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Belle Isle Advisory Committee: Otter Voice Meeting Notes

Belle Isle Advisory Committee

Detroit Documenters1h 35min

Speaker 1

00:06

Hi, I'm Michelle and all Good morning, Michael, how are you? It's good to see you.

Unknown Speaker

00:17

Are you great?

Speaker 1

00:21

Thank you got one more minute here. It's always the longest minute of the day waiting for the meeting to start.

Speaker 1

00:54

All right, well, it is 9am. I'd like to welcome you all to the July 28 meeting of the bell Park Advisory Committee. We do not have a quorum, so we can't officially start the meeting but we can certainly continue on with our business of the day as required by the Open Meetings Act as part of our roll call those that serve on the committee must state where they are joining the meeting from so I will share that I am in Grosse Pointe Park and a bike ride away from our beautiful Belle Isle which I will be on later today. And I will turn it over to Michael my

Speaker 2

01:31

colleague. Good morning. I'm calling in from sunny Detroit, Michigan on the east side. Welcome to all Thank you. Have you

Speaker 1

01:43

might go I do know we have an excused absence from Mr. Danker. He is traveling to Iowa for Penske business. So we will miss him today and we will look forward to the others joining us as the meeting moves along. So with that we will move into general updates for the day starting with Parks and Recreation update including the 2024 budget. Tom, who would you like to leave that discussion for the DNR?

Speaker 3

02:13

I don't see that. John has joined us Yeah.

Unknown Speaker

02:19

So want to give him a minute. We can move on?

Speaker 3

02:23

Yeah. We could just give him a minute and we can probably skip to Karis for the park updates.

Speaker 1

02:31

That sounds great. Thank you for that Mr. Visit and Mr. Floyd, would you like to take the floor

Speaker 4

02:39

Good morning, everyone. Good. Morning. Oh, okay. Well. We'll talk a little bit about we've got the Youth Connection groups have started and there are 30 different groups that will be participating in the program this year. It looks like all 30 would like to do some type of project on bail out this year. I think I've got six so far. We've got groups that are coming from Flint, Pontiac, and of course Detroit. And so they will be in the park doing various projects. Also, this is a mentoring program. We've had several that have expressed an interest in working as a ranger and also other avenues within the state of Michigan and other departments. So we are working with these with the young folks to get their resumes and mock interviews and just mentoring them as close as we possibly can to make sure that they achieve their goals. So I'm excited for it. Program has gone in a very good direction now and so we're really happy to have it back on beltline. From the hiring standpoint, we have hired two new Rangers that will be starting on the 24th of July and we are in the process of hiring a GLA general office assistant that is up in civil service right now and I should be getting or to offer that position out very soon. We are also hiring one full time janitor and one seasonal janitor. And the full time janitor that position we are in the reference checking stage and then that should go up to civil service soon and we'll be able to offer that out. We are still we just repost it for the park supervisor position so that closed yesterday along with the seasonal janitor position. And so we're excited to see what candidates were getting for each of those positions as well. Inside the park with the sports complex, the cricket League has started and it was like just kind of sat there last Wednesday and just kind of watched because it was good to see it back on the island again and the guys running around and the the cricket league going and and those guys were extremely happy to be back on the island and have the league going full force like it is. The softball leagues have started and they are in full force. The volleyball leagues are in full force as well. Every Wednesday night, every Tuesday Wednesday night. Pickleball is going on as well. So it's like I said before it's really good to see the sports complex doing what it's done in the past. So congratulations to Ali and his that scarf down we'll be down for a bit. We had a bit of a flooding issue. And so there's some electrical circuits that need to be checked out and the electric team is in there and we should have an update tomorrow on what the status is. So we will keep everybody up to date we will put a Facebook notice out so that our guests know exactly what's going on with the phone and you will see some striping going on with MDOT on the roads. I want to be very clear this this is not associated with the mobility plan. This is something that's been in the working stage with MDOT for quite some time. So when you come in on the island, you're going to see new traffic patterns that are taking you throughout the park. So just be careful as you're traveling through our picnic shelters are rented all the way through Labor Day. Just about every weekend has been all our shelters have been rented. So again, it's it's a big part of lol and in our guests continue to support us by running our shelters each and every weekend. The event staff has been extremely busy even with the casino and the plane buildings closed. We are still getting an extreme amount of event request. People are being coming very creative and what they are requesting out at the park. So it's a good thing to see, especially with the weddings and the different locations that the weddings are taking place. So I hope that continues and that it's really good thing. The roof revenue we are up some $380,000 from last year. So we are selling quite a few recreation passports this year. And as you all know from the past, we have had issues trying to hire people due to the pandemic so people are coming back. It's been a little easier to find individuals to work the booth and so hopefully what next year we can continue to build on that. Let's see that. That will conclude my report.

Speaker 1

08:14

Thank you Karis. All good stuff. Michael, any questions for cares?

Speaker 2

08:19

No another just a great report Karis. And I don't know that the island has ever looked better. It was it's beautiful, great job to all. I took my grandkids to the aquarium I think it was last week and we had to wait in line to get in which was really nice. So very exciting. And just really proud. Thank you.

Speaker 1

08:43

I echo that team's doing great making us proud. Okay, so Treadwell, it's up to you to continue on with infrastructure updates. Look forward to hearing what you have to share. today.

