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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-06-16-REC-min Town of Lexington Recreation Department Karen Simmons, Recreation Director Tel: (781) 862-0500 x262 Fax: (781) 863-2350 RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES June 16, 1999 Members Present: Sandra Shaw, Pam Varrin, Dick Neumeier, Don Chisholm Staff Present: Karen Simmons, Brian Gilbert, Matt Casparius AGENDA: 1. The meeting minutes from May 19, 1999 were read and approved. 2. Little League Fees Bob McConnell was not able to attend, but would like to make his presentation at the Recreation Committee meeting in August. This was approved; however there was still a discussion about fees. Dick suggested that perhaps Babe Ruth and Lexington Youth Soccer should pay a fee based on how many weeks they are using the fields. The fee he suggested was $1 per week per child. Don brought up the issue of whether there should be a cap the fee since some programs run as long as 10 weeks and if the organizations are now complaining fees of $5 - 8 they would really complain about a $10 fee. Pam and Brian both feel that Little League doesn’t put as much wear and tear on the fields as soccer, so why should they have to pay equally. Sandra and Karen both feel that trying to keep track of the $1 per week per child would be a logistical nightmare to try and monitor. 3. Capital Articles Karen needs to submit the Recreation Department’s 5-year budget projection to the Town th Manager’s office by June 30. Before she can do that she needs to find out when the capital articles will be approved by the State. Sutherland will be the priority park for repairs, which will push back all the other parks by one year. Article #29- Pine Meadows Improvements Brian had a meeting with Bob Healy who is an irrigation consultant. He will be working on Pine Meadows, Harrington, and the Cemetery all under one project. His service will be the same as what the engineering department would have done for us. Once he is done, he will provide us with a cost analysis for each of these areas. Brian first has to provide him with a number of documents about the areas, and what has been done to them previously. Brian is going to get this 1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE • LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02420 2 information to Healy in the next 2-3 weeks. The possibility of having Bob Healy be the engineer of the project was discussed, which would make him the supervisor of the inspections and installation of the project. Depending on how the timing works out, the irrigation system should be ready to be installed during the Fall of 1999. If the timing doesn’t work out, it will have to wait until the Fall of 2000, since the course cannot be dug up in the springtime. Article #30- Athletic Field Development Brian contacted the surveyor, and they are in the process of setting up an on-site meeting at the Harrington area. One of the things that Brian needs to find out is the distance between the property and the wetlands buffer zone. If the project goes into the 100-foot buffer zone, we will first have to get approval from Conservation, and the cost to delineate the wetlands will be ours. The surveyor’s project will be to determine how close we will be to that buffer zone. The second challenge for this article is for Brian to determine where the property line falls on the Lowell Street side, at the point where the boundary is near private property. The committee discussed their knowledge of the building that is located there. The surveyor can determine for us if the building and part of the woods and the driveway are on private or town property. From this discussion it was suggested that if the building is on town property, then perhaps a land swap could be worked out with the owner of the building. Article #31- Athletic Field Improvements Dick shared a memo he had received from Brian McNally that discussed his priorities regarding this article. He feels that the bleachers are a safety hazard and need to be fixed immediately. Over the last 5 years small repairs have been made, but Brian feels that it is time to replace the bleachers instead of just patching them. As part of the new bleachers, he would like to create a permanent storage area for sports equipment so that it is no longer necessary to rent a storage unit every year. Brian would like to include from this article the bleachers, track resurfacing, Clarke fields, and Center #4 as the priority items to be completed for the summer of 2000. Then, the following year, the focus would shift to the tennis courts and fields at Diamond. Pam inquired whether there were a current design available which included the storage area as part of the support structure for the bleachers. Brian Gilbert replied that the capital request was based on regular bleachers, so the question arose as to whether or not the scope of the project (in terms of money values and structure) could be changed after it had been approved by the State. Brian McNally also requested that the track be resurfaced with the Mondo Track surface instead of a normal surface since it should last twice as long. However, the capital request to the State only budgeted for the normal surface similar to what is currently there, so Brian Gilbert said he would look into what it would cost for the Mondo surface. Brian McNally requested additional items such as new bleachers with storage for his sports teams. Karen feels that this is not a priority for the town and although he sees it as a priority, he should use athletic funds for the track and bleacher upgrades. At this time, the Recreation Committee does not recommend using part of the $1.7 million towards bleacher upgrades. Dick recommends that a meeting be setup with Brian Gilbert, John Moynihan, Brian McNally, and one other member of the Recreation Committee. John Moynihan is the project manager for capital article #31, so hopefully with this meeting they can sort out priorities for exactly what and how things should be done. 3 4. Karen’s Report Karen met with John Moynihan and Fire Chief Jack Quinlan because John wanted to completely block off access behind Bridge School while it is under construction to provide space for approximately 30 tractor trailer trucks to be parked behind the building. However, after a discussion emphasizing that the Fire Department and Parks Department needed to get to the Old Res with emergency vehicles and maintenance trucks, John agreed to leave an 18-foot space to enable the Fire and Parks Departments to get back there. Additionally, the two handicapped accessible parking spots will also remain in the same location. The Recreation Department has just finished two days of interviewing for the Program Coordinator position, and three candidates have been recommended to the Town Manager’s office. Reference checks will be completed on those three candidates, and a job offer will be made very soon. The Skateboard/inline Park Committee has been slow in their progress lately due to a debate over exact location of the stakes. The committee is trying to move closer to the softball field, which is causing a problem. The approximate size of the Skate Park is 12,000 square feet. Bob McConnell, representing the committee, said that he was ok with the current location. However, the project is stalled because of opposition from one committee member. Karen wants to set up a meeting with the entire committee to discuss the issues so that this project isn’t held up any further. Complaints have been coming from the kids involved in the development of this skate park because the committee isn’t getting all the facts to them. Karen recommends that the committee post a sign to advertise the skate board park location and request donations to show the town how close they are to reaching the goal. Part of the new Program Coordinator’s job will be to work with the skate park committee and move things along. Related to this issue, the Recreation Department has been receiving complaints from the residents on Raymond Street because the curbs were just rebuilt and the road re-surfaced, which is attracting a lot of skateboarders to the street. Residents are afraid that someone is going to get hurt. Police Chief Chris Casey has been notified and promises that more patrols will go through that area. 5. Brian’s Report The two new signs for the boardwalk at the Fitness Path just came in, but he feels that they look too large since they are 24” x 24”. He hasn’t had a chance to put the signs up yet to see how they look. These signs will be put on both ends of the boardwalk at Worthen Road and near Lincoln Park. A new sign will be posted at Sutherland Park stating that no one is allowed in the park ½ hour after sunset till ½ hour before sunrise. The current dry spell is really killing the fields. Brian hopes that the new seed at Lincoln field will germinate before it gets too hot. 4 The tent frame went up at the Old Res today. This tent will be used as a rain shelter for Teddy Bear Picnic preschool program. Brian feels that there is a need to revisit the issue of shady areas at the pool, since there aren’t too many areas that do have shade. There is increased use of sunscreen which is clogging up the filters at the pool. There have been some problems with high readings at the pool, which is most likely due to a combination of having old septums at the pool with the new marcite. Replacement of the septums is something that is part of FY ’01 Pool Capital project. The levels are starting to get back to normal, but in the meantime Brian would like us all to pray for rain. The meeting was adjourned at 7:25 p.m. NEXT MEETING JULY 28, 1999 AT 7:00 PM PINE MEADOWS TOUR