Parks & Recreation Commission

TUMWATER PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF HYBRID MEETING MARCH 19, 2025 Page 1 CONVENE: 7:00 p.m. PRESENT: Chair Erin Carrier and Commissioners Mike Culley, Amy Hargrove, Shane Harrington, Joel Hecker, Joe Munro, and Charlie Schneider. Staff: Parks and Recreation Director Chuck Denney. CHANGES TO Election of Chair and Vice Chair was added to the agenda. AGENDA: APPROVAL OF MINUTES PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES: OCTOBER 16, 2024: MOTION: Commissioner Harrington moved, seconded by Commissioner Schneider, to approve the minutes of October 16, 2024 as published. Motion carried unanimously. APPROVAL OF PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES: NOVEMBER 20, 2024: MOTION: Commissioner Schneider moved, seconded by Commissioner Harrington, to approve the minutes of November 20, 2024 as published. Motion carried unanimously. PUBLIC COMMENT: There were no public comments. ELECTION OF CHAIR Chair Carrier called for nominations for Chair. AND VICE CHAIR: Commissioner Schneider nominated Erin Carrier to serve as Chair during 2025. Commissioner Munro seconded the nomination. No other nominations were offered. MOTION: By a unanimous vote, Commissioner Carrier was elected to serve as the 2025 Chair. Chair Carrier called for nominations for Vice Chair. Commissioner Schneider nominated Commissioner Mike Culley to serve as Vice Chair. Commissioner Hargrove seconded the nomination. TUMWATER PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF HYBRID MEETING MARCH 19, 2025 Page 2 No other nominations were offered. MOTION: By a unanimous vote, Commissioner Culley was elected to serve as the 2025 Vice Chair. 2025/2026 PARK Director Denney updated the Commission on major park projects PROJECTS: scheduled to be completed during the 2025/2026 biennium: • Historic Homes – Following the fire at the Brewmaster’s House, efforts to rehabilitate the structure took approximately two years to complete. The future of the house is uncertain at this time. All contents from the house were professionally treated to remove smoke odor. Rooms impacted by the fire were reconstructed on the first, second, and third floors in the rear of the house. All wallpaper was replaced throughout the house using historically accurate wallpaper for walls and ceilings. All floors were refinished. Interpretive signs outside the house provide more details on the historic nature of the house. The house was the first to be electrified in the City as well as the first home to have an indoor bathroom. Staff and Commissioners discussed potential uses for the house in the future to include selling, renting, and contacting the Olympia Tumwater Foundation to ascertain any interest in acquiring the house. The Crosby House is one of the oldest houses in the City. Current work includes restoring the foundation of the house. A new roof is scheduled along with new siding and gutters. Due to the proximity of the house to I-5, the house continuously experiences vibrations from the freeway. Adding to the instability is the original construction of the house, as it does not meet current building standards. The intent of the repairs is to stabilize the house and immobilize the structure to the extent possible from constant vibrations from the freeway. The house is utilized by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The house is fully furnished and serves many purposes, such as meeting space and public tours. • Deschutes Valley Trail – The design for the Deschutes Valley Trail continues to move forward. The trail system is funded from City funds, Tumwater Metropolitan Park District funds, state funds, and potentially some federal funds. Construction of the entire trail system is scheduled to begin in 2026/2027 dependent upon the status of permitting as the trail crosses many wetlands and buffers. Director Denney commented on the difficulties associated with construction of the trail affecting the golf course, obtaining tribal support for a bridge, obtaining necessary permits, TUMWATER PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF HYBRID MEETING MARCH 19, 2025 Page 3 and extending the reclaimed water line along the trail and across the bridge to supply Pioneer Park with reclaimed water for irrigation. • Isabella Bush Park Improvements – The park site houses the Tumwater FRESH Program and garden. Tumwater High School students are no longer working on the site due to school district budgeting. The teacher overseeing the program was reassigned other duties by the school. Staff continues to work with the school district to reactivate some activities at the farm. As long as activity is limited on the site, it is prone to vandalism and theft. Some activity at the site would be beneficial to preserve the structure and site. Staff continues to meet with school officials to discuss other alternatives to reactivate the FRESH Program. The City invested approximately $200,000 to renovate the barn for the FRESH Program. Staff also plans to meet with community garden groups to assess interest in the site. The ultimate goal is to preserve the site for use by high school students enrolled in the FRESH Program. Many students in the program benefitted from the gardening experience enabling many to want to continue with their schooling and eventually succeeding by graduating from high school. The park also