3.5.2025 Park Board

regularly regularly scheduled meeting of the Park Board of Commissioners to order today's Wednesday March 5th 20125 uh pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the media meeting through any media attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or UNP perceived by those

present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible the city Charter section 9-18 mandates that all multiple member bodies develop and adopt rules or policy for public comment we have adopted such a policy that provides for Citizens input there's a signup sheet in the back nobody signed up uh roll call uh commissioner Cecilio present Victor farus present Amber Burns Helen Rego BJ McDonald my name

um item two citizens input we don't have any so we'll skip to item three entertain a motion to accept the minutes from the January 20 January 21st 2025 regular Park board meeting motion to accept second motion to accept made by commissioner rioo second by commissioner farius all in favor I motion carries new business item a we received a letter from Remax regarding the use of renting 3 plus acres for a traveling

Amusement provider um I don't are you here no okay I don't have I don't know where they're looking at 3 plus acres or what they're really asking for I was Al and I had had this conversation when this email came in um we probably need some more details before we would entertain much of anything which I don't think we have any three plus acres available through the park period I don't there's I don't know

how big an actual acre is like if I'm just standing in it but I don't think we have that um unless like do you know Ken say Kenedy Park comes close but I still don't yeah but not to not like a flat right um remember this is going to be a um an amusement park you know like they put it the malls and stuff like that so yeah I don't think we have a

flat space at all that would be able to house like this if we put it at Kenny Park it' be crazy over there for parking and just the traffic well just well there's also the fields like we can't put either so like and they're not they don't really have a specific request this email almost kind of looks like um a generic email that they sent out probably to a bunch of municipalities as

an Outreach to try to generate business for themselves if is kind of how I read it as a solicitation um and we didn't receive any followup and they sent it you know back in February so I I think that we should probably get back to them and say something they really want to do we need more information but at for now well I would I think I would reply and

send them a message in saying that we don't have three plus acres of flat land in the parks department so if anything they could reach out to City Hall if City Hall knows of something that's not under our prview but under the parks we don't have anything of this capacity um so can I make a motion that we just send them a letter stating we the parks department does not have anything like

this and if they wanted to they could follow up with City Hall but this isn't an option under our um Avenue so the motion by commissioner Burns was just to respond say that we don't really have three acres of land um and maybe put them in direction of you know Al Al's office director of City offs and see if there's something that the city wants to work out but we don't

really have a park that could second second by commissioner rioo all in favor I I motion carries um item C is a letter from Britney maderas regarding the use of Kennedy Park oh Victor PR sorry Item B letter from Victor Pereira regarding the use of pusy park for his Field Day event it's on Friday June 6 from 9: to 3 and Monday June 9th is the rain date I make a motion to approve

second motion to to approve made by commissioner burn second in by commissioner faras all in favor by now item c letter from Britney madus regarding the use of Kennedy Park for children's basketball tournament on Saturday August 30th um the only thing and because I usually have to run into this issue I know that the um the F the feast is the weekend before this but I know they typically they're

not doing it at keny Park this year I don't think they AR I think they're going I heard that I don't know if that's truth to that so I don't know isn't the feast going to the gates no I talked to Sam of in the in City Hall and she said they were still planning on doing at that when I spoke to her but if they do have the feast it's the weekend

before this and I know they're typically in the park the weekend after still taking everything down but I don't I don't know if that would interfere with this but just like let her know I guess that there will be people in that area the feast and we can probably let the people at the feast know that somebody's coming in on Saturday and which it's not usually like next to it but there's they

have like trucks and stuff driving through there typically she asking to use the basketball courts though right but so there's like a a long driveway that they usually use to get everything out which crosses next to where the basketball cuz we typically can't have our um block party I had to move it up because of that um but yours event a lot bigger with a more space like but they

use the same walk path like the driving path which does go through my event but um but yeah so I guess I I make a motion to approve but just let her know that she's here she's right here new to this do you want to come down sorry it's my first time doing this so all good yeah okay so is there 10 so I just heard so is there tentative for a date for me

to move it to the next week would that be best so it's not that you have to move it it's more just let you know that there will be other people it's on the other side of the park but there are times where they'll use that like little Drive um maybe they'll get everything done in time so that it won't even be an issue but it's more of just in case you

