Health, Recreation & Events Committee

TOWN OF MOUNT PLEASANT, SOUTH CAROLINA RECREATION COMMITTEE Tuesday, April 3, 2018 Municipal Complex, Committee Meeting Room, 3rd Floor 100 Ann Edwards Lane, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 Minutes Members Present: Gary Santos, Chair; Tom O’Rourke Members Absent: G. M. Whitley Staff Present: Eric DeMoura, Steve Gergick Mr. Santos called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. 1. Approval of Minutes from the February 5, 2018 meeting Mr. O’Rourke made a motion to approve the February 5, 2018 minutes. Mr. Santos seconded the motion. All were in favor. 2. Public Comments Mr. Al Bradshaw Whittemore, 577 Antebellum Lane, Belle Hall, Mount Pleasant said he was the newly appointed United States of America (USA) Pickleball Association Ambassador for Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. He said he had been sending out a weekly email for over a year with pickleball updates. He said it has grown to over 350 people and he had created a Facebook group which is called South Carolina (SC) Lowcountry Pickleball with 100 members. He said they enjoy playing at the Miriam Brown Community Center with four pickleball courts on the basketball court and sometimes there is conflict with basketball. He said the past Monday there were over 20 pickleball players. He said considering that work still needs to be completed on the Royall Street tennis courts they would like to have them marked for pickleball courts to provide more places to play. He said they were thankful for what the Town provides for facilities, but they need more and need indoor courts. He said they were given indoor courts temporarily for two months in cold and hot weather, but they really need more. He said downtown Charleston and West Ashley Salvation Army have indoor facilities. He said those playing in the Town do not have anything  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 2 of 20 permanent and would like it in the warmer and cold weather. He said they would like the consideration to be made for the new Town Hall Gymnasium to have pickle ball courts. 3. Budget Review FY 2019 a. Recreation Department operating expenditures Mr. DeMoura said overall the Recreation Department budget decreased almost $59,000 over the current year. He said $174,000 that was in the current year budget for the construction of a clay court that is now going to be constructed. He said that more than made up for the increases in salaries which is the very first line item that included wage recommendation for employees and for the one percent mandatory State Retirement contribution. He said the budget also doubled the amount recommended for The Culture, Arts and Pride budget for next year. b. Recreation Department capital and maintenance expenditures Mr. DeMoura said they are prepared and proposing in this budget to replace a minivan for the Recreation Department. He said on the Capital Funds tab summary they will not see the gymnasium which is being built on site and is in the current year and will not see Phase II of Carolina Park that is underway, but they will see Phase III of Carolina Park which is on page 16 which is in the Capital Funds section of the budget. He said $3.5 million is programmed for that. He said they have some repairs programs for the Jones Center and more money towards athletic field drainage which they have been steadily doing every year. He said that was in the amount of $125,000. He said there are repairs at the Darby Building. Mr. DeMoura said there was some additional money and they start trying to compile money to one day construct the recreation center off Rifle Range Road. He said there was also money for the Patriots Point annual contract. He said that was the recreation budget in total and that staff was available for any questions. Mr. Santos asked about the increase the tennis courts at Mugsy Kerr.  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 3 of 20 Mr. DeMoura answered that was in this year’s budget. Mr. Gergick said it was just awarded at the Bids and Purchases Meeting the previous day. Mr. Santos asked about the skateboard park where they had money for this year and if it was for the expansion of the skateboard park at $31,068. Mr. Gergick said that it was going along with Parks and Recreation Development Fund (PARD) Grant. He said it was for lights and some other amenities in the area. Mr. Santos asked if that was in the current year’s budget and not 2019. Mr. DeMoura answered in the affirmative. Mr. Santos asked about Phase III Carolina Park. Mr. Gergick said they will be following the conceptual Master Plan that Seamon Whiteside developed. He said there will be two softball fields with 200-foot fences, a full size 300-foot fence baseball field, an additional rectangular field, an outdoor two basketball courts which they intend to put pickleball lines on. He said there will be additional parking. Mr. Santos asked about the possibility of having a dog park. Mr. Gergick said there is a plan for a dog park in the back corner along with a trail along the outer portion of the property. He said it will be nice and they are trying to avoid putting it next to a retention pond because of the waste and water quality. Mr. Santos asked about