Coralville Civil Service

Coralville Parks and Recreation Meeting Minutes May 15, 2017 meeting Meeting was called to order at 6:15 p.m. at the Coralville Creekside Ballpark. There were no citizen comments. Commission members Fevold, Thayer, Mount, and Taylor as well as Council member Goodrich were present. Staff members Proud, Buhmeyer, and Worrell were also present. Proud introduced John Stonebarger and Tara Coady from Goosetown Racing and Iowa City Cycle Cross (ICCX). Staff have been working with members of Goosetown Racing and Iowa City Cycle Cross on the development of the Coralville Cross Course. The group has been invaluable in helping map routes and in providing volunteer work support for the development. The group walked the course and discussed the different areas and potential for use. The sport of cycle cross is to get from Point A to Point B by any means you can on bike or on foot. The World Cup for the sport was held last September at the Johnson County Fairgrounds and will be held again this year at the same location. Questions involving the course included: What direction do you ride – courses are set up so that either direction can be part of a route. How do you keep the course turf looking good? Different routes will be used during the practice and race day courses so turf conditions can be evaluate and routes changed as needed. It will also be likely necessary to “rest” the turf and reseed as needed each spring. What’s a typical season? While the goal of the course will be to eventually have it open most months of the year, the typical cross season runs from August until the spring thaw. How do you delineate the routes? For race days the race course is lined with tape. For practice, arrows can be used. The Commission also discussed how the course also makes a good hiking course and cross country running course. Staff shared that they are working towards a mid-August opening for one to two times a week supervised practices through the fall with a couple of weekend clinics. Goosetown Racing has also asked to host a race the first weekend in November which would be further detailed out with a special events permit. Goodrich gave a Council update. Trees that have come down along First Avenue and along Muddy Creek are down for projects. Along First Avenue is for the duct bank project and for future extension of 6th Avenue. The trees down near the Oakdale Boulevard bridge crossing Muddy Creek or down because the creek is getting close to the abutments and this fall, some work will be done to reroute the creek. The trees had to come down before March 31 due to the protection of the Indiana Bat. Proud game a general update on junior hgiht workdays and the work accomplished. She also spoke about the tree grant that the City is working with the DNR to evaluate several forested areas and to plan for future work to rehabilitate and keep these forested areas strong and protected from invasive species. There were no Commission comments. Meeting concluded at 7:47 p.m.