Parks and Recreation Committee Minutes for 10/02/2019           – Approved 11/06/2019                                                  In attendance: Steve Dell, Jim Gurr, Jan Loveland, Bonnie Robbins, Ruth Smith, Barry Snyder, & Laura Westerman  

• Community input: None

• Minutes from the 09/04/2019 meeting were approved as presented & will be published on the HT website

• Information from the September Helena Twp. Mtg.: Paul DeLange will be bringing a project request before the Committee. The Historical Society would like to purchase a 50’ box car to be housed at the Depot. OLD BUSINESS

• Soil erosion at the Ball Park: 1. The soil erosion grant request made by the Antrim Conservation District was denied. 2. Heidi plans to complete the erosion control permit request for HT in Jan. or Feb. 2020.   3. The deed restriction issue remains on hold.

• Update on Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy (GTRLC)/ Helena Twp. Coy Mtn. Trail project. Signs won’t be coming until April or May.

• GTRLC is asking what amount HT can provide toward acquisition of land adjacent to the Coy Mt. Reserve. We need to complete a project application request and present it to the board. Ruth & Steve will work on this and bring it to the Committee for evaluation at the November meeting.

• Five Yr. Plan. (2018-2022) Still not approved by the DNR. Ruth will discuss this at the October HT Board meeting. It is important that the Five Yr. Plan be approved before the next grant cycle as HT may want to apply for a DNR grant in 2020. We will continue to monitor the progress toward approval of the plan.

• Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The CIP assessment document was approved and handed out to members. Park and site evaluations to be completed by: Ball Park – Westerman & Snyder, Coy Mtn. – Dell, C.C. Robbins, Depot Park – Loveland, Road Endings – Robbins & Gurr, Safe Harbor & Archie Valleau Landing – Smith, Tennis Court Park – Smith, Water Trails – Dell The P&R Committee will be responsible to input information initially & to maintain the computer data base over the next several years. Bonnie has agreed to oversee this project.

• Coy Mt. Forest Management Plan. Jim presented the Committee with a very well written and comprehensive forest management plan. There was some discussion and Bonnie is going to consider some modifications. We will be reviewing the plan again at the November P&R meeting hoping to present it to the HT Board in November. It is felt that all the Coy Mt. related future agenda items will be complete when P&R presents this plan to the HT Board.

• Parking issues at Safe Harbor: This item will be moved to the November agenda.

Barry and Laura will be contacting Burt Thompson of the Antrim Co. Road Commission concerning this issue and will report back to the committee.

• Recognition of volunteers who worked on Coy Mtn. trail redo: An article in one or more of the papers was the suggestion the committee liked best to high-lite the volunteer work done at Coy Mt. Jan suggested that a celebration of the trail redo (maybe for Alden Days) would give us a “good reason” for a news article. This item will be moved to future agenda items for review in April.

• Some committee members feel that the P&R Committee should start fund raising to support some of our projects. Ruth has talked with the Alden Volunteer organization about this and there is concern that the Alden Volunteer 501(c) (3) status could be jeopardized if they were to become involved with Helena Township fund raising. Helena Township as a governmental agency is eligible for tax exempt status for donations meeting the IRS requirements. Jan, Laura, and Barry will be a sub-committee to work on fund raising through the Parks and Recreation Committee for Helena Township P&R projects. The HT Board seemed favorable of the idea of selling ‘Friends of Coy Mt.’ recognition ‘tags’/plaques for the Coy Mt. Trail. Laura will contact GTRLC to let them know we may need this to be incorporated into the sign design for the Coy Mt. kiosk.

• Community money donations for the preservation/next resurfacing of the tennis courts in Tennis Court Park. Ruth will clarify with Cathy Rice, HT treasurer, that there is still a separate ‘line item’ for those wishing a donation to the township to be user for tennis court upkeep. Ruth will also talk with Dorothy Clore to clarify that Alden Racquet Sports Committee (ARSC) was formed primary as a fund-raising committee for such things as tennis court upkeep.

• Annual review of the Parks and Recreation Committee web site information. This has begun and a more complete report will be given in November.

NEW BUSINESS:

• Tri-fold brochures and some “high-tech” chips telling about our parks and community events. This will remain as an agenda item for November.

• Discussion of parking at all of our parks including Safe Harbor/Archie Valleau Landing. This item will be combined with agenda item 10.The next monthly meeting is scheduled for: Wednesday, November 6^th, 2019 at 7pm in the meeting room at the Community Bldg.  

1. Respectfully submitted by Ruth Smith 10/03/2019