Phase II of Waterfront Park. Mr. DeMoura said they had been anticipating the permit to arrive from the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) for the $6 million expansion of the pier. He said that as of last week they had received it and it will pave the way for the remaining permit from the Army Corp of Engineers. He said that once the Town has that they can  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 4 of 20 move forward with the bidding process to make sure the money is sufficient and then the construction. Mr. Santos said on the other side of the park they were talking about parking, possibly a splash pad, and another dog park in that area of Town. He asked if that was included. Mr. DeMoura said it was in the Master Plan and was funding dependent. He said at present there was not any funding to reach that side of Harry Hallman Boulevard. Mr. Santos asked if they could put it in the upcoming budget. Mr. DeMoura said it was a decision of Council. Mr. Santos said that Ms. Whitley was wanting a splash pad for the children. He said it would not be at the present Waterfront Park but on the other side where the parking area is located and away from where the current items are at the park. He said they were talking about doing a dog park where the bridges touch down, so it is farther away from Phase I of Waterfront Park. He said they were trying to develop it such where they could bring dogs and Ms. Whitley was interested in having a water feature for the children. He said he just wanted to know if it was included in this phase of the budget. Mr. DeMoura said the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) that was presented at the Town Council Retreat did not have that part of the project scored as a priority. He said Council can change those priorities, but it fell short of the scoring that showed there was more pressing issues related to Transportation and Storm water. Mr. Santos said they will let Ms. Whitley talk about it when she returns. Mr. O’Rourke made a motion to move this budget on to the Budget Committee Meetings. Mr. Santos seconded the motion. An audience member said it was nice to be a dog in Mount Pleasant. Mr. Santos said they do have a lot of dog parks and like to take care of the animals and treat them well. He said it gives the citizens an  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 5 of 20 opportunity close to where they live and can walk or have a short drive. He said they may have four or five parks eventually. Mr. Kevin Cunnane, 3032 River Vista Way, Mount Pleasant, said on the dog park issue he thought it was discussed at Committee. He said they had said they had a spot for it, considered all the special events, and there was discussion about putting everything such as a water park down at this end of Town and they could use a water park on the other side of Town. He said it was discussed every month on how to do it and it was never voted on. Mr. Santos said they are looking at doing a water park in the northern part of the Town. He said this one is already in the budget for Carolina Park. He said the Bark Park at Park West was the first one they had in the Town other than the Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission facility at Palmetto Islands. He said they are putting one in at Carolina Park but have to make it fit because of the drainage and ponds. He said it turned out not to be a good idea at the Bark Park to have that facility there. He said they want to make sure they cover the Town and people have an opportunity to go close to where they live to take their animals. Following the motion and a second, a vote was taken, and the motion carried. 4. Discuss relocation of Royall Tennis Court project to Edwards Park Mr. Gergick said they have a grant from the Land Water Conservation Fund for the funding of the rebuilding of the Royall tennis courts on Royall Avenue. He said there are currently three courts in that area and the Town received a 50/50 matching grant. He said for this project the amount of the grant was $195,000. He said in looking at the project, a footprint of three courts in that area exceed the 40 percent impermeable surface requirement that the Town has for construction in the Old Village area. He said the current impermeable amount is approximately 52 percent between the courts and the parking lot. He said in order to not impose a rule on other people that the Town does not follow ourselves, it was  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 6 of 20 looked at to reduce the footprint of the courts to only having two courts there. He said that brings it down to 38 percent impermeable surface and the Town would not exceed the 40 percent allowable. He said this was the design and plan they are moving forward with at this point. He said the possibility of relocating the courts over to Edwards Park which is directly across the street had been brought up in discussion. He said he did not have the answer as to whether they can be moved or not. He said there are a lot of things that come into play with the plans for storm drainage and other things. He said the discussion today was to talk about whether the courts could move over to a much larger piece of land. He said if three courts were