Speaker 3

08:58

Hi,

good morning, everyone. I'm going to bring up a presentation and we can take a deeper dive today into a couple of the agenda items on our infrastructure list that we're working on. Now. So can everyone see my screen? Yes, thank you. Alright, so as you all is Karis just mentioned that Pacino is under construction right now. That building roof replacement and compasses a lot of scope for repairs that have deteriorated parts of the building under the roof. So I over the last year I've showed a lot of pictures of the open leaks on top of the roof and which created a lot of deterioration and structural elements supporting the roof in the masonry around the perimeter of the building because of leaking roofs leaking. gutters. So lawless Roof Replacement Project, mainly there's there's a lot of ancillary work that needs to be done as well. So the tile that is coming in the clay tile is delayed. There's particularly a lot of the special tile pieces on the cap of the roof line and the ridge line. So while we were expecting the contractor to start that replacement this year, it won't be till next year and we will probably delay that flat roof replacement till next year as well. But there is a like I mentioned there's a lot of work for FH Martin to be addressing this year while we wait for those products to come in. So a lot of the worst damage was at that north west corner of the casino. There's a tower there and that is that's the trouble spot of this project. So what I'm showing here is some of the issues resulting from that, that leakage so it compromises the the steel that's within the concrete when the concrete is wet, it gets into the steel and the steel rusts and expands and causes a whole bunch of issues that you can see here. So primarily right now the structural engineers are reviewing the lentil details and additional work that's going to be required to ensure that we make these structural repairs. So what I'm showing you here is there's a couple of different details for these lentils over the window. And that Northwest tower there actually couple the varied ways that these lentils were installed. So some of you might be familiar with this building and know that initially, the second floor of this casino was all open around the perimeter that porch deck was open and so when they filled it in there are a few different details for that. So what you can see in these pictures is this over one side, there's a concrete beam with buried steel supports through it those that steel in there that gives that concrete structural integrity has rusted out and so our structural engineer is reviewing the extent of the damage and then we will review options to repair and stabilize that piece of them. Tower now

on the other scope. Okay, yeah, so this is where there was steel macerating this is where they had that concrete lentil Additionally, we're reviewing some other areas where the steel within the concrete has rusted when it rusts it expands and that impacts the integrity of the concrete as you can see here so these pictures that I've put up here to give you like a little idea of where we are, this is on the south side of the casino in the back facing Canada. This space is directly under the boiler room so and initially we were thinking this leaking downspout here in the corner was causing a lot of this rusting and concrete deterioration. But after some more additional inspections now we're getting into the project and opening things up a bit. Let the project team understands that it's not just this leaking downspout here that's compromising this but there are some leaks from the boiler room above. So this is another area that were will require further investigation to determine how to move forward so and then you can see here this was the other lentil space that's needing to be addressed. So as I mentioned, the scope on this includes not just focused on the roof and building scope, but also we're working to address utilities. So the Mechanical air conditioning units that were on top of the towers, those will be removed so we can address the roof and then they'll be replaced with mechanical units on the ground. So that'll make them easier to maintain and we won't have equipment up on the third floor of the building. So it's a better solution. All around. We have worked with the architect and who's designed screen walls that will match the brick on

the casino so they will be screened when they moved down to the ground floor behind the building on the south side. So in preparation of that, the contractor is scoping drains within the project site as we start to do site work above that drain system as well that you've worked on getting the wiring set for those new condenser units on the ground floor. All right. So that's the casino work you can hope you can see that they are busy over there. While we get ready for the new roofing materials. I didn't have the picture of it but they've also started to remove that skylight there that will be replaced with a new skylight and it'll be lighter. It'll have tempered glass in it over the stained glass on the second floor. So a lot going on over at the casino. The next infrastructure item on the agenda was reviewing the multi mobility study so I wanted to take some time today to review the open house that was held July 8 at the Dawson Museum in the park. We had over 100 guests attend, which we were really glad about it was a cloudy, rainy day so it was great to have such a good turnout with people coming to the park. We did make a good effort to reach out to the community. We wanted city wide representation this meeting and from the city and surrounding communities so and that was one of the directives from the city council meeting when we first shared that we were planning to move ahead with a multi mobility study was encouragement from the city to be sure we reach out to all the districts and so we have been doing that throughout the project, inviting city council members to stakeholder meetings and working with Department of neighborhoods to spread the word. So I think our team is doing a good job to reach out to the community as a whole. We've gotten a lot of help doing that as well. In addition to press releases, the DNR submitted an E blast to our DNR stakeholders and public email lists. We've also sent out notices to those folks on the city of Detroit email list. And then this open house has been shared by the Detroit News who has done stories to get the word out CBS and

then Debbie d t. E NPR also shared the mobility study so all that to say for with all the people that came to the meeting, there are still additional opportunities to provide feedback. The team is collecting comments through July 24. That's Monday. And we invite folks to either you can email me directly at treble a@michigan.gov or leave a message on the phone number that we have set up. It's here on the screen 313-261-5059 And then

