Okay. I call to order the September 12th, 2024 meeting of the Ashland Parks and Recreation Committee. Are there any proposed changes to the agenda as presented? Okay, hearing none, let's move forward to citizen inputs. Are there any attendees who would like to speak before the committee? Okay. And seeing as there are none, We've only four. Two item number three action items. A, biocompatestrian plan, misprudence. Yes. All right. So you'll see the first thing we have here is the staff report. So just kind of summarizing the parks and recreation by Compatestrian Plan process. We started this in January of 2022. So we're kind of coming, yeah, so we've been working on it for almost two years now. I know it's been a labor of love and we've really put a ton of effort into, and love for our community and ensuring connectivity and equitable access and everything that we did to get to this point. So at our last meeting, there were a few minor changes of sentence about in the implementation section, as well as just a few kind of grammatical tweaks. I made all of those changes, and this is kind of the final draft of the plan. So it's up to you guys tonight. I know you've read this over and over and over again. You probably know it by heart now, but it's up to you guys tonight, whether we are ready to move forward with this or if we see any other changes. So should you decide to vote on this tonight? We will do a vote tonight but you've got three options for motions and I would love for you guys to discuss this before if there's anything you need to discuss. But there's the motion to approve and there's an motion to approve with the plan amended. So say we want to add something minor into the plan or make some minor changes. We can approve the plan with the amended language, with the caveat that the amended language go into it. Or we can move to deny approval of the plan. Should we need to wait on anything maybe more of a major change? The process for this would be, should we approve it tonight? I would look at taking it to town council within the next couple months based on their agendas and what their workload is. I want to give them plenty of time to read the plan so that when we have, when I do present on it and ask for their feedback and a potential vote there that they've had plenty of time to adequately review it. And then, you know, should that move forward or, you know, at whatever point that moves forward, then the plan goes into that implementation phase. And it becomes that living working document that we use to improve active transportation infrastructure in town. So that's the timeline. And obviously not gonna push you to approve anything that you're not comfortable with. So you guys have your discussion and we'll go from there. And at that any time you guys are ready to make motions, go for it. And can you remind us when is the copy editing after our town council? If you had, so if you say like I move for approval of the plan as amended with x, y, and z that we talk about, I would make those changes and then I would take it to council with the changes. Okay. Okay. Sounds good. Okay. So I just have some really minor pieces. The first would be under the acknowledgments for the Parks and Writers Committee. And in large committees that I've worked with in the past, if there's individuals who have cycled off or their term has expired to still list them in as the committee member. And so my suggestion would be instead of having, because I feel like, you know, Rob, Dull and Jeannie McKinney put so much effort into it, I would really kind of love if their name was in there as well, but just with perhaps an asterisk to indicate. It's there. Termed up. But if they were in the list. OK. Do you know what I mean? Then with the little asterisk, because they were such an integral part with creating this. I think it looks more like a cohesive group. That's just a stealth preference on my part though, so take it or leave it. And then the only other piece that I was thinking about in the summary, we talked so much about active transportation throughout the document and if the first paragraph active transportation and there it is. Perfect, never mind. Cool. And I only had few copy editing pieces that is not. Okay. For the copy editing stuff like grammar, punctuation type thing. Just things, yeah. Okay. For the copy editing stuff like grammar, punctuation type thing. Just things, yep. Okay. Rearranging tiny tweaks. Okay. You just want to send me those. Sure. Sounds good. Does anybody else have any feedback or items they want to discuss or we have read this at nauseam? Again and again Okay, so Do you does the committee agree that they want to move the acknowledgement for Misvekinny and mr. Dole to the List with an asterisk does that work? I have no preference either way I would move that we go to accept the addition of the past members of the Parks and Rec Committee. Okay. So then if we want to, so going back to that language for, sorry, scroll, scroll, scroll. For those recommended motions, you would say I would move for approval of the 2045 bicycle pedestrian plan as amended and I would just add with the change in listing parks and recreation committee members. Some things simple like that is fine. Okay. Do you like me to do that? Yeah, do we have a number? I would move for approval of the 2045 bicycle and pedestrian plan as amended with the addition of the past members names placed in the document. Excellent. And do we hear a second? Second. Thank you, Ms. Smith. All right. Ms. Lugo? Thank you, Miss Smith. All right. Miss Lugo? Yes. Hi. Hi, yet. Mr. Molloy? Hi. Miss Freaks? Hi. Miss Shons? Hi, Carol Luea. Miss Sean's? Oh, I can't hold you. Miss