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 Good afternoon, everyone. It is 1231, and I would like to welcome everyone to the December

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 14, 2020 Parks Board meeting. This is our last meeting for 2020. I am Frances Punch,

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 chair for the Parks Board. And as of right now, we have one excused absence. Do we have

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 any participants from the public? We do not. Okay, thank you, Taylor. The first item for

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 consideration is approval of the minutes from the November 2020 meeting. Any questions,

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 concerns? Do you have a question, Mr. Emmerich? You are muted. James, I see you talking, but

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 you are muted. Sorry. Yeah, I just want them to go ahead and make a motion. They look good

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 to me. Okay. Anybody have any questions, concerns about the minutes before we move? Okay. May

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 I have a motion to approve the minutes? So moved. Second? I second that. Just a point

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 of information, Frances, I'm sorry. Do we have enough people for a quorum to be able

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 to make that? I know we only have four in here. Is that? That is a quorum. Okay. And

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 actually we have five. We have Ms. Denona Lee. Oh, I didn't see Denona down there. Okay.

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 Thank you. We are covered. But thank you for your observation. Okay. All in favor? Raise

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 your hands. Ms. Lee, may I have an indication? Anyone opposed? Anyone opposed? Motion passes.

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 Okay. We're going to deviate from the agenda a little bit and we're going to move item

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 E up and we're going to discuss the Southwest Park master plan for the City of Denton Park

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 System. You are muted, Mr. Packin. I'm mute now. Gary Packin, Parks and Recreation. Drew

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 Huffman is going to chime in here as well. We've been working on our master plan process

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 for Southwest Park over the past few months. It's late summer. We do have a focus group

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 we have a meeting with them later this week to kind of go through the same process and

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 get them up to speed on kind of where we've been and what our next steps are. We have

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 a number of members of our consultant team on board. Mick Massey, Bill Smith are here

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 as well. And they're going to go through a PowerPoint and get try to gain some feedback

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 from you guys in regards to what you envision at the park. We have a number of platforms

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 that we've gathered intelligence from the community, whether it's our needs assessment.

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 We've had a couple public meetings. We've had some smaller group meetings. And then

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 we have our focus group as well. Obviously, Park Board is a main connectivity to our community.

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 So I'll make sure we're getting your feedback. And then we'll also be reaching out to City

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 Council now that we know who's all going to be on council once they're seated and get

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 some feedback from them. So at this point in time, I'll turn it over to Drew and see

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 if he has anything to add to that. And then we can kind of work through the exercise.

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 I think Gary went through all the really aspects of how we've put together this master plan

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 so far. And like Gary said, we can't do it without our consultants. They've been great

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 through all these different processes and public meetings. So we look forward to your

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 input. So I'll hand it over to Mick and Bill. Okay. Hello, everyone. My name is Mick Massey.

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 I'm with Barker, Rinker, CCAT architecture. We're based in Grapevine, Texas and in Denver,

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 Colorado. I'm working with Tignall and Perkins TNP. Bill Smith, who is on the phone.

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 I'm on the road today. So yeah, I'm on the road. So that's why I'm muted. You'll be

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 muted off. Thanks, Mick. You bet. And we've been working for a few weeks on actually a

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 few months on the Southwest Park programming and master plan for the new park. And we wanted

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 to use this day to give you an update and to take your input. So I'm going to walk through

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 a slide presentation that we've prepared that'll give you a little background on where we've

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 been and where we're going, as well as trying to solicit some input from you all today.

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 So let's just launch right in if we can. Okay. You know your staff. We're so pleased to be

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 working with such great staff in Denton. And we're also very pleased to be working with

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 a focus group that you probably recognize a lot of the names that are on this slide.

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 They've been very valuable to this process that we're in. It's a good sounding board,

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 if you will, and we're really pleased to be hearing from all of them as they've been giving

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 their input. Bill is on the left. That's me in the middle. And then we also include Dr.

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 Joe Walker from UNT. Y'all are so blessed to have a professor and Dr. Walker in your

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 community. My gosh, the level of service that you're getting is so far above other cities.

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 It's just great to have him on the team. He's also a dear friend of all of ours. So couldn't

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 do it without him. This is a schedule. I know you can't read it, but this is something we're

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 following along. But basically the bottom line is here we are in December gathering

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 more input. You're a part of that input today. Very exciting for us to get this input. And

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 then please just know that we're on schedule to deliver the final product, the deliverables

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 in March of 2021. That's our goal, and we're on pace to do that. So we feel really confident

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 with our timeline that we're on. The purpose of today's meeting is to gather input on this

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 really important park, really important park for Denton, Southwest Park. We had a focus

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 group meeting that's been mentioned that we're going to also hear from on Thursday, but this

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 is y'all's term, and we want to confirm some of the planned priorities that have been emerging

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 so far. So let's just jump right into it. Let me just say that in preparation for this,

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 I wanted to share with you that we're focusing on the big items. How do you get the big items

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 into the jar first? You know, like the old adage about the jar of life story, where you've

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 got the big rocks, you've got the medium-sized rocks, and you've got the small rocks. Well,

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 those are elements of the park. Think of them as such in this case. Today, we're focusing

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 on the big items. We want to make sure we get that right so that we can fill the jar,

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 fill the park, the park master plan. So what you see here, what we want to avoid is we

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 don't want to do it in reverse and not have everything fit into this park. So today is

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 about focusing on those bigger park items. And so we've been listening to the public.

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 We've been listening to your focus group. We've been doing a lot of other work. In fact,

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 one of the things we've revealed or uncovered is that your overall Park and Recreation Master

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 Plan, while it's in progress, has taught us that Denton approaches parks of this size

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 to be a primary related to as a city park. Now, a city park serves as a center, if you

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 will, it's a destination for recreation activities. And it is to serve the entire city or a large

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 region of the city. Does that make sense to everybody? I hope it does.

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 Just to give everybody an idea that we consider North Lakes Park, South Lakes Park to be our

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 city parks, the Mills property that we purchase, as well as Southwest Park, we envision those

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 to be city parks as well. And Quaker Town downtown could be considered a city park.

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 Although it doesn't necessarily fit the acreage and size, it's definitely one of the main

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 more probably on the top two gathering spots in the city. So that's give you an idea on

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 that, what other city parks are in the system. Very good. Thank you, Gary. So what what else

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 can a city park do? Or what's its function? Well, it's includes a wide range of amenities

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 that can be in a city park, from passive recreation to active recreation. And then some

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 things that might not be suitable for smaller parks. If you think about athletic fields,

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 for example, you wouldn't put a complex an athletic complex in the middle of a of a neighborhood

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 park as a just as an example. These are known as flagships, this is going to be a destination

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 for your residents. And it's going to be something of pride for the park system that we feel

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 very strongly about. So we're happy to take you all through this balanced approach that

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 we've been on this journey. First, we started with data collection, we looked at the city

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 of Denton focus group, and got their input, we did some public input, there's been surveys

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 done as part of the Denton Parks and Recreation open space master plan. So all this data collection

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 has been very useful to the team, and very confirming about what needs to be in the plan.

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 We're also using what we call best practices. When you look across the nation, when you

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 look across Texas, and you see parks of this magnitude, how they come together, what are

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 the industry standards, what are the elements that need to be considered that need to go

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 into this, this park, those are some of the questions we've been asking our design team.

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 And we want to make sure that what we bring to you is a balanced approach that fits into

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 the overall system of Parks and Recreation for the city of Denton. Then last of all,

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 we want to balance that with executive input. And we consider you all to be part of this

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 balanced approach. So we've been busy on the first two items, data collection and best

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 practices, but we were wanting to take a pause in the action of developing this master plan

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 and come to you today, listen to what you have to say, and gather your input. So first

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 of all, let us tell you what we've learned along the way about data collection. There's

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 been over 1200 points of contact from the general residential community on the facility

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 preferences through your surveys, through the Park and Recreation Open Space Master Plan.

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 That's very important because this is a voice of your citizenry. And we take it very seriously

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 as we're looking at all the elements of the park. Public input meetings, we've had two

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 of those. They've been online. They've worked very, very well. We did an online survey in

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 the meeting and collected some data there to also consider. And then we've had one Southwest

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 Park-focused group meeting, as Gary mentioned, whereas another one this week. We've also

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 through staff received a lot of emails, phone calls, and face-to-face discussions on the

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 master plan and what the contents thereof. So let's run through what the data collection

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 on the outdoor program results were. We heard from the public that trails were number one,

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 but they really value trails. And trails can be multi-use trails. They can be off-road

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 trails. They can be single-track trails. But people want to walk for exercise. And this

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 is really no big surprise in Texas. The second item on their priority was playgrounds, all

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 kinds of playgrounds. They can be small. They can be large. They can be destination playgrounds.

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 And then comfort, restrooms, very, very important on people's mind. They want to come spend

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 time at this park, and so restrooms would support that need. Then open space. Now think

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 of this as programmable space that you can just picnic in, fly a kite, kick a ball, be

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 with your family. Open space is very important, but that can also include activities such

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 as picnicking. And then people in Denton really value their trees. And looking at this property,

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 there's a need for more hardwood trees, and they value that. So that tells us we need

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 to really focus on trees and tree establishment, establishing a forest in Southwest Park. Outdoor

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 fitness. This is a growing trend across the United States right now. We feel like this

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 is a really important item, and so does the public. Small amphitheater for events, for

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 gathering, for being a community and coming together in the park. Very important element.

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 Number eight, athletic fields. You have a system-wide delivery of parks in your community,

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 and there are needs for athletics throughout. But this park can sustain it, and it's on

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 the public's mind, and it's ranked number eight. And then number nine was multiuse pavilion,

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 place for people to gather for family events, church outings, all kinds of things. You know,

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 events can take place there. And then outdoor learning and adventure. Now that can mean

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 anything from birding to education to partnering with your schools, but outdoor learning is

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 very much on people's minds, which is fantastic. Now we took a look at that from a staff and

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 a consultant standpoint. We asked ourselves, "Well, is there anything missing from the

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 best practices list for parks of this magnitude?" And we looked at the best practices, and we

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 did consider adding to that list dog park, because it is a regional park, because it's

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 going to draw people from greater distances, and it has the landmass to be able to support

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 it. That did make the list from the best practices standpoint. Now, if you compare those two

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 side by side, the good news is when you look at data collected from the public, you look

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 at best practices, those two lists are not that different. In fact, they're very much

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 aligned with each other when you look at the top 10 overall. Now the priorities might be

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 just a little bit different, but from a side by side comparison, that is very good news.

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 We're not far apart in best practices and what the public is saying, and that's very

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 encouraging. Let's look at indoor results, starting with data collection. This park has

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 a potential of having an indoor component to it, and we asked the public questions about

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 indoor recreation, and this is what came back. Number one, indoor walk/jog track. Again,

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 no surprise. This is what the number one exercise activity people look for in the public, usually,

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 for walking for exercise and walking for health. It's no surprise that that made the list as

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 number one. Oh, by the way, these are all number ones. They're one A, B, C, and so on,

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 because the public's first impression about indoor recreation for this park was that a

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 multi-use, multi-generational center would be on this site. Multi-generational means

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 that you're covering everybody from preschool all the way up to senior citizens in this.

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 It's a very efficient delivery of your indoor recreation. But there are also outdoor adjacencies,

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 and so they value the fact that there's this inside to outside connection with the rec

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 center that's indoors and then outdoor spaces like event patios and possible gardens to

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 grow vegetables and learn from. Adult fitness. Adult fitness is very much on their minds.

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 They need a place to go work out and be healthy. Senior programming, and this can be everything

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 from passive to active seniors. We see seniors right now as go-go seniors, slow-go seniors,

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 and no-go seniors, and this would be programmed to fit their needs. And then at gymnasium,

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 we have noticed that there is a gymnasium deficit in Denton. By that I mean there's

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 need for gymnasium space. And so as your population is growing and you're looking to the southwest,

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 it makes perfect sense, and it's on the public's mind that a gymnasium and sport courts would

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 be on their mind. Indoor playground. There's hardly a recreation center that we design

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 these days that does not have an indoor playground. There's an interesting fact that's going on

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 right now, and that is grandparents are, for the first time in America, more responsible

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 than ever for raising a grandchild or overseeing the well-being of a grandchild ever in our

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 country's history. And so sometimes that can be an inhibitor from a grandparent enjoying

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 the programs of a multi-use, multi-generational rec center. So having this playground is a

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 great destination for your community and will help all populations to be able to go to it

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 when the weather's not great. And then party rooms. Party rooms are very important, especially

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 if there's a really good playground or some indoor aquatics. This is like the number one

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 generating revenue space inside of a recreation center. And then indoor aquatics and lap pool.

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 This is item number two, the first being the multi-generational rec center, item number

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 two being the indoor aquatics with a lap pool. No surprise there it's on people's mind. They

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 valued indoor aquatics. And then I was really, really pleased to hear that the public recognizes

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 that a park maintenance facility is going to be needed in such a large park. It's also

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 going to be needed probably in your region of the city down there because of the size

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 of Denton. It's very efficient to be able to have employees go to a maintenance facility

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 such as this and be efficient in your delivery of maintenance as opposed to driving all the

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 way across town with vehicles and mowers and that sort of thing. So really happy that the

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 public had this on their mind. When we looked at best practices for indoor programming,

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 we thought you all might want to consider putting aerobics studios into the equation.

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 Also classrooms for classes and for art. And then outdoor aquatics. It could be as small

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 as a spray ground or even a little bit larger. And then there's room in your community and

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 when you look at the park and recreation open space master plan, there's the possibility

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 or the probability that a field house may be in your need to be discussed about taking

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 care of the needs of your community. So we wanted to make sure that in best practices

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 we've considered that the possibility that a field house may need to influence the outcome

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 of the park and rec or excuse me the southwest park master plan. So when you do the side

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 by side comparison of indoor recreation with the data that's collected and the best practices,

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 they're not that far apart again so something to celebrate the best practices list has a

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 few more items on it on indoor. And that leads us to where we are right now. If you look

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 at all this for the outdoors, the thing that's missing is hearing from you. It's hearing

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 from you all as advisors to the city. So we would like to pause and Gary and Drew and

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 myself, Bill, we're going to turn it over to you all to listen. Did we hear the public

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 right? Are we on the right track? What would you like to see populate a list that from

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 as executives of this community that needs to be over here from your input standpoint?

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 So I'm going to turn it over to Gary to facilitate and others. And Francis, would you like to

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 say a few words? >> Thank you, Mick. I would love to give you

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 just a little bit of feedback. I've had the opportunity to attend the two meetings and

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 I feel they were well run and organized. I had one question. If we did include additional

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 members from the Bonnie bray street, I knew that was a concern from the last meeting.

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 So that has been done. >> Yeah, we have some additional people plus

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 we reached out to one of the neighborhoods specifically that they're supposed to have

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 a an annual meeting and hopefully we're going to get invited to that. They hadn't scheduled

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 it as of yet to go talk to them. And that's the vintage neighborhood on the north side.

