Parks and Recreation Commission - Regular Meeting

There we go.

All right. Welcome, everyone, to our August Parks and Recreation Commission meeting, August 25th. So I'm calling it to order. Did everyone get a chance to look at the agenda?

Looks great to me. I'll make a motion to approve tonight's agenda. Second. All in favor? Aye.

All right. Thank you. And our meeting minutes from July since, oh wait, we had our travel. Didn't we have our travel?

Yeah, there were minutes.

All right. Approval for the minutes from the July 28th meeting.

Well, yeah. That's it. That's it.

All in favor of the aye. Thank you. All right. See, do we have anyone on Zoom today? Nope. Nope. And we have only one person in the public. Do you have a comment, sir? Just stand up and introduce yourself and welcome.

I have a problem with the And of course, rich or. I like to see one of the two things that. Either there's a gate that's locked every night since the bathrooms are. Or maybe the parks department will work with the police department to get regular patrols after the dark. There's been several parts that come in. After dark, you hear just before and. Of course, they leave later. It's there every morning. But the big problem I've seen lately, the bathroom's locked. Some of these cars spend the night there. And so, twice in the last week or so, I've had to clean up PCs in the playground. We're near the playground area, behind the bathroom, over on the picnic table. And it's pretty disgusting. It does get picked up. Kids are gonna get in it, maybe. So I think either a gate or consistent control by the fish department to kick them out. I assume the parks are closed at dusk. Yeah. So there's no reason why the fish can't move around. That's it.

Thank you. Thank you. All right, we have staff reports and updates. First one, Bridging Bremerton info and request for volunteers.

So yeah, so Josh Farley will speak on that, and he was coming over on the ferry, so when he gets here, we'll put him back on once we get to that point.

Okay, good. All right, the new business. Forest Ridge Park First Street Parcel Surplus Proposal.

Okay.

Yeah.

All right. So first off, our agenda, I wanted to show some pictures if you haven't seen them. I guess I wore the same thing last month. You got an outfit. Yeah. We wanted to share some of the pictures. If you hadn't seen those pictures, they turned out really well. Colette was... I was hoping that her head wouldn't have been so big, but I was like, oh, it looks great. It looks like a selfie and a bunch of people behind it. That was a nice day. Okay, and Brett, you can see the slides, correct?

Yes, I can see them.

Okay, perfect. Okay, so as part of the tour that we took, the very last spot, we were obviously at the Forest Ridge Park. And so what we wanted to bring after getting some head nods from commission that yes, you wanted to have the discussion at this meeting was to look at surplusing a small portion of the park. So separate out a parcel on First Street. And as you can see on this, this is the outline for Forest Ridge here, which also includes this piece. Again, just to kind of recap, the conversation really started from a potential developer that's looking at the adjacent property for development and was looking for an easement for emergency access, which could also change the type of use that they're looking at for that site. And so in evaluating the property, the type of use that we have now, The adjacent property here, which is formerly Renaissance High School, which is moving up to View Ridge. So they'll be taking up about half of the View Ridge school site. They seem to be the predominant user at lunchtime or breaks. They would be outside. We have a couple tables there, a garbage can, but really not much else. It's not really tied to or connected to the main part of the park. And so what we would be looking at doing is surplusing this listing it for sale and doing having bids come in and we would probably set a minimum bid for the project for the site. And then being able to work with Council to have those funds go back into future development at Forest Ridge Park. Typically, we don't look to surplus property. Um, because once it's gone, it's gone. Uh, but in evaluating this site, it's, it's not a portion of the part that that's really well utilized, um, by the community and isn't really tied into the rest of the park. Another benefit to the sale of this is it would put it, I know it's a small parcel, but it puts it back on the tax roll as well. So it would not be a city asset at that point. So I've also listed here the procedures that are listed within our code, the parks board, is being consulted so we count last month having the conversation there and having a conversation here as working with the parks board providing you all the details concerning the proposed sale the parks board shall prepare an advisory report and submit it to city council and the mayor and that's definitely something that we as staff would be happy to work with you on and What I would probably look for is as part of this agenda item, maybe a motion for Kathy to work with staff to develop and prepare the advisory report to be presented to council and the mayor. So that would most likely happen at a study session. before it would go to the public hearing. So with this, with a surplusing park property, it would require a minimum of two public hearings. So that would be at two separate meetings. And then council, maybe after the first and Brett, correct me if I'm wrong, but maybe after the first, they could decide if at the second, if there's not a lot of response or any response that may be at the same meeting as the second hearing, they could vote on it or it may have to go to a third meeting. So there would be a series of opportunities for the public to speak out on this potential sale of the property. So it notes if there is a proposed sale, if that's what we're looking at doing, the council would evaluate the report that's provided to them by the commission and then develop findings and conclusions to support declaring this as surplus and selling the property. With that, a unanimous vote would need to take place. of the council. And I believe that's part of the Parks Protection Act that went into place through a citizen vote, flashback I think in the 70s sometime, would require any park parcel to be in a full unanimous vote by the council. So in absence of that, if there wasn't a unanimous vote, if we wanted to move forward, it could go to the public for a vote. HAB-Jacques Juilland- Which would mean obviously the cost of putting it on the ballot and that process, so that would be something if we didn't get a full Council. HAB-Jacques Juilland- unanimous vote, we may want to bring it back and discuss and see what we want to do moving forward if that's a process we want to seek out and not. HAB-Jacques Juilland- So we'll make sure to that right, do you have anything you wanted to add or correct.

No, I just wanted to clarify for A, the commission will have to take a final approval vote on any advisory report before it's sent off.

Okay. So what we would be looking at is maybe at this meeting, we get the commission, if the gives us the go-ahead to move forward and then we would provide that report at the next meeting for your review.

I think that's typically how it goes.

Okay. Has there been any talk about how much money we think this parcel's worth?

We've talked about it, but we haven't, we don't know a number. And that's something that during the process I would want to find out is whether we think the parcels work. Which is tough because Yeah, the personal value may be different than the value to the developer. Of course. Yeah, of course.

And final parcel values are something that city council discusses in executive sessions so that it's not necessarily public before any decision is made so that it isn't in the public record for anybody to take advantage of.

Right. And on that, Brett, is it typically a sealed bid? when it comes to property sales?

They don't necessarily have to go to bid. You can directly negotiate things. But again, the council sets their prices that they're willing to accept in an executive session. They discuss that so that it's not, you don't want to be negotiating against yourself, I guess, in a public meeting.

Exactly. You don't want to put something out publicly and then try to negotiate something else. So we'll get that.

Okay. Any other questions?

I am very encouraged to hear your reference to perhaps a private developer for that whole piece of property. I'm delighted with that. I'll mention the school district is too. Yes. And while that might change the nature of being for emergency vehicles and everything. I think the safety things that it eventually provides will be very good.

Well, living next to the park, I can also vouch for the inactivity from the public really coming in and using it. No one thinks to drive down here and they can park because there is parking. It's mostly utilized by the high school there, which is moving.

And who knows what the district's going to do with that property. You think the city has trouble letting go of property? You ought to talk to the school district about it. They will never let go of properties.

I have no concerns with this either. I'm ready to make a motion. Unless anyone has any other questions or concerns about this. I'll make a motion for the Parks Board, namely the Vice Chair, currently to work with the Parks and Recreation Office to prepare an advisory report for City Council and the Mayor on the surplus of this first street parcel that we're talking about tonight.

Second? All in favor? Aye.

We can move it forward unanimously. Awesome. When you need a unanimous vote. It's good practice, right? Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, that's all I have.

Is there anything else we need from Brett with any more questions for him?

Great. Hopefully this progresses as we want it to.

Thank you, Brett. They'll stick around, though, just for fun.

Yeah, I'll stick around for the whole thing, but thank you.

All right. We're ready to move on to B, the Commons for Homelessness Response Property Management. I love that you said that. It's nice to see that.

And this is the reason why Brett's sticking around.

Good takeaway.

