Parks Commission

09/16 Parks Commission Meeting Minutes Action items highlighted 7:05: meeting opened with quorum of Kip Roberts, Emily Boedecker, Bryan Pfeiffer (via Skype). Staff Present: Geoff Beyer Alec Ellsworth also in attendance. Public Present: Marilyn Mode 7:09: Kip motions to approve august minutes, Bryan seconds, all in favor ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Geoff Fall project and staffing updates: − staff close to finishing pole barn − 30+ Americorps vista service day last Friday working in parks − looking to replace 3 bridges in North Branch River Park, for which we received grant support from Vermont forest and parks. Before we begin we need to send them a detailed plan. This is part of an attempt to replace 3 or 4 bridges every year for the next 3 or 4 years.3 more waves of help coming this fall.. : 1. Youth build wants to do 4­5 days of work this fall, 2. Norwich cadets may come for a couple days. 3. The MHS freshman class hoping to help too, perhaps on enchanted forest prep. − Yestermorrow wondering about potential projects for next year ­­­ composting outhouse on the table as well as playground features. − Railing on national life trail could be on the table as a project for a skilled group as well. − Geoff notes that we are barely scraping by with the current staffing − Americorps position not available for this year.­­­The good news, parks saves $6000 the bad news is we lost a full time staff. Some discussion about the possibility of using the $6000 for visioning. Also discussed that we will likely need to use most of the money to hire someone to make up the staffing shortfall. − Enchanted Forest: Potential date is October 11th, though the event may be cancelled due to short staffing 7:20: Bryan's connection interrupted indefinitely, he is unable to return to the meeting ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ 7:25: Running event proposal from Kip: 8k ORS event: same event as in past 2 years on North Branch trails and on Nature Center Trails. All proceeds go to the North Branch Nature Center. Setup would be night before, cleanup the day of. − morning of October 11th − 8:30 registration, 9:30 kids run, 10:30 adults run 7:32: Lyn Munno arrives. 7:36: Resolution on ORS running event: Lyn motions to approve event, Emily seconds, all in favor. 7:38: Visioning Process Geoff proposes that he will draft up a description of the visioning process. The parks commission will work on it via email (but not decide anything). A decision will be either planned at the 10/21 meeting or in an extra parks commission meeting will be planned before 10/21. Geoff reported that he had spoken with Mike, the planning director. Mike said he need any money from the municipal planning grant for work on planning or zoning that is scheduled. Geoff is exploring with Mike potential for planning dept. VISTA positions to look for other funding sources for park planning needs. Parks Commission would like to get on city council agenda for 10/22 with an estimate for park visioning/planning. 7:45 Resolution: Geoff will make a Park Planning Vision first draft by 10/01. Commission will provide email suggestions before next meeting. Group will complete edits by 10/10. Between 10/10 and 10/21 Geoff and/or the Parks Commission will get a consultant, or two, to review the document and provide an estimate to conduct related work. The commission will review and finalize the proposal at the 10/21 commission meeting. The goal is for the commission to present the concept, the need, proposal and the estimate to city council on 10/22 meeting. ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ 7:50: Dog incident reporting Alec reported another incident with the same dog that bit him last month, bringing up a question about a policy regarding reporting/responding to dog incidents. 8:20 Resolution: Kip motions to create a policy for the parks staff to implement. Lyn Seconds. All in favor: − when there is an identifiable dog and owner and a written report of a bite, the parks director sends a letter to that individual saying that if the owner brings the dog to Hubbard Park the dog must be leashed and under control at all times. − All parks staff, if they are involved in an incident with a dog that results in an injury to the staff member, should report that incident to the police. − Geoff will draft a letter that matches the spirit of this motion. ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ 8:30: One Taylor Update Geoff reported that the first part of the meeting was mostly people appreciating the Redstone proposal, particularly appreciating the housing aspect. Later in the meeting several people spoke in support of more green space as part of development. The current green space allotted is about the size of the Christ's Church Green. Geoff advocated for a green space that helped residents “have a closer relationship with the river”, instead of just seeing it and passing by. Geoff also noted that there will likely be few opportunities in the future to have downtown greenspace right on the river and given we are a “city of rivers” (four rivers in town) it is an important opportunity to honor this local resource. He said someone pointed out that an aerial map showed how parking lots have a dominant role along our rivers and downtown. The question was asked, “How do we want to align our priorities?” A redstone designer expressed interest in Geoff’s ideas and wanted to meet to explore them. Geoff is going to follow up with that person to talk about how the plans might be adjusted to help residents have a more ability to have a “relationship with the river”. Geoff has also joined a group to explore how Montpelier might develop whitewater features and offer whitewater events. ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ 8:40: Mountain Bike event UpdateThe recent and third event was also successful. 20­25 kids attended. Several kids and adults had never ridden on trails. The fourth event is Saturday, October 4th. No complaints were reported. Substantial work posting the event and warning people about when and where trails were going to be used was credited with helping reduce number of potential conflicts. Geoff has not had any reports of issues or conflicts with these events. ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ 8:40: Signage update: Kip has run into 2 people who were lost in the park. Kip emphasized our need to follow up on signage in the park. All commissioners agreed this is a priority. Kip also recommends, in order to give unique feeling to the existing trails, to eliminate unauthorized trails. Lyn also emphasized the importance of discussing this issue soon. Emily felt that we did not have time to discuss fully enough tonight so has added it to the list for future discussion (probably November). 8:55: Next meeting scheduled for Tuesday, October 21st. 9:00: Meeting closed