Disc Golf at Battle Point Park Bainbridge Island Metropolitan Park and Recreation District Board Meeting June 1, 2017 6:00 pm 1
Recap of Ac+ons Taken To Date Met with the Board on December 1, 2016 to provide an ini+al overview of disc golf and developing a course at Ba=le Point Park. The Board directed staff to work with our group on development of a proposal for a poten+al disc golf course at Ba=le Point Park. Met again with the Board on March 2, 2017 and discussed the project plan, refinements to the course layout and addressed issues raised during the first mee+ng. The Board called for a third public mee@ng to describe the course plan to the public and hear any concerns. Met with Dan Hamlin for input and feedback on course layout, to discuss Board and Park District guidance and to ini+ate a draC Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for roles and responsibili+es concerning construc+on and opera+on of a course at Ba=le Point Park. Contacted other Parks agencies and the WSDGA for their experiences with the disc golf course issues in a mul+-‐use park raised by the Board. 2
What is Disc Golf and Why is it so Popular? • Like “ball golf” but using Frisbee-‐like discs to progress down the fairways in the fewest throws to the metal basket “holes.” • The first disc golf course was established by an employee of Wham-‐O the Frisbee manufacturer in 1974. • Disc golf is growing rapidly. As of June 2016, the Professional Disc Golf Associa+on lists over 5,860 courses worldwide. Over 100,000 PDGA members. • Disc golf is an inexpensive low impact ac+vity that provides a safe means of exercise and enjoyment for all ages and genders. • Fun for families and friends to share +me together; and for schools to include in their P.E. curriculum and as an aCer school extracurricular op+on. 3
Disc Golf Installed Components
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Why Disc Golf at Ba8le Point Park? • Ba=le Point has the beauty, terrain, and area amongst its 80 acres to provide a first-‐class course and a great new recrea@onal opportunity for island residents. If you build it they will use it! • Other opportuni+es to play disc golf are off island and require long drives to and from averaging at least an hour spent in the car. • The course can be developed quickly and will not require intensive construc@on or re-‐development. • The course will co-‐exist unobtrusively focusing on the underused areas of the park providing local healthy fun and exercise for residents and visitors. • Ancillary facili@es such as parking, restrooms and shelters are already in place. 5
Course Layout and Design Considera+ons The proposed course is designed to be safely compa@ble with other park users: • Holes are laid out with sufficient buffers from playfields, pathways, play areas, picnic areas, adjacent disc golf holes and roadways. • Safety rules and considera@ons for other park users will be posted at an informa+onal kiosk near the first tee and published on a course web site. • Course signs will be posted where needed to remind players of pedestrians and inform other park users of the disc golf course.
The course will have clear visibility of nearby players, pedestrians and vehicles. The course will be fun and challenging and have a wide range of hole lengths, u+lize eleva+on changes and available foliage; and will take care to minimize damage to foliage and reduce condi+ons for erosion. 6
South End of the Course
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North End of the Course
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Tee Pad and Basket at Scale
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Poten+al Funding Sources Funding Sources – Goal of 50% from private funds • • • • •
Bainbridge Island Metropolitan Park and Recrea+on District CIP Funds Fundraising Events Local Business Sponsorship Bainbridge Island Park Founda+on Opportunity Grant West Sound Disc Golf Associa+on Grant
Suppor+ng Organiza+ons: • • • •
West Sound Disc Golf Associa+on – Design Services and Course Installa+on Bainbridge Disc Golf Club – Course Installa+on and Maintenance BIMPRD -‐ Equipment and Operators for concrete work Bainbridge Island Park Founda+on – Fundraising and Grant Applica+on Support 10
Disc Golf Course Budget Line Item
Unit
Qty
Course Design Services
Price $0
Innova Disc Catcher Pro28 Targets
$325
18
$5,850
Additional Target Sleeves
$25
12
$300
Target Installation Labor
$0
Tee Signs
$60
18
$1,080
Warning signs
$40
9
$360
Sign Materials (posts, concrete gravel)
$15
27
$405
Tee pad materials (concrete gravel, form l umber)
$100
18
$1,800
Tee Pad Labor
$0
sub-‐total
$9,795
20% Contingency
$1,959
Sales Tax
$1,011
TOTAL BUDGET
$12,765
WSDGA
WSDGA and BIPRD
• Costs are about $700 per hole including con+ngency. • There is a 20% con@ngency included in the budget es+mate. • Design Services and installa+on labor is provided at no cost by volunteers.
WSDGA and BIPRD
• Assumes quality galvanized goals with addi@onal target sleeves for seasonal changes and variety. • Assumes concrete tee pads installed with equipment and operator support from BIMPRD. 11
Board Raised Issues and Ques+ons “Foot causes turf divots and players will wear a path down the course.” • Players take varied paths from tee to basket as they track aCer a variety of disc flights so worn pathways down the fairways will not occur. • The throwing mo+on is more of a soX pivot versus a stomp; and cleats are not worn. Divots will not occur. • Short paths could develop between prior basket and next tee but only if players are channeled through a short restricted distance. Path erosion along these desire paths could be mi@gated with gravel or bark mulch if necessary. Desire paths exist elsewhere in the park.
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Board Raised Issues and Ques+ons “the north end of the park has tradi+onally been designated for passive use and the south end for ac+ve use.” • The course layout focuses largely on un-‐used pockets and stretches in the park and takes special care to sufficiently buffer from pedestrians. • Pedestrians passively using the north end tend to stay on the pathways which are sufficiently buffered from the course. • We have experienced considerable curiosity and interest from north end walkers about disc golf. Everyone has been suppor+ve. No complaints received by Parks staff over play on temporary course.