I'm going to start off with this slide. This is just kind of our monthly update. And then I'm going to go ahead. The next slide is going to give us kind of where we're at year to date. If you guys recall, last meeting, I spoke about in a planned weekly average that we're at about 11, 11, 12. We're right in between there. That's a pretty good figure. You're looking at 70 site visits in a month. I mean, that's making a lot of contact. That's a lot of contact. 41 of them are meaningful connections, which is great. And then having 24 people that were connected with services within a month, all good things. And seven of them have already entered shelter or some other form of housing. So good stuff there, Ed.

Can I just ask, but I'm sorry. Is there a database being maintained of their content and who the people are? Sorry that I.

That is through more common streets and not within the city or parks.

How are you defining meaningful connections? What does that mean?

People who are looking to engage and willing to take resources. And so even though there's 70 site visits, there's people that are out there saying, hey, we don't want any assistance or anything else. Making that meaningful connection means, hey, we're actively engaged in conversation and we're looking to connect them into services. And so you can see the progression within this slide. And so as we move on to... Since down the streets and the city has been in partnership together, some amazing numbers with over 3,000 people. Here's our weekly, in a planned weekly average, like I stated, we're right there at 11 again. So a lot of good stuff happening. They are incredible benefit to us.

Two parts, and I will speak on that. Well, Grant, I have a question. The 3265 number at your site, is that individual people, or is that the potential where they contacted the same person multiple times?

So generally, those are just individual reports and sites and contacts.

Although if there's a group event together, that would be one site visit, I guess. Correct. Got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So so potentially there's a lot more than just a lot more that number. Yes, yeah, yeah.

Site visit may contain two, three, four different camps. Sure. With that, the next slide is some of the things that some topics and locations that we spoke about within this last month's meeting. As you can see, they're all bar charts. And so with that, I wanted to follow up with a couple of things. For drum trails, it was evaluated on 8-4. It was posted on 8-6. We had a cleanup on 8-11. We also just had another cleanup last Friday starting at 1 o'clock. That was also evaluated, posted, and cleaned up. So this is ongoing and you'll see that in next month's meeting, the last Friday's cleanup. But I just want to kind of throw it out there. This is ongoing. This is a one and done. This is constant within the park. So that's kind of what I wanted to highlight here.

Does city council get briefed on this? And the mayor, do they see this as an issue at all?

I'm not sure exactly like that for the insurance does a other I know they're twice a year or quarterly they go to the council and provide presentations awesome and I've seen I've seen them present an individual council yeah district meetings too so yeah so they're they're out there absolutely HAB-Jacques Juilland, yeah and we have occasionally tied them to our one of our committees that were involved with with city council so i'm sure common street will be involved with. HAB-Jacques Juilland, Our new committee that we're on the public safety and parks committee, we were on the finance investment. Partisan parking. We got moved. Last two months ago. Yeah. Yeah. And so because Common Streets is so tied to public safety, it'll be a topic of discussion. And there's three council members on each committee. Yeah. So we can't have a quorum, but we have three. We're the council members are hearing information more than just the general. And then they typically will report that in addition to the presentations to the general council.

Any other questions on this?

No more questions. I'm finding that they are a benefit to our parks. We've spoken with them in Forest Ridge Park and they've been such a benefit. Really outstanding people that are coming and meeting with the unhoused or whatever. We're so respectful to them and they have all these options. It is a blessing to have them come in and assist with

And with so many resources available, because we've got a concentration of resources. So let's get the people to that.

Because some don't know. Yes, exactly. They just are trying to survive.

and participate in the resource. Having some experts come in and do that first line is great for us.

Do you know if there's any follow-up after they've gotten in touch with the services? No more comments.

Alex, you're up next. The parks usage and community suggestion outreach.

I'm excited to hear what you found. Yeah. Some of it's not news. Yeah. So I did a survey with my clients. So basically over two consecutive Sundays, just about an hour period. It's like from when they open at 11 to about noon, because it's just really busy in the lobby there during that time. And then it kind of tripped us off. But about like 39 people, like digged at 39 people. And I asked them two questions. I had a little survey and passed out pens, too, and they filled it out. Sometimes I would, like, interview them if it worked out better. But the two questions were, how do you use the parks, and what do you want to see from the parks, or what do you want to do first? Next slide. So, parks usage. The most common things are, we'll say at the top, basically exercise, walking, hiking, enjoying nature, walking a dog or other animals. I did see a cat at Blueberry the other day, so...

So I'm just talking. They're there. On a leash? Yeah.

Yeah. It's a very chill cat. And then taking kids to play and... I don't remember enjoying spending time in the park. I'm not sure that one got cut off. But some of the less common ones that people wrote were, you know, parties, events, being by the water, hobbies, going for picnics, riding their bike. Someone said camping, but I think they misunderstood that I was talking about city parks. I think we're talking about state parks. And then just exploration sports and using the bathroom. And these are some of the broader themes that I came up with for suggestions for improvement. The main one was the bathrooms, which I'll go into in the next few slides. And then parks in general, some inclusion kind of related things, various parks amenities, activities, dogs and dog parks, park rules, the website, and in opposition to inclusion, exclusion.

So next slide.

So, bathrooms. Mainly the first one, improved maintenance and cleanliness of bathrooms. I agree with that one. I've seen some nasty ones. Bathrooms open year-round. I thought that they were, but maybe some of them are not, or they misunderstood.

Yeah, if we get below freezing, we may shut some of them down. But otherwise, most all of them are open year-round, right, Ryan?

Right, it's just the hours.

Yeah, and I don't know if this was like a county-wide bowl or more of a city bowl.

I was trying to focus it on the city, but some people may have misunderstood.

Because within the county, they close their restrooms. In the city, we try not to. Unless it's weather plans.

The county closes their restrooms?

I know a lot of places that do. They winterize their restrooms.

Okay, I understand. Winterize.

Well, then it's providing bathrooms of parks, because I think there might be a few that don't have some, and then providing more stalls. I agree with that one, especially women's bathrooms. And then parks in general, having more parks and open spaces, improved maintenance and cleanliness of parks, The dog food was on another one. More nature, wilderness trails, improved security at parks, longer hours. I think that's mainly outside of summertime. And then open a new disc golf course, which that's not news. We heard that from the disc golf people. And then as for inclusion, more access for those with disabilities, like with wheelchairs and that kind of thing. Allowing homeless into the park, inclusive of new people. I'm not sure exactly what they meant by that one. That included anyway, and then improved sidewalk. There are two parts that lead that. All right, next slide. And then for amenities. So some of the sub things that I have are shelter and resting spots, sports, water fountains, sanitation, and then just some other So as for shelter and resting spots, having more tables, benches, and chairs, as well as covered and shaded seating areas, which I have to agree with that. There's not enough places to sit. And if there are, it's right out in the sun. And then as for sports, a lot of them were about basketball.

Yeah, no, I like that.

Yeah, one of the basketball. So providing basketball includes full court basketball courts and a three-point line. Outdoor fitness stations, there's support for the little fitness station. One person said do not remove the volleyball hip. They wanted that one. Then as for water fountains, providing water fountains and then water bottle refill stations. I agree with that too. I always carry my water bottle with me. Then sanitation. Have a sanitation station. I'm not sure. I tried looking it up, and I don't know what that means.

Yeah.

Maybe somebody does.

Yeah, so it's basically just, so they have them at like special events, and they're typically modular. And it's essentially a hand washing station. Yeah.

I think that kind of goes along with them in the bathroom part, too. And then less trash, and then providing trash bins, which I think if you provide more trash bins, you'll get less trash. And then a smoking area, which I disagree with. I don't think it's okay. Nobody should.

Yeah, there's not a city by it.

Yeah, and the last few ones for the amenities part is providing barbecue grills, more toddler-friendly areas or activities, and then a place to walk bikes.

Oh, so just a question like on suggestions from improvements. Those are basically the number of you didn't really give them a checklist. It was just verbal.

Yeah. And so I just wrote it down.

Okay. So two people said barbecue. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. As opposed to a checklist. Okay.

Yeah. I just made it a little bit. Yeah, for sure.

Okay.

