Park Board Minutes - 03/25/2010Wichita Falls Park Board Meeting
March 25, 2010
W.F. Recreation Center
Room 202, 60011' Street
1:30 p.m.
Presiding:
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Alan Donaldson /Chairperson
Members Present: Alan Donaldson,, Peg Marquardt, Penny Miller,
Ben (Chip) Filer, Stephen Priester, John Hirschi,
Stephen Garner, Sharon Roach and Jim Miller
Members Absent:
Staff Present:
City Council Representative:
Mary Ward
Jack Murphy
Councilor Jim Ginnings (absent)
CALL TO ORDER:
Alan Donaldson called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m.
Minutes of February 25th, 2010 meeting were put before the board. A motion was
made and seconded to accept the minutes. Minutes were approved.
DEPARTMENTAL REPORT:
All projects are going as scheduled.
1. We are about 30% complete on the South Weeks Park Pond project.
Completion on this project will probably be in May.
2. Kevin Hugman was introduced to the Board. Mr. Hugman is the new Assistant
Manager for the City.
3. The contractor started work on the three mile trail along Holliday Creek.
Completion is scheduled for December.
4. We are continuing with the planning for the grant to TXDot for two other
sections for the Circle Trail. One is on Seymour Highway and the other one is
on Barnett Road.
5. Staff walked along the BNSF railroad ROW from Seymour Road to Kell and it
looks like we will have enough ROW for a trail.
6. The annual resurfacing of the four courts at Hamilton Park Tennis Center is
complete.
7. The Parks Department has shifted from winter projects to summer
maintenance.
8. We finished phase one of the Flyover project with shrubs and tree planting.
Now we will start working on an ornamental structure and landscape.
9. The Softball season began this week. The Recreation Department has had an
increase of team signing up this year.
10. The two gyms at Jefferson Elementary and Scotland Elementary are being well
used and the amount of people for free play has increase from about 12 when
we started to about 50 people now.
11. Flowers should be planted in about a month and a half.
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Alan Donaldson asks if there will be a connector to the trail from the Pond project.
The plan is to put a connector trail from South Weeks Park Pond to Stone Lake
Drive and also the entrance to South Weeks Park.
Peg Marquardt was wondering what is going on with the Skate Park. Yes, the
Skate Park is getting lots of use. The building going up next to it is the Sports
Complex maintenance building.
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Report of the Lake Wichita Committee:
Penny Miller, Chairperson for the Lake Wichita Committee gave the Board
an overview of what the committee has been doing.
The committee wanted to ensure:
A. Access to the lake by a large number of citizens for a variety of
activities.
B. Look for some "quick wins" so the public could see visible evidence
of forward movement:
a. Because of this, we also considered cost and complexity.
b. Some of the projects could rely heavily on volunteer support
for much of the labor.
The four projects that had consensus were:
1. Increase access for bank fishing.
2. Install an observation platform between the barrow pit and "pelican
point ".
3. Plant and animal interpretation stations.
4. A pier at the historical site of the original pier (this is the most
expensive and ambitious project, but could be accomplished in
stages over time).
Motion was made to approve and it was seconded. Park Board approved
unanimously.
2. Park Improvement Committee:
No report available.
OTHER ITEMS:
There were several discussions on keeping Wichita Falls beautiful. Penny Miller
let the board know of a Keep Wichita Falls Beautiful project on April W, at 9:00
am in Lucy Park. Organize a group or get some friends together and do some
Spring cleaning. Check out Volunteer Wichita Falls.org or call the non profit
center.
There were other discussions on how to obtain maps of trails, how to get
information on things to do in Wichita Falls, compost giveaway on April 3 and the
Outdoor Concert series.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting was adjourned at 2:30 p.m.
Signature:
Alan Donaldson Chairperson