2003-03-05 P&R - Laserfiche WebLink

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Parks & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes 02-05-03 Dear Committee, This letter is to express our concern regarding the removal of the playground equipment and replace with a full basketball court at Royal Meadows Park. We believe that removing the playground equipment will be a mistake for the reason that most of the kids that are currently using the park are too small to play basketball. Also, they are too young to walk to any other park that has equipment for them to play on. Our playground is also used by residents of the townhouses on County Road 20. A basketball court will not serve the needs of the kids that use the park on a regular basis. We feel that the park is peifect for our needs and request the park stay the way it is. The suggestion from the residents was to either leave the park as it is, or remove the basketball court. Residents John and Linda Ellis, 1976 South Robin Lane, said they have also noticed a lot of teenagers congregating in the area of the park, keeping traffic from going down the street and racing cars up and down the street. The police are called often, but the teenagers disappear before the officers arrive. Council Member Peterson asked the residents if they felt more lighting in the area would help and this idea was discussed. The concern was the type of light and if it were too bright would it generate complaints from neighbors. The other issue is the lights are repeatedly being broken. Committee Member Peterson said this light is owned by the city and costs approximately $100 each time is needs to be repaired which averages six (6) times per year. Committee Member Peil suggested checking into a different type of light with a cage around it, the expense would be worth it if the city is paying $600 per year to repair the existing light. Committee Member Lee asked if the light being taken out of the park completely would possibly help. This did not appear to be a realistic option. The residents present were adamant about the play structure remaining in the park. Committee Member Seeley said the city cannot leave unsafe equipment in the park when it is damaged or vandalized, but it is expensive to repair the equipment. Is it possible to bill the parents of the children who are doing the vandalism? Committee Member Peterson said the city did receive restitution for damage done at Tracie McBride Memorial Park, but it involved actually prosecuting those responsible and while it is unofficially known who is doing the damage, those responsible have not been caught in the act or prosecuted. It was suggested a fence be put around the park, but Committee Member Peterson thought the vandals would just cut holes in the fence as they did to the fence surrounding the Rosso Property. Committee Member Seeley suggested to the residents that were present that they talk to their neighbors and encourage them to become vigilant about caring for the park and calling the police whenever they see inappropriate activities happening in the park. The residents said they were already doing this. Mr. Rodney Atkinson said he is always sweeping up broken beer bottles, picking up garbage, cigarette butts, and has even found drugs. He regularly unwinds the swings and rakes out the wood chips. Mr. Atkinson suggested getting rid of the basketball court entirely, perhaps moving it to a different park. Royal Meadows Park no longer has picnic tables or a satellite because they have been destroyed by vandalism. Many of the trees and bushes are dead, branches have been snapped off and bark peeled off with knife. These will not be replaced at this time. The committee thanked the residents for their input and would keep the residents informed of any future recommendations to the City Council for action at Royal Meadows Park. IV. CONSIDERATION OF MEETING l\'HNUTES Committee Member Seeley requested the last sentence of paragraph one on page 6 be reworded, as the sentence was incomplete Committee Member LeBlanc requested the words' 10% of the value of the land' 20f6