up signs or fencing to prevent that from continuing.
4) Two people from the cricket group gave Ray a roster list of 18 people and dimensions and diagrams for a cricket field. They will also send all the information to Ray via email. The teams are 11 per side. They are sharing a field in New Britain now and would like to use a field for their games this summer. Ray informed them that there are some areas in town but the the fields are not in great shape.
Report of Council Liaison: Gary was not at the meeting. Ray said they are revising the Field Plan. Also the Rec. Center Subcommittee is on hold due to a lot of confusion over the last few months as to what needs to be done for the Rec. Center. This may come back to PARC to form a committee.
OSTF: The King Street Property was on hold due to right of way issues. Ray said that it was almost complete. Jeff Folger recommended soil testing on the Nelson Property before the Food Alliance sets up a community garden.
Report of the Parks & Rec. Director:
Dzen Property: Mannarino Builders, Inc. owns the pond now and wants to continue with the Fishing Derby. Ray will meet with him to discuss plans.
Nevers Park: Irrigation pipes on the soccer field are almost complete. The project was originally quoted at $125,000 if out-sourced. By doing most of the work in house and with some in kind services from Liberty Landscaping, the total cost was around $30,000. This took around three weeks to complete. Great job by the Parks Division!
Fields: Most of the ball fields have been prepped and ready to play. They Parks Crew will finish next week.
VMP POOL: Two of the covers were removed this week. The filter medium was replaced with sand to try and eliminate an algae issue with the pool water.
Batting Cages: All the town batting cages were damaged by the last snow storm. Dave Romejko repaired the cage at the LL Complex. He is also in the process of rebuilding the Major B dugout that was destroyed last fall. Little League is looking for donations for the materials and will get dugout complete before opening day April 22nd. Dave also has some boy scouts that may replace the roofs on the Pepin dugouts for an Eagle Project. The new DQ is looking to donate the pitching machines and all the nets and material if any baseball groups want them.
Skate Park: Still in redesign stage.
Craig asked that a list be made of all the fields in South Windsor and the uses for each field. He wants the public aware of the field use in town. Ray and John have done an inventory of fields to present to the Field Subcommittee and then will post the list on the Town website. Craig and Ray are working on trying to get a new scoreboard for Rotary Field.
Community Gardens: Parks and Rec. is now in control of the gardens. They will be open May 1st. Next year they will begin charging a fee for the plots.
Paws in the Park: SW Jaycees sponsor the event and will offer booth and display space to all town committees.
Membership: Our NRPA and CRPA memberships are due. Ray explained what each offers and the associated costs. A motion was made to by Al to stop NRPA membership. The motion was seconded and voted on and passed unanimously. Ray advised us to keep the CRPA membership and will send in the dues. He will also investigate free subscriptions to Athletic Business and Recreation Management Magazines for commissioners as alternative professional journals that feature very similar information as the NRPA journal.
SWW&WW: Four members of the group will be attending a training session the weekend of May 17-19. The will be about 25 hours of teaching from the League of American Bicyclists (LAB). This will allow SWW&WW members to teach bike safety free to the community. It will also save money for the SW BOE with members co-teaching the 4th grade bike classes with physical educators as part of their adopted curricula. The cost of the class is $300 per person and $40 to join the LAB. So the total cost would be $1280 for all
four because two are already LAB members. A motion was made and seconded for PARC to spend $1280 from our PARC budget to found the class for the four SWW&WW members. This was voted on and passed unanimously. Ray will be a guest speaker at the Bike/Walk CT Summit in New Haven on April 27th.
May 12th is the annual Community Bike Ride. This year’s ride will begin at the Post Office on Main Street and go over onto the new bike trail in Windsor. Look on the website for more info.
CT Trails Day is June 2nd. We will be at the Neiderwerfer Nature Preserve off of Barber Hill road. The cleanup day is May 11th.
Chapel Road is going to be resurfaced this summer. The group is working with the town to have bike lanes placed similar to the ones on Sand Hill Road.
Disc Golf: As agreed by PARC, Ray was looking at Wapping Park but that is now questionable due to the possibility of Grasshopper Sparrows being relocated to an area in the park from CT Studios Property as part of a mandatory mitigation plan. Stay tuned for more on that one.
SW Food Alliance: The group will be taking over the Summer Farmer’s Market from the Historical Society. The market will be at the Community Center in the front lawn between My Friends Place and Nevers Road. The season will run from June to September on Saturday mornings.
PARC Master Plan: The Town Manager presented a $2.2 million ten year plan to fund Capital Projects but nothing involving PARC projects in year one, and hopefully some of the projects that failed in the Nov., 2012 referenda in subsequent years. Due to the leasing method of financing suggested by the Town Manager projects were mostly town emergency and safety related items and more equipment related. The Council didn’t vote on it at their last meeting. The Town Council may still take $150,000 from our PARC Master Plan Account. Not a done deal but more than likely we will be left with about $50,000 for next year’s plan with no monies being added for the 2013/14 Town Budget. Not a good way to end 2013 and start 2014.
Motion made and seconded to adjourn.
Meeting adjourned at 10:10 pm
Next Meeting: 7:30pm May 8th, 2013
Respectfully Submitted
George S. Caye
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