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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-04-2013 (2)Parks and Recreation Board Meeting Minutes Tuesday, June 4, 2013 5:30 p.m. Auburn Senior Activity Center, Rotary Room Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 5:35 pm by Board Chair Michael Hassen. Additional members present were Laura Keim and Vicki Gilthvedt. Excused members - Julie Parascondola, Greg Dobbs, and Richard Artura. Unexcused member - David Domenowske. Department staff present were Parks Director Daryl Faber, and Parks Secretary Julie Mehl and citizen Doug Hill. II. Minutes The minutes of the May meeting were not approved as there is no quorum. III. Committee Member Input Board member Vicki Gilthvedt asks Daryl if she can attend meeting with friend working on project for skate park in memory of her son. Daryl gladly approves. Julie Parascondola has dropped from the board due to schedule issues. IV. Correspondence /Public Input Citizen Doug Hill lives on Green River Road and has an issue with Isaac Evans Park. At the sandy beach area near the foot bridge the picnic tables and barbecues are gone. He called the Parks Department and someone called him back and said yes, the Parks Department did remove those items. While helping at Clean Sweep at the Mary Olson Farm, a city employee did admit they didn't like the homeless folks using them. Doug feels those items should not have been removed, it's like not allowing people to use the streets because they speed. Director Faber will find out why the items were removed and follow up with Doug Hill. Doug also mentions the grafitti on the footbridge, and states that the wooden bench near the pump house needs to be painted. V. Old Business (Faber) VI. New Business (Faber) Postcards will go out for a neighborhood meeting at 6:30 pm on June 18 at Evergreen Heights Elementary School to discuss what folks would like to see happen at the new lake property. Daryl has met with a consultant and he will put together a drawing and we can get the school district and Green River Community College volunteers involved. For the past year, we've been working on reviewing the Park Policies in the Parks Department Policy Guide and have separated out things that should be included in City Codes so those things are laws, and those things that should be in the procedures manual are items which state how Parks staff operates. This will go through committee and council in the next month. The policy manual includes items from the 1950's and 1960's and we made adjustments that make more sense. We had regulations that didn't match the codes such as the noise ordinance in the Park Policy guide was not the same as the City Ordinance and the length of your leash for your dog was not consistent with code. VII. Department Report (Faber) We are headed to Auburndale Park, which we've talked about for another off leash area. The White River Disc Golf folks approached us about making this a 9 hole disc golf area. Most parks staff feel that the 18 holes located at Game Farm Wilderness Park is ample for the disc golfers in the Auburn area and perhaps neighboring cities could add to their inventory of -0- disc golf courses. Board Chair Michael has heard complaints that there's not enough disc golf here in Auburn. We could also hold a Lea Hill neighborhood meeting and ask folks what they would like to see at Auburndale Park. The folks right around the park don't want anything to change (there's only about six houses) they've got their own personal park that not many people use; that's not fair to the tax payers who are paying for those ten acres. If we kept a 50' buffer around the entire fenceline it wouldn't change too much. It's a very underutilized, really great piece of land. Parking is a big issue, we'll talk about some potential solutions. Vicki asks if the disc golfers could create a 9 hole course under the power lines. They possibly could replies Faber, there are some off leash areas going in, that would be allowed by BPA because they do have restrictions of how the area can be used. Another good area would be the long section of property near the power lines at Lakeland. Park Board takes a walk around the walking trail and discusses possible ideas for park use. Director Faber shares that when Parks Maintenance tried to get rid of the blackberry bushes, some neighbors came out and complained because they like to pick the blackberries. The area inside the walking trail is what is being considered for the 9 hole disc golf area, it contains a lot of bushes and trees. There is a large rolling meadow which could be used as an off leash area. We could have some nature improvements, add some benches, view corridors and do a little clearing of blackberries. Board Chair Michael Hassen feels this is not a good location for disc golf. Parking ideas: Angle in parking at the back side of Auburndale. The street is too narrow on the front entrance for angled parking. If we could widen the road to 30' at the rear entrance we could push the park in 10' for additional parking (10 — 12 cars per side). Would like to get pricing on curb, gutter, sidewalk. Drive by Lea Hill park construction site. Skate park on corner, barn style picnic shelter is taking shape, baseball diamond, restroom is a silo, small synthetic soccer area (3 on 3) with walls, basketball area, huge playground. There is a stage for summer concerts, an area for public art (bronze calf). VIII. Adjournment A. The meeting was adjourned at 6:40 pm. Approved this Day of , 2013 Michael Hassen, Chair AUBURN *MORE THAN YOU tMAGINED Daryl Faber, Director AUBURN *MORE THAN YOU tMAGINED