So then some other ones for activities, just broadly more activities, no other explanation than that. More activities for children outside of school, more outdoor activities and sports, community activities, and then activities for adults. So some of those are very broad, do what you want. And then we go into the dogs and the dog parts. So cleaning up the dog poop, providing doggy bags. So I think you provide the dog the bags that will encourage people to clean up the poop for. Keeping dogs on leashes for sure. Then we go to the dog parks. Somebody wanted more enrichment at the dog parks, like logs to climb on, things like that. Generally having more dog parks, providing the fenced dog park. Some of these could be like an indication that we just need more advertising on park amenities. So next slide. And then this is the last one. So somebody wanted to see like the dunes and the don'ts, like what you can do, what you shouldn't do with the parks. Someone else wanted the parks website to be kept updated. And then the last one, removing homeless or squatters from park layouts. So I don't know which specific one they were thinking of, but that was a suggestion somebody had. So that's the end of my little slideshow. Thanks for doing that. Yeah.

It was around . So there was a . I'll get around to it again. Sorry.

See what it was, Joe, that you wanted to comment?

Oh, I know what it was. So where was the disc golf? Where was the disc golf? Just have a moment of clarity. More disc golf courses. We could have a disc golf slash golf. That would be a nice joint. It would be a nice joint use, I think.

You don't think one would interfere with the other? Half of the disc golfers out there have their dogs out there anyway, you know. Why not? I can just imagine the dogs grabbing somebody else's disc and running off with it.

Well, mine would.

Mine would. Mine would be the worst behavior.

Aren't there dogs that go for discs all the time? Yeah.

It depends on what the owner drives with. This dog is going to throw discs.

Any comments or suggestions or replies? Thanks, Alex. Thank you all.

Yeah, I appreciate you going and doing that. Yeah. Because I think it does kind of, it does hit on that concern. And council saw another survey recently where I think some of the concern is the access to our general surveys and not everybody can access them. So doing things like that are extremely helpful. Yeah. You never know what you're going to get. But yeah, I think a lot of it was actually in line with some of the other information that we've found out. So

So these were people that were not able to participate in any of the surveys.

Just a different venue. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's nice to hear. That looks really good.

All right.

Ready to move on to the Kitsap Peninsula Staff Dog Park Tour. Brian and Tim.

So Josh should be joining us any moment. And so I'll kind of stop when he gets here and then we can proceed along. So in preparation for our dog park grant that we received in development of the dog park at Stephenson Canyon, we decided that we would go on a tour. So we picked two, a day, a morning, two separate weeks in the past month and hit six different dog parks in Kitsap Peninsula. So very fun. Probably one of the most common comments we got in looks was, why don't you guys have a dog with you? Yeah.

Four people walk in, one's got a clipboard.

The rest of us just look like thugs and we have no dog. Yeah. So we became a target quickly. But no, it was good. So I'm going to run through all six of them. We kind of, Colette kind of laid out and Colette, sorry, she's not here. She's up in Alaska on vacation back home. So she'll be back with us later this week. Yeah. So she kind of provided me just some talking points as well. that are very similar for each of the dog parks. So I'll just kind of walk through them as we have each slide. So Rotary Bark Park in Gig Harbor, has anybody been to that?

No.

It was probably one of our favorite ones. The off-leash area is 15 acres in size, and it's a total of 97 acres. And it's part of the Penn Met Park District. That's right, dude. They have a park district out there.

Yeah. Yeah.

Of course. Okay. So one thing about this park is the access to the dog park from the parking lot. It's about a quarter of a mile from the trailhead. So it was quite a distance for us to get out there. So you park next to a fire station and then you walk your way out to where the dog park is actually at. It's five foot galvanized wire mesh fencing, double gated bullpen entry. Everything we saw, everybody familiar with what a double gated bullpen entry is? So essentially you'd walk in the first gate, unlock the gate or shut the gate, unhook your dog and then let him in as the main part and then shut that secondary gate. So it's kind of a transition area. Um, yeah. So in this park, there's over a mile of fenced off leash trails, um, and an open meadow area. So on the bottom right corner, you can kind of see that open meadow space, but most of the off leash area was actually trailed systems. And that that's something we did find that we hadn't really thought about for. for Stephenson Canyon is looking at some of those upper trails that we have and seeing what we can do to incorporate that into the dog park, just to kind of create a little bit of different, just to create a little bit of different scenery. And we have the opportunity for that at Stephenson.

Yeah, you sure could. HAB-Jacques Juilland, Their natural trails all the way through their shirt.

HAB-Jacques Juilland, So water and restrooms. So they have portable restrooms at the very at the parking lot. So a quarter mile from where you and you end up going into the dog park at HAB-Jacques Juilland, And there's a water spigot at that same area at the trail head and but but what they do require is for individuals to carry the water jugs to the dog park. So you kind of see on the bottom left hand or upper right hand corner is where the filling station is. And then people transport them. And then obviously when they leave, they'll put them back over here, fill them up, and then they're ready for somebody else.

People that do that.

Yeah. So that's, yeah.

And that's nice.

That's something that, you know, I hadn't seen. And we... It is common in some of the other areas that we did go and look at. So they do have a shade structures. You can see their kiosk with information and informational signage rules. There's no separate small dog area at this park. And I think maybe because it has trailed areas, it's kind of a natural separation as well. There's no agility area. Observations that we came up with, it was a well-used park site. We were here probably about 10 o'clock on a Wednesday morning, so middle of the week. Still a good amount of people there. Users seem to value the combination of the wooded trails and open areas. Uh, so there were definitely different gathering spots or people that noticed would walk the trail system and then end up in the, in the play, essentially play area for the dogs.

So, so how did you, how did you like the fence?

I like it a lot. It's one of the better fences that we came across. Uh, comparatively there'll be another slide in there that they have a different option. Uh, uh,

HAB-Masyn Moyer- That we experienced yeah what we can find was that the bullpen entry areas tend to be a different type of sense, of course, but then obviously this type of fencing that we see here is quite a bit of cost savings.

HAB-Masyn Moyer- Well, and that it also does it provides a barrier for dogs as they're moving along so they just don't go that way. HAB-Masyn Moyer- The whole property is not with that.

HAB-Masyn Moyer- The whole the whole 15 acres. HAB-Masyn Moyer- yeah dog. HAB-Masyn Moyer- yeah it is. Yeah, it's a big area.

And what we also found, too, is within that, letting the natural vegetation on the outside of that grow up, they provided that visual barrier for the dogs to do it. So it's almost seamless that they can trail to it.

Yeah, so that's Rotary Bark Park.

How long has it been there? Do you know?

I don't know. I don't know either. Yeah. Yeah, maybe if we can zoom in on the sign, we could probably start. Yeah, I'm not sure how long it's been there. Yeah. So, Josh, are you ready?

I've never been this ready in my life.

Have you ever followed a dog park conversation?

Yeah. I'm ready for you.

We kept it up for you. Where do you want me to go?

Let me go back to your slide.

Welcome to the Parks and Rec Commission. Thank you for what you do, first and foremost.

As many of you know, I've lived in Bremerton a long time, for 20 years now.

You know, the Parks Commission were, as a Concepts Summit reporter, were all some of my favorite meetings to cover. I just think I love parks and I love the work that you do and why you do it. So it's really important to me just as a resident of Bremerton. Thank you. So yeah, you can see here, I don't know if any of you have attended our previous events. Bridging Bremerton was something that I started in 2018. It was kind of a cool coinciding with the city's 100th anniversary centennial of the Manette annexation, literally. It was a cool thing to dig into. I went through the entire archive of the Bremerton News, which was the paper of that time, paper record, and just fascinating why Manette needed water, and there was a ferry called the Pioneer that ran between Manette and Bremerton East and Bremerton, you know, Boyne-Heron, Manette Peninsula and downtown, and The cars drove off sometimes, and that was not a good thing for obvious reasons. So they incorporated, and 12 years later, a bridge was built, the first bridge. And then in 1958, the second bridge went at the Port Washington Narrows, otherwise we know as the Warren Avenue Bridge.

Were they both state bridges at that time, when they first went in?

