Parks and Recreation Committee - Regular Meeting

yeah yeah all right I'd like to call the uh March 3rd Parks and Recreation committee re advis board meeting uh remind everybody if you haven't already to mute your cell phones and when you want to ask a question or speak please your hand and you'll be let's start with meeting uh with the Pledge of Allegiance all right let's uh have the roll call Gary Johnson here Mary heinan pres Jennifer Mueller here Thomas Byron here Jay erens here Kathy Ste and Mike Abbott are excused absence by for the Quorum okay very good if everybody had a chance to look at the minutes from the last meeting February 3rd if not I'll give you a quick second to just look at the highlights I make a motion to approve the minutes from last meeting second all right thank you motions on the floor to approve the minutes from last meeting as written allor raise your right hand say I please I please all oppose nay correct uh no opposition and no so uh minutes are approved as written thank you very much okay next up public comments no public comment all right very much committee meeting items in the

old business discussion regarding the bid to move Oldtown Pavilion to a new location we got a memo from Dan Howard I don't know if you saw that look it over is Dan with us Dan got any comments on nothing new there I guess they didn't get back to us on how much it cost uh no not right right not this moment um I did have a company come out and take a look at it and they are telling me that they can move the structure but the major obstacle is going to be the ammer lines uh that would have to be dropped in order for the to be moved I've been working with uh ammer on this and I have not received back any comment from them as of yet okay but they are going to give you some kind of estimate I guess what last meeting it seemed like they might might not even consider it um that is a possibility too they there are some lines to go through the the Oldtown area impacts businesses in a couple different uh quite a few areas that are outside of P okay any questions for Dan Thank you new business discussion regarding improvements to fabic Nature Preserve outl um yes um board did place this year and last year $20,000 in the uh 2025 Capital plan to look at some improvements to the fabic Outlook um current improvements that are happening in that area under other budgeted items one is the invasive species removal um I will tell you that the contractor was out again this weekend if you haven't been up uh since weekend a lot of progress has been made um that's of

course in conjunction with the Missouri Department of Conservation grant that we did receive um the other item is the staircase replacement we are just waiting for the weather to break for that that um project to begin that's both at the bud wild Pavilion and at the fabic Nature Reserve so it's really this Outlook area that's up where we have cleared the area now you you can see into the lake and it's what we kind of just typically call the Outlook area looking for any ideas for additional improvements you want to you may want to see in the area um I will tell you if you look at if you were to go up there now to look at the Outlook area there is going to be further clearing that's going to be happening in that area this spring um we're moving towards it and of course tree removal within the park for number one invasive species um dead trees that have been identified and then um for pruning which is all part of the missoury department conservation okay we went up there today my wife and I took dogs with us but there had been I guess maybe it had been cleared before it looked quite a bit different I hadn't been up there I bet for a year and it uh has a distinct look to it you know it's pretty nice there's I kind of thought it looked like maybe three uh three of the things that i' packaged it up in one's the drive going up and parking if there is any another was the Pond and the third is a nice big field there really beautiful and they all got some pluses and minuses to them for instance the pond at one time I'm sure it was a very nice Pond for $20,000 you couldn't do very Pond I'm afraid it's kind of a hazard even it's not a friendly pond with round rocks and you walk down to some little kid lost a ball that roll down the hill uh the rubber bladder I don't pond liner I'm not sure if it's good enough shape to go after it' be pretty expensive to do much there the drive up

is a single Lane is that true and it has I thinking to the wrong part I I I think maybe you're talking about the budw in it oh that's not the Outlook no the the Outlook is the the top area of the fabic oh where it's a there's a a stone wall that's been created and it it what it does is it overlooks okay upper faic my bad okay rewind rewind the tape and the pond is part of that's all part of the grant that we' received with the mun Municipal Park um we'll be work reworking that pond and putting a shelter and a bathroom as pH okay that park there we go fine all right well what about real Outlook so I was up there on Sunday and the Overlook like towards the leg is super duper nice like if people wanted to sit I mean it's nice view it really looks good um and so I know that like in the notes they said know perhaps thinking of ways to spend that money which would be like on up there or maybe some fence repair so when I was up there like kind of playing around um I noticed like there's a one bench I guess that used to be where part of the I don't know what probably their basketball court or something bad but I would think if that Overlook towards the lake if you wanted to put heaing in there that would be in the upper portion yeah like where that like in the first picture the Overlook towards Lake that would be like a place at the top and I also and I don't know what they want to do about the fencing situation so I kind of went around and rattled the PO and there was probably maybe 10 and 12 and it's like the post is in the stone but stone is broke broken loose so I don't know I don't know if that's like a fix where

