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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - May 2, 2025 1 (208) 359-3020 35 North 1st East Rexburg, ID 83440 Rexburg.org | Engage.Rexburg.org Trails, Parks & Recreation Minutes - May 2, 2025 Committee Members: Carlee Francis Eric Erickson JD Hancock Eric Isaacson Doug Stutz City Staff: Eric Erickson – City Council Rep. Bryanna Johnson – City Council Rep. Jon Lewis – Recreation Director Keith Davidson – Public Works Director 3:00 P.M. City Hall Roll Call of Council Liaison: Council Member Johnson and Council Member E. Erickson Roll Call of Committee Members: JD Hancock, Eric Erickson, Eric Isaacson, and Doug Stutz Absent: Carlee Francis Approval of January 11, 2025, Meeting Minutes: Committee Member Hancock moved to approve the Trails, Parks, & Recreation Meeting Minutes for January 16th, 2025; Committee Member Isaacson seconded the motion; Recreation Director Lewis asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Committee Member Hancock none Committee Member Erickson Committee Member Isaacson Committee Member Stutz The motion carried. Adjust Committee Member Park Assignments: Rec Director Lewis explained they will need to adjust the committee member park assignments because Committee Member Mark Nygren will no longer be serving on the committee. Mark and his wife will be serving a senior couple mission. Director Lewis said currently the park assignments are as follows: Committee Member Nygren was assigned to Porter Park (he is no longer on the committee). Committee Member Erickson assigned to Smith Park, Council Member Johnson assigned to Park Street Park and Evergreen Park, Committee Member Isaacson assigned to Eagle Park, Committee Member Stutz assigned to Nature Park, Rec. Director Lewis assigned to Riverside Park, Council Member Erickson assigned to Hidden Valley Park. 2 The Dog Park does not have a committee member assigned to it; however, Committee Member Hancock is adamant that he does not want to be assigned to the dog park. Director Lewis asked Committee Member Hancock if he would oversee Porter Park? Committee Member Hancock said he only lives about a city block away from Porter Park; therefore, he could oversee Porter Park. Committee Member Erickson said he could oversee the Dog Park. Director Lewis said he will email the new assignments to the Committee Members. He will also send an amenities and inventory list of each park. What are the Committee’s priorities this Spring/Summer Committee Member Erickson asked about signage to indicate when baseball/softball games and practice are scheduled at the city parks. Director Lewis said he is looking into obtaining QR codes to attach to the recreation calendar that shows the schedule of the baseball/softball fields. Council Member Erickson asked about the city’s policy regarding the use of the park shelters. Director Lewis said the park shelters can be used on a first-come, first-serve basis unless the shelter has been reserved. Discussion regarding the sign postings of the date and time of when the shelters are reserved. Committee Member Stutz asked about the timeline for the construction of Teton River Park. Director Lewis explained the design work for the southern section of the park is complete. City Staff are waiting to hear back on permits from the State Historical Preservation Office before digging of the canal can begin. Council Member Erickson said they are also waiting for the Corps of Engineers to issue a permit to be able to access the river. Discussion regarding the access to the Teton River. Council Member Johnson said there were some residents that expressed opposition to the river access. She asked if this committee is going to have input for the next phase of the Teton River Park. Director Lewis said this committee can have input for the next building phase of the Teton River Park. Discussion regarding the Ice Rink at Riverside Park. Director Lewis said the ice rink will open sometime in September. Council Member Johnson asked Director Lewis if he could give a report on the Trails, Parks and Recreation every other month at the City Council Meeting. Director Lewis said he will report quarterly to the City Council regarding the Trails, Parks and Recreation projects. Discussion regarding the resurfacing of the tennis courts at Smith Park into Pickle Ball Courts. A different company is resurfacing the Nature Park tennis courts. Committee Member Isaacson asked about the large boulder rocks in the parking lot at Nature Park. Director Lewis replied, Madison County owns that section of parking lot, they installed the boulders to keep people from spinning cookies around the parking lot. Committee Member Isaacson said the parking lot fills up quickly and people are parking on the street. He wondered if the county could align the boulders in a different manner to allow for more parking. Director Lewis said he will contact the county to determine if they would be willing to realign those boulders. Committee Member Hancock said the park shelters at Porter Park need to be repainted. They look rugged. The south end of the tennis court is falling apart. Director Lewis said they added caution tape around that section of the tennis court. Committee Member Hancock added the stone on the fireplace needs to be repaired. There are two trees that have been cut down; however, the stumps have not been removed. He wondered if they were going to replant new trees, now is the time to plant those trees. There is also graffiti behind the Beehive pavilion that needs to be removed. He said there are large cracks in the walking path where grass has begun to grow in between those cracks. 