placed in that area it would not exceed 40 percent so the discussion to be had is that the way they want to move forward with the project. Mr. Santos said they had talked about putting one court over at Edwards Park and leaving two at the existing area. He said the good thing is they have options. Mr. Gergick said he checked with South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism in Columbia and said the Town has permission to use the grant for reuse of that facility. He said they would not entirely lose the grant, but they could not use it to build anything at another location. He said that demolition or reuse of it could still be used on the Royall location where the courts currently exist. Mr. Santos asked if it was financially better to leave the two courts there and put one at Edwards Park. Mr. Gergick said they would be able to do that or they could also repurpose the whole other area or put pickleball courts there. He said they can use the grant for that location but cannot use any of the funding for a different location. Mr. O’Rourke said if the Town is at 47 percent impervious or at 52 and need to be at 47 he wondered if there was any design change could be made to leave three courts there, probably not. He said he was not a one thing kind of person. He said he thinks there are economies with  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 7 of 20 management where if you have many things in one area such as the Mugsy Kerr Tennis Complex. He said the reason that works well is there are a bunch of tennis courts in one spot. He said it was the same with pickleball. He said to build one pickleball court somewhere he has issues with that. He said they should be building 16 pickleball courts in one spot where people would come from Miami to play here and building up the Town’s accommodations tax fund. He said that pickleball supporters were present today but asked if lacrosse would come the next month. He said it does not matter what the thing is, the Town does not have enough for everyone that wants to do it. He said we can manage by showing up at a meeting and have people yell and then they put a pickleball court somewhere or they can figure out what will be needed in 20 years and build towards it. He said it was really hard to manage this way. He said he was a planning person and has issues with one court in one place and another elsewhere and thinking they are making people happy and they are not solving the needs. He said the only reason there are only 300 people now is because there is not enough room. He said when you put courts out there it will be 2000 people playing. Mr. Santos said the idea would be to keep the grant money and leave the two there or they would lose the grant money if they put it all on the other site. He said there was an idea of putting three courts in Edwards Park. Mr. O’Rourke said if they put three courts in middle of that field there will be 50 million people at the next Council Meeting. Mr. Santos said they were thinking of leaving the two there and maybe putting one across the street, so you would have parking and walk across the street and be right there. Mr. O’Rourke said they could put eight courts two miles from there on Rifle Range Road. He said they are trying to solve the need in a place that is sensitive in his opinion. He said it will be great, but it was only one tennis court. He said bulldoze it down and put more dirt in later. He said he said he wished they were thinking larger than one court.  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 8 of 20 Mr. John Wilderman, 2139 Oyster Reef Lane, Mount Pleasant said he was not certain with the math involved with this as Mr. O’Rourke mentioned and began to get into that area. He said the various structure of sports courts where they have permeable would not be appropriate for a tennis court. He said it could be appropriate for the outside three-foot edge where there is not going to be any ball strike and it may be on rare occasions that a tennis player would have to go that deep to retrieve a ball but the footing on a sports court is as good as it is on a tennis court. He said someone would have to work out the math whether it would be three or four feet, but he thought it would solve the problem. Mr. Dave Garrison, 1551 Ben Sawyer Boulevard, Simmons Point, Mount Pleasant said he was a pickleball player new to the sports. He said there were a lot of fanatics about pickleball. He said when he looks at the tennis courts out there with two people on three courts for an hour but when he looked at pickleball the previous day with approximately 30 or 40 people out there for three and a half hours taking up less space; then he is a pickleball fan. He said with the courts they are talking about and as Mr. Wilderman said about repaving of the surface they are talking about parking and the tennis courts taking up a certain amount of area. He said if they look at taking the parking area and making it permeable with paving stones verses nonpermeable would seem to be a potential solution to solve that area. He said he was a believer with Mr. O’Rourke that long term it would be nice to have 16 permanent pickleball courts set up somewhere else. He said he was all for dogs and dog parks were great. He