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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-01-17-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 January 17, 2001 Members Present: Sandra Shaw, Don Chisholm, Rick DeAngelis, Dick Neumeier, Pamela Varrin Staff Present: Karen Simmons, David Pinsonneault, Matthew Casparius Others Present: Bill Harrison, New England Golf Corporation AGENDA: 1. There are three corrections to the minutes from December 20, 2000. On page 2, it should be Susan McWilliam (not McWilliams) who is interested in being a part of the Lincoln Park Sub- Committee. On page 3, the contract with Geller Sport is being finalized; it was listed as having already been finalized. On page 3, it was Sandra Shaw who raised the issue of initiating a code of conduct for youth sports in Lexington. The minutes from December 20, 2000 were accepted with these corrections. 2. Bill Harrison - New England Golf Report Bill Harrison presented his annual report to the Recreation Committee on the past year’s status of Pine Meadows. It was an interesting year as revenues were down $67,000, although 90% of that amount was due to poor weather conditions. 85% of that revenue amount was lost in April and October. In comparison, the other courses managed by New England Golf are down similar amounts in revenue. The number of decreased rounds is equal to the amount of revenue lost. Figures were up for the number of residents playing on the weekends. Bill is hoping for more normal conditions in 2001. Cart usage amounts again reflect the weather. There were 152 Senior Cart Rounds as singles. Course conditions continue to look good and we can expect them to be even better in 2001. Last April the Town entered into a three-year lease for a Ransomes AR25 rough cut mower. The irrigation project is now 95 - 98% complete. The tree plantings on holes 1 & 3 look good. The bunkers were edged this past fall and the sand ndth in the traps will be replaced this winter. On the 2 and 4 tees they are rebuilding the forward tee. One thing that still needs to be worked on is consistency of some of the greens, in particular 1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE • LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02420 2 on holes #2 and 8. In terms of the overall quality of those holes, they have talked to the USGA about it, and the only way to really fix those holes would be to completely tear them up and do them over. Sandra wondered how long the process to redo the greens would take. Bill replied that if the work were done in the fall, it could be done in 3 -4 weeks. This would include putting sod down, but it could take up to 5-6 months for the seed to take up. The cost would range anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000. Karen said that she had received a price of $80,000 two th years ago from the USGA to completely rebuild the 8 green and surrounding area. Bill feels that greens fees could afford to go up. In October he completed a survey of neighboring golf courses and Pine Meadows ends up being very competitive with those courses. Karen will provide her recommendations during the Recreation Report. 3. Article 31 of 1999 David Pinsonneault and Karen Simmons attended a kickoff meeting with Patrick McGuire and Michael Watkins from Geller Sport, Stephen Garvin from Samiotes Consultants, Inc., and Brian Vinchesi from Irrigation Consulting & Engineering, Inc. The six of them walked the sites of the project. There are still some questions that need to be answered. At Diamond, John Moynihan will be looking into whether or not there is a tap that is going to be dropped in to hook the irrigation into. At Clarke, the water might have to be brought in from Marrett Road. They will also check to see if there is a waterline located near the tennis courts. Don Chisholm also suggested checking to see if a waterline could come in from Farmcrest Ave., which would be closer. Geller Sport is currently writing up the specs for the project and then Karen and Dave will sit down and review them. Financially speaking, money is going to be tight. The bleachers are going to cost almost $100,000 more than the initial quote from HMFH Architects, the architects for the school renovation project. Of the total cost of the project, Recreation is only responsible for the cost of the tennis courts after the reimbursement. It is John Ryan’s decision as to when we will have to begin paying that. Right now everything has to be looked at. Don mentioned that the current bleachers never fill as is, even during graduation. Rick suggested that we might have to cut a little bit of everything in order to have a quality project. We want to have a first class project and want to do it right the first time. Dave said that we wouldn’t have a better financial picture until we get the new specs. 4. Warrant Articles Karen requested that if anyone should need help on their presentation (i.e. Power Point) for Town Meeting to let Matt know ASAP. The Lincoln Park Playground is still being listed for funding by the tax levy, but there has been no formal vote by the Board of Selectman. 5. Sign Policy Tabled until next month. 3 6. Recreation Report Fee Proposals- Minimum wage has increased $.75 each of the last two years. The number of contractual services has also increased (i.e. utilities). Listed below are recommendations for fee increases for the coming year: Aquatics: Family Non Resident Swim tag Increase by $25.00 Resident Family Swim tags Increase by $10.00 Adult, Youth, Senior Swim tags Increase by $5.00 each Tennis: Youth Tennis Lessons Increase by $3.00 Camp for All: Increase by $25.00 per session Sports Clinics Increase by $5.00 Field Permits: Center 2 lights from 6- 8 pm Increase by $5.00 Center 1 lights from 5:45- 8 pm Increase by $5.00 Center 1 lights from 8 - 10:30 pm Increase by $10.00 only if we can’t renegotiate a better rate with NSTAR. Pine Meadows: All Non-Resident greens fees and cart rates to increase by $1.00 These increases are expected to raise an additional $60,000 per year. The Recreation Committee voted to approve Karen’s recommendations on fee increases. Karen reported that she had spoken with Robin DiGiammarino regarding the elementary school projects. The Permanent Building Committee (PBC) initially is planning on keeping the old Harrington building and building a new school adjacent to it, then using the old building as a swing space for the other schools. Robin said that their goal is to minimize the impact on Recreation as much as possible. They might site the new building as close to the road as possible, which would affect only the ¾ length size soccer field. At Fiske, the PBC is recommending that the building be completely torn down and a new one built in the same space. One recommendation is to take all the portable classrooms owned by the School Department and put them on one of our athletic fields where they would remain for seven years. Initially they explored putting the classrooms on the fields at Diamond, but that would have a major impact on Recreation and they want to work with us to minimize the impact. Last year Diamond had 1,910 permitted hours. In comparison, Fiske had 640 permitted hours, so Fiske fields might have the least impact on them at this point. The payment of the water bill at Adams has finally been resolved. Lexington Youth Soccer has agreed to pay the outstanding bills for 1997, 1998, and 1999, but no future water bills. Karen and Dave split the cost of the 2000 water bill from the Recreation and Parks budgets. LYS will continue to pay for the water at Muzzey. 4 7. Parks Report Dave met with representatives from the field user groups to discuss establishing a better standard of maintenance on the fields and regular scheduling of maintenance. It will take some time, but eventually we will get there. Other things that were discussed included how these groups could help Parks by policing their areas for trash and not playing in inclement weather. Part of getting the fields into shape will be to fix some of the problems that currently exist. Rick DeAngelis said that we need to educate the High School coaches since they tend to answer to nobody but themselves. The lockers at the pool are in and done. We are waiting for the counter tops to come in and then Parks will install them. However, the company will install the fixtures. Signs have been put up at the Old Res to warn skaters that ice skating is done at their own risk. Those signs will be taken down in the spring. Dave is the Tree Warden for the Town and according to the by-law he can’t assume responsibility for trees on Recreation land unless officially requested to do so by the Recreation Committee. There is currently a new tree bylaw being written, but it won’t have a large impact on us in the end. The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 p.m. NEXT MEETING THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2001 7:30 P.M. LEXINGTON POLICE STATION GUARD ROOM