Parks, Recreation and Beautification Committee - Regular Meeting

ensue to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Are there any public comments or announcements? I have one. I have one that I'm kind of excited about. We have acquired the land for a dog park. Nice. Yay. The last little check box happened yesterday in a really super long meeting. And it is on Campiche, West Campiche. It is the back half of what used to be the iconic Putt-Putt Golf. Oh, wow. That's cool. And it's going to be behind a drive-through coffee shop. Nice. It's kind of a cool concept of being able to get your coffee and sit out in the park and enjoy your dogs.

Definitely make it more usable for everybody else to have that amenity there.

And it's a... I think it's a perfect location in terms of, you know, being able to access it and things like that. That said, that's all I know. I don't know when, you know, how it'll move forward, but I know it's been acquired for parks. It's real. And I also know that the SPI Dog Park Association is fundraising in order to help with amenities like a key system gate, double-gated system, dog amenities for them, and hopefully a water feature of some kind or a cooling feature for the dogs, because I don't know about you guys, but I think it's odd. Really odd, and I don't have fur. So that is my announcement.

Awesome. That's great. Congratulations.

Congratulations. Is there any other announcements? All right, perfect. Then we're moving on to regular agenda item 4.1, the discussion and possible action to approve the minutes of the August 19, 2026 regular meeting. Do I have a motion?

I'll move that. All right, I'll second. Move Susan, second Wendy.

Any discussion? All in favor?

Aye. Any opposed?

Motion passes, great. Now we're moving on to agenda item 4.2, discuss an impossible action to approve the absence of Parks Committee member Travis Kayser from the regular meeting on August 19th, 2026, and as I understand it, this was an excused absence. Motion to?

Motion and a second.

Motion. I'll second.

Lindy, motion. Susan, second. Any discussion?

Thank you.

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion passes. Moving right along. The 4.3, update and discussion regarding city parks maintenance. Debbie Huff.

Good morning. Good morning. Let's see. Well, pickleball is coming along. The bathroom is almost complete. It's not open yet, but it is almost complete. And the water fountain has been added. I don't know that it's functioning yet. But we're getting very close. I know that I did the last receipt for the porta potty. So before the 1st of October, that will go away. And so hopefully the bathroom will be done. They've finished part of that fence. So they are working on that. And you can see right there that they put some grass in. We actually had some grass that was left over from another project. It looks a little rough there. But they assure me that it's going to take off. They're planning on planting some native plants and that kind of thing and some trellis to go up the pergola there. So that's what's going on at Pickleball Park. It has been so, so hot. But any given day in the morning time, 20, 30 people out there, so it's very good.

That back fence going to be, not back, behind the bathroom, that's going to be closed in, right? Yeah, yeah.

It's just, I mean, that's where they've gotten to. I took that picture yesterday at about 4 o'clock, so that's real-time kind of, but they just got that started. They also added a couple of those park benches over there just from the request of the pickleball players, those turquoise benches in the back, and hopefully we'll We'll be able to add some more of those as well. Public Works is working on that project. So I'll keep you guys updated on that. But it's getting there. There is a gate there. And there's been some question on a lock and whatnot. So we'll get with all that and figure out exactly. The pickleball players get there so, so early. So we're going to see what we need to do about that gate there. the butterfly park and the community garden. They were out there getting the soil tilled up and ready for our new garden boxes. And then we have the box number five for the parks committee. So we might need to work on getting some plants in there. Water Tower Park, we're still at the same kind of situation. We're waiting to get that signed document back from Texas Parks and Wildlife, and we'll get started on that. I haven't seen any motion in the pickleball area, but I think hopefully they'll finish the first one over at 610 and then move on to this one. John L. Topkins, without further ado for Travis, there's some lights at the park. So we've got some lighting in the parking lot that really lights that parking lot up. Then there's the the lights inside the park for the small play area and the skate park. When you turn on the lights underneath the basketball and the new lights, it looks really good. I was out there on Monday night with the sales rep, and we actually are going to add one more light just to really make it right. So I'm very excited about it. So if y'all are out there in the evening, go out and check it out.

