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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks Commission minutes - 02-11-15.docx Yakima Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting Minutes for February 11, 2015 Commissioners Present: Vice Chairman Sam Karr, Paul Williams, Tom Hinman and Roger Lewis, and Maureen Adkison, Yakima City Council Liaison Absent and Excused: Chairman Rod Bryant, Jo Miles and Morgan Pualani Staff present: Ken Wilkinson, Parks & Recreation Manager and Jenise Sanders, Administrative Secretary for Parks & Recreation. Call to Order. Welcoming everyone in the audience and viewers watching on YPAC, Vice Chairman Sam nd Karr called the meeting to order at 5:35 p.m. at City Hall in the Council Chambers, 129 North 2 Street, Yakima, Washington. Approval of the Meeting Minutes for January 14, 2015 It was Moved by Tom Hinman, Seconded by Paul Williams, to approve the Minutes as corrected from the January 14, 2015 Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting. The motion carried unanimously. Introduction of New Park Commissioner Ken Wilkinson introduced new Park Commissioner, Roger Lewis. Roger gave a short background. He is a retired attorney and judge from Renton and King County Court Commissioner. His daughter works for City of Yakima Finance. He has previously served as a member of many other boards and commissions. Everyone welcomed Roger to the Parks and Recreation Commission. Election of Officers Tom Hinman moved to keep Rod Bryant as Chairman, seconded by Paul Williams. The motion carried unanimously. Sam Karr volunteered to run as vice chairman. Paul Williams moved to keep Sam as vice chairman, seconded by Tom Hinman. The motion carried unanimously. 2014 Parks and Recreation Accomplishments Ken Wilkinson presented a PowerPoint slide show of the 2014 Parks & Recreation accomplishments. Ken highlighted the staff and all they do. JM Perry is expanding and one of the soccer fields had to be removed to make way for the expansion. Parks rerouted the irrigation system at Perry. A new irrigation filter system had to be put in at West Valley Community Park. A new pump was purchased at the Cemetery due to theft. Parks Maintenance put in new tee pads for the disc golf at Randall Park. Landscaping was completed in the islands at Franklin parking lot. Chip Rognlie, one of our staff members, is an arborist and has been inventorying all of the trees in our park system and placing them on a GIS mapping system. A new concert series was offered at Miller Park this year. Our maintenance staff built a performance area. Concerts were well attended by many families. We can only estimate the numbers that attend these concerts. Maureen Atkison asked who organizes and pays for the concerts in the parks. Ken advised that Parks and Recreation staff work with partners to get those concerts arranged. Economic Development paid for the concerts out of their budget for the Miller Park concerts and Parks pays for the Franklin Park concerts. Streets Dept. helped with paving the road for the Japanese Garden at Tahoma Cemetery. Volunteers from the Japanese Bochi Association are in the process of putting in the Tea Garden. They have raised money through donations for the construction of the garden to be placed in the M section of the cemetery. Lon Inaba has been the lead on this project. Randall Park Improvements have begun and will hopefully wrap up in June 2017. We did apply for the grant for RCO and ranked 8 out of 71 applicants in our category. The city gave money to the Food Bank to help rebuild. The building is just south of the SECC and the old building was in really bad shape and needed to be replaced. The Rotary Clubs and Rotary Trust along with PP&L and the Community Foundation all gave money in this wonderful partnership. th Food is given out every Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. at 7 & Arlington. Recreation programs are offered through Parks and Recreation at nominal fees. Our Summer Sunset Concerts at Franklin Park and Movies in the Park at Gilbert are all well attended at these great venues. Movies will be at Chesterley this year. We have just outgrown Gilbert Park and the parking will be better for these at Chesterley. We are almost there with providing online services for all registration of classes, reserving picnic shelters, registration of sports teams and tournaments. There is a small fee but it is worth the time saving. Revenue was up at Fisher Park Golf Course. Events were held for both kids and adults. We offered a free golf clinic for adults. Kiwanis and Gateway Sports Complex continue to be very popular. We were able to install netting above the bleachers with help from a grant from Parker Youth and Sports. Juan Arias and Bill Wells do a great job of organizing and coordinating the adult volleyball and soccer leagues. Hot Shots had 465 teams, over 1800 people participating this year. Many are from out of town which has a great impact on our community. New lockers were installed in the men’s locker room at Lions. Aqua Zumba continues to be very popular and is offered at both pools. A major upgrade was done on the electrical at Lions pool out of necessity. Ken advised that he attended the Build a Pool conference in Portland along with Jason Zeller, Bill Lover and Tom Dittmar. USA swimming puts on the two day conference. Lori Schatz has been hired at the Harman Center as the new Trips and Tours Coordinator. Ken thanked Irene Raptcheff for her 27 years as the Trips and Tours Coordinator and retired this past year. Ken thanked Seniors Inc. for