Gary Fankhouser, Marty Metzker, and staff will provide an update on the park development at the Bailey Springs. Survey work is complete and is attached. Construction documents are currently being prepared.
The Board of Commissioners (BOC) asked staff to look at options for more active recreation in our parks. The Livability Board reviewed the following at its July 18 meeting. If the BOC would like to proceed with any of these ideas both the Livability Board and staff recommend seeking public input as the next step.
Potential Sites for Active Features/Improvements
· Roosevelt Wilson Park (RWP): The town has dedicated virtually all of its annual park maintenance/small improvements funding ($100,000) to RWP since 2013 (the town also received a community grant from Lowe’s). The remaining projects to be completed are to add a play feature ($80,000 is allocated) and to repair/replace the picnic shelter (we are committed to adding a fitting memorial to Mr. Roosevelt Wilson and Mr. Sam Whitley, who built the park and are widely respected in the African American community, as part of the shelter project). We currently do not have identified funding for the shelter project. P&R will fund the memorial. The sketches attached represent virtually all active elements (a climbing wall was considered at one point in lieu of the Ga-Ga pit) that fit in the space—rather than removing any, the Livability Board suggested we leave all on to allow discussion for what to remove and/or replace.
· Lakeside Parcel: This parcel was purchased through the Land Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) so it must be used for parks and recreation purposes. The only exception is if the town wishes to go through what is called a “conversion” process, which is fairly lengthy and requires approval by both the state and the National Park Service. To gain that approval the town must show that “all possible alternatives have been examined and are not possible” and then identify a parcel of equal or higher land value that serves the same community. There is no identified funding for this site/project. Potential funding sources include: community development block grants (CDBG), Parks & Recreation Trust Fund (PARTF), operating budget, CIP budget, bond referendum, partnerships. As you can see there are topo challenges and it is a relatively small parcel.
· Field outside of Ada Jenkins/town parcel: The town and Ada Jenkins have a long history of partnering on parks and recreation—we contributed to the restrooms update in the gym area and the P&R teams practice in the gym at no charge. The town has historically maintained and scheduled the field. Ada and the town are currently finalizing an agreement moving forward since Ada purchased the building and site from CMS. The sketch sent shows the Ada field combined with an adjacent town-owned property. We have purposely left this as a blank canvas for 2 reasons: 1) an agreement with Ada Jenkins and the town has not yet been signed; 2) we believe it is crucial that this be a community-driven project. We will have templates of potential active elements to show what might fit on the site if the BOC would like to see if specific field sizes would fit on the site. There is no identified funding for this site/project. Potential funding sources include: CDBG, PARTF, operating budget, CIP budget, bond referendum, partnerships.
· McEver 60/90 Field: Currently, the only 60/90 field DYBA, CSD, and other town-based high school teams have access to one field at Bradford Regional Park. We hear significant demand from our current primary joint use agreement partner, Community School of Davidson (CSD), and Davidson Youth Baseball Association (DYBA) as well as other nearby private and schools. Perhaps most importantly, we believe CMS will need this field once Davidson Elementary (DE) expands to middle school, giving us an opportunity for a joint use agreement with the school. There is no identified funding for this site/project. Potential funding sources include: PARTF, operating budget, CIP budget, bond referendum, partnerships.
Relationships
· CSD: P&R and CSD have signed an annual joint use agreement every year since 2010 at least where at no charge the school uses town fields, parks, etc. for athletic practices and games/meets and the town uses school space (classrooms and gyms for camps, classes, and activities). As an example, this year alone, the town has already held over 800 hours of programming in CSD with no fee for the space due to the joint use agreement. We seriously discussed developing the next phase of Bradford Regional Park (which is operated 20% by Davidson, 80% by Huntersville) in conjunction with CSD but ultimately CSD determined it was not viable from their perspective. We have floated the idea of CSD contributing to improvements at locations such as RWP but have not pursued it in-depth. CSD has been open to the concept.
· DYBA: We have transitioned our relationship with DYBA—we no longer handle their registration. DYBA now pays the town a fee per registrant for the house league per season ($10 fall/$20 spring) and a one-time per year fee ($30) for the travel league registrants. DYBA covers direct costs for any tournaments they hold. We meet regularly to discuss capital improvement needs and have urged DYBA to contribute to funding but since I have been here, DYBA has not contributed. Whit’s purchased a portable mound last year for one of the fields. We have a very loose agreement which permits DYBA to work with sponsors for the outfield signs, etc.
· DE: We do not currently have a joint use agreement with Davidson Elementary. We pay annually to use the gym for basketball season. The town had a verbal commitment for an agreement several years ago but staff changes in CMS but ended that discussion. It has always been P&R’s vision that our building/area around our office would become essentially a learning lab/campus for the school with solar panels, composting station, sensory garden, learning garden, and traffic garden for youth to learn the rules of the road as pedestrians and cyclists, etc. That was one of the reasons behind our getting the ELF for our sustainable transport needs. With DE’s expansion, we can see they would have use for McEver so it is certainly our hope we can move in the direction of a joint use agreement with the school.
New Programs—P&R is offering some new programs, beginning this fall, aimed at getting folks out and playing!
· Community/Family
Sunday Softball – pick-up softball
Family Kickball Tournament
Fisher Farm Bike Fest
· Youth
Afterschool Basketball @ Davidson Elementary (small fee—offer scholarships) |