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 So that's definitely what's unique there is we do have some residents that don't live

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 in the city really close, but they do butt up against the building. So there's a, you

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 know, there's difference in the border there between the city and Argyle. And then it's

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 confusing for some of the residents too because they have Argyle addresses. So that's a little

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 bit of a challenge that we've been working through with the community. Maria has an online

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 survey for the outdoor amenities that she's going to bring up and run through that for

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 us. Keep in mind what's unique about this property is why we're asking the residents

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 that do live near the property, most of the users to this park aren't even in debt yet

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 because there's so many houses yet to be built. So while we're trying to gather feedback,

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 we also have to anticipate what's going to be there 10 years from now, 20 years from

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 now because this is a hundred year old park eventually, you know, and we have to anticipate

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 what the needs are. It's not going to be built all at one time. It can be built in phases

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 as it's needed and grow into its property. But that's the one unique thing about this

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 is this is an open field in the middle of a dense area. It's for the most part very

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 rural still. So we're just still growing into that. So Maria, if you can bring up your survey.

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 Can you guys hear me okay, Gary? Yes. Yes. How can I, how can I share the survey? I'm

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 trying to figure out how I share the link. If someone can give her the ability to share

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 her screen. I stopped sharing. So you can just go to the bottom and click share if you'd

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 like. Okay. Let me actually, what I need to do is send them the link. Oh, okay. I'm going

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 to send them the link and then they will have the picture survey to rank it for you and

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 then you'll be able to do the results. Gotcha. Okay. Send it to Eddie if you can. Okay. Okay.

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 Sorry guys. I was expecting to see the chat. So the way this is going to work is you're

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 seeing on the screen, you know, the left is the data collected, the middle is the best

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 practices and now we need your input. This link that's going to come to you is going

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 to be interactive. It's going to be kind of fun. So you get to give your preferences and

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 then we'll get the feedback and we'll be able to populate this empty table here with the

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 preferences from the part board. Does that all make sense? Everybody kind of follow along

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 them? Yeah. Bear with us as we're trying to do this online. It's the first time we're

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 trying to roll this out. If we need to do it the old school way, we'll do it the old

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 school way. And Mick, while they're doing that, I have already completed our surveys,

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 so I do not want to skew the numbers. Gotcha. You're so good. That's great. And I want to

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 point out though, by the way, that this is the outdoor slides and then we've got indoor

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 as a separate, you know, entity in there. So don't want to be confused. You know, first

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 rule is focus on the outdoor. You can see those outdoor elements that we heard from

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 the public and then the best practices. Can I interject? Yes. Eddie Valdez, management

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 analyst. Park board members, you can check your email right now. You should have received

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 it. And it's just one link. You just click on it. So I forwarded that email to you. Maria,

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 this is Gary. Are we able to show the results as it happens? Yes, I'm going to send, also

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 send him the, as they're doing it right now, I'm going to get a link to the live analytics

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 so that you guys can view the responses. That's what you're asking for, right? Yes. Thanks

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 for doing that, Maria. That's impressive that you can do that. Now, if there's something

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 that's not on the survey that they want to add, can they do that as well? Not on, not

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 on this one. Maybe just included it in an email back to you. James, did you have a question?

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00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:36,920
 Yeah, I do. Can you hear me okay? Yes. Okay. One question I have for, is it kind of, kind

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 of combine some of these like, for example, athletic, athletic fields. One of the things

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 I've heard is for mothers have multiple kids. And, you know, their kids might be playing,

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 you know, at different fields, maybe put a playground, a covered playground, a rest room

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 out in the middle, out the middle so the mother can, you know, watch her kids, young kids

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 in the playground. And at the same time, see your kids play ball or whatever it is, soccer.

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 Just, just an idea. But I'm thinking of, we had a lot of kids. So I believe, you know,

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 large families, you know, where they have a lot of kids, you're trying to take care

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 of them all at the same time, right? Yep. You must be, you must be running around in

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 our head because we were thinking the exact same thing. We've designed multiple ball fields

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 and you do have a situation where in league play or in tournament play, you've got families

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 that come there. Well, they come there with siblings, as well as the players. They come

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 there with grandparents. They come with chairs and ice, you know, ice chests. And sometimes

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 it's a full day out there. And so we want to really focus on their comfort. We're kicking

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 around some ideas about, you know, especially in tournament situations where the tailgate,

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 now that doesn't necessarily mean like a college tailgate. That means like a little league

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 tailgate where you've got soft drinks and, and, and maybe it's, you need a place to be

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 able to pitch one of those easy up tents, you know, where you can get into some shade

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 when it's hot. That's the kind of thing we're talking about. And playgrounds is very much

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 part of it. I'm really glad you're thinking about that, James, because we are too. And

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 I think it's a very important make Maria sent you the link to bring it up. And I would add

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 to James's comment. Actually, my mother just visited one in Keller, a dog park with a playground

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 next to it. So you could have your dogs play while also watching your children play. Oh,

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 and she thought that was a wonderful addition that didn't would enjoy. There you go. They

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 did that in Flower Mound, and it's the most popular covered playground in the whole the

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 whole town. Okay. And they have the restroom in the middle next to it. So you can, you

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 know, take care of essentials to. All right, let's see here. For some reason, I'm just getting

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 a blank screen on those results. Maria, are you getting the results? I am Gary. I am.

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 Let's let somebody who's got them the results share those. Gary, are you able to I'm hooked

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 up to my email. So I'm on a separate remote computer so I cannot

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 we could send them to Heather or Caroline, see if they could share it. Try it that way.

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 If not, we may have to just go old school. I want to make sure I got it. I have a lot

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 going on here. I didn't want to share my screen. Okay. Well, she's working on that. I want

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 to chime in real quick about the the one section on there of trees, the the trees that are

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 on that property, honey locusts. A lot of your second story second tier trees. Very

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 large needles on those honey locusts. There's some huge needles out there. So we are going

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 to have to replant a forest as we build that park. Obviously, we don't go in and clear

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 cut everything, there will have to be some areas that will have to be cleared for for

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 whatever was decided to go there. But at the long term, the trees that exist in that park

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 are for the most part not the trees that are going to be there forever. That that property

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 was cleared at one point in time and these trees grew in its place. So we're going to

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 have to figure out how to regrow that forest on that property over the next, you know,

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 2030 years. A lot of Mesquite. Yeah, Mesquite. Yeah, I see it. There it goes. Looks like

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 it's downloading. Am I staring my screen right now? Yep, we see a red diamond with a checkmark

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 in it. Mind if I interject real quick before we move on? Does anyone in your team have

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 a person with the name of Matt or Matt Hancock? Hancock. Yeah, he's not on my list. And he's

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 waiting in the weight room. So he's with TNP. He's part of the consultant. Yeah, you can

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 let him in. OK, thank you. OK. So. So it looks like trails. Scored the highest with 48 points.

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 Looks like forest came in second with forty six restrooms. Next at 40 open space at 35

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 playgrounds at 31. And then multi-use pavilion, 28 small amphitheater, 23 adult outdoor fitness.

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 Oh, excuse me, small. Yeah, small amphitheater. Twenty three outdoor fitness. Twenty two.

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 Outdoor learning at 20. And then. Dog park and then athletic fields, it looks like. Very

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00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:43,680
 good. Thank you all for your input. OK, Maria, are you ready to switch to indoor? I don't

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 know. Forgive me, Guy. We had some glitches with the indoor. OK, well, we'll just do it

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 old school then. All right, I'm going to share. Just just to add, Francis, what we'll do is

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 we'll make sure that we add in the board members that are not present as well to make sure

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 their input is in there before we move forward on final numbers. Thank you. I was going to

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 recommend that. Thank you, Mr. Packard. Now, if you do want to do a visual survey, I can

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 I can fix the glitches and have it sent this afternoon to the individuals that are in this

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 meeting. Yeah, we could. We could at least just kind of go through and have a kind of

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 old school discussion on this and then we can share the link and they can do that. So

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 we have an official vote. That'd be very helpful. That sounds good. I see Mr. Emmerich has his

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 hand. Real quick question. Part of my problem making these inputs is that I don't know how

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 we how big picture is. How is Gary? How are we for sports fields? Are we up to par? Do

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 we have enough sports fields for the population of the city? So I guess that would help me

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 prioritize, you know, keeping kids busy is a big issue. So I'm just wondering, do we

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 have enough sports fields or not? So make if you want me to answer that. So what we've

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 looked at is and through all the data collection is the best practices also. So like what Gary

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 said in the beginning, we're designing and really master planning this park for people

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 that don't live here yet. So if you remember through all our conversations, especially

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 the biggest is the Hunter Cole property that's coming. 80,000 people will be coming to that

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 area in the next 40 years. So what do what needs to be there for the next 80,000 residents

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 of the city of Denton in the southern Denton. So what we know is South Denton today won't

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 be South Denton 40 years from now, because we've grown so much, you know, in our 90 square

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 miles what what today is North Denton won't be North Denton 40 years from now either.

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 So with everything in the planning process, we've taken really the that data, the knowledge

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 that we have of who's coming and when they're coming or when they're anticipated to come

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 and what needs to be there. So, you know, we do have Evers and Dena and North Lakes,

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 but is that is that enough for 80,000 more residents? So that's something if you really

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 think about what what needs to be there, especially with, you know, when we moved to indoor is

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 what we have today really even enough for the residents we have today, much less another

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 80,000 residents. That's just Hunter Cole. That's not that doesn't include all the other

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 developments that are that are developing in and around, you know, South South Denton

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 or Denton itself to be able to go there because just like all of us, you know, we go to North

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 Lakes to play for, you know, one reason or another, we go to South Lakes to play for

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 one reason or another. And really this 200 acres is the same size as South Lakes. Granted,

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 South Lakes doesn't have ball fields, but North Lakes does. You know, so it just happens

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 to be probably during the way it looks, the timing process of South Lakes and Dena, the

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 ball fields decided to go to Dena instead of South Lakes. So and then, you know, South

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 Lakes also has an opportunity that Dena doesn't in with, you know, our fishing ponds and

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 then, you know, with our natural space that's there and are, you know, the largest playground

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 we have in our system. So that's good. I'm just trying to get a reference point. So,

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 for example, in the past, when we looked at fields, the national standards recommended

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 some national standards. I can't remember what the standards were, but I do remember

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 what the standard is when it's like one baseball field for every 10,000 people. And you calculate

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 three and a half acres for every ball field that covers the ball field plus all the parking

348
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 requirements for that field, you know, practice areas next to it, you know, etc. But so and

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 there was soccer fields was one for every 10,000 and since soccer became more popular

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 then, you know, that got changed to one field for every thousand. I think medium size field

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 was a reference, not because there's a big, as you know, there's a big difference between

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 a medium size and a large field. So that's the kind of thing that I was looking for,

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 because you know, you're voting here on what we wanted as property. Okay, it's pretty obvious.

354
00:39:26,560 --> 00:39:30,560
 I think the needs going to be there for athletic fields. I don't know, because I don't know

355
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 the reference to it. I'm comparing it to that's the problem. So I'm trying to understand.

356
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 Today we're not saying that we're not saying that 15 baseball or softball fields are going

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 there and 10 soccer fields. We're not saying that at all. We're just saying how can how

358
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 can we rank what what our choices are at the moment? Right, but if we're in deep demand,

359
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 there was we were way behind on say soccer fields, I'm just going to pick them, you know,

360
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 soccer fields, we got, you know, let's say we have, you know, 200,000 people, kids that

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 play soccer, okay, and you need, you know, so that's 20 soccer fields by the old standard,

362
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 so and we only have 10 fields, that tells me we're woefully behind on soccer fields,

363
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 that would increase the value or the my vote on going for more sport athletic fields, you

364
00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:30,780
 see where I'm coming from? Yes, reference here. Can I chime in for a second? I understand

365
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 what you're saying, James. And I think what they're trying to figure out right now is

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 the community's, like how much they want those soccer fields, because it was ranked pretty

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 low in the top 10. And it was different than like the national standard. And so maybe our

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 community doesn't want to have those soccer fields as much as others. I don't know that

369
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 for sure, because I don't know the exact data. I'm just saying I don't know that we are like

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 exactly like every other community here in Denton. And so I think what we're trying to

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 do right now is understand what the Denton community wants and what the standard is for

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 everybody blanket it. If we could be polite and not speak over one another. Thank you

373
00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:37,200
 so much. Ms. Presley, please finish. Thanks. I'm pretty much done. I just because it I

374
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 just wanted to make the point that outdoor learning or I'm sorry, outdoor spaces and

375
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 open spaces and trails seem to be a higher priority than the like athletic fields. So

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 if we have a lot of space, but you need a lot of space for those things that were higher

377
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 priority. So it just I think that's what we're looking at right now is just everybody's ranking

378
00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:06,000
 of like what's most important before we use any kind of like algorithm to figure out how

379
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 many people per acre of baseball field we have. That's what I'm hearing anyways. Thank

380
00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:19,320
 you, Lana for your feedback. Mr. Emmerich. Do you have a rebuttal or comment to her comment?

381
00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:24,000
 I agree. And I think the key word here is a lot of people have moved here yet. So the

382
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 open I'm actually leaning towards the open space because open space later on in the future,

383
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 you can change it to practice soccer fields or baseball fields or if you don't have the

384
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 open space, then you have no chance for it. Absolutely. So if you have your survey and

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 if fields or athletic fields is in your number one, please rank it accordingly. I already

386
00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:54,720
 sent mine in. Yeah, just I'm just saying that it's without the backdrop of the need the

387
00:42:54,720 --> 00:43:01,880
 overall needs. Oh, that's all I'm lacking that perspective. I understand. Mr. Schutt,

388
00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:10,800
 did you have a comment? I mean, I think my my my comment was I think this is just we

389
00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:16,840
 can approach this in a way where all things equal from from from need perspective or from

390
00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:22,480
 numbers or metrics perspective. We can we can remove that off of the table and and consider

391
00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:28,320
 this maybe not even hard and hard and fast data, but more of kind of a gut feel of the

392
00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:35,120
 things that are important to people as a whole, not not not whether the need is being met

393
00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:39,640
 numerically or whatnot. But really, are these things that people are interested in? And

394
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:43,760
 I think if we can step back and look at it from a little higher level, that might even

395
00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:50,840
 that might benefit us a little bit. Just just my thoughts. Thank you, sir. So do we have

396
00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:57,840
 what do we what do we decide on the indoor? I have updates real quick just to chime in.

397
00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:02,500
 We'll definitely look at how we compare and Eddie's actually tabulates all that information

398
00:44:02,500 --> 00:44:06,960
 every year for our park metrics survey. But the one thing that we do have to consider

399
00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:13,360
 to is everything that's on this list may not end up going into the park. And they may go

400
00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:18,500
 in other areas close to that that area if we can't fit them or the priorities aren't

401
00:44:18,500 --> 00:44:23,880
 the same. And that we are looking at other parks in that area too. So this is this is

402
00:44:23,880 --> 00:44:28,880
 good information for this parcel and it won't be the only place we use it for sure. And

403
00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:36,440
 then the other thing is, we we don't have a lot of large parks that are all upland.

404
00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:42,120
 We have a lot of property that's in the floodplain. So we can't put a lot of these spaces there.

405
00:44:42,120 --> 00:44:48,480
 So if we are going to need fields of, you know, large amounts or whatever, there's only

406
00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:52,720
 going to be a selective area that we can put those lists of going by more land that's upland.

