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Home My WebLink About1990-11-05 - MinutesPRAB REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 5, 1990 The meeting was called to order by Rodney Ryan at 5:15 326 of the City Administration Building. Member Present: Staff Present: Guests Present: BUSINESS: Anderson, Robertson, p.m. in room Alexander, Colwell, Kimbrough, Ryan, Waselues, White Clark, Cox, Edmonston Youth Baseball -Jim Hawkins, Adult Softball - Kenny Bloss and Jack Luper, U of A students - Tracy Highfill, Lindy Lindsey, David Stone, David Cox, Tom Sissom, Ron Wood 140T108: COL,WRL.i /WASRI URR ` I. The minutes from the October 22, 1990 PRAB meeting were approved unanimously 8-0. YOUTH BASEBALL II. Jim Hawkins reported that currently at Walker Park there are 300 T -ball participants, 210 intermediate participants, and 196 Little League participants. Play is scheduled on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Practices are scheduled for Saturdays. Practice fields are needed. Some teams are only practicing one or two times a season. Another big problem is parking. There are over 400 cars at Walker Park at one time trying to get into and out of the parking lot. This creates a hazard for children walking around these cars. Kimbrough asked if staggering starting times for the games would lessen the amount of cars at one time. Hawkins stated that most people come for all the games and would still arrive at the same time. At Babe Ruth ballpark, there are an estimated 200 children playing ball. There is also a problem with practice areas at this park. Hawkins proposed using an area beside the model airplane area for a temporary practice field. , The facilities committee will view this land and review the parking situation at Walker Park. At the American Legion field, lights should be installed by February and new turf has been installed in the infield. PRAB Page 2 ADULT SOFTBALL III. Kenny Bloss reported that during the 1975-76 season, when Lake Fayetteville Softball fields were developed, there were 40 teams participating. Currently, there are 109 teams participating in adult softball. Springdale only has 48 teams. Games are played Monday through Thursday with Friday reserved for makeups and rainouts. The teams currently play seven months out of the year. There is not enough room for the teams to practice. Parking is also a problem. Cars get blocked in by other cars and cannot get out until after all of the games. Also, the gravel in the parking lot washes out after hard rains. Outfield fences according to ASA rules have been changed to 300'. One possible solution to this problem would be to raise the fences on all fields to ten feet. Fayetteville is losing tournaments to Springdale, Rogers, and Rock Creek because of fencing. New fields need to be added either to Lake Fayetteville Complex (possibly move the batting cages) or to Lake Fayetteville North. The facilities committee will meet on November 17 at 9 a.m. at Lake Fayetteville Softball Complex to review the area. Kenny Bloss stated, "Parks, facilities, and programs are what make this City". ROOT SCHOOL IV. Root PTO requested for a joint project for the PTO, Parks Division, and school maintenance to purchase playground equipment for Kindergarten and First Grade at the northeast side of Root Park. MOTION:KIMBROUGR/COLWSLL The PRAB recommends to use $3,500 of Green Space funds for the Root School playground equipment. THE MOTION WAS APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY 8-0. FACILITIES COMMITTEE REPORT V The committee recommends to the PRAB to renew the Lake Sequoyah boat dock operator's contract for another year and to hold a public meeting in February concerning the Lake. By February, it would be possible to know more about the lowering of the Lake. In the early 1970's Lake Sequoyah was considered a better fishing lake than Lake Fayetteville. The main problem now is the lowering of the Lake. If the boat dock remains open for another year, the recommendation is to leave the two existing used docks open and hold off on repairing the other docks. The committee recommends for the Soccer Association to use the existing concession stand at Asbell Park and for the Parks Dept. to provide them with a storage area. If there is an overlap with other sports, Soccer would have permission to operate the concession stand. The committee recommends that new restrooms at Asbell Park be in the Park Master Plan. PRAB Page 3 GREEN SPACE ORDINANCE STATUS VI. The revised ordinance is scheduled for the November 20, 1990 City Board of Directors Meeting. DAVIS PARK PUBLIC MEETING VII. The Public Meeting is scheduled for November 8, 1990 in the Asbell Music Room. OTHER BUSINESS: The Turkey Trot will be Sunday, November 11, 1990. User Fees: Discussed the possibility of charging user fees to the softball, baseball, and soccer teams that use the parks. PRAB will meet with presidents of the teams to discuss fund-raisers and park user fees. The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m. Minutes approved: Secretary