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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-PRNR-2019-04-08 PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MINUTES PRESENT: Chair - Roth Commissioners - (7) Freyburger, George, Hoffman, Moeller, Myers, Sanders-Jauquet, Shelley OTHERS PRESENT: Common Council Liaisons – Brock Financial Management Assistant - Swartz City Forester – Grace Deputy Youth Bureau Director – D’Alterio EXCUSED: Leventry, Kerslick Agenda Review: Tom Shelley wants to add under new business - Amendment to NYS Bill of Rights. Statement from the Public: Mark Messing suggests the City post signs about cold water dangers. Cold water kills, no warning bells and it silently takes over your body. People should be informed about the dangers. Commission Response: This is additional signage to consider. Statement from the Public: Charlene Temple wants an update on the deer issue and to know the timetable for decisions. Commission Response: No timetable is established yet. There will be a deer update during this meeting. Stewart Park Plans update: Rick Manning, Director of the Friends of Stewart Park (FSP) and Diana Riesman, Executive Director of Wharton Studio Museum, discussed the many things being done at Stewart Park. The bids are currently out for Phase 2 of the accessible playground in Stewart Park and are due 4/30/19. It includes the Carousel cover, a large school-age play structure, berm and accessible walk. As an alternate: bathroom building and splash pad. FSP received $1,000,000 from Barbara Lifton and the City has put in $40,000. The carousel was made handicap accessible. FSP also received $50,000 from the county tourism program specifically for creating year round bathrooms. The Boathouse - Historic Ithaca wrote a grant to the Regional Economic Council for funding where the City received $367,000 to repaint and fix the outside of the Boathouse. The City recently put a new roof on the Boathouse. Work is due to be done next year. Date: April 8, 2019 Time: 6:00 PM Location: Common Council Chambers, 3rd Floor, City Hall Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission April 8, 2019 2 Picnic Pavilion - The Friends of Stewart Park received funding from the Tourism Program and the City will also contribute to improvements including a new roof that is currently being put on. The doors will be restored and the color scheme will be looked at. The building is rented often and the upgrades will be visible to the public. Wharton Studio Building – now the Public Works garage in the Park - was a movie studio in 1914- 1921. Approximately 1,000 sf. of the lake facing side of the building will be developed into gallery space. It will include a meeting room that the public can rent and a small visitor center office. A future concept is to create a performance plaza in the current parking lot. Started working with State Senator Tom O’Mara in 2015. Based on a planning and design study that was done through a grant from Tompkins County Tourism, the Senator is nominating the City of Ithaca for a $450,000 grant to restore the building. Playground donor signs will be posted in the park by the end of April to let the public know what is going on in the park. Phase 2 should be done by the end of the year or the beginning of 2020. Only the 1st floor of the Boathouse can be used. There are public restrooms, Ithaca Youth Bureau storage space, and Cascadilla Boat Club rents space. Cynthia Brock thinks this commission should take a look at private use of a public use facility. Also, the ability for members of the public who have concerns about the organization to bring those concerns forward and have them heard. The Friends of Stewart Park are not affiliated with the Cascadilla Boat Club. For updates on Stewart Park – sign up on line at friendsofstewartpark.org to stay current with project updates, upcoming park events and volunteer opportunities. Old Business: Follow up on City Planning Dept. Work Plan Report – Southside plan input & other possible action items – Mickie Sanders-Jauquet had comments as a resident that she already sent in. Street parking will be a concern with the multiple residential units being developed. Bike safety needs to increase, especially between Green St. and N. Titus St. as bicyclists can’t be seen. There are concerns about the scale of new developments in the City. We need a clear timeline of when comments are due by – the comment period for Southside is already over. People can sign up to get notifications from the City web site. There is ongoing concern about infill development in residential areas. Revised regulations on accessory apartments that must be owner occupied are in the planning stages and currently out for public comment. Memorial Policy – The group has an action plan. Jeanne Grace recently received a call about a bench that is missing the memorial plaque. It was not recorded anywhere, so she does not know the details. Going forward we need a system to track memorials. Deer – There will be Oak seedlings planted to monitor the deer. Once we have all of the data, we can discuss what we want to do in the fall. Geese – Dan Cogan has been in contact with the USDA APHIS and they are coming to Ithaca in May to do a site visit. Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission April 8, 2019 3 Park signage update – No update. Natural Areas review & evaluation process discussion – We need to form a working group to evaluate and develop a natural areas work plan. Dan Hoffman was on the former Natural Areas Commission. Todd Bittner, Paul Paradine, Hannah George and Tom Shelley are also interested. There are only 3 official natural areas. There is no staff dedicated to natural areas. Monika will convene a working group meeting. New Business: Sexual Harassment training required – Expect an email with instructions to complete it online. 2020 Budget process – requests for projects/funding increases Now is the time to make suggestions for Capital Projects. We should ask staff to make recommendations for budget priorities and then support their requests. Jeanne Grace suggests a Natural Areas Manager, who would work on revenue generating efforts by looking into funding available and apply for funds. Possibly fund a consultant for a Parks and Waterfront District Plan, maybe we can get the County and others to go in on it also. The Park Foundation is also interested in supporting the waterfront revitalization parks program. The Commission can’t apply for grants, but we can make a recommendation to the City to apply for them or to seek outside funding. Jim D’Alterio will be proposing a plan to assess the renovation of Cass Park fields and buildings. Environmental Bill of Rights - Tom Shelley states there is a Constitutional Amendment being proposed both in the State Assembly and the Senate, that would establish New York State resident’s rights to clean water, clean air and a healthy environment. Village of Interlaken was the first to pass a resolution of support. Tom Shelley and Cynthia Brock will draft a letter in support of the Constitutional amendment and Cynthia will discuss at the next council meeting. Tom Shelley made a motion to draft a letter in support for the Constitutional Amendment, Dan Hoffman second. All in favor, none opposed. Environmental review subcommittee report: No new projects per Dan Hoffman. No recommendations at this time. City’s Project review committee meeting is out of sync with the PRNR meeting so it is hard to make comments on projects that we receive 3 days before our PRNR meeting. The Arthaus project (multi-story building along Cherry St.) drainage question has not been adequately resolved because the developer says the site is already impermeable; there is some water storage planned for beneath the building. Minutes – Review and approve 3/11/19: Dan Hoffman made minor changes. Mickie Sanders-Jauquet made a motion to approve with the changes and Tom Shelley second. All were in favor. Announcements: Jeanne Grace – Could we add a staff update to the agenda each month? Jeanne is in charge of the parks crew and summer hiring. Currently working on the roof for the large pavilion at Stewart Park, painting and new electric, should be done by May. Jeanne received $75,000 capital improvement funds to fix the vaults collapsing in the City Cemetery, contractor should start in May. Jeanne will be asking for more money (2020 budget) to fix the 3rd vault that is collapsing. Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission April 8, 2019 4 Parks crews are planting grass and getting the parks ready. There were storm drains that were clogged at Wood St. Park causing standing water, that is now resolved. Blueway Trail program is underway that the County is running. They are creating trail heads along the lake with one at Stewart Park and one at Cass Park. Built a new kayak rack for storage. Putting in a new water access point for kayaks off the existing pier. There was a floating dock built last year, near the Cascadilla Boat House. Planting trees and grinding stumps. April 27th is Arbor Day (event postponed to May 3rd at 1 PM) at Stewart Park near the boathouse. Working with the GIS department to set up an app for tree tours in the city. Jim D’Alterio is getting the fields ready, the tennis courts will be resurfaced in May, adding field mix to the infields at fields 6 and 7, working on rink enclosure, hiring seasonal staff for the summer and getting the pool ready. The 2019 Citizen Pruner Training Program is underway, for more information contact Monika at mr55@cornell.edu. Environmental meeting this Thursday at the old jail. Wednesday 4/10/19 at 6 PM Planning and Development Committee meeting - voting on the City application for a grant to purchase the Immaculate Conception gym, discussing chicken ordinance, W. State and W. MLK Street zoning and infill guidelines. Cynthia Brock suggested if there is another Monday that would work better for this group, given the conflict with the Environmental reviews, we could ask another commission to switch. Next meeting is May 13, 2019 Adjournment: On a motion the meeting was adjourned at 8:07 PM. Respectfully submitted by, Debbie Swartz Financial Management Assistant