IP&R Committee Approved Changes to SISU Race Trail & Approves Mt. Bike Features

IRONWOOD, MI - by Jackie Lutey - Tuesday, October 5, 2010 - The regular meeting of the Ironwood Parks and Recreation Committee was held on Monday, October 4, at 6:00 PM in the Community Development Conference Room of the Memorial Building in Ironwood.

Highlights of the meeting by Agenda:

1. Call to Order - The Meeting was called to order.

2. Recording of the Roll - Committee members present were: Steve Frank, Sam J. Davey Jr., Marion True, Laura Thomas, Eric Lytwyniuk, and Annette Burchell Absent was John Wyssling.

Also present at the meeting were City Manager Scott Erickson, Jane Bowman, Tom Kangas and Community Development Director Merritt Bussiere.

3. Approval of the September 9. 2010, Regular Meeting Minutes - The committee approved the minutes.

4. Approval of the Docket - The committee approved the docket.

5. Citizens wishing to address the Committee on items on the Agenda - Kim Kolesar said that she wished to address the committee on agenda item 9a.

6. Miner’s Memorial Heritage Park SISU Re-route Trail Request - Morgan Grasso of the SISU ski fest addressed the committee on the proposed SISU trail re-route in the area of Bonnie and Ayer Streets. According to Mr. Grasso the main purpose of the re-route is to avoid “dirty salty snow” along the road.

There was much discussion of the re-route among the committee members. Steve Frank expressed concern that the piles of waste rock to be leveled may have historical significance and that grading may leave the area unsightly for a long time.

With Steve Frank voting no, the committee approved the route change contingent on its approval by the Ironwood Planning Committee. The members of the parks committee generally agreed that that in future that type of change should have been brought to their attention earlier so that they would not be time-pressured into accepting it, since the work needs to be done before winter.

7. Discuss potential Pump Track to be located in the Miner’s Memorial Heritage Park - Brian Pisani, a local mountain bike enthusiast, explained to the committee that a pump track is an inexpensively built series of mounds and other structures designed to challenge the abilities of all sorts of levels of mountain bikers. Committee member Steve Frank suggested that the area near the “compost site” would be an excellent place for a pump track and possibly a skills course. The Committee discussed the benefit mountain bike attractions would bring to the Miner’s Memorial Heritage Park and the area. The Committee agreed to continue studying the addition of mountain bike attractions to Miner’s Memorial Heritage Park.

8. Update on Establishment of Bike Routes Around the City - Committee member Sam Davey presented a map of potential bike routes around the city. The committee generally agreed that the map looked good and that bike routes could potentially be added to the five year recreation plan.

9. Discussion on Five Year Recreation Plan - a. Survey Distribution - The committee discussed the upcoming recreational survey to be used in the development of a five year recreation plan. The new Community Development Director said that the survey was very good, but he wished to change the wording of some questions in order to improve clarity. To that end, a working group was set for Friday morning. Ironwood’s ROTC has volunteered to deliver and retrieve the surveys to the 300 randomly selected households. Kim Kolesar addressed the committee and offered to help with data from the survey.

10. Citizens wishing to address the Committee on items not on the Agenda - There were no Citizens wishing to Address the Committee on items not on the Agenda.

11. Other Business - Committee Member Marion True wondered if anything should be done to help the state with acquisition of old railway right-of-ways for non-motorized and motorized trails. Annette Burchell suggested that the committee could encourage organizations to write to Mr. Storm who is in charge of Railway right-of-way acquisitions for the State of Michigan.

12. Adjournment - The Committee Adjourned at 7:25PM.