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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-10-24 Recreation Committee MinutesTown of Reading RECEIVED OWN CLERK a Meeting Minutes REA1);NG, MA. Pk 2023 MAR -6 PM 4:32 Board - Committee - Commission - Council: Recreation Committee Date: 2022-10-24 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Location: Address: Session: Open Session Purpose: Special Meeting via Zoom version: Final Attendees: Members - Present: Michael Coltman (M), Kate Kaminer(M), Eric Gaffen (M), Bob Weiden (M), Chuck Robinson (M), Angela Blnda (M) Members - Not Present: Katelynn King (A) Rich Hand (M) Others Present: Genevieve Fiorente - Community Services Director Arielle Carney - Recreation Administrator Carlo Bacci - Select Board Liaison Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Arielle Carney, Recreation Administrator Topics of Discussion: B. Walden opens the meeting at 7:04pm. B. Weiden called this meeting in order to vote on last Monday's discussion regarding temporary court markings for pickleball on Bancroft and Washington Park tennis courts. A. Binda asks to hear how people are leaning towards their vote vs taking a blind vote. Angela appreciates both views expressed from both tennis and pickleball. She knows there is a large amount of time energy and money the tennis court has put into the courts A. Binda says she is leaving towards a compromise - but is not exactly sure what that might look like. E. Gaffen suggests the Committee take the decisions one at a time - he suggests M. Coltman make two individual motions one to vote on temporary court markings at Bancroft Avenue tennis courts and an additional motion to vote on temporary court markings at Washington Park tennis courts. M. Coltman makes a motion requesting the ability to tape or chalk courts 4 & 5 on the Bancroft Avenue courts for use by pickleball under the lights through November 17th. E. Gaffen seconds the motion. Page I 1 B. Weiden opens it up for discussion M. Coltman said he checked reservations through play local and there are no reservations for Bancroft Courts for Tennis on any of the days he looked. He drove by on Friday night and the lights were on the courts but no members of the public were playing tennis on the courts. This would have been during the time frame Pickleball players would be looking to use the courts. As a community member he would not want to do anything that may permanently harm the courts. He only suggested tape and chalk as it is was what tennis courts in neighboring towns allowed on their courts (Willows Club, Woburn Racquet Club for example). The residue from chalk is really non-existent, says M. Coltman. E. Gaffen is torn on the motion as he understands the opposition of the tennis group and the work that they've put into the courts. E Gaffen anticipates voting in favor of the Washington Courts being temporarily marked as he knows there is a great need for the pickleball community to have more space but is torn on marking the Bancroft Courts. M. Coltman has one additional comment -that the fundraising efforts of the Tennis Community that took place were communitywide and there are a number of avid pickleball players who contributed to the building of the Bancroft tennis courts. C. Robinson asks M. Coltman - for the Washington Street vs. Bancroft Courts - is the main reason you want to push for the temporary marking at Bancroft Courts the lights? M. Coltman says yes - as you cannot play after 6pm on any of the non -lighted courts like Washington Park or Memorial Park. There are many people who work during the day and cannot play until later in the evening. C. Robinson asks G. Fiorente - there had previously been an authorization for portable lights for different sports - is that something we could do at Washington park for a period of three weeks? G. Fiorente states that we would need to have an abutters meeting in order to add those portable lights and it is something we can explore in the spring time. Additionally, this would be a recommended motion to the select board and would have to be voted on them due to the change in courts. K. Kaminer wanted to remind everyone of a few key points from last weeks meeting. One of the discussions that was had was the concern over noise level in neighborhood parks. Additionally, as a reminder, Memorial Park used to be a tennis only park. The Recreation Committee allowed various adaptations to those courts for Pickleball play and now the facility has become predominantly a pickleball facility. Her concern is that Pickleball will play for three weeks this year as a pilot project and next year will ask for more courts or additional time. She plans on voting no on both motions. B. Weiden