Awesome.

That's been a long time. It took a long time. We finally got the funding for the extra lights. And then I was telling Travis that the guys went out there. They were really excited. They were putting up the lights. They had like one of the lifts. I guess it's called a scissor lift. I'm not real well versed in that. But we borrowed it from the convention center. And when he got down there to do it, it malfunctioned a little. So we had to wait for that to get fixed to put up the last two lights. So but they're up now. And then Turtle Park, we put the door back on the box there. But there was a lot of wood rot. And it was really a mess. And so they did some spackling and some stuff. And he really sealed the inside of the box. And I think it's much more secure now. It had just taken on so much moisture. So when we add or do any more of these in the future, I think we really need to look at the kind of box that we're doing, because they're painted and they're beautiful. But I mean, they're just not holding up in our weather. So just kind of keep that in mind. Another neat thing that happened, I want to say it was two weeks ago, because she actually posted it on Facebook. The librarian from the Laguna Vista Library noticed that we didn't have many children's books in our boxes and she came over and brought children's books for both of the boxes in Butterfly and in Turtle and came to the community center and left a whole bunch of children's books in our little bookshelves there. So I really appreciated that. That was kind of a neat thing. She said she just wanted to make sure that we had some children's books because we really had a lot of the grown-up books. That was nice to see. The other thing I just wanted to kind of do a shout out. It has been super duper hot. And I mean, the guys have been really working hard. And I just want to give them a shout out and tell everyone how much we appreciate them and the hard work that they do. because it has been, I don't even know how many days it's been that's been over 100, and they are out there just plugging along, and I know sometimes they get a little frustrated when things don't look perfect, but the heat's really been rough, so I'm so proud of them. They've really worked hard to keep the parks looking really nice, so I just wanted that Adrian and Oscar are doing just such a great job, so. Do y'all have any other questions for me on park maintenance or anything?

I did notice on the butterfly that one of those butterflies is missing the paddles. It has been for like two months, the one in the middle, the smaller one. I don't know if it got moved, but the bracket's even missing off the back that held it on, like the little cables.

All right.

I don't know. Someone must have picked it up or moved it.

I wonder if Adrian took that when he was doing the cleaning one time.

Oh, maybe, maybe, because, yeah, the bracket's missing completely. That might be what it was.

I'll check with him. Thanks for letting me know about that. Yeah, for sure. It would just be weird if somebody could steal that.

Yeah, or it would fall off, but one screw would come out, not both.

I'm wondering if maybe there was something. So I'll check with Adrian. I'll get another one ordered for sure. Cool.

I've seen several comments on Facebook about the tiny libraries and about the parks, people praising them and talking about them. So I thought that was nice to see that, that people actually videotaped themselves with the kids getting a book out of the library and stuff like that.

And the one lady that did that really neat video of it was her favorite park at Butterfly. And she did a really neat video, a little reel. And I think I sent it to Lori. It was really fun. I think I shared it on the parks page, to be honest with you.

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah, it was good. But it's just kind of neat when you see people enjoying it.

Yeah, because you're not there all the time to see whether they're doing it or not. But the books do go missing. Yeah. And I know that the Girl Scouts have been real adamant about the one at the park, the Butterfly Park, making sure it's full every Sunday. And when not, you go over and you put things in it.

I usually on Friday afternoons kind of do my rounds just to check them out and make sure. Sometimes more than that. But I mean, I usually always try to for the weekend. I usually gather up some stuff and put them in the car just to make sure that... You know, for the weekend, there's some stuff out there. The other thing that I keep forgetting to say, we need painted rocks. So if anybody wants to paint some rocks, if anybody wants to think about that. I painted some.

Like a million ladybugs.