407
00:44:52,720 --> 00:44:58,160
 So that that's the other thing to consider. It's not it's not real cut and dry and it's

408
00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:01,960
 not easy to decide because we're dealing with people that don't live here yet. The need

409
00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:05,880
 is not necessarily there yet. But we're trying to anticipate it and use this as a planning

410
00:45:05,880 --> 00:45:12,160
 tool and whatever's decided on the master plan, it'd be it'd be fantastic if it works out

411
00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:16,960
 exactly how we plan it today. But most likely, there's going to be some sort of adaption

412
00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:22,080
 to that along the way too. So this while this is getting us headed in that direction, it's

413
00:45:22,080 --> 00:45:28,220
 not the final final discussion point, I guess to say is a very good point, Gary. And that's

414
00:45:28,220 --> 00:45:33,160
 why we started with the jar. And we're trying to look at the big elements that people talked

415
00:45:33,160 --> 00:45:38,800
 about. Do they fit? Could they fit into the park? And so we needed your input kind of

416
00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:44,780
 like Mr. David said, you know, big level, is this is this the kind of thing that y'all

417
00:45:44,780 --> 00:45:49,320
 can imagine in your, your city park, we're going to go, we're going to take all this

418
00:45:49,320 --> 00:45:54,200
 input and start to play with the geometry and figure out what fits, look at all the

419
00:45:54,200 --> 00:46:01,600
 impacts of different things. For example, what's what about the traffic on the adjacent roads

420
00:46:01,600 --> 00:46:06,000
 coming in and out of this park, you know, we want to we want to try to bring a very,

421
00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:12,800
 really well balanced part to you a master plan. So this is one step in a journey of

422
00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:19,360
 helping to shape the vision for this master plan. But we do need that empirical data.

423
00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:24,960
 Mr. James, we do, we need to understand what what that tells us. And then, just like Elena

424
00:46:24,960 --> 00:46:30,120
 said, we need to understand what the Denton community is responding to. So we're, we're

425
00:46:30,120 --> 00:46:35,040
 trying to mash all that together, just figure out what's the balance approach. And I hope

426
00:46:35,040 --> 00:46:40,920
 that makes sense to you. So we have fixed that we have fixed the the the challenge with

427
00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:47,080
 the indoor survey. So Maria has that up around sent over to Eddie. If you can share that,

428
00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:51,400
 can I chime in real quick, you should have received the email sent it about a couple

429
00:46:51,400 --> 00:46:55,520
 of minutes ago. So please take a look at your email. Let me know you haven't received it.

430
00:46:55,520 --> 00:47:01,160
 Thank you. And the reason why we decided to do this in person is just to really create

431
00:47:01,160 --> 00:47:07,280
 those discussion points and open up the, you know, ideas and feedback. So you know, James,

432
00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:11,560
 what you mentioned is a great question. But that's the purpose of why we're trying to

433
00:47:11,560 --> 00:47:19,140
 do this live. Pardon any of the technology kind of challenges, we're trying to figure

434
00:47:19,140 --> 00:47:23,320
 out the best way to do it ourselves. But we'll definitely be circling around with everybody

435
00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:26,680
 that's not here and make sure we get everyone's information and we can share that with you

436
00:47:26,680 --> 00:47:34,160
 in a future report. If I can say real quick, while while you guys are going through this

437
00:47:34,160 --> 00:47:41,320
 next section, I will fix the the sub ones and let you guys survey those sub the sub

438
00:47:41,320 --> 00:47:48,200
 priorities relative to the Recreation Center. So the survey that you received is the one,

439
00:47:48,200 --> 00:47:55,040
 three, four and five, um, to survey in order of priority and then I'll send the next one

440
00:47:55,040 --> 00:48:02,260
 that will be specific to the preparation within the Recreation Center. Does that make sense?

441
00:48:02,260 --> 00:48:10,280
 Is anyone having trouble? Excuse me, can you stop sharing so we can see each other? Sure.

442
00:48:10,280 --> 00:48:18,280
 I can only click to one and two. I can't click after that. Oh, fine. Let me go in and see

443
00:48:18,280 --> 00:48:24,760
 what's going on and I'll let him now fix that and holler back while he's presenting so I

444
00:48:24,760 --> 00:48:33,920
 don't slow you guys down. Just to confirm I had the same problem. You did? Okay. It'll

445
00:48:33,920 --> 00:48:38,080
 land on my hands. Yes, I can only choose to. Oh, good deal. Okay, I will go in and see

446
00:48:38,080 --> 00:48:44,480
 what's going on. Sorry, guys. In fact, a little queue at the top before you click it says

447
00:48:44,480 --> 00:48:51,000
 zero of two selected. There's like a little I guess, I don't know, a little thing right

448
00:48:51,000 --> 00:49:00,080
 at the very top and you can tell as soon as you open it. Okay, I'm on it right now. Thanks,

449
00:49:00,080 --> 00:49:11,440
 Gary. For the sake of time, Gary, what do you think about us doing this and bringing

450
00:49:11,440 --> 00:49:14,880
 the information, sending the information back? Because we're going to run out of time to

451
00:49:14,880 --> 00:49:26,720
 cover the additional information on the agenda. You're on mute. That would be perfectly fine,

452
00:49:26,720 --> 00:49:31,880
 you know, and if anyone has any questions, they can follow up in an email that Eddie

453
00:49:31,880 --> 00:49:40,360
 will send out and we can use that information and use that as our data collection. Would

454
00:49:40,360 --> 00:49:45,520
 you like me to just wrap it up here then so you can move on to your agenda so that y'all

455
00:49:45,520 --> 00:49:51,760
 will just respond individually with your ranking? Is that what I'm hearing? That would be great.

456
00:49:51,760 --> 00:50:01,400
 Okay. All right. All right. Let me just quickly share this and then we'll move on. All right.

457
00:50:01,400 --> 00:50:06,960
 You know, our next steps is to adhere to that agenda that I showed you earlier, that timeline.

458
00:50:06,960 --> 00:50:14,440
 So again, you know, we're here and we're hoping to crunch all this data, start to put these

459
00:50:14,440 --> 00:50:19,440
 pigment to paper, you know, start to design this park and bring some concepts back of

460
00:50:19,440 --> 00:50:23,560
 how these elements could fit together. And that'll be a work in progress too. You can

461
00:50:23,560 --> 00:50:28,220
 see we're building this layer by layer as we go along and y'all are part of the journey.

462
00:50:28,220 --> 00:50:34,840
 So we appreciate your input today. But we'll be back with you. I want to wish you all a

463
00:50:34,840 --> 00:50:40,400
 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We'll be busy starting the new year, starting to

464
00:50:40,400 --> 00:50:46,700
 put that pigment on paper and look forward to sharing with you what our findings are

465
00:50:46,700 --> 00:50:51,600
 and then get your input as to, you know, if we're going down the right path. So back to

466
00:50:51,600 --> 00:50:59,560
 you, Ms. Francis. Thank you. Thank you, Mick, for all the information. I am, I think that

467
00:50:59,560 --> 00:51:05,760
 the meetings are well organized and I thank you for that. And I hope you're receiving

468
00:51:05,760 --> 00:51:09,840
 the information that you need to move forward. We really are. And we're just so happy to

469
00:51:09,840 --> 00:51:25,260
 be working with you all. Thank you. Happy Holidays. Thank you. Okay, we will move back to the original

470
00:51:25,260 --> 00:51:34,120
 order of the agenda and receive an update for the City of Denton COVID-19 responses.

471
00:51:34,120 --> 00:51:41,920
 Thanks, Francis. Gary Pack in Parks and Recreation. I'm going to call on Caroline here in a second

472
00:51:41,920 --> 00:51:45,900
 to kind of give us an update in regards to some of the specific direction we're going

473
00:51:45,900 --> 00:51:54,080
 in regards to COVID. As you're aware, we have North Lakes Park and MLK are currently open

474
00:51:54,080 --> 00:51:58,940
 and we're still getting, you know, good use. I think maybe recently it slowed down a little

475
00:51:58,940 --> 00:52:06,080
 bit in regards to use at North Lakes, according to staff. And we're coming up to the holidays

476
00:52:06,080 --> 00:52:12,560
 as well. But we had originally looked at opening our senior center on November 30th after talking

477
00:52:12,560 --> 00:52:18,360
 to council earlier that month and giving them an update. And then our COVID numbers between

478
00:52:18,360 --> 00:52:23,960
 that time at council and the 30th started to tick up at a pretty rapid pace. And so

479
00:52:23,960 --> 00:52:30,920
 we're concerned about opening the facility up for especially that vulnerable population.

480
00:52:30,920 --> 00:52:36,960
 We do have, you know, about 25% of our users at our existing rec centers that are open

481
00:52:36,960 --> 00:52:46,160
 are 50 and over. And so we do have, you know, and 65 plus as well. So we do have seniors

482
00:52:46,160 --> 00:52:52,240
 at our facilities. So don't think they're not using them. But we are looking at a dedicated

483
00:52:52,240 --> 00:52:58,760
 senior programming area. We have heard from a number of seniors, they want their building

484
00:52:58,760 --> 00:53:05,480
 open. There's no doubt about that. And, you know, at this point in time with, you know,

485
00:53:05,480 --> 00:53:11,680
 based on August when we hit our first peak, we're four times that amount right now. And

486
00:53:11,680 --> 00:53:18,000
 it just it just concerns us. And we're trying to balance staff has done a great job of trying

487
00:53:18,000 --> 00:53:22,480
 to keep everything clean and keep up with our facility to try to make everybody safe

488
00:53:22,480 --> 00:53:28,480
 as possible. But there's a lot of unknowns. You know, we've had staff in our own organization

489
00:53:28,480 --> 00:53:35,120
 get sick. And the last thing we want is a staff member getting, you know, a customer

490
00:53:35,120 --> 00:53:41,440
 sick too. But, but that's, that's, that's realistically, it can happen. So we decided

491
00:53:41,440 --> 00:53:45,680
 that we were going to delay that and push basically to the spring, we had penciled in

492
00:53:45,680 --> 00:53:52,840
 March 1, as our reopening date for the rest of our facilities. But that's in pencil. And

493
00:53:52,840 --> 00:53:57,800
 hopefully the vaccine gets out soon. And we get and everyone gets that I don't know what

494
00:53:57,800 --> 00:54:02,200
 the timeframe is for that implementation. Since everyone has to go through that, I believe

495
00:54:02,200 --> 00:54:08,900
 twice with two booster shot that we'll try to get our facilities open as soon as possible.

496
00:54:08,900 --> 00:54:14,520
 We're planning for our pools to be open. So we're anticipating the vaccine, you know,

497
00:54:14,520 --> 00:54:19,320
 that's going to be distributed. And we can start reopening our facilities as quickly

498
00:54:19,320 --> 00:54:25,400
 as we can. Our staff are not happy not providing those services. That's what they live for

499
00:54:25,400 --> 00:54:32,040
 and it's a profession they chose. They want to get those facilities open. So it's definitely,

500
00:54:32,040 --> 00:54:37,920
 you know, a hard discussion. And, you know, making sure that we're, we're following all

501
00:54:37,920 --> 00:54:42,960
 safety protocols that we can to the best, the best of our ability. So Caroline, did

502
00:54:42,960 --> 00:54:47,520
 you want to chime in at all on any of the programming aspects?

503
00:54:47,520 --> 00:54:52,880
 We're continuing with our virtual programs. We have ramped up our drive through programs

504
00:54:52,880 --> 00:54:59,080
 this last Saturday, we had a hot cocoa and cookies drive through event at the Civic Center.

505
00:54:59,080 --> 00:55:05,400
 And then moving, like I said, our seniors are very active and want more programs. So

506
00:55:05,400 --> 00:55:10,440
 beginning in January, we'll have a more new schedule of programs to offer the seniors

507
00:55:10,440 --> 00:55:17,560
 each week, crafts, exercise, book, book club, they have a library there. So the senior center

508
00:55:17,560 --> 00:55:25,040
 staff is pulling books for the seniors, a puzzle exchange, so we can keep them active.

509
00:55:25,040 --> 00:55:28,600
 We are, like Gary said, we do have a lot of seniors who visit the recreation centers,

510
00:55:28,600 --> 00:55:35,400
 like you said, 25% are 65 and older, and then about 50% are 50 and older. So they are visiting

511
00:55:35,400 --> 00:55:42,600
 our centers. But we are just eager to serve as soon as it's safe, and we are able to do

512
00:55:42,600 --> 00:55:46,760
 so. And we do have a senior hotline. Do you want

513
00:55:46,760 --> 00:55:51,360
 to give that a plug as well? Yeah, so one of the concerns has been the mental

514
00:55:51,360 --> 00:55:56,200
 health of the seniors. And in the beginning, we were calling the seniors and reaching out

515
00:55:56,200 --> 00:56:01,400
 to them with little success. Most of them did not answer their phones when they did

516
00:56:01,400 --> 00:56:07,040
 not recognize the caller. A few of them called us back, but we have launched a senior talk

517
00:56:07,040 --> 00:56:14,560
 helpline. It's manned by our senior advisory council on Mondays and Thursdays. And we're

518
00:56:14,560 --> 00:56:18,840
 working on getting the word out. We'll have a senior magazine that is going to all households

519
00:56:18,840 --> 00:56:24,480
 with someone 50 or older in January, which will show all the resources that are available

520
00:56:24,480 --> 00:56:31,120
 to seniors in the area as well as that hotline. So we can get more people calling us and we

521
00:56:31,120 --> 00:56:41,720
 can get them the assistance they need. Did you give the number for the hotline, Caroline?

522
00:56:41,720 --> 00:56:56,200
 I can. Give me just a second and I will have that number for you. As I'm looking that up,

523
00:56:56,200 --> 00:57:14,800
 are there any other questions about the programs or activities we are currently offering? I

524
00:57:14,800 --> 00:57:26,580
 was curious why the craft thing was canceled. Sometimes it's in low enrollment. So some

525
00:57:26,580 --> 00:57:36,800
 of our programs do have registration requirements or that cost of service, but it was probably

526
00:57:36,800 --> 00:57:47,880
 role low enrollment was the reason. Sorry, I'm still looking for that number. What do

527
00:57:47,880 --> 00:57:56,240
 you find to be the largest participating of your events? Really? We've had the best luck

528
00:57:56,240 --> 00:58:02,600
 with our drive through events, anything that is free and require registration. That way

529
00:58:02,600 --> 00:58:05,560
 people have the convenience to attend. You know, you never know what your schedule is

530
00:58:05,560 --> 00:58:11,280
 going to look like on a day to day basis. So true. So those have been our most popular

531
00:58:11,280 --> 00:58:16,840
 events, but those ones that are currently are reoccurring in person group exercise,

532
00:58:16,840 --> 00:58:21,040
 those numbers have continued to increase. Like I said, we have seen a dip, but that's

533
00:58:21,040 --> 00:58:25,240
 usually a normal dip between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday. And when we expect

534
00:58:25,240 --> 00:58:32,200
 those numbers to come back up a little bit in January, but it also depends on the COVID

535
00:58:32,200 --> 00:58:37,760
 situation. It seems like there's a lot more people playing disc golf. Like I know it's

536
00:58:37,760 --> 00:58:42,120
 always been popular, but every time I drive down Bonnie Bray, it is like, it doesn't matter

537
00:58:42,120 --> 00:58:47,680
 what time of daylight hours. I made that same observation and that parking lot is packed

538
00:58:47,680 --> 00:58:54,760
 always. Always. Yes. It's definitely, you know, the parks are heavily used right now.

539
00:58:54,760 --> 00:59:01,360
 There's no doubt about it. Whether it's disc golf or even our driving range is getting

540
00:59:01,360 --> 00:59:02,360
 more use.

