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Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes June 11, 2025 --------- Page 6 of 10 Mr. Stremcha pointed out that funding sources could change in the future, so they need to identify priorities and then as funds become available, they take those items off the list. Chair Anderson said if they take the time to do this it will give them great appreciation for what they have done. 10.2 Playground Plan Mr Shelby Presented his report. He reviewed the playground replacement spreadsheet provided in the packet pointing out the estimated cost of replacement for each playground and then the amount of funding coming from the liquor store fund. Mr. Shelby shared that the Country Crossing Park playground has already started shrinking due to the need to remove pieces for safety. Staff won’t remove the whole thing though since what remains is safe. Staff can evaluate piece by piece. This is the first playground on the replacement schedule. According to the schedule there will be a playground needing to be replaced on almost an annual basis. Chair Anderson asked if staff are comfortable with the anticipated playground life span of 25 years and if there is the possibility of getting the playgrounds past that number. Mr. Shelby said that while it is a possibly, it isn’t guaranteed. Chair Anderson said this made him think of sustainability. He said with only $250,000 coming into the park fund, there isn’t the ability to replace all these items with the budget laid out in front of them. He said that when they were installing all these amenities back in the day, they didn’t realize that they would need to replace all of them. Chair Anderson said they need to think about what playgrounds they should be replacing. He said they should also be looking at all their needs and come up with additional funding sources. He thinks that they need to come up with a fallback list of what playgrounds should be targeted for replacement when they need it based on condition and safety, but he is not sure how to do that. He isn’t sure if the community needs 5 playgrounds, 10 playgrounds…at one time they thought the community needed 16 and they can’t afford that. Commissioner Niziolek said they need some information on how many people are using the playgrounds. He views that information as valuable because he thinks it will need to reduce the number of parks with playgrounds. He asked staff if there was an easy or convenient way to monitor the usage of those parks over this summer. Mr. Shelby said he thinks it is not so much to monitor but to engage the public, which is something that was started during the Play My Way campaign. He said that simply asking people what playgrounds and parks they are using and how they are using them is important. This would be part of the park master planning process. He is not sure how we would go about it but doesn’t think it is as simple as counting people at the parks. It could be going out into specific neighborhoods and asking the residents. Commissioner Stewart asked if asking users about their usage of specific pieces of equipment could be added to the survey. If they have to make decisions about all neighborhood parks, should they include questions such as, do the residents want playgrounds with all swings and no jungle gym. He asked if combining two current parks into one is an option. Chair Anderson asked Commissioner Goodwin what she thought. Commissioner Goodwin said she thinks that people are using parks differently now and it is important for the community to understand that they are looking at destination parks more because primary caretakers are going with kids to the parks and not just sending the kids down to the park. She thinks it is important to get a sense of where people are using the parks and what they are using them for. What is their philosophy for using the parks? She feels the commission should cast a vision for these parks because it isn’t about if they get rid of some, it’s a when, because it is four million