Yeah. The Manette Bridge may not have been. The history around it was kind of cool, because it's like... there was a really active club in Manette, the East Bremerton Improvement Club. And they actually organized a lot of it and they sold bonds for the bridge until the state paid it off. So people actually paid for bonds. It was a quarter to get across the original bridge, a quarter, which was a lot of money at the time. In 1930, a quarter was a lot of money. But it's because the ferry, compared to the ferry, this was actually a deal. People could get back and forth And the state paid it off. But then when the state built the bridge in 58, they totaled the bridge again. Some of you might notice that they actually put tolls back on Liminette Bridge for a few years to make sure people couldn't cheat the toll. Yeah. Yeah. The cool thing about Bridging Bremerton and why I started this was because those bridges, of course, they were built for cars, but they serendipitously created a bridge loop that has parks, our flagship park at Bremerton, the Evergreen Rotary Park, others on this side, Sheridan, where we're sitting right here, East Park, the Whitey-Domstead Viewscape in Manette. And of course, when the state built the new bridge, a former council member, Adam Brockes, helped to advocate for having a proper divider between the traffic and it created really a promenade. In my mind, that was like an opening of, well, why don't we have this on the other bridge too? HAB-Jacques Juilland- And why don't we have 10 foot sidewalks all the way between them, because so many people use this is a great great pathway and. HAB-Jacques Juilland- fast forward to I think it was Senator then sender Emily randall state level got an appropriation in the budget and next year, I think, construction. HAB-Jacques Juilland- will begin on expanding the Warren avenue bridge to a much wider pedestrian path, so there will still be work to do, but this is the vision is to just create an active. recreation site, if you will, of a three-mile walking loop that can be accessed by as many people in all walks of life at all accessibility levels possible. It's well-lit. I just, I believe that cities have this. And Bridging Bremerton is kind of my love letter to this vision that I would love to, I hope that we can achieve. um maybe in the not too distant future um and so we have three big events and we would love to have anyone from the parks commission who would like to volunteer um we have i will send you a website um there are t-shirts involved just if that agrees you know we're hoping to have t-shirts for this so all the volunteers will get a t-shirt um and the the big event Um, throughout the day, you can see there's three different events. There's a Roxy, a theater event that I'd love to have you go to, but I'll focus just on an interest of time on the, on the two events that really encompassed the bridge loop. The first is the kids passport adventure. So each kid will be equipped with a map, uh, and it will go to around 10 different sites, just between Evergreen Rotary Park and Whitey Dumpstead Viewscape across them in that bridge. And along the way, there will be different stations and there'll be historic photos and there'll be a kind of a docent who will talk through sometimes very briefly for kids who are just interested in filling out their maps, but for other people who are interested in information, the Pioneer Ferry that used to go between Manette and Bremerton is one of our stations, for instance. But hidden artifacts that you would not otherwise know about in the history of Bremerton, And that will come alive for people, for kids and adults alike. And then they'll make their way back across and they can redeem their map, their finished map for a cookie at Evergreen Pizza, as well as a duck from the Turner Joy Museum. And it's good for the USS Turner Joy Museum ship to pass as one for them and a guardian or parent of their ship that they can take with them. So it's really fun, a really special event. I will also do a narrated tour of the entire Bridge Loop, and we have speakers along the route all the way from Upper Roto Vista Park, another sort of, I think, diamond in the rough. Yes, it's a long, worn avenue, I know. But there's some really interesting history there, and certainly Lower Roto Vista has some great, great history. We'll have people all along the entire route as we narrate and move along, and we always need volunteers to make sure people are are safe. These are city streets that we're traversing. So anybody that would like to go with us or at the crosswalk locations, that will be our primary areas where we'll meet some volunteers if you would be so inclined. From around 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. is kind of our sweet spot for volunteer efforts. And as I said, we have a website to register folks who want to be volunteers and get t-shirts and be an official part of that. And I'm happy to answer any questions that you have.

I partly invited Josh because of our discussions in the last few months of potentially looking at some historical type tours within our park system. I thought this would be a great way to help out Josh and kind of see how he manages it. And then we can look at it as kind of a good guiding guiding document for us to be able to do some walks within our park system.

That would be great.

Well, it would be great to have a joint venture. It would be nice to support it a little bit. Yeah, sure. I think that would be a nice partnership.

Josh, the website that I see on there, that's where we can sign up. Yep. I will send an email to Tim who can email it to you that has the volunteer, the specific volunteer. Some suggestion, you know, that would be kind of cool to have a parks commission. You know, the bridge is going to be really central. The Minette Bridge will have four history stations. So in the alcoves, so there's four alcoves on the bridge and there will be a station at each one. like the crossing on Washington Avenue at the bridge. It's a busy crossing. It'd be great to have a volunteer or two there. And then on the other side of the bridge, between, at the Roundabout, those would be two locations that would be great to have volunteers from the Park Service. It's just a suggestion. There are plenty of other spots too. How is this being advertised? The flyer that you see there, we're posting those around town. Um, that's, that's the main way. Um, and then, uh, social media, we are, we obviously have a website now, richardgremerton.com. And we're also on Facebook, uh, trying to, um, yeah, Richard Gremerton has a page on Facebook. I've done some videos promoting it. Um, and we have an Instagram. Is this on the city website?

It probably isn't, but easily could be. Great suggestion. That would be great. I don't see the city logos down there. The city can get behind us.

We have not provided funding to support it.

One thing about the city. So the mayor will speak. He typically has through all of the events and carnations. He walks too. And he does. Yeah. I think he's joined us on this fall. It's not all walks. Yeah. It's been great to have him there. One other thing I was going to say about that, but I can't remember. Yeah. So, yeah, we certainly have lots of support from the city, which has been great.

If I go to that website, and I can share a link, I mean, I can copy and share it, like Forest Ridge Park, we have our monthly work party. I could share it on that page? You bet. Okay.

Yeah, you bet. You can absolutely share it. We also, everybody that goes to this event, you can already get copies of this, but there is a bridge-to-bridge trail walking map that was made, the leadership kits that last few years still made. Really nice one. I curated different bits of history that are throughout. You'll see the motif of that starfish there, or the sea star, which you can still find on the streets. But also within that map, and of course we'll keep that, and it'll probably be a part of the t-shirt too that's coming out. So yeah, so that is on the city's website, I believe. I think so, yeah.

I feel like there's multiple electrical boxes that have the rack with the round on it too. That's right.

Yeah, I loved that a few years ago when that, I think it was the public works department that actually lit the funding, but of course, thanks to the Arts Commission for that, beautifying our electrical boxes. Yeah, there's one at the corner of 11th and Pacific, and then there's one on this side by the art wall or the intersection at East 18th that will open up.

And when you said the main volunteer hours would be like 11 to 3, do you have to be there that whole time?

No, frankly, if you wanted to split it, or I would say 11 to 1 is really our high traffic time. So if you had a whole time during the day, that would be the best time for us to ask.

And for on the bridge and the alcove, are we going to have like canopies or something for shade?

We are. That is still the History Museum and the Turner Joy Museum. Turnjoy has one of them, and the History Museum has three of the stations along the bridge, and they are planning some kind of a panoply. We don't know how big we can really make it though, because it's a limited sidewalk, but yeah, hopefully we will have some kind of shade for the volunteers that are with us.

That means you're anticipating good weather.

It means we're agitated by the sun.

By the sun, exactly.

I wish it was raining.

Well, we need the right. No question. Did you want to touch on the six o'clock?