541
00:59:02,360 --> 00:59:16,960
 So Caroline, when you find it, if you would put it in the chat and then we will, oh, oh,

542
00:59:16,960 --> 00:59:23,720
 do we even have the chat capability? If not, I'll make sure Eddie has it so he can send

543
00:59:23,720 --> 00:59:31,960
 it out to everyone. Fantastic. Thanks. Any questions or any additional information about

544
00:59:31,960 --> 00:59:33,360
 the COVID update?

545
00:59:33,360 --> 00:59:40,880
 I apologize. I have to step away for a second. There is something going on in the other room

546
00:59:40,880 --> 00:59:45,760
 and it sounds dangerous. I'll be right back.

547
00:59:45,760 --> 00:59:52,760
 So just to summarize, I mean, obviously it's still very fluid process with the numbers

548
00:59:52,760 --> 00:59:58,180
 and any governor regulations will definitely be following that. There's places that do

549
00:59:58,180 --> 01:00:02,040
 have senior centers open, you know, maybe restricted and there's some that are completely

550
01:00:02,040 --> 01:00:07,400
 closed like us. So again, there's people that are doing different types of services based

551
01:00:07,400 --> 01:00:12,000
 on, you know, their leadership decisions, but we felt is the best direction to go is

552
01:00:12,000 --> 01:00:19,240
 to be more on the conservative side and try to remain safe for that population, especially

553
01:00:19,240 --> 01:00:26,880
 from an indoor perspective. So sooner the vaccine gets out, the better. Hopefully we

554
01:00:26,880 --> 01:00:29,880
 can, you know, start to move forward.

555
01:00:29,880 --> 01:00:38,700
 Gary, I do have that number. So any seniors wanting to talk, they can call 940-349-8728,

556
01:00:38,700 --> 01:00:41,160
 but I will also make sure Eddie sends that to you in an email.

557
01:00:41,160 --> 01:00:52,820
 We'll repeat it one more time, Caroline. 940-349-8728.

558
01:00:52,820 --> 01:00:55,960
 Thank you so much. I'm sorry, Gary, did you say?

559
01:00:55,960 --> 01:00:59,640
 I'm sorry. That may have been in an email I think Eddie sent last week, if I remember

560
01:00:59,640 --> 01:01:06,040
 correctly, but we'll definitely make sure we get that out again.

561
01:01:06,040 --> 01:01:17,080
 Any additional information about the COVID for the City of Denton? Okay. Next item. We

562
01:01:17,080 --> 01:01:23,040
 are going to receive a report, hold a discussion and give staff input regarding a wildflower

563
01:01:23,040 --> 01:01:25,680
 planting program for the City of Denton.

564
01:01:25,680 --> 01:01:32,400
 Yes. Hey, how you doing? Drew Huffman, assistant director over operations and planning. So

565
01:01:32,400 --> 01:01:37,840
 we did take this to council last Monday and got a lot of good praise for it and there

566
01:01:37,840 --> 01:01:42,880
 should be, we spoke to the Denton Record Chronicle this morning, so look for an article in the

567
01:01:42,880 --> 01:01:48,640
 newspaper for this week. So let me share my screen and I'll start the presentation.

568
01:01:48,640 --> 01:01:54,320
 All right. Can everyone see?

569
01:01:54,320 --> 01:02:02,600
 All right. So Denton's wildflower planning program. So I want to just give you a little

570
01:02:02,600 --> 01:02:10,040
 input on where we got started. So this really started with some input from residents and

571
01:02:10,040 --> 01:02:16,520
 council members. We have a couple areas already that I'll show you in some future slides of

572
01:02:16,520 --> 01:02:21,520
 where we do already have some wildflower plantings, but we went through a lot of different community

573
01:02:21,520 --> 01:02:27,160
 partnerships and inputs, whether that was internal staff with parks and recreation,

574
01:02:27,160 --> 01:02:32,500
 our sustainability department, our environmental services department, the master naturalists,

575
01:02:32,500 --> 01:02:38,880
 master gardeners, native plant society, Denton County beekeepers and other DFW cities and

576
01:02:38,880 --> 01:02:46,400
 city of Austin. And I've spoken to people in Florida and Connecticut and Michigan all

577
01:02:46,400 --> 01:02:53,080
 over the US. So lots of different people have even, Mick and I have even had a conversation

578
01:02:53,080 --> 01:02:59,080
 in his past experience with the city of Richardson really started one of the first programs in

579
01:02:59,080 --> 01:03:05,360
 the mid nineties. And the gentleman that started it for at least for their maintenance department,

580
01:03:05,360 --> 01:03:11,360
 he's still there. So him and I talk, we probably talk monthly for the past seven or eight months.

581
01:03:11,360 --> 01:03:17,800
 And so they've had, they know the pros and cons. They've already had the heartaches and

582
01:03:17,800 --> 01:03:23,520
 the wins in this type of program. So it's been really good to be able to work with a

583
01:03:23,520 --> 01:03:29,600
 local city, you know, in our Metroplex to really see what works and what doesn't work.

584
01:03:29,600 --> 01:03:35,600
 So just a little background, here's a little picture to really to perceive and get you

585
01:03:35,600 --> 01:03:41,460
 to really see what this could be. So in the background of this slide, it kind of shows

586
01:03:41,460 --> 01:03:49,080
 you this is more of an interstate view of what wildflowers are with lots of different

587
01:03:49,080 --> 01:03:53,440
 traffic rolling it back and forth instead of it like we normally have it, whether it's

588
01:03:53,440 --> 01:04:00,480
 either taller grasses on I-35s or it's something in our medians where it's maybe a few landscaped

589
01:04:00,480 --> 01:04:06,160
 areas here and there. And then it's just Bermuda grass. This gives you a really colorful, you

590
01:04:06,160 --> 01:04:12,160
 know, escape as you're driving down the highway where maybe, you know, this is wildflowers

591
01:04:12,160 --> 01:04:19,840
 also serve as somewhat of a traffic calming. When you see color, you know, as you're driving,

592
01:04:19,840 --> 01:04:23,600
 maybe the stresses of traveling back and forth, you know, with traffic, you know, you kind

593
01:04:23,600 --> 01:04:28,400
 of lose that and you kind of step back and just enjoy your scenery, maybe enjoy your

594
01:04:28,400 --> 01:04:34,120
 drive to work or shopping or wherever else you're going to make that a little better.

595
01:04:34,120 --> 01:04:40,360
 So the wildflower planning program's mission is we're going to promote and improve and

596
01:04:40,360 --> 01:04:45,160
 improve and sustain a more environment by replacing vegetation in key public spaces

597
01:04:45,160 --> 01:04:50,320
 and public property with native plants and native wildflowers. So I really want to emphasize

598
01:04:50,320 --> 01:04:54,400
 that again. That's why I, you know, put that in bold letters, native plants and native

599
01:04:54,400 --> 01:05:00,520
 wildflowers. There's some other programs especially here in DFW that use native and adaptive.

600
01:05:00,520 --> 01:05:06,160
 So really with speaking to our master naturalist and master gardeners and native plant society,

601
01:05:06,160 --> 01:05:11,720
 we wanted to make sure that we took the adaptives out of our language and we only use natives.

602
01:05:11,720 --> 01:05:18,760
 So right now we have 200 and approximately 237, 240 acres of right of ways and open space

603
01:05:18,760 --> 01:05:25,320
 that we've identified. This is just phase one of phase 1,000. So this isn't just the

604
01:05:25,320 --> 01:05:31,960
 only 237 acres we're going to concentrate on, but this is wildflowers are a crop. So

605
01:05:31,960 --> 01:05:36,800
 we're going to establish these areas. We're going to plant the wildflowers and the native

606
01:05:36,800 --> 01:05:42,000
 grasses or prairie grasses. We're going to reestablish areas. This is going to take some

607
01:05:42,000 --> 01:05:47,940
 time. So this 237 acres we've identified, we're going to have this and really work towards

608
01:05:47,940 --> 01:05:54,820
 getting these areas established in the next two and a half years. So by 2022, 2023 is

609
01:05:54,820 --> 01:06:00,800
 when we'll really see the best crop of our flowers and hopefully the weather will participate

610
01:06:00,800 --> 01:06:08,940
 with us as we roll through this. So the cost is what is really another good factor in this

611
01:06:08,940 --> 01:06:14,680
 is it's not going to cost us anything. In fact, as the program grows, it will cost us

612
01:06:14,680 --> 01:06:21,040
 less because we're going to initially take $150,000 of what we would normally either

613
01:06:21,040 --> 01:06:27,000
 mow ourselves or contract those areas out to be mowed and we'll reestablish those with

614
01:06:27,000 --> 01:06:33,260
 wildflowers and native grasses and then we won't mow those. So except for maybe one time

615
01:06:33,260 --> 01:06:37,860
 a year, some areas will be mowed once a year, some areas may not be mowed but every three

616
01:06:37,860 --> 01:06:44,640
 years and it'll all be dependent on what species of vegetation is there. So that funding will

617
01:06:44,640 --> 01:06:50,820
 be diverted to continue to purchase either the materials we need as far as the seeds

618
01:06:50,820 --> 01:06:57,220
 go or rent or purchase the equipment needed to plant those seeds. So we will be planting

619
01:06:57,220 --> 01:07:02,960
 the seeds with a no-till seed drill. So it's very important that we don't completely disturb

620
01:07:02,960 --> 01:07:08,700
 the area because we don't want to cause another issue while creating something good. So if

621
01:07:08,700 --> 01:07:14,860
 we were to go in and till that property, then we cause an erosion issue. So especially us

622
01:07:14,860 --> 01:07:19,780
 being in the maintenance industry, we don't want to cause any more headaches on ourselves.

623
01:07:19,780 --> 01:07:26,380
 So we're going to use a no-till seed drill and of course broadcast spread like you would

624
01:07:26,380 --> 01:07:33,000
 anyway, but like we use for other seeds. So goal one, so we're going to identify and design

625
01:07:33,000 --> 01:07:37,380
 key areas. Maintenance will be completed by park maintenance crews. So this is important.

626
01:07:37,380 --> 01:07:42,240
 So we do have some wildflower areas and what was happening is that our contractors, you

627
01:07:42,240 --> 01:07:48,020
 know, their main objective is to mow. Well, sometimes they forget what areas they're supposed

628
01:07:48,020 --> 01:07:52,900
 to mow and not supposed to mow. So they did mow wildflower areas for the past couple of

629
01:07:52,900 --> 01:07:58,940
 years and you saw these pains as we went through contractors in the last couple of years. We

630
01:07:58,940 --> 01:08:02,740
 do have a really good set of contractors on board right now, but we wanted to make sure

631
01:08:02,740 --> 01:08:06,840
 that we took those areas from them that are going to be planted in wildflowers and we

632
01:08:06,840 --> 01:08:11,940
 were going to maintain those areas in-house. Therefore, we have more continuity. We will

633
01:08:11,940 --> 01:08:16,580
 have standard operating procedures. The SOP is written for how to take care of those properties.

634
01:08:16,580 --> 01:08:20,540
 Those properties will be properly signed and I'll show you those signs here in a minute,

635
01:08:20,540 --> 01:08:27,460
 but that was one aspect that we wanted to make sure that drew attention to. And then

636
01:08:27,460 --> 01:08:31,580
 so right-of-ways, so we will also pay attention to line of sight. So the main objective on

637
01:08:31,580 --> 01:08:35,860
 right-of-ways as you see here in this right-of-way is more of a residential and a thoroughfare

638
01:08:35,860 --> 01:08:40,860
 street where you have your wildflowers in the middle and then maybe some landscaping

639
01:08:40,860 --> 01:08:46,300
 and then the nose, the end of the median or where the turn lane goes in or where you have

640
01:08:46,300 --> 01:08:49,820
 the approaching streets and the cross traffic, you know, cross streets, you want to make

641
01:08:49,820 --> 01:08:55,020
 sure 30 to 50 feet away from that nose, depending on the speed of the traffic, that we don't

642
01:08:55,020 --> 01:09:00,120
 have any of the tall vegetation there to make sure that, you know, cars as you're driving,

643
01:09:00,120 --> 01:09:05,740
 you can see oncoming traffic and passing traffic and pedestrians and bicycle traffic to make

644
01:09:05,740 --> 01:09:11,880
 sure everything's safe. And then in certain areas, we'll also do a mode outer strip around

645
01:09:11,880 --> 01:09:18,880
 those medians or against that, you know, right-of-way or even if it's maybe an open space in a park

646
01:09:18,880 --> 01:09:23,100
 and it kind of backs up to someone's home, we don't want really tall grasses backing

647
01:09:23,100 --> 01:09:27,880
 up to their fence. So we'll make sure, you know, 10, you know, anywhere from five to

648
01:09:27,880 --> 01:09:34,120
 10 feet mode. So there's a nice, you know, patch there to where it doesn't create other

649
01:09:34,120 --> 01:09:42,380
 issues as far as, you know, insects or varmints or any other kind of pest. So open space and

650
01:09:42,380 --> 01:09:48,000
 what we also want to do is really promote habitat. So city of Denton, we're a B city,

651
01:09:48,000 --> 01:09:53,520
 you know, we're B city USA and monarch city USA. So this is really going to help in those

652
01:09:53,520 --> 01:09:59,080
 efforts also. And just like I talked about, reduce maintenance. So rolling into reduce

653
01:09:59,080 --> 01:10:03,900
 maintenance. So that's going to be, it's going to help reduce air pollution and greenhouse

654
01:10:03,900 --> 01:10:10,520
 gases emissions. So based upon the 237 acres and the amount of times that certain parts

655
01:10:10,520 --> 01:10:18,840
 of those properties get mowed where it's estimated that we'll reduce 36,000 pounds of CO2 per

656
01:10:18,840 --> 01:10:24,600
 year will be avoided because we won't be mowing so that those mowers will not be running to

657
01:10:24,600 --> 01:10:30,520
 be able to maintain those areas. So we'll have reduction in ozone and other air pollutants.

658
01:10:30,520 --> 01:10:35,560
 So we'll establish the no no-mow wildfire areas, establish the key low maintenance areas.

659
01:10:35,560 --> 01:10:40,440
 So that'll be times where maybe we're mowing just a small outer strip or we make sure that

660
01:10:40,440 --> 01:10:44,820
 we're mowing key times to increase seeding. We want to make sure that those those plants

661
01:10:44,820 --> 01:10:50,160
 go to go to seed so we can reseed. One, it'll help us save money because we're not constantly

662
01:10:50,160 --> 01:10:55,340
 having to reseed those areas. It's naturally doing it itself. And of course, decrease fuel

663
01:10:55,340 --> 01:10:57,040
 consumption through maintenance reduction.

664
01:10:57,040 --> 01:11:01,320
 Yeah, true. I would be interested to know, not necessarily for this meeting, you don't

665
01:11:01,320 --> 01:11:04,420
 need to research it, but I'd be interested to know what that number looks like too. I

666
01:11:04,420 --> 01:11:09,520
 mean, if we know the reduction in CO2, it'd be interesting to know the reduction in cost

667
01:11:09,520 --> 01:11:12,280
 of maintenance and fuel.

668
01:11:12,280 --> 01:11:13,280
 It's $150,000.

669
01:11:13,280 --> 01:11:14,880
 Oh, is that what was included in there?