know that there could be just people there as well I was planning on using the lower and where the basketball courts were in the surrounding area if that was okay what do you what else are you doing like to have around there if you don't mind me asking yeah so I actually have um printouts if I can hand them out to you guys um oh yeah sorry can you state your name it's

um Britney madas and and your address I live in um s Ocean View Swansea okay oh yeah we have this we already have this okay yeah the second page I make a motion to wave the rules uh uh because she's a swans resident second that motion to wave the rules by commissioner B and second by commissioner FIS all in favor I I sorry for the yeah no that's okay so the second page of the um the

stapled at the very bottom has a list of things that I'm looking to do okay um in addition to the basketball tournament so I'm hoping to engage their surrounding community and engage kids that also aren't athletically inclined with um a kids craft fair as well as free games that they can do um just pulling in the community to local resources so I think in looking at the extras that it becomes a little bit

bigger than just the basketball yeah so there's more to it like when there's food trucks um right I think these are all things that are open to yes or no so if it becomes too much and it will stop the event then I I would get rid of it okay I think that the stuff that's within our control like I think with the food trucks there's more uh checked boxes that you have to so you basically

so you get a form for your permit and on there is you basically have to get all of those things signed off so if you wanted food trucks you would basically go to City Hall um the food and beverage I don't even know if I'm saying that correctly um yeah but they they'll give you a list of all the pre-approved food trucks You' have to pick from them it's also easier for you because they they

already are approved by the city so you don't have to go through any extra Hoops excellent um but then once you have that list of all right we're going to use Bob's hot dogs and you tell them that they'll sign off like yep we're okay with that and that that's one of the items that you need to get signed off on um so yeah so if you wanted to do that

you obviously can it's more of where you're going to put them kind of have to come up with like a map to to know where it's going to go um so like I have a annual block party at Kennedy Park every year and we have food trucks however the only place that they can park we usually shut down that side of the street because there's too many kids um so that

might be something you want to look into I don't know okay I've literally it's been 5 years so I think I've just they just kind of Grandfather would be in but you could look into that um just because if there's food trucks you can't necessarily Park them on the grass but you don't want kids to be crossing the street to them either um yeah okayy house yeah okay yeah that

um so food trucks we got that tents um as long as they're 10 by 10 that was just that's even again in question yeah you can have a 10 it's just um the fire department says 10 x 10 if it's anything bigger they have to come and inspect it just for um health and safety um bouncy houses and slides are not allowed um that's okay uh painting fine kids crafter fine petting zoo I don't know is

petting zoo allowed I don't think we've ever had anybody I've never had it come you guys seen it um I literally know a person with just like small cows like miniature cows so that's the when is this event yeah um I feel like it should be fine I I would assume yeah I mean we'll we'll follow up with the health department to see if he has any concerns but um yeah and then the the Kitty pools

I don't think Kitty pools would be allowed okay um okay just cuz like yeah drowning and yep nope understand um obviously it says baptism so sorry but I don't um know if that would be good but I think everything else should be fine right just okay food trucks check on that yeah and then does if there's a food truck is the Portage on required too so that's I think that's

a city that's up to the I think it's also depends on the amount of people that you're having but I think typically you you do want to have something to that effect but I'm I don't know what the guidelines are like you have Xmen of people you have to have yeah I don't know that um your best bet is to I was going I was planning on having them just

cuz I didn't know how long the kids were going to be there and okay yeah okay yeah so do we want to uh make a do we want to table this to the next meeting so Bernie can have like a better idea of all of the things that she wants to take on or AUST I mean if that if you want to we can table it and then if you want to come in like with a

like a plan so that was my my question so this like I just didn't know if I could go to these departments without an approved date no so so you basically would have to come to us you it gets approved and then you go to them however if you if you had a list like hey we want to do basketball like basically all of these things but just like an actual

like def defined these are the things we want to do and then from there we approve and then you can go to them typically they could sign off on it CU you need that to get your permit but you wouldn't get anything out of that if we haven't signed off on it so technically you could get them to sign off on it but we you wouldn't get your permit without us

also approving it okay um we just have like a definitive plan from you yeah so if I I know it's a plan for a basketball tournament I know I wanted the the um the craft fair um so I I'm not sure if that would be you're a vendor because it's kids selling their own products but I I know I wanted that um as well as we're going to have open games so if if

