Rotary notes/ April 8, 2015
Richard Fox President, opened the meeting with the pledge. Kris Engstrom gave the devotion.
Guests were the two presenters, Lisa Williams and Barbara Comeau of Shelburne.
Evan Webster as SAA chose a signs of spring theme for the fines. There were many signs of spring, and even 2 penniless members in the group. John Hammer chose the wrong card for a roll over and an increasing pot over $200 to ride until next week.
Ric Flood reminded everyone of the social membership event at Palmer’s sugarhouse on Sunday the 12th of April from 2 til 4. Dave Rice will fill in with a classification talk on April 22.
Lisa Williams and Barbara Comeau from the Parents Action Committee gave a thorough and well researched presentation around the proposed playground for the Shelburne Community School. They proceeded without the benefit of technology, lacking the cables for the AV system.
The two women explained the process that they used to formulate the plan, hiring a landscape person, polling school children and community members to get a feel for what would be best served for the greatest number of people in the town. The total bill came in at $250,000 but it was wxplained that the only shortfall was closer to $50,000 still to be raised from community sources.
The overall layout of the plan was shown as a diagram. The areas that are pre-existing will not be changed with the addition of this new development. The entire area would be graded and new materials for better drainage would be introduced. The end result would be the minimizing of treachous areas that currently prohibit use by children during much of the school year. The area would be improved with trees and boulders, a fitness path with stations around the perimeter, a pavilion for outside classroom possibilities, and a rope bridge(unique to Vermont) which is a safe approach to the zip line that a number of children wanted to have included.
The most up to date features of the project are the ADA accessibility of the entire area. There are multiple levels that can be accessed by a wheelchair as well as the perimeter trail of 1kilometer.
The goal of the project is to build a community area that can be accessible to all as a destination
for outside activities. Both women made the clear point that this project is a separate area from the
Parks and Recreation plan. They are planning to share resources…using the dug material from their excavation to help build the hill in Davis Park, as well as sharing the boulder source for the large rocks needed for both sites.
The question of materials was raised and the plan is to use composite and metal constructs instead of wood, both for safety and for it’s durability of 20 plus years.