670
01:11:14,880 --> 01:11:15,880
 Yes, sir.

671
01:11:15,880 --> 01:11:16,880
 I got you, I'm sorry.

672
01:11:16,880 --> 01:11:20,680
 So we've identified that's how much it's costing us or contractors to follow that.

673
01:11:20,680 --> 01:11:21,680
 Yes, sir.

674
01:11:21,680 --> 01:11:22,680
 Thank you.

675
01:11:22,680 --> 01:11:23,680
 So.

676
01:11:23,680 --> 01:11:24,680
 Thanks.

677
01:11:24,680 --> 01:11:28,800
 I wanted to show that Goal 3 is a sustainable environment. So really, if you look at this

678
01:11:28,800 --> 01:11:34,240
 picture in the background, we have non-native. So, you know, you have your fescue grass,

679
01:11:34,240 --> 01:11:38,600
 your perennial fountain grasses, and then look over here to your natives or your buffalo

680
01:11:38,600 --> 01:11:42,760
 grass, your, you know, your your black eyed Susan. That's something that's really popped

681
01:11:42,760 --> 01:11:48,520
 here in Denton. So just look at the difference in depth that those those root systems have.

682
01:11:48,520 --> 01:11:53,160
 So it's reduced soil impacts through conservation and erosion control. The course of deeper

683
01:11:53,160 --> 01:11:57,560
 and the bigger the root system, the more ground that that's going to hold and improve soil

684
01:11:57,560 --> 01:12:01,720
 health. So really with improving soil health, that's because of that root system, you know,

685
01:12:01,720 --> 01:12:06,160
 being so vast and being able to draw those nutrients and then water conservation. Our

686
01:12:06,160 --> 01:12:16,320
 native plants take less water than our adaptive plants and and then increase pollinator habitat.

687
01:12:16,320 --> 01:12:20,520
 So promote public understanding. So we're going to do this through educational signs,

688
01:12:20,520 --> 01:12:25,280
 community outreach and website information. So we're working with our public information

689
01:12:25,280 --> 01:12:32,520
 office, really, and with Maria. We have these no-mo signs, and we do have those in bilingual.

690
01:12:32,520 --> 01:12:38,320
 So they will be posted bilingual. And Frances, I see you. Yep. So we did think about that

691
01:12:38,320 --> 01:12:44,120
 before Maria's looking. We may change this a little bit. We want to make sure that really

692
01:12:44,120 --> 01:12:49,920
 with this sign that none of these flowers in this sign are adaptive. So we're double

693
01:12:49,920 --> 01:12:55,520
 checking on all that before these signs go in production. But the signs like this will

694
01:12:55,520 --> 01:13:00,520
 be posted. Also with community outreach, we want to make sure that our residents know

695
01:13:00,520 --> 01:13:06,000
 why it's not being mowed, that it's not being mowed for a beautification effort. It's not

696
01:13:06,000 --> 01:13:12,400
 just not being mowed because we just don't want to mow it. Those areas are planted in

697
01:13:12,400 --> 01:13:22,040
 a specific pattern or they're planted with these type of mixes for this reason. So location

698
01:13:22,040 --> 01:13:29,880
 and costs. So like I said, we have identified 237 acres, 240 acres right now. It's $150,000

699
01:13:29,880 --> 01:13:35,280
 in annual savings, which really is a savings from mowing that will be diverted to seed

700
01:13:35,280 --> 01:13:43,040
 and materials that we need now, which eventually as this is completely established and reestablishes

701
01:13:43,040 --> 01:13:50,840
 itself will be a cost savings. 32,000 pounds of CO2 per year avoided. And then here's a

702
01:13:50,840 --> 01:13:57,280
 list of the areas. A couple areas that I wanted to make sure that I showed you and you probably

703
01:13:57,280 --> 01:14:03,660
 saw in the AIS was the North Lakes Wildflower Trail. That area has always been programmed.

704
01:14:03,660 --> 01:14:08,560
 It's never been formalized for a wildflower area. We want to make sure it was formalized

705
01:14:08,560 --> 01:14:15,920
 in this process. Also the North Lakes Dam area, that 10 acres or so, it only gets mowed

706
01:14:15,920 --> 01:14:21,160
 once or twice a year. That's for the wildflowers to come up and then for it's kind of, it's

707
01:14:21,160 --> 01:14:25,460
 a birding area also. So we want to make sure that those birds, those are migratory birds.

708
01:14:25,460 --> 01:14:29,880
 They come in, they nest in the area. Once they leave and the seeds have dropped, we

709
01:14:29,880 --> 01:14:35,680
 go in and mow. And that's typically around August is when, due to those wildflowers and

710
01:14:35,680 --> 01:14:42,400
 that birding area. This is the next slide or next picture here. I have a wildflower

711
01:14:42,400 --> 01:14:49,280
 and prairie location map. This map will be accessible online soon. Tech Services is working

712
01:14:49,280 --> 01:14:52,760
 through that. We already have all these dots as you can see. There was a question that

713
01:14:52,760 --> 01:14:57,880
 did come up in a council meeting. Why do we have so many more dots in this area town versus

714
01:14:57,880 --> 01:15:02,880
 this area town? And if you really look through our mobility plan and where most of the construction

715
01:15:02,880 --> 01:15:08,160
 is going on right now, it's in the southern part of Denton, really, you know, south and

716
01:15:08,160 --> 01:15:17,620
 east of I-35W or I-35E. The idea is we, or not the idea, but we are working with capital

717
01:15:17,620 --> 01:15:22,240
 projects as we go through, you know, Hickory, as they're redoing Hickory Creek Road, the

718
01:15:22,240 --> 01:15:30,320
 plans for Ryan Road. 377 is under construction right now. 2499, we have a green ribbon. All

719
01:15:30,320 --> 01:15:36,880
 these different areas are being constructed on. We would hate to make an effort to plant

720
01:15:36,880 --> 01:15:41,720
 wildflowers there for it to just completely be taken out. And then, of course, then we'd

721
01:15:41,720 --> 01:15:46,680
 have to spend money to put it back in. So we'll wait for that to be constructed and

722
01:15:46,680 --> 01:15:51,880
 then, of course, parks takes care of all the right of ways, then we'll help plan that landscaping

723
01:15:51,880 --> 01:15:57,880
 effort for those new right of ways, and as the roads are widened and constructed.

724
01:15:57,880 --> 01:16:04,840
 So wildfires, benefiting wildflowers and prairies. So this is something that we work with the

725
01:16:04,840 --> 01:16:11,600
 fire department on. At Fire Station 7, off of Vintage Boulevard, there near the intersection

726
01:16:11,600 --> 01:16:18,320
 of Vintage and South Bonnie Bray, is the training center for our fire department. As you can

727
01:16:18,320 --> 01:16:24,280
 look in the background here on this charred piece of land, they had a planned burn, wildflower

728
01:16:24,280 --> 01:16:30,160
 burn for a training session for their firemen. So we work with them and thank goodness the

729
01:16:30,160 --> 01:16:34,360
 weather worked out great for us because we planted last Thursday. And as you know, we've

730
01:16:34,360 --> 01:16:42,880
 had rain almost every day since. So we planted with broadcast and we demoed some no-till

731
01:16:42,880 --> 01:16:47,840
 drill seeders. And so we really wanted to show the benefits in this area. And they planned

732
01:16:47,840 --> 01:16:51,800
 to burn this maybe once a year, maybe once every two years. So to really help show the

733
01:16:51,800 --> 01:16:57,560
 benefits of wildfires. No, we do not plan on burning our right of ways and our medians,

734
01:16:57,560 --> 01:17:02,800
 but this gives us an educational opportunity to show what the benefits are of those wildfires.

735
01:17:02,800 --> 01:17:09,040
 Because we're planting back what used to be here, you know, two and three hundred years

736
01:17:09,040 --> 01:17:16,080
 ago before Bermuda grass and all our adaptive species have come in. Wildfires really benefited

737
01:17:16,080 --> 01:17:21,720
 those prairies as you know, either a lightning strike caused it or, you know, humans did

738
01:17:21,720 --> 01:17:26,680
 it on purpose to make sure that they cleared those different areas out. So it reduces intensity

739
01:17:26,680 --> 01:17:33,360
 of unplanned fires, increases wildflower diversity, maintains habitat of grassland-dependent

740
01:17:33,360 --> 01:17:39,160
 birds, recycles nutrients, reduces invasive or less desirable vegetation. So that's your

741
01:17:39,160 --> 01:17:44,960
 KR bluestem, your Johnson grass, your Bermuda grass. And then preserve biodiversity by maintaining

742
01:17:44,960 --> 01:17:50,120
 habitats for species that need sunny and open conditions to germinate and thrive. So it

743
01:17:50,120 --> 01:17:56,960
 really helps burn that thatch down and get the taller vegetation down and, you know,

744
01:17:56,960 --> 01:18:06,280
 for more of a diverse environment or more diverse prairie and wildflowers. So sustainability

745
01:18:06,280 --> 01:18:11,320
 framework. So this really fits into sustainability is for their air or their air quality and

746
01:18:11,320 --> 01:18:22,080
 greenhouse gas management, land use and resiliency and public health. So I did just like I did

747
01:18:22,080 --> 01:18:28,200
 last week with council and I can take this down now. I wanted to say kind of what I said

748
01:18:28,200 --> 01:18:32,680
 in the beginning. This is just the beginning. So it's two almost two hundred and forty acres

749
01:18:32,680 --> 01:18:38,360
 that we have identified now. It's not the only two hundred and forty acres and we continue

750
01:18:38,360 --> 01:18:42,400
 to grow. Gary and I look at a lot of different developments in a lot of different land and

751
01:18:42,400 --> 01:18:46,000
 kind of really where we're going and what we're doing and how the city is developing

752
01:18:46,000 --> 01:18:49,360
 and how we're negotiating with developers and what we're going to do with that property.

753
01:18:49,360 --> 01:18:54,520
 And, you know, usually the first thing that comes up is, you know, what can we can we

754
01:18:54,520 --> 01:18:58,920
 do a prayer restoration there? So prayer restoration isn't just the grasses, it's the wildflowers

755
01:18:58,920 --> 01:19:04,400
 also. And, you know, we got Gary talked about earlier, you know, with quite a bit of our

756
01:19:04,400 --> 01:19:09,640
 property being in the floodplain, you know, what a better what a better place. So also

757
01:19:09,640 --> 01:19:16,360
 with that, this is just probably this is just phase one of many. And this is just phase

758
01:19:16,360 --> 01:19:21,080
 one of what I'm what I refer to as, you know, the three three big phases. We're looking

759
01:19:21,080 --> 01:19:26,080
 at right of ways and open space that parks takes care of. Then once this starts to get

760
01:19:26,080 --> 01:19:29,640
 established, we've already started working with our drainage department on how to really

761
01:19:29,640 --> 01:19:36,040
 benefit those riparian areas and riparian buffers and riparian areas for waterways.

762
01:19:36,040 --> 01:19:41,000
 So how do we reestablish vegetation there for a deeper root systems, those deeper root

763
01:19:41,000 --> 01:19:46,200
 system vegetation, they absorb more water, they clean the water better. And so therefore

764
01:19:46,200 --> 01:19:52,360
 we're benefiting our waterways that way. And then three would be our tech stock right of

765
01:19:52,360 --> 01:20:00,520
 ways. We all know that, you know, years ago, I-35, I-35W was full of blue bonnets and Indian

766
01:20:00,520 --> 01:20:06,980
 paintbrushes. And really that's kind of gone away with the way I-35s have or I-35 has continuously

767
01:20:06,980 --> 01:20:13,000
 been under construction. We have met with tech stock. We have plans for when that landscaping

768
01:20:13,000 --> 01:20:18,440
 gets put in as those the rest of the I-35s are widened for that to go back with native

769
01:20:18,440 --> 01:20:23,880
 vegetation and wildflowers. So I just wanted to make sure you knew that. So we are working

770
01:20:23,880 --> 01:20:29,820
 with all these different groups to make sure that this is beneficial for years to come.

771
01:20:29,820 --> 01:20:34,000
 And there will be, we've already started working on standard operating procedures. We've already

772
01:20:34,000 --> 01:20:39,560
 started working on format. This is just the start and the step to formalize these areas.

773
01:20:39,560 --> 01:20:44,600
 That way, you know, when Gary and I are retired, this continues to go on and it doesn't just

774
01:20:44,600 --> 01:20:52,040
 get changed, you know, years after we're gone. So, all right, I'll open it up for questions.

775
01:20:52,040 --> 01:20:53,040
 Mr. Schick?

776
01:20:53,040 --> 01:20:59,680
 I would like, well, I want to preface by saying I love this program for a half dozen reasons.

777
01:20:59,680 --> 01:21:04,800
 So my following statement doesn't take away from the fact that I'm in strong support of

778
01:21:04,800 --> 01:21:12,840
 this. I do want us to be careful when we sell this to the public, not to oversell the beauty

779
01:21:12,840 --> 01:21:20,680
 of wildflowers. And the reason is, you know, my company, BNSF Railway, went to this program

780
01:21:20,680 --> 01:21:26,920
 even on all of our corporate campuses for many of the same reasons that you're specifying

781
01:21:26,920 --> 01:21:33,600
 here. And those flowers look absolutely gorgeous about three weeks out of the year, right?

782
01:21:33,600 --> 01:21:41,600
 The rest of the time, it looks like grass that isn't necessarily mowed. Again, I don't

783
01:21:41,600 --> 01:21:45,260
 mean to take away from the overall impact of the program. I think it's wonderful. But

784
01:21:45,260 --> 01:21:51,720
 as we position this out to the public, I would caution us from going, it's just beautiful

785
01:21:51,720 --> 01:21:55,400
 wildflowers and, you know, it's going to be, because it isn't always.

786
01:21:55,400 --> 01:21:59,840
 And that's where the educational, really the educational push and the community outreach

787
01:21:59,840 --> 01:22:04,560
 will come in. And one thing I guess I didn't say to begin with, what we really have been

788
01:22:04,560 --> 01:22:08,640
 working on with a master naturalist and gardeners and native plant society, is how do we get

789
01:22:08,640 --> 01:22:15,480
 a bloom, some type of bloom, from like late February, early March, all the way to November.

790
01:22:15,480 --> 01:22:19,400
 Well, teach my company that afterwards. That would be great.

791
01:22:19,400 --> 01:22:25,240
 Right now, right now we have, we've started, as you know, you remember the mural at Robertson

792
01:22:25,240 --> 01:22:32,180
 and Bell. So when we met with those ladies, as the backdrop of that mural is purple, okay,

793
01:22:32,180 --> 01:22:35,800
 didn't high school was purple and yellow, purple and gold, right? The high school I

794
01:22:35,800 --> 01:22:41,900
 went to was purple and gold. So what better backdrop for purple is yellow, right? So how

795
01:22:41,900 --> 01:22:47,800
 many different yellow flowers do we know of? So the section between Robertson and the Morrison

796
01:22:47,800 --> 01:22:55,240
 milling milling property, we've ordered yellow flower, native yellow flowers to go there.

797
01:22:55,240 --> 01:22:59,680
 So as you now, not only do we have a beautiful mural to be there, but as you approach there

798
01:22:59,680 --> 01:23:04,920
 during different times of year, different yellowing flowers will bloom in that area.

