I'll call to order the May 8th, 2025, meaning the Ashland Parks and Recreation Committee. Are there any proposed changes to the agenda as presented? Okay, hearing none, we will move forward. Number two, we have citizen inputs and seeing how we have none, we will move forward from there from there. Item three discussion items we will start with a North Ashland Park concept land process miss Richard. It's very excited to see this. Yes. All right. So this is also out of order in here because when I fixed it I fixed the order around. Love that for me. Okay, let's see if I can. To look right. Nope, now everything's gone. Oh, I love technology. Yes, wonderful when it was. Park concept planning. I wanted to go ahead and tee up this project with you guys as our next big parks and rec committee undertaking. It was in our, or is in our work plan for the year and much like the south, this is going to be much like the South Taylor Street Park project, but I wanted to include a timeline and kind of give you some background on this park space. So North Ashland Park was purchased, the property was purchased in 2022. It is six and a half acres. It is adjacent to railside trail north of Elm Street in the homes there. And so you can see on the map that red box is roughly where the trail is. It does extend all the way to Vaughan Road, which is where you see maintenance shops where public works is. Berkeley Town is across the railroad tracks from this property. It is mainly wooded, and there's a lot of bamboo on it, except for that kind of open space, you see that there's like a little bit of a field. And as I said, a adjacent to an existing trail, real-side trail which connects to real-side park. But it's not touching the parameters of the real-side park. It's not touching real-side park. No, so the real-side park is down here always but the trail will connect to the two. Okay. So the park development of the park will kind of talk about timeline, but the idea is to kind of use similar methods to what we did with South Taylor Street Park and the bicycle and pedestrian plan to gather community input to, you know, hear from both people who do and do not use our parks to see what they want in the development of this. This is probably going to be a very expensive park just based on the size of it and the fact that there is no existing infrastructure. For example, Berkeley Town Heritage Park, just the trail and the signage did cost over $200,000. So if you look and that is a three acre property and that is just a passive trail and signage, the bridge was a major expense. We also don't know what we're gonna find when we take down all of the, take down the woods or we do some land studies over in North Ashland. So that's kind of part of just thinking about this. This isn't something that is going to be completed like tomorrow and a Development-wise, but we need to go ahead and get a game plan for what the park is going to look like so that we Have an idea of how much it's going to cost so Our first step is going to get be get community feedback. So we're going to do that through evaluating our existing input. That suggestions that we got for South Taylor Street Park, that suggestions that we've heard over the years. About a year ago, we sat down and did our work session where we kind of talked about what do we want our park, like what do we want to be known for in Ashen Parks and Recreation or you know what are our next steps and we wrote down all the things people want to see basketball courts, dog parks, pickle balls, soccer fields, flash pads, all of that. So I'll pull back out that information and include that in you know this planning process because I think a lot of that's still relevant. We will have opportunities for input at community meetings. To be determined if we need to do an actual meeting like we did for the I can pedestrian plan where we opened it up for people to come in. Those types of meetings really haven't been super successful with the more digital world that we're living in. But there may be ways to kind of do some like, charets where we can go out into the community. And that's where that community pop-up comes along with like gathering in-person feedback at programs and events. We'll also create a survey to be distributed online and in-person. Committee outreach, so it'll be you guys soliciting feedback. And then, concept plan review sessions. So I see that kind of as like taking concept plans to our events and much like we did with the skate park, we gave, we had three concept plans and we gave people little stickers and we said, put a green sticker on the concept plan that you like the most and put, and then everybody got like three yellow stickers and it was like put a yellow sticker on the components that you like the most. So even if it wasn't in the concept plan, you overall liked if you liked something in concept plan B, but A was your favorite. That way we could see if there was something in another plan that was a favorite that we could swap in or add in. So there are lots of opportunities. There are lots of ways that we can engage the community like that. I will go ahead and tell you that we have been approved for the marketing and special events coordinator position. It's a 32-hour-a-week position and it's a shared position between Ms. Martha Miller, our assistant, Townman and Jaffa external relations and myself. And so I'll actually have some part time parks help moving forward. And so I see this is a really great opportunity for that person to hit the ground running. It is a shared position, so there's no percentage, they work 80% with me and 20% with her. It's basically based on need, so like, and so we'll be working together. So I see this is a really great opportunity