said one can walk a dog anywhere you want but with pickleball they cannot do that. He said he would like to see something that is more long term for something like that but if they do not have time and it is going to take four years then he would rather see something done short term with those areas to make them more permanent and more playable for the majority of the people that are around to do that. Ms. Christine Carl, 1104 Sea Island Crossing Lane, Mount Pleasant said she was there to support pickleball interest. She said she heard Mr. O’Rourke talked about the long term need but they have short term and capacity  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 9 of 20 issues and can foresee in the long term they are going to have capacity issues. She said pickleball is often referred to as the fastest growing sport in the United States. She said it is known primarily as an active senior sport. She said she was kind not the normal playing age at 46 as most of the people she plays with are ten or twenty years older than she is. She said one thing changing about the sport and it is growing rapidly. She said with the United States Open in Naples every year that was on ESPN last year it is growing very quickly. She said it was very popular in Arizona and Florida in active senior communities. She said the snowbirds have come back this summer and came back with an obsession that can probably be classified as an addiction. She said they demand pickleball and have started in their communities across the country. She said what happened is from there it has gone into physical education classes so there is a band of active seniors, loss generation as herself, and then very young people playing. She said as one starts to go to tournaments around the country there are older and younger bands. She said for capacity it is growing even as people as herself catch on they do have a lot of converts from tennis which is one thing to keep in mind. She said pickleball is a sport that is a level playing field such as playing on a junior tennis court like playing ping pong so there is not a lot of running. She said she plays with her nephews and her parents and they all play together, and they have a good time. She said it is multi-generational. She said age and gender is not a factor. She said on a single tennis court there is often two people playing a singles game. She said pickleball is predominately a doubles game. She said there are four people on the court. She said there could be four pickleball courts in one tennis court so where there are two people playing tennis there can be 16 people playing pickleball. She said if there ever a long-term discussion she would like to be a part of the economic impact also to the community. Ms. Gay Slough, 1348 Old Tabby Lane, Mount Pleasant said she had been here for 30 years and in her business, she always emphasized how this is such an active, healthy, athletic town. She said the more they can have of that the better it is. She said if they cut it down to two tennis courts they  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 10 of 20 could probably put four pickleball courts there if not five instead of two tennis courts. She said they may could put two tennis courts in the park and tuck them in the corner if it is allowable per land and it would be a great asset as the pickleball courts take less room. She said she had played tennis off and on all her life and will never play tennis again because it is so much better for her to play pickleball as you do not have to run so much. She said it was a great variety of the people that do play, many more playing pickleball than play tennis, and greater use of the land than with the larger tennis courts. She said she wondered about so many tennis courts on Whipple Road as when she had been there maybe three were being used and there are probably ten empty. She wondered if something could be considered there on Whipple Road for pickleball because across the road is the big tennis court complex. She said there are a greater number of tennis courts here but thought there was a greater number of pickleball players than there are tennis players of what she has seen. She said it was a great sport and they need to encourage it more and more being it is growing. Mr. John Santos, 1005 Chambers Lane, Mount Pleasant said he was a convert to the great game that he calls the funny name. He said he was a tennis player for 40 years competitively and could not play anymore. He said six months ago he began playing and is addicted. He said it was a great game for tennis players and for young and old. He said what they are trying to do is needed and admirable but thought they need a short-term fix. He said he lives in Shem Creek and is driving to Park West and West Ashley or where ever to find a place to play when he is not working. He said some places only play in the morning and he cannot play when he is still working. He said there was a short term need to try to find dual use for tennis courts that are not being utilized because tennis is still huge, and a lot of people are playing tennis in this community. He said there are courts available certain times and certain days that are not being utilized. He said to Mr. O’Rourke’s