Parks & Recreation Board Meeting Minutes - March 3rd, 2025

Parks & Rec 
March 3, 2025 @ 7pm
 
Tonight’s meeting will be a hybrid meeting – both via Zoom and in person at the Township building.

• Call to Order
• Attendees:
  • Board Members: Helen Eckel-Wiener, Katie Brauchle, Anne Duzan, Brett Klukan, Elizabeth Malone, and Sam Wiener
  • Staff Present: Abbey Swan and Jessica Markovich
• The Parks and Recreation March 3rd, 2025, agenda was posted on the Township website and at the township building on February 28th, 2025. Agendas were made available to the public at the meeting. The 2025 Parks and Recreation meeting schedule was published in the Daily Local News on December 18th, 2024.
• Public Comment
• Minutes approved– February 3, 2025
• Old business
  • FC Delco Field Turf Recommendation – Action Item
    • Helen started by discussing stormwater concern and making sure that the field would be a permeable surface, but how that ultimately would be up to the engineer that FC Delco hires to ensure this. FC Delco has seen some initial designs of what the stormwater management may look like, which were presented with the images last meeting. Everything FC Delco knows so far is preliminary. As the turf would be a porous field, FC Delco explained that drains would be built underneath the turf, with crushed rock on top of that, allowing for the water to flow out and making the ground level, furthering helping to make the field more impervious. Concerns about parking and light pollution were also mentioned again by the group, and FC Delco assured that the parking would not be in the way of other homes and that the way that the lights are hooded make it hard to see from the road.
    • A vote was held to recommend to the Board of Commissioners that FC Delco move forward with installing turf at Caln Park West. The motion passed 6-0.
  • Clean Up Crew Rewards
    • As there are a few Clean Up Crew members who have maxed out the number of rewards, Abbey posed to the Board if they want to provide additional rewards for attending more events (which the next reward would be attending 9 events). The Board thought that having more rewards would be a nice thing to do. Abbey pulled up different options that the Board previously looked like – water bottles, trash grabbers, t-shirts. Brett suggested that we should choose items that we think attendees would use outside of Clean Up Crew events so they can get more use out of them, and it will further help advertise the events. The group liked that idea, as well as having items made out of recycled materials. As not many people would be reaching the number of events attended that are needed, Abbey proposed getting a few of the new rewards but also purchasing items for attendees to use at events (such as trash grabbers and reflective events). The group decided that we would look into getting a handful of two additional rewards and whatever money we have left after that would be used to purchase items that attendees can use at the events.
• New Business
  • Sand Volleyball Court Reservations – Action Item
    • A representative from the Driven Dragons Volleyball Academy had reached out to inquire about reserving the sand volleyball courts at Lloyd Park between the dates of July 7th to September 19th from 6pm – 8pm every Monday and Wednesday. There is no current reservation system in place for the sand courts, so it was presented to the group about if allowing the reservation of the courts is something that they want to move forward with and if so, what that will look like. The group discussed that the reservation system could look like a discussion held with United Sports and use of the hockey rink, which is they can use it for free, but they have to maintain the upkeep of the rink, and the Driven Dragons can do the same for the volleyball court. Brett asked about what the rates are and how the rates for the pavilion rentals were determined by the BOC and proposed that the easiest option would be to have it set up like the pavilion rentals if there were no logistical issues with setting it up. Abbey suggested looking more into how other municipalities set up their reservation system (pay by hour, by day, etc.). Brett asked about online registration for the pavilion and if we can do that, and Abbey explained that we have tried it before but that the Township has tried it before with little success and as our current website doesn’t have the ability to make reservations, keeping the reservation system online might cause more issues. The group discussed that moving forward with an in-person form is best. Brett offered moving forward with the same system and then determining what to charge them for the sand courts. Anne charging by the season and that this can be a blueprint.  Moving on to next steps, Abbey voiced that the Driven Dragons coach probably wants to hear what the rate would be sooner rather than later, and with time constrictions of Parks & Rec meeting once a month and if the Board has to approve it, settling on a fee might not work for the Driven Dragon’s timeline. Abbey wants to speak with the Township Manager first before determining a rate as well. The group discussed what they think a good lump sum amount for the season would be for the time being so they could decide tonight, but the group decided to move forward with the same proposition that they presented to United Sports with taking care of the courts and we would post a sign announcing their reservation schedule, and in the meantime Abbey and Jessica would work on creating a formal reservation system.