for that person to kind of use both sides of their role in the community engagement and marketing side. And so I'm excited to, we've actually offered to a candidate this week. And so it kind of fits in well with this timeline. So I'll have some more boots on the ground for this process. Very exciting. Yeah. Just in time. Yeah, exactly. So the proposed timeline is to develop and plan our community engagement tools and our meetings in May. And so I'll be working potentially with our new person who their start date is in June, July range. So that works perfectly to begin our community engagement in June and July with the goal of having an opportunity for feedback in person and our July 10th Parks and Recreation meeting as well as being able to present you guys with some data from the surveys and the community events that happen before July 10th. In June we have two different major parks and recreation events. We'll also have the pool open, we'll have the farmers market, we'll have the strawberry fairs, so we'll have lots of opportunities to go out and gather feedback in that timeframe. with our July 10th meeting, I think it would be, you know, we can start to kind of whittle down on like what are the most prominent themes and features that are being requested in the park. And then I can take that back to our design firm. I plan on working with the same design firm that did South Taylor Street Park, and work with them to create some concept plans and deliver a concept plan for consideration at, we don't have an August meeting at the September meeting because we meet every other month. So that should be a consideration at September meeting a first concept plan. And then after that that we'll just kind of move forward from there. I didn't want to go too far ahead with a timeline post-concept plan because I know that there'll be multiple iterations of it. We'll work back and forth we're getting into holiday season but my goal is to have something and I know this approved by September, but something by the end of the year. So a concept plan to you guys in September with something approved by the end of the year. So that when I go into my budget cycle, which begins in the January, February timeframe. I know what I'm looking at and how much either A, I need to request for this year. If it is something that we think is feasible in a fiscal year. And if not, how much I need to start requesting to build up to the total that I need for the park. If it's going to be a multi-year project. Or if there's a way to break it into phases, kind of like what we did with South Taylor Street Park with a phase one and phase two. Because I don't know how much money to ask for until I know how I'm just going to cost. So that's kind of my plan. And when I do the notes for this, I'll update it. Because I think my brain was thinking our meeting was in August, which would give me a month to get a final plan approved by September, but that is likely going to be our plan is approved. Or we have an idea in September that we then take back to the concept or back to the planner for you know something maybe final in the November meeting timeframe. questions on that process, any thoughts? Very brief, but we've also done it before, kind of recently, with South Taylor Street Park, but that is kind of our next big project. Yeah? Awesome. I do have some questions. Okay. Well, you just push and make sure the green light is on your mask. Yes. Okay, I'm good. I was curious about, um, in thinking about the community feedback and getting input and knowing that it's, like, essentially directly beside the school, you know, schools out at the and of May, but it does reconvene mid August. So I think that timeline would still work if there was a way to even just distribute a flyer in backpacks out to say visit the survey or get some sort of feedback along the way at that like tail end. Yeah. I just feel like in terms of transparency, just having that in and I love that. Yeah. And now that we have, you know, I haven't now have more connections with the school. But I know you do, Martha Miss Miller does. Yeah, I'll work with you guys on that. That's a great idea. Awesome. Yeah, wonderful. And then, curious about, do you know what the space is? Right now, I know the space across the street from the school, which is not directly right beside, because, okay, if you're looking at the the map across Vaughn from the new park is Ashlands Town Shop. Yes. And then on the opposite side of the school, which is a little bit further up, that lot is for sale. Who know what that's zoned for? Or is there an idea of that going to remain, I think it's an agriculture right now, but there is that you have an idea about what that looks like in the future. Why are you smiling? Yeah. So that is called the Holland tract. I know that there is conversation about it being foresaal or being sold. And I don't off the top of my head know everything, like what it's zoned for, but I can give you that information. Okay. Here's as it may impact what that looks like, or I mean, it may not at all. Yeah. I was thinking about what the surrounding areas around the park look like, and what it might look like in the future. Yeah, I can get specific info from our planning department on. I've been told multiple times what it's done for but I'm not a planner and so a lot of the times it's like numbers and letters that I don't think goes. So yeah. Very enough. And then when you're pulling together some of the information that we've already talked about from previous suggestions, could you give us a crash course again about what I think was called the Gold Star parks that we were like, want to be yeah yeah yeah good we have that information again to a key at our forefront when thinking