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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-09-10 Recreation Committee Minutes OFR O Town of Reading 5 c Meeting Minutes „=�CEIVED °., TOWN CLERK READING, MA. Y Board - committee - commission - Council: Recreation Committee 2119 NOV 21 PM 3: 22 Date: 2019-09-10 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Conference Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Session: Open Session Purpose: General- Version: Final Attendees: Members - Present: Emily Sisson(M), Rich Hand (M), Michael DlPietro (M), John Parks (M), K. Kaminer (M), Eric Gaffen (M), Patrick Sheeran (A) Members - Mot Present: Mary Ellen Killion (M), Michael Coltman (M) Others Present: Stuart May - 66 Summer ave - Reading United Soccer Club Wayne Moda - 25 Ashley Place - Reading United Soccer Club Pete Coumounduros - 24 Smith Ave - Reading United Soccer Club Sean 0' Connor - 46 Spring Street - Reading United Soccer Club Ben Ream - 972 Main Street Caryn Hayes - 739 Pearl Street Shannon Fratto - Recreation Program Coordinator Genevieve Fiorente Recreation Administrator and liaison to subcommittee Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Genevieve Fiorente, Recreation Administrator Topics of Discussion: G. Fiorente calls the meeting to order at 7:04pm. She states she is calling the meeting to order in absence of chair and vice-chair of Recreation Committee and indicates the committee will need to nominate a chair for the for the evening. M. DiPietro nominates R. Hand as chair of the Recreation Committee for the evening. J. Parks seconds. R. Hand accepts nomination. Motion passes 6-0. K. Kaminer makes a motion to accept the meeting minutes from the July 23, 2019 meeting as written. E. Gaffen makes a friendly amendment that he was not listed as not present at the meeting. G. Fiorente notes the error and states she will change. E. Gaffen then seconds the motion. Motion passes 6-0. R. Hand asks committee to move to the agenda topic for field updates and the proposal from Reading United Soccer Club. The committee agrees. G. Fiorente gives a brief update on the events and states that at the last Recreation Committee Meeting the committee recommended temporarily lighting the birch meadow field with 3 portable lights so that the Recreation Program Saturday Night Lights could still play at capacity with Turf II being down due to renovation. She Page I 1 also stated that when recreation was not using them, that the committee recommended that they were okay with the youth organizations utilizing them. G. Fiorente states that this went to the Select Board for approval and that the board approved it. She continues to say that the Select Board also approved Parker as needed in case of an emergency with weather and condition of the field under the Recreation Administrator's discretion. She says that the Select Board agreed that any decisions at Parker would also need Recreation Committee input. G. Fiorente states that Reading United Soccer (RUSC) were in attendance at that meeting advocating for the lights at Parker turf and that is why they are here tonight as well. She states that RUSC would like to temporarily light Parker with their own funding for this Fall. G. Fiorente states that she is concerned about the timeline because she knows the committee likes to be transparent and notify abutters in a public meeting. R. Hand asks the committee if they have any questions before Reading United Soccer representatives begin their initiative. J. Parks asks about how many abutters there are. G. Fiorente says that she is unsure of the exact number of immediate abutters but thinks it is a good idea to inform all the neighbors that may be impacted by more traffic than usual in the Fall season. I Parks asks about the number of non-residents that participate in the Saturday Night Lights Flag Football Program. G. Fiorente states that she thinks that the number is low. S. Fratto says she will get that information. E. Gaffen asks about the realistic timeline on getting the approval done. She adds that she provides about a two-week window to give abutters an opportunity to plan to attend the meeting. The committee has a brief discussion and references a calendar on a timeline. J. Parks questions G. Fiorente on her consistency with past abutters meetings in relation to other organizations. G. Fiorente says to her recollection she has always tried to follow that timeline as best as she can and can look into it if needed. She states that she has no favoritism toward one organization over another. K. Kaminer asks for a little more background on how this all came about. G. Fiorente states back in June there was a field scheduling meeting where she stated that she was unsure if Parker would be lit due to the fact that the school would not need to utilize it. She goes on to say that it was going to be a cost share. G. Fiorente adds that she told the organizations of plan B to light the birch meadow imagination station lot with 3 light poles for the organizations to use when Saturday Night Lights Flag Football is not out there. G. Fiorente says that the organizations were on board with plan B. K. Kaminer asks about what space they are losing with turf II down. G. Fiorente states that any time at the two high school turfs are never guaranteed because they are school fields. She states that the days soccer would use it, they can use the Birch Meadow fields instead. She states that there isn't a loss of space although the birch meadow fields are grass not turf which can sometimes affect playability if poor weather conditions occur. Page 1 2 I Parks states that the High School is now practicing later and soccer cannot get on the fields until 7pm. G. Fiorente states that no organization was allowed on until 7pm on the High School turfs in the past. She says that she and T. Zaya have always been up front and told organizations that if they want to go down earlier and risk not having a field they can but they are guaranteed the 7pm on practice days. I Parks states that there was a commitment from the school at a school committee public meeting that states RMHS Athletics would be off at 6pm on practice days. G. Fiorente says she is not aware of that information. W. Moda from Reading United Soccer Club presents the outlook of soccer. He states that it is not an issue with turf