Cause I think it's, it's a, it sounds really cool. It does. Yeah. I'm really, I'm really excited about it. So kind of handpicked about seven different speakers. And I, something that I think gets overlooked, maybe not overlooked in Bremerton, but that Many of us are from here, but there are a lot of people who come to find Bremerton. The Navy, of course, is a prominent presence always here. And we come here and we adapt to Bremerton and we fall in love with Bremerton. And that's certainly my story. And I know many people share that story. So we're curating a kind of a unique story. event where people will share either stories from history, where people came to Bremerton. There's a great story of a woman who, her husband died on a fishing vessel. She was from Norway. She came and she was the first employee to retire from a U.S. Naval shipyard right here in Puget Sound. And she worked in the sail off, which of course the sail off at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard began because we were in the age of sails. with like literally Navy ships at sails on him. And of course that's later, they handle textiles and things like that for nuclear Navy submarines and aircraft carriers. But this woman's story is one of adaptation. She came to Bremerton, she lived downtown and she became part of the fabric of the community. We'll have some personal stories that people will tell as well as just kind of general people like Quincy Jones and how they came here and how Bremerton changed them. And my hope is we'll tell a few stories There may or may not be some trivia. I do like doing some trivia for people. And it'll be kind of a little bit of a variety show. There will be Evergreen Pizza is going to sell pizza outside. And of course, you can get a drink at the Ross Theater. But the idea is it's entertaining. You'll learn some interesting facts, but that we all leave kind of grounded in, hey, you know, you learn something about history, but the connection that we all share to this place. and strengthening that connection because Bridging Bremerton is all about the connection. Geographically, this will be more of like our connection that we all experience, as if having lived here. And all of this, by the way, is completely free. It's made possible by our very generous service clubs, the East Bremerton Rotary, Downtown Rotary, and the Bremerton Central Lines. That's who's funding this. I should also just briefly mention that we do help with paint supplies for the Manette Art Wall. The YLA Graffiti Invitational will be going on. And there will be cans of paint for people who walk the bridge loop to be able to go up and paint something themselves and hear from the artists. And the artists are doing a big collective mural as they've done every year for this event as well. So it's another kind of cool. I sort of envisioned that as many spaces as we can activate, you know, on the bridge loop as possible. You know, in future years, I hope to grow it even further. And this year, we have partnered with Sunny Saunders who puts on Blackberry Festival and the Bremerton Bridge Blast. She has really helped me to grow and she's handling the logistics and making sure this year we're going to have porta potties for the first time. A lot of people have said, you know, this is a long walk. you know, it's good to be able to have a bathroom along the way. So yeah, that's, it's helped me to be able to focus on content and putting on the event, making it a specialist.

Sounds like a great time. Doesn't it though?

Yeah. Thank you for just listening and being willing to support in any way that you want to. So great. Great, Josh. Great. Thank you.

I appreciate you coming down. Appreciate it.

Yeah. Thanks, everybody. All right. The dog part.

Okay.

Yes.

Now on to Tubby. Tubby's Trail. Has anybody been to Tubby's Trail? Yeah. out in the harbor man it's out in the hobbit i know it right right off the highway right near the bridge um this was a another good um this one definitely shows you uh the type of fencing they utilized here um probably some of the most expensive fencing but um It's well utilized. It's a really nice facility. This is a 1.2 acre off leash area within an eight and a half acre park. Outside of the initial entry area, it's a three foot vinyl coated chain link fencing, double gated bolted entry again. Natural ground surface, like many of the others. There's no dedicated walking trail within the soft leash area. So just really conversation areas and areas for dogs to roam. There's water available from a fire hydrant, which you can see in the center there. within the off-feesh area. And then there is a portable restroom on the exterior that is provided. It does have a shade structure, which is in that bottom right-hand corner. And there is a separate small dog area. So as you enter in, small dog area was to the right, large dog area to the left, or to the left, and then the large dog area to the right. Let's see, no agility or kind of play equipment there at all. area functions as a catchment for excess water. So you can kind of see in this bottom left corner. Yeah, that's where it actually was dry. But you can definitely tell when water comes in, that's really that center area becomes full with water. And it can become very muddy. Yeah, it's between the whole thing. It's within the whole structure. And that's still good.

Yeah.

Let's see. Things we noticed. It's compact, functional dog park with basic amenities, separate areas for different dog sizes. The history of this park, since it seems like nobody's been, Tubby was a black Cocker Spaniel and was the only fatality associated to the 1942 Paloma Narrows bridge collapse.

Really?

Yeah.

You can also see kind of in the upper right, we've kind of briefly talked about accessibility. That's one of our overall concerns with all these other Even like this one, it did have a concurrent asphalt slab where there was accessible parking, but beyond that, nothing was accessible. The restroom facility adjacent to the accessible parking stop isn't even accessible. Just thought that that was really interesting throughout all of these. And again, with the natural surface in between, it would be very difficult to roll a wheelchair around. So that's something that we definitely want to take advantage of with our park is designing it so we can ensure that there's some accessibility, not only on the exterior, but on the interior of the dog park.

And I think that checks a couple of the boxes that were within your slides as well.

Yeah.

So if I might suggest that you look at perhaps a little higher of a sense, three feet, I'd I've had dogs that figure it out without, you know, without playing. So for, you know, even four feet, you know, it's better than that.

And that was all part of these swaps is like taking some of the good things that other parts have done. Some of the things that we think that we can improve on before we start to plan out ours. And so it's just more of an acknowledgement of what we saw and what we can learn from.

Yeah. And even looking at, you know, costs. Um, maybe three to four foot is okay for a small dog area, but definitely not for a big dog area. Um, so maybe you look at two different heights of fencing, uh, just to make your, your dollars stretch a little bit further.

And that fence would be expensive.

Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. All right. Ready to move on to the next one. Okay. Now we're moving to bandits dog park, which is in port orchard. HAB-Jacques Juilland, Bandix is a 30 acre park in a natural setting. So they have a six foot high chain link fence, which is only along the parking area. The off-leash area is not fully enclosed. It does have the double-gated bullpen entry. And Brian can attest to this reason why the fencing's only in this area is because they use the natural environment as the barrier throughout the rest of the park. Would it not say that he can attest to this because it's a county park? And he happened to work for County Terminal. How many acres? 30? 30 acres. Yeah, so this is a pretty good size. Wooded trails, again, within this larger dog park area. Natural ground surfacing. No permanent water source. Users bring their own water jugs. There is portable restroom that is available. Natural shade beneath the existing trees as amenities and users bring their own portable furniture. And I don't, yeah, so like on the bottom right hand or left hand corner. That was common in one of the other county parks as well that you have just plastic chairs that people have brought to be able to share and so people can utilize. There is a separate small dog area, although it was a little bit overgrown. So as you pull down into the park, the majority is the large dog. And then on the right-hand side was a smaller dog entry area that was totally separate from the large dog area. No agility equipment. It's just small points. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So observations, it was very natural, low impact setting that relies heavily on existing vegetation and park features rather than having built-in amenities. So remind me, this bottom right-hand corner, was that for jugs?

Yeah, this was just for water jugs. So when they're empty, if you get a chance, grab a few.

So the pink, you see the pink rectangle, those are the doggy bags. So they didn't necessarily have them in stations. They were just kind of out hanging, so easy to access and hard to miss. Most definitely. You will see on the kiosk on the bottom left-hand corner, there's a scanner there.

Oh, yeah.

They do have the scanner there. That's cool.

I don't know that I've ever seen a red .

Yeah, so we went to like the red and the pink color ones because they, first off, they started out in brown.

Yeah.

And they became very difficult to find when people discarded them. And then they went to green, and green made it even more difficult to find them in the bushes and everything. So it made it more obvious. by going to a brighter color.

Yeah. A reminder to pick it up. Yeah. So one thing that will be consistent among a lot of these that I just made a note at the end, but it's something to kind of keep your mind on. Most all of these dog parks are managed by volunteers. Yeah. Very little staff time go into them. The upper right-hand corner, you see a garbage can. Even at Most of these sites, there's garbage cans there and a volunteer will come and roll it out and leave it out for the garbage truck to come and pick up. So a lot of, whether they're stewardship groups or just volunteers that sign up, a lot of the dog parks are really managed by the users themselves. Anything else on... Okay, next one, Howe Farm. Anybody been to Howe Farm? Yeah. I really like the separation of this one between the nice open kind of field areas and then the fenced-in area. So Howe Farm is a 13-acre dog park that has forest and meadow settings. It has five-foot high fencing with chain link and double-gated bullpen entry. So why are mesh fencing used in other areas, which is something that I think we should look at as well. So having that stronger, more durable where your bullpen and entries are, but then having something that's just more of a necessary barrier, but less cost in other parts of the dog park. off these trails throughout wooded areas combined with that massive open meadow space. So kind of two different levels of meadow for this park. There's no water source, but there's portable restrooms that are available. HAB-Jacques Juilland, No permanent change structures that she's provided by natural wood setting and there are some picnic tables throughout no separate areas in this one as well between large and small dog areas. HAB-Jacques Juilland, No agility. HAB-Jacques Juilland, Natural surface things that we observed this kind of combines the benefits of wooded trails and open meadow space in the natural park setting. How big was this one? 30 acres. 13. 13 is what I've got. What do you think it is? 6.6. 6.6.