about how and what we want you know what amenities we want to include and I started diving into some of the other local area parks that people are fans of and what those amenities are and then you know I know at the summertime and I know we'll be had it like we'll Our road trips and went out we like stopping around a lot of different parks So we'll be thinking about that this summer about yeah, I can do a presentation at our next meeting on the gold Gold medal parks. Yes, yeah, gold medal awards. Yeah, gold medal, okay. I'm not sure. And this may be too worldly because, you know, knows that we were the park would be an everything. But I think we should keep in mind with that park, just how maybe directly the folks over Berkeley County heritage park also being in in good right there at the tracks. And just wrecking them over there, get the history and you see the sign engines. You see what is in the park there. Just somehow. Link the two. Yeah, yeah. Love that, because it is a fabulous park. Any other questions? Cool. Well, I will keep you guys in the loop, probably via email about what's going on with the community engagement tools. And so that's, surveys and stuff. And then we won't have a meeting before we start distributing that survey. But, because we won't meet again until July. But I will send that to you via email. And then we'll also kind of push it through all of our channels. And then I'll ask for you guys to push it out through the various groups that you have, like whether it's schools or Facebook pages or community organizations. And then I think as well, we'll probably do some targeted marketing to those neighborhoods that are right along Railside Trail, because that'll be a very walkable park for them. And so we'll probably, am I enlist to you guys for a little bit of help. Usually we try to do like door hangers that have links to the survey just so we make sure that they're getting them. So there might be an opportunity for, you know, some volunteering around that. Cool. Let's build another park. We just eat out, like, we've got the ribbon on one of them, like, let's just build another one. One wasn't enough. That's right, one was not enough. Yeah, yeah. It's awesome. It's very exciting. We're just so good at it. Okay, moving on to B, 2025 Parks and Recreation Committee Work Plan check in with Ms. Richards. Yes, so I want to make sure at every meeting and I won't include the work plan in your packet at every meeting moving forward. I will include it on the online version just so we can, but that way I don't kill a whole bunch of trees, but I want wanna make sure every meeting that we revisit the work plan and that we just go through and I can give you an update on where we are on all of our objectives. So if you remember, we set, I think four or five different goals. The first one is just here funding for phase two the South Thaillard Street Park Revitalization and Park Plant and Planned Park Construction. We were able to, as long as the budget is officially, the budget's very close to being officially vote. Being officially voted on by town council. And so we do have ear marched the $300,000 that we need for the phase two of South Taylor Street Park. So I did have to kind of call money from other line items in order to get that $300,000 just because there's a lot going on budget wise with, you know, kind of preparing for the unknown and what's happening the economy right now. But that since that was, and honestly since that was the very first goal and the number one priority for the Parks and Rec Committee, Council was like, okay, we're going to find the money. And so that's why this is so important and we'll continue to do this as a committee each year because it shows staff and town council where our priorities are. And then, I mean, without this, I'm not sure I would have gotten the entire $300,000. So I'm glad that we did this and phase one, basically what we've worked with our contractor is they're just instead of phasing it. Now we have the money for the whole project. There's gonna do the whole thing. And so they haven't started construction yet because the same group that is doing that project is also working on that maple street and ash cake road, swale and trail the stormwater project. I know a lot of people have questions about what's going on there. There was, there were some, when they started digging, there were some things that had not been marked in the initial survey and so there are some pipes and stuff that need to be connected in different ways and moves. So we've found some stuff under the ground that did not show up on a survey. And so we've had to halt a little bit there so that we can do some better planning and kind of re-plan that project. And so once that kind of wraps up, you'll see movement at South Taylor Street Park. Awesome. The next one was to implement an accessibility assessment to identify gaps in accessibility in Ashland's parks. I am meeting with two certified, recreation certified therapeutic recreation specialists. One works for the County of Henrico, one works for the County of James City County. And in, forget what day, but it's a, I think the first Friday in June. And we are gonna be starting the accessibility assessment in our parks. And so they are trained in how to, how to do these assessments. They have forms and kind of checklists. And so we're going to go walk through all of the parks and identify what kind of gaps and accessibility may exist. And then we'll start working on a plan to update current park features and facilities to be more ADA compliant. Yeah. so that is in gene. Gotta get the pool open first. Next, develop a park design for the North Ashland Park property. We're starting that now. And so a little later