I did. I went over there and there wasn't one painted rock in there. So I painted some red. I just spray painted some and made some ladybugs and put out there. I probably did about 25 or 30 that day. And they're gone. But those are pretty easy. But if you guys, you know, or if you have like the Girl Scout group or you have some contacts with somebody, it really is a fun garden. And I believe that Monday would have been Sandra's birthday. And so it made me think about her. And she really loved that garden. And so if anybody wants to, you know, convince your friends to paint some rocks. Load that one up.

Perfect. I've had a bunch of company, and a lot of them are workout fiends, and they loved the Tompkins Park. Oh, good. They actually walked from my house, which is like two and a half miles, and then worked out. Yeah, they're young. But they really loved it. Awesome.

Moving on then. Moving on. To agenda item 4.4, update and discussion on the park improvements at Lewis Memorial Park. I don't know too much. Robert's been watering for us, which has been really awesome. We do have the... rock down, the crushed gravel, crushed rock down, and a brick outline around it. We have the one bench we were gonna, where we.

I brought this back up to you, so there's, they put the bridge in yesterday. Nice.

Oh. Yeah, and then we would like to add a second, we're gonna talk about this, we'll bring it in when Kathy's back, because this is her baby now. But I'm hoping for a second bench, and then when the time is right, Robert is meant to cut back the Mesquite some, for the benefit of the Mesquite, but also for the benefit of the view. And we have olive trees and several other things there, but we were waiting on the bridge, and there it is, so people can just go across. And I think it'll be a nice place for people to sit on their dog walks or to read a book and just reflect and contemplate. Certainly never going to have a playscape or anything like that. It's just this little meditative park. I'm gonna still try to find some landscaping rocks somewhere, maybe hopefully get donated to act as little tables or decoration as well, but functional, functional rocks I guess is what I'm trying to say. And that's all, that's all I know about that park and that's a great picture by the way.

That was from yesterday. Yeah, they got out there yesterday. I think that, you know, I mean, it's just trying to stay up with the mowing and get some of these projects done. They're just now finally getting to get some of the projects going because now there's two people.

Well, Robert had the bricks left over, so we went out one day, and I didn't do that much. They did a lot, but we put the rocks down. There's some pictures. Put the rocks down. Everybody helped a little, and a neighbor even came in and helped, Vince, who's in the red shirt. And so it's turning out to be a nice little pocket park. I think it's great. All right, so then we'll move on.

Great job.

We're going to table item 4.5, I believe. Debbie, is that what you said? Because Javi's not here. But he wants to have a fall planning day. We've done it before where we've gone to Turtle Park quite often. some of the other parks but Turtle Park is usually the main recipient of fall planting day where we invite people to come out and people do come out and we go out if we want to or we're available and we plant plants that Javi helps us pick and I'm guessing in this case Robert can help us pick some as well. So do we wanna try to schedule it without Javi or do we table it till Javi's here, what do you think?

Well, we want to make sure that he's available.

Exactly. So I think that, I think we'll just bring, I mean, you know, October's a good time to plant too. I mean, I don't think we're going to miss too much of one day. We're still pretty hot.

So then let's just move this to the next week's agenda. So that's okay.

One thing I would add to that is that the Liz Memorial Park would be a great place to, we already had that in mind to add more once the weather breaks.

Possible places, there's the Liz Memorial Park and then the Turtle Park.

Okay, so we're moving that. On that, sorry for interrupting, on that Memorial Park, is there room to put canopy trees around there still, or is that the border where the bricks are?

Well, beyond that, we have the two olive trees. Okay.

Oh, okay.

And I probably am going to donate a plumeria, but I want to wait until, it's right, and I was going to talk to Robert about it, but at least one plumeria on this other side.

But none of those are really... Canopy trees, right? All trees don't get that big, do they?

They do.

They can. Yeah, they can. The street from my house is huge. Is it?

Yeah.

