MINUTES PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE Tuesday, September 6, 2005 Douglas Public Library Conference Room, 6PM I. ROLL CALL Meeting Called to Order at 6:05pm Members Present: Kathleen Adam, Joan Herbage O Keefe, Dixie Hood, Sierra Kaden, Jim King, Barbara Murray, Tom Rutecki, Jeff Wilson Members Absent: None Staff Present: Kimberly Kiefer, Di Cathcart II. PUBLIC TESTIMONY ON NON AGENDA ITEMS None III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Jeff Wilson motioned to approve agenda, Barbara Murray 2 nd. No Objections, agenda approved. IV. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES A. August 2, 2005 Jeff Wilson motioned to approve minutes with one minor change to members present should read Jeff Wilson, not Jeff King (sorry about that Jeff). No Objections, minutes approved. REPORT FROM ASSEMBLY LIAISON: Marc Wheeler he is working hard on the community center at Dimond Park. Mr. Wheeler handed out information on Dimond Park Aquatic Center. He is currently Treasurer for the Citizens for Dimond Park Pool. It will be a great facility for the whole community to use. Mr. Wheeler said he enjoyed being the Assembly liaison for the PRAC. This is his last meeting before he terms out in October. Joan Herbage O Keefe: Thank you Mark for being our liaison! V. ACTION ITEMS A. SEATrails Grant for underwater Dive Park Trail at Auke Rec Kim Kiefer gave a brief history of the Dive Park. The grant money will be used to buy under water ropes and signage for the area. Recommending that you approve. Jim King Sounds like littering to me. Has NOAA, F&G been notified. Kiefer told him the Dive Park came before the PRAC earlier and they approved it. It s 40 acres of water land, supported by Forest Service. Forest Service wants to add showers for divers. PRAC is approving the acceptance of the grant money with this action item. Dixie Hood how far off shore is this? Kiefer the boats are at 40, 60 feet depths, since the boats have been sunk over the last couple of years, aquatic life has improved greatly in that area. The Coast Guard is noting it on their maps as a dive park. Jeff Wilson I think it s an excellent idea, it s scientifically shown that these types of habitats help propagate aquatic life. Jeff Wilson made a motion to accept, Barbara Murray 2 nd. Motion passed with Jim King abstaining from voting.
VI. INFORMATION ITEMS A. Sub area 7 Comp. Plan: Douglas & West Juneau B. Sub area 8 Comp. Plan: North, South & West Douglas Island Public Comment: Sandy Williams, P.O. Box 765 Douglas, resident since 1959. Comp Plan is 10 years old, and a lot of things have happened. We built an ice rink. I would hope that we are looking at a second rink because of the high use at Treadwell. A curling rink would also be important to consider. If the 2 nd rink is configured close to first rink you may be able to add another one. Curling attracts older generation, especially in the winter time. If Prince Rupert can do it with 450 people then we should be able to do it. The Douglas 4 th of July committee would like to see a pavilion at Savikko, open air type for 4 th of July use and available at other times for music. Would be a nice addition to the park. Concern is the lack of activity at Savikko park. The park needs to be revitalized in the summer to make it an active place to be. Community Garden would hope to get it as far around the corner as we can, take it out of the shady side of Douglas. Margo Waring 1130 North Douglas Highway: If there is going to be a re look at Savikko park, it would be nice to look at a really big play area for kids, towers, rope bridges etc. something big would be good to explore and run around in with soft flooring. In North Douglas there is the issue of a separate pedestrian/bike space from boat launch to False Outer Point. It s one of the most heavily used areas of the CBJ, geting year round use. The area hasn t been resurfaced in a long time. The edges are potholed and unfortunately it s a high speed road because of the straight a way. Asked DOT about a dedicated bike path along the road, they said it s not currently on any list, because there was lack of support for it, it was removed from the list. Not thinking about reopening the list. Would need to lobby to get it on the list because there is significant need in the community for a safe pedestrian/bike path along that road way. Whether it is a DOT, CBJ or Parks & Recreation, the need is so great for safe pedestrian access there. There is space between the guard rail and water to create a bike path. Fish Creek Master Plan Have been paying attention to what is happening out there this summer. People park on the far side of the Fish Creek bridge, it gets crowded and congested. It is not a safe situation with the people parking on the road. People don t seem to like to walk the extra 50 yards to the parking lot. Look at accelerating or separating the footbridge from the master plan to get it built faster because of the danger of the area. Put the bridge in so they will not park on the street. Mary Kay Pusich, Douglas. New board member on the Douglas Advisory Committee along with the Douglas 4 th of July Committee. Would like to see a property ownership graph on who owns what in the Savikko area because there seems to be irregular activity, homeless going in there,