than that March timeframe, but you know, we had to cut the ribbon on another park. We have to open a pool. But yeah, so I'll probably adjust this timeline to reflect what we're working on now. But I still think that November end of the year target is probably a pretty good date. But if it goes past that, that's okay too. Next, we have focused on one of the initiatives from the 2045 by Compadestrian Plan, Safety Equity Connectivity and more users. Chelsea and I were talking a little bit earlier about some potential initiatives. So I think that this is something that we are always kind of looking at ways to improve those four initiatives. And but this is kind of an ongoing work in progress. There's nothing at the moment other than, I would say the connectivity piece and just as currently working to improve like trails and pathways and more sidewalks in town that we're actually actively doing. There's some crosswalk enforcement going on through the Ashland Police Department. But I think once we kind of get some of these other projects underway, we can revisit this and look at some maybe I would like to do some fall programming. Because I think that the fall line trails should be open by then, figures crossed. And so that could be a good opportunity to introduce the fall line to town and do some bike education. So I will connect kind of back with you guys at one of our next meetings because I think that that you know there's some opportunities in the fall. It's a really active time for people biking that type of thing to revisit this project. And that's it for that. Questions or comments? We are chugging along on this. These projects. Oh, great. Thank you. I love to check in for that every meeting. That's awesome. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Cool. I love a check-in for that every every meeting. That's awesome. Cool and I will add to this real quick that I do think the addition of a staff member even you know part-time will help me accomplish this and these are very important to me. It's sometimes challenging for me right now to have the extra time to put in for all of these because like I would say like right now this very moment is kind of like our busy like my busy season with like getting the pool going. We had Berkeley town. You know there's a lot going on but it it I am actively working on all of these and yeah, we'll get them done. Well, it shows too. You're very actively working on it, so thank you. Yes. And great. Okay, any other comments or questions there? Okay, let's head on to reports with a committee member reports. Miss Lugo, would you like to go first? I did just want to comment. I finally got out to Berkeley Town. We actually walked all the way from slash cottage out there and back. It was a mega, mega hike. And we enjoyed the entire, I mean, we go through various trails and sidewalks through town. Berkeley town was just honestly I think I had only seen it on paper and I thought it was lovely but being out there it just was like this is why I'm on this committee and this is why I love Ashland because it just and I haven't even seen the signage yet so you know I that's next but even without the signage, I was so proud of your work and this committee, and it's really a gem for Ashland. Yes. That's all. Great. Thank you. Mr. Mnloy. This morning on my morning walk, I went through to John it, and I see where they're working on the creek there. And so I did ask the public works guy that was there. I said, so what are we doing here? He said, I don't know. I'm not sure yet. Nobody's told me. He said, we were just picking up the trash. Yeah. So it looks like it goes all the way over though. Yes. crosses over into the neighborhood. Yep. So that is a stream restoration project through our public works department. So basically they're going to go in and improve the flow and function of the stream for stormwater management purposes. And so that is what's happening there. And ultimately, it'll just because that area is very low, and tends to flood frequently. Hopefully, the stream restoration will allow for better movement of stormwater. And so it won't back up into people's yards. And then my wife and I, well, I went to the ribbon cutting at Berkeley Town, which was really nice, was really a nice event, very well attended and all. And then I convinced my wife to walk down there. I heard about it all the way back to home, how far it was. But not here as far as you are still. But she was really impressed with the signage and the peacefulness of the park and just seeing the history displayed there about Berkeley Town. So yeah, I agree with you. It's just a wonderful park. It's so peaceful. And then I noticed taking the grandkids down the South Taylor street that there are markings already now about. So I'm anticipating and looking forward to that. Awesome. All right, thank you. Okay, I just have to echo to with Berkeley Park because what a gym and how fortunate we are that it exists and that it seems that it was such a collaborative effort to make all of it happen. And it's just a beautiful space that just is so soothing and a little bit magical. Like it's a little bit of a fairy tale world. Back there, it's beautiful. And I feel like I just keep getting these texts from friends saying, holy cow. I didn't realize it was like this. I'm like, yes, everybody go, this is amazing. So thank you for all of the hard work that everybody has put in because I know it was a very collaborative effort and it's just a beautiful space. So thank you for bringing that to Ashland. And it was an awesome event too. I mean, it was a really, really great event. So thank you for that. And then I also just wanted to, I spoke briefly with Amy beforehand about this. So I reached out with