Charlestown Township Parks & Recreation Board Minutes of Thursday, September 21, 2017

Present

Minutes for Approval

The August minutes were approved.

Old Business

Charlestown Day Recap Points

1. Great day, great group effort.
2. There was no table for the Board. Mrs. Staas suggested this be added to next year’s agenda.
3. The music was too loud. Members weren’t sure why the volume was different from last year.
4. The Bubble Man (Ben Jones) was terrific. He offered to be there for free, but the Township is covering his material costs.
5. Mr. Lawrence wants to begin looking for next year’s volunteers now.
6. Next year will include a family run or large organized family activity, maybe benefiting the Charlestown Playhouse.

New Business

Great Valley Nature Center

The Upper Main Line YMCA has not been forthcoming with financial information. A citizen approached Mr. Lawrence at Charlestown Day. He asked if it would be possible for someone to purchase the property, live in it as a home, and run the nature center. Mr. Lawrence told the resident that the renovations would be at least $100,000. He will research this possibility further.

Mrs. Staas said that Sunday night, October 1, a group of concerned residents are informally meeting to brainstorm about the GVNC. Mr. Lawrence plans on attending.

Brightside Farm Trail

Mrs. Staas said Mrs. Coleman is concerned that the route of the trail has changed. She said if they continue to hay, the path will need to be crossed by the machine many times, destroying the path and the haying equipment. Mr. Lawrence was not against walking the trail with her. Mrs. Coleman had sent out an email about this topic, but Mr. Lawrence didn’t respond. He allowed the Board to take the lead on a response.

Mrs. Staas envisions the Park as an educational facility for kids to learn about farming. She wants to establish a passive educational plan for this property.

Ms. Susan Gallagher, a local resident, spoke with Mr. Lawrence about a pumpkin carving contest. Due to liabilities, Mr. Lawrence said the pumpkins need to show up already carved, they could then be judged according to categories. Mr. Lawrence hopes Ms. Gallagher and Mrs. Coleman organize the event. Mr. Hubbard thought it was late to be advertising this idea, and Members discussed the benefits and problems of having the paving equipment nearby.

The mountain biking team is going great. Mrs. Staas thought the parents could be vital to the development of a vision and plan for BSF.

Charlestown Park Update

Mr. Hubbard said that the preconstruction meeting was rescheduled. There are still items to be finished by the surety. There will be a legal review after the Board receives Mr. Dettore’s evaluation of the site. The South Parking Lot is expected to be finished this fall.

Mr. Lawrence is coordinating with the University and the Penn State Horticultural Society for a tree tender training event in the park.

PASC and PMYC

Mr. Lawrence will contact PASC regarding a road closure. Each of these clubs will split proceeds from Charlestown Day 2017.

Trails

• WalkWorks ChesCo!

  On Saturday, September 23 the County encourages residents to go for a walk, counting towards 1 billion steps in 2017.

• Bird Walk along the Horse Shoe Trail on Sunday, September 24th. Meet in the Charlestown Elementary School parking lot at 8:30 a.m. This is the first bird walk along this trail. It is also the beginning of fall migration, so there may be some surprises! Walk will be led by Lisa Tull.

• The Butterfly walk earlier in the month also would count towards the 1 billion step goal.
  • There are still a lot of Monarch caterpillars at Brightside Farm. Mr. Lawrence will get a photo while walking with Mrs. Coleman to post to social media.
• Mrs. Staas and Mrs. Underhill will give Mrs. Csete small write ups from each event for the newsletter.

Adjourned 8:00 p.m.