Speaker 3

18:53

for folks who might not be as familiar there is a video link on the mobility website where you can view the presentation that was given to stakeholders and that does a good job of running through the background data that was collected that informed some of the strategies and the public feedback. I've mentioned here before that we've got over 3000 responses for our survey that was put out earlier this year to really you know understand what the issues were from the community with access to the park. So there's still still opportunity to weigh in. And our team

is a while we're collecting feedback through the 24th. We're starting to review those comments and we'll certainly consider the you know what the public feedback is on these strategies. And that is that is the purpose of this study is to make the circulation better for the park for the users and certainly those viable recommendation is going to be one that's supported by the community so we will be sure to incorporate all feedback. I just real quickly wanted to run through kind of how that public meeting was set up. There were stations around the Dawson space that had a you know, different that address each of the seven strategies and then we had staff at each station, answering questions, giving feedback, you know, listening to our visitors about their comments on each of the strategies. And so folks had comment cards, they could go around and talk to everybody around the room. And then tables were set up where they could share their feedback. So we had a lot of a lot of folks that were bicyclists, a lot of road cyclists showed up to give their feedback. A lot of folks that like to cruise

or use the trails were there so we had a good I think cross section of users at the open house. Giving input for you know how they specifically use the park. So the first station reviewed the reviewed proposal for making the bridge and entry experience. Coming in, sorry, sounds like I'm coming in stereo there. So the strategy here improving the entry experience was realigning the toll booths, streamlining how those toll booths were set up and make it simpler for people to understand where to go if they needed information or a passport. And then also allow better access for folks who already have a passport and maybe knew where they're, you know, going so this kind of shows how aware that this would be focused at the entrance here. And then also we got a lot of good feedback on having a dedicated bike lane on the bridge. So while that might not be the best option for road cyclists it certainly does allow a lot better and safer experience for families or you know, maybe folks that are, you know, ride their bikes less than 10 miles an hour might be coming from the neighborhood

or might be coming along the riverfront to access the park on the bike. So you know, again looking to create diverse experiences for access to the park with different modes of transportation. The next station was looking for one to two way conversions. And I'll just share that this strategy actually met a lot of goals for the study and the goal has been to improve circulation. Reduce backups make it safer by slowing down traffic. So while that's it so that's a it was a good, you know, sound engineering strategy to address those concerns. As you can see here on this map on the top, you've got your two main arteries going eastbound and only one going westbound so you're just your setup for congestion there. If you got double the people going one way and only one road for them to come back. It's you know, it doesn't take a traffic engineer to realize that it's going to be you're going to have congestion on that one road that everyone's trying to leave out. And then the other map here shows where the traffic is speeding the most. That's there's so basically as a red ring

around the park and the traffic study when we had the equipment set up and LED will tell you that those speeds around the park along that stretch history and easily get up to, you know, 50 miles an hour it's not safe for bicyclists or pedestrians. So that being said, While that might meet the objectives of the study, we did hear resoundingly from community people who like to cruise in their vehicles and bicyclists and they would prefer to maintain the one way traffic around the loop. So we're certainly looking at seeing our traffic engineers to look back in the toolbox and we'll continue to look for you know, other ways to address that. Those goals those goals of safety and reducing congestion in the park. Alright, so another strategy was to central avenue for all which would allow for me pedestrian corridor down through the center of the park. You can add there's a historic picture back here that shows central album full of pedestrians. So looking to kind of bring back some of those historic uses and then also meet our goal of increasing multi mobility improving pedestrian connections between the different facilities throughout the park. And one of the study pieces that I thought was very informative, insightful that the team put together was a pedestrian map and a bike map. For the park showing the distances and times it takes to walk between facilities around the park and what you don't maybe it's not obvious to most of us you're able to see this information is that really there's so many sites that are just a five minute walk from each other. But because of lack of wayfinding and good ADA accessible connections, we're not encouraging our park users to experience the park that way. So again, this is another strategy to increase different modes of moving around the park. So the central avenue for all proposal is suggesting that we you know, create that pedestrian corridor here introduce two way traffic on either side, which essentially does help with pedestrian safety as well. When you're breaking up how folks are crossing the roads. Instead of having like four lanes of one way traffic that someone has to cross and really narrowing that down to two separate one way crossings. So there's again opportunities to increase the pedestrian access and safety there with

this option and then additionally, you're sober maintaining the current transportation corridor for vehicles and parking. So I think that accomplishes a lot on that front. Another tool for the mobility study was to look at parking.

Speaker 3

27:55

Parking capacity Park wide so we can get a handle on how that relates to future development around the park. And then really looking at how we can migrate parking to be where we need where we need it. So you know are we putting parking where it is within those five minute pedestrian walks between places and able to use utilize parking centrally for multiple facilities. So they are looking at how to redistribute the parking, reduce the impervious surface at the con at the paddock area. So that's another strategy that the team has been working on. Additionally, one

of the really key things that came through loud and clear in the surveys and talking to people was that wayfinding needs to be much improved. So we see that as low hanging fruit to really help people navigate around the park easier for whether you're a first time user or you know, or are multiple, you know, coming back again so and the goal with this is to you know, clean up our traffic clean up the regulatory signs have one comprehensive design palette for all the directional signage that incorporates our vendors in there right now everyone it's kind of like a well, I don't want to say free for all but everyone's got their own style and directional Wayfinding. So the goal here would be to organize that and consolidate it. All right, and then another strategy again, going back to increasing the multimodal use around the park with improving bicycle use improving pedestrian opportunities, may making it easier for vehicles to get around. Also, in parallel D DoD is improving their but bus service to Belisle with their reimagined plan right now. So they're looking to shift Belisle to a new route that would be aligned with the Jefferson route and increase their route in the park. So that's a really positive and we're looking forward to hearing more from them. And then to kind of bring all these different mobility options together the team is proposing mobility hubs around the park that would have you know maps there so people know how to get around. Have Mogo bikes have opportunities to buy the rec passport. And so having these mobility hubs around the park would help increase access and opportunities to different modes. Of Transportation as well. All right. So the last stage in the

