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Parks and Recreation Minutes – July 15, 2014

Helena Township, Antrim County Michigan Posted on by

Minutes of the Parks and Recreation Committee Meeting – Alden Community Center
Meeting date: July 15, 2014                                                                               Approved Aug. 19, 2014

In attendance: Mike Crawford,  Steve Dell, Jim Gurr, Ken Masck, Carolyn Nowfel, & Ruth Smith(late)
Absent: Jan Loveland & Dave Peterson.

  1. Community Input: Someone mentioned to a committee member that they thought sand was needed at Elder road / road ending beach
  2. Minutes from 06/17/2014 -approved as presented and will be published on the HT website.
  3. Information from June Helena Twp. Mtg.: no report

    OLD BUSINESS:

  4. Protocols and procedures:  Steve presented an application and two grids. The application and grid #1 which uses a scoring scale of 1-10 were approved. Steve will talk with Rick Teague about these forms and they will be presented to the HT board for their review and approval (hopefully) at their August meeting.
    5. Review our 5-year-plan –NO Reports.   Individual committee members will work on reviewing the 5-year-plan for various parks. Members will be prioritizing goals and objectives and will develop plan(s) to achieve these goals and objectives.  These evaluations will be brought back to the full committee for review,  Ball Park, Dave, Community Center, Carolyn, Coy Mountain- Ken Masck, Depot Park – Jan Loveland, Tennis Court Park – Steve Dell & Ruth Smith, . ‘Assigned’  Alden Safe Harbor – none, & Archie Valleau Landing- none
    6. Application for Recreational Passport Grant. Steve has submitted the grant and further documentation. Christie Bayus , our DNR advisor, did the site review  at Tennis Court Park 6-18-14. We are waiting to receive a preliminary score showing areas we might ‘improve’ to receive a better score.
  5. Walking path request from the Friends of the District library group. This remains on hold until the procedures and protocols to determine the Pk & Rec. Committee position on the project are approved (hopefully) by the HT board.
    8. Steve reported on the June 25th organizational meeting to discuss resurfacing the tennis courts.  The decision of this initial group was that there would be a Community Group formed that will support improvement of the community  in general including resurfacing the tennis courts.
    9. The Coy Mt. clean up took place June 21st. The new walkway is in place and looks great. Trees that were in the way have been cleared. Thank you to the work crew.
    10. Application to GT Band for 2% funds for resurfacing the Alden Tennis Courts has been completed by Steve and submitted.
    11. Joint Pk & Rec. and USTA project to introduce GT Band Campers to tennis. Steve reported on the June 19th introduction to tennis provided to the children attending the band day camp.
  6. Brad Gerlock from the Regional Land Conservancy has walked Coy Mt. to review the possibility of a redesign that would make the trail more accessible and sustainable. Depending upon what is decided the trail costs could be mostly labor. Relocation of the parking area was discussed. Improving part of the current trail & or adding a new trail that is more easily accessible was discussed.

 

 

July 15th, 2014 Minutes of Parks and Recreation Committee Meeting  Continued

  1. Continued

There are a lot of details to look in to before we would be in a position to evaluate the feasibility of this project. A new survey of Coy Mt. property is currently underway. We need to check for any deed restrictions. We need to research whether HT made any ‘promises’ to the DNR regarding further land use during the process of obtaining the Trust Fund monies to make the last Coy Mt. land purchase.

  1. The steps / railing at Depot Park have been fixed and Mike Crawford approved the work.

NEW BUSINESS :
14. Dave has taken pictures of signage at all of our Parks and Road endings. There was discussion of what signage would be best.   He will present pictures of the currant signage at the July meeting for further review and discussion.

  1. Does the Parks and Rec. Committee want to pursue the acquisition of the “parking lot” property and / or adjoining property that is for sale at Coy Mtn.?  If so, develop an action plan and take to the Twp. Board.

This will be put forward for discussion in August after we have the current survey results.

