Parks and Recreation recommends ordinance, hours change

 


The Wrangell Parks and Recreation committee unanimously recommended two measures to the borough assembly at Wednesday’s meeting.

The first vote recommended the assembly change the hours of operation for the pool and workout facility. A second vote recommended an ordinance for consideration related to logging in city parks. The hours change could head to a public hearing for feedback before consideration by the assembly. The ordinance will go to the borough attorney for legal evaluation before beginning the process of becoming ordinance.

The committee approved by voice changes to the swimming pool’s operating hours. The current schedule operates from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Monday and Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Proposed changes read for the first time Thursday would change those hours to be more uniform. Weekdays, the pool would be open from 6:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., then reopen at 3:30 p.m.. The facility would close at 7:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Friday the facility would close at 8:30 p.m. Saturday hours would change from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., according to Parks and Recreation Director Amber Al-Haddad.

“People are constantly saying they don’t know when we’re open,” she said.

Parks and Recreation staff based the proposed changes around surveys and observed usage hours, Al-Haddad told the committee. Some later hours have been trimmed at the end of various days because of low attendance numbers, she said.

“If you look at the numbers we’ve been tracking for the last six months, there’s rarely anyone using the facility outside of swimming,” she said, in reference to the later hours.

Lifeguards and pool staff have endorsed the change, which would subtract a half hour from the total operating hours of the facility, Al-Haddad said.

“I ran this by my entire lifeguard crew last night, and they fell in love with it, for all the same reasons I do,” she said.

The additional half-hour will allow participants in the afternoon lap-swim, which ends at 1 p.m., a half hour to shower and change into street clothes.

“Honestly, people should be able to get out, so the facility should be open until they have time to do that,” she said.

The department plans to enact the changes before the July 1 start of the fiscal year. The committee will hold a public hearing in the coming weeks to solicit public feedback on the proposed changes.

The Dec. 23 topping of two Volunteer Park trees sparked discussion over the recommended ordinance. The first, two-page draft drew criticism for being too lengthy.

The version approved Thursday reads in part: “No unauthorized person shall cut, top, remove or otherwise damage any tree or shrub, whether dead or alive, standing or downed, within any public park, trail, conservation area, park preserve, or other greenway area. Any person who violates this ordinance or damages any tree referred to in this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine.”

The fine amount will be determined in discussion with an attorney, though the draft ordinance (which has no statutory authority without first and second readings in front of the borough assembly) sets that amount at $500. Violations should be reported to the Wrangell Police Department or the Parks & Recreation Department, according to the draft ordinance.

In other business, the parks committee briefly discussed altering pass prices. Prices were last changed in 2010, and a document circulated at the meeting shows Wrangell pool prices to be the lowest among Southeast communities on both a daily and annual basis.

 

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