Plan Commission - Regular Meeting

plan commission meeting. Um the first order been or for the meeting minutes approval. I'll make a motion to approve the meeting minutes from February 18th, 2026. I'll second. Mr. Chairman, before you approve, uh I'd like to draw your attention to a correction in the meeting. Minute says I was present. I was not present. So that needs to be corrected. Okay. And I should be excused from the body. I I am as well because I was not here. I know my you are marked excused but not me. And I and I don't have a ghost. Okay. That you know of. Okay. So we got a motion and a second for approval.

All in favor? I I opposed. Okay. It's approved. New business. And I guess this Sam, you got this one? Yes. Washington Avenue site plan review SP25-15.

Mr. Chair, commissioners, the applicant on behalf of IBW Local 430 proposed an 11,500T local business office and meeting hall for their general membership. They described the additional building and operation details within their application narrative. The staff reviewed the applicant's original submitt last December and provided 10 review comments and the applicant revised the plans, met all 10 review comments and resubmitted these plans for plan commission consideration. The staff comment uh or that's meant to be commend not comments. The staff commend the applicant for their willingness to be creative in addressing the staff comments. Particularly note the over an acre of prairie restoration contained within the landscaping plans for the restoration which I'll also note is the presettlement condition um here. This was originally prairie before it was farmed. So they're bringing it back to what it was. The staff thank the applicant and the property owner for considering also the vill's request to use the new hall once constructed as a potential pole location. That request is above and beyond the plan commission's review authority today, but does demonstrate a willingness by the property owner to discuss ways in which they can be a part of the community and contribute to their local government operations. So, just wanted to call that out. It was kind of a nice side benefit that we brought up with them. Still have to work out plenty of details, but it's it's nice for people to consider our request. I think this would be a nice poll location once it's open.

Well, especially with the the advancement of all the housings that's going on out that way. Yes, exactly. Um, and you know, it being built to modern, you know, building code and ADA standards is certainly not lost on us as well. Um, from the comprehensive plan, the application complies with the comp plan, which designates the property uh as commercial with a small portion at the north end designated as park, recreation, and natural areas. The application also complies with the park and open space plan and master bicycle plan. The application meets the requirements of chapter 90 of the code of ordinances which is zoning. The applicant used alternative compliance procedures in two instances which we wanted to call out to your attention. The first is an the applicant used the alternative compliance procedures permitted um for reducing the building height below the twotory minimum. They're about 2 feet short of the minimum building height. So they're at 22 instead of 24 feet um for the C3 zoning district. Um we found that uh the site met the alternative compliance subsections of one two and five within those alternative compliance procedures. So they did things like provide the natural landscaping area um surrounding their storm water feature which is kind of above and beyond uh the normal storm water requirements. They're providing some um pedestrian connectivity to West Road even when there aren't adjacent trails or sidewalks in this area. Um and uh so that is going above and beyond um as well and they are providing that natural open space protection that I mentioned in the comprehensive plan towards the north end of their site which qualifies them for alternative compliance. Uh additionally the applicant use the alternative parking dimension features for the parking spaces. Um, and I recommend that you all find that the application meets the regulations contained within that subsection to permit slightly larger parking stall sizes as described within their narrative and shown on the site plans.

In short, um, obviously a a building that is geared towards members of a union who drive a lot of work trucks. They want some slightly larger parking stall sizes. They went through the effort to meet al the alternative parking dimension requirements that you all approved just a few months ago, which include still meeting the parking ratios that are required. Um the sizes aren't overly big. They're just, you know, within 10% of our standard sizes um and provided a few other odds and ends. um in terms of landscaping that kind of cross-counted for the other alternative compliance procedures like that prairie restoration surrounding the back portion of the property. The village strategic plan um the application meets a village uh strategic plan and a few um key strategies and outcomes including our partner and promote balance growth and development outcomes as noted in the staff report. We all recommend that you move to approve SP 2515 with no conditions.

Any questions? Nancy.

