HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRC meeting summary 03032021 Orange County Parks and Recreation Council
(Haywood Rhodes,Chair; John Greeson,Vice-Chair; Bruce Chinery; Mikki Fleming; Cecily Kritz;
Andrew Landstrom; Gina Reyman; Bob Smith; Tim Tippin, Michael Zelek; Xilong Zhao)
March 3, 2021
6:30 p.m.
Members present: Haywood Rhodes, Chair; John Greeson, Vice-Chair; Mikki
Fleming; Cecily Kritz; Andrew Landstrom; Gina Reyman; Bob Smith; Tim Tippin;
Xilong Zhao. Members absent: Michael Zelek, Bruce Chinery
Staff: David Stancil, Beth Young
Chapel Hill Parks and Greenways Commission Liaison: Alice Armstrong
Meeting notes from the January 13th and February 3rd, 2021 PRC meetings were
reviewed.
Report from the Chair: Current vacancies — there is one now and will be three
at the end of the month. At Large, Cedar Grove Township, and Carrboro Town
limits. David Stancil reviewed the five current applicants with the board. Cecily
Kritz made a motion to appoint Christopher Colvin to the Carrboro Town Limit
vacancy. Xilong Zhao seconded. Motion approved.
New Business: Stancil will reach out to the two other applicants who have older
applications to make sure they are still interested in serving.
Parks and Recreation Operations—An overview: All parks (except
Soccer.com) are open, though some with limitations. Central Recreation Center
(CRC) remains closed, a few in-person programs are being offered but the bulk
remains as virtual programming. Athletics are not happening right now. Chapel
Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough, and the County met with the County Health Director to
discuss spring sports and summer camps. As of now, outdoor sports may occur
with restrictions but indoor sports are not recommended. For the County, baseball
and softball via HYAA will begin at Cedar Grove and Fairview Parks with COVID
regulations being followed. Volleyball will be held outside in the field behind the
CRC.
After discussing with soccer groups, with the spring soccer season winding down in
April there was not a likelihood of many reservations. Stancil discussed this with the
County Manager and it was agreed that it was not worth the effort and resources
to open Soccer.com Center this spring for a one month schedule with little to no
projected use. Soccer.com will reopen for the fall 2021 season.
Stancil reviewed possible ramifications for this spring and next fiscal year due to
COVID. The County is looking at a budget shortfall for FY 2021-22. One of the
areas of reductions (along with 5% reduction in operating costs) is to reduce hiring
of seasonals to help with parks maintenance. Normally Parks seasonals are hired in
March and work into early November. These seasonals are relied on due to the
small number of full-time staff for the number of parks we have. However, current
budget issues have not allowed for that yet. Stancil is working with County
management to create a plan for limited seasonal staffing. The department may be
asked to significantly reduce seasonal staff, and depending on the scale of
reductions, may be looking at reducing maintenance and closing some parks during
the weekdays in order to maintain them. The County Manager will make a final
decision on this in the next several weeks as the budget is prepared, but options
are being discussed. Recreation seasonal staff are a bit different in that they are
not hired until their programs are in place (and the revenue for the programs
received), making their positions revenue neutral. Parks seasonals however do not
have this luxury. The Manager has just approved hiring one full time seasonal at
Cedar Grove to help with the ballfields with HYAA starting up.
Blackwood Farm Park: Park construction design and engineering is nearing
completion and bid documents will soon be out and construction bids solicited, with
construction to begin this summer. One of the scenarios being considering is
closing Blackwood Farm Park during the construction process — which would last
about a year. Much of the construction would take place in parts of the park that
see public usage and the staging area may take up the existing parking area.
Director report: It does appear we will be doing limited in-person summer
camps, but at much smaller numbers than usual. Should know more in the next
couple of weeks. Tennis single and double play is allowed at Fairview. However, no
tournaments are being allowed at this time.
Rhodes noted the Intergovernmental Parks Workgroup will meet virtually April 14.
Friends of Parks and Recreation: Gina Reyman will work to have a meeting set up.
One Hillsborough resident is very interested in planting trees along Hassell Street to
improve the play area behind Central Recreation. This has been suggested for
fundraising and may be a good project for the Friends?
Alice Armstrong mentioned that Chapel Hill will be extending a greenway up to
Eubanks Rd and the Parks and Greenway Commission would like to see Orange
County consider extending the greenway towards Hillsborough in the future.
The next meeting will be held virtually April 7tn
Meeting adjourned at 7:35 pm