Smith, it passes with all eyes. Yay! I think that deserves a round of applause. I have wild dancing. Just got a broadcast across the town. And I promise. I promise we won't work in a parking lot. I promise we'll treat it with kick gloves. Yeah. That'll live on in the archives forever. Awesome. Well, thank you guys for all of your hard work on this project. And I'm excited to move forward. I will let you know when it goes to Council and work with them and you know if you guys want to come and support when it goes through to Council I'll let you know in that meeting data and obviously to communicate with them the just tremendous amount of work that you put in into this document. And I really, this is my first time writing anything like this. And it was truly a massive learning experience for me, but I couldn't have done it without a team. And that's what you guys and Miss McKinney and Mr. Dull did. You guys, you did this. I just wrote it, but I just wrote the narrative, but you did it. So thank you. Thank you because I also think that you just helped us all as collectively as a team to get there and your leadership in this was immeasurable and writing policy documents such as this can be a Thank you for taking on that task so elegantly. Thank you. Okay. Woohoo. All right, so moving on to action item number, excuse me, letter B, Salty O'Lourish Street Park Concepts and Discussion with Miss Richards. Yes. All right, switch back to this other agenda that doesn't have the bike pad plan in it, so I'm just going through. So in November of 2023, as you guys know, the town of Ashland purchased 0.661 acres of land adjacent to the existing South Taylor Street Park and the ideas to expand the footprint of the park and really revitalize the space, not just to update the new piece of land, but to create a really cohesive, new, unique park space as a whole. So at our July 11th meeting, we reviewed two concepts provided to us from the Timins Group, concept A and concept B about what this part could look like. We were working on some existing community feedback that we had from our South Taylor Street playground replacement process. And we used that feedback with Timmons and here in our discussions to kind of decide that we liked we wanted to move forward with the design concept A, which is the one that you'll see in your packet. I went back to Timons with that feedback about the design concept A, adding in the foot saw lines to the plan basketball court, and they returned the final draft of our concept, which is the one that you'll see here, the proposed site master plan. So there are two main changes that you'll see. You'll see that the basketball court has a foot saw lining and we've added in low fencing. The low fencing is about hip height and that is to keep balls contained Which really is more for the foot saw aspect Because if you're kicking balls, you know, you're less in control of their of their direction And then the the parking was moved from South Taylor Street to Pleasant Street The reasoning behind this was trees. So if we kept the parking on well one of the multi-reasons on South Taylor Street we were going to have to remove five trees. By moving it to Pleasant Street we do not have to remove any trees. This also helps because this is this Pleasant Street is a larger road and across from South Taylor Street where the parking was going to be before is a home. And so we were concerned that people would be backing up and potentially trying to use their driveway to back up and turn. So we wanted to kind of protect those homeowners. So the design is relatively the same. When it comes to the trees and landscaping, the question has been asked, we're gonna maintain as many trees there as possible. We will have to remove trees just because of features like the basketball court, they take up a lot of space. However, all of the walking trails and the other features can be worked around existing trees. We'll also have as part of our civil engineering plans, landscape architect plans. So our plans will include landscaping that will either replenish the trees that were removed or add in a specific vegetation. I've talked about native plants into the park to kind of offset the you know anything that we have to remove from the park. The existing rain garden and be city garden will remain in the park so those will not be disturbed by the new update and and so for kind of the purposes of our meeting today, you've got some community input I provided, that's all the input that I received via email. And so please take that into consideration when you are looking at this concept, thinking about the community character, what we already know that that community has been interested in, as part of their, you know, for this pocket park, this very neighborhood centric park, and we are also using ARPA funding for the civil engineering plans for this at the American Rescue Plan Act. That ARPA funding does expire at the end of the year unless it is under contract. I have had conversations with Tim and that based on, you know, if we move forward with this concept or if we need to go back to the drawing board and come up with another contract or come up with another concept that we can create a contract that, because the concept is a phase one with timids and then the phase two is the civil engineering surveying landscape architecture type plans which is pretty costly. So we want to use that ARPA money so that we don't have to send it back to the government or the bigger government sorry because we are the government but the federal government. So the ARPA funds that we do have committed to this project we could possibly extend simply extend into 2025 through a