In Edinburgh, we had one that was 20, 30 feet tall when I was a kid. Massive.

Well, and if you, in the case of the plumeria, if you make sure you keep it staked up straight and you keep the lower branches trimming, and you can make a huge, big, tall tree with it. I have one in my backyard that's pretty big. I have one I have to duck under, but I also have one that's pretty big. Just walk under, so... But again, I don't wanna do that unless it seems like it's gonna be a good idea. And that's something that we're gonna talk about. Which then moves us to the next item, which is the update and discussion regarding the city park and directional signage. This is something, speaking of Sandra, this is something Sandra Tarpey spearheaded a long time ago that we've been jumping through hoops with, I guess, not we, me personally, but the city has been going through signage sizes and this, that, and the other with TxDOT, and I asked Debbie to give us an update. If she didn't mind.

Well, we got real excited, and in January, I really appreciated Wendy Delgado. We just kept going back and forth with TxDOT, back and forth with TxDOT on different sizes and different things, and so she asked them if they, in January of this year, she asked them if we could install the one sign, the SP38. It's the one that's at the base of the causeway, that would say, skate park and pickleball and the three main parks right there as you come across the bridge and she asked them if we could fast track that and have that one fabricated as like a pilot program and so they were very receptive so we went back and forth and you know the sign and this that and the other and so January February we're going back and about exactly where the placement would be and then it went to their review and they were like okay well you need to move the thing in here so we went back and forth and back and forth So I just wanted you guys to know that it is in the process. So in February, we submitted some responses back to TxDOT to their questions on where the signage would be put. And then they really were pretty receptive to doing the one sign as the pilot. Then when it got to the one person in TxDOT, she was like, the font's not right, and this, that, and the other. So in March, we contacted the original sign company again, which was National Sign Plaza. And that was the original people that made the signs that are made. They didn't make the signs. They made the plan for the city, the wayfinding plan for the entire city. And that was in 2018. So it was outdated, and there's some things that have changed. And so we went back and we got with them. We had some discussion with them. They gave us a proposal for $8,500 to go back and revamp the plan, take out some signs that weren't and then add our pickleball and add some signs. So that was in March. In April, we went to city council and Randy was able to execute a contract with them. So in April, we got National Sign Plaza back on board with us. So they have the expertise of the exact font that TxDOT needs. So in June and July of this year, they came out. They did site visit. There is approximately, I think, 43 signs. So its placement, its measurements off the road, it's a very in-depth plan. So that, in August, they sent it back to us. for us to review. It's on my desk right now. I have some notes. There's one that was wrong. It was that the fire department's right here, and then across the street would be the visitor center. Well, the visitor center's that way, so they have to change some arrows. So I've got, there's probably about 10 signs that we need to drive the island with the national sign and be like, make sure that those are fine. And they should be here mid-September, which is now. So I think Wendy told me that probably this week was when they were available to meet with us for that. So we are moving along. I know it seems, but we did engage in with the National Sign Company. So when we do submit this plan to Texas, and it's a complete island plan. It's not just for the parks. It's not just our seven signs that we wanted. It's for beach accesses. It's for bay access. It's a lot of stuff. And the neat thing about that as well, just as a side note, with our new CVB director, wayfinding is something that can come out of some funding in the CVB to get people around the island and help with that. It also will be great to help with traffic when people have to do the U-turns and things like that. There's some really great benefits to this wayfinding that's not just park-related. So that's what's taking kind of a little bit more time because we couldn't just put the signs. TxDOT has always gone back to they want to approve an entire sign program for the island. And so that's why we had trouble just hand-picking out the few that we wanted. So...

A sign that says Children's Park or Water Tower Park or J. Hull Tompkins, that's a sign. But when you have a name that is Joe Buck, Mary Jo Camp, Legends of South Padre Island Park, how do we get that on the sign?

