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MINUTES OF THE <br />ORONO PARK COMMISSION <br />April 3, 2023 <br />6:00 o’clock p.m. <br />_____________________________________________________________________________________ <br /> <br />Page 5 of 11 <br /> <br />Carter asked about the cost of the irrigation system and whether it is necessary or could be done more <br />inexpensively. <br /> <br />Lemons said you can go cheap and you will struggle through. <br /> <br />Stofer said the number doesn't surprise him but to add from his experience in the golf world, Orono is not <br />alone. Many, many clubs all over the country are facing this right now. They're plagued with deferred <br />maintenance for 40-50 years. And eventually you’ve got to pay up and address some of these issues. Our <br />golf course here that we love so much is a very unique animal. It's a beautiful, beautiful park and it's an <br />operating business. So it does require subsidy. Most parks shouldn't make money, and they require capital <br />investments. We need to be thinking about how do we introduce other ideas to help offset some of these <br />costs, and we can debate whether pickleball was the right idea or hockey or what but the fact remains <br />there is potential funding deficiencies in the future that I think we all need to address. If this all does lead <br />to finding a nice solution for that, I think that's a really great thing. One way is to find more golfers, <br />which would be great. He suggested generating more rounds in part by adding youth opportunities and <br />more marketing. He said he and Duval have been discussing the idea of celebrating the course’s <br />upcoming 100th anniversary by creating an endowment fund for capital improvements at the course <br />similar to what had been done with the Orono Legacy Fund for Big Island. <br /> <br />Rasmussen suggested for pickleball exploring a fee or membership-based system. If you did a fee-based <br />plan it would be a great way to limit the number of players to a reasonable number and also maybe bring <br />in some revenue. I think there's enough demand out there that I you could charge a fee. Westonka charges <br />$7 to drop in and play. It's different for residents. She noted a fee system also could be used to limit <br />pickleball hours so that it is not happening during golf league play creating overlapping demand. <br /> <br />Duval said she agrees with that and would be excited to help to think about a fundraising effort and an <br />endowment. She said she continues to be interested in the possibility of Navarre Town Center and <br />Bederwood Parks as pickleball sites. <br /> <br />Berg said given the number of people who have contacted here it is clear many in the community want <br />pickleball. I hope that we can find a way to do that. She suggested increasing fees as the golf course to <br />increase funding for improvements. We heard a lot of people saying that it needs work; it needs help. <br />Well, if we find a way to bring money in to enhance the golf course, then possibly it will help us reach the <br />goal that everybody's looking for. <br /> <br />Rasmussen asked how many people play in the golf leagues and how many are Orono residents. <br /> <br />Lemons totaled 16 for Tuesday night, about 25 on Thursday nights and about 14 for the women’s league <br />which is growing. He said about 60 percent are non-residents. <br />