  1. DNR plaques at 3 parks that used DNR funds.  As a requirement of receiving DNR grants we pledged to put a sign recognizing the DNRs financial contribution to obtaining or improving the site. We have this sign for Coy Mountain but need one for the Depot Park and Community Center. Ruth will look into what is involved in obtaining the signs and present the information at the August meeting.
  2. Changes at Depot Park need to be considered taking into consideration that the site has a historical designation. Dave is going to contact the MI Historical Society (or whomever) to see if we can get a more clear understanding of what this means.
    18. Prioritize “future agenda items” – advanced to the August agenda.
    Other Agenda Items:

None

 Action Items needed / Individual Assignments to be completed:
Carolyn:

  1. To work on action steps for the Community Center to move toward the goals and objectives stated in the Five Yr. plan.
  2. May contact colleges concerning the possibility of students taking on a project to work on a site plan for the Alden Ball Park.
  3. Dave:
  1. Will talk with Heidi Shaffer about meeting with us to look over HT properties and discuss water access.
  2. To present pictures of signage at the August meeting. To further discuss pictures of signage at various Pk & Rec sites with Committee in August.
  3. To contact the Michigan Historical Society (or whomever) to find out what restrictions might exist because of the Historical Site designation at Depot Park.
  4. To work on action steps for the Community Center to move toward the goals and objectives stated in the Five Yr. plan.

July 15th, 2014 Minutes of Parks and Recreation Committee Meeting  Continued

Action Items needed / Individual Assignments to be completed continued:

Jan:

  1. 1.  To work on action steps for the Depot Park to move toward the goals and objectives stated in the Five Yr. plan.
  2. Actions completed:
  1. Worked more on the scoring grid which has now been completed.
  2. Ken:
  1. To work on action steps for steps for Coy Mountain to move toward the goals and objectives stated in the Five Yr. plan.
  2. To continue work with Brad Gerlock to help asses issues of trail maintenance and possible trail development at Coy Mountain.Mike:
    1.     Has asked for abstracts for the HT Coy Mt. and Ball Park properties and will share them with the Comm.

  3. Ruth:
      1.The approved June minutes are to be sent to Joyce Looman for publishing online.
    2. The July minutes are to be prepared for review by the Committee.
  4. Actions completed: 
    A. successfully completed the Coy Mountain Clean up including the walkway over the low wet area.
  5. To work on action steps for steps for Tennis Court Park to move toward the goals and objectives stated in the Five Yr. plan.
  6. To research how to purchase the needed DNR recognition signs for Depot Park and the Community Center.
    Steve:
  7. Actions completed:
    A. Sent May minutes to Joyce Looman for publishing online.
    B. Prepared June minutes for committee review at July meeting.
    C. Scoring grid for project coming to the Pk. & Rec. Committee has been completed.
  1. To meet with Rick and review the scoring grid that has been developed. Will also present to HT Board.
  2.    To work on action steps for steps for Tennis Court Park to move toward the goals and objectives stated in the Five Yr. plan.
    Actions completed:
  1. Worked on completing and typed up the scoring grid for projects presented to the Pk. & Rec. Committee for review.

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 15th, 2014 Minutes of Parks and Recreation Committee Meeting  Continued

 

FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS:
These items will continue to be carried forward until they are discussed by the Committee

  1. October – Discuss fee schedule for use of Park or pavilions or……
    2. Discuss handicap parking in Helena Township.
    3. Discuss developing a plan for a reservation system for all township parks.
    4. Discuss doing a memo to the Twp. Board about placing signs at all parks to clarify that the township owns them and who to contact if there are questions or concerns about the site. This is to be discussed after the committee has a chance to visit all the Parks and Road Access sites this Spring/Summer.
  2. Maps we use for Pks & Rec. Five Yr. Plan + are correct? – keep contact with Dan Roketenetz on this. Be sure the signs at the Lake St. and other sites give the public a clear idea of what is public and what is private land.
  3. Work to update the Parks and Recreation pages of the Helena Township web site.
  4. Mike mentioned the AAU Sports / Recreation Complex – Morey Complex- and suggested that they may be     looking to locate a similar complex in Northern Michigan.
  5. Look into the possibility of Flo McCormick (MI Assoc. of Counties) helping with writing any Pks. And Rec.
    grants. (Mike Crawford). Determine a grant writing resource and consider a grant recommendation review committee (P&R Committee – ?) that would review grants and give input to the Township Board (Rick)
    9. Consider Keith Charters as a resource for Pk. & Rec. projects.
    10. Riparian rights / possible review by township attorney (Dave)
    11. Any new equipment (picnic tables, benches, etc.)should not be made of wood (Rick) – see Rick’s page
    12. Further discuss Alden Safe Harbor and its park status / ownership – memo to Board?
  6. Research rules and laws governing road ending lake access sites (Steve, Ruth)
  7. Deed restrictions for Helena Twp. Parks are to be reviewed. (Bring copies of deeds -Steve)

15 Check  responsibilities of the Parks & Rec. Committee outlined in the current HT Master Plan.

The next monthly meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 19th, 2014 – 3 PM at the Helena Township Offices.

Respectfully submitted by Ruth Smith (with Steve Dell’s help)  07-16-2014

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