contract and contingency language with Timons, but it will help us to know what concept we're moving forward with or when they're creating those civil engineering plans, exact costs. So just kind of keep in mind that we do have this kind of pool of funding with a bit of an expiration date. And so I'd like to make sure that we're, you know, if we're not allocating it towards this project, it will get allocated towards something else. There's no way we're right in a check back for it. But it has been earmarked for this, so I'd love to keep as much money towards this project as possible. But with that being said, I'm gonna open it up for you guys for discussion, and if you want any other feedback or context from me, please let me know. All right. This is a quick question. If you commit the money, is that all right with the federal government? Having worked up there there and knowing, and I worked at a criminal justice funding agency. We never wanted the money back, but if somebody could give us some documentation that the monies were committed, we could go past the... Yes, that's what I'm saying is the expiration date. Yeah, we can. Yeah, so that's what the contract, as long as it's under contract by December 31st and Timons is doing this with some other organizations who have projects that have maybe taken a little bit longer or have a Longer timeline for kind of the scope of work that we will have a contract with them that says, you know, that will give kind of like estimates for the different pieces of the project, but it will help them with that estimate piece and it will help us kind of be able to work through that money a little bit faster if we have a solidified design. So, because for example, like the civil engineering plans for this will cost different, like there will be a cost differential between this and say something that involves like a lot of plumbing or a lot of big infrastructure. Like we're not adding a ton of above ground structures here, but if we were adding stuff like massive playgrounds or we had looked at that zip liner, that's gonna increase the cost of our civil engineering plans because it's more involved. So being able to have a rough estimate of what concept we're going with will help them kind of fine tune, how much it's gonna cost as we move into that, you know, kind of as we move through that contract and into 2025. Thank you. I'm thrilled with the change that we were able, or someone was able to come up with moving the parking, keeping the parking, but moving it to save trees and also less impingement on the neighbors. That's fantastic. That's thrilling. I loved this. I loved it when you showed it, and I love this. I loved it when you showed it and I love it now. Looking at the comments that we received, you see that it's always the, there's always a lot of interest in the the splash pads, but in the research that I've done with it, it seems like it's a simple thing, but it takes the engineering is really costly because of the bacteria or the amoebas that can grow in there. You have to have really, really good filtration. And if you don't, you can't change a bad on it or you endanger the little kids because little kids don't know not to swallow that water. So I guess I hear what they're saying but I think that we need that's going to need a lot of investigation to make me feel good about it that I don't endanger little ones with what could be, you know, if we don't do it right when when in danger, I don't wanna do that. So, you know, like I said, from my part, I hear what they're saying, and I think that that's something that we can look at in the future, because I heard it before that they're interested, but I don't know that adding it, trying to add it at this point makes sense, is my comment about what they said there. So like I said, I'm thrilled with what this looks like and I love that there's a portapoddy because that's always needed. And the portapoddy has an enclosure so that it looks visually more appealing. So I'm done. And yes, I agree. I know we kind of touched on this last time about the splash bag splash pad because I know I knew this would end up coming up because this is something that we hear again and again. And so we touched on last time too, and you bring up even more great points about this. I think really this being a pocket park, and there's a whole host of reasons, right? I mean, I feel like this is a pocket park. It's not the substantial size that one might imagine for a splash bat, because I think, you know, as they're even indicating in these messages that this, you know, people traveled to another county in order to attend splash pads. So, are four parking, five parking spaces, you'd end up running the whole neighborhood a month with parking and issues there, let alone the infrastructure that it takes for, actually having the plumbing, the maintenance that goes on behind that. We have a one person, parks and rec team at the moment. And I think, you know, to be fair, will be wonderful in the future, but also knowing that we have this future park to look for in the future. I think there are other places that we might be able to really pull the resources and the funding to make it something really, really awesome. So, but I hear it, I totally get it. I'm excited for when that moment happens. Right. When I was reading the comments, I was wondering, and I wish we had had citizens here. I would have loved to have been able to ask questions because the first thought that came to my mind when I read those comments was the pool. We've got a beautiful pool that has been gorgeously renovated with a dedicated area for the little ones. And obviously there is a cost to get in. I believe