Parks, Recreation & Trails
Committee
Minutes from Meeting of March 11, 2008
Attendees:
Tom Bierl
Chris Conaway
Bill Haaf
Zeke Hubbard
Alan Johnson
Ricki Stumpo
1. Open Meeting: Hubbard called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
2.
Announcements: None.
3.
Public Comment: None
4.
Benzel Family Trust:
In attendance were Jim Fritsch of Regester
Associates, as well as Charlie Benzel and Jim & Deri Gawthrop. The planned 3-lot
subdivision on 40.407 acres at the intersection of Bragg Hill and
Unionville-Wawaset Roads has been reviewed by the Planning Commission and Board
of Supervisors, who recommended review by this Committee because the proposed subdivision
does not include the required trail easement.
Several items were discussed before a
recommendation was set forth:
·
Equestrian
use of the property had been requested by Supervisor Brutscher. There is an
area to the northwest of this property where horses have been permitted by the
Gawthrops, but that usage would not be suitable on this property because of
steep slopes, wetlands, and proximity to houses.
·
The BHO
subdivision near the Benzels includes a trail that does not reach
·
Recommendation: Along the north side of Route
842 is a proposed bike trail that borders wetlands and floodplain on the Benzel
property. Per PennDOT, the right of way is 33 ft ROW on 842; so it was
suggested that an additional 10 foot easement be established on the north side
of Route 842 along the entire Benzel property as an easement for a potential
bike trail. This would meet the Township’s requirement for trails in new
subdivisions. The Benzels agreed with this.
Fritsch will add the 10 foot easement to the plans.
Also, the plans will note that
5,
Review of Minutes from January 8, 2008
Motion: Bill Haaf moved; Chris Conaway seconded, to
approve the minutes of January 8, 2008 as submitted. Motion approved by all in
attendance except Tom Bierl, who abstained because he did not attend that
meeting
6.
Board of Supervisors Meetings
-
Zeke
attended on 2/25/08 to present the PRT Committee’s goals for 2008.
-
The
original allocation to Founders Day was increased by $2,000, for a total of
$11,000 ($5,000 of which is expected to be offset by sponsor contributions)
-
The
Historical Committee may also have use for GPS equipment. Is there grant money
available?
7. Township Meetings Review:
Open Space Advisory Committee: Settlement on Cousins
property is nearly complete. Committee is trying to move forward with other
properties. Mailing of March 10 went to all residents to attract a wide range
of owners with smaller parcels of developable land. Focus is not solely on
large landowners; they have been approached and if interested will advise us.
8. Sub-Committee Reports
Park
-
Signs
posting the park rules are in place, per Township’s insurance company
requirement
-
Address
signs will be placed shortly
-
Giant
Supermarkets is donating a bench made from melted plastic bags
-
Ted
Marra, owner of Pocopson Industries, will donate six benches with open-air
structures to shade them along the soccer and baseball fields. Will need letter
to BOS (from Marra) saying that as a condition of his donation, the Township
will need to buy the shingles for the structures’ roofs. Ricki will call Mr.
Marra about this. The letter from PRT to the Board to get their approval should
note the cost for shingles and an estimate of hours by the Public Works staff
to install finished products
-
Permit applications for park usage: Not many Townships
require them, but Ricki has samples from
1) Form for potential users to fill out requesting a facilities at a specific date and time;
2) Form that we would provide confirming that they have our permission
- Ordinance calls for 90 days / $1000 fine / both for park violations. Suggestion was made for a $500 reward for reports that lead to conviction. Zeke will broach this with BOS.
- No cars permitted past the parking lots; Ricki will call sports teams to emphasize this.
Trails
-
Three options were presented previously. A $400 hiking
GPS unit can only bring in data from a
- Brandywine Conservancy’s estimate of $2,500 covers scanning 15-20 plans where trail easements that haven’t been digitized. We wouldn’t buy the equipment. Volunteers would do deed research and assist in the field to mark the trails that are identified.
- It was recommended that Chris invite Erick Marklund of BC to come in to describe this in more detail, and have Lauressa attend. Committee would also like to see the list of the 15 or so trails that Erick identified as not having been installed.
- Equipment, software, training will be needed prior to implementation
- Budget and timeline for trails identification, visual marking, and installation to be determined
Stream Team
- Handout was passed out with draft language for the partnership between Stream Team and stream owners
- 100 trees / shrubs to be received from County for free; Sellers and Serums have volunteered to have them installed this year
- Bill forwarded info to Red Bridge HOA, but has received no response. He asked for ideas about getting residents of Red Bridge and Four Streams to work with us on this – specifically, how to attract interest from property owners along the creek in plantings. There was discussion of dropping off flyers/brochures at homes along the water in those two developments.
-
Stream testing equipment: BOS has approved purchase in
2007; Bill is applying for a Docksteader grant to buy the equipment and 200
tree guards. Short-term, will rent the equipment from
-
Speaker on how to restore stream banks scheduled at
Sustainability
- Energy audit findings; Bill will get on BOS agenda after speaking with Lauressa
- April 17 Solar speaker; advertise to HOAs (Bill); add to website and e-mail members of other Township Committees (Peggy)
- At April meeting, energy policy to be finalized for presentation to BOS
- Will also discuss carbon emissions info, website, etc.
- Bill has set up spreadsheet for energy costs, usage; can eventually develop goals for reductions
Founders Day: Additional funding reported above
Clean Ways
- Want to do community wide clean up for Earth Day, which is Saturday, April 19
- Idea is to have volunteers meet at the park, transport them out and have them clean their way back to the park. Zeke could lend a bus.
- Will have to find out insurance coverage and ask BOS for approval
9. Committee Structure Options
Goal is to reduce the wide range of topics covered at each PRT Meeting.
- One option is to pull Energy and Streams out of PRT and create an Environmental Committee; or have those two subcommittees meet separately and report to this Committee.
- Instead, decided to circulate supporting materials electronically. Committee members should e-mail to Peggy Lennon (treasurer@pocopson.org) at least ten days before the meeting so that one e-mail can be sent a week before each meeting, with an agenda and one set of attachments. Committee members agreed to review any documentation ahead of time.
- Zeke will keep a tighter rein on discussions going off on tangents.
- Activities of other Committees don’t necessarily link with this Committee’s mission, So, no longer necessary for the reports on other Committees to include every FYI item; will only report on those items that require action from this Committee.
10. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:50 PM.
_____________________________________________________
Ezekiel C. Hubbard, Chair, Parks, Recreation & Trails Committee
______________________________
Peggy Lennon,
Recording Secretary