they would need to go and Remar that um some places the idea was to perhaps replace this the green fencing that's at the very top replace that with something maybe a little more aesthetically pleasing and um it is like you said loose somebody Lanes on it too far it could eventually just but I think to to replace that I mean a lot of that's still pretty 30 but like to replace it then that's like I would think if you're doing that then you're replacing those top stones on that whole wall all because that's like those post are through the through the and I don't know if that would be that would eat up so but yes are gaps on know things like that anyone else have some ideas or thoughts I mean does the city have like a priority there been any thoughts I think our thoughts have been mostly with just providing now that we've area um number one was getting the obviously the staircase repaired um that's because it was going to become an attractive news at that point um the other was yes looking at possibly the form of either just benches for an out for the Outlook area um nothing extravagant I thought there was some that was along that I wrong yeah there is like that more what I was thinking so there's like that kind of like what do they call that when they like thater fence yeah there's like a stretch of fencing it might only be like three sections oh

for me it was the that area yeah that cedar fencing is that's going to be coming out um and whatever we do with the fencing that is kind of the fall protection on that wall with the old Foundation where the old house was we don't have to be back into those rock walls with any new posts not quite sure why they drilled them in like that to begin with but uh um we can do gosh there's so many different options depending on what the cost that the city is uh wanting to spend up there with with a new fall protection but I agree there is some repairs need to be made because I kind of thought that too like would could you like move that fency slightly back only thing I would be worried about is that kids are going to walk that ledge so if you kind of move that like a foot back from the edge of the stone if you offset that then kids are going to they're going to walk that ledge and was that fencing required to be placed when the house was demolished due to fall that a county requirement if I remember correctly that is correct yeah I think it's anything over 24 inches or 30 Ines has to have a fence on it or some some type of fall protection let's put it that way question so my question is given that that area really doesn't have vehicle traffic if we put seating up there does it have to be seating necessarily that's in the you know cemented in the ground or could we you know how they have those bunches that have backr that are like that are made out of steel and they're powder coated and like but you can move them around I don't know if that would be

something viable up there that you could have one or two back set know because I don't think that it wouldn't be like it's F in park where some I guess technically dumping back no but I think at the that Outlook like that's towards the lake to where they've cleared that out I would love to see some seaing in that area I know um that Mike Abbott had sent ination about well the overall it was theall Park um but and then today I guess he did send something in that was just specific to yeah um but what we could do is if you guys want to have a little can always bring back to next month and I think Dan and I need like to go up there on the fence try to work out some IDE on placement what would be because I know that I think that's the desire for a few of something more a little less um appease um but yeah the focus was more just kind of in that Outlook that we have to you know get that done but I think like I said this spring you will see that there is goinging that'll be done um down in the lake area of course working with Native landscape Solutions invasive but if anybody hasn't been up since last weekend I I had the opportunity amazing what can get done in couple of days for Street okay so is a motion to carry that forward I'll make sure to look at the

right part just to yeah why don't we just continue for additional discussion so I'd make the motion that we just carry that forward and we get Mike's input if he's back next okay I second second sound like Mary jump all in favor of putting that on next month's hi hi iOS okay thank you uh question regarding location and type of dog waste dispensers and city parks all right Nicki yes um as requested as was placed in the bu I believe an amount of $5,000 was placed in the budget for replacement um we identified um essentially that we would need approximately 11 units um we've provided a copy this was one of the Lesser prices that we were able to find it we have utilized this company before we've even had one of these almost identical donated to the city um which gives us the 11 so um our recommendation would be moving forward with purchasing 10 of these units what we liked about them is that they have the trash cans with them it's all in one unit um and the other item is that it did come with um lots of bags for the ref so and if the more you uh we were able to receive kind of a discount for doing a bulk a bulk order so I do believe the final total was a little less than $2,600 in order to buy all 10 yeah oh they're pretty nice again we were looking at two for Fenton City Park two for fabic Nature Preserve one for the upper area one for the lower area and then one for each additional Park in the city I think the greenway had too didn't it we had the I yep and two on the green yes that's good that's good so you want the specific locations then not necessarily I I think we can work with we'll probably replace in some instances just