6.6 acres, and that is a permanent restroom.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's right. Permanent restroom over there.

So maybe the whole area was 13. And this is what you're talking about in terms of that... kind of the more mesh type sensing and then the natural growth that grows up around it to support that barrier.

So you'll see down here at the very bottom of the field, this is a big open field down here. And the blackberries and natural vegetation from Strawberry Creek is kind of encroached on the field fence, creating that barrier. But the thought process into this was exactly what Tim noted was, you know, the bullpen, a little more stout, a little more rigid, and then kind of keeping a more open, visually open setting, and then vegetation is allowed to grow back.

And the other nice thing about this park from a user perspective is that the trails are just kind of winding, meandering kind of through that. You know, it's a nice setting. And the dogs move along with you, you know, rather than pack up and do some moving.

It was well attended the day that we were there. Yeah, it was very busy.

And I made a mistake. I said six dog parks. We went to eight. Wow. I lost track.

We did four one day, four another day. Yeah, and this was kids at Bionic property again? Yeah. Yeah.

All right. Then on to Bainbridge Island. We had big expectations for the Bainbridge folks, but we were very disappointed. I'll say that. Wow. So hopefully none of them are listening tonight. Brad doesn't have on there. We're good. Okay. So we were at Eagle Dale Park off-leash area. This is a one acre off-leash area within the larger part of So access to it, it's located in the upper and back end of the park area. Access is a walk-in from the parking lot at the bottom of the hill. Almost seems like there should have been a home site up above at one point, and maybe they donated the property to the park district, but there's definitely no home up there anymore. There's a lot of broken concrete, some pathways that don't make sense, and even getting down to the dog park area, And the very back is steps. And so it's completely unaccessible. Even the slope up from the parking area isn't something that someone would be able to access. Yeah. It's steeper than what we're making it look. We're just raw athletes.

What does that sign say that you're standing next to that you can't... Off-leash area. Is that what it says?

Yes.

HAB-Masyn Moyer- Okay, well faded which one are you looking at.

HAB-Masyn Moyer- When you're standing next.

HAB-Masyn Moyer- yeah oh yeah oh yeah yeah yes is awfully sure yeah yeah I was pulling the limb back because it was like. HAB-Masyn Moyer- Oh man that sign let's. HAB-Masyn Moyer- Be some love. HAB-Masyn Moyer- Some love. HAB-Masyn Moyer- And your maintenance. HAB-Masyn Moyer- So the fencing in the park varies between four to six foot high. and along the fence area. You can see on the upper right that there is a small trail that kind of meanders around, but it's a very small dog park. No water source or restrooms within the off-leash area. There was a restroom down below where the main parking area was. No, let's see. limited amenities, primarily a natural park setting, no separate smaller large dog area, just all in one, no type of agility. You can see on the bottom of the kiosk, they have a bucket there, so people would put tennis balls in there, which was kind of a cool idea. that they had a spot that people could drop a tennis ball, or if they forgot one, lost one, there's something there that people could share. We figured, let's see, seasonal conditions could become very soggy and muddy during the wet season, not a whole lot of direct sunlight. Things that we noticed, it was very small, natural, off-leash area, suited to be more of a neighborhood use. And it's integrated into a little bit larger. She noted as a community park. I'd probably note it as just a neighborhood park. The overall size of the space. Yeah. Just because of the size. Yeah. Yeah. The usable space. Yeah.

So it could use some love.

It could. Yeah. We've never seen that much moss on top of anything before. All right. So the second Bainbridge Island spot we hit, Strawberry Hill, much improved. This is a, shows it as a half acre, sorry, half acre, five acre, five acre wooded off-leash area with a small and large dog area. Fully enclosed, four foot high chain link fence and a large double gated, If you're familiar with an airlock bullpen entry so airlock essentially there's you're not The post you're not pulling up and down the clip. It's kind of basically spring loaded and rest up against it. So once you're in the bullpen dog could once it's ready, push its way into the area that they wanted to go. So the larger, small area. So that was the only one that we'd seen that way. They did use this type of fencing throughout the entire park. So it had to have been quite an expense to put that in, but it's a nice fence. Wooded natural area. There's no trails within the fenced in area, although on the large dog side, we did see people that utilize the exterior. Let's see, there's water hose available for filling dog bowls, restroom within the larger park. There's benches and seating with mature trees providing natural shade. Waste bags and receptacles are provided. Separate, like I said, separate small dog area. They also had a training bay at this one, which is that middle left picture. So on the opposite side, side of a little pathway from the large and small dog area was a separate training area. Or I would assume if you have a dog that doesn't socialize well, it might be a good spot to kind of run your dog. It wasn't a real big space, but it was kind of nice to, hadn't seen that before. So it was a nice kind of separate area that they provided there. Natural ground surface, although a lot of it was all mulch, throughout the entire, which would take to the water probably a lot better than some of the others, parks that we've seen. Nearby amenities, it's in a park where there's playgrounds, sports fields, various courts, skate park, picnic shelters, and just other multi-use spaces.

Okay, ready to go on? Let's go.

We're getting closer to home. And how many acres? That was five. Five acres total. Okay. Colesville. Probably the least impressive dog park maybe that we saw. Rob Park. This is a .7 acre off-leash area within a 21 acre community park. So four foot high chain link fence, double gated bullpen entry, natural ground surface, which within a larger community park. No fenced in trails within this area. Water hose was available for filling dog bowls and there's a restroom that was nearby. Benches and seating were available. There was a small dog area, separate fence area provided some separation. between the large and small dog area. You can kind of see it off. On the upper right, we're inside the large dog, and then you can see the fence on the left-hand side for the small dog area. Let's see. So it's close to picnic shelters, playgrounds, sports courts, state park, community gardens. It's a very compact off-leash area. Benefits from its location within a larger amenity community park. So just a small off-leash space. What's that?

I said after park. Yes, almost an after park.

But it's right at the entry to the main park. So this is kind of, this is the front porch of the main park as you're coming through.

I feel like the ground was all dirt there, too.

Oh, yeah, it's pretty much either all worn up or it's really all dirt.

I've been there. Yeah. Go back there.

Let's see.

Yeah. The one side's pretty sloped, but I feel like the entrance, where you're talking about, it kind of slopes off.

Yeah, as you move further back, it slopes off pretty good.

Yeah.

Yeah. And then just again, like the bottom right hand or left-hand corner, just kind of an example of something that they provide there. They provide a shovel to pick up the dog through. Just have a shovel hanging out there.

And nobody stole them there.

No, sorry. No, they haven't. No, it's there. All right. Okay. Silverdale Dog Park is a 1.3 acre off-leash area within Silverdale Rotary Gateway Park. It has four foot high chain link fencing and double gated bullpen entry. It's directly adjacent to the Cedar Creek Trail, providing opportunities for leashed walks before and after dog park use. There's a water spigot and restroom that are available adjacent. This one also had a storage shed that was before you entered in for the volunteers to be able to access various supplies, which I thought was kind of interesting. There's benches and seating, mature trees. They used a carport structure for the shade structure. Waste bags and receptacles are provided there. Also similar to one of the parks in Fort Orchard there. You can see it kind of in the middle on the right. Some chairs that people have donated for seating there as well. Let's see, they do have a separate fenced-in area for small dogs, natural ground surface. There was quite a few people there that day, so it definitely was getting dusty. And then you figured that it would be pretty muddy in the winter weather unless you have some ground growth that kind of covers things back up. Observations is a very popular and convenient location. Our parking could become busy because it also serves as a parking lot for the main recreational pathways and uses to the main part of the park.