open house was sharing with folks what they can see what they can expect to see are in the next 12 months. So while that I'm dot striping was already on schedule and plan for that. We can see already that's that striping is helping to you know, reduce traffic speeds and so an increase parking along the North Shore at the beach. So that'll be helpful for park users. as well. We are looking to accept we planned that our bids for the Wilson trail will be done next week. And so we're looking forward to kicking that off and completing that loop around the park. And then as well the wayfinding consultants are will be wrapping up a package by the end of the year that is aligned with the final deliverables for this project. And so we'll be looking to implement those that are wayfinding next year as part of this study and then again just sharing that that dry Cottrell is now complete this week the contractors put up signs so this is a great improvement. For this area of the park and there's a lot of folks have been using it. So we're glad to have this done and then looking forward to kicking off the Wilson trail later this year. Thanks

Speaker 1

33:01

much, Amanda. Michael, do you have questions at all?

Speaker 2

33:06

Um, you know, I don't have any questions. I just want to you know, I was at the mobility study as well. And I just want to caution us that, you know, we still need to know have advisement from the professionals who do this for a living. You know, I kind of think it was a small sample study at a small small sample size at the mobility study. And as much as we want to please everybody we have to make it safe. We have to make it right for the 5 million people that are coming. So I just think that we need to see all sides of it before we make decisions

Speaker 1

33:50

that have some good wisdom. I would also like to thank the team that was present for the open house. I thought the consulting team, the DNR team did a great job of managing the process and hearing the community and then also a hearty thank you to the community for out and for coming out and sharing their feedback and I hope they can see that they've been heard and that that feedback is being integrated into the process and in alignment and along with the professional wisdom that we've brought to the table as well. So I think this process is playing out exactly as it should, which is a marriage between the wisdom and the science and the intellect and the practical day to day needs of the island. So great job, everybody. And thank you, Amanda, for all that you've done to push that forward and I owe Thomas as well. I know you're on the call today to from the conservancies team and that you've been at the table as this process is laid out. So thank you for that. With that we will move back up in the agenda to our parks and recreation update from our Chief Ron Olson, and in particular to report some great news about the 2024 adopted state budget. Mr. Olson I know you've got a very busy today, day to day meetings before this meeting and a meeting coming up at 10 as well that you'll need to depart for so thanks for taking some time and we look forward to what you've got here.

Speaker 5

35:17

Yeah, I just for what just to clarify. The fiscal 24 budget which we went over a while back in terms of what was requested in the budget as you recall. We had the governor it through our budget preparation. There was a recommendation of $43 million. This is particularly for our augmenting needed infrastructure projects on Bell Island. One the legislature met and went through the process the what ended up coming out of the conference. Committee was $23 million, which is good. And they just let people know that the budget technically has not yet been signed. We're told that that'll likely happen by the end of the month or first of of August. But at any rate, these monies are coming from additional Recovery Act funds or ARPA funds if we refer to them of which we already have $12 million on Belisle that are involved with the conservatory and then the renovation to the casino building that you already got a briefing on. So so that's a lot of investment there. So at any rate, that 23 million, we're still working on figuring out the how that would be worked out one of the stipulations in the budget was that 10 million of that would be earmarked specifically which is part of what we had asked for, but to ensure that the HVAC air handling systems between the aquarium and the conservatory would be addressed. And so that definitely will get done that includes drainage work and stuff around the aquarium particularly so the basement doesn't flood and which is compromised a lot of different things including the the replacement heating system that got messed up when the floods came a couple of times and that's something that a lot of people don't see but it definitely is impacted a lot of stuff, even up to an including the bathroom in the aquarium. So at any rate, we're going to be so that's one piece and then the remaining money. We're trying to articulate how that would be divided out to so that we could still we have problems that you know we have to start down that road and renovate the fountain which as some of you might know that we had a valve valve problem with the that occurred last was four or five, six days ago I guess. And a valve and a four inch water line. That feeds the area down there didn't close properly and the de system for a sump pump. It's kind of complicated, but anyway, that one of the valves failed and it flooded the whole basement of it and water was coming out the door and so consequently all that new electrical stuff we just finished, got soaked and so we have added electricians in there working on that but that's a part of that is, you know, still some remnants of the old infrastructure that's in there and so at any rate it's not any bad hoping to get that thing back on track here but but the fact remains is that we need to start working towards that bigger fix, which some of you know, I guess everybody knows that the study that was done on the phone, show the cement, that was the original cement by the way in the early 1900s is starting to disintegrate and eventually the the leaking will start occurring more prolifically through the the pavement on the basin of the fountain and so that that has to be addressed and and then the modernization in some of the pumping systems and a lot of that stuff. So that's that's one and then we still have the we have the old zoo former zoo site and we want to invest in continuing to remove the the derelict buildings are not no longer used infrastructure there which we talked about to get that towards and start down the road to do the basically a first phase two and more naturalized that area per the studies and all that was done previously and then also we have some hazardous materials such as lead paint and asbestos and some of the other buildings that have to be addressed. So there was fun. There's that's a topic area and then the last bigger one was the the boathouse itself, which, as we all know is compromised and hasn't been habitable for quite some time and to have some resources to figure out what we do with that, cuz that is, as we've talked before, that is a issue and in and of itself and then collaborating with Detroit rowing group, which is have erected in in the process of temporary quarters to operate rolling and then of course, as you know, that at some point looping back on the master plan that they had presented before and things have changed. Obviously a lot with this boathouse situation, so that'll have to be addressed somehow in this process. And then the last thing that we do have some funds set aside in that to do some repurposing, planning to solidify the whatever, what, which pathway we'd end up solidifying regarding the the farmer zoo site, even though we do have a lot of good study work that was done by MSU and the other partners that were involved in that in the public input and then the, the trying to address to the US a couple of those spaces out there up to including the areas surrounding the boathouse, that front area, which is still compromised with the old infrastructure, the old former swimming pool and some of the other stuff that's out there, too. So and then one thing that that probably will have to come at a later time and that is dealing with the beach frontage. Because we had hoped to put in an alternative spray park for kids and do some renovation to the bathrooms and things but some, you know, so that is probably gonna have to be looked at but with the money being shrunk down to 23 million, which is a good thing. There's we can't do everything we had planned to do. Which then opens the other door. We met with the conservancy the other day and talking about now that we have this what potential there might be for leveraging philanthropic match funding and stuff like that. So that's a bit yet to be determined how that might work out, which would help, you know, try to bolster some of the funding that we had identified originally. So that's, that's kind of where we are with that. We should say that we did. We were successful and I want to emphasize the two that I mentioned, it's ARPA funds. That means that these funds as soon as the budgets done would be ready to be utilized because these are 2023. It's called a supplemental so those funds won't have to wait till October 1. So we can commence the process to figure out what what we will do and we'll have a better idea of that delineation of that once that once the budget is signed, and so in the next couple of months, we'll have that loop back and update people on what seems to make the most sense to press forward on but it's clearly the needs are right in front of us. The The other thing that as you know, due to the Grand Prix, leaving Belisle, we had the budget for Belle Isle was there was $450,000 that came from the revenue from that day was used for augmenting the operation. This is separate from the Grand premier funds. These are simply their permit fees and negotiated amount that they provided for capital improvements. And we were in the supplemental that was we were able to shore that up so our operating budget won't take a hit because of that. So that's that's a positive thing to keep. Keep the operational budget balanced with the loss of that revenue as you know, the any revenue generated on Belisle goes back to the operating budget in a restricted fund. And that would be that was a chunk there. So