Austin Palace, I've mentioned this a couple times. She's the gym teacher, the PE teacher at Ashland Elementary, one of them. But so we've kind of talked in the past year here and there about doing a bike walk roll to school. And so Ashlyn was getting its legs under itself for the first year. And so I, I mean, I offered assistance however I can to help create some sort of event for next year. And Austin Miss Powell is super excited too. So she helps create it at Cool Springs Elementary when she was there and built it up to an event whereby the time she left there were 500 participants. So it was a really great event. She's interested in putting together a presentation for us so that she can come. The July 10th might be a little bit tricky for her. But she said she could even zoom in or Google in her, however, works, but that she'd love to put a presentation together for us just to show here's on their side of things, how they can get things going, what grants they had in the past, what infrastructure that they needed, what type of support. But that they are, I mean, she's excited about and she'll obviously work with the principal and work through so this is very preliminary talks just between the two of us but I just wanted to share it with you all that I think having that sort of enthusiasm that's already there within the school is really exciting and I talked to her about how it completely plays into the Bik and pedestrian plan that council has approved thankfully and that between our equity connectivity, more users, safety, this crosses all of those. So, to be continued with that, so I know she's at the end of the school year with lots of craziness happening, but I'm sure we'll talk through timing and what that looks if it's in the fall, over through the spring and what that looks like. So I just wanted to share that. And that's about all that I have. I am Miss Sanchez. I just wanted to say that I love the parks as always. I've visited them on my own, but I unfortunately missed the ribbon cutting and also Arbor Day. I was in Colorado, so I missed out on that. But I keep getting feedback from people how beautiful it is. And I ran into Anne Martin, who was one of the original people on Parks and Rec Committee. And she asked me, so how's Parks and Rec going? And so I said, how much time do you have to fill her in on everything that's going on and she was amazed at how much it has taken place in the area and that's it. I guess I'm just always proud of being on Parks and Rec and how beautiful our parks are. Thank you. Ms. Smith. As a resident of Berkeley town I live actually on Berkeley Street. The park is fantastic I've walked it several times already I've had friends from out of the Ashland area meet me and I've shared with them. So I just wanted to say kudos to everyone. It's a beautiful park and everybody seems to really enjoy it. Thank you. Excellent. Okay, thank you. Moving on to the Parks and Rec reports, Ms. Richards. All right, so on whatever page it decided to print on. It's in there. Well, you guys stole my Berk town heritage park thunder. But no, it was a great event. Grateful for everybody. The Patrick Henry step team came. Ashland Elementary fifth grade choir. The lodge and Amy's around the table. They were such great community partners, Hanover County Parks and Recreation, came and brought all the sound systems and stuff. So just really a great collaboration overall. It's a huge success, not just for the town, but personally for me, it's my first park from the ground up. And so, I mean, what a way to start. Like, you know, I don't know if we'll ever top it. I had tears in my eyes when that joy, when we cut the ribbon. And so I'm mean, what a way to start. Like, you know, I don't know if we'll ever top it. I had tears in my eyes when that, you know, of joy when we cut the ribbon. And so I'm just very proud of all we have been able to accomplish in Ashland. Arbor Day was just after the ribbon cutting. The town is now a tree city 34 years in running. We partnered with Randolph-Making College's Serve Committee in the Virginia Department of Forestry for this. Each year the ribbon cut or the tree planting kind of goes back and forth so this year it was on town property next year it will be on the college property and will continue to partner and collaborate with them. Dejarnit Park, a lecture of fishing so this was really cool if you want to see some pictures that I can show you after. But I worked with a department of wildlife resources to conduct an lecture of fishing survey of Dejarnit Park. So they brought out a big, very large boat for a very small pond. And somehow got it in and out. But they put these things that look like, you know, those like silver head scratchers that like when you scratch your head like the little, the little tentacle things go out or whatever. So they brought out, out those like that and they stick them in the water and then they put a current into the water and it stuns the fish in the surrounding area and the fish kind of float up and you can net them and put them in a live well. And then after that we actually took the fish out and measured them and weighed them before returning them back to the pond. And so we were able to see kind of what is living in our pond and how we can improve the viability of it in kind of a conservation effort. But also to increase, if we do host fishing programs, we want people to catch fish. So it was very interesting what we found. We found an almost four pound large mouth bass, which is a pretty big fish. And then we found some pickerel, which are these skinny little guys, and some blue gill, and some sunfish. What we did not find, which was very interesting, we did not find any catfish, even though the pond has