05-02-2022 Park Commission Minutes

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PARK COMMISSION Monday,May 2,2022 6:00 o'clock p.m. Edwards stated over the years the City has identified a number of lake access points that have recreational value with people using them and there is a need to mark them. In the past the City marked a few ad-hoc as situations or issues have arisen. This project attempts to take a big stab at marking many of the access points. In 2015 the City established a standard for marking lake access points and Edwards showed a photo on screen of a 4x4 post with appropriate signage and symbols depending on restrictions or activities allowed, as well as marking the perimeter.A number of the locations on the list are marked in a variety of ways such as gates,bollards, signs, and this would bring a refresh those signs and clean them up. Edwards noted they identified and put$10,000 into the Capital Improvement Plan(CIP)to do this marking and improvements to some of the gates that need to be replaced. He noted some access points that are not used for recreational activities but are for utility or drainage may not be something the Park Commission needs to keep on the list. The Commissioners discussed the lake access points and the importance of clearly identifying those access points for those who do not live on the water. Porter moved,Benson seconded,to bring the proposal for lake access markings to the City Council. VOTE: Ayes 6,Nays 0. At 7:05 p.m.,Porter noted he had to leave the meeting. 8. Summit Beach Park Master Plan. Chair Roath shared great news for everyone in attendance,and expressed his regrets that Mr. Jabbour left as he brought some great ideas. Chair Roath stated to Ms. Schmidt that he agrees with her in that they need to reach out to the public, get an understanding of what people want at Summit Beach Park, and that is what they are doing.The concept of a master plan is something the City has not had in place for Summit Beach Park. A master plan is a guiding document in which the City takes input from residents to understand what the park should be,both now and in the future. He clarified when the rowing club approached the City a couple of years ago,this committee's recommendation was to go through the steps of creating a master plan for the park so there was something to use and follow when proposals come to the Park Commission. For example, guiding principles regarding the types of things citizens want or do not want at the park. Chair Roath stated the City has gone through the process with a number of parks regarding guiding documents but noted they need to do more.Big Island is an example of a great master plan and there are other parks that have less formal, but still guiding, documents. Commissioners Berg, Carter, and Roath have served on the subcommittee for Summit Beach Park and have reached out to Bolton and Menk who have expertise in collecting resident engagement. They would like to bring this forward to the City Council, and Chair Roath noted he does not know if they need to put out an RFP for this work,but the work would mostly be going out to put up QR codes around town for the community to give input on the park,hosting open houses to receive input, setting up events around Orono to share a some concepts for the park, and to hear back from the public. The last piece of that engagement would be to put forth this master plan and guiding document for the Park Commission to use. Edwards clarified the City already had a contract in place which they did send RFP's out for and Bolton and Menk is the City's engineering and planning firm. Whenever projects like this come up,the City issues a work order for a proposal/estimate on a batch of work. For small engineering and planning projects such as this one,the City does not necessarily go out for a full bid process.At certain times in the past the City Council has noted a project is big enough for a full RFP or bid proposal but at$20,000 this is not one of those. Page 6 of 10