Park and Recreation Commission
Minutes of the Meeting
September 18th, 2013
Meeting called to order: 7:35 pm.
Commissioners in Attendance: Rob O’Connor, Dan Van Horn, George Caye, Dave Romejko, Al Larson, Craig Zimmerman, Andy Paterna, Ray Favreau, John Caldwell, Katie Graham, Bill Nowak, Dan Rezende, Mike Kelly
Also in Attendance: Gary Bazzano, Farooq Dada, Srinivasa Chalikonoa, Sami Ahmed
Approval of Minutes: August Minutes Approved.
Public Input: Cricket group were given three sites in town to visit for a possible field. The areas were 1) Governors Highway behind fuel cell building 2) West Street by the Fire Department Building and The TE/OH Fields. They have 7 home games during the season on Sundays from 1 pm to dark. They explained that all the areas were suitable for practice but not legal size for a game. Ray explained that they may have to compromise and use one of them because there isn’t an area big enough for a cricket field and pitch (360 feet diameter) at this time. The best area is behind the Fuel Cell Building. Kip Shepard would let them use the field and there are plenty of parking spaces.
Report of Council Liaison: Gary thanked everyone who attended the Town Council meeting about the proposed fields. He thinks that a smaller version of the fields will be passed by the Town Council before the next election. Possibly one synthetic field and all the electrical and plumbing with some turf fields in the area. He was disappointed that the BOE and Schools were not behind the project and would still like to see Stadium field get synthetic turf. Craig asked how we could support the project as individuals. He advised all of us to contact all Town Council Members and ask them to support the project. The cost will be around 1.3 million. They might look for donations (Rotary) for lights.
Report of OSTF: King Street Property is still not complete. Working out the details and the town should acquire it soon. The soil tests on the Nelson property came back clean. The food alliance will work on getting another community garden set up on the property for the spring.
SWWWW: Bike Fleet has been ordered from PARC funds allocated at a previous meeting. This will be used for 4th Bike Education at the elementary schools and will be available for other bike education classes. Rob was thinking about asking the different sports groups if they would be like a one hour lesson on bike safety for the kids. They would be able to bring the fleet to the groups. SW&WW is still working on obtaining a trailer for the bikes. The Hartford Bike Tour is this Saturday and will be traveling through South Windsor on Chapel Road. The group did have some impact on the repaving of Ellington Road. They restriped for 11 foot car lanes, which gives bikers and walkers a wider shoulder to travel. SWW & WW will participate in the October 19th Haunted Torch Walk sponsored by SWPD. This event is to raise money for Special Olympics. Ray said that Rotary Club is building a propane fire pit and grill at the side of the Rotary Pavilion to be used for rentals and special
events like the winter Full Moon Walk.
South Windsor Food Alliance: The Farmers Market will continue until October 19th. This Saturday September 21st, the SWFD has asked that the market stay open until after three in conjunction with their events celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the South Windsor Fire Department. Designs were handed out on the new Community Garden for the Nelson Property. The group is working on a grant for $15,000 to study the Priest Property as a potential Arts and Education Center. There are 2 raised beds at TE School. The kids and teachers have plants growing and will use the produce in the cafeteria and donate the remaining produce to the SW Food Bank which recently purchased a refrigerator to keep donated perishable food.
The Farmer’s Market has outgrown the Church for their winter market and is looking for a new site. Someone suggested the basement at St Margaret Mary Church. Andy will contact them. They may end up back at the Unity Church but may have to turn away Vendors.
Report of Parks and Rec. Director: We now have $364,492 in funds and after all the projects that are in the works are completed, we will be left with $15,995 for the coming year. We have not received any funds from the town in two years.
- Skate Park: Work will begin in early October
- Rotary Field: The infield is being rebuilt to help with flooding on the third and first base areas. A new Scoreboard will be installed this fall and spring to be ready for the Spring SWHS season.
- VMP: Just completed 13th season. There are some problems with the gutter system and they are working on a solution with the original engineers.
- The Rec. and Parks Dept. is helping SWFD with its 75th Anniversary celebration this weekend.
- Ray is in the process of hiring a new Accounting Specialist for Parks and Rec. Department office.
Craig thanked the Rec Dept. for the work done on the Ellsworth Gym Floor. He said it’s the best job they have ever done on resurfacing the floor. Ray told him they started around Labor Day instead of July to reduce the humidity and it was easier to place two coats.
Craig also would like PARC representation at the BOE meeting where Dr. Carter will present her plan for the town Elementary School Project. Rob wanted to know how the final plan was presented to the Town Council at a meeting when we weren’t told of the final project at our PARC meeting in August. Craig told us that Dr. Carter has been talking to all groups and people may think the plan is final when it’s not.
Craig would also like the Rec. Dept to have a policy set for the use of all town fields and gyms by outside groups. Ray said that would be part of our PARC Master Plan during the current revision process. .
PARC Master Plan: Ray handed out a 5 part proposal on redoing our 2000 Master Plan. The old plan is on discs and can be easily redone. We are to go over the five points and see which ones are of interest. He recommends sub-committees of two to three people per subject to find what needs to be added to, changed or deleted from the original Master Plan to be up to date with the progress of South Windsor since the 2000 Plan was presented. We will discuss the 5 parts at next month’s meeting.
Meeting Adjourned at 10:10
Next Meeting: 7:30pm October 9th, 2013
Respectfully Submitted
George S. Caye
| 