Council reviews Hood Park training use, ADA access and fairboard tree request at Cook Park

Council members considered several parks and fairboard items, including a May 31 multi-agency training at Hood Park, concerns about ADA access to newly sited equipment and a fairboard request to remove trees at Cook Park.

An agency representative described plans to use the park and portable communications equipment for a day-long mutual-aid training exercise, noting the need to set up equipment by midnight Friday and to post advance public notice. “It takes quite a little bit of space to be able to set that up,” the representative said, adding that agencies planned to restore the park after the event.

Council and staff discussed accessibility to the new equipment: staff said they could survey the parking lot and identify an ADA-compliant route within about four weeks and that the chosen equipment location would likely be one of the easiest in the park to make accessible. A council member noted an absence of handrails and a short concrete spillway that currently prevents an accessible path from the parking lot to the playground area; staff agreed to follow up with a site assessment.

Council members also addressed maintenance and vandalism concerns. One resident said Cuba has a “high volume of vandalism” and recommended the city secure a cleaning/maintenance contract for the new equipment; staff acknowledged scheduled maintenance would be required.

Separately, a fairboard request to remove eight to nine trees at the south end of Cook Park generated pushback from some council members who said they did not want to take down the town’s remaining trees. The council agreed to a site visit before making any removal decision.

No final action to remove trees or to alter the park schedule was taken at the meeting; staff will report back with a survey of ADA-path options and follow up on the fairboard’s site needs.