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Home My Public Portal About11-19-2019 Minutes PRB Regular Meeting Public Space Manager Stephanie Trueblood 101 E. Orange St., PO Box 429, Hillsborough, NC 27278 919-296-9481 | stephanie.trueblood@hillsboroughnc.gov www.hillsboroughnc.gov | @HillsboroughGov Parks and Recreation Board Minutes | 1 of 4 Minutes Parks and Recreation Board 7 p.m. Nov. 19, 2019 Town Hall Annex Board Meeting Room, 105 E. Corbin St. Present: Chair Robb English, Lisa Frazier (Planning Board representative), Cole Kenworthy, Andrew Landstrom, Noah Mace and Jesse Mowles-Aring Absent: Chelsea Gailey, Brea McCormley and Board of Commissioners representative Mark Bell Staff: Public Space Manager Stephanie Trueblood Guests: Blair Bradford, Marvin Clark and Marshall Paisley 1. Call to order and confirmation of quorum Chair Robb English called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. Public Space Manager Stephanie Trueblood called the roll and confirmed the presence of a quorum. 2. Agenda changes and approval Motion: Member Lisa Frazier moved to approve the agenda as presented. Member Cole Kenworthy seconded. Vote: Unanimous 3. Minutes review and approval A. Minutes from regular meeting on Sept. 17, 2019 Motion: Member Noah Mace moved to approve the minutes with changes. Member Andrew Landstrom seconded. Vote: Unanimous Changes: Add Hillsborough Half Marathon to Page 3. 4. Receive proposal from Eagle Scout candidate Marshall Paisley to build and install bat houses in town parks Marshall Paisley from Troop 438 addressed the board. Paisley proposed building eight bat houses and installing them in several parks around town. He has identified trees for the bat houses. His proposal includes one in Hillsborough Heights Park, three in Cates Creek, two in Turnip Patch Park and two in Murray Street Park. He said each bat house wood kit costs $10 and he would need $80 to fund the project. Paisley is also planning to make pamphlets to inform people why bats are beneficial. Trueblood said the $80 needed for the kits could be covered by the parks maintenance budget line. Paisley said he expected to install the houses by spring. Motion: Landstrom moved to approve the bat houses project. Frazier seconded. Vote: Unanimous Parks and Recreation Board Minutes | 2 of 4 5. Conceptual planning for Exchange Club Park (continued) A. Review draft plan Trueblood reviewed the components of the draft plan and noted it is in its early stages. She said Blair Bradford, a member of the Exchange Club, had already provided some corrections to the history that Trueblood would include in the next version. Trueblood reviewed that the vision for this park has always been to provide space for teenagers. English asked Trueblood to talk about the history of the idea of building a skate park in Exchange Club Park. Trueblood said a study was conducted before she started working for the town more than a decade ago that identified a need for a skate park. About five years ago, more than 100 skaters and their supporters signed a petition asking for the town to build a skate park. At the time, there was interest in building the skate park in Gold Park. The Parks and Recreation Board studied and ranked 10 possible locations for a skatepark based on a set of criteria and concluded that Exchange Club Park was the best location based on the criteria. A board member wondered if a skate park is enough of a draw to people who live outside of town that tourism funds could help fund the park. Trueblood said that could be considered. Trueblood reviewed that the first building projects in the Exchange Club Park Master Plan — if the town were to lease the park — would have to be the construction of handicap-accessible restrooms and parking spaces. There was brief discussion about the possibility of installing a safety feature for pedestrians to use the Exchange Park Lane trestle. This could involve an arm dropping to block traffic while pedestrians cross the bridge. A board member offered to research this device. It was acknowledged that the residential neighbors have asked the town to build a privacy fence. Trueblood said the town typically does build such a fence when residential property abuts a town park. Trueblood advised that the board consider prohibiting or restricting the use of bikes and scooters in the skate park because a park of this size can easily be overrun by a handful of kids on scooters or bikes. She also suggested that swings should be replaced in the park, so this much-requested feature is still available in the park. Board members suggested to Trueblood that the priorities should be restrooms, parking and fencing followed by the skate park and the pedestrian signal. Trueblood noted that an art wall and gathering places for teens could be lower priorities. She will revise the draft plan for review at a future meeting. B. Develop recommendations for site improvements and recreational facilities Trueblood noted that she had emailed the board a list of possible site improvements and recreational facilities listed in three categories: unfunded requests, capital improvement projects and North Carolina Department of Transportation projects underway. Trueblood said everything is important, but it would be helpful for her to hear what this board thinks must go forward in 2021 and what could be delayed. Trueblood said she had calculated estimates for installing four pieces of musical inclusive play equipment and a concrete pad for the equipment in Gold Park. It would cost about $25,000 and maybe as much as $40,000 if Parks and Recreation Board Minutes | 3 of 4 something unforeseen came up during the installation or if the project is expanded to include Cates Creek Park as well. The board said the Exchange Club Park is the top priority. The board also expressed interest in making the Bellevue pedestrian bridge a high priority if the developer at Bellevue Mill does not construct the bridge. 6. Discuss funding priorities for Fiscal Year 2021 Trueblood noted costs: • $40,000 for inclusive play equipment in community parks • $150,000 for restrooms and parking lot improvements at Exchange Club Park • Cost unknown for Bellevue pedestrian bridge (and it’s possible the developer will build it) This vote took place after Item 9. Motion: Frazier moved to approve the following Fiscal Year 2021 priorities for parks-related funding: Exchange Club Park Phase 1 improvements, inclusive play equipment at community parks, and Bellevue pedestrian bridge (if necessary). Landstrom seconded. Vote: Unanimous 7. Review Tree Board reforestation idea for Cates Creek Park and Gold Park Trueblood said 11% of the property in the town limits has been deforested in recent years. The Tree Board plan would reforest 8.5% of property within the town limits. Most of this would be in town parks. She asked for general feedback to relay to the Tree Board the following day. Trueblood explained that reforestation involves planting trees in columns and lines and that species are chosen for maximum removal of carbon from the air. She said that Tree Board Member Casey Collins, who is a landscape architect and lives in West Hillsborough, has created the proposed planting grids. The proposal includes oaks, hard woods, pines, bald cypress and lacebark elms. It was noted that the grids propose reforestation where the inclusive playground equipment would be installed in Gold Park and that this needs to be revised. The Parks and Recreation Board expressed general approval of the plans. 8. Parks and Recreation-related reports A. Board of Commissioners — No report. B. Planning Board — No report. C. Intergovernmental Parks Group — English reported that new Parks and Recreation leadership from Mebane and Chapel Hill attended the meeting. Trueblood said she is collaborating on a plan for a greenway connection to Carrboro. 9. Park steward reports Board members reported on the conditions of the parks for which they serve as stewards. Trueblood noted any small repairs that needed attention and gave brief reports on small repairs that had been made since the previous meeting. 9. Staff updates Trueblood said that: Parks and Recreation Board Minutes | 4 of 4 • Noah Mace had volunteered to price the panels for the Gold Park arts panel project. Trueblood also reported that at least 12 schools had responded they would take ownership of a panel and that she was working on getting a commitment from the 3 schools which had not responded. • A pawpaw tree would be planted at 11 a.m. the following morning in Murray Street Park as an Arbor Day celebration, which fulfills a Tree City USA requirement. 10. Adjournment Motion: English adjourned the meeting at 9:10 p.m. Vote: Unanimous