it's very fairly priced either the day price or the membership and there are scholarships available if there is financial difficulties for residents in the membership fee. So I would, you know, that was my question is like, is the pool not filling? I'm a mom. I know that the slash pad, absolutely one of my favorite, my kids favorite things to do. So I recognize that. But at the same time, is the pool not hitting it? Like is that not, is the pool lacking something that young, you know, families of young children? And with the infrastructure of the water infrastructure, I'm not a, I'm not a pool person. I don't know how those things work. But the infrastructure I'm assuming for a splash pad is fairly similar to what you need for a kitty pool and a pool. It's actually more robust. Great. Because you need to have to kill amoebas, you actually need to have the ultraviolet light. So it's actually more intense than a pool. So I would say think maybe that, you know, looking at the pool as, you know, is there something that a feature that we could add to the pool possibly to make that more? Was we're always trying to get more people to go to the pool to use this beautiful resources that we have? So that was my, I don't see it, I don't see a splash pad at all, fitting with the nature of this pocket park with what the community has said that they want for this, for this park. And I'm also, we've got a huge beautiful water feature in the town already. How do we get more people to take advantage of that resource? And for the pad, like I said, I did some reading all night research and you actually really need to maintain it like you do a pool because you can't afford for it to shut down because these things grow really quickly. And if you think about it, it's basically a pit that it gathers in the tank. So if it's dark, it's much worse than a pool to keep clean. So it would keep the bacteria and the amoeba out. And that's that like, you know, I think your idea is a very sound one. The kind of the horror story, I think with Lewis Ginter, they have a splash pad and then during the very well attended and then during the COVID time period, something went amuck and pipes froze and the system was deemed not usable and so they ended up it had been shut for several years and just rewinding again. So I mean it's a pretty intensive infrastructure that's there. And full disclosure by the way I should say so the comment number two she calls out Ashland Community Preschool and just to be really clear and up, my son attends Ashley and community preschool. So I, somebody had, we have a full Slack channel. And so somebody had posted, hey, this, this, um, park, you know, make sure you're giving input. And not to speak for everybody there by any means, but just to give a little bit of feedback for what you were saying. You were wishing that some folks were here. I think the, and I just said, please give us a much feedback. We love public input. Like this is what it's Ashland is about, public input, like get as much as we can. I think really it's the ease of a splash pad. It's so much easier than going to a pool. It is you just get them out of the car and they just go. And then it's time to go and you just say get into the car. It's not like a whole thing. So I think there is true beauty with a splash pad. If it's, if and when the time is right, it's really easy. And it's just fun and joyful and a great time, but yes. But we need to do it right. Yeah, absolutely. And I think there's probably a more appropriate park or a more appropriate location than this specific site. Which is also really close to Carter Park, right? So the other park that will be up and coming, that is on the other side of town, which is like a nice location. Or if you locate a splash pad outside of Carter Park, I mean, in Carter Park, but not in the pool, then people can get to it. And then for maintenance, the same people that maintain the pool could maintain that. Yeah. Just a thought. But the other part is awesome too. But it is the infrastructure going in. That's the expense. And then the ongoing, you need someone that is dedicated monitoring it. Yeah. I mean, it's critical to do that. First thing that came to my mind was the cost. Yeah. And I kept thinking about, well, you're going to do the park on the north side. That might be more appropriate. There's more acreage. It's bigger. It's close to the school. They can all go over after school. But I didn't see it fitting in here. But I didn't realize about the disease control and the maintenance and everything. And I think Chelsea mentioned it going to another county, I think. There was a lot of pictures that popped up of a really large park in the east end of Henrico. And it's a different type of park. Yeah, totally. It's a different type. And just to touch on the other comments, the rain garden is still there, and we'll still be there, right? And then the parking, my understanding is that comment was placed before this updated plan has been here. Yes, I didn't include my, so I did respond back to all of these emails and just say I will give your comments to the Parks and Recreation Committee and form them of the meeting time and location, if they had any further comments. I did point out to the person that emailed about the parking. I don't think that they really either saw the parking or understood what that was. And so when I mentioned the five spots, they were appeased with that response. And then I did let the scouts know that the rain garden and I confirmed with timmins that in the plan it's in that existing trees area number I think it's 14 is where that rain garden is and that that will that will stay as well as B City. I did check because there is a B City planting our number 11 is behind the the little picnic shelter structure. Yeah. Great. Any other comments? You back? Okay. So do we have a motion? To approve the South Taylor Street Park proposed site master plan as presented. I'll move for approval of the. I make a motion to approve the South Taylor Street Park proposed site and has the plan as presented. Thank you, Mr. Malloy. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Sean. All right. And I will do our role call vote. So Miss Lugo, I. Mr. So Ms. Lugo, aye. Mr. Molloy. Aye. Ms. Freaks, aye. Ms. Chans, aye. Ms. Smith. Aye. Great, pass with all the aye's. Thank you. I'm sorry moving forward. Now we are speaking about the remote participation policy. Miss Richards. Yes. I think it's about the park. You're right. You're behind the wheel. It's a lot of voting tonight. Yeah. I apologize. Well, it's funny because we can go like months without voting on anything. And then we're like, boom, boom, boom, three votes tonight. Remote participation. Yes, awesome. So at their August 6, 2024 meeting, town council revised the policy on remote participation. And it is to cover all of our committees and so the Council and committees, so including you guys's Parks and Recreation Committee. So it would enable a member of the Parks and Rec Committee on a limited basis to attend a meeting remotely with guidelines laid out in the policy, which is attached. We have to adopt the policy in order to use it, but town council has already approved the policy which is attached. We have to adopt the policy in order to use it but town council has already approved the policy. The idea behind this is should there be an illness or an emergency, you know, something where that prevents you, you know, you're off on some magical vacation somewhere but you still want to be able to participate. We would work to facilitate that so that you could still be part of the meeting. So it's hopefully not too, if you have any questions about the policy, I'm happy to read through it or go through it with you. But we just have to vote it into action for our team. There have been instances, especially during the pandemic, where we've needed remote participation availability. So yeah, this just kind of gives us that opportunity moving forward. Should we need it? Any questions or discussions about this item? Okay. And do we have a motion to vote to move to adopt. I have a mint in my mouth. I'll do it. I move for the adoption of the COU 114 as presented to be applicable to the Parks and Recreation Committee. And do we have a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Malloy and Ms. Richards for a roll call. Yes. Miss Lugo? Hi. Mr. Malloy? Hi. Miss Frakes? Hi. Miss Sean's? Hi. Ann Miss Smith? Hi. Great job. Vote number three done. Excellent. Good work. I'm going to have a meeting with the committee. Ann Miss Smith? Hi. Great job. Vote number three done. Excellent. Good work. We have three efficient. By the way, I'm going to have a bit done. Moving on to reports. We have letter A committee member reports, Ms. Lugo, would you like to serve us off? Yes. I wanted to mention the, I work for the Virginia Department of Health. And at like employee lunches, there's so much excitement about the Fall Line Trail. Now that Richmond has already started, you know, like the other counties are doing their, their part. There was so much praise for the Ashland Hanover had already, we were on the ball, we were moving forward with our section, and it was really interesting to me. Everybody else that I was talking to was from Richmond and the excitement about being able to come and do the entire trail was just palpable. And so I was like, I'm on the Parks and Rite Committee in Ashland, and you're welcome. So it was great to be able to share that. And also to get that feedback from people outside of Ashland. I think it's going to be a regional jewel. And for us to have been the early adopters, I think it's really wonderful. So exciting. Ashlyn leads the way. That's right. At the center. And throughout the universe. Thank you, Mr. Malloway. Earlier this week, when I was doing my morning walk, I took advantage of going through the Berkeley town Heritage Park and walking the trail. And I have to tell you, that was the quietest, most peaceful part of my walk. I just love the fact of the tree cover that's surrounding the trail and hope that stays. I'm really looking forward to seeing the signage go up and really tell a story about that section of Ashland and what occurred there and all. But just going in there rough the way it was was just a really nice experience. Now I got to change my plans in the morning. And I follow my usual route because I really enjoyed going through there. I'm really looking forward to that park being open. And especially the message it will convey. Very true. Thank you. And actually speaking of Berkeley Town, I was just at the Ashland Garden Club meeting where everybody is very excited that daffodils are going to be planted throughout. And so they're very excited to participate and thrilled to contribute to such a meaningful park to have that. And they're going to be naturalized staffed deals along the way. So just kind of woven throughout. And then I just want to say congratulations to Emmy for such a successful pool season. And I know that's a near report, but I just wanted to say thank you so much to you that's amazing and very fun parties over the summer. I was very sad to miss the last one, but very fun parties over the summer. I was very sad to miss the last one, but very fun parties, great attendance. And then, oh, my last piece that I was going to comment on, which is what I was