This is the one off Silverdale way by the skate park. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I've seen people that that little parking lot gets bad. It does. Yeah. And it was we were there.

Yeah, it was a Wednesday or Thursday, but we were there at 11 o'clock, 10, 11 o'clock in the morning, and it was packed. Yeah, but they weren't all in the dog. No, a lot of people on the trail. Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely not everybody. Oh, there's a lot. Yeah, it's well used. This one also, the other ones, I didn't see it at all. Individual donations or in memory of pets, they had little plaques that were along different parts of the fence lines. So I assume they use that as a fundraiser to put amenities back into the dog park areas. So just a couple general comments. One, I already touched on the accessibility. This one, I can't remember if the volunteer group is noted on here, but we've kind of discovered that there's this, do you remember the name of our group? Kitsap Dog Park Inc. Yeah, it's probably something simple. Kitsap Dog Park Inc. I think managed at least three of the sites. And so Colette's reached out to them to get more information and just kind of see is that something, is Bremerton something they may even be interested in? And if not, can you steal resources, ideas? How do you manage the people that are contributing and supporting each of the individual dog parks? So that was an organization none of us had heard of before. So that was cool to see that partnership. I think maybe it was all the county ones that had it. Yeah.

All of the canyons, did you say?

The three that we want to, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

We'll partner with this organization. That's it.

It's all added up. Cool.

So you're ready for a steep canyon.

So we're ready.

Yeah.

Yeah. So we're ready.

So how many acres is Stephenson Canyon?

Oh, I meant to write that down. Yeah, it kind of depends on the space that we utilize. Is that open space area a couple acres?

I'd say probably close to two acres of open space down below and then we got that upper area.

Yeah, not including where we're looking at for the small dog area. Yeah. And it doesn't include incorporation of any of the trail system. So we can have anywhere between two and maybe three to four acres total to work with.

Well, thanks for all that.

I think that was great. Great idea. Yeah. Checking it out.

Yeah, our plan next month and we'll get information out to you is that we'll have an on-site meeting. So then we can get out and we'll just hold the whole meeting there. But we can get out and really look at the site prior to getting our steering committee put together to help really push this project forward.

We have a projection of the approximate time frame of having it ready to go?

I mean, we'd love to be able to kind of get some, you know, the public input process this fall, maybe do some design work in the winter. And depending on what you would do in-house versus contract, to go through construction process next summer would be ideal. Okay. Next spring, summer.

Were you the chauffeur on those trips as well, Berger? I sure was. Yeah, you are. Yeah.

I was in my Ford Escape.

Oh, I was going to say, you didn't have that.

I don't let anybody drive me in the city Ford Escape.

John was speaking about it here, talking about it. Even when this park was built, you can see along the backside that they also used vinyl coated chain link fence. But when you look at it right here.

Yeah.

Not really needed. No. So something a little more simple, like a field fence or something like that, that's a little more practical and a little more cost efficient will surely surprise.

So the location of Stevenson Dog Park It'll have natural shade just from trees and foliage. So we wouldn't necessarily need a structure.

Well, I think that would be something good to talk about. Because I think we've talked about a potential to put a structure down there because the center portion could get quite a bit of sun throughout the day. But again, it gives us the opportunity to use some natural barrier, but also using trails. So it could be a good mix.

HAB-Masyn Moyer- All right, I guess we're ready to move on, I see the next screen the 2728 by annual budget update.

HAB-Terry Palmos- Okay, so, as I promised throughout the budget process i'll just kind of giving giving you some tidbits and highlights throughout. HAB-Terry Palmos- So the check marks are things that we've gotten through so far, so the kickoff happened, I went in front of Council and just kind of talked about what our needs are within the department. shared with them what some standards are across the country as far as staffing levels, part sizes, types of facilities that we have to comparable communities. We've submitted our operating expenses and revenues. We've also submitted our rates and fee structures. So the only thing that I'm working to change this year, I changed all all fees last year, which was over 200 fees this year. Uh, we're looking at really focusing on golf course, which is where a majority of our revenue comes in anyway. Um, and less on, um, I have concerns of pricing ourselves out of business and, and recreation to me is a, um, benefit to the community and, um, just making sure that, What we're charging obviously covers our costs, but we don't want to lose participants because of what we're charging for programs. And so department rates and fees, as you notice below, we'll cover that with council on October 28th. But the highlighted one is the one I wanted to kind of cover with you today mostly was showing you, because this year we submitted a six-year capital improvement plan. So our parks capital budget, which coincides directly with the PROS plan. So that will be on the next slide. I'll talk through that with you. But upcoming budget meetings, so the general council workshops where they'll hear from the various departments will be on HAB-Jacques Juilland, October 22 and 26 we don't know who will present when yet October 28 will be dedicated to just read some fees. HAB-Jacques Juilland, Early November will be the opportunity for Council to ask departments questions and hopefully we can answer them as much as we can on site and then for Council to talk about whether they want to have any sort of priorities. We have been given a direction, like I had mentioned previously, that the council wants to see a zero-based budget. So nobody, unless you cover it with increase in revenues or a revenue to offset expenses, nobody should be presenting really any new budget other than stabilizing where we were this current fiscal year for 2027 and for 2028 right now. Then following November, yeah, I'm sorry.

It's at all departments, all departments.

Yeah. Yeah. And because we're, we already run on a pretty tight budget and parks, We haven't necessarily been asked to look at making FETs as much as other departments have. So there's some departments that are doing some consolidation with some positions, but also looking at instead of contracting out some services, trying to provide that in-house and save some money that way. So there's definitely a lot of work that's being done behind the scenes.

Very quick question on, you mentioned Gold Mountain and potential fees. Are we talking green fees and rental of the facility?

yeah primarily greens fees okay and so what we have listed within our fees and structures is a not to exceed rate because we run uh gold mountain um we have a dynamic pricing system and so if you want to go and play let's say at prime time at 9 00 a.m you're probably going to pay what's listed as the peak but if you want to go play at 3 p.m you're going to be paying much less So, like I said, the dynamic pricing and the not to exceed is what not to exceed is what we as what we put in as our budget requests for increases each year.

The other thing I just want to say, it makes sense. We're just getting courses being improved. And we have just a beautiful, those are just beautiful courses out there. Just highly sought after and draw people from all over our state.

And even cascade right now has a certain pricing structure. And once it's completed, that'll change.

The fees are competitive, but I hear no complaint. I have, I personally don't golf, but I have a lot of friends that do and they just rave about. Yeah.

I mean, and I've started playing a lot of different courses around the area and There's some that, especially 12 months a year, I feel like ours are in way better shape and I'm paying $30, $40 more to play somewhere else when really we're probably one of the best deals. And I know council looks at that and says, okay, well, let's charge more. But at the same time, we still want to function as a municipal course. You want to grow participation. Yeah, and there's some other things, and maybe this next year, because with Cascade, that project's starting to move forward. I also had a meeting today where we're looking at redesigning the practice facility, modernizing things, but then also making it more interactive and entertaining, entertainment-type value to that space. So bringing things in like fire pits, cornhole, other things that will entice people to come out and hang out. Maybe a small venue where someone could perform as well. So incorporate some of these things in, but also with our driving range, maybe not make it quite the top golf or a virtual golf, but bring in... the ability for someone to be able to use the track tracer and see how far they're actually hitting as opposed to looking. So bring some of that technology in without going to the extent that some of those entertainment venues go to. So, cool stuff.

I have to admit, I'm ignorant on, I didn't know, I knew you could make reservation times, but I didn't know you paid for specific times and you paid You pay more at a better time? Yep. Oh, okay. Yep. And people are willing to pay?

Absolutely. Okay. It's convenience. All day long. Okay.

You pay for convenience.

And you can make a reservation. Yeah. At 6 o'clock in the morning, you can go golfing. Yeah. On the weekends. It's probably going to be a little bit cheaper.

Yeah.

All right, thanks.

