PR11-03-2020MinPARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD
LONGWOOD CITY COMMISSION CHAMBERS
175 WEST WARREN AVENUE
LONGWOOD, FLORIDA
MINUTES
November 3, 2020
(Virtual Meeting — Webex)
Present: David Putz, Chair
Jim Vogel, Vice -Chair
Judi Coad, Member
Lori Rice, Member
Teresa Ray, Member
Amber Sackett, Member
Samuel Friedman, Member (via Zoom)
Chris Capizzi, Leisure Services Director
Ryan Rinaldo, Recreation Coordinator
Donna L. Alt -Bowes, Recording Secretary
1. CALL TO ORDER. Chair Putz called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Mrs. Alt -Bowes called the roll of the Board Members. All were present.
2. PUBLIC INPUT. None.
3. ACTION ITEMS.
A. Approve Minutes from October 6, 2020
Vice -Chair Vogel moved to approve the minutes from October,6, 2020, as
presented. Seconded by Member Sackett and carried by a unanimous voice
vote.
B. Fall/Winter Events
Mr. Capizzi went over the list of Special Events for 2020 & 2021 Events. He said the
Ceilidh in the Park will be held on November 14 with Scottish events, music, and
vendors put on by the St. Andrews Society of Central Florida. He went over the event
and what would be available to the attendees. There will be a Movie in the Park on
November 20 and the Longwood Arts & Crafts Festival will be held on November 21 and
22. He went over what will and will not be included at the Longwood Arts & Crafts
Festival this year due to COVID-19 restrictions. Celebrate the Season will be held on
December 4 and the Christmas Parade has been canceled. There is going to be a
Community Chanukah Celebration at Reiter Park on December 10 and that has been
approved by the Commission. He said Mr. Rinaldo has been speaking with Elevate
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Studios and a Magician to come out and do a Magic and Dance Show on December 11.
That is still being put together by staff. December 19 and 20 will be Santa Visits
Longwood. He has spoken with everyone involved and it is a go. He went over the
events scheduled for the first of the year and suggested doing the Chili Cook -Off on
March 13. It will still be cool and should be far enough away from COVID to be safe
about the chili samples. There will be a Movie in the Park in March and then the Pirate
Seafood Festival on March 27 and 28. He went over the specifics for the Pirate Seafood
Festival. He said National Night Out does need to be rescheduled. He suggested
February or April and asked if it had to be held on a Tuesday. He said if not, we could
hold it on another day of the week. We have a nice line up for the next few months.
Member Rice asked if the Barkfest will be held in the Spring.
Mr. Capizzi said yes, that will be in March or April. He has not been able to get with
Mrs. Alt -Bowes about the Longwood Babe Ruth baseball schedule. We want to be sure
to schedule it on a night when there is no baseball being played at Candyland Park.
Member Coad asked Mr. Capizzi to share what was approved at the Commission
meeting on Monday.
Mr. Capizzi said they took the hip roof shade structure to Commission for approval and
it was unanimously approved for placement at Reiter Park. Mr. Rinaldo is working on
the grant process and we do not expect to be approved for the grant until Spring 2021.
Discussion ensued about the hip roof shade structure grant.
Member Sackett asked about the signage for the Longwood Arts and Crafts Festival and
if it would say people were required to wear a mask.
Mr. Capizzi said they will suggest social distancing but they will not state that anyone is
required to wear a mask.
Member Coad said that at the Commission meeting, Deputy Mayor Sackett made some
comments about new issues over at Candyland. She asked Mr. Capizzi to provide an
update and what is going to happen.
Mr. Capizzi said the pump track is not an issue. He said that every six (6) months they
are going to have to do maintenance on the track. It is heavily used and because of
that, we are going to have to replace the sod to be able to maintain the pump track
properly. He explained the upkeep of the grass at the pump track and said it will be
closed until November 24. The signs regarding the closure have been up for weeks so
everyone has been aware of the closure. Regarding the yellow fence toppers, that was
something that Longwood Babe Ruth brought to us before the President change. Mr.