Speaker 5

45:11

so that's pretty much what I have. I mean, the staff have given you and we'll give you the other updates on more defined operating operational things, but I don't know if anybody has any questions about that. A lot of stuff there, although you kind of knew the big picture before but now this is not this is becoming reality. No.

Speaker 1

45:38

He ran for the update. And just to paint the picture further, this is a really important step forward on a number of fronts and as it relates specifically to the aquarium as we pursue accreditation through the ACA, which is a very empowering step forward in terms of how the animals and what sort of opportunities are then available as we partner with other accredited institutions around the country, as well as become more eligible for dollars through various grant sources and other philanthropy that will only come with that accredited nation and then also just showing our commitment to animal care and making certain that we are treating our creatures with the professionalism and dignity that they deserve. And having that HVAC infrastructure is so important. I'm using the the octopus as an example our serving go Woodward requires a cold tank, and therefore in the summer months, we are we have to squeegee it the entire time that to the public. Public, which is obviously not is not conducive to a good experience for anybody and staff. The staff team often has to manually add it to the tank. So having HVAC where we can temperature control not only improves our ability to care for the animals, but also improves our ability to identify dreams because we can't successfully change events and the summer months because you can't control the conditions. It's difficult for the staff to function in that environment, let alone our visitors and we want to have a very positive experience there. So this is a really crucial step forward in that accreditation pathway and and really ensuring longevity for the aquarium and we also hearing from from the foundations and from philanthropy that they really want to see the state of Michigan at the table. And that's been accomplished with this step forward. So it enables us to go back to those parties to really set the stage firmly and strongly as we move into a campaign mode. So all great news, I think hearty congratulations and thanks need to go to the DNR team for walking us with us down this path, you know, to our legislative team. Certainly have to thank Representative Carter Senator chain. All of those directly serve us and most importantly, our house speaker Joe Tate who really showed his leadership and a tremendous passion while as he pushed forward in in particular the aquarium and wanting to make sure that it was protected. For all going forward. And then to a special thank you to Representative Whitmer, who showed a real love for Belisle and a real understanding of how important it is to solidify its future. So all in all, I think a very, an excellent step forward and thanks to all for for getting us here, Michael Do you have any questions on this manner?

Speaker 2

48:37

Yeah, I do. For Ron, Phil. Two questions. I know that Amanda had said that the gate revenue was up by 380 some 1000. What caused that and where is that used? That's the first question. I'll wait to ask the second.

Speaker 5

48:55

Well that that's getting the you know, the when we started with the park eight or nine years ago, the obviously the passports were introduced and you know, your couple years ago, we had trouble hiring staff and we weren't able to staff the the entered booths to this extent that we had in the previous time, but due to the fact that we raised pay rates and some other things and hiring has improved and so we made a very concerted effort to make sure that that the booths were properly staffed and that's that's made a difference to bring the revenues back up. And the second of all those funds I mentioned before go into the general Park Improvement Fund which is a restricted fund that can only be used for parks. And so those funds then go in and are used to fuel the operational system. Just to keep in mind that the Belle Isle budget, which is the only general funded budget in the whole state park system is about two and a half million dollars plus about a million dollars of capital outlay and we now are subsidizing the Belle Isle budget to the tune of about a million and a half dollars out of the park Improvement Fund. So the So clearly there's more support coming from the system than the revenue the revenue that's coming from the passport so that you know Belisle is I mean from that standpoint if that helps answer the question. But yeah,

Speaker 2

50:36

I guess what I'm, I guess what I'm getting at is if if, if it's 380,000 To date, we I mean, we can probably estimate that it'll be 500,000 by the end of the summer. Does that mean we've been passing out $500,000 Because we haven't hired enough people. And if that's the case, and I think we better hire enough people because that's a lot of money to pass up on a two and a half million dollar.