799
01:23:04,920 --> 01:23:09,280
 So we're looking at how do you enhance the landscaping we already have with the landscaping

800
01:23:09,280 --> 01:23:14,380
 that can be, or different. Maybe it's artwork that we have, for instance, the mural that's

801
01:23:14,380 --> 01:23:20,440
 coming or, you know, the different right of ways. We really have to look at too, you know,

802
01:23:20,440 --> 01:23:24,520
 if you've been around Denton and if you put a shovel in the ground, one second you're

803
01:23:24,520 --> 01:23:29,080
 going to hit caliche, one second, you know, one part of town is black clay, the next is

804
01:23:29,080 --> 01:23:37,160
 red and the following is a sandy loam. So not all seeds can go in all sections of town.

805
01:23:37,160 --> 01:23:43,120
 We are trying to come up with Councilmember Davis recommended maybe a Denton blend. So

806
01:23:43,120 --> 01:23:46,600
 some of those flowers will do really good in certain areas of Denton and some of them

807
01:23:46,600 --> 01:23:51,460
 won't, but we're working on that too, on maybe coming up with a Denton blend. So, you know,

808
01:23:51,460 --> 01:23:56,120
 you could do it in your yard, you know, so. Well, anyway, nice work on it. I think it's

809
01:23:56,120 --> 01:24:01,680
 a great initiative. Real quick, I let Frances know at the beginning of this meeting, I'm

810
01:24:01,680 --> 01:24:05,600
 going to probably drop off here in just a few minutes, but didn't want anybody to think

811
01:24:05,600 --> 01:24:11,040
 I dropped off technically. But anyway, thank you for the input on all of it.

812
01:24:11,040 --> 01:24:22,960
 Thank you, David. My comment is, I'm sorry, Helena. I am complete support of this program.

813
01:24:22,960 --> 01:24:29,520
 I love the idea. Thank you for answering all of my questions, except for one. Well, you

814
01:24:29,520 --> 01:24:37,240
 probably did, but I just want to clarify. So there is a plan to on how you add the additional

815
01:24:37,240 --> 01:24:49,040
 parks, correct? Yes. Additional areas. Yes. So did I miss Dina on the list on. Yes, Dina

816
01:24:49,040 --> 01:24:55,880
 is not on the list and that's because certain areas. So we're in a planning process of kind

817
01:24:55,880 --> 01:25:05,960
 of adding to Dina and adding to that area. So. Thank you for clarifying that. Mr. Amrick.

818
01:25:05,960 --> 01:25:14,080
 Yeah, just two quick ones. Well, first, just a comment. I like the diversity of the flowers

819
01:25:14,080 --> 01:25:20,520
 that I think you're bringing to the forefront here. And one of the things the people we

820
01:25:20,520 --> 01:25:26,000
 bought our house from, they have flowers that cover that bloom just about every possible

821
01:25:26,000 --> 01:25:31,280
 time of the year, including winter, we get white blooms in the background. So that's

822
01:25:31,280 --> 01:25:39,780
 one A plus idea that definitely would be nice to pursue that, you know, try to keep it as

823
01:25:39,780 --> 01:25:48,940
 something growing in the flower. The other comment or question I have is, what's the

824
01:25:48,940 --> 01:25:58,060
 key people from pulling over to take pictures? That's what we want. And so what we will look

825
01:25:58,060 --> 01:26:03,920
 at is, especially when these are planted, is how that's why we pick when you look on

826
01:26:03,920 --> 01:26:08,880
 the list, you'll see there's some parks have been identified that we're going to do now.

827
01:26:08,880 --> 01:26:15,960
 And this is, like I said, phase one of a thousand. And so we'll add as we go. And then one particular

828
01:26:15,960 --> 01:26:20,600
 instance we looked at on, okay, how do we do this? And then how do we make sure maybe

829
01:26:20,600 --> 01:26:26,440
 when we plant it, we plant it in almost a curvy literature way to where you can take

830
01:26:26,440 --> 01:26:35,480
 a picture in a pocket that we've created and not trample on the wildflowers. So stop traffic,

831
01:26:35,480 --> 01:26:41,200
 for example, people pull over on the side of the road to take pictures, be kind of a

832
01:26:41,200 --> 01:26:46,480
 hazard too. So maybe. Well, that's why you're going to have, for instance, we already have

833
01:26:46,480 --> 01:26:51,360
 North Lakes and then, you know, we're looking at the 47 acres out at the Denton Energy Center.

834
01:26:51,360 --> 01:26:57,480
 That's a very low traveled road. You know, it's 40 something acres of open space where,

835
01:26:57,480 --> 01:27:02,000
 you know, really we could work with them on maybe having a small parking area where then

836
01:27:02,000 --> 01:27:05,600
 they could go into that wildflower area and take pictures.

837
01:27:05,600 --> 01:27:14,640
 Okay. I'm going to jump on Kate again. Okay. Brooke, Alana is before you. Oh, I'm so sorry.

838
01:27:14,640 --> 01:27:23,600
 Go ahead. Okay. It's all the passion. Okay. Just first of all, I love it. I love this.

839
01:27:23,600 --> 01:27:29,760
 I think it's a great idea. It's definitely the right way to move forward. I was just

840
01:27:29,760 --> 01:27:40,040
 curious about the Bonnie Bray, what's it called? The roundabout area and the new parks and

841
01:27:40,040 --> 01:27:46,920
 everything. I was just curious if it was in the plan to go ahead and do the wildflowers

842
01:27:46,920 --> 01:27:54,160
 now when the construction is finished or if that's going to be something that happens

843
01:27:54,160 --> 01:28:02,160
 in like phase two down the line? As far as McKenna Park goes? Yeah. Like, I mean, I'm

844
01:28:02,160 --> 01:28:07,880
 assuming there's right away. I'm not exactly sure if there is. Now on the Bonnie Bray project,

845
01:28:07,880 --> 01:28:15,000
 we've worked several different instances where we've landscaped that roundabout. We've worked

846
01:28:15,000 --> 01:28:20,280
 through that process. I don't believe that the funds were there at the moment to do that.

847
01:28:20,280 --> 01:28:24,780
 But when we did sit down with the engineers and worked through that landscape process,

848
01:28:24,780 --> 01:28:31,200
 it wasn't just wildflowers, but it was more of a native grasses and native plants to go

849
01:28:31,200 --> 01:28:35,680
 in there. We are looking at putting a sculpture in the roundabout as well. Something that

850
01:28:35,680 --> 01:28:43,240
 will create a visual opportunity so people don't drive straight through the roundabout.

851
01:28:43,240 --> 01:28:48,920
 So it's kind of like an awareness piece. So there's definitely a sculpture involved in

852
01:28:48,920 --> 01:28:57,000
 that roundabout whenever that's landscaped. So is the right of way area like that? I guess

853
01:28:57,000 --> 01:29:04,760
 it would be like kind of like the Bonnie Bray area near McKenna down to the highway. It's

854
01:29:04,760 --> 01:29:11,000
 like cement city and you've got just like these old kind of untaken care of areas down

855
01:29:11,000 --> 01:29:17,000
 Bonnie Bray, but it's also an entrance into our city for people coming in for like UNT

856
01:29:17,000 --> 01:29:20,760
 or whatever. So just wondering if that's on the radar?

857
01:29:20,760 --> 01:29:26,200
 Yeah, that's the process that I spoke about about working with capital projects as they

858
01:29:26,200 --> 01:29:33,680
 work through their process of design and construction of our different roadways, whether it be Bonnie

859
01:29:33,680 --> 01:29:39,200
 Bray, Hickory Creek, Mayhill is the first one that's been redone. We were to the table

860
01:29:39,200 --> 01:29:46,480
 with them almost in the beginning for landscaping, but the funding wasn't there. And so we can

861
01:29:46,480 --> 01:29:51,040
 go back even though that Bermuda grass was planted, we can go back scalp and then no

862
01:29:51,040 --> 01:29:54,360
 seed drill and broadcast and put wildflowers in that area.

863
01:29:54,360 --> 01:29:59,200
 So is that just going to become kind of like that every time there's a capital project

864
01:29:59,200 --> 01:30:03,920
 comes up, it's like routine to say this is how we're going to do the wildflowers in this

865
01:30:03,920 --> 01:30:07,720
 area? Yeah, if it's been identified for wildflowers

866
01:30:07,720 --> 01:30:11,960
 to go there, then yes, that will be the way. Would it be possible to get the like the big

867
01:30:11,960 --> 01:30:20,080
 list of possible areas that are going to eventually be planted? Or is are you ready to?

868
01:30:20,080 --> 01:30:24,480
 We're not ready for that, because we're still working with capital projects. And of course,

869
01:30:24,480 --> 01:30:30,320
 they're constantly working through their processes. So we are just because capital projects and

870
01:30:30,320 --> 01:30:34,680
 parks is now under one umbrella under public works, we're consistently working with them

871
01:30:34,680 --> 01:30:35,680
 on that. So

872
01:30:35,680 --> 01:30:42,960
 I have a couple more things brought and also the blend idea, I think is really cool. And

873
01:30:42,960 --> 01:30:46,960
 I was actually thinking about that when you were presenting. It would be awesome to be

874
01:30:46,960 --> 01:30:52,080
 able to like as part of your education program, to be able to like give people seeds. And

875
01:30:52,080 --> 01:30:57,680
 I was already thinking like, how can I incorporate that into my class? And like with the different

876
01:30:57,680 --> 01:31:04,480
 soils, it's like a great way to teach people all of that. And last but not least, my last

877
01:31:04,480 --> 01:31:09,320
 question or thing I would like to say I think is a great idea is your little idea to have

878
01:31:09,320 --> 01:31:15,480
 picture areas where people are not trampled the flowers, because I like love taking pictures

879
01:31:15,480 --> 01:31:19,080
 with my kids and the blue monads and all that kind of stuff. But then I always feel really

880
01:31:19,080 --> 01:31:24,200
 bad about trampling flowers. So anyways, I think it's awesome. Thanks.

881
01:31:24,200 --> 01:31:31,360
 We're building two places that at the razor ranch property that are photo selfie spots

882
01:31:31,360 --> 01:31:38,580
 for wildflowers. And we can also kind of we could probably create a Francis punch blend

883
01:31:38,580 --> 01:31:42,720
 for the junior park specifically location if we need to.

884
01:31:42,720 --> 01:31:44,280
 I love it.

885
01:31:44,280 --> 01:31:48,000
 Okay, Brooke, thank you for your patience.

886
01:31:48,000 --> 01:31:52,760
 No, you're good. I'm just playing off of everybody else. I totally want some of those packets,

887
01:31:52,760 --> 01:31:56,400
 because I definitely want to do a little package for kids and they can make their own seed

888
01:31:56,400 --> 01:32:02,440
 bomb. And then we can tell them where to go throw them. And then to I was thinking about

889
01:32:02,440 --> 01:32:05,760
 the whole pulling off on the side of the road. I feel the same way about our trails that

890
01:32:05,760 --> 01:32:11,300
 clear Creek when people stop and take their like wedding photos or graduate or whatever.

891
01:32:11,300 --> 01:32:15,960
 And I'm like, Oh, you look so cute. But if you could just like I'm walking. And so the

892
01:32:15,960 --> 01:32:19,520
 last time I was out there, I thought, Oh, we should carve out like little spots so that

893
01:32:19,520 --> 01:32:25,800
 people can go and take their wedding photo without, you know, having my dog jump on them.

894
01:32:25,800 --> 01:32:28,760
 That kind of thing.

895
01:32:28,760 --> 01:32:34,400
 Thank you, Brooke. Any other comments, concerns?

896
01:32:34,400 --> 01:32:42,080
 We appreciate the information, Drew. It was very educational, at least for me, it was.

897
01:32:42,080 --> 01:32:47,840
 I'm so sorry, I have one more thing I wanted to ask about. I'm sorry. And has there been

898
01:32:47,840 --> 01:32:53,360
 any talk about adding edible plants, like stuff we can eat?

899
01:32:53,360 --> 01:33:03,320
 It's coming. It's called garden scaping. So I'm, I'm working on it. And it's been one

900
01:33:03,320 --> 01:33:07,840
 of those juggling priority things when I can see Gary smiling, because we have had some

901
01:33:07,840 --> 01:33:13,480
 conversations about it. But yes, it's called garden scaping. And we have been in contact

902
01:33:13,480 --> 01:33:20,320
 with a consultant that specializes in garden scaping. And so, yes.

903
01:33:20,320 --> 01:33:27,120
 Okay. Thank you so much. Any other questions, concerns?

904
01:33:27,120 --> 01:33:30,480
 Thank you, Drew, for that information. You're welcome.

905
01:33:30,480 --> 01:33:36,440
 We will move to the next topic. Receive a report, hold a discussion and give staff input

906
01:33:36,440 --> 01:33:39,840
 regarding fishing areas within the city of Denton.

907
01:33:39,840 --> 01:33:45,680
 This was an item that James had asked about last month. So Drew put a short presentation

908
01:33:45,680 --> 01:33:50,080
 together just to kind of let you know where all the opportunities are and has the discussion.

909
01:33:50,080 --> 01:33:53,400
 All right. So we're ready? Yes.

910
01:33:53,400 --> 01:33:58,880
 All right. So parks and recreation fishing areas. So the first one that I wanted to highlight

911
01:33:58,880 --> 01:34:04,160
 was North Lakes Park. So we have two lakes at North Lakes. We have our Bonnie Bray Pond,

912
01:34:04,160 --> 01:34:09,200
 which is just off of Bonnie Bray, north of University, where you can come in and you

913
01:34:09,200 --> 01:34:14,760
 can park near the, or on or, you know, close to the horseshoe and fish anywhere around

914
01:34:14,760 --> 01:34:20,000
 the lake, or you can walk up on the, on the dam and fish off the dam, or even, you know,

915
01:34:20,000 --> 01:34:25,480
 we have some residents or park users that park over at the Goldfield Tennis Center and

916
01:34:25,480 --> 01:34:30,240
 then walk through all the way, all the way to the backside of the, I guess, the north

917
01:34:30,240 --> 01:34:34,360
 end of this pond. We also have our Windsor Pond. So we just

918
01:34:34,360 --> 01:34:38,960
 replaced last March this pier, the fishing pier. It's actually a little, it's 10 feet

919
01:34:38,960 --> 01:34:45,000
 longer than the old wooden one. This one's made out of HDPE, which is a type of plastic

920
01:34:45,000 --> 01:34:50,240
 that's really built the last 50 plus years. And it's, I've been out there several times.

921
01:34:50,240 --> 01:34:54,040
 It's really nice to go out and just sit, if you just want to sit and be on the water or

922
01:34:54,040 --> 01:34:59,080
 sit and fish. We also have South Lakes. So I wanted to

923
01:34:59,080 --> 01:35:04,040
 highlight South Lakes. So we have our, the North Pond at South Lakes and the South Pond.

924
01:35:04,040 --> 01:35:08,640
 The South Pond here has the dock, and this is our, really our most popular fishing pond

925
01:35:08,640 --> 01:35:14,160
 we have in our entire system. This pond, we, at this pond, we do have a partnership with

926
01:35:14,160 --> 01:35:18,840
 Texas Parks and Wildlife for our neighborhood, or their neighborhood fishing program. Here's

927
01:35:18,840 --> 01:35:23,800
 our catfish here in this corner of the picture to show you one of the ones that they stock.

