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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRC minutes 060717 Orange County Parks and Recreation Council Meeting Summary Date: June 7, 2017 Place: Environment and Agricultural Center Conference Room ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ PRESENT: Haywood Rhodes; Robert Robinson; Evelyn Daniel; Betty McDade Khan; John Greeson; ABSENT: Robert Smith, Tori Williams Reid; Rachel Massai STAFF: Hecht; Stancil; Young ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ I. Call to Order. BOCC gifts to the Board were given with their thanks noted. Roll called and introductions made. II. Additions or Changes to Agenda, Meeting Summary: The May summary was reviewed and approved. The Agenda was reviewed with no additional items requested. III. Report of the Chair: a. Membership updates/status. New members were just appointed late last night. A discussion took place explaining the vacant Bingham Township position, and whether anyone knew of a person living there that might be interested. The board is still looking to fill that position. IV. New Business a. A new online parks and trails information section on the DEAPR website was presented to the Council by Beth Young, the department’s Communications Manager. V. Old Business a. Mountains to Sea Trail (MST), River Park Section- Stancil spoke on the plans for the MST trail in Orange County that connects Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area to the southwest section of the County. The River Walk section is now officially part of the MST. Report will be presented to the BOCC in the fall that has a proposed route and three alternative routes. The planned first area of focus would be the area between Occoneechee Mountain and Seven Mile Creek Nature Preserve. b. Further Planning. The Council’s annual picnic meeting will be held on September 6. The staff will check into the availability of the Little River Park shelter. There will be a tour of the Orange County park sites on October 4 before the monthly meeting. The plan is to begin the tour at 4:00pm. Staff will check into using the Animal Services Center for that meeting date. Tentatively plans were made to gather there at 4:00 for the tour. b. Community Center Operational Status- All three centers are in the process of finalizing their Operations Agreements (Efland Cheeks and Cedar Grove Community Center) and these will hopefully be in effect by August 1. VI. Report of the Director a. Updates on Various Projects and Facilities. Much work in the CIP has been pushed out to future years. This is related to a realignment of capital funding that is tied to the onset of 2016 bond funds for schools and affordable housing. Blackwood Farm Park work will be starting soon. The new Headwaters Nature Preserve (part of the old Greene tract is being researched for a public access point. SportsPlex work on the fieldhouse is beginning soon. Aging and DEAPR have been working with the SportsPlex to plan for access to the new facilities. b. Fishing Rodeo - For 40 some years, Bob Strayhorn has allowed the County use of his pond and field for the yearly Fishing Rodeo. Stancil is looking to recognize Strayhorn at a future BOCC meeting for all he has done over the years. c. Camps - Chris Sousa, the Recreation Superintendent, will report on Recreation programs, to include camps, at the October meeting. At this time, the camps are up 16% from last year. VII. Council and Committee Reports a. Intergovernmental Parks Work Group. Next meeting in October. b. Items from the Council- Khan asked if one could get from Gold Park to Occoneechee Mountain. Stancil showed on a map how this connects. She asked what Voluntary Agricultural District means. Stancil replied this is a program for voluntary preservation of farmland. Once there is a farm plan and an application for inclusion, the application goes to the Agricultural Preservation Board, then to the BOCC for final approval. c. Friends of Orange County Parks and Recreation (FOPR) Meeting adjourned at 7:45pm. Next meeting will be August 9 (a week later as suggested by the board,) at EAC conference room.