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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 07/28/2021 PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR Date, Time: Wednesday, July 28th, 2021, 5:30pm Location: Zoom meeting 06/23/2021– MINUTES Page 1  1. CALL TO ORDER  Catherine Carabetta called the meeting to order at 5:33pm. 2. ROLL CALL  BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT o Catherine Carabetta – Chair o Mary Carlson o Ken Christensen – Co-Chair o Shari Heymann - Absent o Jesse Scaccia o Bob Kingsbury – Secretary o Jeff Haber o Mike Novell – arrived at 5:50pm o Mike Tupa  STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT o Aaron Harris – Interim Recreation Director o Rob Crabb – Parks, Senior Manager o Greg Oakes –Landscape Architect, Park Planning and Development o Stephanie Whall – Business Support III/Board Support o Seve Ghose – Community Services Director o Jeni Arndt – Fort Collins Mayor o Kendra Boot – Forestry, Senior Manager 3. INTRODUCTIONS o Introduction of Jeni Ardnt, Fort Collins Mayor o Introduction of Seve Ghose, Community Services Director 4. AGENDA REVIEW PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 06/23/2021 – MINUTES Page 2  o No changes to agenda 5. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION o None 6. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Bob Kingsbury moved to accept minutes as presented, and Ken Christensen seconded. June 2021 minutes were approved. Motion passed 7 approved, 0 opposed. 7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS O HAMMOCKING IN PARKS – KENDRA BOOT  There was an outdoor demonstration on hammocking which educated the Board on how to set up a hammock while maintaining the integrity and health of the trees.  It is important to disperse load and tension when strapping up a hammock.  Main Idea: Have something in between the tree and straps to protect the bark of the tree.  Our policies align with CSU’s policies on hammocking.  How do we educate the public on the hammocking guidelines? Possible ideas include:  Purchasing some tree protection materials and giving it to Rangers to hand out to people who are not following the guidelines.  Having a dedicated area where people can get more info on hammocking, like a kiosk or a QR code sign in the heavily hammocked areas of parks.  FCTV video on Youtube.  Host a contest on social media. Have residents take pictures of themselves hammocking with the proper set up and send them to the City’s social media accounts to enter for a chance to win a full hammocking set up.  The City Rangers could use cardboard from the Timberline Recycling location to hand out to residents who need gentle reminders on proper hammocking etiquette.  The City could insert posts for hammocking so residents don’t need to use trees.  The Board reviewed the hammocking guidelines and only had one suggestion to add more detail to Guideline #3, as to what materials should be used. PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 06/23/2021 – MINUTES Page 3  O BFO UPDATE – ROB CRABB  The Budget Lead Team (BLT) is getting ready to present to the City Manager’s Office in a couple of weeks. Then the City Manager will present to City Council.  Parks BFO offers include:  Bird City USA (create additional bird habitats around the city)  Improved tree policies (update municipal code in tree protection & tree subsidy priority including a walk-on offer to support the Community Canopy Program to support the planting of trees on private property)  Asset management  Monies for personnel  Prioritized restoration money  The idea of a bid tax that gets added to property taxes & foundations for parks to fund maintenance to parks was discussed (Jesse)  Recreation BFO offers include:  Restore Staffing offer: restore staffing levels to pre-pandemic levels  Asset management offer: replace the aging equipment at the Senior Center, and Mulberry Pool  Enhancement offers: Reduced Fee program, and funding replacement of men’s locker room at Epic  Recreator offer: fully fund the Recreator  To find categories of BFO offers go to: https://ourcity.fcgov.com/2022budget  Will the City Manager leaving have effect on things?  It will be a seamless transition. O AD-HOC BFO POSITION LETTER – CATHERINE CARABETTA  The Ad-hoc group (Bob, Catherine and Jeff) will be meeting August 10th at 1:30pm to discuss the BFO offers to write to City Council about.  They will then come back to the Board to ensure full Board agreement on the topics and will:  Write a letter to City Council  Present at the Budget - Public Hearings on September 21st and October 5th 8. NEW BUSINESS 9. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS o FC Bikes – Mike Tupa:  BFO offers were discussed PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 06/23/2021 – MINUTES Page 4   SafeStop: (zero stops for bikes at stop lights) The City of Boulder provided some insight so we can make a uniform policy for the whole the state.  They discussed possible Intersections and trail segments adjustments (i.e, closing a lane on Riverside to make a bike lane, etc.)  FCBikes is part of FCMoves in Transportation, Mike T. is the Parks and Recreation Board representation at that meeting. 10. OTHER BUSINESS 1. RECREATION UPDATE – Aaron Harris  SE Community Center: RFP goes out on 7/29/2021. Starting outreach in the community to understand the needs for this space in order to keep the community center a viable space for many years to come. i. Design of the Community Center starts in 2022, construction in 2023, and an opening scheduled for summer 2024.  Short staffing levels have led to burn out in some staff.  The City Park pool is up 14% in visitors than pre-pandemic times. i. The pool closes Sept. 2nd.  The summer camp program up 70% from 2019 summer, and 60% from 2020 2. PARK PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT UPDATE – Greg Oakes  Traverse Park Construction: i. Traverse is in a subdivision by East Vine. It’s a 5.6 acre park. Historically the land was the Harthshorn Tree Farm. ii. Water rights were a big issue in the development of the park, as the water in the area was too high in salt, so they had to get water elsewhere. iii. To date construction crews have worked on grading and utilities. iv. The project is currently on schedule and on budget. v. The project started construction May 20th, and the park is scheduled to open mid to end of October. vi. This is the 1st park that will use HDPE irrigation. This is what is used on golf courses and tends to need less repairs than previously used irrigation systems. 3. PARKS UPDATE – Rob Crabb  Parks has been hiring a lot in the last couple months, including a 3rd park ranger, 8 park technicians, 4 maintenance workers, a senior supervisor position, 2 crew chiefs, etc.  July highlights: i. July 4th celebration was a success. ii. Oak Street Plaza Water reactivation is complete. iii. Downtown flowers are beautiful! PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 06/23/2021 – MINUTES Page 5  iv. We hosted the Sparkler softball tournament successfully. v. The new city park restroom is open. vi. Parks slice aerated all the playfields. vii. The Power Trail Vandal has been apprehended. viii. Q2 trail usage numbers are still very high, not quite COVID levels but not far off. 1. 6 Month Planning Calendar o 6-22 Mid-Year Review of City Manager, City Attorney and Chief Judge o 6-29 Council Retreat Follow up Meeting o 7-6 Community Report: West Nile Virus Update o 7-20 Tourism Improvement District  Hughes Stadium City Structure Plan Map Amendment o 7-27 Civic Center Master Plan Phase 1 Update o 8-24 2022 Recommended Budget Preview o 9-14 2022 Recommended Budget Work Session #1 o 9-21 2022 Recommended Budget-Public Hearing #1 o 9-28 2022 Recommended Budget Work Session #2 o 10-5 2022 Recommended Budget-Public Hearing #2 o 10-12 2022 Recommended Budget Work Session #3 o 11-2 2022 Budget City Annual Appropriation Ordinance 1st Reading o 11-16 2022 Budget City Annual Appropriation Ordinance 2nd Reading o 11-29 Water Resource Matters in the Fort Collins Growth Management Area 11. ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn the meeting by Ken Christensen, seconded by Mike Novell. Meeting adjourned at 7:45pm.