Yeah, usually the first two times, especially if you're fall, winter, spring, they hold it off a little bit because of due. But usually your first two times are between 6.30 and 6.45 in the morning. The early birds. Yes, yes. So the main public hearings in front of council, so that'll give the opportunity for the public after it's published. HAB-Jacques Juilland- After the budgets published for comments November 11 and 18 will be those public hearings, these are just kind of estimates for now Council could actually could end up delaying this if they want to deliberate more but prior to, but the plan is is to be able to get it forwarded on. HAB-Jacques Juilland- Public hearings to be the 11th and 18th with the adoption on November 18. is what's planned for right now. So as far as what can the commission do to help support, I'll kind of keep you in the loop on that. I'll let you know when I plan to present. There's not necessarily any public feedback during that timeframe. I will be bringing the golf course for the rates and fees just because that's where we're really focusing. So then one would be hospitality as the professionals. can explain their reasoning and, and looking at why they chose the price structure to present for this next year. Probably more of the public hearings. If it does seem like we need some support or want some support, or if you'd like to provide support, that's probably the best timeframe would be for the public hearings. If you wanted to get up and you'll share that with us.

I'll definitely share. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, so between now and early October, this is really kind of the timeframe that finance department is kind of compiling everything, starting to meet with the mayor this next week, I believe, and walking through the anticipated budget before it goes to council for council to have a good look at it for a good month or so before our presentation start in mid to late October. That's all, yeah.

Money. Oh, I forgot to share this.

Yeah, she kind of wanted to talk to you more.

Oh, yeah.

So this is, was this in your packet? I can't remember. No, I don't. If not, I can send it out to you. I may have not put it in there.

Yeah.

It may have just been this slide. Yes. Or maybe you didn't get it. You might not have gotten it in the packet, but yeah. I'll get this to you. So this is our five six year capital plan obviously 2026 is what we're anticipating spending this year and then 2027 Those are all the projects. We've got about $2.3 million worth of projects is what we're looking at. A lot of those are grant funded. So the first one, the 160,000, I think we've talked about that. Those are, that's the community development block grant funds. And so we'll be using that for just some general improvements within the park system. And that, excuse me if I can, yeah, that is, It's community development block grants that Bremerton partners with the county on. But it's Bremerton. It's Bremerton. Well, Bremerton has its own fund. It's Bremerton's fund.

Bremerton has its own fund, and then there's the county.

Bremerton slash county. Yeah.

Yes. Okay.

Yeah, so Bremerton. And then we have $30,000 in there for kind of getting that master plan started for Forest Ridge Park. Um, some of these, like the, the 30,000 there, uh, we don't necessarily have a matching grant right now or a grant for that. So that's coming out of our proposals for that to come out of, I think parks capital, uh, for that one, uh, lions park accessibility retrofit was kind of talked about that. And, and, uh, that's become quite a large. TAB, Mark McIntyre:" larger projects than we thought it would be and that's improving accessibility at those ports and removing those slopes but it's also going to cause us to put in fencing up and basically level everything out there. Park security cameras. So between 27 and 28, we're looking at making improvements within our parks and adding security cameras. This isn't to monitor people, but this is in case something happens. So in the areas that we tend to have more vandalism, theft, we'll be putting some cameras in as the plan there. The tree assessment implement implementation, you can see that's a budget every year that's kind of a if we need to have a master plan or a forestry a forest. urban forestry type plan created for certain areas we want to a lot money within our general fund account to to take care of those types of projects pendergast. TAB, Ryan Schuchard, regional park turf fields 150 for this year that's for the 90% grind to be completed the 2 million and the 2.3 million between 27 and 28 would be the development of those two. TAB, Ryan Schuchard, turf field projects, and so the 2,027 would be 500,000 from city funds. And then 1.5 million from a recreation conservation grant that we've applied for. And then the 2.3, actually the 200, 2 million of the 2.3 would be coming from a private source as a partner for that project that we've been working with. And 300,000 would be coming from our general fund account to round off that 2.3. The $150,000 for softball field improvements, that's to remove and replace some of the infield material on our three ball fields up there, get a much better user-friendly type of material in there that can also hold in HAB-Jacques Juilland, Not hold them but let drain through rain when it comes in, but it's just much better playing facility and non rock generating service as well stephanie said Canyon, as you know, the eternity five there from department of commerce grant. HAB-Jacques Juilland, And then we just kind of have a standing item here for other parts facilities capital improvements that's in case during the year we have something that needs to be addressed, we have a budget that's sitting out there within the general fund to fund those types of projects. Yeah, I'll be happy to get this to you so then you've got it. I actually have an Excel spreadsheet that if you click on each of the number, it'll tell you what the funding sources are too that we've identified for that. And so that form has the expense, but then also has a revenue area as well. So it's easier to read that way.

Thanks, Tim.

Yeah.

All right, we talked a lot today.

Do we have any questions or comments? No? All right, now we're going to move on to Commissioner's comments. Dave, we'll start with you. You're right here. No, nothing?

Nothing. Director, I had a quick question. I'm not sure if it's been talked about to this Commissioner or not. Could you tell us what's going on down on 9th Street where our mini park is? Is it destroyed? No.

At the mini park or just... At the mini park. Yeah. So this is all a Public Works project. Okay.

I feel like we did talk about this maybe.

Yeah, we looked at it last year at one point. I think even someone from Public Works came in and presented and talked about it. It's essentially... making stormwater improvements within that area of Minette. And then I can't remember if it's an outflow is what they call it, but essentially it's going through a system before it enters into the south. And so with that, it's tearing up that park. And so there'll be improvements that are going to be made. So we've got some trees that are going to be removed because of issues we're having with rip systems. So there'll be, yeah, there'll be replanting, If you're interested, I've got full plans in my office. But essentially what's going back is we'll have an accessible parking stall, four regular stalls adjacent to it, a doggie pot bag, a garbage can, and two picnic tables. The other thing that's going to be a part of this improvement is going from the grass area down to the beach area. is going to be more gradual and easier to access. It won't be fully accessible, but it'll be much easier to access.

Have you seen it? Because we haven't been able to get down there.

I just drove by it before this meeting. You got to swim from down there.

Okay, I was going to say.

It is, yeah. That big tree. I don't know what kind of tree it was, but they're there forever. I know the root system is crazy.

Yeah, and if you have seen anything posted lately on social media, The work that's being done right now on the beach area in Smith Cove is tied to that. This is the environmental remediation side of it. So there's removal of rock debris. Brian can speak to it a little bit further if he wants, but over the next couple weeks, we put a post out today to let people be aware of what's going on.

So it's a public works...

off of 9th Street. It's a water quality. It's being able to drink water before it gets sent out into the south. Okay. With that, there's some mitigation that needs to happen. Down in Smith Cove at Evergreen Park, there's a lot of angular rock that was put there decades and decades ago that has kind of migrated down into the cove. As part of that, that same contractor that's on 9th Street is also doing the work to renovate those rocks and pull them out. So there's a disturbance to both parks at the time. We're hoping to wrap up the evergreen work within about the next week, week and a half.

But then when it's all done, our park will be restored. Yes, it is. All right. HAB-Jacques Juilland, Thank you conviction. HAB-Jacques Juilland, Public Works project.

HAB-Jacques Juilland, One other one. HAB-Jacques Juilland, Once we get the design plans and work for there's you're working with the East Bremerton rotor to make some improvements to Bachman park as well. HAB-Jacques Juilland, So they have already come out and done some some cleanup work. HAB-Jacques Juilland, Yeah, he's Bremerton rotary and power washed There's no expense to us for that, and so it's not listed as a capital improvement. Thank you. But there are items within the PROS plan for Bachman that we hope to address at CENTRAL. Perfect. Thank you.

All right.

Alex, nothing for me?

You had a wonderful presentation. Thank you so much.

All right, Joan.

I've got nothing. Last but not least. I've got nothing. All right. I don't have anything either. So, meeting adjourned.

Brett, Kylie usually leaves us with some words of wisdom or a poem.

Nobody told me that was part of the deal, so you're just going to have to go without this month.

We'll make something up. Thank you for joining us tonight. I appreciate it.

Yeah, you all have a nice evening.

Thank you. All right, you guys.