HomeMy WebLinkAbout19 03 PRB minutes MINUTES MARCH 6TH , 201 9 6:30 PM REC CENTER – CONFERENCE ROOM TYPE OF MEETING Monthly Meeting CHAIR Peter Billipp SECRETARY Nina Pilson ATTENDEES Members : Maryann Grahmann , Mary McCulloch , Scooter Lerner , Nina Pilson , Sami Morrison , Brett Bingham , Steve Damiani , Tracy Larson , Jeffrey Chen , Spyros Maragos Staff: Susan White Councilmember: Kevin Boyle VISITORS Alida Drewes I. Call to Order : T he mee ting was called to order at 6:3 2 pm by Peter Billipp . II. Approval of November 7 2018 Meeting Minutes : Scooter made a motion to approve with Peter seconding the motion . The m inutes were approved. III. Ci tizen Comments : Alida Drewes present. She feels that h er comments from the last meeting’s minutes are not correct and do not make sense. She noted a spelling mistake. She also says that it wasn’t the church that wants to buy property but the city of West U. As for as the dog park, there is plenty of space for a dog park. She doesn’t believe a city council member doesn’t believe we need a dog park, and said many people agree with her assertion. IV. Council Update: Biggest issue is the virtual gate which is essentially cameras at the traffic lights. The C ouncil is t rying to improve transparency of the process. This type of system could be very good way to catch repeat offender s so that the police could be notified immediately. They will be stationed at a ny entry point into the neighborhood and they are also t ryin g to partner with Center Point but they are moving at a slow pace. Nina asked if he could summarize what was going on with the ATT issue . Kevin clarified that t h ey do a lot of important business out of that building and also have the ability to install U -Ve rse. The big issues center around their needing a proper loading area and would like the convenience of using a dolly to load up the vans. Currently, w e do not allow them to do that now. They are also a sking for a variance and then agreeing to turn left to Bellaire and limit hours of operation. In return, they want to s et back area to increase their green space. But , due to all the hype surrounding this variance, they dropped doing all of this and holding off proce eding with anything as of now. V. Staff Update: Susan White 1. WEST U Recreation Center Safety and Customer Service Enhancements : They had pre -bid mtg. The bids are due back on 3/14 and sh e should have some solid numbers to share with us by next mtg. Friends approved up to 90K in funding for the improvements.
Parks and Recreation Board Minutes page 2 2. Colonial Park Pool – Amenity Replacement/Programming Sub -Committee: Susan shared that we are in the v ery preliminary stages of pool re -desig n but we will be using the s ame company th at originally designed Colonial Park. Susan wanted to remind everyone that in 2020, the pool will need to be resurfac ed so it ’s a good time to redo the features. The slide and our bigger drop slide are the focus . Susan said that the group l ooked at several new features , but it was decided that we don’t want to have anything shooting water other than the existing . Bobble feature would break up the open area so kids can’t run through too fast. The sub -committee like d this feature a lot. They also nixed the Vortex and dumping water toy s don’t always go over well. For the slide, the city has repaired the stairs 3 -4 times but we can’t repair them much more. It is 27K for replacement stairs so it has been decided to potentially redo stairs and change slide entir ely (chan ging it to two slide s is not possible). Susan handed out two different versions of slides and there is n ot much difference, just manufacturing differences. Spyros asked if Vortex has the industry lead. Susan said it was also mentioned that a Wally slide would be a good replacement for the t oddler slide. While we had consultant, Susan said they asked what other things could be looked a t for the main feature. The city will run reports to see who the heavy users are and will work to get additiona l feedback from them. The goal is to have approval by June mtg, same for Friends Board. Peter mentioned that we need to be finishing the work by next winter. VI. Recy c ling and Waste Receptables – we have streamlined the receptable and adding a total of 32 o f these units. We have 50 fixed units currently, with very few recycling containers. These are going to be much more prominent and their goal is hopefully to reduce the contamination of recycling materials. VII. Parks Redevelopment Plan Discussion: Peter and Susan met with Sami and Donna to review the redevelopment of some of the parks that need it the most. Even though Judson is listed a #4 for redevelopment, consideration should be given now for the addition of shade. The large 30x 50 super span s tructure is costly at $40K. Tracy mentioned concerns that the neighbors may not like it and it might make the area seem too closed in. A 15ft x15ft topper can be added to the 2 -5 play structure. This cost is $13K. Susan recommends the smaller structure because the trees will eventually grow and provide shade. For the Whitt Johnson park re -development : we want to remove the gazebo and possibly expand the 2 -5 yr are a , older 5 -12 year old equipment needs to be removed – no longer manufactured/no replacement parts. There is a lso talk of replacing the turf with some easier materials that keep maintenance down. Hopeful we can move forward with a vote, early May mtg we should have a decision to present to Council. VIII. Friends Update: Cha ir Sami Morrison: Nov 2 -3 is the new Fathers and Flashlights date. Hot of the press: our PLB Chairs M ary F rances and Dave Dumay and Kim Eads (Underwriting Chairs) but still no date. Net looks like $230 -240 K from PLB Gala similar to years past , but décor budget was a little high and silent auction wasn’t as strong as years past. IX. Park Ambassador Reports & Advisory Remarks : Colonial Park East (Jeffrey) Colonial Park West (Mary ann)
Parks and Recreation Board Minutes page 3 Colonial Park Pool (Mary) Friends Pocket Park (Spyros) Huffington Park (Scooter) – strobe lighting issue fixed JEH Park (Tracy) Judson Park (Nina) Recreation Center Playground (Steve ) Whitt Johnson (Brett) – replacing the back board, double rim is staying. Wier Park (Sami) X. Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 7:31 p.m.