Chairman. Um, first of all, I'd like to, you know, um, I I was kind of surprised that there weren't 500 guys in here because when we had a previous approval for, uh, I believe it was the Microsoft project, there were at least a hundred of them in here. So, I was expecting to meet the group today, but that's okay. Three is fine. Um, you know, that's all good. Um, my daughter's a member of another IBEDW union through Wii Energy, so I had asked her if this was her group, and it's apparently a different group. But I think this is great. As always, partner and design does an amazing job with their architecture. Mr. Molinaro's here. And um my only question is regarding um Wood Road or West Road and the crossing of 20. Are we going to I can see that as being a big cut through because people coming up from for meetings from the south would take West Road as opposed to uh H at the light. I'm a little worried about that. Have we is that an issue for anybody? Yeah, they didn't this isn't big enough to qualify for them um for a full traffic impact analysis. So, we didn't take a detailed traffic look at it. Um but I know that stretch of Washington Avenue is on the DOT plans for resurfacing I think in the next 10 years, but I can look into that and provide the commission an update on when that exact timeline is.

I could just see a lot of cross traffic. You know, one com one comment I would have with that is it can't be any worse than when we have our compost site open on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Oh, okay. Well, there there you go. Okay. All right. You have experience. All right. It's a very busy intersection. And I also applaud the uh larger parking spots. I wish more places would do that. The older I get, the more room I need in my parking spot. I don't drive a pickup, but you know. So, anyway, I have uh no other comments or questions other than to make a motion to approve. I have a couple of questions. Go ahead. Um, could we get us I think that's a formal I second the motion. Second. Yeah. Oh, is there already a motion on? Sorry.

Yeah. Sorry, I jumped the gun. Let it rip, Larry.

Is there a plan for connection to the property to the west for access in the future? Is there any thought given to tying this uh parking lot at the southwest, is that right? southwest corner uh into a perhaps the adjacent piece that whenever it is developed at some point that there should be some way to get out of this parking lot other than doing a tea turnaround. That's not a very uh user-friendly solution in my opinion and I think in the future it would be helpful I think for for their own um use to have a connection and possibly uh access onto Route 20.

Yeah, we did not require that as part of this application, but the site plan in the way it's set up wouldn't prohibit that negotiation in the future. Consideration should be given to that at some point. Um, also how often do you think I'm going to direct this to perhaps Mr. Malinaro. Uh, how often do you think this parking lot is going to see uh full capacity or near capacity? I'll unless you have any other questions for me. I'll I'll give Mark the floor because I have I do have a question yet too. Bring it on. Okay. In regards to I saw on there you have an additional possible extra additional building going there. Is the parking lot already set up for that to be able to handle that? Yeah. Okay.

That it's sized appropriately for both um um based on their um applicable needs. So that expansion is um should be good on at least from a zoning code requirement. Either way, that's what I'm that's what I'm concerned about. Y Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Yeah. Yeah. Good afternoon, Mark Partners and Design Architect, 652nd Street, Kenosha. Um, other than a couple of phases, I see you got some real trouble on this commission. So, um, let me go back to the question about connectivity.

Certainly, we're set up in a way that if there is any access or any construction that happens, development happens west, more than happy to make that connectivity. Fully expect that that would be the case. Um, typically you don't like a dead-end parking lot as we're showing. Given the type of use that's in this building, anyone and everyone that goes there is there knows that um knows the facility, knows the property, right? We're not there's no public coming in here in a consistent basis. From that standpoint, we wouldn't typically like to see a a parking lot laid out the way we have it, but we don't think we'll have much concern there with the majority of the parking being on the on that east side. Um, and then likewise, we're we're kind of hamstrung by that uh flood plan and conservancy and pond on the back side of the the property. So,

understood. And then your other question was whether or not given that you're parked with adequate capacity for the future addition, would you consider not in putting in that asphalt until such time that you would need the addition? In other words, if if if these are going to start growing grass through the cracks because nobody ever parks there, I'd rather not see it.