replace the existing um or near or around those areas I mean if you have a specific location you have an interest let us know but we're just looking more I'll send it to better idea maybe but I had some thoughts on it yeah and I mean in the future we will have to buy additional at some point we'll need one for the new annex we'll need so if we need to install others throughout the city but this at least kind of gets us going and getting those replaced so we'd just be looking for a motion to forward uh if you guys like these types of units um to forward this to the board for approval so Dan can get those order so we would have the funding like to make sure that we're that we're good kept up in bags placement bags oh yes yeah cuz that's like the old the old school ones were like you like yeah like Target bags or Walmart bags bags no these actually come with rolls and then you just yes they have two two rolls in each un you can't kind of run out you always can I guess I'm wondering for consistency throughout the parks if it would be nice to have one near all those signs that they just put in so that because every park has one of the rules cuz I'm thinking like got Riverside I'm guessing that's basketball court thing and then um Valiant because they both have those signs and we know I don't know just yeah plus easier for uh the guys when they're cutting grass yes we just want to yeah make sure that they're near the near the walking paths because I think the most heavily used area will be Fenton City Park we're going to start with two that may end up needing yeah okay okay so do we need someone to make a move I mean make a motion motion to move forward with this I'll make a motion just one quick question you said we we're going to eventually need one for the annex etc etc do we have any that are in need of replacement as far as that aren't in

these 10 if you will far as rep I think that the the require the request regarding this was actually to replace the ones that we had in our Parks because they're the type that people just fill with their own bags and then they have to pull them out and I didn't know if this covered all of all of the ones in all the parks it should cover all where we have the parks now like I said if we find in the future the good news is this is a consistent one that they that they carry this isn't just a a fly by night this we've looked up this this brand we've had one donated um this is their most popular um but we can always buy single units we don't have to buy them in the five bulk well my my my question is because we have room in the approval from the board as far as the money should we order 15 instead of 10 you can make that recommendation if you'd like so then not only do we have some for the ones that are going in if there's one that's discovered or if there's one that's damaged we have one on hand to replace absolutely and if we're going to be buying multiple ones we might as well do it now while it's in the budget and get the price breaks because I think we have 11 already here on on this yeah because one we only have yes so we're going to order 10 but I think what he's saying is we order five more knowing that we're going to need one or two up at the annex and then have three in reserved find S another one or replace some I I'll make the motion to approve it for 15 as opposed to 10 I'll second it all in favor of uh expanding the scope of that to 15 dog units all of our pars and Works to hi thank you uh election of a date and time for

annual training with the city attorney we guess we got I'm a year quite a few new members we do we look forward to this barbecue we do um and and I spoke with the attorney available the next uh two dates that would have April or May um the what we can do is either do it an hour in advance it is about an hour long training um we could start it at 5:30 to 6:30 if you would like or we can wait and just do it to immediately follow this meeting completely I'm good good with either we'd start at 5:30 in this room or conference I'm not going to be you rather do it push it than we can um put it in front of the May that's a snle to mind oh oh we could you want to wait we could we do it I have some trips pleas okay um so do we want to look at next month if we did April it would I could do after I won't be I'll be getting off a plane at we do record it just so you know we do record the presentation and we'll have a copy of the of her presentation I think you guys should do remainder April or May it sounds like we would prefer April due to CCO Deo that everybody's gonna say they're unavailable that evening I motion for everyone to do this in April when would you like to do it I think they feel like a before kind of crowd okay 5:30 yeah 5 works great for me absolutely yes here does the lawyer bring food for dinner she does not but

that has been known to bring cookies I'm just I'm looking out for my fellow board members I think gar should work on uh getting that presentation presentation down to about a half an hour she really gonna want us coffee we land on she starts holding her breath when she talks if okay so we will see you in April at 5:30 attorney right all right man I it is pretty good stuff when you hear it once a year uh that looks like that's the last bullet to new business so roll over the tree Advisory board meeting old business none new business up update regarding the 25 2025 Arbor Day observance another memo hey and this update letting you know that um have ordered the from um today I did have a I think an email that came in where we were talking about some islands a discussion I was last meeting I okay so corrected me this is the island that was yes for Arbor Day okay okay so that one that is I did have some other little islands that was the one that that was the one we were talking about Arbor Day for Arbor Day but also and I spoke with Dan Dan you're on the line doesn't think would be much now we do want to talk

about maybe the Integrity of the that already exist in those islands um but are you talking about these two and getting those big overgrown bushes out of there so those two little false Cyprus bushes so on the front it looks like there's like lopi which is like that little shark grass but on the back side I'm sure that they're pruning those those false cypress bushes I had some of those in my yard and they just they just keep on getting getting bigger Dan is not going to have a problem if get them out of there well and then we can work on the island part of Arbor but I think that yeah I think that you know like a visibility piece I think it would just this picture makes them look great yeah compared to what they look like today they don't look that good yeah so if you guys say yeah we want those trubs to go I think they're in both Islands yep one on each side if we want those to and oh I agree 100 may need to go byebye yeah um get our plants put back in even if it's just like some nice decorative ground cover or yeah just something easy low maintenance easy to maintain seems like the lobi is it see oh I that's I mean yeah that stuff's awesome the only you probably really need to do I some people don't do it I cut mine back I doo just with the hudge with just the hedger in the spring and you know before the new growth you know pops up but I think that makes them it I mean it's a nice ground cover it fills it'll fill in it's easy care it's drought tow know you already got a big old clump of you know clump of it there anyway I hear somebody We'll add that to the