928
01:35:23,800 --> 01:35:31,040
 So they stock the pond with catfish starting in late April, early May, depending on the

929
01:35:31,040 --> 01:35:35,720
 water temperatures. And they'll stock all the way until normally they do it sometime

930
01:35:35,720 --> 01:35:44,060
 around the end of October. And then usually the end of November, so it's usually the week

931
01:35:44,060 --> 01:35:49,140
 of Thanksgiving, they start our rainbow trout stocking. And they do that every two weeks

932
01:35:49,140 --> 01:35:54,000
 all the way until March. So they already have started stocking rainbow trout that the first

933
01:35:54,000 --> 01:36:00,040
 stocking was the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving. And of course they stocked last Friday. And

934
01:36:00,040 --> 01:36:04,440
 they'll continue to do that until March. It's a partnership where we pay very little

935
01:36:04,440 --> 01:36:10,200
 compared to what the fish stocking would cost. It's around $3,000 for the entire year. And

936
01:36:10,200 --> 01:36:17,240
 if we were to pay that out of pocket, it would be in the 15 to $18,000 range if we stock

937
01:36:17,240 --> 01:36:24,120
 the fish ourselves. So it's a really good partnership to have with Texas Parks and Wildlife.

938
01:36:24,120 --> 01:36:32,420
 We have Lake Forest Park, or where Wigley Field is located. So this, this pond and dam

939
01:36:32,420 --> 01:36:38,440
 is one entire project. So if you remember from lots of different conversations we've

940
01:36:38,440 --> 01:36:44,840
 had in the past couple years, the dam has issues that it needs to be repaired. Also

941
01:36:44,840 --> 01:36:52,040
 the pond needs to be dredged due to the amount of silt that's washed into the pond over the

942
01:36:52,040 --> 01:36:58,820
 years. There's 45,000 yards of material that needs to be removed from the pond to bring

943
01:36:58,820 --> 01:37:05,120
 it back to its original condition. And then clay core needs to be put into the dam. And

944
01:37:05,120 --> 01:37:11,460
 then the spillway you can kind of see in this picture is right here. It's not built to standards.

945
01:37:11,460 --> 01:37:16,680
 So we're going to bring that up to current standards to the 100 year floodplain. Currently

946
01:37:16,680 --> 01:37:23,360
 it's not even constructed to a 25 year flood. So all that's in the works. The bidding ends

947
01:37:23,360 --> 01:37:28,400
 January 4th. That's open for bid right now, but the bidding ends January 4th. And we look

948
01:37:28,400 --> 01:37:34,200
 to take that to council at the end of January, 1st of February to have that project started.

949
01:37:34,200 --> 01:37:38,040
 Frontier Park. So this Frontier Park, here's Unicorn Lake. Most of you know where Unicorn

950
01:37:38,040 --> 01:37:45,840
 Lake is. And we have just right over here off the screen is Briar Cliff Park. The movie

951
01:37:45,840 --> 01:37:51,880
 theater and restaurants are over here by I-35. If you take Frontier Drive, here's Frontier

952
01:37:51,880 --> 01:37:57,240
 Park. So it's just a small half acre to three quarter acre pond. It's just a, just a small

953
01:37:57,240 --> 01:38:01,480
 little neighborhood fishing program. This pond was put or never hit fishing spot. This

954
01:38:01,480 --> 01:38:06,840
 pond was put in when the developers built this neighborhood. We have Montecito Pond.

955
01:38:06,840 --> 01:38:13,820
 It's off Montecito Drive off of Hickory Creek Road. We have Clear Creek. So Clear Creek's

956
01:38:13,820 --> 01:38:18,200
 now ours. If you know, we, we oversee Clear Creek as far as the park, the parks department

957
01:38:18,200 --> 01:38:22,480
 goes. So I've taken my kids out here and we fished out at the confluence. And then this

958
01:38:22,480 --> 01:38:26,640
 is another little pond or one of the ponds and inside the wetlands that you can fish

959
01:38:26,640 --> 01:38:32,120
 at during certain times of the year. It is pretty, it's pretty shallow. So aquatic vegetation

960
01:38:32,120 --> 01:38:37,280
 does grow pretty thick in this pond, but during this time of year, you'd be able to get in

961
01:38:37,280 --> 01:38:42,200
 the water or not get in the water, but get in the water with your fishing pole. So future

962
01:38:42,200 --> 01:38:46,320
 areas. So we went over some future areas that we have up company and this, this young man's

963
01:38:46,320 --> 01:38:51,800
 at South Lakes fishing. So Mills property. So as you know, we do have the Mills property.

964
01:38:51,800 --> 01:38:56,760
 We don't currently have like good, we don't currently have access into the Mills property

965
01:38:56,760 --> 01:39:01,760
 due to, you know, we had some budget cuts and other COVID issues that we had go go on

966
01:39:01,760 --> 01:39:07,720
 last year. We do. Hopefully this year we will get a chance to be able to have a clear, clean

967
01:39:07,720 --> 01:39:15,800
 a clear path all the way into the Mills property, but there are fish in this pond.

968
01:39:15,800 --> 01:39:20,080
 Hickory Creek. So I know we've talked a lot about the trails and the Hickory Creek area.

969
01:39:20,080 --> 01:39:25,620
 So Hickory Creek, if you're familiar, this is country club. Here's Hickory Creek road.

970
01:39:25,620 --> 01:39:34,520
 We're getting this property through development. I have, I'm an avid fisherman and I have,

971
01:39:34,520 --> 01:39:39,280
 and I know several other people throughout the city and our residents and people even

972
01:39:39,280 --> 01:39:46,640
 come from out of town to fish this, what we call the leg of Hickory Creek road. The, during

973
01:39:46,640 --> 01:39:53,400
 the spawning season for sand bass, there's a, quite a few people that park along this

974
01:39:53,400 --> 01:39:57,880
 road here and enter the creek here and either wait up and down this creek to fish while

975
01:39:57,880 --> 01:40:04,560
 they're running. Also this, this is South Bonnie Bray. This is the new bridge. Here's

976
01:40:04,560 --> 01:40:08,760
 the old South Bonnie Bray. Here's the new bridge that they put in. This property here

977
01:40:08,760 --> 01:40:13,700
 was purchased through capital projects to be able to put that bridge in. This is also

978
01:40:13,700 --> 01:40:19,300
 part of the Hickory Creek trail. And there's a, there's a nice little fishing hole right

979
01:40:19,300 --> 01:40:26,880
 in this area right here. So Southwest Park property, there's two small ponds on Southwest

980
01:40:26,880 --> 01:40:34,240
 Park. So, you know, as we go through this process, we've talked about having, having

981
01:40:34,240 --> 01:40:39,640
 this, this area, of course, stay with this pond and this pond. So where we can create

982
01:40:39,640 --> 01:40:49,960
 a future, you know, small little fishing spots in Southwest Park. Pecan Creek. So Pecan Creek,

983
01:40:49,960 --> 01:40:56,760
 this area in green is a future trail for Pecan Creek. As you know, this is what was known

984
01:40:56,760 --> 01:41:04,140
 as Pebble Brook Park. Here's Mayhill Road. And then the trail will follow underneath

985
01:41:04,140 --> 01:41:09,820
 Mayhill and then follow Pecan Creek. And then here's a picture actually just south of where

986
01:41:09,820 --> 01:41:16,620
 the effluent water comes out of our reclamation plant. And this is, this was taken there.

987
01:41:16,620 --> 01:41:23,280
 So I will take this down for any questions.

988
01:41:23,280 --> 01:41:35,480
 And for someone who is not an avid fisher woman, is this, I'll catch a release?

989
01:41:35,480 --> 01:41:42,520
 No ma'am, it's catch and keep. And then though, depending on the species of fish, Texas Parks

990
01:41:42,520 --> 01:41:46,760
 and Wildlife sets those rules on, you know, on how, how large they have to be and how

991
01:41:46,760 --> 01:41:51,480
 many you can keep per day, what they call a bag limit. So I would, I would suggest anyone

992
01:41:51,480 --> 01:41:56,700
 that, and you do have to have a fishing license for fishing anywhere in the city of Denton.

993
01:41:56,700 --> 01:42:00,920
 You do have to have, we do follow those rules also. And those are governed by Texas Parks

994
01:42:00,920 --> 01:42:04,840
 and Wildlife. So if you, you were to fish, you know, anywhere those spots that I just

995
01:42:04,840 --> 01:42:10,320
 showed you, or you were to fish anywhere in Texas, I would, whether it, unless it's on

996
01:42:10,320 --> 01:42:15,000
 your private property, I would highly advise you to go get a fishing license. And you absolutely

997
01:42:15,000 --> 01:42:17,600
 need one to fish in our ponds. So.

998
01:42:17,600 --> 01:42:23,880
 Thank you, Elana. I don't know if this is part of getting a fishing license, but what

999
01:42:23,880 --> 01:42:29,440
 kind of education is given about litter from fishing? Because I always see like that Clear

1000
01:42:29,440 --> 01:42:34,760
 Creek and other places where people are fishing, they leave their lines and it's just a mess.

1001
01:42:34,760 --> 01:42:35,760
 It's awful.

1002
01:42:35,760 --> 01:42:40,040
 Yeah, we, we make sure that we provide in those areas that we do see people fishing.

1003
01:42:40,040 --> 01:42:43,800
 And we have talked about Clear Creek about adding, now that it's under our purview about

1004
01:42:43,800 --> 01:42:48,920
 adding trash cans to Clear Creek to make sure that it's gone back and forth, whether we

1005
01:42:48,920 --> 01:42:55,080
 add it and it causes more trash, we add it and hopefully people will leave no trace behind.

1006
01:42:55,080 --> 01:43:00,640
 So it, we do have signs at South Lakes, you know, to remind people to pick up their trash,

1007
01:43:00,640 --> 01:43:06,960
 they don't always do it. But, you know, we, we, as park maintenance, we do try to make

1008
01:43:06,960 --> 01:43:09,280
 sure that that's cleaned up. So.

1009
01:43:09,280 --> 01:43:12,640
 Thank you, Mr. Amrick.

1010
01:43:12,640 --> 01:43:22,520
 Yeah, that's very good. That clears up the picture there. But one of the things I'll

1011
01:43:22,520 --> 01:43:30,040
 just, a suggestion perhaps is that I do know that, or I believe still the Department of

1012
01:43:30,040 --> 01:43:38,200
 Parks and Wildlife, TPW has an exception to having a license. And that exception is if

1013
01:43:38,200 --> 01:43:45,280
 the city or town runs a tournament in conjunction and they, they let that, they contact the

1014
01:43:45,280 --> 01:43:50,760
 Texas Parks and Wildlife and let them know there's a, you know, they want to sanction

1015
01:43:50,760 --> 01:43:54,920
 a tournament, a fishing tournament, you know, like for kids, you know.

1016
01:43:54,920 --> 01:44:01,360
 That happens once a year and until the year before we didn't have enough participants

1017
01:44:01,360 --> 01:44:07,000
 register last year, obviously it was COVID, hopefully we get to do it the following year.

1018
01:44:07,000 --> 01:44:13,240
 But Texas Parks and Wildlife does have one year throughout the season where they, it's

1019
01:44:13,240 --> 01:44:17,600
 almost, you don't need a license, come fish, see how much enjoyment you can get from it

1020
01:44:17,600 --> 01:44:23,760
 and then possibly go get a license after that. They do have that one weekend. So yes. And

1021
01:44:23,760 --> 01:44:28,840
 that's normally when cities do the participation with those fishing tournaments and the kids'

1022
01:44:28,840 --> 01:44:29,840
 fishing tournaments.

1023
01:44:29,840 --> 01:44:35,160
 Right. And the good news is then the kid doesn't watch their parents get pulled off and taken

1024
01:44:35,160 --> 01:44:43,400
 to jail, right? Yeah, just a good point. Just to raise that point of detail. Thank you.

1025
01:44:43,400 --> 01:44:47,400
 Brooke, did I see your hand? Gary, did I see your hand?

1026
01:44:47,400 --> 01:44:53,820
 Yeah, just to add one thing that we probably need to add to that is our paddling trails.

1027
01:44:53,820 --> 01:44:59,800
 So we are adding, adding, adding, adding paddling trails to our trail system, but those are

1028
01:44:59,800 --> 01:45:05,240
 good opportunities for people to actually fish too on kayaks. It's a popular sport.

1029
01:45:05,240 --> 01:45:12,200
 So that'll get people in other areas, whether it's on the lake itself or in one of our creeks

1030
01:45:12,200 --> 01:45:16,800
 to give them, you know, they don't necessarily have to be on shore to be fishing. They could

1031
01:45:16,800 --> 01:45:22,000
 be in the water. So that's another fishing opportunity.

1032
01:45:22,000 --> 01:45:30,480
 Okay. Ms. Denona, did you have? Just a quick question. Is there an interest

1033
01:45:30,480 --> 01:45:37,500
 from the community on fishing classes? I know we do the tournament once a year. Any, any

1034
01:45:37,500 --> 01:45:42,880
 interest in fishing classes? Just part of the recs?

1035
01:45:42,880 --> 01:45:47,880
 That'd be a good one to bring Caroline. I know there she is. Perfect. Good, good timing.

1036
01:45:47,880 --> 01:45:56,560
 We do offer some fly tying classes and fishing with our seniors and then the, the fishing

1037
01:45:56,560 --> 01:46:02,160
 tournament for kids, but that's really all the fishing programs we have currently scheduled,

1038
01:46:02,160 --> 01:46:08,900
 but it's something we can look at. Okay. Thank you, Caroline. Any additional

1039
01:46:08,900 --> 01:46:15,520
 questions, concerns? Thank you all for that information. We will

1040
01:46:15,520 --> 01:46:21,960
 move to our last category of today and it's the Dinton Parks Foundation update.

1041
01:46:21,960 --> 01:46:31,440
 Hello. Okay. So I have my little agenda here. So I'll start off by saying, I got bad news

1042
01:46:31,440 --> 01:46:37,280
 this weekend that we actually, so we got DBL funding, which was really exciting. Considering

1043
01:46:37,280 --> 01:46:41,920
 the year, I didn't expect that we would get funding necessarily when you're competing

1044
01:46:41,920 --> 01:46:47,320
 for dollars for homeless folks and people trying to get back on their feet. However,

1045
01:46:47,320 --> 01:46:55,380
 we did get funding for the DWIF art project and our MOUs for the total amount that we

1046
01:46:55,380 --> 01:47:02,120
 had asked for, for $9,000 and 10 cents. However, unfortunately I got the money in the bank

1047
01:47:02,120 --> 01:47:09,280
 and it was $6,000 and 10 cents and there was an error in their MOU rather than the bank.