Sure. So, here's the issue with that. I think the short answer would be yes. We'd be open to that and we'll know uh at the end of the month whether we have to consider it if we come in a little bit over budget, but I would suggest that we probably don't want to do that right now. So, the building is set up on a on a typical basis. will have anywhere from seven to 10 people in the building if I'm not mistaken from a uh typical occupancy and then up to three times a year roughly three times a year they'll have their uh union meetings

and we're sized right now to accommodate when they have that influx and they have a a meeting at least a year typically their holiday meeting where they really get the the membership to turn out so we'd be we'd have some concerns I don't think you'd like what would happen then on on West code in terms of parking on the road if we cut that land uh asphalt out. Right. My question that would be our concern and I would say it's it's to your benefit meaning the village not to have cars parked on West Avenue if we can avoid it or West Road if we can avoid it. That's all I go ahead.

Yeah, I I do have a comment. Well, first comment is obviously I'm not concerned for the design because anything that's designed by partners in design to me that's an A+

we appreciate the comments for all these years and uh almost everything that gateway has built has been designed by him so I don't have any any concern I I like the design I love it my only comment is and that's mostly mostly for the village I know that it's in our ordinances and it allows that. But I'm never comfortable with the statement that in lie of the sidewalk we can accept the payment. To me, that beats the purpose. Because when you say in le of the sidewalk, we can accept the payment. To me, then it's all about the money. It's not about the safety. It's not about the public. And I see the statement and I I felt strongly enough to make that comment. Again, it's it's not directed at you. I think uh in my opinion that needs to be revisited. It's a separate topic. That's my concern. Other than that, I love the design. Thank you.

Not that it matters, but Mount Pleasant isn't alone. Yeah. Almost every municipality does payment in le of in situations like that. I know. I know that. But that to me, I mean, it's almost like a uh I don't want to mix the issue, but it's almost like uh when you get a ticket on the road, you're not speeding, we'll give you a nonvi non-moving violation, but give us some money. No, when you don't obey with the law, you don't obey with the law. It should not be always about the money. That's how strongly I feel. But anyway, I I would only chime in that um

that while that would be I totally understand what you're getting at if that went to like some sort of general fund or whatever, but that those payment lie of go to a specific sidewalk fund. So essentially instead of building a sidewalk where they think it doesn't make sense and we and through a process we agree, we put it into funds so we can fill in gaps in where sidewalks are more direly needed. So we will be building a more complete sidewalk infrastructure network through the use so everybody pays the same amount everybody's on equal footing and where it doesn't make sense that funding is used to build sidewalks where it does make sense. So that's

thank you Robin. You know I I like the response and I appreciate that. I really appreciate that. But that mean that I'm going to keep my eyes on the budget. I want to see a separate line on that. Yeah. In regards to that, is the land the building set back enough where they could put a sidewalk in at some point in time? Absolutely. Yes. Okay. Absolutely.

I think it's a little tight at West Road, right at the corner where the property is notched off. It's cut back on at the southeast corner. I think the pavement looks, at least on your site plan, that it u it might be a little tight for sidewalk there. I think any sidewalk in this circumstance would likely be a much larger DOT project where we're looking at probably urbanizing the section of Washington Avenue. So, the right of way would be completely reconfigured at that point in time. So, that's why we didn't really look at exact distances because there's probably a lot of interplay between the DOT owned right of way and what's on the private property. But they meet all their zoning setbacks for now. And I think if there were impacts to it that would be for the partially for the DOT to, you know, go through the property acquisition process if it came to that. But it's a pretty wide road out there right now. So, um, we don't have preliminary concerns about that at this time.

Okay. Any other questions? I'm looking for a motion. We had the motion. We had the motion in the second. Oh, that's right. We did already. That's right. Sorry. I jumped the gun. I I didn't realize. No, actually, it's good because you know, you're supposed to have the discussion after the motion. There you go. Following the rules. Okay. So, we got got a motion and a second. All in favor? I I opposed. Passes unanimous. Good luck and look forward to it.

Yeah. Yeah. you know, doing my best here to perfect crosscount. Thank you and good luck to you. We're good. See you. All right. Next on the agenda is Luan Drive certified survey map CSM26-01.