thinking about when I was not continuing on the agenda just now, was we have now lovingly dubbed Sal Taylor Street Park as the blue park because of all of the blue equipment. So at the blue park we were the diggers. The old diggers that are there which are awesome. They are rather high for a small child to be sitting on and yeah they're he can't actually touch the ground on it but if there was any way, I don't know how easy or difficult that is to adjust, but they sit rather high up. They could probably come down an extra foot and probably be good for small people, but that's just a little tip. And yes, that's it. Peshance? Just wanted to say, every time I see Ashlyn's parks, you know, blasts that go out, I'm proud. I'm just very proud of what's been accomplished and what's going to come in the future. And Emmy's been quite the treasure in getting everything done. And I loved the last thing that you're going to report on about the poll closing. But yeah, the poll season was dynamite. It was unbelievable. It was endless. And obviously, the equipment that finally came in that was behind because of COVID, all the splash area was a great success. So that's all I got to say. Thank you, Ms. Smith. The old splash area was a great success. So that's all I got to say. Thank you, Ms. Smith. I too think that the pool season went very well. I went to the pool more this year than I ever have in the past. And with my third son, the DJ, DJ Flip, he's always good and he always gets the crowd involved. And I wound up being his assistant because everybody was coming up with all of these requests and it was like, okay, okay, okay, what did we request? So I wound up having to write down what everybody was requesting so that he would remember. But I think everybody really, really enjoyed it and they felt very good with DJ Flip because they came up asking, can we make requests? And so that was really interesting and fun to see. So sure. Great. Okay. And now moving on for our last item be Parks and Recreation Report, Ms. Richards. Yeah. So obviously the summer was busy, especially with the pool. I'm going to, I'll touch on, I'll kind of go in order for our report here just to stay on track So Berkeley Town Heritage Park as Mr. Maloy was saying there is a trail there that you can access right now It's not technically close to the public. It is you can walk it. It's just still under construction the So you're not No, you're not trusting, you're fine. I was doing reconnaissance. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, you're fine. But you're right. It is a really beautiful place to walk. Just bring your bug spray, because if you're there kind of later in the day, it gets a little buggy. But so that park, we are in the process of there's a kind of a ravine from on the Archie Cannon side of the park and so we've actually got a bridge that's being fabricated that should be delivered in parts beginning next week and installed so the footings are being dug right now for the bridge. The bridge is going to look very similar to, I think I talked about this last time, the Ashley, Ashland Trolleyline bridge there except with some wooden style railings to kind of fit the character of this like very natural wooded space. So once the bridge is installed, we will then pave from there. It made more sense to install the bridge and then pave out away from the bridge on both sides. So we already have an estimate for that in a tentative timeline of that being done by the end of the year. We met with the person who does all of our signage about park signage in both the entrance and exit. So that is under that's moving towards fabrication as well as the interpretive signage within the park. We are working with two local artists and a design group to do some very unique and specific signage in the park. So the signs will actually, I don't, because we don't have a final concept yet, I'm not gonna share 100% of what's gonna look like, but it's not your average park signage. It's going to be very, there's an air of public art to it, but it's very tasteful and very appropriate for the space and very visually appealing for all ages. So it will work to kind of engage a younger audience. And then we're working diligently with community members, the Hanover County Black Heritage Society and Randolph-Making College, to finish getting all the information that we need to craft and to create those, the interpretives, the panels, like the actual information. So that process, we're working through that. I don't have a definitive timeline for it, but it's in the works. So the actual physical park may be completed before we are ready to install the interpretive kiosks, but we really want to make sure they're very intentional about this project and we do it right. So we're going to take our time to get, you know, to make sure that the information that is on that interpretive signage is, you know, is exactly the way that we want it. But it's really going to be a unique park that really tells the story of Berkeley Town and, you know, kind of continues to carry on the legacy of that community. So it's underway and if you haven't gotten back there, feel free to go back there and walk. There's no dedicated parking. So just know that you'll have to find some street parking. It is graded with stones. So we actually recycled millings instead of new stones so the millings are actually from asphalt in town when we've done like paving projects. They were all sitting at the town shop. The guys there are very excited that we took truckloads away. And so you can go out there and walk, you know, just to pair the tinshees on, bug spray if you're going out later in the day. And oh, and we're also