been stocked with catfish on multiple occasions. That is, we think because we have heard that there's an otter living in the, and that the frequency pond, I have not seen it, but an otter can eat three to four catfish a day. So we believe that we have been stalking it with catfish and people can catch the catfish and they may take them, but that also potentially the otter is, you know, which has been providing a lot of free meals. So what that being said, the next step is to do some, we have a lot of vegetation in the pond, which really isn't great for it at this point, like a lot of organic matter. And so the next step is to kind of work on managing that in order to kind of improve the pond environment for fish, as well as stock it with some more appropriate fish for that, probably some blue gill and sunfish. And then eventually introduce a fish called a carp, which apparently likes to eat plants. And that would help keep some of that organic matter at bay in kind of a long run. So that was really interesting. I showed up thinking that it would be like a 30, 45 minute a 30, 45 minute thing they said, oh, we'll be quick. I was out there for three hours and they had me in the boat, net and fish with them. So it was kind of like a once in a lifetime thing. If anybody wonders, a de-jarnet park is only about seven feet deep. So, but it was the first time that I've seen the park from the water. And so I got to help actually net some fish. I was living my best life. So, but yeah, so that was a really, that was really fun and a really great partnership with the DWR to kind of improve the, you know, improve the sustainability of that pond. And we were doing this in anticipation a little bit of our June 6th, a young angler day at the Janet Park. I think that actually should be June 8th. I think I wrote the wrong date. I'm sorry, I was all over the place I guess when I wrote this. Yep, so June 8th is our young angler day at the Janet Park that's from 2 to 4 p.m. That is also a partnership with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources. They are going to be teaching me and whoever staff, as well as staff at Hanover County Parks and Recreation. We're doing an educational course prior to that on how to teach people how to fish. And then we'll be actually teaching people how to fish at the Jarnett. a free fishing day in the state of Virginia and providing free fishing poles for people to take home with them and then we'll also get free fishing pools and tackle from the DWR that we can use for future fishing programs. So that was just kind of a I call it cool things we get to do I'm parks and rec. How big were the catfish that you were, that they, they were big. They kept, they weren't very big. They weren't like the kind you're pulling out of the James. The only reason I said that was, there was a big snapping turtle that lived in there. Yeah. So I mean, if they weren't very big, I bet that ate a lot though. That's what we think too. Yeah. I bet that ate a lot too. That's what we think too. Yeah, yeah. And the electric fishing, I was curious to see if it would work on turtles, because I was like, I know there's a giant one in here. I know there's some goliath turtle. And it doesn't. So we didn't get to see any turtles. But, and so yeah, it'll be really interesting to see, once we put some more effort in now that we know what we're working with, you know, what kind of the return on investment will be. And the vegetation cleanup, when does that take place? So we're going to work on a vegetation management. There's actually like a company that comes in and will kind of like treat the water in a way that is very safe, but also kind of cuts down on the vegetation. But I actually haven't heard back from them, but I'm working with potentially a Boy Scout group to come in and put their waiters on and kind of go along the shoreline and pull out like sticks and gunk and leaves and algae and like because like I mean we were pulling out like branches out of there and so I think that like they always love getting down and dirty a little bit so that's kind of I don't have a date for that yet. Thank you. South Taylor Street Park I already told you that funding for Phase 2 is in the proposed budget town council, but we've been given the green line to go ahead and work with our contractor to have that started. A fall line trail, there's an update to this as of Friday, I should have caught it. The ribbon cutting has been canceled. It is not on May 22nd. The trail is not going to be ready by May 22nd. We are looking at postponing it to June, but it was a last minute kind of, V.Dott had said it would be ready and it's not. So that being said, there is nothing happening on the 22nd, even though it's been marketed, unfortunately, all the marketing materials went out before we learned of this. So we're just trying to get the word out. So if you've anybody asked you about it, I know we have a lot of citizens who look at it and say, well, it looks done. I will say that even when I was out there last week, planning the ribbon cutting, when I found out it needed to be canceled. I was actually at a site visit when I got the email. But VDOT was still removing some silt fencing from either side of the trail and they had heavy equipment. So as I said, even though it looks done, there are, I don't know exactly what needs to be finished, but there's not. So yeah. But I will just say in V. they have until September technically to finish the trail and they are going to come in ahead of schedule, so that's a win in itself. Carter Park pool, the pool will open on May 24th at 10am for the 2025 season. Online pool membership sales have been going really well. It's really helped take the burden off of our front line staff. And