II being down but an ongoing issue they have had for years with field space. He continues that the participation continues to grow and there is a field space crisis. He says that RUSC has around 700 participants this season. He says that a lot of the grass fields are in very poor condition as well. G. Fiorente states that organizations may have to look into capping participation to match their allotted field space. She says that she doesn't enjoy turning people away either but has had to with Saturday Night Lights and with other programs like Sunday Basketball and Tball. She states that programs have caps and waitlists due to space limitations so maybe an answer would have to be RUSC taking 600 kids instead of 700. She also cites that other organizations are looking to play a Fall season that have not before which will impact field space even more. G. Fiorente goes on to say that this is also a different ask than what the Select Board had discussed. She says that the Select Board approved Parker"as needed" weather conditions and playability at Birch Meadow Fields and that RUSC is stating that it more of a field space crisis issue every year than a one-season extenuating circumstance of Turf II being down. K. Kaminer asks about the time and days that RUSC plan to use the lights. W. Moda states that it would be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday starting at 6:OOpm and ending at 9:30pm. K. Kaminer asks about who they are going to place there. W. Moda says that it will be U12-Ui4 teams. K. Kaminer asks about many kids. W. Moda answers 225. K. Kaminer asks if this is for practices or games. W. Moda states that it is practices. G. Fiorente says that S. Fratto had a great idea to have soccer reach out to Austin Prep to see if they had any time available on their lighted turf since they would be spending funds to light parker. W. Moda said that they did reach out after getting that suggestion from Recreation and they only had one available night. I Parks asks about lighting another field that doesn't abut a neighborhood like Symonds Way. The committee agrees that that would be a better location. E. Gaffen states that getting neighborhood input now is a great opportunity for the future as well. The committee agrees. E. Gaffen makes a motion to accept the temporary lights at Collins Field at Parker Middle School, Monday-Thursday 6:30pm-9:30pm, until October 31, 2019 to all be coordinated and funded by the Reading United Soccer Club. K. Kaminer seconds. Vote is 3-3. Motion does not pass. Page 1 3 K. Kaminer makes a motion to accept the petition of the Reading United Soccer Club as presented pending a public meeting with the abutters of Collins Field all at the Recreation Administrator's discretion. E. Sisson seconds. Motion passes 6-0. Reading United Soccer Club representatives exit the meeting. G. Fiorente discusses the interactions with organizations with town staff and amongst other organizations. She states that people constantly argue and it is becoming very disheartening. She goes on to say that maybe a draft system for field scheduling will have to happen unless the organizations can get along. She says that typically the organizations that have more field space than others are the ones stirring the pot. The committee collectively agrees that G. Fiorente and Town Staff should be treated respectfully at all times and that the draft sounds like a good solution if organizations cannot get along. G. Fiorente also mentions that Winchester hired a company to do a Field Master Plan which looks at field conditions, field scheduling, parking, how much a field should rest, etc. She goes on to say that it is about an 80 page document that could be extremely beneficial to back up the field scheduling issues as well as several other aspects on the fields. Committee agrees that this is a great idea and a brief discussion ensues with C. Hayes and committee about organizational support and funding. G. Fiorente brings forward a request from the Old South UMC for the Blessing of the Animals Amplified sound permit for September 291h from 10:30am - 12:OOpm on the Town Hall Common. K. Kaminer makes a motion to accept the amplified sound permit as presented. M. DiPietro seconds. Motion passes 6-0. G. Fiorente states that the agenda item in regard to the tennis court is being addressed with new signage and she has enlisted the help of folks from the Friends of Reading Tennis as well. The Committee discusses changing the Recreation Committee Meeting time to Wednesdays to allow of liaisons to attend. E. Sisson makes a motion to move the Recreation Committee Meetings to the second Wednesday of every month. E. Gaffen seconds. Motion passes 6-0. R. Hand gives an update on the Birch Meadow Master Plan Subcommittee. He states that they just met on Monday and that they recommended to move forward with a landscape design architect. He goes on to say that based on G. Fiorente's research that recommended amount is $20,000. The committee discusses the timeline and the amount. C. Hayes states the fact that RSLL was unable to put dugouts at the Birch Meadow Complex because of the plan. G. Fiorente answers that this was because of the work and money that had already been done for the borings for the lighting project a few years ago. She goes on to say that other areas like the batting cages at the complex and the dugouts at Morton did not directly interfere so those projects were able to go through the process successfully. C. Hayes then suggests putting up fencing for safety at least. Page 14 G. Fiorente says that is an active conversation and for her to reach out to Parks as well. E. Sisson makes a motion to recommend $25,000 for a landscape architect for the Birch Meadow Master Plan conceptual design. J. Parks seconds. Motion passes 6-0. R. Hand gives an update on RCASA and tells committee that Chris Heron will be giving a speech on September 25`" at 7:00pm at Jordan's Furniture. J. Parks adds that the RCASA youth risk survey results were in and are going to be released soon. The committee discusses dates for meeting with abutters for Parker Middle School temporary lights. Committee agrees to have the meeting on September 25th at 5:45pm. G. Fiorente and S. Fratto give general updates on the division. E. Sisson makes a motion to adjourn at 8:45pm. J. Parks seconds. All in favor 6-0. Page 15