Speaker 5

51:00

Right? Well, it's wasn't the fact that we didn't have enough people is the fact that we had a hard time filling the jobs that we wanted to hire. We hadn't reduced any positions. So that and you've heard over the time, that hiring in particular and I'll tell you a statewide, we really struggle there was one year in 2021 system wide where we were, we usually hire 1300 Summer workers and we were probably only about 900 or 850 and we really struggled but yet at that same year, we had record levels of attendance. So wasn't just Balaiah was all over the state and but that's getting better now and this year is better than it was last year, certainly way better than 21. So So anyway, that that's kind of a dynamic that went on as you probably recall, restaurants and every other kind of business that had dependent on those were really struggled in the last year or two but it's getting better now. So therefore, that's why and yeah, we want to make sure that that definitely app properly because you're right. I mean, and that's what but I think we're back to to a place but you know, we still got to maintain it because we had somebody the other day that one of the key workers just decided to get another job and quit and so you got to deal with that kind of thing.

Speaker 2

52:31

And second question is the ARPA funds? Is there a deadline of when they have to be used and is it use it or lose it?

Speaker 5

52:39

Oh, yeah, to use it or lose it and it has to be obligated by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026. Because that runs by on a ton of federal requirements and we have to meet a lot of extra requirements and we have a whole reporting thing. And that's similar to the 250 million, statewide of which 12 is on Belisle. That we've already engaged to date but this extra money will be on top of that, and that'll follow that same

Unknown Speaker

53:12

routes protocol. Got it. Thank you. Yep.

Speaker 1

53:19

Michael, thank you, Ron, very much. Appreciate your time today and that update. Moving on. Let's see that puts us back to the law update portion of the agenda, Lieutenant Cisco. I see you're with us today. At least last time I checked. How are you?

Speaker 6

53:39

Good morning. I'm fine. I hope everybody's doing well. It's been pretty busy out there this summer for law division. We obviously DNR law division works jointly with the Michigan State Police to provide the public safety out there. There's been a lot of visitors this summer and as as that has been happening, we still are running into speeding issues. I know I talk about this all the time, and I know there's been some some public media on us but the speed limits posted is 25 and that's just to keep people safe. There's so many visitors now between the bicyclists, the walkers, people just trying to enjoy themselves some of these sustained speeds that our officers are capturing on radar is just kind of ridiculous. I mean 4546 seems to be like a normal speed for people which the speed limit is 25. And we've had some really exceed that. And I won't get into that. But the bottom line is is that we're trying to you know, enforce that jointly with MSP. We just want people to be safe out there. So PRD was very gracious and did post those. There's three electronic speed monitoring signs on the island. We do we and a lot of engineers have a mobile unit also. So we try to have awareness out there for people coming to the island that hey, the speed limit is 25 the huge signboard that coming into the park PRD has has tasked that display the speed and different you know, events and things that may be happening on the island but really need to get through that to the public that you know speed is kind of important. We don't want to have any tragedies out there. We want people to enjoy the park and part of that is just trying to be a good citizen and keep your speed down. So we appreciate that part. We've been fully staffed this summer. I want to give a great thanks to the many people that were involved in the Detroit Metro Youth Day which I also partook in and we worked that and what a great event to have come back to the island and I think this year there were more kids than ever and it means a lot to have those children out there and to to experience that with them. So that was a great event. I can't thank Ed Deeb and his crew enough for sponsoring that and everybody else who had a part in that because it's a it's a great old crying to the public and to the youth of of our, you know, our great city and our in our tri counties that seem to come to support it. So other than that's all I have for law division. Thank you.

Speaker 1

56:22

Thank you can have any questions, Mr. Curse for our lieutenant?

Unknown Speaker

56:28

No thanks very much for all the work you guys do.

Speaker 1

56:35

Especially during these busy months, lieutenant and I know we had the beautiful kite fest as well which is a great mission moment. So people are enjoying the park and that's what we want them to do and we want them to be able to do that safely and you ensure that so thank you. I'm moving on to the PC update. I will defer to my colleague i o Thomas to provide that update

Speaker 1

57:11

i Oh, I know you were here and I'm my trouble keeping up here. There we go. Good.

Unknown Speaker

57:22

Sorry.