I think what we'll do is on the sign, it might still say water. Right now in the plan, it says Water Tower Park because it has not, you know, this process was going along before it was named.

Absolutely.

That'll be a great question. I don't think we'll, it might say Island Legends Park and then we'll have, I've been working with them to figure out what kind of signage, what kind of monument type sign that we want and how to add some things. So for the street signage, it could possibly still say Water Tower Park just because of wayfinding that might be an easier option. I think Island Legends Park would probably be what will be on the sign, but I don't, you know. I think that's a great question, but I do not, it's not going to, yeah, it's not going to, I don't think we can put that many things on that. You're correct. But we will have some signage in the park that has that.

Well, that makes sense, but I just imagine coming down the road, by the time I read the sign, I'm already down on North Shore. And you don't know what it was for. I'm at Mustang Island. I was like, okay, where was I?

So that's where we're at. We are, you know, it is moving along, and I think that everybody gets kind of frustrated because they think that we're not doing anything, but it was like back and forth and back and forth, and then, you know, when you enter into a contract with a company again that had done a, you know, they had to update the plan that we had engaged them in 2020 and 2018 and think about the different things that have changed over the time, so.

Yeah, when you said 2018, I was like, okay.

But in 2018.

The dog park idea started like in 2011.

But just so you guys know that the big major plan in 2018 was brought back to city council and they denied the plan because there was too many signs. This particular signage has, we've taken some signs out, so it's less signs than was originally in the plan and some things like that. But I do want you guys to know that at one time it did go to city council and they did they didn't want to move forward with it. So the city council has agreed to move forward with a few of our park signs. So hopefully we can, you know, but it's a process. So I just wanted you guys to kind of know a timeline of that's just what's happened since January. We got real excited in January because we thought, oh, we'll at least get to put one up. And TechDot wants to work with us. It's just, you know, the details of size and specifications and placement and things. So now we've got a good plan. There's just a couple of tweaks that need to be made on that. So that's where we are with that.

Thank you. All right. Well, I'm really glad. I was imagining those signs, though. Okay, so 4.7, discussion and possible action to award the yard landscape of the month for September, and I want to thank Susan for putting some of those in there, and then whoever put the second business in, or the businesses, and that's great.

It was actually a self-nomination.

I heard that, well, let's talk about it. Let's go forward. Okay, so we have the 104A Sunny Isle, the 129 East Saturn, the 220 West Lantana, the 114 East Carolin, That's the same address. 114. 114, right. Sorry about that. And then 124 East Carolyn.

When you said that, I was like, did I make up my mind? Or I messed it up.

124 East Carolyn. And...

There we go.

The business is Las Prisas Condo, which is down by Susan. And the Sand Monsters, which is out by the Adventure Park, near that area. Yes. Those were the two businesses. And the winners are... 220 East Lantana. West. West Lantana, sorry, West Lantana. And the business is the Sand Monsters.

Are they selling those bananas, plants?

You can ask Carol. Carol used to be on our committee. It's Carol Bolstad.

Because it says ice cream and I know it's a variety. Of plants? Those banana plants that are right there.

Oh. Yeah. I don't know. They're in pots. But I think they just made a garden out of it. Oh, nice. I think they're just an interior garden. And they actually have real ice cream. Yes.

But just on a side note on that with Carol. Carol was on our committee for a long time. And she is the one that suggested and was instrumental in our community garden.

In the what? In the community garden. Oh, nice.

She's the one that brought forth as a budgeted item. She brought forth the community garden and said, you know, X amount of dollars for wood and stuff. And that program has still been going on. And that was probably seven years ago, maybe eight.

Her plants are beautiful.

She does have a great garden. They are pretty. So motion is second. Do we have a motion?

I make a motion to approve the winners.

I'll second. Robert said it first? Yep. So Travis and then Robert. Any discussion? All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion passes.