okay so let's see new business that we're done with that Park reports wheel uh good while if she's not here but if you haven't had a chance to go up there you might want to pop up there um they started on the Pavilion they've taken the roof off and um they are it's G to look night they've opened up the whole one side they've uh walled off the there was a fireplace in there they walled off the fireplace so that no one starts a fire in there and um they're going to be putting the RO they they ran into a couple of issues and the board on Thursday past a um change order um so they uh found a little more termite damage than what they anticipated when they started taking those walls down but former yes not current termite damage former teric damage but it looks good you should take it right up there I mean it it's looks like the roof's off but it looks like there's progress being made okay m m Greenway way uh we were up there about a week ago and everything looks fine we're still working on some more rip wrap I guess time moves on one thing I did notice the all the sand that got behind the Pavilion for lack of a different word uh has matted down all the weeds and small uh smaller trees so it's easier to get back there when we were there there was a little kid I don't know little you know he's probably eight or something but it was like I don't think that kid ought to be back there so I don't don't know if we need a fence uh but I don't know if a sign would stop somebody like

that it's pry it drops off pretty dramatic if you make a wrong move there and thinks if you try to put a fence up I guess it uh might just make them try to go around it any thoughts Dan you want to think about that a little bit should be careful with my thoughts I don't encourage any additional fencing along the river bank and there a little kid back there I'd probably be asking where the parents are yeah great understood well anyhow uh that was about all I had to add for the Green Way Riverside and Valiant Jennifer um Valiant looks good and River or not Valiant I'm sorry Riverside looks good and Valiant they're doing work on the Pavilion it looks up I mean they've got the roof up the um and I'm guessing they're going to be Concrete in here soon now that they're it's all up and my biggest thing the only thing I mean the playground looked great too uh my question was because I was walking through there today is is there a plan for that back where the old playground was on the concrete um it suggested uh to put have a basketball net oh just do like a little single yeah you could uh get some paint and paint like like a popscotch popscotch or four square or something like that I honestly was thinking about that this today um just something because that way it's you know I don't know has a purpose but currently it does not currently it's just it's just concrete it's fine requested that it was left yeah whatever um but no I think it looks good I'm I'm uh hopeful that when

the next the the old one goes down that and then the bathroom roof gets replaced things will be looking good there and I know Dan does have some plans I guess to replace the plexiglass bathrooms stting to look I didn't go in because I thought they were still locked they are talking about up above oh yeah yeah yeah the discoloring yeah yeah yeah yeah they are very discolor inside of the bathrooms have over there currently oh beautiful okay uh take us to West Side Jay yeah I was there today everything looks [Music] fine he Bic Mike's not here we had a little talk about that anybody else got some input once twice okay uh City Park Mary well the bathrooms there by the main Pavilion have a Fresh coat of paint and they I think the lights just were installed on the pickle ball courts yes I don't know when it was I I just noticed them today I was like oh my gosh the lights are up today Oh you mean the the the post a while back done before the end oh yeah apparently well these well they're running the electric that's why you've had the trenches I saw well this is my first go around with f and park so this is why I'm I just noticed and pay attention fresh eyes on Fresh eyes um no the park looks really good um those two BMS that we talked about that we're going to maybe do on the day but that one that is where the intersection of like Riverside Drive the big gigantic one um I know it's been it's a a weed fest in the summer so I just kind of like just to put that on a radar something that we might want to do

something with that like longterm I don't know if that would know come in there and because it's kind of like bumpy and stuff too with the soil I don't know come in there and put some landscape fabric and just Bulch it all out or I don't know what the solution would be but I think that that would probably be a place in the park that could use some TLC you know in the future because I mean it's it's pretty visible to from the it's visible from people pathway and I'm Dan I'm going to ask this question I know this uh probably it's been brought up before um those two spots on the back when it rains those two low spots that are always so if you're back kind of like on the on the back side by the creek Pavilion 2 there's those two low spots and every time it rains water sits on the pathway and then everyone goes off path through the mud and I don't know if there's anything that can be done because I know that's a super low low Ling area but that's that's something I notice often when I walk after rain yeah no we're aware of that um over the years we have cut numerous frenches from that path area down to the creek and with the flooding and Flash Bloods and and just normal grass maintenance it is built back up it doesn't need to cut down once again in order to get POS great off off the but other than that the park looks great and people are out there and um especially today it's using it and did you you said that today though they were in running the conduit for the to start getting the electrical set for the for the lights that is correct we're hoping for the next two to three weeks have an operation so as of I I can speak for Dan and myself it appears last Monday every contractor came out of the wood work