houses a large retention pond. A trail is planned around the pond connecting to Linwood Avenue. Some park impact fees may be used to construct the paved trail. A master plan has been completed for another area of the park. • Trails End Park Site – The park is planned for construction during 2026/2027. Residents continue to express differences of opinions about the types of feature to include in the park that often are different than features included in the park’s master plan. • Pioneer Park & Historical Park – One project at Pioneer Park includes improvements to existing catch basins to help reduce flooding. Repaving of the parking lot at Pioneer Park has been on the schedule for many years. However, due to requirements from the Department of Ecology, the design must be revised to accommodate a new storm treatment system. At Historical Park, some flooding has been experienced in front of the picnic shelter. The park was constructed in 1980 by City employees. Heavy rainfall floods ADA parking stalls. A trench drain will be installed to reduce flooding impacts. Director Denney was asked to take before and after pictures of the project sites. TUMWATER PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF HYBRID MEETING MARCH 19, 2025 Page 4 • Sapp Road Park Planning – The City acquired the property approximately 25 years ago. An adjacent housing development, Streamland Estates, provided the land to the City as mitigation for the housing development. The design is for a passive park with expansion of some limited existing parking, installation of a picnic shelter with a paved ADA trail and a larger gravel trail. • Tumwater Hill Trail Improvements – Many improvements are planned. Some funding is available for deferred trail maintenance. Some trail segments will be resurfaced. Steps from the ball field to the trail system will be improved. • Coralie Carlyon Park Improvements – The park site is located near the Sunset Life Building and is the City’s smallest park. The Carlyon family owned most of the area surrounding the Sunset Life Building. At one time, the area housed a car racetrack and fairgrounds. Later, the area was built out as a housing development. In 1954, the family deeded the park to the City with the caveat that the park would be named for Coralie Carlyon in perpetuity. The park is comprised of a small triangle patch housing a sign and a bench with one large tree. Existing irrigation will be replaced with a new meter and waterline. A new sign with the City’s logo will replace the existing sign. Other improvements include landscaping and restoration of the grass. • Community Center Planning - The City Council extended the design contract to the end of the year because of siting issues. The top site at this time is the former Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) site, which is contaminated and requires cleanup. WSDOT will need to cap the site as part of cleanup mitigation. The City is working with WSDOT to leverage some grant funds as part of the cleanup plan. A second site for the community center is located on Port of Olympia property near the airport. The WSDOT site is not limited in terms of placement of the facility because of any cleanup mitigation; however, should the cleanup require many years to complete, the City would likely consider another site. • Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan – The City will acquire the assistance of a consultant to assist in completing the plan. Development of the plan will involve community outreach and feedback to consider a variety of issues ranging from whether the City is offering sufficient recreational programs, whether staffing level is sufficient based on standards, whether more TUMWATER PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES OF HYBRID MEETING MARCH 19, 2025 Page 5 neighborhood parks are desired, and the state of the trail system, etc, Director Denney responded to questions on the status of discussions for features to be included in the new community center. He commented on the need to balance various interests while also ensuring the facility includes features that generate revenue for ongoing operation of the community center. RELOCATION OF Director Denney advised of the upcoming move of the Parks and PARKS AND Recreation Department to a new location near the airport. As the RECREATION OFFICE: department is self-contained, it was possible to move the department entirely from City Hall to free up space. With the recent addition of the police body-worn camera program, the Police Department is adding staff to manage the program, which will require additional space for the Police Department. The new location was the lowest cost option and included existing office space. The new location offers sufficient parking space as well. The department will be able to move offsite storage to the new location including all department vehicles and trailers. The lease is effective for three years. The department is scheduled to be fully moved to the new location by May 1, 2025. NEXT MEETING DATE The next meeting is scheduled on April 16, 2025. Director Denney – APRIL 16, 2025: encouraged Commissioners to contact him for adding future agenda topics. ADJOURNMENT: With there being no further business, Chair Carrier adjourned the meeting at 7:57 p.m. Prepared by Valerie L. Gow President, Puget Sound Meeting Services, psmsoly@earthlink.net