Parks & Recreation

Parks & Recreation Committee Meeting Council Chamber, Smyrna Town Hall 27 S. Market Street Plaza, Smyrna, Delaware October 19, 2021 – 5:00 PM Agenda minutes/notes Change of time to 6p.m. because Councilwoman Gott said this time at the Council meeting last night and several in the audience planned to be at tonight’s meeting. Cecilia Knolls, who joined via Zoom at 5p.m., is from Clayton. She spoke before we adjourned for our rescheduled 6p.m. meeting. She said she spoke with someone at Kent County’s Parks & Recreation Department about a dog park at Big Oak, but because of the location it cannot be done there. The Kent County P&R rep said that they’d be willing to help with a dog park in the Smyrna-Clayton area. Councilwoman Gott gave her info to Cecilia and let her know that she’s also been in contact with Kent County’s P&R department, as well as with Joanne Masten. 1. Call to order – 6:01p In attendance were: Committee members: Councilwoman/chairwoman Tabitha Gott, Councilman/vice-chairman Gerald Brown, Mike Pearson, Frederick Schaber, and Danielle Pope, (staff liaison). Visitors: Michelle Borg and daughter, Shawn Shannon’s mom, dad, and a friend, and Chief James, (Zoom) 2. Minutes – approval motion by Councilman Brown and Mike Pearson 3. Recognition of Visitors – Michelle Borg. Incident at Sunnyside Park. Girl was attacked by a teenage girl at Sunnyside Park near the swing-sets. Concerned about surveillance, have had to chase drug dealers away on the side of the pavilion on the weekends. Have had trouble with teens sitting on the picnic table and will start fights with other kids at the park. They do live in the Sunnyside Community. Councilman Brown asked if they have an HOA. Michelle cannot find one. Chief James is aware of the situation. An unfortunate incident. They are working on finding the girls who started the fight through surveillance and neighbors. Older kids and males are chasing younger kids and females away at the basketball courts. Chief James said that any and all incidents need to be reported immediately so that the Police Department can handle it right then and there. If there is too long of a wait, then the complaints get cold, and they are unable to investigate. Councilwoman Gott asked if Michelle felt there was something the community could do. Another visitor mentioned a neighborhood watch. Which would require an HOA. Michelle said that the problem is mostly on weekends, about 2p to dusk. Councilman Brown asked about cadet programs that could help with community stuff. Chief James said they used to have one but due to liability issues, they haven’t had one in a while. Can try to assist with the community, but it’s up to them to want/need to participate. Maybe get Bon Ayre community together in this? 4. Discussion on Park survey – walking/bike path, splash pad, dog park, and some more were the main priorities. 5. Discussion on Master Plan – an engineer will do a study of all overall enhancements; including all Town owned parks, feedback from the community, study on current and future needs/wants. 6. Discussion on grand opening of parks – we’ve been waiting to get Sunnyside, Bon Ayre, and other communities together to get the grand opening but doesn’t seem to be happening. So event will be on Saturday 11/13; Green Meadows at 10a, Sunnyside at 12p 7. Discussion on skateboard park presentation – Shawn Shannon’s family wanted to represent the Skate Park. Mrs. Shannon said that she doesn’t believe we’re interested in the skate park. They have companies willing to back them up on getting a new park built, (Kinetics and some others). They mentioned that there are parks under 141 and 95, around Newport and in Maryland. The town has spoken with the Tony Hawk foundation and are working on studying other skate parks to see what we can do for the park. Depending on the Master Parks’ Plan, it could potentially be in a different location. Shawn’s family would like to have a recognition for their son at the park until the location is permanent. They were unaware that P&R had reached out to the skate park kids and get them involved in things and hear them out. Shawn’s family can get fundraisers together. Chief James said that as long as SPD is made aware of the planning/events in advance, they can work with the planners. The Shannon’s friend mentioned 5th Pockets – they do the maintenance and will teach skaters how to the do maintenance. 7th Street in Wilmington is handled completely by skaters and skate companies. Work together with the family and the Master Parks planning engineers Make it a tribute park with different honors? The Shannon family would like to start collecting donation now? Danielle will speak with Barrett and Andrew about the donation process and how they can work with the Master Parks Plan engineer. What can they do to memorialize Shawn, plaque, sign, mural on a ramp? 8. Other committee business – Veterans’ Day Ceremony will be 11/30 at the Smyrna Opera House Trunk or Treat is at Smyrna Police Department on Halloween. They’ll have 4-5 cars. Holiday festivities will be hosted by Smyrna Police Department; and Clayton will have one. Follow up on the Boy Scouts trailer / Art alley – a discussion with the Town Manager, Mr. Haines 11/9, 6p for the next meeting Danielle brought up reservation fees for the parks, asked if she was okay to move forward with implementing them into the Town’s system. – okay to move forward, Frederick Schaber and Councilman Brown motioned to move forward Danielle also brought up the P&R cloud-based system, RecDesk – Councilman Brown and Frederick Schaber motioned for recommendation to council 9. Adjournment – 7:39a