getting quotes for fencing right now. We're going to fence along the trail to protect some of the property owners that are adjacent to the trail. So we're going to do a little bit of privacy and then some split rail fencing. We're also going to completely fence in the small cemetery that's there so that we protect that cemetery space. And then we'll work on potential like cemetery cleanups so we can really, you know, really take care of that space, even though it's not town property, we're gonna work with the state archeologist and look at a potential like cemetery cleanups of that way. And there'll be some signage there that indicates, you know, what that is and that is and that that's sacred space. But the project is rolling so it's very exciting. As you said the pool season, man it was busy. So we had a record number of visits, we had over 19,000 individual visits to the pool this year. I am working on crafting our end of season report. You will probably see that in November. I'm waiting for some of the financials. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time for all of those books to balance to kind of catch up as we're just a couple weeks out from the season. But while I will have a full on report for you guys to present at most likely the November meeting. And for those of you that haven't seen on social media yet, and I can share some photos with you after, we were very lucky to host the guide dogs, guiding eyes for the blind. They brought 16 dogs and training to the pool last night, nope Tuesday night, for a doggy swim. They used it as a training opportunity for the dogs, exposing them to water and pools, socialization, and also just plain fun for the pups. It was a great partnership with that organization. I have some really fun pictures and videos. They, for me as a dog mom, I had, you know, of course I was beside myself the entire time. And, but yeah, it was a really great event and a wonderful organization to work with. And it made a lot of dogs and human stays. So we are looking forward to being able to work with them again in the future and explore options for extending that postseason pool swim to the dogs in our community. So that may be a future option. Now that we kind of, it's kind of a guinea pig group come through and see how that worked. There are lots of other pools in the region, but also nationally I spoke with some colleagues who do it at their pools and so there are potential options for that down the road. Should you get questions? Yeah, you adopted the plan so by a pedestrian plan so thank you for that. Check Mark on the next one and same thing for South Taylor Street Park that updates on those kind of standing projects. Community outreach, Parks and Recreation attended the Hanover County Public Schools start and style event that was held at Puffer Belly Park. It was an opportunity for incoming school children to pick out a back to school outfit and interact with some community organizations. We gave away Frisbee's and Cubs and it was a really awesome event to partner with them and also have an Impuffer Belly Park and really a central location for a lot of people to walk to and we were able to serve a lot of community members at that program. We also intended the brand-of-making college student move in day. We spoke to pretty much every student and family moving to Ashland, coming to Ashland. So every freshman, it was so much fun. There was a ton of energy. Brand-of-making does a stellar job of facilitating student move in and building the hype and, you know, not only promoting the college but promoting the community that the students were living in and so we were able to get them connected with visitors guides and parents with more information about where to stay, where to eat and what to do when they come to visit their kids in town. We gave away lots of stickers and all sorts of stuff so it was a great opportunity to talk to the students about the community that they're living in and how to get involved. I attended the Fall Line Trail groundbreaking in Richmond and saw a lot of regional partners there and as Ms. Lugo said the hype is there. If you guys have not seen the section of the Fallign Trail from the end of our Trail 2, Coffney Church, it is asphalt being laid, like it looks really good. So that is moving forward. I don't know when there will be an opening for it or a soft launch or whatever, but when it's available, I will obviously let you guys know and maybe we can go for a group walk or something. And last but not least, thank you to those that attended the last Flash Pool Party at Carter Park in a way to kind of send off our pool season and thank you as always to DJ Flip for being there. And then finally it's not on here but I am working currently with Hanover County and their Parks and Recreation Department to work collaboratively on some recreation programming and events for the town of Ashland and Hanover County in 2025. So we've been working diligently with some really wonderful brainstorming sessions and long meetings to plan out a calendar of recreation activities that will take place outside of town limits but also within town limits and You know kind of joint programming efforts so that we can, it's kind of a win-win, more participants, more opportunities to advertise, more engagement and more opportunities for Ashlanders to have access to Hanover County Parks and Recreation programs. So that is all kind of looking forward to 2025, but we do have the opportunity to, if we want to participate in the spooky fun fest, the spooky fun fest is our Halloween themed family event. It is going to be October 18th and 19th, and let me just double check because I have so many dates