Planning Commission Regular Meeting/Work Session

Stacy SummerfieldstaffYes. First of all, thank you for having me. I'm Stacy Summerfield. I'm the parks director. And, yes, so you'll notice in the CIP, we have the Van Dyke master plan has been pushed back a little. was because of the desire to complete the design and to kind of know the final look of the Willard Sherwood project. One of the things that I know you're all aware of, but the Willard Sherwood building includes the senior center moving to that location. And so we have quite a vibrant senior population, about 1,500 members. Right now we're gaining about 40 members a month. And so if we move to that location, they're moving away from Green Acres, outdated building but green acres also has pickleball on site bocce on site outdoors and so

Matthew Ricegoing back even further we we've heard over the last decade plans for Leighton just talked about courthouse plaza and so the idea was a central walkable corridor that would take people from the center of town Old Town Square courthouse plaza and be able to have them walk or travel directly up through the center of that block into Van Dyke Park and to St. Leo's and to everything beyond so I appreciate your comments expertly delivered and concise much than I ever have done as the representative but importantly the connection between willow Sherwood and the park is substantial the senior center and most of their recreational activities may take place in Van Dyke and there's been years of discussion about this we have known for over a

Paul CunninghamThank you, Ms. Summerfield. As a user of the senior center of Green Acres, I believe it may be some time before I transition to my new place of recreation. And as such, I am hopeful that we keep Green Acres up at least in a usable condition until I can get to that stage. in my time frame. A comment I would make when it comes to this process, because having watched it for a long time, I think it's been an excellent process. Sometime before 2018, the Planning Commission spent three years in a row trying to encourage the City Council to actually adopt a master plan for van dyke park and the city council was reluctant uh since the adoption ultimately of a master plan we've gone through a number of iterations and not only for van dyke

that proceeding with things like the Senior Center and the Joint County Community Center should be proceeding and reiterate that kind of statement that I've heard during the past year. They still are capable of dealing with it as they will, but I think that kind of reinforcement says that what we're doing is longer term rather than this was this year's recommendation. Next year, we'll have a couple of hundred million dollars for you to go in a different direction. And we tap dance through this because most of this is not of the moment type of, boy, that was a great idea, we really ought to do that. Most of this is long-term planning and implementation that takes time to develop and execute and then look at the efficacy of it as you're moving down the road.

Matthew Riceknow, I think a good example tonight was just the realization that South Street extension will have a major impact on station 3 and their ability to potentially get in and out why didn't I why isn't that been a central thought of mine before I recognize my own deficits as I start to age and my kids frequently remind me that I am eligible to join the senior center that's typically the argument ender i don't like to hear that but i don't think about these things and and obviously we've talked about south street extension multiple times it involves the county it involves the city it involves you know police and fire there's six different groups i haven't ever thought about its impact as that road continues

warnings uh to us it just would be disastrous um sorry that's a little dark i just i think about these financial issues and the cost of us backing out with trusted partners. But I think in a more positive light, it certainly will significantly add to the quality of life in the city. The meeting space, the recreation opportunities, the senior center adjacent to the Sherwood Center adjacent to Van Dyke Park. There are just a lot of reasons why that location and that use is important. And it will continue making the city a nice place to live. So anyway.