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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-10-17 Recreation Committee Minutesr Town of Reading 'RECEIVED Meeting Minutes TOWN CLERK R -A!-1 4G, 61 A. 2023 MAR -6 PM 132 Board - Committee - Commission - Council: Recreation Committee Date: 2022-10-17 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Pleasant Street Senior Center Location: Great Room Address: 49 Pleasant Street Session: Open Session Purpose: General Monthly Meeting Version: Final Attendees: Members - Present: Michael Coltman (M), Kate Kaminer(M), Eric Gaffen (M), Bob Weiden (M), Chuck Robinson (M) *Angela Binda (M) - arrived at 7:48pm Members - Not Present: Katelynn King (A) Rich Hand (M) Others Present: Arielle Carney - Recreation Administrator Carlo Baccl - Select Board Liaison Emily Sisson - Finance Committee Joe Zucchero - Reading Little League President Trish Neery - Resident, 24 Cherry Lane Drive Dave Amoroso - Resident, 25 Cherry Lane Drive Nancy Toomey - Resident, 23 California Road Tim Toomey - Resident, 23 California Road Pete C Coumoundures - Friends of Reading Recreation Chrissy Cerratanl - Reading High School Girls Tennis Coach Matt Williams - Reading High School Boys Tennis Coach Maryann Devlin - Resident, 44 Estate Lane Mary Kay Watters - Resident, 24 Hemlock Road Nanette Olson - Resident, 32 Ridge Road Lorrain Salter - Resident, 247 Summer Street Judy Coltman - Resident, 18 Milton Street BIII Lugsten - Resident, 15 Francis Drive Dick Lyons - Resident, 358 Pearl Street Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Arielle Carney, Recreation Administrator Topics of Discussion: B. Weiden opens the meeting at 7:01pm. E. Gaffen makes a motion to approve meeting minutes. M. Coltman seconds. Motion passes 5-0. Page I 1 The topic of a Field Donation at Joshua Eaton by Reading Little League is brought up by B. Weiden. B. Weiden asks Joe Zucchero to provide a brief overview of the proposed RLL Field Donation. J. Zucchero gives the committee and members of the public a small background on flooding and drainage issues at the field located furthest from the school building (near Indiana Ave/California Rd). Reading Little League is hoping to donate a new field closer to the school buildings that will allow for better game play and better conditions. B. Weiden opens the floor up to abutters for discussion. Trish Neery (24 Cherry Lane Drive) explains to the committee the issues that she has had as an abutter for seven years. Due to the frequency of foul balls from the Joshua Eaton Field she has many dents in her vehicles, replaces on average two to three broken windshields per year and the glass on her patio table has been broken. She also installed an 8ft fence and planted arborvitaes on her backyard property line to prevent field goers from using the restroom on her property line. 1. Zucchero responds to T. Neery's concerns in regards to the foul balls and states that this new proposed field would result in the large majority of foul balls hit by right handed batters going in the opposite direction of neighbors. He also states that the existing field with poor drainage would be assigned to the t -ball program of RLL who would not be able to hit balls over the existing netting located between the Feld and T. Neery's house. Dave Amoroso (25 Cherry Lane Drive) has concerns that the new field would abut his property line and that he will experience the same issues T. Neery is currently having. J. Zucchero reiterates the above statement in regards to the direction of foul balls. Nancy Toomey 123 California Road) informs the committee that she has recently put up a green screen to prevent field goers from using the restroom in her yard and to prevent foul balls from landing on her property. N. Toomey also states that gum and rocks are thrown into her yard by field goers endangering her dogs. E. Gaffen asks J. Zucchero where the recommendation came from to have three operating fields at Joshua Eaton. J. Zucchero states the recommendation came from town administration. T. Neery (24 Cherry Lane Drive) experienced similar issues as N. Toomey before installing her fence at her own expense. She frequently found water bottles thrown in her yard. J. Zucchero says that behavior is disappointing to hear and provides residents with the RLL email address (readinglittleleague@gmail.com) so that any future negative behaviors witnessed by abutters by members of the RLL organization can be addressed by the RLL Board of Directors. B. Weiden pauses the discussion and clarifies that the discussion should focus on the agenda item of a field donation and not overall field usage and league behavior. T. Neery (24 Cherry Lane Drive) has concerns over the traffic in the area. D. Amoroso (25 Cherry Lane Drive) frequently has spectators bring camp chairs