I scratch off bouncy house scratch off Kitty pools and just ask for those specific events is that okay I don't can you sell things in the park I don't know what can you sell things in the park no no okay so no kidding me okay sorry that's okay no I it's good to know so yeah if you don't do any of those things yeah yeah and that's okay and that's that's yeah also I can we can

let's table this for now and I can give you my contact like I said I literally have been aart a um event every summer at the same exact spot so I can help you with whatever it is that you might need and then oh yeah music is that okay okay um yeah music but if we if we just get a clearer thing I think the one of the more and I'm not saying this to you but

one of the more frustrating things for us is when people come in and tell us it's going to be one thing and then it turns out something else so if that way if we just table this to next meeting knowing that none of us are want to stand in the way of anyone doing events just have certain rules that we have to make sure are followed so if we get kind

of a more clear understanding of exactly what you want to do how long you plan on being there that type of thing and that'll also probably give us the opportunity to double check on the feast and the dates of theirs and maybe just have um you know somebody in the parks department coordinate with them and let them know that on the back end of their cleanup you know you guys are going to

be coming in okay to the park so that you know you can work together to use the space so just so that everybody's on the same page I think that the tabling it just makes more sense give you another month is and that date is um you know there's nothing else on that date so is there a format that I could present this to you guys in a better way this is more than we normally get

okay um so yeah so like if you were or do you want to just approve this like I don't know if there's any other things you wanted to think about like if we cross off the um bouncy house the bouncy house you can cross that off the craft fair and the Kitty pools I mean does anybody object with the rest of the stuff that's on there and then there wouldn't be

anything else it doesn't mention um a DJ but yeah maybe we could just make note of that well maybe table so we get a find there's something that says a speaker I feel like I saw that yeah there is on um oh yeah right here worship band equipment and speakers so that's what it would be but it would be children doing this it's not going to be like a like not like a DJ DJ like it's

literally children singing worship songs so um I'm not planning on like bumping out the park what do you think the time is going to be so that was a question I had for you guys because I I saw that there was um that certain departments had to do checks in the mornings so it depends on what you're doing so if you decide that you want a bigger tent then that's when

the fire department has to come if you decide that you want to get a grill which is not allowed however there are industrial grade grills with this specific sign off that you could get if you wanted to do that I don't recommend it it ends up being a whole headache um then they would have to come and check that but if you don't have any of the things we're saying are not allowed they

won't have to come okay okay so our goal was to do this like start the tournament I wanted to be at the park around 700 a.m. to start setting things up just tables and whatever um I wanted the tournament to go from 11:00 a.m. to like 2: so that it's done by the heat of the day and then the worship to go on at the evening like 5: so it would be a break

cuz it's August so I didn't want kids sweating um um and then it would be broken down that night and yes yeah there wouldn't be much to to break I think we the permit would essentially just be for the whole day but you have to be out of the park I think they close at like 9: oh yeah no we be I think it's not is it 9: what time the lights go off

oh it's 10 it 10 oh it is 9: I Sav already yep yeah I'm in bed then so it's okay yeah um yeah I'm I make a motion to approve with like I said those with all of those items I think he I think he asked me a question I just no I just had a question like she just laid it out for us so maybe just something formalized like just I'm not no one's stopping it

just like you said formalized like you just structured everything 7:00 a.m.

9:00 a.m. 5:00 p.m. stuff like that just just so we have it just cuz I would hate to approve this and then something pops up I'm not saying it's going to no it's okay I totally it's on us you know like hey guys you guys you know yeah that's what I'm saying it's like and we're not in your way just something like I guess just formalized like if you know you're

not going to have certain things and just list them times you know what you want to do so on and so forth yeah we we will approve it like next meeting which just I just want to have it I don't want us to cross off and be responsible for certain things that yeah that's fair basically you know you can we can just operate under the assumption that at the next meeting you'll just cross this

stuff off y resend it to us yeah we'll put it on the agenda for next me meeting and I mean approve it so the five of us are going to be here again okay and in the meantime that way if you want to start marketing it and doing what you need to do because that's the date we'll we'll hold we'll make sure that that date you know takes priority for next month's meeting if something were to

come up between now and then thank you fair so I'll make a motion that we table this to our next month's meeting and I'll second it second it motion to table made by commissioner far second by commissioner Cecilia all in favor thank Youk you so much next is item D it's a letter from Mandy kusich regarding the use of chew part for the City of Refuge Easter egg hunt to be held Saturday April 12th 2025 from

