2011-04-06 P & R Minutes Approved

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Parks & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes 04-06-11 The Centennial Soccer Club requested the use of the soccer fields at Laurie LaMotte Memorial Park for the 2011 soccer season in a letter dated April 6, 2011 with the following three parts to the request: 1.Requesting two fields, 25 x 40 yard open spaces, located east of the parking lot and bound by the bike path, for the U2 – U8 age group, for games only. This request is for Monday – Friday from 4 p.m. to dusk, April 28 through July 4, 2011. The Centennial Soccer Club will set up goals and manage a reservation system to assign teams to specific dates and times for games. 2.Requesting one field, 70 x 60 yard open space, located south of the skate park, for the U11 – U12 age group, for practice only. This request is for Monday – Friday 3:00 p.m. to dusk, Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to dusk, April 1 through October 29, 2011. The Centennial Soccer Club will set up goals and manage a reservation system to assign teams to specific dates and times for practices. 3.We would like to place a small storage locker along the northern boundary of the park. This would be north of the small fields next to the trees and would hold only soccer field barriers. We will provide a lock for the storage locker as well as a temporary anchor system for the storage locker. In past years the committee has approved the Centennial Soccer Club’s request for dedicated use of the soccer fields at Laurie LaMotte Memorial Park as stated above in request #1, but recommended amending the request in #2 to the following days: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday with the hours as requested. The thought behind limiting the days for dedicated use by Centennial Soccer Club in the past were to keep some of the time open in case other organizations asked for dedicated time. In the past 4 years there have been no other requests and there are other open spaces available at the park. The committee opted to approve request #2 as is also. Vice-Chairperson Grahek has been involved in soccer for quite a few years with his children and was unaware of any storage lockers on any other fields for soccer equipment; he was under the impression coaches always brought the equipment with them. Vice-Chairperson Grahek felt unless the Centennial Soccer Club could show the necessity of having a locker in the park he did not want to set precedent by having sports organizations having their own lockers or sheds on park property. The rest of the committee agreed, but did ask Ms. Stephan to ask the club why they felt it necessary. Also, the proposed location would not work as that is near where the trail is being constructed. Committee Member Seeley questioned why Centennial Soccer Club has not been involved or requested to participate in any of the improvements at Laurie LaMotte Memorial Park, specifically projects which benefit the soccer fields. Centennial Little League has purchased equipment for grooming the fields, they contributed to the cost of the improvements to the fields in 2010/2011 and they always clean the park for Earth Day. Committee Member Seeley would like to see Centennial Soccer Club get involved somehow. Motion was made by Chairperson Branch, seconded by Committee Member Peterson to approve Centennial Soccer Club’s request for use of the soccer fields at Laurie LaMotte Memorial Park as stated in items #1 and #2, but not recommend item #3 - requesting a storage locker on park property, pending further information from the Centennial Soccer Club as to why it is needed. Ayes – 5, Nays – 2 (Seeley, Amundsen). Motion Carried. 6 of 8