Health, Recreation & Events Committee

TOWN OF MOUNT PLEASANT, SOUTH CAROLINA RECREATION COMMITTEE Monday, June 1, 2020 Municipal Complex, Council Chambers 100 Ann Edwards Lane, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 Minutes Members Present: Gary Santos, Chair; Jake Rambo, G. M. Whitley Staff Present: Eric DeMoura, Steve Gergick 1. Call to order Mr. Santos called the meeting at 9:00 a.m. 2. Approval of Minutes from the March 2, 2020 meeting and the April 21, 2020 special meeting Mr. Rambo made a motion to approve the March 2, 2020 and April 21, 2020 minutes. Ms. Whitley seconded the motion. All were in favor. 3. Public comments None 4. Employee years of service recognition Mr. Gergick recognized Ms. Anne Selner for twenty years of service with the Town of Mount Pleasant. He said Ms. Selner organizes camps, programs, and special events at the Jones Center and Park West. He said she was a good team player and volunteers to help when needed. 5. Review of reopening plan Mr. Gergick reviewed the reopening plan for the Recreation Department. He said for the first two weeks they had created alternate all-day camps for those previously registered for trip camps. He said all recreation facilities were open to the public that day except for the Senior Center that would open on June 22. He said aquatics, tennis, preseason football, and track begin today. He said practices for t-ball/coach pitch and summer basketball will begin as soon as teams are selected. He said adult softball and adult basketball leagues would be scheduled as planned. He said program activities would resume as soon as instructors were confirmed. He said the Farmers Market increases to 26 vendors beginning June 9.  Recreation Committee June 1, 2020 Page 2 of 4 He said a decision would be made on the Blessing of the Fleet Seafood Festival on June 5. He said Movies in the Park would resume August, the Sweetgrass Festival was August, and Party in the Park was moved to September. Mr. Rambo thanked staff for working so hard during this. He said for working parents if was great they found a way to still do camps for the first couple of weeks. 6. Discussion of Carolina Park Phase 3 Mr. DeMoura said Carolina Park Phase 3 was an approved project for the Town. He several months ago there were some alternatives discussed involving a stadium with Oceanside Collegiate Academy (OCA). He said that now the involvement by OCA was not a project going forward. He said at staff level that because Phase 3 was an approved project they plan to proceed with the original plan. He said the original plan offered a mid-size baseball field and softball fields. He said there was another option drawn up which includes a full-size baseball field and one softball field. He said they are prepared to move forward with the project. He said they wanted to get the Committee’s input on what fields should go there. He said the Recreation Impact Fees must go toward growth-oriented impact expenses. He said they plan to move forward with the with the original proposal according to the Recreation Department Needs Assessment. Mr. Lee Gastley with Seamon Whiteside Associates, 1881 Capri Drive, said a request was made to see whether the site would accommodate a full-size high school baseball field. He said this was the only option to accommodate size of the field and address the solar orientation as that was a high priority. He said the plan does fit and allowed for some expansion of parking. He said they would add sidewalks and access it to restroom/concession area. Mr. Santos said with the way it was positioned there would be a lot of foul balls going into the area where there would be citizens and asked if anything would be done to protect that. Mr. Gastley said that was construction detail, but they would probably use netting to go up higher. Mr. Rambo asked if Oceanside had officially given word that they do not want to pursue the partnership.  Recreation Committee June 1, 2020 Page 3 of 4 Mr. DeMoura answered in the affirmative. Mr. Rambo said there was still the impact fees and asked if the rest of the additional funding was shown in previous presentations. Mr. DeMoura answered in the affirmation. He said Council wanted to use Capital money. He said the question was whether to go with the two fields or go with the original. He said they need to decide on the need for two softball fields or the need for a full-size baseball field. Mr. Gergick said the original design was for two women’s softball fields with the baseball field that meets the Recreation Department’s need. He said it does not meet the needs of a high school team. Mr. Santos said Lucy Beckham High School would be coming to them to ask to use Wando South and that the Department has that field scheduled with programs. He said there would be talk about finding other baseball fields for high school teams to play on and that does not meet that need with the three fields but the other one meets the need. He said if the Department lets them use its fields it would take away from those programs. He thought they need to meet with Charleston County School District to see if they can help us. He said they talked about Whitesides, but it needs a lot of work. He said if they fix Whiteside and the field satisfied the Department’s needs then he would have no problem with Lucy Beckham High using Wando South. He is not willing to give up the fields unless the school district is going to work and provide an alternate field. Mr. DeMoura asked if Committee would like him to call the school district about refurbishing the Whitesides field as it would help with the Department’s needs. Mr. Santos said as long as it provides for our programs and the need of fields to share. Mr. Rambo asked if they did the full-size field would it eliminate another soccer field, basketball courts, and dog park. Mr. Gastley answered in the negative and said there was still room for soccer fields. Mr. Rambo said he would still like a lighted basketball court and the dog park.  Recreation Committee June 1, 2020 Page 4 of 4 Ms. Whitley asked if the cost of the two fields would be less than the cost of the three or would it be equivalent because it was a much much larger field for the baseball field. Mr. DeMoura said they have not costed it that yet but thought it would be close. He said for them to be prepared for them to utilize a different procurement method for this project which would competively bring the contractors in as the traditional design build hurt previous projects. He said they would go ahead and proceed, and he will contact Whitesides about the cost to refurbish that field for smaller baseball. 7. Program/projects update Mr. Gergick said the Royall Tennis Court should be completed at beginning in August. He said he wanted to recognize the Recreation staff in the job they did. He said they were very professional and able to make adjustments such as monitoring parks and enforcing the different areas. Mr. Santos said the meetings they had with staff and the Police Department was beneficial and he heard nothing but compliments for the Recreation Department. Ms. Whitley thanked staff for their hard work during this as it was a difficult time and hard to know the right answers, but they had to go off the guidance of the leadership in Columbia. She asked about the decision on June 5 for the Blessing of the Fleet and asked if it would be based off the Governor’s orders. Mr. DeMoura said the decision was leaning toward not having the event. Ms. Whitley said with the numbers that have come out that inviting thousands of people to congregate was not the answer. 8. Adjourn There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:30 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Karen Bedenbaugh, 6/1/20