Norman Board of Park Commissioners Meeting - September 4, 2025
Norman Board of Park Commissioners Meeting - September 4, 2025
The Norman Board of Park Commissioners met on September 4, 2025, to approve routine items, receive annual reports, consider land dedication options for two developments, adopt the Urban Forest Master Plan, and adjust operating hours for parks and the Young Family Athletics Center.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the regular meeting minutes of June 5, 2025 and the special meeting minutes of July 3, 2025.
- Accepted previously approved city council items: a cleaning contract with Clean Freaks for $22,182/month covering 13 facilities; a final payment of $4,000 for the community wildlife protection plan; a contract with Muscle Sports Lighting to replace lighting at Westwood tennis courts; and a contract transfer from Healthy Living Center Norman LLC (changing oversight from an Oklahoma City board to a Norman-based board, but retaining the same staff).
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made.
Discussion Items
- Sooner Theater Annual Report: Jennifer Baker, Executive Director, reported on the past year, including winning the Freddie G Fellowship (a $5,000 award), being selected to premiere a new DreamWorks musical, partnerships with the OKC Philharmonic and Allied Arts, and enrollment up 15% (over 100 new enrollments) despite the studio not yet open. Scholarship requests reached $68,000. A motion to forward the report to city council passed unanimously.
- Colerain Multifamily PUD (Land Dedication): James Briggs presented a 456-unit apartment development on Mhoff Road. Staff recommended a fee-in-lieu of park land due to the presence of on-site amenities (basketball, pickleball, pool) and proximity to Oakhurst Park (a few blocks via a new sidewalk connection) and Wood Creek Park. A motion to accept the fee-in-lieu recommendation passed unanimously.
- Toll Trails SPD (Land Dedication): James Briggs presented a 360-unit development (apartments and senior duplexes) near Porter and Rock Creek, adjacent to Norman North High School. Staff recommended a private park land decision (3.186 acres) due to the small park size (1.593 acres if public) and the availability of nearby parks (Toll's Park, Sutton Place Park, Highland Village). A motion to accept the private parkland recommendation passed unanimously.
- Healthy Living Norman Annual Report: Catherine (Executive Director) reported on the wellness center's activities: 2,455 fitness classes (34,000+ attendance), 678 art classes (4,000+ attendance), and 660 educational and social events. Membership exceeded 3,500, with 58% of members on insurance programs (SilverSneakers, RenewActive, Silver&Fit). Net revenue for the fiscal year was $16,387. A motion to forward the report to city council passed unanimously.
- Urban Forest Master Plan: Dana Carcher and Sandra Albro of Davey Resource Group presented the draft plan, developed over a year with stakeholder input. Key findings: citywide tree cover is 36% (18% in western Norman); public tree inventory of 5,775 trees provides $23,000 in annual benefits; current forestry staffing is 2.9 employees (one full-time forester). Six recommendations were made: grow the forestry division, prioritize maintenance, protect the urban forest, plan sustainable growth, promote right tree/right place, and partner on implementation. The board voted to forward the plan to city council with a letter of support recommending increased investment in forestry.
- Park Hours of Operation: Jason proposed changes to park hours: community parks open 6am to 11pm, neighborhood parks 6am to 10pm, and special use parks with seasonal hours (e.g., Creekside Bike Park: 6am-9pm April-October, 8am-6pm November-March). The changes aim to align with police shift changes and reduce nighttime issues. A motion to support the changes and forward to city council passed unanimously.
- Young Family Athletics Center (YFAC) Operating Hours: Mitchell Richardson presented usage data showing low attendance before 7am and after 7pm. Proposed hours: Mon-Fri pool 7am-7pm, gym 8am-8pm; Sat pool 10am-4pm, gym 10am-6pm; Sun 12-4pm; closed on city holidays. The changes are intended to reduce staffing costs. A motion to approve the hours and forward to city council passed unanimously.
