HomeMy Public PortalAbout03-21-2017 Minutes PRB Regular MeetingPage 1 of 2
Minutes
Parks and Recreation Board
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
7 p.m. Town Barn, 101 E. Orange St.
Present: Chairman Todd Stabley, Robb English, Annie Jarabek, Noah Mace, Rebecca Swartz, Nancy
Taylor, Planning Board representative Chris Wehrman, Kim Woodell
Staff: Public Space Manager Stephanie Trueblood
Item 1: Call meeting to order; confirm presence of a quorum.
Chairman Stabley called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. Ms. Trueblood called the roll and confirmed the
presence of a quorum.
Item 2: Consideration of changes or adjustments to the agenda
There were none.
Item 3: Approval of minutes of Jan. 17, 2017, meeting and Feb. 21, 2017, meeting
Motion: Mr. English moved approval of the Jan. 17, 2017, meeting minutes.
Second: Mr. Wehrman seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
Motion: Chairman Stabley moved to approve the Feb. 21, 2017, meeting minutes.
Second: Ms. Swartz seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
Item 4: Review Unified Development Ordinance: Section 6.15 Recreation Sites and discuss if
amendments are needed to the facility list in Section 6.15.7.1
Board members expressed interest in incentivizing community gardens. There was interest in including
pollinator gardens separate from community gardens.
There was brief discussion that a community garden should have water for irrigation and fencing.
Motion: Chairman Stabley moved to direct staff to draft a text amendment based on discussion
and proposed changes and share the draft with the board in May.
Second: Ms. Woodell seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
Item 5: Reports and Updates (Parks and Recreation related reports)
Town Board: Brian Lowen — Absent
Page 2 of 2
Planning Board: Chris Wehrman — Could not attend the Planning Board meeting
Mountains-to-Sea Trail: Ms. Trueblood — No updates
Orange County Parks and Recreation Council: Annie Jarabek — Could not attend
Intergovernmental Parks Work Group: staff — Meets in April
Park Steward reports
1. Gold Park: Annie Jarabek, Dog Park: Nancy Taylor — Ms. Taylor reported the park looks
good. The dog park’s side gate continues to be unlocked.
2. Cates Creek Park: Robb English — Mr. English reported the park looks good and some
pickup soccer games are taking place.
3. Turnip Patch Park: Annie Jarabek — Ms. Jarabek asked whether public art would be
displayed on the concrete slab again someday. Ms. Trueblood answered that sculpture
tours are every other year and eventually the slab will be used again. Ms. Trueblood said
the playground equipment was deteriorating and boards were replaced by Public Works.
The butterfly garden has been tended, and new mulch was added.
4. Murray Street Park: Ashley DeSena — Absent
5. Kings Highway Park: Todd Stabley — Chairman Stabley reported the park looks good and
has much less trash now that the trash can is present.
6. Hillsborough Heights Park: Kim Woodell — Ms. Woodell reported the park looks good but
a “park closed” sign needs to be removed.
7. Riverwalk: Todd Stabley — Nothing to report.
8. Downtown Sidewalks/Mayo Park: staff — Ms. Trueblood said she would go straight into
staff updates because they are related to this subject.
Staff Updates — Ms. Trueblood:
o Reviewed the work completed recently at Cates Creek Park to create a bio-retention rain
garden. The rain garden will be planted with pollinator-friendly plants at a volunteer
workday this spring, date to be determined.
o Reported that some of the downtown revitalization grant will be used to pay landscaper
Christina King to plant the islands in the West King Street parking lot (former Bank of
America parking lot). Ms. King will add better soil before planting.
o Shared photographs of man-made native bee habitats and explained that North Carolina
has roughly 500 native bee species. The board will likely see a request to install a native
bee “hotel” in one of the town parks this summer.
o Reported two picnic tables are now in the back corner of the Visitors Center land and
three new benches are near the pollinator garden. Two new planters will be added as
well. A bike rack has been installed in front of Cup-A-Joe. Other bike racks are being
stored and will be installed after the Churton Street improvements are complete. A trash
and recycling receptacle for pedestrians will be installed in the area in front of Mystery
Brewing Public House. Doggy waste stations have been installed at Calvin Street and the
corner of Tryon and Wake streets. The purchases were made with the downtown
revitalization grant.
o Reviewed the Churton Street Access Improvements Project construction schedule.
o Discussed developing five to seven questions for a Riverwalk user survey. It was agreed to
discuss the survey at the April meeting.
Item 6: Adjourn
Motion: Chairman Stabley moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:50 p.m.
Second: Ms. Swartz seconded.
Vote: Unanimous