their donations and fundraisers that they provide at the Harman Center. The Spaghetti Feed will be held on th February 19. Sonny Cooper attended a meeting last year with a request for a dog park on the west side of Yakima. The dog park committee was formed and has done a great job. Park Maintenance and Streets have been a great help. It is a work in progress. Tom advised it has been well received and highly used. Dogs and people love it. Ken thanked Joe Rosenlund and Dan Bigby from the Streets Division for all the work they did moving the gravel pile and putting in the parking areas. Sam commented on the fire hydrants. Ken stated the Park Maintenance staff has been excited about it. Discussion followed. Tom stated the committee will be meeting next week to discuss the watering station and small/timid dog area. Ken advised the fence has been ordered for the small dog area. Tom stated it was a good use of the land since it is in a flight and flood zone. Discussion followed. The to do list for Parks and Recreation is to continue to build partnerships, renovate Fisher Golf Course parking lot, mail program guide at least once this year at a postage cost of about $20,000, continue to work on the Randall Park project, do an all staff clean-up at Harman Center, continue to improve the dog park and update the Cemetery Ordinances. We are going through it line by line, word by word to update and make any corrections needed. Randall Park Improvement Committee Update Ken advised he met with members Southwest Rotary about the duck pond observation deck. They would like to begin work in March. We have been talking to some other partners about some other projects. Downtown Yakima Lions Club has committed to donating $25,000 toward at least one bridge. Ken showed a picture of the picnic shelter style we are looking at purchasing. We will hopefully be able to purchase three of them. Jenise is applying for a grant from Legends Casino for one of them and we have interested parties looking to donate for possibly two more. At the open house held last summer the comments were to keep with a rustic look. Ken advised the ones that we are looking at are 30X30 which is not huge but can still get a good number of picnic tables under it. We have lowered the water level in the pond. We put out a press release advising that we had to lower the level to start working. Removal of some dangerous trees near the pond will take place next week. Habitat for Humanity was contacted and did a walk-through of the house and restroom buildings. They will be able to removed lights, cabinets and baseboard. We are still waiting on the letter for the RCO grant. Discussion followed. Ken advised that we will try and match the design of the restrooms with the rustic look. Aquatics Advisory Committee Update Ken advised there is a summary report in their packet. The things that have been discussed at the thth meetings are the three locations; Chesterley, 44 & Nob Hill and 54 & Nob Hill. Included is the wants and needs list, notes, agendas and maps from the meetings. Sam asked about the replacement at a 3:1 ratio. Ken clarified that if a park that has been paid for with grants funds and a portion of the park is changed to something other than green space, the entire park would need to be replaced. They also talked about proximity, which we are not clear on what that means exactly. RCO’s purpose is to create and make sure that green space is made available to the public for perpetuity. We still have not received definite answers from the state. Ken advised that we may also have to go through a federal review. Paul Williams asked if all 32 acres would have to be in one location. Ken stated that is a good question that we will have to ask when they come for a review. Discussion followed. The Build a Pool Enterprise plan was sent to them in an email. The report will be going to the Built Environment Committee next week. Fisher Park Golf Course Parking Lot Project Ken reminded the commissioners that this was brought up at the last meeting. We lost overflow parking due to the Ike High School renovation. We will be expanding from 10 spaces to 24 spaces. Ken thanked the Engineering Dept for doing the drawings, surveying and elevations. The Streets Division came in and tore out the old parking lot. We could be close to being done by opening day which is the last Friday in March. We will be moving the entrance off the parking lot which will be much safer. Tom asked about having two handicap spots. Ken said we have discussed that and may still convert 1 more of the spots to handicap. Maureen commented that most of the people playing at Fisher are younger kids just starting out or older people wanting to golf at a shorter course. Ken advised that is not entirely true and it can be a very challenging course even for avid golfers. Manager’s Report Ken stated the tentative schedule for Kiwanis / Gateway is in their packet. Ken commented on the great staff. Discussion regarding tournaments being held in Yakima followed. For the Good of the Order Sam asked whether the Downtown Plaza will be a property that will be maintained by Parks & Recreation. Ken stated that Parks and Streets both help support the downtown group that takes care of Downtown. Maureen stated the City Council is waiting for engineering, but does not think that Parks will be in charge of it. The new DAY will start taking over some of the planning. Discussion followed about the restrooms. Adjournment The next Parks and Recreation Commission meeting will be March 11, 2015. The meeting adjourned at 6:36 p.m.