Minutes 04-20-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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A motion was made by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Hemminger to close the public hearing. VOTE: UNANIMOUS A motion was made by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Hemminger to approve the application for the transportation services provided by ETS (if funded by the JARC grant); and if the grant is awarded, authorize staff to negotiate an Agreement with ETS, subject to review by the County Attorney, and authorize the County Manager to sign the Agreement. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 7. Regular Agenda a. Proposal for Soccer Superfund Partnership with the Town of Chapel Hill The Board considered re-allocating $623,000 in 2001 Soccer Superfund monies appropriated for Twin Creeks (Moniese Nomp) Park to support creation of an artificial turf soccer field improvement project at the Town of Chapel Hill's Cedar Falls Park. Parks and Recreation Director Lori Taft recognized Dave Stancil, Director of the Environment, Agriculture, Parks, and Recreation Department. She also recognized Butch Kisiah, Director of the Town of Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Department. She showed a map of the proposed project, which is close to 1-40 and across from East Chapel Hill High School. She gave some background on these funds. The County has been unable to start on the Twin Creeks Park due to excessive infrastructure costs, so the soccer superfund monies have remained unspent. However, a proposal was brought forward from the Town of Chapel Hill to use the money for an artificial turf soccer field at Cedar Falls Park. No proposals were received from the other towns. Butch Kisiah showed the layout of the soccer field and distributed a sample of artificial turf. He said that Cedar Falls Park is the largest park facility in the Town of Chapel Hill. Athletic field #1 is currently used by soccer, lacrosse, rugby, and other sports that need large fields. It is used extensively and it is being worn out. The idea is to install artificial turf on the entire area, which would allow for two full-sized soccer fields. In addition, this project would include athletic field lighting. He said that he is here to talk about a partnership with the County to facilitate this project. He went on to describe other features of the park. With these improvements, along with others, the park could be open year-round. Commissioner Gordon thanked the Town of Chapel Hill for this partnership. She also thanked Commissioner Hemminger for bringing this forward. Commissioner Hemminger thanked the Town of Chapel Hill for this partnership and said that this puts to use County funds that have not been used to date. This is a great location and accessible for many communities. Commissioner Jacobs thanked Commissioner Hemminger who worked on this tirelessly. He said that Orange County did approach Carrboro about using this for Smith Middle School soccer field and they were not interested and then Chapel Hill stepped up to partner with the County. He said that the abstract seems to indicate that there will be a contract coming later, but he learned in dealing with the Smith Middle School soccer field that it did not go as smoothly as he thought. He is a little hesitant to just approve this without knowing the exact process. He wants to make sure that the failings of the agreement with Smith Middle School are covered in this agreement. He asked about the use of these fields by East Chapel Hill Club teams and how this would fit into the use by other soccer participants and the public at-large.