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Board Raised Issues and Ques+ons “with year round play and winter wet areas the park will be damaged.” • The revised course layout iden+fies and steers clear of the wet areas in the park during the winter so any possible turf erosion would be avoided. • There are seasonal op@ons for a few holes that would be only open to play during the dry months.
“How will keeping sight lines open be addressed?” • Disc golf baskets are low profile typically about 56 inches tall. Tee pad areas are installed at grade and have no profile on the landscape except signs. • The course will have an extremely low visual impact with 18 baskets dispersed over 80 acres. Goals can use color bands that fade into the landscape. 14
Target baskets are low profile and can be colorized to blend in with the landscape.
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Board Raised Issues and Ques+ons “Will the vegeta+on be respected and how will it be protected? • Turf erosion has been previously discussed; desire paths that may emerge can be mi+gated if necessary. • There is no understory impact as would occur in wooded courses. • Trees will not experience bark damage from discs thrown from 30 to 40 feet or greater. • At closer range where trees are near tee pads, “minor tree armor” can be applied including wood slats, hose, heavy cord rope, etc.
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Board Raised Issues and Ques+ons “what impact will a disc golf course have on traffic and parking?” • During most of the year with the kids in school and during the work week we an+cipate around 8 to 12 cars per hour. This is similar to the number of cars parked at other courses in the area. • During the summer or on weekends if the course was played at 100% capacity you may see about 24 cars per hour. • BIMPRD indicated there will be sufficient parking capacity in lots near the first tee on most days. • There are 121 total parking spaces available at the park. 17
Board Raised Issues and Ques+ons “Concerning preven+ng park overuse, the board has considered a prac+ce of taking out a use when one is added” • The disc course will not occupy a single large con@guous area like a soccer field – it is widely dispersed located throughout the many under-‐used park stretches. • Park users are already sparsely using these areas of the park to occasionally throw Frisbees and for other low impact exis+ng uses. • By installing a disc golf course in these areas no opportuni@es are taken away. • Because the areas are very underused we an+cipate li\le use conflict. 18
Tes=monials from Other Park Districts EASTMONT METROPOLITAN PARK DISTRICT Parks and Recreation
255 North Georgia Avenue East Wenatchee, WA 98802
Office: (509) 884-8015 Fax: (509) 884-4637
Thank you for the compliments on our disc golf course. We are pleased that you have enjoyed the course at Tedford Park. We haven’t had any issues with the course over the years. The only comment that comes to mind was a complaint from a few park neighbors who do not like when we prune the trees at the park. They felt like we were pruning to accommodate the disc golfers when that was absolutely not the case. It was normal tree maintenance. We find disc golfers like the trees to be a challenge anyway. We even have people that play during the winter, so it has been a very positive addition to our park with very minimal objections. Good luck in pursuit of a course closer to home and hope you continue to visit our area and enjoy our course as well. Mat Heinz Director of Maintenance
Tedford Park East Wenatchee Course established 2011
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Tes=monials from Other Park Districts Ken Wilkinson Yakima Parks and Recreation Yakima, WA “…we currently have a 9-hole disc golf course in Randall Park, a 40-acre multi-use park. We have some open space, a basketball court, two playgrounds, a restroom, two parking lots, three shelters, a pond and walking paths… … disc golfers are usually very conscientious about the other park users. Most of the time the golfers will let the other park users know a disc is coming their way or they will wait until walkers and runners have passed… … disc golfers have assisted with park clean up days and they work to keep the park clean on a regular basis. They raised funds for the purchase of the baskets and assisted with the labor to install the tee pads. The Parks & Recreation Division installed concrete paver tee pads and purchased signage identifying locations were flying discs might intersect with walkers and also created tee pad signs to identify the disc golf course layout…”
Randall Park in Yakima
Course established 2012
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Randal Park in Yakima
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Bainbridge Boys and Girls Club
To whom it may concern, My name is Liam McEvilly, I am the Program Director at Bainbridge Island Boys & Girls Club. I am writing to you to express my support for the addition of a Frisbee Golf Course at Battle Point Park on Bainbridge Island. I feel that the course would be a great program that we can visit repeatedly and at a very low cost with our older children, with who it will always be a challenge to get to put down their electronic devices. During the summer months we plan on visiting all of our wonderful local parks, including Battle Point on Tuesday August 1st and Tuesday August 29th when we will hopefully be holding a disc golf clinic with Joe, John & Greg. Please feel free to contact me on (206)436-‐1862 or via email at
[email protected] should you wish to discuss my support any further.
Sincerely,
Liam McEvilly
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Hyla School -‐ Physical Educa=on Cooper Rooks Hyla Physical Education “I am writing to you in support of the proposed disc golf course at Battle Point Park both as a PE teacher at Hyla Middle School, but also as someone who has played informal disc golf at Battle Point since 1995… I have continued to play disc golf at least 3 days a week, sometimes at Battle Point but usually on courses in Poulsbo, or Bremerton as exercise and a unique way to experience local parks... As a PE teacher at Hyla School on the island, I see a keen interest in disc golf amongst my middle school aged students… success and excitement is available to students of all abilities… Each quarter we offer a disc golf class once a week, where 16 students choose their 1hr 40minute elective. We would be very excited to be able to take those students during class to Battle Point Park for that elective to play real disc golf. Thanks, Cooper Rooks Hyla Physical Education Battle Point Park user since 1991
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Ques=ons? Thank you very much for the opportunity to present our proposal for disc golf at Ba=le Point Park! We would be happy to walk the course with Board members or residents, individually or as a group. John Papajani (206) 369-‐2664 Greg Scharrer (206) 779-‐7226 Joe Tschida (206) 276-‐4621
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