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HomeMy WebLinkAbout20 11 PRB minutesMINUTES NOVEMBER 4, 2020 6:30PM TELECONFERENCE TYPE OF MEETING Monthly Meeting CHAIR Peter Billipp SECRETARY Mary McCulloch ATTENDEES Members Present: Peter Billipp, Will Bertron, Mary McCulloch, Mardi Turner, Maryann Graha mann, Laura Turley, Nina Pilson, Sami Morrison Members Absent: Brett Bingham, Lindsey Swiger, Jeff Chen Staff: Susan White Council Liaison: Not present VISITORS I. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 6:33 pm by Peter Billipp. II. Approval of October 7th Meeting Minutes: Crape myrtle typo pointed out by Mardi Turner. Laura Turley made a motion to approve with Mardi Turner seconding the motion. The minutes were approved. III. Citizen Comments: Courtney Bucy – the fields on Bellaire are a great resource for our community. In the fall she went every week with her kids. No pickup games and no private lessons are allowed. Courtney understands the policy but does not believe that land is overly busy. The area is so large that it is not a problem. Almost every group out there is violating this policy. This neighborhood has so many dual income families that use personal trainers or nannies instead of doing that themselves. Everyone seems respectful and these residents are using it as it should be. If we are going to start limiting people on the field it should be the nonresidents, not our residents. West U children with a private trainer should be allowed. Many examples of personal trainers and a pickup game being told to leave and even one time threatened that the police would be called with pro player Jane Campbell. Believes Tri-Sports may have been the ones to kick people off. She wants the right to pay a trainer to coach her children in sports that she did not play herself and use the neighborhood fields for it. Stephanie Kusinski – She wanted to listen. Her family uses the fields a lot, especially during quarantine. She would like to understand why these policies are in place and maybe they need to be reviewed. She and her family should be able to go to the field and play a game. Sarah McKenney – Like Stephanie and Courtney she would like to support a review of the policy. She uses the fields as a family and with personal trainers. Especially now she uses the fields as a way to get the kids together. For example, a bunch of kids go to the field and play a game together and they should be allowed to do that, but is this a “pickup game”? She has used the batting cages and soccer fields for personal training at West U Elem. Residents should be allowed to use the rec fields in this way. She has never been confronted about using these fields against the policy. Parks and Recreation Board Minutes page 2 Adrian – president of Rise SC, which is a non-profit and part of the three youth sport organizations making up Tri-Sports. It is a recreational program that uses the fields. Tri- Sports contributes a lot of money to the maintenance of the fields. Rise does not allow their own coaches to do private lessons there and they have had to fire employees who violate t hat policy. There is an issue with people bringing outside people to profit from these fields. There is no issue with West U residents using the fields. Peter thanked everyone for their comments. Susan provided the history behind the field use policy. Originally there weren’t field use policies at all. The fields at the rec center were exclusively for Tri-Sports. Susan thought residents should be allowed to use those fields recreationally, but there were policies needed to prevent boot camps and other businesses trying to use the space. Before these policies were created there was just a no use policy so it was completely objective. Opening it up has created a challenge for these subjective situations. Enforcement is difficult for staff so the policy was meant to help. If we allow it for one group, then we have to allow it for everyone. Field space is a premium in this city. Other cities with similar issues use permitting which would require insurance, etc. Mardi brought up Colonial East, which is the same amount of space. Most of the time the use there is before hours, but it might need a policy and ordinance too. Peter clarified that we all want the residents to be able to use neighborhood parks for their families and for private lessons, but there is the other side of the legal issues with private gain. He proposed coming up with something to present to council. Susan will need to talk to the City Manager. Laura asked if there is a legal proceeding that needs to be done first and Susan answered that it would need to be vetted through the City Attorney. Peter brought up the possibility of non-resident ninja warrior trainers could come to use our challenge course. Mardi pointed out that we don’t take any money from the state or county for the purpose of being able to restrict everything to residents only. Will recommended a philosophy to be used across the board for all parks. When Colonial