10-08-1990 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORONO REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING HELD OCTOBER 8, 1990 PARR COMMISSION COMMENTS Dick Flint, Chairman of the Park Commission, was present and • made a report to the Council of five areas of concern. 1. Planning - Park Commission has done an inventory of existing parks and have come up with preliminary recommendations regarding some inexpensive improvements, i.e. new signs and benches. They also have a colored map showing existing parks in Orono, including regional parks and private recreational facilities. 2. Neighbors - Park Commission is trying to work with neighbors surrounding parks. One difficult area has been Sandy Beach on Cherry Avenue. Late night use and harassment has been an extreme problem. The Commission is recommending that the dock at Sandy Beach not be put out next summer and the beach be closed at 6:00 p.m. If this does not help solve the problem, the police will be asked to patrol the area more closely. Bederwood Park has also been an active area. The Orono Baseball Association was authorized to build a hardball field. A soccer field is also available. The neighbors in this area have come up with a series of recommendations including a playground, kidney- shaped ice skating rink, tennis court and track (Vita course) around the outside edge. The Commission is in favor of many of these recommendations, however the tennis court is • probably too expensive and the need has not been established for it. The Commission would like to see the skating rink put in this fall. John Gerhardson states the City staff does not have available time. Nettles asked the dimensions of the ice skating rink. Flint did not have exact measurement, only that it would be kidney - shaped so it could not be used for hockey. Goetten asked if costs for these proposals were available. Flint replied the tennis courts would be $25,000- 30,000. The remainder would be less than $20,000. Playground equipment would be $5,000- 10,000. The small picnic shelter /pavil lion would be minimal. Nettles asked for an explanation of "Vita course ". Dick explained that there are stations with something to do at each stop, such as a horizontal ladder or calf stretch. 3. Park Fee Interpretation - There have been questions regarding the adopted ordinance. The first question was in regard to language in Subparagraph 7 which provided that "if land had not previously been subdivided and a fee previously paid, the fee would be paid at the time of the issuance of a building permit for the primary structure and this would occur if the subdivision had occurred prior to the time we had a park • dedication fee." Staff has indicated this creates difficulties because they have to check each building permit as it comes up to 3