Summary

• Consultant Selection:

  • Interviews conducted and top four firms ranked.
  • Kimley-Horn selected due to prior familiarity with the project manager.
  • Scope of work for the design phase received from Kimley-Horn.
  • Awaiting approval of scope before evaluating fees.

• Public Involvement:

  • Michele Thornton emphasized the need for public involvement and transparency.
  • Kimley-Horn committed to public input through studies and in-person meetings.
  • A dedicated project website will be created for community updates.

• Design Process:

  • Discussion on possibilities for refurbishing or remodeling the current pool.
  • Decision on specifics pending a geotechnical study and an assessment of existing conditions.
  • Multiple options and cost estimates to be presented to the city and public.

• Funding:

  • Anticipated that millions of dollars will be needed for the pool project.

• Current Pool Operations:

  • City pool set to open Memorial Day weekend with sufficient lifeguards for the outdoor pool. Additional hires needed to open both pools.

• Community Engagement:

  • Plan to present pool options to various community centers and groups.
  • Commonwealth Senior Living Center expressed interest in providing input on outdoor pool planning and may host a meeting due to residents’ mobility challenges

Full Text

The April 13, 2023 meeting of the Recreation and Parks Advisory Board was convened at 7:00 pm in the Oak Ridge Recreation Center Social Room with Chairman Jake Greear presiding.

Roll Call

Present:

• Alissa Jones
• Terri Daugherty
• Jake Greear
• Kelly Mccampbell
• Dan Robbins
• Michele Thornton

Absent:

• Doug Bataille
• Chris Melhorn

Also Present: Seth Rodgers, Recreation & Parks, Special Projects, staff liaison

Also Absent: Jon Hetrick, Recreation & Parks Director, staff liaison

Approval of March 9, 2023 Meeting Minutes

• Correction to March minutes addressed. Seth will edit.
• Approved as amended (unanimous)

Unfinished business:

• Jake is going to draft letter recommending renaming of North Ridge Trail to honor Liane & Bill Russell per March meeting motion.

Board Work Plan:

• Oak Ridge Pool
  • Did interviews. Ranked top 4. For outdoor swimming pool. Kimley-Horn the winning one. They sent back a scope of work for the design work. To decide on how big the project is going to be. Trying to get scope approved, then fee will be evaluated. Kimley-Horn preferred because of familiarity with project manager on previous pool study.
  • Michele – concerned about public involvement and bringing in transparency for the process.
  • Seth – Said Kimley-Horn is focused on public input. They’ll do studies and in-person meetings. On their scope of work, there is a lot of public input included. KH will host a website for the project, so there will be a spot that the community can come to keep up to date on the current status.
  • Michele – in the design process, is there a category of refurbishing or remodeling the current pool?
  • Seth/Jake – It’s all wide open. To see what can be saved, what can be built off of. Will have to wait until they get in there and see what’s underneath and will have to do a geotechnical study. Will present several options to the City/public, along with the cost estimate for each.
  • Will need to be millions of dollars put into the pool.
• CIPs Review
  • Planning commission getting together this month. CIP is done. City got a lot of the CIP stuff out of the way, everything else has kind of rolled over. Pool done, parking lot done, Jackson square tennis courts being resurfaced, ADA sidewalk transitions, highland park playground. Asked for a budget increase.
• North Boundary Greenway
  • No update
• Greenway System
  • Started putting out signs. Started at the one by the south. Concern about plastic markers out on side of trails near Melton Lake.
• Parks & Rec Stewardship, Maintenance and Trail development
  • CVTA has had volunteer workdays at Haw Ridge.
• Secondary & Long-Term Objectives
  • Facilitating community events.
  • Easter event was successful
  • Summer camp coming up. They will open up more spots as they get more employees.
  • City pool opens Memorial Day weekend – have enough lifeguards to open at least the outdoor pool that weekend. Trying to add a few more to have both pools open.
  • 4th of July- Fire Dept doing fireworks
• Rails to trails
  • Working on TOOT notifications. Usually takes years for TOOT to approve. They have to come get the railroad ties out. Usually takes a few years for TOOT to complete approval.
• Advisory support for conference center design
  • Spoke to one of the architects. They are planning to solicit for construction bids. Design has already been made. They are re-doing the plaza, so that has been added to it. Seth went to their meeting to make sure everything was ADA compliant. Jon or Seth is trying to meet with them in the next two weeks. They are probably going to present to City Counsel in June. Re-doing a few features (lights and such). Building is coming out 3 feet forward, then will go to the creek in the back.
• Support Melton Lake bridge preliminary design
  • Jon has a follow-up meeting with students on the 26th of April to go over their preliminary designs.
  • Once we get the designs, Jon will probably try to get cost estimates, then put it in as a placeholder in the CIP list. Putting it in as a placeholder gives City Council an idea of what is coming up for the future.
• Support continued development of the peace bell pavilion
  • Been on the back burner with Scarboro 85 monument coming up. Jon is looking at a shed to put the rakes and stuff in, for the peace bell.
  • At last meeting, Jon said the committee for the 85 project were basically the same people looking at the peace bell pavilion.
  • Dan states that putting up signs is important, to explain what it is about.
  • Estimated costs $200-$300k for an interpretive sign.
  • City still working on Scarboro 85
• Explore opportunities for the continued development of disc golf
  • Last time, wet weather held up improvements
  • Jon’s had a meeting with the club, they want to donate some disc golf baskets. Not sure if they want the City to install them.
• Support blueways initiatives
  • Team building meeting occurred. About 25-30 people attended. A national parks representative was there and led the meeting. Someone from River Sports, and the company that rents kayaks. Good turnout. Jon and Seth were present.
  • Discussion about designation of what a blueway is.
  • Sounded like a good positive start.

Appearance and Citizen Comments

• 3 community visitors present
• “National Recreational Water Trail” – designation regarding blueways. Have to establish access points, physical characteristics. Look up Melton Lake water trail. Could start with that and have a lot of the background done. “Pellissippi blueway” under TN landforms.us
• Plan is to go around to the community centers and groups to present the pool options.
• Commonwealth Senior Living Center is interested in providing input on outdoor pool planning. Would like to host a meeting due to difficulty getting out.

Announcements

• On April 2, had cleanup at Melton Lake Greenway. Had 16 volunteers. Collected about 20 bags of trash.
• League of Women Voters – Last breakfast meeting is April 24th of April, 7:30 am. Here in social room.

Director’s report.

• After malware attack, City (online) mostly up and running now. Hired a cyber security firm that came in and scrubbed the server and have built a new server.

Future agenda items:

• Getting signs for each park

Next meeting: May 11, 2023