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Minutes 01-30-12 MINUTES OF THE RECREATION AND PARKS BOARD HELD ON MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2012 AT 6:30 P.M. IN THE COMMISSION CHAMBERS, CITY HALL 100 E. BOYNTON BEACH BLVD. BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT Elizabeth Pierce -Roe, Chair Wally Majors, Recreation & Parks Director Charles Kanter Robert Lapin Catherine Scantlan ABSENT John McVey, Vice Chair Janelle Sloan I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Pierce -Roe called the meeting to order at 6:37 p.m. II. ATTENDANCE Chair Pierce -Roe called the roll. A quorum was present. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion Mr. Lapin moved to approve the minutes as presented. Mr. Kanter seconded the motion which passed unanimously. IV. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A Veterans Park (Ocean Avenue) — Additional Recommendation Mr. Majors advised that in November, support was given to endorse the recommendation to rename Veterans Park, Ocean Avenue Park. Since that time, a recommendation was received to rename the Park to Dewey Park in honor of one of the families that helped establish Boynton Beach. The Veterans Advisory Committee took this under consideration and supported the recommendation. The City Commission had asked for this Board's feedback. The options would be to consider renaming the park to Dewey Park and move it forward to the City Commission or maintain the recommendation to keep it Ocean Avenue Park. Meeting Minutes Recreation and Parks Board Boynton Beach, FL January 30, 2012 Ginger Pederson, 7817 Manor Forest Lane, summarized why she was recommending the Park be named Dewey Park after the Dewey family. She advised that 120 years ago, the Deweys bought the 40 acres that made up the downtown area and the 80 acres of which would become the Intercoastal Waterway. Lots were sold for farming and for people to build homes. With her research, she determined the Dewey family was here before Major Boynton. Major Boynton owned the property along the ocean. The Boynton Hotel gave the name to the area and to the City. Mrs. Dewey was listed as the first lady gardener of Boynton in 1898. They had intended to stay and retire here until Mr. Dewey's health took a very serious turn for the worse. He spent the last nine years of his life in military hospitals in Tennessee, Virginia and California. She continued explaining the history she researched and she felt it would be a nice way to honor and preserve the history of Boynton Beach. She was not able to locate any pictures, only a description of it being a two -story home. Mrs. Dewey started the Library when they left in 1910 and donated her extensive library collection, which was kept in the post office, Boynton's first Library. Mr. Kanter inquired whether any provisions were made to make a plaque with some synopsis of the history. Ms. Pederson advised there was thought about applying to the Florida Marker Series, for a marker similar to the Schoolhouse. There could also be a descriptive kiosk with some of the major details. Ms. Pederson advised she planned on contacting the Boynton Beach Historical Society for assistance with these activities. Mr. Lapin suggested since Major Boynton and the Dewey family both had a great presence here, possibly combine the names and call it Major Boynton and Dewey Family Park. Mr. Majors advised the problem would be the need to go through the approval process again, with the Veterans Advisory Committee and the City Commission. Ms. Pederson continued to explain how this historical search came about and provided more history on the two families. There was discussion and suggestions that the name change and historical connection could provide another revenue source for the City and something that the branding could be built on. Motion Mr Kanter moved to accept the recommendation of the renaming of the Park to Dewey Park and bringing it to the City Commission. The motion was seconded by Ms. Scantlan and unanimously passed. V. NEW BUSINESS A. Pence Park Basketball Court Hours 2 Meeting Minutes Recreation and Parks Board Boynton Beach, FL January 30, 2012 Mr. Majors advised the hours of the Park are established through ordinance upon his recommendation. The Board was part of the community meeting hosted a year ago regarding the hours the basketball court was open. The meeting provided strong support from the community about the fact these facilities were being used for positive reasons and acted as an effective deterrent towards negative activity. The community felt that as long as the Park was being used for soccer or basketball, the chance for something bad to happen was lessened. Mr. Majors related an unfortunate event that occurred over a year ago at the Park where someone was shot on the basketball court. Chair Pierce -Roe suggested a family day or a flea market type activity. Mr. Majors said that a rummage sale occurred and it was a great success. There were over 30 participants. There had been other activities there also over the last few months that gave the youth a place to go To complement that, there was extensive growth in the popularity of adult kickball where they want more time to play and expand their program. It was a well used park. B. Recreation & Open Space Element of the City's Comp. Plan Mr. Majors advised this item would come before the Board this month and again next month. He would like to do some park tours in conjunction with this as one of the reasons park tours were done was related to this item. In the open space element of the City's Comprehensive Plan, feedback had to be received from the Board offering an opinion about the adequacy of the facilities. The Department would move forth as done six years ago with a formal needs assessment which was done every five to six years to be compliant with the Comprehensive. Plan. However, input was desired from the Board on an annual basis. He requested that for next month's meeting, the members should list any concerns to be addressed in terms of facilities and parks, both recreation and the amenities within them. C. Barrier Free Park Hours Mr. Majors advised that currently the Park would be open until 9:00 p.m. The Tennis Center adjacent to it was open until 10:00 p.m. The comments and feedback received was that there are populations using this Park that were sensitive to the sunlight and heat. To accommodate some of the special needs population, the Park was open later in the day, when it was cooler and darker. Hopefully, other structures would eventually be erected that would provide shade, in addition to maturing landscape. D. Quarterly Report Mr. Majors passed out the quarterly report to the Board for their review. There were no questions or comments. 3 Meeting Minutes Recreation and Parks Board Boynton Beach, FL January 30, 2012 VI. ITEMS FOR THE CITY MANAGER'S ATTENTION Mr. Kanter wanted to discuss the parking lot situation at Quantum Park. He had met with Jeff Livergood and took the results of that discussion back to the homeowners Board of Directors. To bring the Board up to date, Mr. Majors advised that he and Mr. Kanter were invited by Jeff Livergood, the assigned lead point person for the City, to work with the developer of the parking area. Mr. Livergood was able to come to an agreement with a landscape architectural firm and presented some options to be reviewed. Mr. Kanter continued that he had been in contact with the County Commissioners explaining that initially this was going to be a very small parking lot on the side of the Park. However, when the plans were laid out, it turned into a mega lot, covering three acres and covering the entire frontage of what had been the buffer zone between the Sandpine Preserve and the residential area. This would be for 240 cars that would operate on three shifts. It would create much more traffic not only during the day, but at night as well. This was not the agreement in the beginning and he felt the residents were misled. Mr. Kanter advised he requested to have this item as an agenda item at the next City Commission meeting. There was continued discussion on the parking lot situation and different suggestions were made for alternative solutions. Mr. Lapin discussed an issue brought up by his development. He indicated the lighting at the tennis courts are on when people are not playing in the evening. Mr. Majors advised that sometime the leagues play until 9:00 p.m. or 10:00 p.m. When the games end, it has to be ensured that everyone has had a chance to leave without leaving them in the dark. If a young person was waiting to be picked up, they could not shut the lights off. He will ask staff to be more assertive and make sure lights are not being left on for any frivolous reasons. VII. NEXT MEETING The next meeting of the Board would be February 27, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. VIII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was properly adjourned at 7:40 p.m. ( c) Ellie Caruso Recording Secretary 4