where everybody showed up on site including and because of the weather we've had obviously it was the winter time so everything is starting you're going to start seeing more and more happening in our Parks um I think my favorite was the story dance that he was driving by um Valiant just looked over and said wellow there's a roof they didn't even contact us to let us know they were gonna be on site but they were working so yeah so I mean it's just out of as of last Monday all of a sudden all the work just well I could have swore those night poles were brand new they have been there yeah they have been there for a while that means what the good news is I guess the good news is that means that when you see them in the park it's not like whoa you know no they are brand new they haven't been turned on yet well maybe maybe because I intentionally drove over that way and I was you know I was wanding around whereas normally I just do the outer loop all right and we did discuss Dan and I discussed some of the signs that are brought to our attention in the park which we we have done kind of an inventory right down to the fact that some have the wrong phone number on them um some are just going to get removed some are no longer needed especially the ones that are talking about the Great Rivers Greenway where that's no longer part of their area through there um and so and one thing that has been brought to our attention a thousand times how many parking on grass signs does throughout an entire park um they don't with the wrong ordinance number but also then the one that says then park in the parking lot will pick one or the other so I think what might see is maybe starting to actually down within that parking so and and so Dan probably knows these two locations so the location when you cross over from Valiant into the park there's that it's like a white a red and white sign that looks like it's seen many much better days and then also someone vandalized a little sign that like if you're walking towards fabic on

the pathway that's by LK and Williams like when you cross over tweeny um I don't know someone there's a nice metal sign there that kind of showed like where all the fields and stuff were it looks like someone just some Vandal on that sign vandalism yeah we're gonna take some time tomorrow put the anticipating and get some of those signs removed um no thank you Mary for do that I that that area um but yeah yeah I mean four signs pretty much saying the same thing uh those get removed down um and ni would say we identified multiple signs just today alone that we honestly do not need more they don't pertain to the operations that they do and there's just I don't know 30 SI tell people not to park on the grass I don't or shoot drive I vote spike strips in the grass that's about many that'll stop it all right any uh comments notes on Heroes [Music] Memorial the only comment I would have is do you want me to start doing that in addition to Oldtown since we've got a vacant Ward three oh for the time being that'd be all right with me mhm and uh speaking of Oldtown nice segue yeah good thing there aren't any more Parks under there uh I was there I was there on Saturday and uh couple little things they we got that nice new miramac Greenery sign and it was all lit up in the Sun and looking

pretty and it made the Oldtown Park Plaza sign look kind of dingy by comparison so it could use a good power washing nothing major um just it's that time of year everything could be used could be power washed I do have a question about the park itself though does it go on the other side of the creek because as you go down towards where that old bridge is there's like a homeless encampment on the other side it's been like deserted there's tents and all kinds of trash and debris back up that is actually on private property but it is okay I just I was like well don't know if it say something and it be nothing rather than say nothing so um and there were some some of the the power outlets in the Pavilion are missing the covers the Outdoor Power the plastic covers that go over them other than that it looked still looked pretty good there's some some trees limbs down throughout the park but nothing major nothing egregious nothing that poses really any risk so other than that look good all right thank you well uh updates by City staff and sorry um provided your up in your packet is just kind of an update um even though this was done last week things have already changed on there I mean again all of the contractors showed up so uh work is definitely progressing in the Parks I guess not seeing none Robin um all items excuse me all items that went to the board of alderman that were

forwarded were approved last month we'll start on the naming contest that was approved to name the budw annex so start thinking on your names to submit I still like Dan's pardon me benches on each side of the boardwalk of the greenway and um so we're still move we're moving along great so can I then it looks like the pl the the plans for Friday night food truck are all rolled out for the year April yeah that'll make a lot of people FS are all set food trucks are all set everything's set till October actually because the food truck goes through September but then we have the Halloween event which is also aband and a food truck but there's going to be entertainment Centered for the children but it's still going to be a kind of a band food truck thing but it'll be in October oh yeah and the fishing derby is May 17th okay thank you so the next parks recreation committee tree advisor board meeting will be Monday April 7th need a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn Mary Gary seconds that all in favor raise their hand I I all oppos nay good actually that was Jennifer