we have done more in sales so far this year than we did last year. So that's also trending. That's very popular. Some changes at the pool this year. We will be selling concessions this year. We're not doing anything crazy, just chips, water, sports drinks. I'm not doing ice cream because I actually have farm view creamery and ice cream truck coming there most Saturdays. Yeah, so, but there will be some light concessions. Otherwise, everything's pretty much the same as last year. No increase in fees this year. So yeah, so we'll be business-usual pool season here in two weeks. This is always my brain is like crazy pool brain all the time at this time of year. And that is it for kind of my major updates. What I did not include on here, but I'll share with you, is that today I had the pleasure of attending Ashland Elementary School's career day for their kindergarteners and first graders. And I got to talk about the Parks and Recreation as a career, which was mainly a slideshow of pictures of parks and them all, it's gleefully telling me that they have been to the parks every time I it was also it was just so fun to see like I put up a picture of Carter Park and they go, we've been there! But I started every presentation with you know, hi I'm Amy I work in parks and I'm a recruiter and I say who's been to a park and they're all? I said, okay, I said, what's your favorite part of parks? And, you know, I have the razor hand. And I can say the reigning champion is still slides and swings. So, those are, but, uh, but yeah, it was a huge hit. They were so sweet, so fun. Um, uh, and yeah, so very excited to be able to do that with our community and connect. But. And you're now a celebrity. I'm now a celebrity. One of the little one of the kids told the music teacher who texted one of my colleagues and said that I was a hit and all of the kids think that I built Disney World. I said, I will take that. Thank you. Oh, yes. So, but honestly, I kind of used it as a little focus group because I asked them, like, what do you like? And I watched what they got excited about, you know? And so it was like, you know, they were so, I mean, they pumped about pool. But then it was like, I should put the new South Taylor Street Park equipment up and said, I got to help pick this out. And they were like, look at the slides. And I was like, you know, and I was like, slides and swings will always win. So that was really, really fun. And it's always just so cool to get out in the community like that. And then last but not least, looking ahead, here's some different events that we have coming up. You guys are not required to be at any of them except for the Parks and Recreation Committee meeting on July 9th. Otherwise, you know, these are optional if you can come. I will give you a date for the pool opening party. I'm thinking around, or give you a time. I'm thinking around 11 a.m. just because I need to get with our DJ and see what time he's available. If he's available that day. But otherwise, you are invited to attend any or none of these as your schedule allows. A lot of these are also some of those projects that we planned with Hanover County Parks and Recreation like paint by the pond, the Young and Angler Day, the Water Safety Day and the Summer Splash Party. I'd say the Summer Splash Party is going to be probably a heavier lift for us on a staffing side so if you want to come to that that will include we're going to do. It's not going to be a free day in the water. It will be a free access to the pool, but for pool-focused events, so we're going to do float races. We're going to do a cardboard rigata, and then we're going to do a treasure dive for different ages and different depths of the pool. But otherwise, the pool will be closed for swimming for swimming. Unlike last year when we did the free day and we had just a tremendous amount of people, this kind of controls how many we have in the water at one time. But also looking at like some type of blow up obstacle course, food trucks, so yard games, a DJ, so that should be a really fun, a fun day. Was there, I think I remember there being an event that the Hanover Parks and Rec at Puffer Belly? It was the pre-school playing or what? Yeah, the pre-school play cafe. Yeah. Unfortunately, so that is going to be reoccurring and happen every month. Unfortunately, the first one was canceled due to inclement weather. Okay, so I was just going to say how well I would do it. Yeah, yeah, so that was, it kind of sucked that our first one, you know, had to be canceled. But it also, you know, it was like a day that it was like very cold and rainy. but now the parks are really picking up, and especially when children are out of school, and so people are going taking their kids to the park earlier in the day. I'm hoping the next one is popular. I know that was, you know, people were looking forward to that. Yeah, okay, that's a shame. Yeah. Sure. And it's still saying for July meeting, it's on Thursday, right? Because I think the ninth is a Wednesday. Did I just get all sorts of things wrong? I just want to make sure that I show up at the wrong. Yep, it's the 10th. Goodness gracious, Emmy. July 10th. OK, great. Great. Awesome. Thank you. Those are great updates. And remember that young Angular days on June 8th. When I send you the meeting minutes, I'll update those. I must have been, maybe I was like looking at 2024's calendar, I'm not going to lie. With the way my brain has been operating right now, it have been. Well consider I mean look at the report itself and then look at the project and go I mean there's just so much going on. Thank you. This is amazing. Okay. Are there any other comments feedback? Discussion items? Okay. Hearing none I adjourned this meeting.