point he thought for long term this is one of the fastest growing sports. He said it is the fastest growing sport in Florida and thinks it is the fastest growing sports nationally and thinks there is an opportunity for a  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 11 of 20 really nice center with dedicated courts as Charleston is a destination resort there could be big tournaments and bring in people like Naples, Florida and other places and make it an income producer for the Town of Mount Pleasant. He said they will support Council in any way that they can if it means putting lines down themselves and they appreciate the efforts. Mr. Kevin Cunnane said when he looks at the two properties he wondered if they could aggregate them into one and meet the 40 percent rule as they are across the street from each other. He said everyone present was a pickleball player and does not see anyone’s property that adjoins this, and they need the yellow signs to let them come in and tell what they want for their neighborhood too as that is an important part of it. He said he did not know when and if that happens in a recreation project but is sure there is interest amongst the immediate neighbors. Mr. Al Bradshaw Whittemore, 577 Antebellum Lane, Mount Pleasant said he wanted to focus on long term planning. He said when he met Mayor Haynie for the first time (Ms. Kathy Bustos says her pickleball buddy) he made the statement he wanted to make Mount Pleasant the pickleball capital, so he reminds him every time he sees him. He said he came across a recent article about Florida and Naples where they held the US Open Pickleball Championships and as a result they realized $2.5 million economic impact on the community and had 800 players come in over a period of five days. He said they used 25 courts and have now grown to 48 courts in this complex and there will be 1300 players this year and extended a few more days so there is no telling what the economic impact will be. He said that was payback. He said if they could get more tourist in Town, with long term planning for a complex for pickleball. Mr. Mike Micksner, 2157 Sandy Point Lane, Mount Pleasant said he moved there three years ago and noticed how small the pickleball community was and was only 30-40 players in the area. He said one can see by Mr. Whittemore’s numbers how much they have grown and continue to grow. He said the most important thing to him as other stated was finding space. He had spoken to Mr. Santos about using the courts at Whipple. He said they had alluded to having one central location. He said his issue is having  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 12 of 20 one pickleball court in one area and another in another area where there should have one central location where people can all go. He said he would attest that if they monitored the courts at Park West since they have put in the pickleball lines they probably have more pickleball players that they have tennis players. He said that backs up the growth and they need that and cannot be reacting to an issue, they have to get in front of it if they possibly can. He said they appreciate everything that they are doing and want them to consider Whipple Road as it is centrally a great location and it would behoove them all to look at that. Mr. Santos asked Mr. Gergick to talk about the plans for Mugsy Kerr (Whipple Road) with the field in back and now with Phase III of Carolina Park being approved. Mr. Gergick said Carolina Park funding is very important and things interact with each other. He said Carolina Park funding does allow them to build the additional baseball field and by doing that they will no longer need the field behind Mugsy Kerr. He said it will allow them to expand at Mugsy Kerr. He said they would like to be able to incorporate at additional facilities and would be good to put stand-alone pickleball courts there at that facility. He said the existing courts at Mugsy Kerr have Quick Start lines that are on them. He said they have regular line s and Quick Start lines. He said they are already double lined and could be triple lined, but one starts running into some confusion in the way the courts will appear when you put three sets of lines on one court. He said a stand-alone pickleball court would be preferred in that area. He said the additional space that they will gain by replacing the ballfield is the area where the facility will be expanded, and they could be incorporated in that area. Mr. Santos asked how many pickleball courts would there be. Mr. Gergick said there are basically two pickleball courts per tennis court. He said they have put four at Park West previously but heard it was more crowded than they wanted to be. He said the number of tennis courts they can have at Whipple in the future expansion was six, so they know it could be 12 pickleball courts or possibly 24 if you put four per court.  