Parks & Recreation Advisory Board

Parks & Recreation Advisory Board Notes Wednesday, August 7, 2019 | 6:30 p.m. | 5th floor City Hall, Canty Conference Room Members Present: Dr. Norman Merrifield, Kathy Dermanis, Steven Raudman, Jennifer Colton Members Absent: Shawn O’Keefe, Tara Wilcox (Resigned) Staff: David McCauley, Alison Eubank Guest(s): William Kotheimer, Jen Parker Opening Business Welcome, Introductions and Call to Order – Steven Raudman called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. which was followed by a round of attendee introductions. Guest Introductions William Kotheimer – A member of the Clean City Commission (was Chairmen last year). A Navy Officer with 20+ years, retired in 2014 and settled in Hampton. Lived in Hampton Roads off and on since the mid 80’s. Jen Parker – Current Hampton Council P.T.A. President; works on the Fox Hill Neighborhood Center. Retired from Air Force and settled in Hampton in 2000. Director’s Update - This board will have the opportunity to help guide the decisions the City makes regarding Parks, Recreation and Leisure Services (PR&LS) in the coming years. Alison Eubank will provide an overview of the Master Plan. Tara Wilcox resigned from the Parks & Recreation Advisory board today. Director McCauley invited potential candidates. Approval of June Minutes – Dr. Merrifield moved, Kathy Dermanis seconded and the minutes were approved. Parks, Recreation & Leisure Services 22 Lincoln Street | Hampton, Virginia 23669 www.hampton.gov | P: (757) 727-6348 Events & Items of Interest Event Date Time Location Community Center Classes Aug. 1 – 31 Varies Varies Hampton Clean City Commission Aug. 1 – 31 Varies Varies Crabtown Seafood Festival Aug. 17 11:00am - 7:00pm Mill Point Park Yoga @ Buckroe Beach Aug. 4 &18 8:00am - 9:00am Buckroe Beach and Park Every Buckroe Beach Farmer’s Market 9:00am – 1:00pm Buckroe Beach gazebo Saturday Every Groovin’ by the Bay 6:00pm – 9:00pm Buckroe Beach and Park Sunday New Business Director McCauley expressed his appreciation for the board’s presence around the city; going out to check on daily functions, activities and providing feedback. Captain Improvement Plan Director McCauley will brief Council next Wednesday on the CIP projects. A weekly meeting is held with the CIP committee to talk about projects, how we plan to move forward, where we are, what money is committed, any new ideas, etc. William Kotheimer asked how Hampton compares to the neighboring cities. Director McCauley has not done a side by side comparison to the other localities. However, he advised per capita, Hampton has 135,000 thousand citizens with 386 different PR&LS assets which is good for a city this size. Director McCauley shared the Asset Inventory slide: 2,397 acres, 11 feature parks, 37 neighborhood parks, 5 pocket parks, 4 open spaces, 10 Community/Neighborhood centers, 2 Aquatic centers, 6 Kayak launces, 3 boat ramps, 4 beaches, 4 fishing piers, 2 fresh water ponds, 81 playgrounds, 2 museums, 9 offices, 13 trails, 2 dog parks, 45 plus soccer and football fields, 45 basketball courts, 42 baseball fields, 2 golf courses, 1 disc golf course and 67 tennis courts. Forthcoming: Fox Hill Neighborhood center, Old Hampton center and the Aquatic center. There are 2,397 acres PR&LS maintains and an additional 487 acres that are mowed (medians, vacant lots and right of way). PR&LS is able to do a lot for the city with the funding. Dr. Parks, Recreation & Leisure Services 22 Lincoln Street | Hampton, Virginia 23669 www.hampton.gov | P: (757) 727-6348 Merrifield agreed with Director McCauley, that PR&LS is doing well for a city its size. The Master Plan will bring out a lot for the city. Master Plan Alison Eubank sent out information on the Master Plan via email. Kick off meeting will be Tuesday, August 20, 2019, at the Hampton Roads Convention Center. The City has hired Greenplay which is a consulting firm that has worked in almost 500 localities doing Parks Master Plans and updates. Alison Eubank went over the steps and processes. Greenplay will be here for two and a half days. They will be conducting focus groups. Members here have been invited. Their main purpose while here this time will be data gathering. Someone from their team will go around and look at all our parks to see where we benchmark in the community and other cities. They will compare inventory to needs. There will be a public meeting with some kind of small group interactive. A statistically valid survey will be distributed in September. The consultants will be back in December for another check-in meeting and again in January; doing some writing in the spring months. Hope to present the plan to council and adopted next August. The whole process will take about a year. The City’s marketing department and the marketing person within Parks are working to get the information out. Council will have interviews with the consultants so they can each talk about what they what for parks, their interest, their concerns. If there are things that citizens are saying in the public process, if it’s in the plan that they then adopt, it helps us move those items forward. So, we ask that you come to a focus group. Give your input on the survey when it comes out. Please share this with your neighbors and friends. We’ve contacted people who are involved with a lot of the different organizations and we need them to share the information. A discussion was held regarding different localities, how they are organized, their success and failures. What property is owned by City Schools and PR&LS. Parks takes care of everything outside of the Schools. Director McCauley requested Alison Eubank to add a focus group with just City Schools. A discussion was held on locations of parks within neighborhoods and accessibility. Council has made a commitment to reinvest in neighborhood pools. The Aquatics Center has been in the works for years, there is funding in the budget. Working through the Public Private Education Act and have received a few submittals. Staff has been reviewing those and sending information to Council. Allows someone to design and build it for us. At this point it has not been decided if the Aquatics Center will be run by the City or contracted out. Parks, Recreation & Leisure Services 22 Lincoln Street | Hampton, Virginia 23669 www.hampton.gov | P: (757) 727-6348 Gosnold Hope Park – Upgrades look terrific (Shelters and field) 10 Station one-mile exercise trail will be upgraded w/signage, etc. Meeting end – Kathy Dermanis motioned and Dr. Merrifield seconded Adjourn – there being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 7:53 p.m. Next Meeting: September 4, 2019 @ 6:30 p.m. 5th floor City Hall, Canty Conference Room Parks, Recreation & Leisure Services 22 Lincoln Street | Hampton, Virginia 23669 www.hampton.gov | P: (757) 727-6348