All right, Mr. Chair, members of the commission, let me just get through all these plans here. Uh the applicant applied to divide the existing 3.1 acre lot into four lots. Each lot is just under 30,000 square feet with 150 ft of frontage along Luan Drive. The application also dedicates the 33 ft of ride ofway to the public along Luan Drive. Right now the property lines go to the center of the roadway. So they're cleaning that up. The application complies with all the elements of the comp plan and meets the ordinances contained within chapter 74 for land division except those within the conditions for approval. The zoning um code com or the lots comply with all the zoning requirements for it. The property zoned re. So these four lots are kind of what we'd consider more or less perfectly sized re lots. They're all even above the minimum halfacre requirements. the frontage checks out everything like that. Um from a strategic plan perspective, this meets our balance growth and development um key strategy and outcome and our recommendation uh includes a few conditions um including one modifying Luan Road to Luan Drive within the map on sheet two, modifying the map to show structures on adjacent properties within 100 ft. Three, modifying the map to show existing and proposed lot lines, dimensions of size of lots, and the minimum lot area required by the zoning district in which the land division is located. Four, showing um the utility information out there. As an aside, this property, these properties neither have water nor sewer. Um there is an adjacent sewer that normally would be required to be extended, but in talking with public works, the um elevations don't work out for this section of Luan Drive. So, they'll have to get the temporary holding tank permissions until which

sewer could come from the east to serve these properties, which is a ways down the road. Um, we'll there's multiple properties in the middle between Hoods Creek and here. So, maybe by 2050 will these properties have sewer service, but the lots are sized appropriately enough where they could do private sewer. Um, they're larger lot sizes. And then finally, um, modifying the map to show, um, the required shoreland setbacks. All of these, uh, properties lie within the zone shoreland zoning area due to their proximity to Hoods Creek, although none of them lie within the mandatory 150 foot setback. So, um, in our shoreland zoning, we kind of have a 300 foot buffer as a notification just to look at it, but when we investigated it, none of them are within that setback area, but they should denote that they technically with lie within the shoreland zoning on the face of the CSM. From a fiscal impact, we looked at just four detached houses on the properties. Um, and uh, it performs at right at a one:1 revenue to cost ratio. It's a little bit low on the private to public ratio, but uh we were fairly conservative in our estimates for a new home builds on these properties. So, you know, I would expect them to likely be perform a bit better, but regardless, it's above um you know, has a positive net revenue um in over a 40-year projection period. So, these are not going to cost the village money per our projections. Um with that, we recommend approval subject to those conditions. I can answer any questions that you have.

Mr. Chairman, um Sam, I had I had reached out to you earlier in the week. My only concern, and I don't know if it's been the public works yet, but was that there is an existing temporary tea on there, and I think that should be noted on lot four as an easement. Um I'd be fine with adding that condition. Okay. So, are they allowed the second question I apologize are they allowed to also use have put mounds in?

It's a little bit of a gray area. So, the zoning ordinance says that the extension of the sewer is required. Um, however, it's not technically feasible by engineering standards. So if they can fit in a mound system, I think we would be open to it. Otherwise, um the holding tanks would be fine as well for us. So um similar to in some of the other moratorum areas kind of on the center east part of the village where we've allowed those um this is one of those circumstances where you know it's due to engineering constraints that's a reasonable accommodation for these lots. Yeah, I recognize that some of the areas where we're in moratorum though the lots are smaller. Yes.

I would just think if I were a homeowner, a buyer of one of these lots, I'd probably rather have a mound because it is more permanent and not doesn't require that ongoing maintenance and if the pumps go down and, you know, this way I I would hope we would allow it, I guess, is my suggestion. And in if if in fact uh a home buyer wanted to use that because I think it'll be a long time before we see sewer here. Yeah, agreed. This generally meets our sewer requirements. So, as long as they go through the proper plumbing permitting channels like I'm fine with it and I think the board and planning commission could be fine with it. So, really just, you know, Bob and the sewer utility will have to issue those applicable permits if that's what they apply for. That was the same question I had about it.

