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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDraft Minutes - Recreation and Parks Committee - 04/11/2022 RECREATION AND PARKS COMMITTEE Monday April 11, 2022 City Hall Room 301 – 4:15-5:30 PM Meeting Minutes Present: Mike Simoneau, William Sudbay, Bill Barber, Lauren Wedam, Christy Pilsucki, Ravi Venkataraman, Oliver Pierson Staff: Holly Rees Absent: Jon Pence Guests: none Meeting called to order at 4:17pm by Bill Barber. Changes or additions to the agenda- Bill None Comments from the public not related to the agenda- Bill None Approval of minutes from March- Bill Mike moved to approve the minutes. Will seconded. Motion passes. ARPA Funding Projects- Holly Review of the American Recovery Plan monies. Holly provided some history. The City received 5 million, 1 million slated to go to sustainable staffing for the City and 1 million slated for affordable housing. This leaves the City with a little over 3 million. City Council is going to hold 3-4 listening sessions for ideas over the summer to hear from the community and committees about how to spend remaining money. There will be a 4–5-month period for submitting idea. The City Council will consider ideas and how they align with City initiatives, priorities and strategies. Holly said some of the ideas from R&P are a parks master plan, IRF, deferred maintenance, community garden projects for the City and investing in the off shoot, disconnected trails in the City. Holly said they are looking to brainstorm ideas. Mike asked if there is any preference attached to the funds. Oliver suggested outdoor public pool. Ravi asked if there are other facilities that we are looking into other than the IRF, his understanding the money has to be used for facilities. Holly said it can be investments too. Ravi suggested more accessible services in the parks. Will asked about the mall acquisition and thoughts about the IRF being there. Holly said she has not been at the table for those conversations. Holly said the City wants to immerse in community before they make decisions, but IRF has come up as a potential option for the money. Commented [CP1]: Priorities and Strategies Updates FY22 and Annual Report-Holly Holly reviewed during meeting including overall plan, implementation strategy, responsible leader and updates. The plan aligns with the fiscal year so will be doing new one soon to go live in July. Holly said the work plan feeds into this document, so it is time to start thinking about it and building the work plan for 2023 which will then be summarized for annual report at end of 2022. Work Plan FY 2023- Holly Holly said she wants to let everyone know this is coming, discuss how do we want to manage the timing of it and what is the capacity for members to help out. Bill suggested that they meet the Wed before the next two monthly meetings. Bill wanted to assess interest/capacity before spending too much time on scheduling. Holly said we can send the work plan out by email but have to be mindful of open meeting law. Plan: Holly and Bill will meet 5/4 2:30-4:30pm to do the work plan and then will send it out to the Committee. If people have comments, send them to Bill or Holly directly. Common Areas for Dogs Committee Update- Mike Mike said they are making progress on the dog park. He said the site is still very wet so can not do much more on this until the ground dries. Holly said they do have a dog data sheet for dog complaints, tracking them as they come in. The Dog Committee is putting together a report that will go to Holly and CC for consideration. Looking for investment in creating stations for dogs (i.e. poop bags). Holly said the question is who is going to fill the stations, clean the stations. Parks Maintenance is drive up only so they might not be able to do this if they can not drive up to the stations. There was some discussion about City versus personal responsibility with regard to picking up/disposing of poop and poop bags. Question was raised of whether that money should/could be spent elsewhere. Update on Planning Commission- Ravi Public hearing of changing the official map, current map running parallel to Rt 2. Change to PUD requirements, civic spaces and site amenities. Civic space can be reduced by 50 percent if development is within a certain distance of another civic space. In this definition this could be a public or private space. Ravi asked if Holly reviews PUDs. Holly said she reviews and is consulted on the bigger PUDs. Holly said there is some misinformation on FPF. The property off Park Road is not part of Wheeler. It was part of a land swap. Ravi said we should start thinking more about public space and these questions: are they accessible? are they equitable? Are they comprehensive enough to meet the needs of the development? During the last meeting, talked a lot about transfer development rights. Ravi said that is something to keep in mind, this allows for more conservation but who conserves that land? Is it going to be part of recreation or just conservation? Things to keep in mind. Conservation is an equity issue, need to be mindful of this. Holly said this is a great statement and thank you for that. Holly said as they look at Hubbard/Underwood, a connectivity pathway and viewing area there is conflict between equity and environmental issues and it is important to have conversations about this. Oliver offered the name Frank Spaulding who is the Forest Parks and Rec for the State and knows about impervious pathways. Red Rocks Management Plan Memo- They had a virtual meeting for the community a few weeks ago. They are planning to do the same with all the parcels that are open spaces, starting with most trafficked ones (Wheeler, Hubbard.) Holly said this should take 6-9 months. They are looking for approval and an approval memo. Ashley Parker to present to CC and thinks it will be part of a consent agenda. Holly said she is happy to answer any questions. No questions from Committee. Mike said he scanned the report, and it would be nice to acknowledge that Jon was on the committee and that R&P had a hand in this. Oliver said he read the memo. Mike makes a motion that the Committee approves the Red Rocks plan management update. Oliver seconded. Motion passed. Director’s report Holly reviewed highlights from the director report including attendance, programs, fields, Red Rocks, internal committees, grants, spring/summer projects and funding. Holly said that rec impact fees need to be updated (not updated since 2007). Holly discussed a collaboration with the library. Oliver inquired if the Szymanski update includes the bike path as it is need of some repair. Holly said there is water runoff and a compromised tree; these have been earmarked. Holly said she has not heard of anything else on the pathway. Holly can pass on the concern. Oliver asked if there are any use statistics on City Hall Park and how much outreach was done in the community about the park. Holly said no, it is new in our inventory. Bill and Mike distributed a South Burlington Parks Map. For next month’s meeting: Will meet at the Wheeler Park parking lot. Bill said to wear sneakers, he will be orienting the Committee on how parks should be maintained. Discussed number of upcoming position openings on the Committee, likely 3-4 positions. Bill asked if we should meet in July and August or take a summer break? Holly said July makes sense for a break, August is when we think about budgeting so Holly said we will just need to be mindful of that. Meeting adjourned at 5:28pm by Ravi, seconded by Mike. Motion passes. Respectfully submitted, Christy Pilsucki