and sit in his front yard/along the street on Cherry Lane Drive to watch games. Page 12 Ed Hackett (3 Indiana Avenue) would like to know how parking management will change from current practice if 3 fields will be in use at the same time. E. Hackett has concerns over emergency vehicle access due to cars parking on both sides of the street limiting access to the fields. E. Gaffen encourages abutters to contact the police department when safety concerns are present with parking in the neighborhoods. K. Kaminer states that in her neighborhood she experienced a similar parking issue and the Reading Police Department was responsive to calls and concerns brought to their attention by neighbors. N. Toomey (23 California Road) says that current signage in her area only prevents parking during school drop-off times but allows parking during all other times and weekends and wonders if signage could be changed. N. Toomey does not oppose the addition of the new field but does not support maintaining the poor draining field and would not support using three fields at the same time. T. Toomey (23 California Road) would like to see more coordination between RLL, the Select Board, the Police Department, and the Recreation Committee to resolve these issues and not rely on abutters contacting police to solve the problem. He also expresses concern over foul balls from the new field damaging school portables. T. Toomey also asks if lights are included in this donation. J. Zucchero says they are not. C. Bacci asks J. Zucchero what RLL's timeline is for this project. J. Zucchero says beginning in the Spring would be the goal but he knows with the required Town processes it may be delayed to next Fall. C. Bacci recommended the RLL has drawings generated for abutters and the Police Traffic Division in order to address traffic and parking concerns. M. Coltman says a foul ball study might be helpful to provide adequate height barriers to prevent balls from entering abutters' yards. E. Sisson asks the committee if they officially voted to approve the use of three fields. B. Weiden said the Recreation Committee recommendation previously approved the use of two fields at Joshua Eaton and that still remains the recommendation of the committee. J. Zucchero tells K. Sisson and the Recreation Committee at this time, RLL would not be negatively impacted at this time if the far poor draining field was removed, however, he has concerns for future seasons if other locations are temporarily unusable such as Killam. At 7:30pm, B. Weiden thanks abutters for their input and J. Zucchero for his presentation. The discussion ends. B. Weiden moves to the next agenda item addressing the request to temporarily mark pickleball lines on the Bancroft Tennis Courts. M. Coltman begins the discussion. M. Coltman tells the committee that Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in Reading and that it is often difficult to book a court reservation at Memorial Park due to the popularity of the sport. He believes that the Reading Pickleball Community would greatly benefit from lighted pickleball Page 1 3 courts the same way the Reading Tennis Community benefits from their lighted courts. While not currently lighted, M. Coltman says other potential locations in town that would be lined for pickleball play include Washington Park, Sturges, and Barrows, however, the current condition of Sturges and Barrows are in such significant disrepair it is too dangerous to play at those locations. M. Coltman states the pickleball group is beginning to look into the process of organizing a 501jcj3 to support fundraising efforts. A concern in fundraising for the group is what would be the best location for pickleball courts in town that would not receive complaints of noise or light disturbance. He feels the location currently in the Birchmeadow Master Plan is too close to houses which would result in noise complains. He also has concerns that there would not be enough parking to support the popularity of the courts. E. Gaffen says the current Birch Meadow Master Plan has been approved to include pickleball courts and feedback was requested from residents before finalizing the plan. With that in mind, E. Gaffen does not foresee drastic changes occurring the plan i.e. removing the pickleball courts. Other members of the committee agreed with E. Gaffen that they don't foresee changes occurring to the Master Plan. M. Coltman was under the impression the Master Plan was only a vision document and not the final plan. M. Coltman thinks Birch Meadow would be an ideal location but he believes noise complaints would be frequent and the group feels there is no point in fundraising if there will be limitations on their game play. M. Coltman suggests infrastructure improvements to Memorial, Sturges, Barrows as long-term goals he would