- Advisory Committee for Parks and Recreation Policy and Procedures: Jason announced plans to update policies (last updated ~20 years), including clarifying special event rules (e.g., gatherings under 1,000 people not captured as special events) and addressing food truck regulations. A committee of up to four board members was formed to meet over the next 60 days. Mark volunteered, then stepped aside; a replacement was appointed.
Key Outcomes
- Approved consent calendar items.
- Forwarded Sooner Theater annual report to city council.
- Accepted fee-in-lieu of park land for Colerain Multifamily PUD.
- Accepted private park land for Toll Trails SPD.
- Forwarded Healthy Living Norman annual report to city council.
- Forwarded Urban Forest Master Plan to city council with a letter of support recommending increased investment.
- Supported changes to park hours of operation (to be forwarded to city council).
- Supported changes to Young Family Athletics Center operating hours (to be forwarded to city council).
- Formed an advisory committee for policy and procedure updates.
- Received updates on Norman Forward projects (Saxon Park road advancing, Bishop Creek Eco Park construction, Main Street median renovation) and recreation programs (Time Out Cafe opening, Legacy Fest on September 13, youth volleyball league, TOTS program).
Meeting Transcript
Good evening and welcome to the City and Norman Board of Park Commissioners meeting for Thursday, September 4th, 2025. First thing we'll do is roll call and Billy Davidson. Todd Fagan. Christy Isaacson here. Martin Nanny. Here. Tori Ted Orlaffin. Here. Ellen Ustri. Christy Wright. Christina Whitecoff. Okay. First item consideration of approval acceptance rejection amendment and postponement of the minutes as follows. The Board of Park Commissioners regular meeting minutes of June 5th, 2025, and the Board of Park Commissioner meeting special meeting minutes of July 3rd, 2025. Do I have a motion to approve those? All motion to approve. Second. Second. Thank you, Mark. All in favor? Any opposed? Passes. Okay. Consideration of approval acceptance rejection amendment and or postponement of previously approved city council items. I'll hit these up real quick, knock them out. The uh first one we had on August 12th was uh uh cleaning contract with uh clean freaks for uh the amount of 22,182 a month. Uh just remind everybody we do all the building maintenance for all facilities across the city. So this is one large contract, I think covering about 13 facilities, including City Hall. Uh so this is uh discovering that, so it looks bit like a big number. It is a big number, but it's a lot of square footage that's getting covered. Uh we did have final payment for our contractor with a professional community wildlife protection plan of about four thousand dollars. We did have a contract with Muscle Sports Lighting to add lighting out at the Westwood tennis courts. Well, this is replacing a bunch of uh uh lighting at our older courts right there on the northwest side of uh the Westwood tennis complex, and then on August 26th, we did have a contract uh transfer from a healthy living center Norman LLC. From uh basically the gist of that would be uh went from a healthy living Oklahoma City to a separate different contractor, um, but still the same same staff of Healthy Living Um Norman, which is a board that is set up uh with Norman residents. So uh same same people uh working it, just different boards, and this board's based in Norman instead of Oklahoma City. So it was good news for us. I'll have to take any questions about this. Why does the YFAC not have charges for the sound? This one's not included in that one. The uh originally we did have Clean Freaks that was gonna do that, uh, but we uh took them off because they it was too much for this is a newer company in the Oakland City area. Uh they uh did it for a few weeks and then decided they didn't want to do it anymore. It was too much for them with everything else, so that's one of the ones they dropped, and we went back to our uh former contractor that was doing that, and you'll probably see that bring come back up in September. It's taking us a while to get the contract. Okay, I'm just curious as to why we have a zero zilla. Thank you. Any other questions for Jason on any of those things? I didn't hear that from turns off. This is our last time next item consideration, approval, acceptance, rejection, amendment, and or postponement of the annual report from Sooner Theater. I'm here for you. Hi, thank y'all for letting us go first today.
openpublica.com