partying, area not as safe as it has been in the past. Need to find out who owns what to make it safer on the trails and properties. Bathroom closures across from the harbor. We seem to have earlier and earlier springs, yet the bathrooms are still closed, are they closed because of cleaning and budget. Pump house is deteriorating, how can we work together on this to preserve it. Red flag the Douglas Advisory Board to work on them, letting them know when PRAC meetings are happening. A lot of 4 wheeling happening on beach and trails. Maybe more signs posted. Also, more pictures on the historic trail rather then just numbered posts. We need to have bigger parks in other locations. Seems like the City keeps putting more things in Douglas but doesn t provide the extra safety or security. Thanks for your time. Looking forward to working with PRAC and seeing the island grow with business and development. Daniel Gilman P.O. Box 240713 Douglas, 32 years in Juneau. Newest member on the Douglas Advisory Board. Two things that come to mind on Parks and Recreation. I believe the CBJ owns land on 1 st street, toward beach street strong proponent of providing water access for all people. Can we have this as private waterfront access. Second issue is hikers, bikers, 4 wheelers, and snow machine interaction. Of all the Parks and Recreation issues that really raises blood pressure with people. Look at expanding multi use access on Treadwell ditch trail. I know The Treadwell Ditch is remarkably rich in history. The ditch trail was an amazing engineering project and over the years the trail has become less available to the residents. There was some grant money for snow machiners to make bridges so the trail from the Blueberry hill area to Douglas is accessible. Would like Parks and Recreation to take a close look at what Douglas Island has to offer and expand on that with multi use trails for bike riders, hikers, snow machiners, and cross country skiers. Maya Reges 226 St. Ann s St. Douglas: Savikko Park is her front yard. Love the new pavilion, and the trails are great. Difficulties over the years with sand by pavilions and playground disappearing and being replaced by dirt instead of sand, makes it is more muddy. Would like to see sand brought back to sandy beach. Member of the Douglas Advisory Board (DAB) since 1998. Would like to see the parking area by the harbor brought back to the table. When it was first discussed the Douglas Advisory Board was told there would be more green space then there currently is. When Parks and Recreation brought plans to the DAB regarding Treadwell Arena the plan showed a drop off circle and then walking access. What happened. Seems they took green space and turned it into parking. The sledding hill ends now by rocks or cars. A big loss for users of the sledding hill. Turn it back into a park instead of a parking lot where cars are parking everywhere. Like to see that addressed. Create more green space in the park.
Suzanne Williams, 640 5 th Street, Douglas, resident since 1971. Treadwell arena is right across the street. I look at it all the time. If you are parent with 4 children and you want to bring kids to the rink parking close to the facility is important. Maybe rocks as a barrier are not the ideal situation. When St Ann s was paved the hillside got more alders. The alders need to be removed, which would open up more of the sledding hill. Parking needs to stay close to the arena. Sandy Williams Turn field 2 into a parking area so parking is kept close to the arena. Tom Rutecki it is cold at Savikko in the middle of the night close parking is important. Joan O Keefe Thank you all for coming out and commenting on the Douglas sub area. Barbara Murray It was great to have so many people at a meeting. Jeff Wilson will we have additional time to comment. Kiefer yes, we will be taking comment on all areas through December with hopes of compiling everything in January/February. VII. COMMITTEE REPORTS: Waterfront Committee (Wilson) Seawalk seems to have lost focus. Not getting much done, right now. Stan Ridgeway is the current chair until October elections. YAB (Rutecki) We met last week for a contingency Gastineau Channel Little League senior girls request. Gave them $4000. There is about $17,000 left in contingency fund. State Parks Board (King) No report, did not meet. CDPP (O Keefe) There is less then a month until October elections. Hope folks can dig in and get involved. Various letters are being prepared and should show up in the Juneau Empire soon. Joan will write a letter from PRAC for a My Turn in the Juneau Empire. Rutecki will CDPP have any radio time? Seems that it would be important to be ready to rebut those against it. Adam Is there a place to post FAQ s on the CDPP or City website? VIII. CHAIR REPORT Joan Herbage O Keefe I will not be here in October. I am one of the Assessors in the Assessment center process for the new Director. IX. DEPARTMENT REPORT: Kim Kiefer Thank you for being willing to help with the Assessment Center. The PRAC is welcome to come to the Director Candidates reception on Wednesday at the City Museum for 6 8pm. We had over 20 applicants, 2 were women 18 men, now down to five final candidates. The October PRAC meeting is changed to Thursday October 6 th at Floyd Dryden Commons. Sheila Fisher the new Recreation Superintendent begins on Monday September 12 th, and Cristi Herren s last day is the 7 th of October. We are putting a cookbook together as a going away present for her so if you have a favorite recipe to share please send it to Kim. Hope to have the new director start around December 1 st. X. EX OFFICIO REPORTS None XI. CORRESPONDENCE None
XII. BOARD COMMMENTS: Kathleen Adam Happy to be back! Dixie Hood Upset by the lack of notice to the general public and committee members from the Waterfront committee. Dixie would like this issue presented to both the current committee, including Chair Stan Ridgeway and the new committee. This is in the hopes that the new committee will be better at notifying members and the public of upcoming meetings since this seems to be an ongoing problem for the last couple of years. Dixie Hood made a motion, Jim King 2 nd to have Jeff Wilson bring to the next Waterfront Committee meeting a message from the PRAC stating their concerns over lack of notice of meetings to both waterfront committee members and the general public. Motion passed. Jim King working on the comp plan is exciting. May miss the October meeting. Will this result in a draft that we can discuss at length. (Kiefer) Yes all the information will get pulled together in January or February to look at and make final recommendations for the 2006 Comprehensive Plan. Looking at the bigger picture, fine details will come with the various master plans. Interesting things came up, like the trail from the boat launch to outer point, that DOT quietly cancelled. Barbara Murray enjoyed the comp plan process so far. Sierra Kaden good work on all the PSA s going out to radio, etc regarding upcoming PRAC meetings. XIII. ADJOURNMENT Kathleen Adam moved to adjourn, no objections, adjourned at 7:53pm