Yeah. However they want to solve it, as long as it meets our plumbing codes, it's good by me. Thank you. I do have one question in regards to who who's making this application. I know it's it looks like the owners are here, but we don't have anything in our packet that says this is you know uh Mr. and Mrs. I'm not sure what that is Bzik maybe. I don't know that how you pronounce that but normally we would have that you know here that you know they're doing it or who's doing this on their behalf or or is the village doing this? I

Yeah, we are not. it as a private applicant. I'm pulling up the um the uh official applicant right now in our permitting system. We're working through the final back end of the Granicus thing. So, I'll make sure to take that as a note to include that on. It does have the owner's name on the third page of the CSM. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm just saying that but you got to go hunt for. Normally, we would have that who the applicant is on the front page typically, right? have a summary or exactly um it is not uh the owner the applicant was a realtor on their behalf. Okay. So that

but we will make sure to note that in the future. I'll I'll work with Jill to get that built into the the system a little bit more clearly. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Any more questions? Not. I look for a motion. Mr. Chairman Ben, I move to approve the I I move to approve that the planning commission. Gosh, I can't read what recommend. I recommend the planning commission approve CSM26-01 to the board of trustees subject to the listed condition and the condition my colleague trustee Washburn mentioned. Can you repeat that? Temporary T turnaround. Yeah,

I'll second that. Okay, we got a motion in a second. Any other questions? If not, all in favor? Opposed? Unan unanimously pass. So, here we go.

All right. We're a little bit early for George's items. Um, I told him 1:30, so that's my bad. Um, I'm sure he's on his way shortly, so why don't we kick it over to uh Robin and Matt to talk through that staff report while we're waiting for George. I didn't recognize Matt. He hasn't shaved since he left, I think. Huh. I know. It freaks me out. Freaks me out. I keep

Oh, okay. Yeah. This thing hot. So, hi Robin. Um, planner as well as code enforcement officer. Um, so Matt's been with us since uh summer last year. Um, and has been taking over um more of the municipal complaint enforcement from just writing the letters, getting out there doing the inspections and uh uh working with the courts and stuff like that. So, um, and I do kind of I still obviously we work hand in hand. I do the nerdy code stuff as far as what portion of the code applies where and all that sort of stuff. Um, and uh I also helped with some of the analysis for uh this to do our comparison. So you want to So um in general I just kind of ran the the Q1 2026 numbers versus uh 2025 and it looks like it's like a complete massive change. But the thing is it's all from DPW snowstorm complaints. So that last year was had 67 of those and this year we have only only had 12. Um as a matter of fact the public nuisances and zoning led complaints are actually up a little bit. So at 68 snow ice winter operation complaints. Um now we've done more junk vehicles stored um property maintenance and dealing with signs and signage. And this is a compare same comparison but running basically since Matt started um and and from the year prior. So um still that DPW um it's a little bit more even in this one where with those ranges because you have a like snowstorms and stuff. Um and

yeah that's basically it. Matt, you want to talk about how your enforcements are going?

Yeah. So, as Robin said, a lot of the things are dominated right now by the snow and ice removal. Um, just for instance, we do get uh this is obviously a slower time. I started in July, so July, August, September, October. A lot more things coming in than over the winter besides the snow and ice. We still do get a fair amount though. Um, just to give you an example of a couple things we're following up on, we've got one uh complaint where it's about a halfacre lot and there's 33 junk trucks parked on the parked in the yard. So, um, obviously if you are a neighbor there, you're not too happy with that and and we all know that um, a property that looks like that can certainly bring down some property values. Um, but yeah, it started uh, in July. Um, some of you are familiar faces. Uh if you don't know me, I retired from the police department back in 2024. Uh so I was retired for a little over a year. Um this opportunity arose and uh it's been it's been very nice. I'm certainly glad I'm doing it. So um thank you.

Yeah. Uh I guess the the only thing to add is that I don't have the actual kind of numbers to show it, but um the uh basically in the 2026 was like the first time in a while that we actually closed more complaints than opened. Um and that means that we're catching up on a backlog. Like there's always been an open complaint backlog. And you know, I had been working with Matt going back and checking older complaints that we hadn't really m maybe resolved or we didn't get follow-ups on or we just didn't know what happened. So, we would go back and investigate old and open ones to to hopefully close them out and move forward. So, and with that, we've been a little bit more proactive about um enforcement. So, uh yeah, it's good stuff and it works well for for everybody. So he's obviously used to just driving around sometimes. She's

what you know going back to your younger days just driving around enforcing well honestly we are recording this Robin just FYI always reminded Matt's background I is is perfect because like you know from like you know doing PR stuff and and you know working with people on the later things and then working with citizens and all that sort of stuff it's actually a perfect mix and as opposed to just a nerd like me trying to talk people down. Um I think it works really well. So uh yeah, that's it.

