By André Nolan, Board member
The Lakeland Municipal Parks and Recreation/Natural Resources Advisory Board met Tuesday (1.8.19) at City Hall.
Link to the agenda: https://tn-lakeland.civicplus.com/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/808
Zadie E. Kuehl Memorial Park
No unusual activity trash or vandalism was reported at this or any of the other city parks.
The Eagle Scout project has been completed. Work included new fencing around the car park, repairing the rock wall and pressure washing the paths.
One of the solar lights in the park is broken. Two new ones have been ordered and will be installed this month. One of these will be installed on the Pavilion to see if it does a better job of keeping the park safe at night.
The Shelby County grant for the Dog Park at Zadie Kuehl has been awarded to the City. The dog park should be open by the summer of 2020. The County grant was $25,000 matched with another $25,000 awarded by the Boyd Foundation.
Athletic Complex
The TDEC (Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation) review must be submitted by Feb. 7th. The process has been delayed by the state as they moved to an online application process. Site surveys and design will start in the upcoming months.
Oak Ridge Park
The Oak Ridge HOA has planted a permanent Christmas tree, and have plans to add other amenities to the space.
IH Park
A permanent Christmas tree was planted at IH Park. This will serve as the City’s Christmas tree starting this year. This will save the City many hours of work erecting the current artificial tree.
There was discussion on the special events calendar and Lamp Concert series. All dates and bands will be finalized next month. It was suggested that a survey be sent out to see what citizens liked and didn’t so changes and improvements can be made.
The Clubhouse furniture which has needed replacement for some time will be ordered this spring.
Contractors and bids will be sought for replacing the clubhouse roof which is leaking. The funds for this are part of the parks department budget for the year.
Windward Slopes Park.
The windscreens have been installed and sport the city logo. The courts were also resurfaced, and new net pots installed. The project was funded using City and USTA (United States Tennis Association) grant money. The nets are only a year or so old and are still in good shape.
Park Department Administration.
The city TDEC (Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation) benchmarking and Tree City USA application have been submitted.
The Christmas Festival was a success. Santa was present and gave free gifts to the kids. Five senior center volunteers transformed the rec room into a winter wonderland. Food was provided by Papa Murphy’s and beverages by Starbucks.
The Keep Tennessee Beautiful 5K will be April 12th. This event takes place at Delta Blues Winery, and although not a City event the Parks Department wishes to offer its support.
Athletics
Youth Basketball – Junior Grizzlies season is underway. Practices and games started this weekend and continue through the end of February. There are a total of 23 teams with players from 5-14 years-old.
On Jan 25th the participants will attend Lakeland Parks and Recreation game night at the Memphis Grizzlies vs the Sacramento Kings. All players received a ticket to the game with their registration in the league. The kids will be able to sit courtside pre-game. Some will get the chance to stand with the players on court during the National Anthem and some will participate in the Halftime Fan Tunnel.
The Department has been working on a similar gameday experience with the Memphis Tigers players. Their families can purchase discounted tickets for the game on Feb. 10th.
Competitive Basketball – The 4th and 5th grade boys began the season in December with The Crosscheck Grace Evangelical league. Each group is competing and they are growing together as a team.
Cheer – The first season of Basketball Cheering has gone tremendously well: a total of 47 girls ages 6-11 participating. The fans love the halftime cheers!
Competitive Cheer – The team participated in the second competition of the season on Dec. 8th and have their 3rd and final competition Jan.27th at the Landers Center. The girls have put in a lot of hard work and have come a long way for a first-time squad. It is hoped that this program run in conjunction with Memphis Pride All-Stars Cheer and Dance will continue to grow.
Soccer – The Lakeland IFA (International Futbol Association) 08/09 boys and girls teams wrapped up their season in November at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex. The new teams showed heart and determination as they finished their first season. They hope to stay together and keep building the competitive soccer program in Lakeland.
Little Superstar Soccer for ages 3-14 registration is now open for the spring season. The recreational soccer is played at City Hall Fields. The season starts in March and concludes in May. Registration is open till Feb. 24th.
Tennis – The Indoor Winter Clinics for ages 5-18 at the Cordova Community Center begin Jan. 12th and finishes Feb. 2nd. Registration remains open until Friday (1.11.19)
Senior Center
Attendance for November was 327 and December was 365. Year-end attendance was 4,050. Taking into account the loss of the Silver Sneaker Fitness Class this year, the Senior Center has seen good growth.
Fundraising and sponsorship raised a total of $3,461 in 2019.
… Photo by Jim Willis, Lakeland Currents
