HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-11-14 Recreation Committee MinutesTown of Reading
Meeting Minutes
Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
Recreation Committee
1010JAN --8 A 8--3i 1
Date: 2017-11-14 Time:. 7:00 PM
Building: Reading Town Hall Location:. Conference Room
Address: 16 Lowell Street
Purpose:. Monthly Meeting Session: General Session
Attendees: Members- Present.
Emily Sisson, Dan Foley, Gil Congdon, Kate Kaminer, Rich Hand, Lori Russo,
Mike DiPietro
Members - Not Present:
Jeanne Borawski, Frank Driscoll, Adam Chase; Lori Russo, Mary Ellen
Stolecki
Others Present:
Kristin Bond - 144 Prospect St.
Judy Coltman - 18 Milton Road
Bob Salter - 242 Summer Ave
Peter Iannuzzo - 8 Randall
Brian L. Leahy - 15 Louanis Drive
Scott Almeida - 63 Sprinvale Rd
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Genevieve Fiorente
Topics of Discussion:
D. Foley opens up meeting at.7:11pm. E. Sisson makes a motion to accept the August
meeting minutes. K. Kaminer seconds. No discussion and all members in favor. .
G. Fiorente goes over -a brief history of how Pickleball has grown over the past few years to
about 100 players. She explains that currently the pickleball community would like to see
permanent lines on Memorial. Park Courts to expand their play. G. Fiorente states that a
year and a half ago under the advisory of the Director of Community Services, Pickleball
Ambassador, and DPW, a pre-exisiting volleyball court was paved and lined .for 4 pickleball
courts. She emphasizes'that while the courts can be used for multipurpose, the request was
made by the pickleball community for these courts and the committee and division made a
special -request for funds for this project. G. Fiorente says that the project was $8-10,000
but this past spring the picklers indicated 'to her that the.space was not adequate now. She
states that the Pickleball community made a request to the recreation committee to let
them line the Memorial Park Tennis Courts with chalk. She goes on to,say that. the
recreation committee recommended that. they could and the -prior Parks Supervisor, Tom
Ferris, was also ok with this decision. She states that the pickleball community would now
like to see permanent lines on the Memorial Park Courts. G. Fiorente said she consulted with
DPW and interim Parks Supervisor and they kicked it back to the recreation committee to
make the decision.
J. Coltman says that the issue with the high schools courts is the run-off area. G. Fiorente
asks if she can investigate expanding the existing courts to fit the Picklers needs. K. Bond
says that the surface is also not great.for the bounce of the ball.
Page 1 1
E. Sisson states that she knows our Recreation tennis lessons are held at Memorial Park and
that some lessons may have to be moved there in the summer. She asks if the tennis
instructor had any feedback. G. Fiorente said that he did not.have�any immediate issues but
said if the recreation committee decides to line the courts for pickleball that the committee
should also be lining for quickstart tennis since several young children go there in the spring
to learn the game of tennis.
G. Fiorente suggests formalizing an area in need of renovation/resurfacing and dedicating it
to Pickleball like Barrows. B. Salter says the suggestion of the Barrows area is a great.
option. J. Coltman says ,that there are a lot of retirees who like to play during the day and
may not be able to if school is in session. G. Fiorente says she will find out that information.
J. Coltman shares Wilmington and Peabody multi =court resurfacing projects. G. Fiorente
mentions she -reached out:to Wilmington Recreation about their recent -resurfacing project of
two tennis courts and a basketball court that were lined for Pickleball. She states that these
courts are on school property and unable to be used during school hours. She says the
project was under $19,000 to resurface.
K. Kaminer says she believes we should be thinking of this project long-term if the pickleball
community is expanding so much and encourages the pickleball community to fundraise. G.
Fiorente says a collaborative project would be great and mentions Sturges as an option as
well. K. Bond responds that she is nervous about the fundraising and that they do not have
a formal place to play. A member suggests that fundraising doesn't have. to be just a
tournament but can be a party to raise funds. K. Kaminer'states that if they have 100
picklers, they can call. each person, and have them make a donation $100 and that is
$10,000,right there.
B. Leahy says he is concerned about multipurpose play at Memorial Park due to the
busyness of the lighted courts on` Bancroft Aye.''He says that those are the other courts that
the community will use if the ones on Bancroft'.Ave,are full. -He emphasizes the large tennis
community and does not -want it to turn into an issue with potentially doubling play.at a
facility. He adds that he wonders how many tennis players are in Wilmington in comparison
to Reading. J. Coltman says that when they chalked lines in late Spring and Summer that
they never ran into any overflow issues with tennis folks down there. B. Iannuzzo asks why
we cannot consider -lining basketball courts that may be. less -frequently used. The
committee agrees to explore this option too.
M. DiPietro. says that he feels this should be a long-term plan since Pickleball seems to be
growing. K. Kaminer says that painting new lines on the existing surface. can be slippery and
also brings, up the warranty on the courts. She wonders if we will default on a warranty if we
paint on the surface.
.J. Coltman says that they want some place to play now. D. Foley asks what does "now"
mean. J. Coltman says that they played recently and K. Bond says they play on Christmas.
J. Coltman says that in order for the lines to be done there needs to be consecutive days of
60 degree weather. D: Foley responds then we still have some time to visit the topic. G.
Fiorente responds that they do have a place to play right now at the High School and -also
still have permission to chalk the lines at Memorial so they do have options outdoors. J.
Coltman says that John Feudo knew the court would not be sufficient enough for Pickleball .
but did it anyway for multi-purpose use. G. Fiorente responded that she finds it hard to
believe that the money would, be spent even if the court was.going to be inadequate given
that the project idea was for the Pickleball community. G..Fiorente goes on to say she will
speak with the Town Manager and the BOS Liasion; John Halsey about the current desire to
line courts permanently at the Memorial Park Courts. Committee agrees that they will work
over the next few months to come up with a recommendation for the Pickleball Community
.to continue to expand their program outdoors.
J. Coltman asks if there is anything they can do to help the process. G. Fiorente responds
that she thinks Judy and the-pickleball community does a great job of advocating for their
sport and says that she will continue to communicate and keep them updated with
Page fl 2
information as it becomes available. K. Kaminer suggests that the picklers start Fundraising
now for a potential project for their own dedicated area outdoors.
G. Fiorente gives an update on programming. She says that travel basketball teams have
been made and also says that the Halloween events had been very successful. She
continues to say that she is working on winter/spring programming and the magazine will
be out to the printer by the beginning of December. G. Fiorente also briefly updates the
committee on the Birch Meadow Master Planning Subcommittee's most recent meeting.
G. Fiorente says she plans to meet with each organization individually to work out field
scheduling. In this meeting she states that she will need to have a definite league who will
be responsible each night for making sure the lights are off since leagues have been
pointing the finger at one another. She goes on to say that the leagues do incur the costs
for the lights but it is waste of energy resources for them to be carelessly left on.
E: Sisson makes a motion to adjourn at 8:30pm. D. Foley seconds. All in favor.
Page 1 3