We're moving on to agenda item 4.8, the update discussion and possible action regarding the holiday recreation contest for the best residents and business in December. And Kathy is not here, so I think we can move it to October, but I will say that I was able to secure a couple of donations from Island Fitness and from Nautico Island. Good.

Flyers up there. I was able to add Nautico and Island Fitness The way I made this flyer, it was really hard to add the people, so we might have to just side note the people that are in the future.

I think this is a great thing for the islands. Do you have a copy?

Right over there. Oh, that's great.

Thank you. Any more festivity and cheer?

Yeah. We did this a long time ago, and it was fun. And, you know, this committee did a decorating contest, so we just need to make sure and get the word out and make sure your businesses and your friends know to start thinking about decorating.

They're already at Walmart. You can go get them. That's right.

Okay.

It's ridiculous. Ridiculous. Halloween candy is the H-E-B, or food. They have Halloween cookies that H-E-B cooked.

We're talking Halloween.

That is 1.5 months away from now. What the heck?

It's insane.

Who's going to keep the cookies that long?

Let's keep this going for Kathy. She's done a lot of work on it.

Yes, and we don't really need an action or anything. No, that's not an action. It's just an update. We know we're moving forward, and we've got a couple more businesses. And if you're out there listening, please.

Yeah, just to keep it fresh, and if people are watching online, they can see or go back and look at our meetings. They can go, oh, there's a decorating contest. I want to participate. very cool and now we're on agenda item 4.9 update and discussion regarding the 2026 christmas street parade and events well it is here it's getting close so usually october right now i start sending out a save the date um just so people can start putting it on their calendar it does get to be a very busy weekend um we've had this will be our 37th annual so we have um And we've kind of owned that Friday. There's some other things that go on that week in the McAllen parade and some things like that. So mark your calendars. See if there's any friends that want to volunteer, anybody that you know that are very into Christmas. Any help that people can help me with calling people and encouraging people to participate in our parade. It's just a fun night on the island, but it does take a lot of people to help maneuver the people around and herd the cats, as you would say. I haven't sent anything out yet, but the christmasparade.myspi.org is up. They can register, and you can see the calendar of events. A little change this year. On Thursday the 3rd, we'll light the tree down at the multimodal. On Friday, we'll have the street parade. Saturday is the McAllen parade. So the boat parade is going to move to Friday. Is it the 11th? It might be the 12th. The next Friday.

So it's the 11th.

The 11th. So Friday the 11th will be the South Padre Island boat parade. And then our rain date for our parade would be on Saturday the 12th. So that's just a little.

So we'll have our own float in our parade this year?

If y'all want to, if you want to, if you, you.

You should have us on it. Oh, we have to work.

Son of a gun.

But we can, I mean, the Sal Padre float needs to be in the Sal Padre parade.

Oh, it is. Oh, it is. Yeah, the one thing that is really neat, and we did this, the city council approved this, I want to say it's been at least five years. I really did push for it. There was a, in the McAllen parade, there's a sponsorship level, and there's different levels. And one of the levels that was a little bit more expensive was was that our float could travel. So it goes to Fiesta. It goes to some different places. But it also gets to be in our parade. So our South Padre Island float has been in our parade. It has the CVB on it. I always kind of wanted to put the city council on it, but they like to be in their cars. But yeah, the South Padre Island float has been in the pretty one. It's been about five years, I think, at least. Maybe six. But it's pretty. They just revamped it this last year. They got kind of a refresh. So it has umbrellas and some. It's really pretty. Next time, I'll bring you guys a picture of it. Cool. I almost brought the slideshow just to refresh everybody how fun it is. It is fun. Because to see the kids, you know, half of the parade really is the Port Isabel School District with the cheerleaders and the band and, you know, all of that fun and the little choirs and stuff. So it really is fun, and I think a lot of people look forward to it. So just anybody that you guys know that wants to volunteer or that wants to be in the parade, just make sure and let them know. put it on their calendar.

Any other discussion about that?

Then we are adjourned.