11: to 1 and she's here come on down also a first timer for this thanks for your time if you could just state your name into the microphone I know we just kind of introduced you but Mandy cusic and address 2085 Midian Street Fall River thank you problem does anyone have questions for Andy um this was just it's an easy icon mhm yep uh I guess like the food and drinks has to be

like packaged so it can't be something that like someone makes and brings it has to be like a juice box yeah like getting like donations from Domino and pizza and probably Dunkin Donuts boxes of donuts is that okay bottled water is juice boxes the I don't know about the food part like the Domino that's a health question I feel yeah I think that would just be like that we have to defer

to them for that right as far as I'm assuming that they're on like the list so as long as they're on that list they're good um by the list do you mean the C the city will have the pre-approved vendor food vendor list so anyone on there is essentially fair game if let's say Domino's isn't you can say hey we were trying to get some donations from Domino's what do we need to do and

they can point you in the right direction okay so within that sheet you have the Civic events like under the health department it's food handler cards and applications vendors site layout so they're the ones that would have to sign off if you're going to have food okay and that would be kind of on them to determine what's allowed and what isn't allowed yeah so if you if your food consisted of you getting a

bunch of bags of chips and hanging them out you don't have to like that's not something that's under theirs but if you have actual like cooked prepared food there got it that makes sense anybody else no do you have anything you want to add or anything not really so if we approve she's still just going to get the buy off from the yeah she'll process of getting yeah she'll still have to get this whole thing filled

out yeah I mean seems innocent enough I I make a motion to uh approve the uh access on April 12th from 11: to 1 p.m.

at two Park second motion to approve by commissioner Cecilio second by commissioner Burns all in favor I oppos motion carries okay thank you all so what is exactly is my next step um so you would essentially just need to go to all of those departments so um so they'll just have on record that this was all approved right so you go the building inspector here the Health Department's here Police Department you

know where that is um the fire department's off of uh Airport Road yep um yeah that's I think that's pretty much it yeah okay thank you item e i put letter from Britney M madruga who's here oh I hope I said your name right mad Thank you regarding the use of Abbot court for a twoe sensory play event to be held on April 13th and 27 2025 do you want to come down thank

you and if you could just name and address please breny madruga 54 Cottage Street thank you is it two weeks or four weeks um initially I wanted to do four weeks um but I've modified just to two weeks okay okay and which uh weekends or dates are those so that would be the 13th and the 27th of April okay it's right here any questions you planning on having like food like

all the things I was just listening um I was thinking the parents would probably pack like their own snacks um and I wouldn't necessarily have my own food that would be on them is that correct um the only questions I do have maybe not specifically for this event unless I'm finished but I was listening to um as you mentioned food truck I'm working on finishing my sensory bus and maybe after

this I can get more information on how to go about requesting that my bus be at some of um the events that I'm trying to do if there's any extra steps or permits I need like maybe considering myself a vendor at one point um but again I'm not finished with the best but for I don't probably Al's office right the city operations or as far as like events or the mayor's office directly to be

involved I would get a hold of Sam I'm just wondering like if I'm hosting my own events is there extra steps I take to say my sensory bus will be at this event do you understand do I need to register myself as like a vendor with my sensory bus I would assume just like in general like a business license of some sort but I don't like if you said you're

having a sensory event and you came with your van like I don't think that that would be an issue I just wanted to make sure yeah cool yeah but when you do get the van let me know CU I'd love to have you at my event absolutely and her event's the end of the summer so what's the timeline you um so I'm hoping to be rolling out in May I'll I'm I'm getting tagged in a few

community events already so I have your contact information you do so I make a motion motion to approve motion to approve motion to approve by commissioner FAS second second by commissioner Burns all in favor I I oh I sorry oppos motion carries thank you thank you so much right item f is a letter from Justin latini regarding the use of Bicentennial Park for the Vietnam Veterans Day event

to be held on Saturday March 29th 2025 at 1 pm I have to abstain motion to approve motion to approve made by uh commissioner rioo seconded by commissioner Burns all in favor I I let the record reflect commissioner farious abstained from that if I could just add to something um we did get a request from the active down in uh Newport the active duty Navy members they want to volunteer to do a

cleanup with the B centenal Park so they gave us a call and um we're working with the veterans um Department to um allow them to do the cleanup with our our people on on hand uh initially it was March 9th but they switched that so we're waiting on a newer date so um I just wanted to let you know that they're volunteering to awesome nice perfect so that motion carries now