1048
01:47:09,280 --> 01:47:18,160
 But we will continue our efforts to raise even more money, at least $13,000 for this

1049
01:47:18,160 --> 01:47:25,640
 project. No, at least $20,000 is our goal. Also, we celebrate, per October, during October

1050
01:47:25,640 --> 01:47:31,400
 is a month long celebration of parks and with the support of sponsors and Boo Bucket participants

1051
01:47:31,400 --> 01:47:38,440
 and park partners, we grossed over $8,000 to help make parks better. We engaged 106

1052
01:47:38,440 --> 01:47:44,280
 actual donors and gave out 126 Boo Buckets. And we're currently offering t-shirts right

1053
01:47:44,280 --> 01:47:50,640
 now for Eureka too. And our goal is to do 100 donors before the end of the year. And

1054
01:47:50,640 --> 01:47:57,800
 then finally, this is kind of new information, but we are doing a slide into 2021 and we

1055
01:47:57,800 --> 01:48:03,760
 are working with the folks over at Eastside. They just share this new concept where you

1056
01:48:03,760 --> 01:48:09,160
 do cocktails virtually for New Year's Eve or any kind of holiday party. And I had a

1057
01:48:09,160 --> 01:48:14,720
 board member jump on it. And so we moved quickly and we're going to do a New Year's Eve at

1058
01:48:14,720 --> 01:48:19,480
 nine o'clock. If you want to join us, we'll have a virtual cocktail class on how to make

1059
01:48:19,480 --> 01:48:28,280
 your own New Year's Eve drink that evening. And then a Kiss 2020 Goodbye Kit that I am

1060
01:48:28,280 --> 01:48:33,600
 in the process of working right now. And it's a balance between being snarky and being

1061
01:48:33,600 --> 01:48:39,920
 professional. So it's a lot of fun. I highly encourage you to join us for this. This will

1062
01:48:39,920 --> 01:48:45,920
 be our last Hoorah and last holiday for 2020 in this household. And then we'll gear up

1063
01:48:45,920 --> 01:48:51,440
 again for the next day. We're also posting lots of great information about how to get

1064
01:48:51,440 --> 01:48:56,360
 out all year long because we live in Texas. It's not that cold, y'all. You can get out.

1065
01:48:56,360 --> 01:49:01,600
 And so we're just sharing creative ways on getting outside and still having fun. And

1066
01:49:01,600 --> 01:49:06,880
 that's what I got for you. Any questions? I just want to say, I already bought two tickets

1067
01:49:06,880 --> 01:49:16,160
 to your slide in for the New Year. That sounds fun. Thank you. Any other concerns or comments

1068
01:49:16,160 --> 01:49:27,160
 for Brooke? Okay. Last category. I do. I sing for Brooke. Okay. Happy birthday. Oh, thank

1069
01:49:27,160 --> 01:49:36,280
 you. I turn 40 next week and I'm collecting socks for my 40th birthday to give to local

1070
01:49:36,280 --> 01:49:41,840
 homeless shelter at the junction. And I was like, I'm gonna raise 40 socks. Y'all, I have

1071
01:49:41,840 --> 01:49:53,240
 302 pairs of socks in my office. So it's absolutely amazing. So thank you. Okay. I got distracted.

1072
01:49:53,240 --> 01:50:02,440
 Okay. The items for the next meeting. Well, there was one item from last meeting that

1073
01:50:02,440 --> 01:50:11,040
 wasn't on this agenda. The Fred Moore Park. We're going to have that on, it'll be on next

1074
01:50:11,040 --> 01:50:19,160
 month. Okay. But we can give you a quick, just a short synopsis and rundown. The project

1075
01:50:19,160 --> 01:50:24,240
 is going much slower than we anticipated. Caroline attends the meetings too. So I'm

1076
01:50:24,240 --> 01:50:30,280
 going to let her kind of chime in. We're trying to get it nailed down to see exactly when

1077
01:50:30,280 --> 01:50:34,280
 the timeline is. It seems like it's still a moving target, but Caroline, would you like

1078
01:50:34,280 --> 01:50:39,640
 to give everybody a quick update? Yeah. So we've had some problems with the construction

1079
01:50:39,640 --> 01:50:45,380
 documents not being as clear as they needed to be. So we've hired an outside architect

1080
01:50:45,380 --> 01:50:51,280
 to help decipher some of those problems, which has really delayed the project and the construction.

1081
01:50:51,280 --> 01:50:55,760
 So as we can, we have been working through those issues this entire time, but that has

1082
01:50:55,760 --> 01:51:02,200
 pushed the timeline back significantly and we don't have a good set target right now.

1083
01:51:02,200 --> 01:51:08,880
 But late spring is kind of what we're looking at, but it, it, it waits to be seen. We're

1084
01:51:08,880 --> 01:51:13,280
 also having some problem getting supplies, different manufacturers having COVID going

1085
01:51:13,280 --> 01:51:18,760
 through their operations. So timelines for delivering supplies. So that's kind of where

1086
01:51:18,760 --> 01:51:22,000
 we are right now. It doesn't look like a lot has happened because it hasn't. There's

1087
01:51:22,000 --> 01:51:26,360
 been a little bit more construction on the inside of the building that remains. Walls

1088
01:51:26,360 --> 01:51:30,200
 are up and they've been working on bathrooms. So there are some things happening. You just

1089
01:51:30,200 --> 01:51:36,960
 can't see them, but the project is definitely significantly delayed. Thank you for that.

1090
01:51:36,960 --> 01:51:45,520
 Mr. Amrick? Yeah, just a quick, is that blueprints? Was that because the contractor has had problems

1091
01:51:45,520 --> 01:51:52,320
 with blueprints or was it the, was it from us? I'm trying to find out where, where the

1092
01:51:52,320 --> 01:52:00,560
 cause came from. We had some challenges during the design process. It was the original architect.

1093
01:52:00,560 --> 01:52:04,520
 Just they weren't, the plans weren't as clear. Some items were significant items were left

1094
01:52:04,520 --> 01:52:10,940
 out that have required us to seek a second opinion on how to build some of those features.

1095
01:52:10,940 --> 01:52:16,720
 Okay. So notice what you're saying. Somebody forgot to put doors in right now. Just kidding.

1096
01:52:16,720 --> 01:52:25,480
 We did have doors. That's about it. No, I'm kidding. Okay. Thank you so much. And the

1097
01:52:25,480 --> 01:52:37,240
 next item is our parks board meeting schedule. Eddie, you want to speak to that? Hello, everyone.

1098
01:52:37,240 --> 01:52:41,800
 Just a quick background. I know it's coming up, you know, towards the end of the year,

1099
01:52:41,800 --> 01:52:48,080
 it's going to be January, 2021, just around the corner. So just a quick synopsis and a

1100
01:52:48,080 --> 01:52:54,080
 quick background. As you know, that you members are going to be probably coming in for park

1101
01:52:54,080 --> 01:53:00,600
 board and all boards and commissions sometime in January. I have the next 2021 scheduled

1102
01:53:00,600 --> 01:53:05,440
 meeting for February, March, April, May. I haven't sent that out yet, but I got it booked

1103
01:53:05,440 --> 01:53:10,960
 a little bit ahead of time and it's going to be between 3pm to 5pm. I think that works

1104
01:53:10,960 --> 01:53:15,720
 best for everyone. But again, you know, with new members, you know, coming in, that would,

1105
01:53:15,720 --> 01:53:20,880
 that could possibly change. But one of the things that is posing a little bit of a challenge

1106
01:53:20,880 --> 01:53:28,800
 is trying to get everyone in the same page as far as for members and also for staff,

1107
01:53:28,800 --> 01:53:35,760
 and also the staffing resources for getting board members to have a meeting. And I guess

1108
01:53:35,760 --> 01:53:40,960
 one of the challenges on top of that is that we used to do 30 minute setups to get the

1109
01:53:40,960 --> 01:53:46,160
 council work session room, which it takes a lot of staff resources to set up and also

1110
01:53:46,160 --> 01:53:51,320
 break down now got added to in an hour. So it's a little bit challenging for the month

1111
01:53:51,320 --> 01:53:57,520
 of January with holidays coming up as well. And also don't forget MLK is on a Monday,

1112
01:53:57,520 --> 01:54:03,120
 June, January 4th is going to be the first Monday of the month, which I just found out

1113
01:54:03,120 --> 01:54:07,840
 that there's a city council work session meeting. So we're only down to two Mondays and it's

1114
01:54:07,840 --> 01:54:13,080
 completely filled because all of the other boards and commissions have to meet. So based

1115
01:54:13,080 --> 01:54:20,400
 on the agenda right now, we don't have anything pressing. So I guess the options for everyone

1116
01:54:20,400 --> 01:54:26,040
 is do you still want to meet the month of January? Or, you know, we can move on to February

1117
01:54:26,040 --> 01:54:31,600
 for February 4th. I think February 15th or 14th, I'm going to send you send all of you

1118
01:54:31,600 --> 01:54:36,760
 an email as well. Again, you know, don't forget that boards and commissions I don't know who's

1119
01:54:36,760 --> 01:54:41,240
 going to be on reappointment, but that's going to happen in January as well. So whoever's

1120
01:54:41,240 --> 01:54:44,680
 going to be the new members that's going to come in, hopefully you'll all be continuing

1121
01:54:44,680 --> 01:54:51,320
 or most of you, but that could also change. So that's a little bit of background and also

1122
01:54:51,320 --> 01:54:57,560
 would like your quick input if that's possible. We move it down to February or you all want

1123
01:54:57,560 --> 01:55:02,840
 to meet, but it can't be probably on a Monday. It'll have to be on a weekday, maybe Thursday

1124
01:55:02,840 --> 01:55:20,040
 or Friday, possibly. I'm good with the Monday's, the first Monday in February. You know, I'm

1125
01:55:20,040 --> 01:55:28,840
 also surprised that that's as a secondary, but continue consistency and schedule. I have

1126
01:55:28,840 --> 01:55:36,460
 it scheduled on February 15th, 3pm to 5pm. That's going to be the next availability.

1127
01:55:36,460 --> 01:55:41,660
 So I got it scheduled for February, March, April and May. And it's going to be very close

1128
01:55:41,660 --> 01:55:48,120
 to around that time period because usually city council meetings meet on the first Monday

1129
01:55:48,120 --> 01:55:53,160
 and Tuesday or the first week of that month. So it poses a little bit of a challenge for

1130
01:55:53,160 --> 01:55:58,720
 us, but hopefully that is so I guess the question is January. Do you all want to meet or do

1131
01:55:58,720 --> 01:56:07,080
 you want to do it on a separate day? No, besides Monday.

1132
01:56:07,080 --> 01:56:12,360
 Doesn't matter to me. If we need to meet, then we can figure out a way to meet. If it's

1133
01:56:12,360 --> 01:56:17,960
 not essential, then I'm okay taking a month off and giving you guys a little bit of a

1134
01:56:17,960 --> 01:56:23,360
 break to happy holidays. If I mean, if something comes up, we could

1135
01:56:23,360 --> 01:56:27,960
 definitely reach out if there's something that's, you know, critical. As of right now,

1136
01:56:27,960 --> 01:56:32,920
 we don't have anything that's mission critical from a timing perspective. We are working

1137
01:56:32,920 --> 01:56:40,200
 on a few land dedications to the city that, you know, we've briefed you on in the past.

1138
01:56:40,200 --> 01:56:46,580
 So they're going to be going to council here in January. So other than that, we really

1139
01:56:46,580 --> 01:56:52,400
 don't have anything that's mission critical. On the 15th of February, that's Presidents

1140
01:56:52,400 --> 01:57:02,240
 Day. Is that going to be a city holiday? I believe no, let me double check. It's not.

1141
01:57:02,240 --> 01:57:09,280
 I just asked, I've been wanting to ask about this while we're on the subject. Can we just

1142
01:57:09,280 --> 01:57:15,360
 like say if these meetings are going to be three to five or if they are going to be 1230

1143
01:57:15,360 --> 01:57:21,440
 to 230? Personally, for me, I just got my spring schedule. And I mean, they're going

1144
01:57:21,440 --> 01:57:26,400
 to miss half of it at the beginning or half of it at the end. But I would just like to

1145
01:57:26,400 --> 01:57:32,560
 go ahead and get my Mondays planned out for the semester, at least. So is that what you

1146
01:57:32,560 --> 01:57:39,880
 are saying? Like they're going to be three to five from now on or what I and on a date

1147
01:57:39,880 --> 01:57:48,760
 and time perspective, we I have it set up on 3pm to 5pm from all the way up to May,

1148
01:57:48,760 --> 01:57:55,440
 except January. So I can send out that list to everyone. And it seems that most park board

1149
01:57:55,440 --> 01:58:04,180
 members are available at that time. So that's why I'm just going to leave it at 3pm to 5pm.

1150
01:58:04,180 --> 01:58:08,960
 We realize that having the meetings during a day is challenging and we have, you know,

1151
01:58:08,960 --> 01:58:14,040
 David had to leave and Kent's been tied up with with work and we've had other boards

1152
01:58:14,040 --> 01:58:18,760
 with the same issues and we realize this is a challenge and we've passed on the memo from

1153
01:58:18,760 --> 01:58:24,960
 Francis about our last, I guess, last month's meeting with the concern about the missing

1154
01:58:24,960 --> 01:58:29,600
 meetings and the attendance policy. So hopefully we have something we can share with you soon

1155
01:58:29,600 --> 01:58:36,080
 on that. But we appreciate all the flexibility you guys had so we can continue to move forward

1156
01:58:36,080 --> 01:58:42,320
 with our operations and in the business that we need. Hopefully, we can start meeting in

1157
01:58:42,320 --> 01:58:49,160
 person soon, but I'm not sure when that's going to take place.

1158
01:58:49,160 --> 01:58:53,400
 But thank you, Gary, for giving me that feedback because that was my next question. So we will

1159
01:58:53,400 --> 01:58:59,760
 about the absentee policy. So if you could give us an update when you receive it, that

1160
01:58:59,760 --> 01:59:08,880
 would be ideal. I so I guess we need to vote if we want to meet in January. Let's do that

1161
01:59:08,880 --> 01:59:16,640
 one first because we already know we're meeting in February. Francis, can we vote with only

1162
01:59:16,640 --> 01:59:31,520
 three members? Oh, we got four. Sorry. Disregard. Okay. So the question is, does the park board

1163
01:59:31,520 --> 01:59:41,840
 want to meet and need, feel a need to meet in January 2021? Is that raise your hand for

1164
01:59:41,840 --> 01:59:56,760
 yay? Okay. Anyone oppose? Okay. So it looks like we do not see a need to meet. Oh, motion.

1165
01:59:56,760 --> 02:00:10,640
 Wait, of course, I didn't do that correctly. I need a motion to see that we do not meet

1166
02:00:10,640 --> 02:00:23,200
 as a board for January 2021. May I have a motion?

1167
02:00:23,200 --> 02:00:28,960
 I will make the motion that we will not meet in January of 2021. And we will resume in

1168
02:00:28,960 --> 02:00:41,280
 February. I need a second. I'll second it. I'll second. Okay. If that motion passes that

1169
02:00:41,280 --> 02:00:49,520
 we will, the parks and Red Bull will not meet in January 2021. Eddie, does that suffice

1170
02:00:49,520 --> 02:00:55,280
 what we need it? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. And have a good happy holidays.

1171
02:00:55,280 --> 02:01:02,640
 Okay. I need a motion. If there are no other concerns or comments, may I have a motion

1172
02:01:02,640 --> 02:01:16,400
 to adjourn the meeting? I will motion to adjourn the meeting. May I have a second? I'll second.

1173
02:01:16,400 --> 02:01:25,360
 Anyone opposed? I mean, all in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? The glass is either half full

1174
02:01:25,360 --> 02:01:32,880
 or half empty. No matter which way you look at it. Okay. Motion passes. Meeting adjourned.

1175
02:01:32,880 --> 02:01:46,880
 I have 232, Eddie. Thank you all and happy holidays.