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 13 of 20 Mr. Santos said Mr. Gergick had mentioned stand-alone pickleball courts and asked how many of those could be put over by the ballfield area. Mr. Gergick said he did not know. He said he would be doing the match if they put six tennis courts there, he would say at least 12 would be the expectation. Mr. O’Rourke said he did not know what the question was, but he was concerned that area is sensitive to the people who live there. He said Mr. Cunnane had not heard from them but he would if they put three tennis courts in the middle. He said it would be nice if they were not sharing so much. He said you can put pickleball lines on a tennis court but if they had 16 pickleball courts at Whipple, three quarters of a mile from the Senior Center with benches, shelters, water fountains, and restroom facilities it would be good. He said the tennis people are not present fighting for themselves because they do not know that they are about to take away their tennis. He said tennis is big here. He said he loves pickleball, but it loves everything the same. He likes lacrosse, senior 3 on 3 basketball, everything the same. He said for them to take away from something that is already out there he does not want to do that, he wants to expand. He said that separate use would be good. He said if they put a pickleball court in the middle of the space they are just trying to appease people and not take heed. He said if they can do what the Recreation Department is trying to do and get Carolina Park Phase III going so they can open up the space at Mugsy Kerr and stick 16 pickleball courts in a complex that is serious. He said the one at Naples was paid for by the county. He said the county has money and they use their Accommodations Tax fund. He said they could do the same thing and can fund this with a revenue bond paid for by the Accommodations Tax funding that they are going to get. He said he knows the economic impact of this. He said that seniors that travel bring their wallets. He said soccer teams that travel throw six little kids in a van and they all sleep in the same room. He said it was different when seniors do this. He said they should be looking for things like this. He said he did not know if it was a question for them to vote on something right now. He said this is a sensitive area and they need to be careful but continue with  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 14 of 20 what is being done and get the grant and that is good. He said they have to tread lightly. Mr. Santos asked if that was in the form of a motion for the pickleball courts at Mugsy Kerr. Mr. O’Rourke said that is planning. He said for them to do that now and take it to Council it would handcuffs all the people who are working hard. He said they have to finish the plan that is front of them now which is Phase III. He said Phase III will open up this area. He said they could figure out how to work on planning for that area including the pickleball players and bring them in for design help. He said it was going to be tough, but they cannot have the court tomorrow. He said if they work so hard to build one court they would actually be further behind than they are moving forward. He said they need to finish what they are going to do in this budget. He said Mr. DeMoura knows what they want and will figure out a way to bring everyone together to talk about Whipple along with Mr. Gergick. He said they have heard the people and they have spoken loudly. He said none of them dislike pickleball. He said he knows the money that pickleball can bring in. He said he though they have to have a real home not just throw a bone to them. Ms. Mary Ricosi, 615 Bay Tree Court, Mount Pleasant said she was listening and heard long term and short term. She said when they talk about this direct issue that is on the table now as opposed to Whipple, Mugsy, whatever, which is for the future, she was there to say if they are putting money towards this they are just asking for multi-use. She said they are asking for times when it is not being used by tennis players for them to be able to use it. She said they get up at eight o’clock in the morning and most of them are retired so they have that free time to get up and play. She said as the weather is getting nicer more and more people are coming out to play. She said she did not want it to go off the table but, in the future, we might be doing something specific for pickleball. She said that right now if they are discussing what is going to be done with this space she did like multi use.  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 15 of 20 Mr. O’Rourke said he was sorry if he made them think something was not being done as staff had been working on multi use since pickleball was first brought to them. He said they had done a good job to try to do that. He said there are two issues. He said they have capital projects and use. He said the Recreation Department has done a good job in doing the best that they can in multi-use and it is not off the table. Mr. Santos said there had been a lot of great discussion. He said there was another item before they adjourned. He said that staff understands what they are looking at and he appreciate the public coming and giving their opinions on things. He said he was sure they would hear from other people as well. He said they had it on the agenda for discussion. He said they can meet with staff and try to figure this out, so they can provide for pickleball and tennis. Mr. O’Rourke said that when they leave he said for them to know that today is not a