I was trying to open excuse me turn on my mic. So I'm going to try to share my screen really quickly. We can get into these updates got quite a bit to share today. So give me one second and

Unknown Speaker

57:56

can you see my screen

Speaker 1

58:03

it's

coming I believe we're

Speaker 7

58:08

having

some interesting technology issues this morning. Let me know when you can see it. It's there. Okay. So I just want to start by sharing of course the various facility hours throughout the island. So when you're planning your visits of course you can see that when the island is open, how you can catch the bus, if that's something you're interested in, and then what hours each facility is open and whether or not there are any admissions fees. I'd like to point out that right now the only facility with any sort of admissions is the Dawson Great Lakes museum. And so my understanding that is to help fundraise to restore some of the collections, especially the mini ship collection. So I just want to start by sharing that context. I want to start also with the Detroit Boat Club crew and offering or extending congratulations. earlier in the month of June. The Women's Youth you'll see their names listed there Carly ala Olivia and Riley are actually they placed first in our national champions in the US rowing youth national championships so want to just extend a word of congratulations to them. Moving on to the era of garden of course we know that the garden is a 14 season garden and that you can visit anytime that the park is open. I also want to share that guided tours are available by appointment Monday through Thursday for groups of 25 or more individuals and that's a $5 donation per individual. But the thing that I really want to point out is that along where you see the West and East meadow in the fall, there will be a boardwalk construction to ideally begin it's I believe still in some permitting phase but the idea is that there will be some restoration there and then a walking path, complete with a wooden boardwalk that will allow people to get closer to that metal area near the carillon. And so it's an expansion of the existing sort of planting but planting but it makes space for visitors to enjoy more of the installation and garden so more on that if you have not been please girl go I believe this is the third it's either the second or third planting season and the flowers and plants there are just beautiful. I also want to point out that where you see this pink area known as the bird border the plants that have been growing along that area in particular have now it used to be that when the plant sort of first were installed or planted. A lot of the species would sort of pass through that area but now we're seeing a lot more restoration of indigenous bird species that are sort of landing spending time either even beginning to gather materials for nesting there, which is a new or returned behavior for species to this particular area. So I want to just highlight both of those

things as exciting developments connected to the Rudolph garden. Tonight from seven to 10pm at the nature center want to point out that there is the next installation of the nature and night series tonight we'll focus on a hike in search of bats. You'll be able to hear the songs of summer insects and there will be some time to attract moths to observe them up close. So if that is something that is of interest to you, or if you know someone that's interested please encourage them to stop by I've done some of the programming over at the nature center myself and it is always exciting. So just want to encourage folks to take advantage of these offerings. Also want to share that save the date August 19 from 11 to four will be be fest over at the nature center. So those are two sort of special programming. Of course there's also the micro or insect species overlooked exhibit. So please do check that out. And then finally there's a lot of other programming hikes, nature tots just a bunch of a robust programming over at the nature center. So please do check that out. Want

to highlight that also this weekend this weekend is going to be really busy on Belle Island terms of programming. This weekend is the antique outboard motor club meet up which is sort of exactly what it sounds like. So the the antique club will meet at the excuse me at the Dawson. This event is open to the public. So if it's something you're interested in, you'll also notice that Saturday is free admission at the Dawson so please do check that out and that's from nine to three on Saturday. And of course the microplastics exhibit is there through April of 2024. We already heard about the multimodal mobility study, just a reminder that the feedback close the feedback collection closes on the 24th and so there's a QR code here. For those who would prefer to just scan and get access to that information. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you can watch that recorded presentation that Amanda referenced. And then you can leave feedback via one of the recommended formats which is via email or phone and both of those contact informations are listed on the website. Now we'll get into some of

the Belisle conservancy specific updates. You'll notice here that there's a colorful if you're over by the ICE tree which is on the side, closest to the beach. You'll notice sort of a colorful box this been installed. This picture is from earlier this week when the installation was beginning. This project is in partnership with Detroit River story lab and University of Michigan Todman School of Architecture and it is helping the conservancy to build a digital archive. So we want to hear Belisle stories you can go to this booth, record your stories, there's a sound recorder there you can push the button and record in 92nd increments. So please do check that out. Also be on the lookout for programming invitations because there will be some sort of curated programming which will allow us to collect some specific types of stories to ensure that we really are capturing a variety of input in relationship to Belisle. You'll also notice that for the University of Michigan, this project helps them to explore the impacts on Long Island landscapes and cultural institutions from the perspective of climate uncertainty, and taking a look at the park as a cultural Commons

and connecting past and present histories. And so something to just think about and we're really, really excited to see this project underway and also thank you to the mdnr team for support and bringing this project to life. So we're really excited there. The next program that I want to bring up this weekend on Belisle July 22 is community sorry about that. Um, so community funding at Belle Isle aquarium in partnership with Detroit parks coalition freedom Arts Festival is this Saturday from noon to four at Belle Isle aquarium it is an activation of the lawn so we're doing book giveaways. We're giving away a book on the beavers returned to the Detroit area and the bailout ecosystem, as well as a book on the unique postal system for the freighters that pass through the Detroit River freight. We've also got some activity kits being given away by Detroit Public Library. We've got a cyanotype workshop which is an early type of photography. We've got Bill out art fair there working doing some activities and maker stations, we've got an area for elders and seniors. With some games we've got activities through our partners with communities first

so there's a lot happening we've also got some performances we've got guitarist and a simple yoga session for people who just need to do a little bit of extra movement. We've got vocalist, so there's plenty happening DJs so we're really excited to take take on this for a second year and that'll be right outside bill. I will aquarium this Saturday again from noon to four. Before Saturday, though, we will be having in partnership with communities first I just mentioned we'll be showing Wiley over at the Belisle athletic fields. And so that begins at 630 Tomorrow, Friday, and then again in August we'll be showing another movie which we'll be putting boots, the last wish and both of those are free completely to the public. There's snacks all you need to bring is a lawn chair or blanket something that allows you to sort of lay out comfortably in the grass. So yes, please join us for both of those this weekend. And of course the aquarium is always open tend to for this summer we're doing summer Thursdays. So 10 to four on Thursdays through Sunday. At the Belle Isle aquarium and Thursdays I think

to Huntington Bay.