item G is a letter from the mayor's office regarding the use of Abbott Court for the Arbor Day fair is this an annual event uh yes it is it's the day before her the last event we just talked about right cuz AV a she requested that have it the 13th and 27th and this one's the 20 26th 26th okay so so that works yeah um I make a motion to approve this annual

event oh go ahead no you got it motion to approve by commissioner burn second by commissioner FIS all in favor I opposed motion carries item H is a letter from Bobby Bailey regarding the use of Dumont park for the upcoming softball season at diamond from April 1 to June 1st uh so a little context I don't Al we didn't hear back from Bobby I don't think with specific dates um so there's

nothing to approve I I don't think at this point because we also have a item J is the softball league and they have their Sweat Equity in those fields so they're going to take priority at least in my opinion they should take priority as far as the use of those fields I know Diamond doesn't have a softball field right now while they're under construction but this is also um I think Bobby had said there was like

six dates that he was looking for six freshman softball games that he was looking for um use of that facility so I my suggestion would be to table this for now to get more info from Bobby and then I think we probably need to have a conversation with Bobby and with the girls softball league that um will get to them but they have 250 girls signed up to play softball already so I don't

know if they're going to be able I don't know if they can make it work if there's six days that diamond needs it if there's a way that they can there's three Fields over there yeah so I think for now until Bobby tells us what day what days he's looking for the times then we can I think lean on the softball league and ask them yeah if you know there's any willingness to share it for

a couple hours on those 60 and kind of take it from there but my opinion is they should you know have priority of that facility I don't know if anybody disagrees agree no I don't disagree like I said they like you they literally do everything there like they don't do anything they take care of all of it I do I do know I I live down there by there so there's three Fields over

there and very rarely I will say do I see all three Fields occupied I see two at most but sometimes I see three like on the weekends but during the week I only see two so maybe if they're we dat yeah there there's something that has to be worked out we got to kind of bring them together and just kind of figure out we need dates from Bobby and then

just see what they can this will be their Recreation season so that they'll I'm sure they'll keep those B FS busy yeah but if you can schedule now for those dates once we get those dates then it would be ideal they could probably figure it right so if they can work around it but it does it have to be Doon or could they use Ruggles I think Bobby would probably be open to using anything

right and it might and I know that the softball league had asked for rugles for um like an overflow when they if there was too much going on at Dumont they could use Ruggles so maybe we can defer Bobby for those six days to Ruggles and maybe that's a little bit easier for the leak to um coordinate because we'll we'll get to their stuff but I had a conversation with Tim from the league and they

already have 250 kids signed up and I think their schedule is probably already created yeah so so it might create some issues if they're trying to squeeze games if diamond is trying to squeeze games in and it's only temporary you know Diamond will have a field next year year after maybe um so we'll I'll entertain a motion to uh table that item somebody wants to so we're tabling to a conversation or

tabling for dates both both both okay I'll make a motion to table this to the next meeting uh so the two parties can get dates together and have a conversation about possibly sharing or going to another field I second that motion so the motion to table was made by commissioner Cecilio second by commissioner Burns all in favor I I motion carries you can go play basketball item I is a letter from Amber

Burns regarding the use of Kennedy Park basketball court and the lower surrounding area for her fourth annual back to school block party it's actually the 5th it's August 5th 2025 no no no August AUST 9th it's the fifth annual oh fifth annual oh okay fifth annual on August 9th from 10:00 a.m. to 3: p.m.

Ruggles in Dumont so if there's a deal that we can work out with Bobby to get him his six freshman games at one of those two facilities I think that's probably fair but I wouldn't want to table this one because I think they're looking to start their season sooner rather than later and Ruggles is just for overflow right you said yes so like if they had a tournament or something

they can have I think they use it for practice too so I think like if there's a bunch of games going on there they can practice at Ruggles and vice versa just having an extra field and like I said he when I talked to Tim the other day he reached out and um we got this added you know he he notes it in there 200 he's got 256 250 girls started with 36 a couple years ago