No, I'm happy to see that we're catching up on old ones and you know this does make a difference because it allows us with having Matt on the payroll in his position. And it allows us to really follow up on these complaints because sometimes you see the complaints are ongoing and the people feel like we're not listening to them. And you know, this is a a great way for us to to try and wrap some of that up and gain some confidence in the community. As long as Matt doesn't scare him to death with what he goes to the door. Just kidding. I would. Thank you, though. I would just be like, that's that's impressive, you know. All right. Thank you. All right. Thank you.

That's it for us. So we'll I'll go backwards. Yep.

And now George. All right. Good afternoon. Thank you for bouncing around for me. I actually was just got off the phone with a applicant who was donating to a park bench uh just two seconds ago. So I apologize for being late. Um so the first item agenda was uh just the review of our donation and gift program policy um as it relates to uh benches, trees, uh picnic tables, those smaller amenities that uh you see in our parks. Um so for this year uh when I was doing just the annual review uh I eliminated the the term memorial as most cases it is a memorial bench but we do have cases or uh where we've done just uh a table that's just like you know come to our park or just somebody wants to donate a tree. So eliminating the the memorial from it and having it more generic. Uh the rest of the content did stay the same. the pricing stayed the same. Um, just cleaned up a little bit on the uh the formatting on the actual application uh to try to be more consistent from fonts and that type of thing for what we do with some of our other forms. But uh we reviewed the pricing. Uh the pricing is still good. Um because again, we're not looking to make profit off of these donations. We try to be as true to cost as we can, but we factor in the inflation, which is why a couple years ago we said for new pads, uh you got to pay for the concrete in addition to the uh the bench or the table uh in itself. So, um yeah, again, like I said, the the policy itself hasn't changed very much. Anything that would be outside of these type of uh

donations would likely need to go through the village's normal donation policies with like village board approval. So this is again just specific to those items that are smaller park amenities um for this sum. Any questions on that? Is the Pike River Parkway considered part of this system as well if somebody wants to donate to the Pike River? Yep. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Uh, if there's no questions on that, um, then I'll move up to our quarterly update. Um, but you need a

do but you need a motion to approve the policy. What I'm reading I don't think did we vote formally on this last time, Sam? I don't believe because Yeah, let let's do it just to cover our bases. Um, I I put a note in the staff report that the village board is considering a wider donation policy as part of some revisions that finance director Casper is proposing to all of the finance policies. So, this may get superseded at some point if the village adopts broader village donation policies, but for the time being, I think if you just want to move to approve this so we covered our bases, that that's works for us. Yeah, that's exactly what I was reading. you know the

Yeah, it is on here. So there's to to approve it. So will Yeah. So Mr. Chairman, I move to approve the 2026 parks and recreation donation and gift policy and application as presented. I'll second. Got a motion in a second. Any questions on that? Okay. All in favor? I Okay, pass unanimously. Thanks, George.

Great. Thanks. All right. So, now moving on to our uh quarterly update for parks and wreck. Um I'm going to start touching base from uh facility rental standpoint. Uh we are for the going to be covering basically the reservations that have been uh submitted uh from January through March and the ones that have also taken place. So, the only ones we have currently taking place are at the parks and recck building. Um uh we have 33 reservations in the these three months compared to 20 from last year. So we already saw a significant increase just this week. Uh five out of the seven days are being reserved between um showers, birthday parties, card groups. So um it's continuing to see even more use um year after year. Um our park rentals overall have also seen um an increase as far as the amount of bookings that have been taking place. Now these are going to be from anywhere between January and December um from as far as when they get invoiced for the reservation. So uh last year at this point we had 42 and we're up to 62 already uh to start. So uh part of that increase though is um the the tracking we have done a little bit different. So some of the tourism events that are there we've added them into the actual booking system. So like the the sounds of sunset and um the bluegrass f like those individual dates count as reservations now too or the individual. So, uh, I don't want the numbers to seem really skewed high when we just didn't factor that in to the the actual reporting numbers from the previous year. Uh, and then, uh, this year, uh, we have, uh, a baseball team that's come in and and has added about 10 to 12 dates. So, that's part of the