    • A vote was held to allow Driven Dragons to use the site as requested from Monday and Wednesday evenings 6PM-8PM from July 7th to September 29th, 2025 with the request that Driven Dragons maintain the courts in ways determined appropriate by township management with consultation with the solicitor. The motion passed 6-0.
  • Clean Up Weekend Planning (Shift Assignments)
    • The same clean up locations were kept, but each location starts one hour after the other. Concerns for if there needs to be oversight for those who signed up for separate neighborhood locations were brought, but it was assured that the only thing we really have to do is contact them to confirm where the garbage they collected is so we can pick it up. The group decided that everyone would sign up for what shifts they want and any that aren’t signed up for, Jessica and Abbey would take responsibility for set up duties.
  • Art in the Park Dates
    • Liz presented the 6 dates for the Art in the Park events, as well as 2 for adults. They are:
      • June 4th – Seed Packets w/ Seeds
      • June 18th – Juneteenth Suncatcher
      • July 2nd – Pollinator Shadow Box
      • July 16th – Wildflowers for Meadow Mural
      • August 5th – Wildflowers and Pollinators
      • August 20th – Handmade paper geese motif
      • September 6th – Community Day Art Show
    • The adult Art in the Park sessions are August 16th and September 27th. The September 17th session will be a botanical sketchbook class and August 16th will be a photography class at an undetermined time – Abbey and Jessica have a meeting with the photographer to hash out the details. Liz had brought up trading pollinator shadow boxes for butterfly houses as it might be easier to do. Liz, Abbey, and Jessica will meet at a later date to discuss supplies for it.
  • Clean Up Crew Dates
    • Abbey discussed with the board two considerations for determining dates: that as they want to do a stream clean up, they should probably complete that session in the summer and that a resident who wants to help with Embreeville this year and asked if this happens again that it would not be scheduled on 9/27 and 10/4. Anne mentioned that there is a lot of water near Embreeville if it could also just be added to the stream clean up date, but that as it is not our property, we would need to get permission but it is something that we could try. As the group would also like to do North Bailey Road, we would need to invite many people to help clean and block off the area. As attendance did not track with sign-ups, the group thought it might be best to do fewer clean up crews than last year in order to bring more people together during one shift to help build a community feeling. The group agreed upon the following dates and locations for the Clean Up Crew events:
      • April 12th – North Bailey Road
      • July 12th – Valley Run
      • October 18th – Embreeville Road Triangle
  • Easter Egg Hunt Planning – April 19th
    • The group decided to again assemble the eggs for the hunt after the April meeting. Everyone will arrive at 11:00AM on the 19th to set up for the event and hide the eggs. Helen brought up how last year with the demand having more eggs for this year would be better. It was decided also that Peeps would be used again for the jar count. One or two golden eggs that would have bigger prizes would be hidden again in each section. Abbey mentioned moving the location of the photo booth with the Easter Bunny to along the fence as doing that for Halloween worked very well – it was also brought up that it would be shadier for the kids. It was announced that the Fire Company would be providing free car seat checks for this event.
  • Summer Series Planning – June 14th and July 18th
    • The group decided they again wanted to do movies, as well as try to pair up an activity related to the subject of the movie again. The group settled on five different movies and to have the public vote on and the top two would then be chosen: Dogman, Transformers One, Wonka, Finding Nemo, and Turning Red. A backup plan would be to use the golf course and have it geared more for adults, such as with throwback movies.
  • Caln Elementary Spring Fair Activity – April 11th
    • Helen thought that using the Spring Fair as an outreach effort would be a good idea, such as handing out our event schedule. In terms of activities, Helen suggested maybe doing a scavenger hunt or the bubble activity. It was agreed upon that the group would do a bubble activity.
  • Invasive Removal Event
    • An invasive removal event is scheduled to take place at the Spackman-Davis Farm on April 2nd to remove invasive species at the farm to help prepare and clear out the area for the picnic to take place on June 28th.
• Adjournment