like to see accomplished. Short term goals would include taping or chalking pickleball lines at the Washington Park and/or Bancroft Tennis Courts until the end of November to serve as a pilot project to gauge noise complaints. K. Kaminer states that she is a member of the Friends of Reading Tennis Organization. The Birch Meadow tennis courts were a sole fundraising effort of the FoRT group and she does not want to see them as mixed-use courts. Pete Coumounduros, Friends of Reading Recreation, supports the idea of new activities in town but he has concerns that adjustments/alterations to current court markings causes too much distraction, particularly to the High School Tennis team during game play. E. Gaffen asks M. Coltman — if the current proposals are considered as "Pilot Projects" what does the pickleball community see as next steps after November. M. Coltman tells the committee that if the pilot project was successful at Bancroft the pickleball community would feel more confident in fundraising for permanent pickleball courts. C. Robinson says that Washington Park and Bancroft are two very different types of neighborhoods and asks M. Coltman is noise associated with pickleball is truly a large complaint from abutters. M. Coltman says yes — noise is a large issue with pickleball. Chrissy Cerratani, Reading High School Girls Tennis Coach is opposed to any temporary marking on the Bancroft Tennis Courts. To her, it sounds like the Pickleball Community is strictly looking at Bancroft courts due to the lights. While she does not support converting Bancroft courts to mixed-use, she would support fundraising efforts of the pickleball community. She also has Page 14 concerns that allowing PicklebaIIto play on the courts could open up requests from other groups in town to use Bancroft for their activities. Matt Williams, Reading High School Boys Tennis Coach shares the same sentiments and opposition as C. Cerratani. Maryann Devlin (44 Estate Lane) tells the committee that she is both a pickleball player and tennis player. She reiterates the noise concerns with pickleball citing neighboring communities such as Newburyport and Wakefield were overwhelmed with noise complaints from abutters. Her concern with courts at Birch Meadow is that noise complaints will ultimately cause the town to enforce time constraints on pickleball play. She does agree that there is a greater demand in the community for courts than there is availability. Courts are in such high demand that you must reserve courts by 6am two weeks out to obtain a time slot. Mary Kay Watts (21 Hemlock Road) does not believe Birch Meadow is an appropriate location for pickleball. She would like to see a short-term solution to the high demand of pickleball courts and believes the pickleball community could fundraise "tremendous amounts of money/' to fund permanent pickleball courts. She does not want to see Reading make a mistake by placing courts in a location not suited for the activity. Additionally, suggestions of using cones and rubber markers are not solutions to temporary court marking as it creates dangerous game play. M. Coltman says he will look into the two courts located on the HS/Birch Meadow property that are currently dedicated pickleball courts however, his frustration is that he frequently drives by Bancroft courts in the evening hours and the courts are lit up but no residents are playing tennis. C. Cerratani says she understands that it could be frustrating to at times not see courts in full use but that is the case with all sports fields in town as well — no space can be used 24/7. C. Cerratani says Varsity Tennis did a lot of work to fundraise for the Bancroft courts and maintenance as well. Her concerns with marking the tennis courts with chalk is that the residue from chalk after it rains creates a slick surface with repeated chalk marking. She also emphasized the high expense that goes into court resurfacing. E. Sisson, member of finance committee, tells the pickleball community present that fundraising efforts go a long way with the town. She provided the residents of the meeting and the committee a best -case scenario timeline of when the permanent pickleball courts on the BM Master Plan could be complete. If a private donor appeared tomorrow with full funding for the project, best -case scenario would be a three-year projection from start to completion of utilizing the pickleball courts. M. Coltman is asked by Nanette Olson (32 Ridge Road) what is the pickleball community's plan if the pilot project is successful and the pickleballers ultimately want to use Bancroft courts for future seasons until permanent courts are created. M. Coltman says the pickleball community would explore funding lights at Memorial park for future seasons. B. Weiden and E. Sisson both state that lights at