was developed the field was supposed to only be for free play. The leagues discourage “secret practice”. All residents should be able to walk up to a park and use the field space. Paid trainers are discouraged because we don’t want to squeeze out the community. Mary asked about the MOU with Tri-Sports. The city pays for the electricity and water, but Tri-Sports pays for everything else and maintains it. They have specific times. The field is only supposed to be used for non-competitive, youth recreational play. Susan will email out the MOU for review. Board members should send questions and comments to Susan to compile for the next meeting. She also agreed with Will that the Parks Board should be looking at a policy for all parks, and will share research with the board. IV. Friends Update: Sami Morrison Not much to update. F&F would have been this coming Saturday, but it is going to be done at home this year. Signs were sponsored by a donor and put in the yards of citizens that have made donations this year. Largest fundraiser is PLB and we are working on a virtual event. It is going to be great and will raise funds to continue the progress on parks. Looking for a local corporate sponsor for the challenge course. Awaiting response for this. 3-year commitment starts at $20,000 in first year and goes down to $15,000 for the next two years, making a total of $50,000. V. Council Update: Mayor Pro Tem Kevin Trautner Not present VI. Parks & Rec Update: Susan White 1) COVID-19 Update – resumed some children and adult programming at the Rec Center. Have received requests for the Rec Center to open earlier. Lap swimming is more Parks and Recreation Board Minutes page 3 popular, so adding time at the pool will be evaluated from a cost standpoint. Senior services programs – virtual and drive by – have been very successful. The programming subcommittee will be utilized to improve programming offerings. 214 cars went through the Halloween drive by event and great feedback has been received. The tree lighting will be on Facebook live with the M ayor and the contest winners. There will be a laser light show event, which is in planning. 4 showings with 60 cars allowed in each. 2) Colonial Park East Update – The timer is going in, the start/stop sections are in. Truegrid will be used to provide ADA access to the challenge course. Stone similar to the building will be installed for the start/stop area. Next step is artificial turf. Still on target for end of November. Opening ceremony logistics TBD. Perimeter fencing will be painted to black powder coating. This is helpful for maintenance, matches and blends in better. Will asked about the gate entrance – the existing gate would open right into the course and will be removed at this time. Will asked about a lighting update. Susan will follow up. 3) Survey Update – A&M is still reviewing it in their Institutional Review Board due to COVID delays on their end. We will continue to ask for progress on this. 4) Tennis Committee – There have been complaints about too much instruction on the courts. There are a lot more players trying to use the courts during this time. Looking into this issue with lawyers as there typically is not use of public property for private gain. Sami is on the committee. 5) Misc. – Mardi asked where we stand with the MOU (memorandum of understanding) with Tri-sports. Susan believes this is still in the works with the city’s attorney. Piranhas and West U Baptist have gone with a standardized 5-year term. Laura asked about the basketball courts. Susan explained that she recommended reopening the basketball ½ courts after researching other entities (Harris County has had all basketball courts open since June, except for Precinct 1). The recommendation was also reviewed and approved by the city’s emergency operations commander. There is a “Emergency Disaster Declaration” in place allowing the \Mayor to use an executive order and he decided to remove the basketball goals again due to heightened safety concerns at this time. VII. Huffington Park Update Planning Discussion (2021): Not a lot of progress to discuss at this time. Looking for park users to participate on the committee. VIII. Friends Park Tree Discussion: Beyond January 1st, this tree needs to be reviewed. Low cost cleanup at that park as well. Potential for an artificial tree during the holiday season. Mardi asked about infrastructure needed for this tree and Susan said that the existing power supply would be sufficient. This eastern red cedar has outgrown its space. IX. Park Ambassador Assignments: • Colonial Park East (Will) • Colonial Park West (Nina) • Colonial Park Pool (Mary) Parks and Recreation Board Minutes page 4 • Friends Pocket Park (Sami) • Huffington Park (Maryann) – great job trimming the trees! • JEH Park (Laura) • Judson Park (Jeff) • Recreation Center Playground (Mardi) • Whitt Johnson (Brett) • Wier Park (Lindsey) X. Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m. Next meeting is tentatively scheduled for December 2, 2020.