in my brain. But I will be sending out an email to you guys to see who would potentially be available for hosting a booth at Porfarm Park and doing their asking for community organizations to do either a trick or a treat type booth. So if I can get enough help, it's from 4.30 to 8. I apologize, I should have written this down, but I kind of like popped into my brain last minute that I needed to ask you guys. So I'll look at it real quick once we're done with the meeting and then I'll send you guys an email. But if we want to do some type of booth, I think it would be a great partnership, but if not this year then their opportunities next year, or if you are involved in any local community organizations who may want to sign up for a booth, they also have some kind of pre-packaged games like games that they used to run staff wise that they're kind of looking at will a community organization come in and take over this activity for us? So there's an option for us to do that as well. Or for any community organizations that you're involved with, the, the, the Kiwanis I believe already have stepped up to do something. I believe that was the one on the list. So anyway, if you, I'll send you guys an email about that and also just go ahead right after the meeting, I don't want to spend a lot of time scrolling on my, or I've got to pull up my email to look at the date and time. But I'll let you know if we can get a couple of us together to, you know, run some type of trick or treat booth, it could be a really great opportunity to partner, but also to advertise all the Ashton has to offer. And it's also right before all of the Ashton Halloween programs that go on with GAA and Hanover Arts and Activity Center. So yeah, it's a good time to kind of plug some of that stuff. I will be out at a conference beginning Saturday through Tuesday. So if you need me, I'll be at the Virginia Recreation and Park Society conference. I'm doing two presentations as part of that conference. So I'm very excited about that. I will also be at the National Recreation and Parks Association conference in October in Atlanta. And I am hosting a session there as well. So that's our national conference, so pretty, very excited, very nervous about that. What are the programs that you're doing? Yes, so at the Virginia Recreation and Parks Society, I'm doing a session on, it's called impact full doing. So it's basically, we have two kind of mindsets. There's being and doing. Being is very focused on being in the present and being mindful and doing things with intention and doing is kind of like checking things off the checklist and very goal oriented based on external factors. So it's how do we marry the two? How are we very present and what we're doing and still kind of accomplishing task singles? So that's the first one. It's a lot better than that speech I just gave you. And I'll be like, man, I'm not gonna go with that. That sounds boring. No, it's going to be really cool. And then the second one is the, as part of VRPS, I'm on a board with a, I helped create a, and it's a network within Virginia Recreation Park Society for young professionals. So it's called the Virginia Young Professional Network. We meet every other month with some type of leadership topic that's focused on the needs of young professionals. Oh, sorry. No, I thought I heard noise behind me. Let's focus on the needs of young professionals. I got really nervous. That was like my back. And so we're doing an introduction to conference. Kind of like a conference 101 is the first session for those who are new to attending a conference or new to the Parks and Recreation field, as well as like a lot of networking. And then when I go to the National Recreation and Park Association in October, so I'm the chair of our National Organization's Leadership Development Network. And so we host monthly webinars. For those of you that attended the webinar on the Gold Medal Award program, that network I'm a part of. And so I'm hosting our in-person meeting that we have every year. We just hosted this week, actually yesterday, that committee, we did a network meeting for in joint with the Armed Forces Recreation Network. So these are basically like just subcommittees that if you're part of the national organization, you can select to join. And they're meant to just support networking and information sharing and build community and provide professional leaders like development and educational. So we hosted a joint meeting yesterday and we had almost 100 people attend. It was really, we had the executive director of National Recreation Park Association on there. It was really cool. Yeah, so I'll be hosting that in person meeting. So I do a lot here. I do a lot outside of here. But I love it both. And I, so town offices are closed on November 5th and 11th, just a heads up. And then our next Parks and Recreation Committee meeting is on November 14th. Great. Any questions? 11th just a heads up and then our next Parks and Recreation Committee meeting is on November 14th. Any questions? Are you getting any interns from the school? The college? Not right now, but I kind of intentionally made the decision this past summer not to take on any interns because there were so many irons in the fire and it's I love interns but they take a lot of time and with transitioning to our new pool software and a lot of these big infrastructure projects. I didn't feel like I had the capacity but I'm hoping to look into that in the spring or potentially this summer. Okay, are there any additional topics Okay. Are there any additional topics anybody would like to discuss? Okay. So I adjourned this meeting. Thank you so much. And congratulations. Yes.