Memorial Park would not be possible due to deed restrictions. M. Coltman states that if investments could be made at Barrows and Sturges that could also alleviate the demand of pickleball players in the short-term. E. Gaffen says fundraising for court improvements at those two locations would be a great next step for the pickleball community to dedicate their efforts towards. He recommended the pickleball community research costs and create a plan that could be presented to the Recreation Page 1 5 Committee along with their action plan for fund raising. K. Kaminer seconded E. Gaffen's recommendation. Lorraine Salter (247 Summer Street) said she was previously on the Recreation Committee in 2006 and is also an avid tennis player. She shared with the committee that in 11 months, the tennis group in town raised $90,000 and also received a $50,000 state grant. With those funds, the group made a formal presentation to the Town and began the process of the Bancroft Courts with town support. L. Salter is willing to share the Tennis Group's fundraising model with the pickleball group to help them find success in their fundraising efforts. She believes is the demand for pickleball courts is as large as M. Coltman describes, fundraising could accumulate funds quickly. Judy Coltman (18 Milton Street) says she is a regular pickleball player. She believes the pickleball group can easily fundraise but where the courts will ultimately be built is a hurdle for their fundraising efforts. Her concern with Sturges Park is the proximity of the court to houses and the potential noise complaints and the lack of parking available. She also believes that the 6 pickleball courts in the Birch Meadow Master Plan do not have sufficient parking to support the courts at that location. Angela Binda states that many capital project requests stem from what the community is expressing as a desire in town and she encourages more attendance and participation of residents at FinCom, Town Meeting, Select Board, Recreation Committee, and other town led forums. She also told the committee that Symonds Way Committee Meetings will being in December and she encourages people to provide feedback and input on potential uses for that property. Bill Lugsten (15 Francis Drive) asked how ARPA funding is distributed in town and wonders if funds could be dedicated to seniors interested in Pickleball. A. Binda states that a large amount of meetings were held in order to direct how ARPA funds were distributed to town groups. Dick Lyons (358 Pearl Street) says he enjoys pickleball and would like to see more effort dedicated to the short-term solutions so there can be immediate enjoyment from the pickleball community. B. Weiden closes the discussion on pickleball and takes a five-minute recess. B. Weiden reconvenes the meeting at 8:36pm. K. Kaminer asks what the rules would be to exercise a vote. A. Binda says that an action item would need to be posted on the agenda. E. Gaffen asks B. Weiden if an agenda can be posted and conducted as a Zoom meeting to vote on the discussion of temporary court marking for Pickleball on Washington Park Tennis Courts and Bancroft Tennis Courts for next week. B. Weiden says he supports a special meeting conducted through zoom to vote on the matter. K. Kaminer asks J. Coltman and M. Coltman if either of them have been notified of noise complaints from Memorial Park abutters. Both J. Coltman and M. Coltman said they have not been made aware of any noise complaints. Page 1 6 B. Walden moved to the next agenda item regarding a potential change in meeting time from 7pm to an early start time. After a brief discussion, committee members agreed that 6:30pm was the earliest time a quorum could meet each month. A. Binda also would like to explore the option of moving the monthly meeting from the 2nd Monday of each month to the 3'd Monday of each month at a future date. Recreation Administrator A. Carney provides the committee with an update of current department news. A. Carney told the committee that teams have been established for 7th Grade & 81h Grade Boys Travel Basketball. The program has 24 participants and begins in late November. A. Carney also reminded the committee that registration is underway for the department's In -Town Sunday Basketball program. Registration remains open through late November. Upcoming is registration for the popular Nashoba Ski & Snowboard program for elementary and middle school students and we expect the program to fill quickly. Lastly, A. Carney reminded the committee of the Annual Downtown Trick -Or -Treat event on the Town Common and with Main Street Businesses. The event takes place on Wednesday, October 26th from 4pm to 5:30pm. E. Gaffen makes a motion to adjourn at 8:59pm. C. Robinson seconds. All in favor 6-0. Meeting is adjourned at 8:59pm. Page 1 7