no. He said today was a refocus on something permanent, something multi use for pickleball that fits into what they are doing in the Recreation Department. He said they want this to happen, but he is not so sure that their solution is an extra court in the middle of that area. Mr. DeMoura said that in order to comply with the ordinance they would like permission to proceed with the construction of the two courts at the current location. Mr. O’Rourke asked if the reason there was not three is between and 47 percent impervious rule and a 52 percent impervious rule. Mr. DeMoura said 40 was the rule and 52 is what it actually covers. He said that the Town by the ordinance has restricted the development of property in that area because there is a storm water issue. He said the feeling is that the Town needs to do what it is requiring everyone else to do. He said that is to restrict it. He said otherwise they can go to the Board of Zoning Appeals and seek a variance. Mr. O’Rourke said that would not be a good thing to do. Mr. DeMoura agreed.  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 16 of 20 Mr. O’Rourke asked Mr. Warren Pruitt if there was anything that could be done. Mr. Warren Pruitt answered that two courts was all they were going to get. Mr. O’Rourke thanked him and said he trusted the experts. He said they had just taken away a tennis court from a very serious tennis community in this Town and they have to keep that in their mind. Mr. Gergick said they have close to 900 paid members at the Tennis Center. Mr. O’Rourke said it was a good problem as they have people who want to stay active. He said it was also the Town’s responsibility to give them places to do it. Mr. Santos thanked everyone for coming and said they are going to be looking at if very hard to make sure they address the situation and help the pickleball players as well as the tennis players and thanked them for coming. 5. Report on possible field improvements in the Snowden Community Mr. Gergick said Mr. Jody Peele has information for the Snowden Community and the fields there. He said he took at look at the fields to see what it would take to get them in better condition to be able to play. Mr. Peele said two meetings ago he was asked to determine some prices to get the Snowden field in condition for play. Mr. O’Rourke said Mr. Peele does as a good job as anybody he has ever seen with playing fields. He asked with the figures that he was going to give them what quality level could he do them at. He asked if it would be the same as the other fields, the middle, or what standard. Mr. Peele said it was not to the standards that they have right now that they play on. He said was going to address the issues that needed to be addressed to have a safe environment. He said it was not doing anything with turf management, irrigation, or lighting because it has no lighting. He said his price was to look at the fence and see what condition it was in around the whole perimeter of the complex. He said he looked at the  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 17 of 20 dugouts and what condition the dugouts were in and what it would cost to put it in a playable condition similar to what is used on the Town’s facilities for our dugouts. Mr. O’Rourke asked if that was slab and fence. Mr. Peele said they have a slab with a fence in front of it and some of it is falling down, some of it is missing, there are poles sticking out and poles that are hanging down. He said a fence company gave him a price to address all fence issues. He said a contractor gave a price to address dugouts and brick work and painting the dugouts to get in a nicer looking condition. He said also to put clay on the field, but they are using in house services to do that, so he did not charge anything for our labor to cut the grass out in order to put in a clay field. He said his price comes back at $22,780. Mr. Santos asked if he broke the price out for instance of just putting the clay on the field. Mr. Peele answered in the affirmative. He said the fence repair was $7,280, the dugout repair was $14,500, and to purchase the clay was $1,000. He said his labor was not included in this price. He said they were going to do it in-kind service and use Town staff to remove the existing grass that has grown into the playing surface and put clay back on top of it. Mr. Santos said in talking to the Snowden community they had discussed improving the field for the smaller children to come out to play. He said his intention was not to create a ballfield where they are putting up fences and dugouts. He said this was for the smaller children and understands there might be a safety issue with the dugouts with the poles sticking out. He said the idea was to give them a field to be able to play on so the children from 5-8 years of age will be able to play t-ball. He asked if that was $1,000 and not charging labor. Mr. Peele said it was $1,000 for clay. He said there are safety issues out there with the fence as there is the potential that someone could get possibly get injured.  