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HomeMy WebLinkAbout092512 o�QORT TOE V �O City of Port Townsend wA Meeting Minutes Parks, Recreation and Trees Advisory Board Tuesday, September 25, 2012, 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm City Hall Meeting Room 41 L Meeting called to order at 5:05 pm by Chair, Rosemary Sikes. Members in attendance: David Beatty, Lys Burden, Debbie Jahnke, Sally Robbins and Ron Sikes Staff: Judy Surber Visitors: none II. Approval of Agenda — approved unanimously III. Approval of Minutes—Approval of meeting minutes from 3-27-2012 and 4-24- 2012, as amended, were unanimously approved VI. Introduction of New Members— Sally Robbins is retired director of Jefferson County WSU Extension office and proud of starting the county's master gardener program. She volunteers for many City and County programs. Debbie Jahnke has been very active in parks and recreation issues, especially history and governance. It took 13 months for her appointment to the Board. David Beatty is retired from OlyCAP administration, current Vice President of Admiralty Audubon of East Jefferson County and conducts field trips for them. Ron Sikes is active in Admiralty Audubon, working to improve natural ecosystem health of Kah Tai Nature Park and very interested in native plant restoration. Lys Burden also serves on the Non-Motorized Transportation Advisory Board and is interested in promoting PT trails as linear parks and enhancing their recreational value. Rosemary Sikes has served on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board for the last several years and is active in Admiralty Audubon. Danny Milholland (often absent from meetings due to work schedule) represents youth and works as general manager for NANDA Acrobatic Performing Arts Group of PT. VII. History and Responsibilities of PRT Board—Judy Surber, Senior Planner/Planning Manager, distributed notebooks to all board members containing pertinent information, i.e.: mission, scope of work, 2012 Work Plan, links to key documents, board roster, enabling resolution and municipal code. She reviewed the history of the Board including merger with tree board in 2009. She also outlined the community's goals for parks, recreation and trees as envisioned in the comprehensive plan, especially Chapter 4 —Land Use Element. The functional plan (now in revision) implements the comp plan. Officers elected by the PRT Board are: Rosemary Sikes, Chair; Sally Robbins, Vice Chair; Lys Burden, Secretary. Terms will be up in May, 2013. VIII. Board Meetings—The PRT Board decided to continue meeting every fourth Tuesday of the month from 4:30 to 6:00 pm at City Hall Meeting Room 41. Staff will meet with the Board on a quarterly basis in: October, January, April and July. The Board will continue to meet every month except December and will address updates on continuing projects and any informational needs to be addressed at staffed meetings. During unstaffed meetings no major decisions or new activities would be undertaken. Judy would like all agendas at least a week ahead of time and prior to submittal to the City clerk. Rosemary asked that staff inform the board of any pertinent upcoming public meetings by sending notices to her, and she would then forward to all board members. IX. History and Update of Park Functional Plan—Judy Surber reviewed prior planning efforts. A fiinctional parks plan was adopted in 1999, inventorying facilities, projecting demand and anticipating maintenance needs. The Washington State Recreation& Conservation Office has guidelines that must be met in order to qualify for state grants. In 2010, a plan update was undertaken: mailed community survey (with a statistically valid return), public meeting (in June at Blue Heron Middle School), considerable PRT Board review and draft plan posted to the City's website for public review prior to public meetings. In winter, 2010, the planning office completed a SEPA review and several public meetings to review the draft plan. In response to public comment and concern, this draft has been remanded to a joint committee of selected members from the PT Planning Commission and PRT Board, for fiirther review and rewrite with meetings to resume in the near fiiture. Judy reminded the PRT Board that a fiinctional plan is NOT a comp plan update, but a more detailed plan to implement the intent of the comp plan. X. Change of PRT Representation on joint Functional Plan Committee—With appointment of more PRT Board members and subsequent augmentation of additional recreational planning and policy talent,joint-committee member, Lys Burden, stepped down and Debbie Jahnke was elected as the second PRT Board representative. XL ERPRC Meeting Update—Danny Milholland was not present to give a report, but Lys alerted the Board to an upcoming ERPRC public meeting to review the recommendations to be held at the Tri-Area Community Center on Wednesday, September 26th during the county parks &rec board meeting. Rosemary, Sally and Lys indicated interest in attending. XII. Parkside Drive Park Update—The planning office has conducted three meetings for public input and review of developing park plans. The two local rotary clubs are working on fundraising for landscaping and play equipment. Initial plans call for a fence on two sides with berms and landscaping to buffer adjacent houses from noise and park activities. Plants may be obtained from the conservation district sale next spring, as they are appropriate and inexpensive. Ron and Lys agreed to review the recommended plant list for the park. Rick Sepler is coordinating the park planning. XIII. Volunteer Days at Parks— Several Board members expressed interest in revitalizing volunteer days at city parks, since the City budget is tight. Admiralty Audubon has been contributing vital assistance at Kah Tai Park, and this type of volunteerism needs to be better promoted for every park. Sally, Debbie and Lys would like to participate in developing a volunteer program. Judy Surber announced that Candice Gohn would like to apply for a master gardener grant to permanently identify trees at Chetzemoka Park. The Board voted unanimously to approve such a project and suggested that a map of identified trees would be a good idea, either with permanent signs at the park or perhaps an i-phone app. Subsequent agenda items listed below were tabled for lack of meeting time. XIV. KT Work Party, Sunday, Oct. 21, 9am-Noon— XV. Future Meeting Agenda Items - a. Report needed from our reps on the Exploratory Regional Parks and Recreation Committee (ERPRC). XVI. Board and Visitor Comment— XVII. Adjournment—Meeting adjourned at 6:30pm.