reason we didn't have this group last year. So, we are seeing, uh, more and more popularity. And I'd say the the majority of the baseball or softball reservations are at Campus Park. We do have a couple um strikers at um at Steuart McBride. Um but overall, we're happy to see u what's coming um here, you know, for the upcoming year. Uh for the next uh quarter between April through June, uh we do have a couple of special events that will be taking place. Uh the Packers tailgate tour benefiting Habitat for Humanities happening at Campus Park on April 14th. uh Relay for Life um is that first uh Friday night in June and then um Ras and Brewst partners are having their beer garden again uh the last weekend of June at Smolinsky Park. Um, moving on to from the recreation side, um, we've got, uh, again, another increase of from the amount of registrations that we're seeing earlier on, which is good for us. So, uh, I'm going to report on those numbers a little bit different. To give you an idea, we had 110 people uh, registered for or kids registered for T-ball last year. We're at 48. So, we're already at 44% of what we had last year with 30 days of registration. Um, and that's been very consistent for softball and playgrounds where we've saw 48% for softball, 49% for playground. So, we're almost at halfway of what we've already registered in 30 days. So, we're very happy with the where the numbers are at this point for that. We'll see where we end up. Um, but you know, we already have one uh location that is uh for uh summer playgrounds at Campus Park. I believe it's our 4 to 8 year olds. Um we

are five away from maxing out already. So um you know, part of that is right now we did move um or chose not to offer any programming at DROS just because we're waiting on a construction schedule. We do have it ready to go that if we know construction out there for the project will begin later than expected. We can reopen registration, we would just contact all the people that registered and see if they want to move back over. We have staff lined up to to do it. So, we're ready and equipped to to expand if need be to accommodate more people and more ages. So, um, kind of a good problem to have, um, at this point, but, um, yeah, so, like I said, we're we're very happy with with where those numbers are at this point. And then just a couple of other things. I mentioned the Dros Park construction. We have our first kickoff meeting with the architects next week. Uh, I'm working on finalizing new signage for the Pike River pathway. uh specifically addressing pathway etiquette and dogs on the pathway as those are a lot of the questions and concerns that we get. Um we are um hiring for park seasonal staff. The position just got posted last week. And then uh this Saturday we do have our Cottontail trail at 10 am to noon. So not uh come on out for the event. Uh it's here at the village hall. Um again, Saturday 10 am noon.

One quick question. Anything on cricket at all?

So I had lengthy discussions with an individual um last fall about um the feasibility of a league that he wanted to run out there. uh the specific demands that they wanted were outside the scope of what we would do for the park. For instance, he wanted to have a prolevel uh type of environment out there, which means we'd be cutting the grass on like green level, like golf green level. Um which would require us to have a certain type of irrigation and different types of mowers. and and so it would be impossible for us to to be able to do what we did. Uh we had uh two Cricut batches last fall out there. So um the word is is starting to spread out there. So but yeah, that was um what we discussed now was a potential partnership of offering like instructional classes and different things. So, it's all still moving parts, but yes, those discussions have been happening um on the background.

Mr. Chairman, if I can Yes, ma'am. I'd make a comment on a followup to your question. Like George said, uh the community, the Americans are getting aware of the cricket. Last few weeks when I was overseas, I I happened to watch World Cup T20 World Cup cricket and I was very pleased to see US team. US is competing in the World Cup now. So they officially has a team which I never knew that. Who knew? I knew that. Again, you know, and my guess is it was a thing.