states that he is leaning towards supporting the temporary making of the Washington Park Tennis Courts. In regards to the Bancroft courts - he is worried that if we allow pickleball to take over Bancroft - where do we stop in allowing other sports to also request to utilize the space. Page 1 2 C. Robinson asks whether Washington Park or Memorial Park have pickleball lines. K Kaminer states that Memorial has lines for pickleball. M. Coltman clarifies that any lines on Bancroft Tennis Courts and Washington Park Tennis Courts would be temporary — not permanent. K. Kaminer states that the Memorial Park court lines started as chalk lines - to demonstrate the evolution of the marking of the courts starting as a temporary decision and morphed into permanent markings at Memorial Park Tennis Courts. K. Kaminer states Bancroft is a Varsity Tennis Court space and the markings should be kept as such. E. Gaffen agrees that Bancroft is not the best place to start as a pilot project due to the school sports conference and their restrictions against marking official courts with anything other than the designated sport's regulation lines. M. Coltman states that this motion he has before the committee is to tape and/or chalk on courts 4 and 5 and the temporary nature of the markings would not impact Varsity Tennis in his opinion. K. Kaminer states that the tennis community in this town has supported itself to the point that it built 6 tennis courts - all they ask is that the 6 tennis only courts in town remain tennis only as it appears many other prior tennis courts in town are now being made dual use. C. Robinson states that he respects what is being asked here but what is compelling to him is that when a Varsity Coach comes to a Recreation Committee Meeting, and speaks respectfully while pleading with the Committee to not do anything to these courts - he has to go with that plea. He respects the request of the Coaches who are School staff and would not be in favor of allowing Bancroft Courts to be dual use. B. Weiden takes a person by person roll -call vote: M. Coltman votes in favor of allowing temporary court markings for Pickleball at the Bancroft Tennis Courts through November 17. C. Robinson votes no. E. Gaffen votes no. K. Kaminer votes no. A. Binda votes no. B. Weiden votes no. The motion fails 5 against -1 in favor. M. Coltman moves to the second motion to allow temporary marking and use through March 31st at Washington Park. G. Fiorente says she was under the impression that these requests were only for the remainder of this season until courts were closed for the Winter Season. E. Gaffen asks what defines "Winter" in the Parks Department. G. Fiorente says the week before Thanksgiving is when all lights go out and nets are removed from the courts by the Parks Department. E. Gaffen makes an amendment that M. Coltman puts the limit in for the week before Thanksgiving. Pape 1 3 A. Binda agrees with E. Gaffen and would request that the motion limit the timeline as well. C. Robinson wants to ensure that the marking referred to in the motion at Washington Park is temporary in nature such as chalk so that the tape in the freezing weather it does not leave residue. M. Coltman re -reads his amended motion: I make a motion to allow community members to mark the courts at Washington Park through November 17th or when the nets come down by parks using only chalk as a temporary marker. E. Gaffen seconds the motion. B. Weiden opens it up for discussion. A. Binda wants to know how much activity there is at Washington Park from the tennis community and how will tennis players be impacted. K. Kaminer states that with the cooler weather the courts will not be used as much On a sunny day they would be more heavily used between loam to 2pm but given the season Bancroft Tennis Courts would be much more popular for tennis play. C. Bacci asks a procedural question to G. Fiorente: If this body votes to approve temporary chalk markings, does this also need to appear before the Select Board for final approval? G. Fiorente states that anything that impacts the existing play surface generally appears before the Select Board. B. Weiden takes a person by person roll -call vote: K. Kaminer votes in favor of allowing temporary chalk court markings for Pickleball Play at the Washington Park Tennis Courts through November 17th or when the nets are taken down for the season, whichever date comes first. E. Gaffen votes in favor. A. Binda votes in favor. M. Coltman votes in favor. C. Robinson votes in favor. B. Weiden votes in favor. The motion passes 6 in favor — 0 against. E. Gaffen makes a motion to adjourn the meeting. C. Robinson seconds. Motion passes 6 - 0 meeting is adjourned at 7:43pm. Page 14