Speaker 7

01:07:56

This here is a more complete list of the conservancy programming you'll notice that we do yoga in the parks on Thursdays through August. 31st. We have sound bats coming up July 30 and August 20 at 9am Also on the lawn of the aquarium. All of this information our Oasis programming, all of this can be found at Bill io conservancy.org/summer calendar that also includes our keep mill out beautiful cleanup season which is has been underway since April and some of the events that have already happened throughout the summer but just want to keep everyone posted on what

is happening around the aquarium and with Belisle conservancy finally if you are interested in our input impact reporting date, then you can see the annual spill out City Council update Detroit City Council update which is done of course in conjunction with or as part of the mdnr presentation that QR code is listed. Here. And then our impact report is available as a print and also online Abell IO conservancy dashboard. And that concludes

Speaker 1

01:09:07

report. Thank you very much Iowa. A very important part of the conservancies mission is to connect with the community and to do so in one way by providing relevant programming that we know is meaningful to the community because we've talked to them about it. So thank you for manifesting that. Meredith, I see that you posted in the chat as well. With the out of garden just know how proud we are of the garden and and the the example that you all provide of what partnerships can do for Belisle and the passion with which you all serve in the purpose in the substances is impressive, and we appreciate that continued partnership and something we should mention, too that may have gone unnoticed is we're now open on Thursdays at the aquarium throughout the summer, thanks to the generosity of our corporate partners, and in this case, most recently, it's Huntington Bank, so we'll give them that shout out. DNR team I'm also seeing in the chat and my internet is slow. Somebody's having trouble accessing it all effectively. But I'm getting blips of those post it looks like some folks are looking for phone numbers to call when public safety issues arise in that so if somebody could reply to those chat requests that would be helpful, I think. And then one last thing also to point out I always you posted the art noted the poster for the freedom festival once year two and year one was a beautiful artistic representation of the Freedom festival as well and I think they're quickly becoming this yours is just as stunning, if not more and what might not be obvious to all is it's a descendant of Rosa Parks who is the author, the artist that is featured in that poster so you might want to get your hands on one because that's pretty special. Michael any questions for the conservancy team and the report that was just provided?

Speaker 2

01:11:08

No great report and I don't know anybody who has more energy than IO

Speaker 1

01:11:17

yes, we're very fortunate to have her and she's gonna need a big rest after Saturday and I hope she gets one. All right. So moving forward. Now we move into a really important part of the meeting which is our opportunity for public comment because again, we are in partnership with the community we are the community which means we need to be listening and hearing not just listening and hearing but acting on what we hear from our community as well. So with that, again, I will alert you I am having trouble with my internet so i can see that there are some folks that would like to speak. I believe Robin Heller is there I will remind you all that you do have three minutes to share your name and who you represent and then share your comments. So again, I will recognize Robin here first if there are others of you. If the rest of the team can help me. Make sure I'm recognizing everybody because we don't want to forget anybody. And I do have one written comment to read as well. That would be great. So with that, Robin, you have the mic, and please go ahead. Thank you. I'm

Speaker 8

01:12:28

Robin Heller. I'm a member of the BSP board but I'm not speaking in that perspective at all. I just wanted to obviously thank you for the meeting and continuing to conduct it online. I think that that's a great service to us. But my my comment is really more than announcements and that is to sadly say that the annual Garden Party on Belle Isle will not be held this September, much to my dismay, and to those of our 600 people who usually attend. But the construction of the bailout conservatory is critical and important and so bear with us that will be back in 2024. That was it. Thank you.

Speaker 1

01:13:15

Thank you, Robin. That is one of the most incredible nights of the year on Belisle. So it will be missed, and I hope it doesn't affect your web, or Mojo at all by missing maybe that's the issue this year it was going to rain that night. So I'm going to assume that the silver lining, but thank you for the many years that you've dedicated to that and for serving on the conservancy board and being such a long lover of Belle Isle and you roll with the Detroit Yacht Club and that too, and I see we have another board member representative today to represent it today to our vice chair mod Lyons so thank you to you both for dedicating your time is there anybody else who would like to be heard before I read the one written comment I'm not seeing me Okay, while you're making yourself known if there are additional comments, I will read the written comment that was submitted by Mr. Patrick Livingston. It reads as follows I'm hoping that the mobility study will place priority on the deconstruction and repurposing of the former Grand Prix paddock area. With its Techmakers of concrete the paddock is wasted space and an eyesore to visitors as they enter the park. The site of Detroit police tactical units practicing mob control drills on the site is not conducive to the promise of recreation that the park was designed to provide. In the past test I have suggested a study be conducted to identify alternate uses for the site. I am writing now to further suggests that the first step of the process should be removal of the concrete paddock and restoration of the site to an open meadow. Once we are able to see the island as it was intended to be seen, we may once again be able to more fully recreate recreate, develop our experience. Mr. Patrick Livingston, thank you to you, Mr. Livingston. All good points. I know I will follow up personally with you. And I'm sure our DNR teammates will want to be part of that discussion as well. Okay, I think that concludes our public comment portion of the meeting. Which means we are now at adjournment. And again, we don't need a motion to do that because we don't have an official meeting but I will go ahead and

close our meeting at 1014. And thank you all for being here today and for enjoying our Belisle. I hope you get a chance to do that this weekend. Carol Thank you Bye

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