I mean those guys have put in I don't how many times I've by and see people out there raking and cleaning and whatever so um anybody else have anything to add so make a motion to accept that a second motion to approve was by commissioner FIS second by commissioner Burns all in favor I I any oppos motion carries uh that was the last item of new business there's a couple of old items

on here that were carryovers from last month's meeting uh so I think Al has an update on item a which is the North Park walkway project Al yes so uh in front of you I have a project schedule for the bidding process um when I completed the spec we uh we we uh sent that out to the vendors and we were able to uh they were able to collect um the documents on February

20th uh we did a site walk through on February 27th we're uh we we uh we had a question period where they could question anything on the spec so tomorrow uh we did I did send an addendum with any of those questions that they had more like if there were you know if there were pavers in in the the walkways do we do we remove them what do we do with those

and uh so we're going to save those Granite pavers palletize those those and use that for a different project so we'll send out the addendum bids Areo on March 13th and we'll have a uh better understanding of uh who our vendor is going to be so that would mean next month we'd have a proposal to review is that if it's due on the 13th so have a proposal absolutely okay cool okay

questions um it was we put an estimated cost of1 $60,000 on that um but we have a little buffer just to make sure um if there was any addendums so I think we have probably about 170 or so left

okay we accept I don't I don't know if that's a do we have to take an action on that I don't think I don't think so because it's it's going to come up next meeting I make a motion to thank you for the information and then the next one was uh also more of conversational for the board as far as the use of the pusy Park Tennis Court area that created that

situation we had last summer that had been going on with the volleyball and the you know everything that happened down there the fac that area is locked and secured in conversations with Al and the mayor what input does the board have with as far as what we would like to see that space utilized for do we have suggestions as far as what can go there um I think and then all everybody else

talk I think we should just take the fence down and plant grass and it should just be open space an open field um but I don't know if anybody has any other thoughts I have a different idea I think that we should take that area and somehow fin it and make it into like a small dog park small what small dog park a dog park situation I know it's not as big as like the other one

that we have I just feel like we only have one in the city right now and I went for a walk on the rail trail and the amount of people with their dogs in like that uh in uh what's it called on the turf field running around and when I was like you know you're not supposed to have dogs in here trying to be nice cuz I have dogs I get it but they're like

there's nowhere else the only one they have is that one over there and the area is not that great and so I think that there are two potential spaces for additional and I do think that that is a possibility of one of them just to make it a dog park that would it would just be just planting the grass and putting a fence around it um like we can plant the grass still it's

just you just put a fence around it yeah a longer fence I mean we can all make decisions but the way I see it and I see exactly what we seeing you already have some asphalt there you already have something caged in there can we figure out what we could do while you had that fence and some asphalt if the plan is to remove that then we'll we'll have to

take that out but I don't see us putting any fence up at that point in time but right if you're going to take the fence down you're not going to put another back so I think the plan is is what can we do with what we have now and if everyone agrees that there's really nothing you can do there then then we just plant grass at the end of the day so cuz I

think well and I think some of it is it's tight down there to begin with as far as like houses and I don't say this no parking whatsoever no parking and I don't say this to discourage people from using the park but within that specific Park that was like an issue with how it was being used so I don't know I I feel like I'm saying don't use the park but that's not what

I'm saying yeah no I get it and so I do agree I don't think the asphalt need to be there because if it is let's say we're like oh we're going to put a basketball hoops and they can shoot basketball there we're going to have the same exact issue where them coming and putting the the poles in and y y y so I get that I like you couldn't take the

asphalt out without taking a fence down though right cuz you couldn't get could it be it'd be like trying to carve a pumpkin it's it's going to be tight but we it could be done I'm not saying it can't we'd have to remove a panel of of uh some of the fencing to get some equipment in there right but and then replace that cuz I think the fence is in halfway decent shape cuz you guys went

and secured it we secured it when we had all the issues so I think the fence is well regardless whatever we did I think we would need to like fix some of the like the lattice of unless you guys already did that cuz remember there was like holes cut into it they secured all that so they could get maybe another pickle B I don't just I thought of that too I honestly

there's a there's actually a lot like within the country with pickle ball in neighborhoods because of the noise so there's a lot of noise complaints and there's a lot of problems with that in like heavily populated areas where people are grass still walking dog no I know it's more of just having somewhere for your dog to be able to freely run around also pick a all you think we have a parking problem

now that'll be 10 times worse um cuz pickle ball people will show up when the park opens at 7:00 a.m.

