Field Recreation Advisory Association Minutes Town Hall Meeting June 18, 2018

Field Recreation and Advisory Association
Town Hall Meeting – Monday, June 18, 2018

1. FRAA Report

Passages

Congratulations to Talia Galligan and Chloe Lenstra who graduate from Golden Secondary School at the end of the month. Good work! All the best on your future adventures.

The community offers condolences to Paul, Karen and Esther Hagen and their families on the recent death of their wife, mother and grandmother, Gail Hagen. Gail was a frequent visitor to Field to spend time with her family and became a friend to many. She was lively! She loved her family.

Event Review

Farewell Potluck Supper for Matt, Julie, Liam and Noa, Mike and Debbie on May 10 was great! Both families have left town: Matt and Julie and kids are in Invermere now, settling into their new home. Mike and Deb are on the road in their RV, to explore North America for however long they want!

Spring Fling on June 3 was a barnburner. At one point I counted 97 people. Huge Thank You to DJ Flintaroo for incredible dance music that started at 9:00 and kept people on their feet and moving until 1:00 am, to our volunteer bar tenders (especially Ron Allen who served for the whole event) and to Steven Lay for getting the word out to and the bus here from Moraine Lake Lodge. Staff from Emerald Lake Lodge, Cathedral Mountain Lodge, Moraine Lake Lodge, Great Divide Lodge, Parks Canada, Yoho Trading Post, The Siding, and Truffle Pigs were out in force. Very fun event. We almost sold out of alcohol – only some wine and Proseco left in the fridge.

Just Breathe Yoga with Hayley Markel wound up for the spring session on June 13, 2018. Thank you Hayley for wonderful winter and spring seasons of Wednesday afternoon yoga. Looking forward to next winter!

Upcoming Events

Canada Day, Sunday July 1 will be action packed again this year with some added events. Rest up because you’ll need plenty of resources to participate in everything! Here’s the schedule of events:
8:30 -10:00 am Pancake Breakfast hosted by BC Ambulance Service
8:30 -10:00 am Pickleball Tournament – new!
11:00 am Parade hosted by FRAA
11:45 am Barbeque hosted by Field Fire and Rescue
12:45 pm Cake and Ice Cream
1:00 pm Anything Goes, Non-Motorized Boat Race
2:00 pm to 4:00 pm Friends and Family Bocce tournament
9:00 pm to 1:00 am Canada Day Dance with DJ Flintaroo – new!

We’ll have the usual contests: water balloon pick up, cake contest, best float. Details will be posted on the Bulletin Board (thanks for the clean-up there Paulina!) and our Facebook page. As always, The FRAA invites all local businesses and organizations to enter the parade. We hope to have another strong showing from the Golden/Field RCMP Detachment to lead the parade.

Quick note to all water fight participants: please use biodegradable balloons and take some time to pick up the carcasses (of water balloons!). Even though they disappear over time, it’s still the best idea to clean up after the event.

Field Summer Kicks, Thursday July 5. Wow! Flint has put together an evening of good music with six bands/entertainers: Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra; John Jenkins and Small Town Revival; Fifth Floor; Eric Laroque; Ricky Diamonds; and, Sean Burns. Poster is out – on the Bulletin Board and on Facebook. This event has prompted the FRAA to find out the Occupancy Load for the Community Hall. The number is based on 4 ft2 per person in addition to Exit capacity. Once we know the number, we’ll post it at the entrance to the Hall.

We’ll need volunteers to help set up, run the bar at both events and clean up during and after. Sign-up sheets will be circulated via the town e-mail list.

Programs

Pickleball is set up on one court, and will be set up on the second court as soon as the new net arrives, probably by late this week. The new net apparatus is similar to the original – the poles are held by water-filled plastic supports. They are really hardy and don’t get blown around by wind events.

HIIT continues Sunday, with Laura Penner, and Wednesday evenings, with volunteer leaders, at the Community Hall at 7:00 pm. Kathryn to check with Craig on progress of using the school for some FRAA programs.

Sunday Start-Up Yoga with Carly Bowers continues at the Community Hall Sunday mornings at 10 am, by donation.

Yoho Yoga with Cindy Kelly starts the summer session Wednesday, July 4 at 7:30 pm to 8:45 pm through to Wednesday, August 29. Cost $12 per class or $90 for all nine.

Hall Rentals

Busy throughout June with lots of Parks Canada orientation/training programs. One rental so far in September with Rainbow Jaguar.

Church Update

Lot Survey estimate received from WSP, $2310 plus taxes. Project Proposal Acceptance signed and sent. Waiting for date work will be done.

Estimate for plans not yet received. Kathryn to follow up with designer.

In the meantime, the Church has been cleaned and is ready to receive visitors as the final stop on the Friends of Yoho Historic Walking Tours which start the first week in July on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Thank you to the Fireweed Team who cleaned out the basement as well as cleaning the upstairs and making the yard look great. A few interesting items were found, including the collection plate and an unopened envelope with at least some change in it was still in the collection plate! It hasn’t been opened yet – that will be an event, something special.

Facilitated Meetings with Parks Canada

Nothing to report. No meetings held since the last session on March 12. A Memorandum of Understanding template has been circulated with some draft details but it’s very broad and undefined at this point.

Currently, FRAA is working on points for updating the FRAA constitution so that process is underway.

