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City of Muskegon
Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee
Wednesday May 21st at 5:30 pm
City Hall - Conference Room 204
MINUTES
Present: Sidney Long, Hillery Ross, Roberta King, John Burt, Sarah De La Rosa, David Ruck, Leann
Heywood, Aaron Bodbyl-Mast
Absent: Yancy Weaver, Lynette Marks
1) Meeting called to order at 5:32 pm
2) Approval of March 19th Minutes
a) Motion to approve by De La Rosa, seconded by Burt.
Motion Passes Unanimously
3) Action Item: Master Planning Concepts – Bid Document Draft
a) Director Karczewski goes over the Master Planning Concepts. He explains we need a general
vote of support to move forward with projects.
b) Richards Park: ADA Kayak Launch
i) Director Karczewski pulls up maps from the Richards Park Planning to explain projected
improvements such as making the launch ramp accessible. Long asks if improved
connection to the bike path will be included. Karczewski says yes.
ii) Director Karczewski also goes over the project cost estimates and feels confident that we
have will have the funds to complete everything we would want. Ruck asks about EGLE with
the parking lot and Karczewski says doing anything within the 100-year flood plain will have
red tape and the parking lot will be repaved.
c) McGraft Park: Tennis Courts Resurfacing/Redesigning
i) Director Karczewski says the playground is separate from the masterplan and will be
removed and replaced. The main component of the masterplan is the tennis court
resurfacing/redesigning. Hoping to do pickleball courts as well. Burt asks about a warm up
wall. Karczewski suggests that can be done in house pretty easily. De La Rosa asks about
how the neighborhood association feels about updates. Karczewski says the tennis courts
are a high priority of neighborhood association.
d) Kruse Park: Beach Ramp & Automated Gate
i) Director Karczewski explains that the nature scape playground in motion. We have funds to
do the automated gate and beach ramp. Ruck asks why people were asking for the gate.
Karczewski says the feedback from neighborhood residents is that due to the layout of the
park there are nefarious things happening at night.
ii) De La Rosa says lots of parks have things happen at night so why is this one priority.
Karczewski says it’s based-on police request and the fact that there is a single entrance and
exit. Smith-Ryerson Park has a new gate per police request.
iii) Bodbyl-Mast adds that it is very secluded and not visible versus a wide-open park like
Campbell Park.
e) Hartshorn Park: Boat Launch & Park Improvements
i) Director Karczewski says the developer will step up and do is part on the peninsula at
Hartshorn asap. The path with be concrete. Mayor asks if we will have the opportunity to
plan trees and Karczewski says yes because the path will be done soon.
ii) De La Rosa feels we need to get signage in there asap because of the danger with traffic.
Mayor Johnson suggest in addition having visible markings on the ground.
iii) Director Karczewski also mentions restoring the restroom and dropping a grid for accessible
fishing.
f) Presentation: Beach Safety Report Draft from Aquatic Safety Group
i) Tom with the Aquatic Safety Group zooms in to the meeting to give details about the
drafted report for beach safety. He gives a background of his visit to Muskegon and their
qualifications and experience with inspecting open water beaches. Tom discusses the topic
of lifeguards and gives the opinion that our beach doesn’t need a lifeguard and will create a
burden for the City.
ii) Heywood asks if there is the instance of a beach where he would recommend lifeguards.
Tom clarifies that he does believe in having lifeguards but that would require constant
higher training and audits and he doesn’t know where you would get those qualified people.
Tom says he would recommend a lifeguard for any beach that charges admission to swim
like a beach club.
iii) Tom suggests using yellow diamond signs with symbols because they are found to be most
effective. He suggests having no more than 4-5 types of signs. Signage may not change
behavior but it will lower your liability.
iv) Tom is very impressed with the warning system by Swim Safe that they saw in Grand Haven.
He feels that all the combined functions of it give a greater response time.
v) Director Karczewski asks about some things that we could put in place by this summer. Tom
suggests signage using the universal red, yellow, and green color recognized universally.
vi) Mayor Johnson says we are adding a digital based system for paying for parking so that may
be an opportunity to add those warnings in the app.
vii) Ruck asks Tom if the average response time was factored in when looking into how safe our
beach is. Tom says any response time over 4 minutes is slow but the City has a great
response time however that was not factored in.
viii) King asks what are the next step? Director Kyle says the next steps would be an internal
discussion. Tom adds that they will continue to work with us for as long as it takes to
develop our safety plan.
ix) De La Rosa adds that if hotel and short-term rentals can get some information rack cards out
or a QR code on all the area signs. King feels that biggest thing to overcome is getting the
public to understand why we don’t have lifeguards. Ruck feels one of the biggest problems
is the bystander effect and what it takes to get someone to take action.
x) Director Karczewski says that the lighthouse group could help with getting information
distributed. Heywood suggests working with The Deck restaurant and adding information on
tables. Burt suggests adding the information onto the beach shuttles. King says that beach
permit should have the brochures on beach safety with it.
g) Campbell Park
i) Director Karczewski says we’ve added to the playground. Circular basketball court with
multiple height hoops as well as a barrier free parking lot. Mayor Johnson asks if we are
looking at incorporating in food trees. Karcewski says we are doing a pilot program at
Samuel Lutheran.
ii) Motion to go forward with staff recommendation for Master Planning concepts by Bodbyl-
Mast, seconded by Ruck.
Motioned adopted by unanimous consent
4) Discussion: Park Rules Update
a) Mayor Johnson gives an update of the park rules and notifies the board of the commissions
change to rule #4.
5) Public Comment
a) No public comment.
6) Adjournment
a) Motion to adjourn by De La Rosa, seconded by Ruck.
Meeting adjourned at 7:37 PM
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