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 18 of 20 Mr. Santos said they did have some members of the Snowden Community present if they would like to speak. Mr. Robert Coaxum, 435 Gurley Street, Mount Pleasant said he was the Vice-President/Athletic Director of the Snowden Community. He said there is a safety issue. He said they would appreciate anything that the Town could help them with. He said they want to get the children out of the houses and from off of the streets, so they can give them something to do in the immediate community because right now they do not have that. Mr. O’Rourke said that Mr. Peele just mentioned was more than 50 percent of this number came from two dugouts. He said dugouts are used for games and asked if there were a lot of games being played there. Mr. Coaxum said he was the Athletic Director and was in the process of not only having baseball but want to have flag football and need work on the basketball court. He said there is a lot of work that needs to be done but their hands are tied. Mr. O’Rourke asked if it was good use of a capital budget to have more than 50 percent since the needs is this large and taking half the money for two dugouts. Mr. Coaxum answered in the negative for not just the dugouts. Mr. O’Rourke said they could take that money and put it into something else. Mr. Coaxum agreed. Mr. O’Rourke asked if he would agree for them to have the flexibility to look at all that. He said he thought the price would have been higher as it takes a lot of money to do things like that. He said the small children would use this and asked what one would get for $22,000 for anyone to have an extra space to do something. He said he had an issue with half the money going to dugouts when they are never going to use dugouts. He asked if they were being asked to approve this money.  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 19 of 20 Mr. DeMoura said there is no funding source identified and they would have to follow through the budget process and have it added to the budget. Mr. Santos said they wanted it for discussion. He said the idea was the children would sign up with the Recreation Department and they would hold some of those practices and everything would be in the day time as there are no lights. He said they would possibly let some teams practice in the outfield whether it was lacrosse or other things. He said it would be for the smaller children to play flag football and other things. He said it was large field and it could be an asset as it is close to the Recreation Department for the younger group of children to get them involved in healthy recreation activities. Mr. O’Rourke asked if there were any other places like six-mile, ten-mile, or any other places where the Town could go in and do small things on property that they have. Mr. Santos answered in the affirmative. He said there was a cage on Hamlin Road. Mr. O’Rourke asked if they would be open to the Town using those. Mr. Santos said they would have to talk with them, but they did allow them at one time. He said the Town put $15,000 in the courts, built restrooms through Mount Pleasant Recreation Commission years ago. He said the foundation raised the money and did it. He said they put in a basketball court, a fountain with the help of Waterworks, fixed a fence, playground for small children, and restrooms. Mr. O’Rourke asked if they say they would create a granting program for areas that are not in the Town of Mount Pleasant where an agreement could be made for use and they can apply for a great for some of this funding. Mr. Coaxum said they have members of the community that are in the community that are part of the Town of Mount Pleasant.  Recreation Committee April 3, 2018 Page 20 of 20 Mr. O’Rourke said that was good but the property itself it not owned by the Town. He said they would be improving something that was not directly part of the Town. He said 100 years from now it is going to be a part of the Town. He said the Town needs space for a lot of things. He said if they are able to do this and have people come to us and ask for funding. He said Mr. Miller and Mr. Gergick could create partnership agreements and ask for funding. He said they could put a sum of money in the budget for this year and they can come to the Town and asked if that made sense. Mr. DeMoura answered in the affirmative. Mr. Santos said it was a great idea. Mr. O’Rourke made a motion to have a line item of $25,000 for a granting program for recreational facilities that are not in the Town for joint use. Mr. Santos seconded. All were in favor. Mr. O’Rourke said they were creating funding source, so they can come and do that. 6. Program/projects update Mr. Gergick said they had all the participation numbers. He said this was the first day of the Farmers Market and goes through September. He said the Cooper River Bridge Run was this weekend and although it is not a Recreation Department event they are thoroughly involved. He said there was a Pickleball Tournament on April 21-22 at Park West. He said the Blessing of the Feet is on April 29. He said they had Art Fest at Town Center on March 10 and The Culture, Arts & Pride Commission started doing the It’s Raining Art Program which is a stencil of poetry and other things that shows up when it rains. 7. Adjourn There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:00 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Karen S. Bedenbaugh, 4/3/18