Ryan Cornwell told the City they were interested in replacing all of the yellow fence
toppers on the fences. With all of the change that occurred with Longwood Babe Ruth's
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recent changes to their board and president, this item was pushed aside. He said there
is a meeting scheduled next week and he is sure this will be brought up.
4. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS
Member Friedman did not have a report as it was his first meeting. Chair Putz explained
there is a list of projects he can choose from to work on.
Member Sackett reported and said she was glad to see the yellow tape at Candyland Park.
She said it looked much nicer and clean. She asked if staff could provide her with the list of
projects so she can see if there is something she is interested in getting involved with. She
asked Mr. Capizzi if the radio station was going to be involved with Celebrate the Season.
Mr. Capizzi said at this time it does not look like they are going to be involved. He said if
something happens with them he will let her know.
Vice -Chair Vogel reported and said all of the parks looked good and the graffiti has been
removed since the last report. He said it looked like there were pumpkins smashed at
Sandalwood Park but that was the only issue noted.
Member Rice reported and said the project that she was recently involved in was already
covered. She thanked Member Coad for covering her Board Member Report. She said she
would talk about something Member Coad did not bring up and that is the second reading
regarding impact fees and how it relates to Parks and Recreation. She said the residents will
have an impact fee in place should this go forward. She learned from the research that was
done by the consultant working with staff to come up with the impact fee that our park
space is in a deficit position. In time the impact fee fund, which will be treated as a special
fund, will be able to support expansions. The money cannot be used in certain ways such as
replacing or maintaining parks. She said it would be used for new parks or new equipment.
She said she thinks it is awesome and exciting for the Leisure Services Department that
there will be an additional funding source coming forward in time.
Discussion ensued about the impact fees.
Member Ray said she did not have a report. She did say she is excited to work on Chili
Cook -Off.
Member Coad thanked the staff for recognizing Member Rice at the Commission meeting
for her work on the shade structure grant. She said Celebrate the Season will be the first
Friday in December from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. She will need all Board Members to be
present to volunteer for this event. The volunteer work this year will be working at the
Santa's Workshop portion of the event. She said the company will come and put it on but
we will not be making a profit from it this year. It will fill a huge void of what we are
missing.
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Discussion ensued about Celebrate the Season, Santa, sponsors, food, Santa's Workshop,
and what is going to be involved regarding the changes to the events this year.
Member Coad said she saw that the banners are now up in the park and asked Mr. Rinaldo
to forward pictures of them to the Board. She hopes everyone had a chance to look at
them and said she is very excited about how they look. She said Deputy Mayor Sackett
came up to her after the last Commission meeting and told her he thought they were
exciting and looked wonderful. She said she wants to take it to the next level and see
something go up in January for the Spring when the holiday banners come down. It has
been talked about having banners with words on them such as Happy or Breathe, or
something for being outdoors. It was noted that we cannot use a double banner which
would be leveled side by side since we did not have double banner arms, to begin with. As
you see from the pictures, they have to be staggered. She said we would have to think
about doing the same scenario that we just did.
Discussion ensued about the banners at Reiter Park after the holiday season is over.
Chair Putz reported and said the City purchased him a Bluetooth device to help him hear
during the meeting but it is not compatible. He left it to be returned to the Information
Technology (IT) Department. He went over the terms for the current board members.
5. STAFF REPORT
Mr. Rinaldo said that Mr. Capizzi already went over the list of events. He said Member Coad
forgot to mention the Holiday Shop donated five hundred (500) little robot arms to give to
the kids at Celebrate the Season.
6. ADJOURNMENT.
Vice -Chair Vogel made a motion to adjourn. Seconded by Member Coad and
carried by a unanimous voice vote.
Meeting adjourned at 7:52 p.m.
Minutes approved by the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board: 12-01-2020
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Donna Alt -Bowes, Recording Secretary
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David Putz, Chair
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