My guess is not many people here not only aware of that, but they didn't watch it, but I saw a US team competing in the World Cup. So I think my point is that you know to your question you know the people here as the world cup come as they as a compete internationally it will become a you know awareness well we built the pitch out there so they could you know exactly have it and I haven't seen any I know the grass hasn't been ready yeah me too I'm kind of waiting like field or dream you know if they say if you build it they will come we built it but nobody has come yet

yeah and so part Part of it is also um the they've shared comments about pricing and what we charge versus some of the other agencies. I haven't found a significant discrepancy in what we have as the price. Um if they're not willing to pay for the youth, then you know, we won't issue the permit. Um but yeah, it's uh I experienced this when I worked in Illinois. We we had cricket groups and and stuff and they had other pitches that they would do. Um, so I've got a little bit background of how the permitting should work and I think we have everything right in place and from the other communities that I've discussed with. You know, it's part of the thing too is that we we built it and if if it doesn't come like you expect, it was designed in a way where we can put other programming out there. We can do lacrosse, we can do soccer, we can So, you know, aside from the the additional concrete that was put out there, the rest of the grass and everything still has that multi-use aspect. So, yeah, I think it's that that that's the hard part, right? If we wanted to rent it out to a soccer group for on both sides, what would they be willing to pay? Well, that should be equal to what an entire pitch would be for for cricket. So, it's the value of the space. So, yeah, it's a challenge. Um, but again, that's why we designed it the way we did.

Can I ask is pitch a term in just like soccer pitch? Yeah, it's a field. It's a field. I obviously don't know anything about soccer either. No, just saying. So, to me, it's like all Greek. But I think it's great that we have this, you know, this new this interest in a new sport. It's like pickle ball. people are looking for different ways to recreate and more different types of of sports. Is this more of a younger people's sport? Typically, um out there playing cricket, not not I mean it's it's the the individual that I was working with, he was relatively young, but I mean it's

outside the US is the number one sport number two sport in the world after soccer. after soccer. And the reason you know to your comment

why I believe this is just my opinion because when we were designing and this was being considered there were about 10 12 young people over here who came to the village hall and uh we listened to them but most of them have moved out of our area. Most of them you know they got another job you know they moved out. So, so that's the reason you know we haven't seen any any activity but it is the most uh second most watched sports and played sport in the whole world. Like I just I I just saw the World Cup and you couldn't believe that the how those uh stadiums are packed just like Super Bowl.

Yeah. You know, that would be an interesting thing to have them come out and do an ex exhibition and then open it up to, you know, to the advertise it to the public, excuse me, to come out and watch it because I've never seen them. I've seen them on TV when I was over in China, you know, and watching it on TV, you know, but didn't understand it because it was all non-English. So,

yeah. And again, that's we did something similar with pickle ball. We worked with one of the local pickle ball clubs, the first opening of it to have them come out. And so, like I said, once we realized that the uh that this aspect of the potential league or something that would happen on a regular basis maybe wasn't the right fit, we moved the conversations to other things. So, again, it's it's still early talks, but I would bet more than likely that we'll see something out there this summer. Good. Thank you.

Thank you. Great job though, George. You really have this, you know, you've made all our dreams come true. I'm excited to see what happens at Droids Park and um thank you for putting up with the board and being patient on getting that funded for you. So Oh, yeah. That's going to that's going to be a nice park. Yeah, work with what we got. So, we're very very very happy that the project went through. Um so, just looking forward to get going. I'm sure we all are, right? most of the donations for

uh benches primarily. Yeah. One thing that has pivoted is so our most popular phase on the um the the Pike River pathway is what's considered like phase one. Um so we brought that to the commission three or four years ago. Joe you might remember about that we weren't going to add anymore to that particular section. Right. So, what we've seen now is just last year a new picnic table was put out there with a plaque um to try to provide a different type of amenity uh because we didn't want it to turn into a memorial walk versus what the original purpose, you know, was for it. So, uh that's why they submit the application. Does it fall in line with comprehensive master plans? Does it make sense, you know, from an amenity standpoint? Um that's why the review process is in place. But uh primarily benches. So at Campus Park when there's a blank bench, we don't have to bring those have already been approved to give staff um discretion to put out the benches. So the one that I was on the phone with earlier, they're going to replace one of our blank benches at the splash pad and have one out there. So yeah, it's Yeah, majority mortges.

It's always nice to have a place to sit. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Thanks, George. Okay, I guess that leads it to adjournment. Got a motion, Mr. Chairman. Motion that we adjourn this meeting. Motion and second. All in favor? I I I. We're done.