they don't play around on uh uh Bay Street already okay so if if we can't do the dog park I do think we should just make it all grass make it all grass so Helen can have picnics make it all grass that would be that was my I didn't think of the dog par but the logistics of it like I get what you're saying like you're not going to take all the fence down and put it

all back up I was going to say that's also like I feel like a t I guess the other dog pox fence is just as tall I feel like that's a really tall fence but I guess the other one is just as tall or if we could just get the asphalt out and put grass in there and leave the fence up then it would just be like an open space to have your dogs just run

around but if that's also not an option then yeah I think there's a lot of options but I think that uh there's a cost Associated too so I don't know how that well the dog of the dog park there's no cost that goes in there right now because it's it's rough in there yeah uh so if we are spending money in there I don't know how um but okay I don't do we want to like come

with a formal thing for next meeting like we're going to do grass and then we vote on it um I think I don't know Al do you want maybe maybe it goes with the next one where maybe we send a couple like a recommendation up to the mayor's office that yes the board the board recommends you know the use of peski Park to be the fence torn down and and grass planted

and it to be utilized as you know open space what do they call the passive Recreation uh so that it's still can be used but it's shouldn't be a nuisance to the neighborhood any so we'll we'll maybe follow up and try to just get the mayor's office a letter just saying that we spoke about it and that's our recommendation for what should happen there okay and then the last one is also we've kicked

this around a little bit but just sending a letter to the mayor's office um with a recommendation regarding a park study in addition to the open space plan so I had had a few conversations with an engineering firm about about how a park study Works hand inand with the open space plan I just wanted to familiarize myself and understand you know what was going on the open space plan is being worked on now it's online

you can look at it it's pretty interesting but it takes into account all the open space throughout the city not just the parks so my thought was since I've gotten on the board is like I always want to be part of like not just approving like Easter egg hunts but like bigger stuff and what can we do to like engage the community and understand kind of um have a little bit

of say in in what's going on in the Parks so my thought with this was also just sending a recommendation to the mayor if the board thought it was appropriate um to just basically ask him to put out an RFP for space a park study that would just work in combination with the open space plan to kind of give a road map get feedback and and in talking to the engineering firm basically what

they would they would do or what the specs of the RFP would kind of look like in my mind is some neighborhood meetings within the different parks to get what do the neighbors think would be utilized there and this all like to me when you drive around the city and you see like the little pocket Parks the Little League fields that you know there's no more North Park Little League there's no

Columbus Park Little League there's no Bayside L leag those Parks can we utilize we've got 250 girls signed up for softball like they're utilizing that we have soccer that uses for soccer uses it the other uh britland Park and they use Sylvia school but are there other uses can we make a facility you know multi-purpose where you can play soccer or you can play softball or you know

maybe there's a park that we could put Turf but I think that rather than Flying Blind and us as a board who meet once a month spitballing to get a professional to say here's what you have here are the parks here's the feedback that we got from you know the surrounding communities this is what we think should happen this year this is what we think should happen in

this 5 years 10 years and kind of have a bigger plan that's why that's on there that's my thought behind it all I don't know if anybody else has thoughts on that sounds good so I'll bring it to my I have my meeting at the end of the month I'll bring it to my neighborhood meeting yeah and what the game suggestions what they want to use the park for like what can we some of these

places I think need to be uh revitalized a little bit you know they're they're not used the way that they were yeah 10 years ago 20 years ago however so did I miss anything on that no you hit it you hit it so it's it's online right now just so the open space plan correct me if I'm wrong Al what do they have to do every 10 years the city has to go through the

process of analyzing the open space and there's a whole process that they have to follow but it's for all open space I want to do one that just focuses on the parks they can and it helps from a cost perspective because if you have the engineering firm that's going to look at it they already have the park information that they need square footage number of parks all of that stuff on the open space plan so they

don't have to go survey and they don't have to go do anything they have all that info but they can get some feedback they can the other thing that the firm that I spoke to they would be able to help with is different grants and ways to find money to pay for these things like they have creative ways where you know you can find money out there to pay for different projects to kind of has

has the main open space plan come back yet is it done yet I don't know no so I remember the meeting that we had had they were like we'll see what that one says and then go from there but I didn't know what the timing of that one was it's the old one is still there so I don't know how much it changes from 10 years ago like gotcha might be like some

bio Reserve Land that like the city has acquired that is not applicable to Parks I would think if you looked at the open space plan from 10 years ago it's going to be pretty similar to what you see in the park like the specific Park piece of the open space plan is going to be pretty similar cuz we don't there hasn't been any uh we don't have more Parks or

less Parks than we had 10 years ago okay anything else interesting reading it's very interesting yeah there's a lot in there it is a lot of historical okay so Al you and I are uh we put together those letters and send them sure to the sixth floor anything else commissioner inquiries I have one thing I don't know how to go about this but I would like to put a proposal together to turn two of our non-used

