The Parks and Recreation Commission met on February 16, 2026 at 1:00 PM. The meeting included approval of previous minutes, updates from staff on parks projects, maintenance, aquatics, summer planning, and upcoming programs. Commissioner Edwards was welcomed as a new member.
I'd like to call to order the February 16th, 2026 meeting of Parks and Recs Commission. Would you all please stand for pledge of allegiance to the flag? Underground liberty just to next item on our agenda is approval of the November 20th, 2025 minutes. Has everyone had a chance to review them? Yes. I'll make a motion to approve the minutes. May I have a second? All those in favor? I can do a roll call. Do a roll call, please. Yeah, I'll do the I'll do the roll call. I just is Commissioner Edwards. All right, I'm gonna go ahead and do the roll call with who we have. Um Commissioner Romero. And do you approve the minutes? Um hi, Commissioner Edwards. We're approving the minutes right now, which I guess you weren't here last month. Uh Commissioner Herrera. Do you approve the minute? Yes. Uh Commissioner French Barger. Here, yes. And Commissioner Leading. Here, yes. And Commissioner Edwards, are you present? Can you hear us? Present. Yes. Welcome. Thank you. The minutes have been approved. Next item is staff presentations, reports, and comments. First up is Diane Sonye, Project's Division Manager. Good evening, Ms. Chairwoman. Um, commissioners. I'm gonna try and focus some of my comments this evening. We'll see if it works. Um, so some of our uh projects that we have under construction at this time. Um we have already talked a little bit about our Vista Sandia uh park playground replacement and shade structure project. Um the actual playground structure is in, they're working on the poured in place surfacing, which is like a resilient surfacing, and that's around much of the two to five and the five to twelve year old child playground structures. It's there to provide not only fall attenuation but ADA or handicap access, and that's part of our plans going for forward whenever we replace playgrounds to comply with federal accessibility standards and our own 2014 ADA transition plan. So that is underway. This shade structure, I think it may have even been finished today. It's a cantilever shade structure, so hopefully it'll add another element where people can sit and not only maybe there's some picnic tables that exist in that area, but maybe they can have a snack but also watch their children play, and that was a bond-funded project. Um we also have a short uh uh 30 by 30 shade structure going in at Star Heights Park, and we've been working with the contractor on that. Um, so we've come up with a layout and we hope to begin construction on that in the next two to three weeks. Um, and that is federally funded. So we hope to see that completed, and it's uh immediately adjacent to the basketball courts, which were recently replaced using governor uh the governor general obligation bond monies from the same funding year as the Vista Sandia uh playground project is. Sorry for my uh misuse of words there.