Field Utility Board, June 13 2018

The FRAA submitted an agenda of items to discuss with Parks Canada:
Outstanding Items List to Review and discussion about Town Walk About;
Quarterly Reports;
Budget 2018/2019;
Timeline for repairs to broken retaining wall on Stephen Avenue by School;
Water seepage on Stephen Avenue at base of Emily’s Hill – Cause, Mitigation, and;
VE Strategy Planning Process – Representation from Field stakeholders not included until third and final meeting on June 13, 2018, the same day as FUB, so FRAA did not attend.

Parks Canada cancelled the meeting at 8:30 am June 13. We will work with Parks Canada to reschedule the meeting.

The May 29, 2018 Solid Waste Presentation was pretty interesting. Unfortunately, few people attended. Townsites indicated the presentation would be circulated to the town e-mail list and would leave it up to residents to indicate if they want to have a public presentation at a Town Hall Meeting in the future. It’s worth taking time to look at the information and make sure that your lease is properly billed for solid waste. Circumstances change and it may affect the rate you are charged for garbage disposal.

No spring bins this year. On track for 2019.

2. Treasurer’s Report

Files attached to distribution email.

3. Parks Canada Reports

Townsites – Elaine Lemieux
The missing Kicking Horse Avenue street sign has been replaced.

Parks Canada hired a qualified contractor to complete a tree assessment on the perimeter of Field and 24 trees were deemed hazardous around 2nd Ave. The trees will be fallen and removed from site starting tomorrow, June 19 from 10am until approximately 6pm. The project should be completed by the end of the day Wednesday. For safety measures the road will be closed to all traffic and no vehicles should be parked on it while the work is taking place.

Highway Service Centre – Michael Vanderveen
Some challenges experienced last year with blasting in the corridor west of Great Divide Lodge remedied by hiring a new contractor who seems to have a better grasp of controlling the amount of material that comes down. The new pavement west of Field will have new lines painted in the next week. Parks Canada staff will sweep up gravel left from highway repair work. Speed sign at Field intersection discussed. Historical records of accidents at the intersection show 14 incidents in 10 years and less than half are considered to be speed related. Highway engineers are not recommending a change to signs at this time.

Resource Conservation – from Dwight Bourdin
Elk collaring and monitoring project in Field area that will occur in winter 2018:
• With the potential future twining of the TCH through Field Flats we would like to gather data on elk movements to inform wildlife mitigations related habitat connectivity across the highway.
• Collar data from the 1980s indicates elk from the Field area historically migrated up the Yoho Valley in summer; however, no monitoring of elk movements has occurred since that time.
• Early this winter we will be collaring up to 10 elk from the Field area to monitor their movements before, during, and after the potential twinning project.
• The main objectives of the collaring project will be to
1) inform adaptive management and evidence-based mitigations, such as crossing structures and fencing and
2) monitor the success of mitigations in terms of maintaining established seasonal movement patterns.
Captures will likely occur in the immediate vicinity of Field. Residents and businesses will be informed of capture dates in advance. All capture and handling techniques will be pre-approved by the Parks Canada Animal Care Committee.

Visitor Experience – from Lee Smith
Emerald Lake Service level – Yoho Campgrounds has been doing compliance in the afternoons at Emerald Lake over the last 2 weeks. Evening shift has just started and will continue to spend some time out there each afternoon – generally between 1:30 pm and 5:00 pm. They assist visitors, answer questions, provide info, litter pick and help with parking. At 4:30 they do a full clean of the toilet buildings and empty the garbage.

VRC – Camping in parking lot – compliance, we are looking at overflow camping options for next season.

Kicking Horse Campground Update – In the process of tendering clean up contracts to remove debris and damaged assets. Damaged assets include the self registration kiosk and kitchen shelter. We are trying to assess the damage to the electrical system and water systems, but are trying to locate these in the avalanche deposit that is still frozen in. Public Safety hazard is the avalanche deposit on either side of the river, it is a straight drop to the river, similar to a cornice and is unsafe and will be challenging to manage if open. With the warm weather we are hoping the hazard will melt away.
Priority – Water and electrical to Monarch campground and septic dump.
Look at a possibility of partial opening in July depending on outcomes, but will be reassessed based on asset repairs and hazards.

O’hara paving update – Confirmed with Terry McGuire: Paving the approach to O’Hara road to parking, grading the parking lot and doing the final design this year

Traffic/Shuttle update from Brad Tataryn –

Yoho Traffic Update
No parking signs have been reinstalled on Emerald Lake Road.
An electronic message board will be located again this year (for July 1st) at the Field Access Road to warn of congestion.
No Parking signs were placed at Takakkaw Falls to allow buses to manoeuvre the first corner and alleviate roadside parking there.
Lake Louise Traffic Management Update
This season has started off very strong as far as visitation and demand for local shuttle services. Traffic and visitor numbers seem to be as always directly related to weather almost as much as the day of the week. Weekend traffic is still a bit higher than most weekdays but mid week traffic and shuttle usage is extremely high on favourable days.
Statistics show an increase of shuttle use over 2017.

4. Friends of Yoho Report – Brenda Selkirk
Doing super well this year!

5. Field Fire and Rescue Report
Fire Chief has been on vacation. Greg provided this report: There was one callout in the past month. There are some new members. Routine practises are held Tuesday nights 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm to maintain state of readiness.

6. Round Table
Get ready for Canada Day Celebrations on July 1 and Field Summer Kicks on July 5!!

Meeting adjourned 8:30 pm. Next Town Hall Meeting scheduled for Monday, October 1.