Fields into dog parks the field at the bottom of Kennedy the old softball field I don't think that's being used at all for anything if it is please correct me and I don't think there's any plan for it right now so I think we should repurpose that into a dog park cuz then it also covers that that side of the city cuz there isn't one over there and then also the

baseball field at the top of North Park I don't think is used anymore I believe it was a Little League field I know the bottom of North Park is used but the top is not so my thought was we do that one as well so then we literally have three dog parks on opposite ends of the city cuz right now we only have the one um both fields are big enough that you

could obviously we would need to reconstruct the gates into squares and then put one down the middle for like little dog big dog but both of them have more than enough space we just have to essentially plant grass grass where the dirt is and then that's kind of it um so I don't know how we go about that but I would like to try and see because at the bottom of Kennedy Park it's already

offened in it's offed in so you're saying just plant some grass where the infield is and then designate it as an allowable dog park so I don't know if that would also be like the health department that they involved with that because of I I think I think maybe we put something the proposal to the man and same thing as just to send a letter so we can just send them all of our ideas okay well

yeah I can and I can put something together of like what would need to happen or um like looking at what they we do on the other one CU like so like the other one has two gates so you have to go through one gate close that to be able to get so you'd have to add something like that so that dogs can't like Escape potentially um so You' have to do little things like that so

reconstructing portions of the fence but um um it's not being used people are literally bringing their dogs there anyways so we might as well make it designated so that you don't get asked to leave if you bring your dog there um not saying that happened to me but it may have um but the one at top of North Park people bring their dogs there all the time because it is fence in it's

super safe the rest of North Park is just open because the other one the other baseball field doesn't have a fence it's just open and so that I I think you're right and I don't have any issue with that but that's also like the point of what I think is part of like having somebody look at all of this stuff and I think what you're saying makes sense as far as the location but

kind of ties into having somebody look at it from a th000 feet and say yeah that makes sense to put it there what about if we put it here instead that type of thing so I mean the things things change in waves right so what you're what you're really recommending is is really not a big take CU if you're just making sure that infield gets grasped if for some crazy reason kidss

just want to play ball again then you just the fields right there so it's not it's not a big take so yeah makes sense so maybe we'll the bear will get three letters yeah I can even look it up like if you have to have cuz like the other dog park has a big dog and little dog side I can even look up of like mandated you have to have two different sides or

if you can just have one big one like my dogs are huge but they love all dogs so they can be with any type of dog but if realistically if you want your dog to be on a small side and you don't feel comfortable with the new one you could go to the one that you've always been going to U but I like I said there might be something that you have to have yeah

double sides but I'm not I don't know about that but I can look into that but yeah because if that's the case if you don't have to separate it it's literally just adding another row of fencing where like the gate opens and grass and then that's that's essentially and you kind of are there like fenced in dugouts down there cuz you kind of already have that right we you could

just put another gate oh yeah as far as like fenced in like the the D out would be like your entry so you have two little fo yeah little fo yeah yeah so you just have to I have to I'd have to like go and look at it cuz I don't know some of them don't have I know the top does I don't know about the bottom of what's it called but I no that the

bottom of a candy poock doesn't have anything it's just uh it used to be an old softball field no yeah but I don't know if they have like fenced in dugouts or if it's like The Dugout is like outside um but even if if that's the case you it's just a very simple just additional they had a tennis thing there too fence tennis was up there for a little while oh volleyball I'm sorry volleyball but

they made the new volleyball so but yeah there's no uh it's just open I just think it's something that then there'd only be one area left would be like the side where like um where Maplewood is like that end of the city doesn't necessarily have one but I feel like if we can add two more I think that would be huge and that alleviate with people complaining that there are dogs just like running around

in the regular parks CU there are times when people just AR dog people which I don't get it but uh get some doggy bags yep that's all I got anybody else motion to adjourn anybody I make a motion second it motion to adjourn made by commissioner Burns second by commissioner FIS all in favor hi motion Carri