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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-10-18-REC-min Town of Lexington Recreation Committee Sandra Shaw, Chairman Tel: (781) 862-0500 x262 Pamela Varrin, Vice Chairman Fax: (781) 863-2350 Frederick DeAngelis Donald A. Chisholm Richard L. Neumeier RECREATION COMMITTEE MEETING October 18, 2000 Members Present: Sandra Shaw, Pam Varrin, Don Chisholm, Rick DeAngelis, Dick Neumeier Staff Present: Brian Gilbert, David Pinsonneault, Matt Casparius AGENDA: 1. David Pinsonneault, new Superintendent of Public Grounds, was introduced to the members of the Recreation Committee and welcomed to the Town. 2. The minutes from September 20, 2000 were approved. 3. Capital Budget 5-year Karen Simmons had to turn in the 5-year Capital Budget last week. Some changes have been made, so we need to go over it. We’ve got some big developments on the Pine Meadows project. The entire project is going to cost over $530,000 for the maintenance building, parking lot and road. With such a high cost, we cannot afford to do the entire project in one year, so Karen is recommending in the budget that the project be phased in over two years. Phase I: would be to complete the road. Phase II: would include the maintenance building and the parking lot. Don led a discussion with the committee questioning whether or not this was a necessary investment. The committee feels that the overall cost is a bit expensive, and would like to look at it again at the next meeting. The feeling is that the members need to be able to rationalize the expense themselves before they can defend it at Town Meeting. It was suggested that Dick Lakutis come to the next meeting, if possible, to outline the details of the project and what the various components would be when broken down. Retaining wall - The engineers are still conducting their study on the retaining wall. Karen does not have a recommendation for the committee yet. However, she had to include it in the 5-year capital plan, so she has put a placeholder in for FY05. Depending on how the report comes back 1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE • LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02420 2 from the engineer things might change. If the report shows that the wall is in critical condition and must be done immediately, then the project will be pushed up to FY02 and everything else will move back one year. We should have the study for the November meeting. 4. Recreation Report Skate Park - Karen is concerned with the type of fill material that was put into the site. Jack Cunha updated Matt via email that the gravel was in and that they were hoping to have the concrete poured in the next two weeks. Dave Pinsonneault inspected the site this week and reported that as he understood it, the fill material was supposed to be road quality grade, yet the fill material has a lot of larger stones (4 - 8 inches) in it. If the larger stones are left there it will cause a lot of maintenance problems in the future. It was suggested that we see about having Peter Chalpin or the architect from Geller Associates review the work done thus far. Matt will contact the Skateboard Committee about this. Sandra is concerned about the fundraising efforts and is afraid that the Skateboard/Inline Park Committee might be rushing through the project simply to finish it. We have to make sure that everything is done correctly so that we don’t get stuck with a poorly built park. Sutherland Park - On Sunday, October 15, 2000, the Sutherland Park neighborhood gathered nd together for the 2 annual Park Beautification Day. Karen Simmons attended representing the Town. We have received phone calls from the coordinators, Christine Maestri and Chris Kochanski, thanking Dave for his valuable assistance with this project. Karen has already sent letters to Christine and Chris thanking them for setting up this work day, and suggested that it would be a nice gesture if the committee sent one as well. Sandra volunteered to send this letter. The storage trailers that will be used to hold the playground equipment until it can be installed have just arrived and the playground structure is expected to arrive any day now. The old playground equipment has been removed and the site is being prepped for the new structure. Weather permitting, it will be installed this fall. Adams irrigation - Karen, Cheryl Ozolins, Ron Russo and Larry Anderson met with John Breen, the President of Lexington Youth Soccer, and as far as the LYS board is concerned they had only agreed to pay for the irrigation at Muzzey, not Adams. He will go back to his board to see if they are willing to pay this bill (or some part of it) this one time. It is the collective memory of the Recreation Committee that LYS had agreed to pay for both Muzzey and Adams. However, the meeting minutes from when this issue was discussed are not clear. We have to make sure that when decisions are made that they are very clear-cut so that we don’t end up in a situation like this again in the future. Rick feels that we should still meet with the Water Department to see about getting some sort of abatement and he volunteered to do so. With the increased numbers that we now have on our fields, Dick feels that in the long term we need to increase the field usage fees. Rick feels that we need to figure out exactly who uses what fields and when and try to come up with some sort of rationale for figuring out the cost of water in those new fees. One thing that we need to consider is that soccer, for example, will be sending out their spring flyers soon, so if we are going to raise fees then we need to do so soon. It was suggested that we send a letter to the organizations that use the fields explaining that we are anticipating that field usage fees are going to go up to cover the costs of these water bills. Sandra feels that it is appropriate for the Recreation Department to send out this letter out as opposed to the 3 committee. It was decided to wait to hear whether or not LYS would pay the outstanding water bill before discussing fee increases again at the November meeting. 5. Parks Report Article 31 Update- The status is still the same. We are waiting for the cost estimate to arrive from Geller Sport. According to Karen, they are still waiting to receive the digital maps from Brian Gilbert. Brian had talked to John Moynihan who was supposed to get the maps to Peter Karalexis in the Engineering Department who would turn them over to Geller Sport. Brian actually thought that had been done already, but will follow up to make sure. Pool Rehab Update- Two of the pool covers came in today and the others are expected to arrive by the end of the week. Once they arrive, the pool will be cleaned out and the covers will be installed. Dick Lakutis is getting the pricing together for the shade pavilions. We still need to finalize the vendor from whom the structures will be purchased and then, depending on costs, whether a contractor will be hired to install them or a DPW crew on overtime. Old Res Update - A new boardwalk as well as new sand will be installed in the spring. Building maintenance will be working on a plan to address the issue of the lack of hot water in the Old Res bathhouse. 6. New Business Don Chisholm wanted to spend a few moments discussing the progress of Senior Center Siting Committee on which he serves. There are six locations that are still being considered for the new site. One is the soccer field at Muzzey. One of the reasons that this site is a possibility is that if a new facility were to be built on this site, then the existing senior center could still be used and a smaller building could be built on the current field. Don would like some feedback from the committee before he makes any decisions on his vote for this site. If the new senior center were placed on Muzzey Field, where would a new soccer field be built? If it were decided to build on this site, part of the building process would include funds to replace the field elsewhere in Town. Dick feels that we need to have a new field built for us before we give up our current one. One possible location for a new field is on the Met State Hospital land on Walnut Street. This land would need some work to be suitable for a soccer field. The issue would be in coming to an agreement with the State over the use of the land. Another possible site for the Senior Center that Don wanted to suggest is the land by the North Street Sand Pits where it intersects with Lowell Street. There are almost three acres of Town owned land not designated as conservation land that could be used. Part of the three acres can only be accessed from Lowell Street, which wouldn’t be good since Lowell Street is such a busy road, but the other part of it can be accessed from North Street. The reason that Don is throwing out this suggestion is because it might be a viable option and will draw attention away from using Muzzey Field as a site. Also if this area off North Street were developed, we might be able to get some Recreational use out of it. The meeting was adjourned 8:55 p.m. 4 NEXT MEETING: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2000 7.30: P.M. ROOM G - 15