3 Committee Member Hancock asked why there are no restroom facilities on the north end of Porter Park for public use with the amount of people using the park. The drinking fountain on the north side of the park does not work. Council Member E. Erickson asked if volunteers could repaint the park shelters as a service project. Director Lewis said he would talk to the Parks crew to see when they could schedule the painting of the shelters. Committee Member Hancock mentioned there is a lot of garbage surrounding the site where the garbage containers are located, it appears the garbage has fallen out of the garbage containers. He asked how long the trench at Porter Park is going to be left open. Director Lewis said he does not know how long the trench is going to be left open. Discussion regarding the need for a doggy bag dispenser at Porter Park. Committee Member Hancock said a lot of dog owners are not picking up after their pets at Porter Park. Council Member Johnson mentioned there is not a city ordinance that bars dogs from the city parks. People can take the dogs to the park if they want. The city does have an ordinance that states the dogs stay on a leash and that the owner pick up the dog’s poop. Committee Member Stutz said the asphalt pathway at the Nature Park alongside the golf course has a lot of bumps caused by tree roots. The asphalt pathway near the Pickle Ball Courts and by the pond are also bumpy. The fence around the new playground is broken. Director Lewis said he took pictures of the broken fence to give the park crews. Committee Member Stutz said he spoke with Parks Director McInnes about the city’s budget for parks and was informed the city has grown tremendously in the last ten years; however, the city’s park budget has not. He said not having sufficient budget causes delays in maintenance. Discussion regarding the park’s budget. Council Member Johnson said she is in favor of scheduling more volunteer work for park maintenance. Committee Member Isaacson said all the trails signs except for one were vandalized. The picnic tables were overturned. They were able to get the wood features back and most of the signs too. He said he would prefer to have metal signs instead of wooden signposts. Council Member Johnson asked if they could schedule an Eagle Park volunteer clean up event. Crystal Rodriguez is the BYU -Idaho Contact for the student volunteer group. Committee Member Hancock suggested the Police Department patrol Eagle Park. Committee Member Isaacson asked that the city charge the people to use Eagle Park so that there is a legitimate way to track how long someone has been at that park. He added charging a fee would bring in revenue to pay for new picnic tables and tent pads. Eagle Park could turn into a homeless park with less security taking place. Council Member E. Erickson asked if Eagle Park is worth investing in or should it be replaced with something different. Discussion regarding a city ordinance to fine people that camp too long at Eagle Park. Director Lewis said they could limit the days of the week when overnight camping is allowed. Discussion regarding the formation of Eagle Park. Committee Member said Eagle Park was established by the Boys Scouts of America and if there were still the number of scout groups today as there were in previous years the Park would be well maintained due to scout eagle projects. Council Member Johnson said she believes Eagle Park could still be well maintained through the fall and spring volunteer clean up events. Committee Member Isaacson asked if there is an easy way for people to pay to camp at Eagle Park. Director Lewis said city staff has discussed adding QR coding for people to pay into a city Venmo Account to camp at Eagle Park. 4 Discussion regarding volunteer clean-up date for Eagle Park. Director Lewis said he will talk to city Employee Natalie Powell about setting up the date for the clean -up. Director Lewis said June 3rd might work for the clean-up date. Committee Member Erickson asked if the BBQ stands at Smith Park could be cleaned out, there is trash and ashes piled up under the grill. The grills also need some repairs. Director Lewis said they could include the cleaning of the grills with the retaining wall volunteer project. At the southwest corner of Smith Park there are pine tree limbs that are dropping too low, and they are impeding the vision from traffic coming from west to east. The tree limbs need to be trimmed. Deep dive into major green spaces: Discussion regarding the Smith Park volunteer project on May 17th. There is a new park on 5th West, near Mesa Falls Apartments, this committee will have input in the planning of that park. Park Assignment Inspection #1 Director Lewis said, as he has mentioned before, they are going to start using City works to track all the park progress and all the projects that have been completed. It will make it nicer to see the history of everything, and they can see which items are becoming more problematic. He would like to incorporate yearly inspections of all the city parks. He asked the committee members to take inventory of any damaged or broken items in the parks they have been assigned to and submit a written report to Director Lewis. Adjournment: 4:30 P.M.