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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 06/25/2003Community Room' 5:3Q_p:m• Council Liaison: Bill Bertschy Staff Liaison: Marty Heffernan, 224-6064 President: Paul Van Valkenburg Phone: 226.4700 (work) 689.5205 (cell) Call Meeting to Order: President Paul Van Valkenburg called the meeting to order at 5:45 p.m. Agenda Review: No changes to the printed agenda. Items of Note: Board Member Del Price called to say that he would not be able to attend tonight's meeting. Citizen Participation: No citizen participation. Approval of Minutes: On a motion by Greg Miller, seconded by Jessica MacMillan, the Board unanimously approved the minutes of the May 28, 2003 meeting. Update Citv Plan —Open Space and Communitv Separators Ken Waido, Advance Planning's Chief City Planner/Project Manager of the City Plan, spoke to the Board regarding the proposed updated City Plan. Ken explained that the original plan was adopted in 1997. Council appointed a 22-member panel to review the plan. This is in conjunction with the Transportation Plan as land use and transportation issues are closely related. In updating this plan, staff is looking at Fort Collins in a more regional context than just a City Plan. Decisions made by Fort Collins will affect surround communities in the county. The first part was to look at and answer what does Fort Collins want to be in the next 25 to 50 years, and what is the region going to look like in 25 to 50 years. He distributed copies of the characteristics of the plan as follows: Open Space and Community Separators, Region and Economy, Transportation, Development and Redevelopment Patterns, and Housing and Neighborhoods. Ken said that the Panel was asked to review the Policy and determine if it needs adjustments or are there missing guidelines. Looking at the growth of Northern Colorado, the most critical issue is how big should the growth management area be. Right now it is 75 square miles and the vacant land in that boundary has 10 to 15 years of growth. At that time we will fill the growth management boundary. Northern Parks and Recreation Board June 25, 2003 Page 2 Colorado communities since the 70's have planned on not becoming one conglomerate of cities with no separators. The Loveland/Fort Collins corridor has been preserved through open lands. Public purchase will be a tool to preserve these open lands with the encouragement to develop clusters of properties and keep the surroundings open. Ken referred to the matrix in his report that outlined the plan. Craig Foreman explained that Park Planning is woven into this policy. Marty Heffernan said that in many areas of the plan, it talks about protecting and preserving open lands. He said that the importance from a parks and recreation perspective is to recognize that these open lands can be used for recreational purposes as well. Ken stated that as a result of this update we are proposing two areas to expand the open lands — one is to the west in CSU's foothills campus where they could employ up to 3,000 employees in the future. The other is in the extreme southeast at the Windsor interchange and County Road 32. That area has been identified as cooperative area with Windsor, Fort Collins, Loveland, and Larimer County. Fort Collins could annex that property into the City limits. The boundary is not changing. What happens outside that boundary? Should Fort Collins acquire this property? We are looking at expanding the separator between Wellington and Fort Collins. First and fundamental is to make sure the fringes are green in agriculture or open space. Marty asked if we do have these lands what can we do with them for recreational purposes? Ken replied that trails are part of the plan through Boxelder. Lance Freeman said that there isn't any assessment placed on recreational values of these lands. They are going to be protected and our concern, as a Board, is of great value as recreation areas, and we would like to discuss more possibilities than a trail. Lance is asking that the plan address more than protection and preservation and to utilize them appropriately for the benefit of the community such as enhanced recreational uses. Ken doesn't think some of this land will be publicly owned but goes into conservation and remains privately owned. Jessica MacMillan suggested taking this to the next level of the scenario and if the City owns it, let's look at the other values of this land. We are a growing community and we have needs. We will have a multitude of open space, but will we be able to use it? Ken said that Boulder has created a green space around itself. Lance said that community separators are termed as preserving and protecting and there isn't much verbiage about recreation value. Paul Van Valkenburg said the Board will write a memo to Ken with our comments. Ken said that would be the best way to communicate the Board's concerns. The Board asked Ken what the schedule is for this update? Ken replied that there will be public meetings from August through September and the final recommendation will be presented to City Council in November. A draft plan will be distributed in October. The City has a web site devoted to this City Plan update and Ken encouraged the Board to visit the Web Site. It is WWW.FCGOV.COM (click on Departments, Advance Planning, and then City Plan Update). Parks and Recreation Board June 25, 2003 Page 3 Process to Provide Input on Recreational Issues Associated with Open Lands Community Separators, and Natural Areas Paul Van Valkenburg said that City Plan does address some of these concerns. We need to provide input on the recreational values of these lands the City is purchasing for open lands. Ann Hunt referred to the City Plan update and said we need the document to make our recommendations. Paul suggested that the Board go to the web site as noted by Ken (WWW.FCGOV.COM). Lance asked what is our timeframe for submitting suggestions? To be effective, Marty suggested that the Board act as quickly as possible. Lance said that we need to be specific about our intent. We need to form a committee to write this. Jessica said that we need to discuss what we want for recreational value to the community: open space to ride horses, flying a kite, bird watching. Greg Miller sees this as a policy document. Lance said that we don't specifically mean the City Plan, but we need to address when the City purchases open lands, we want a greater voice in advocating what to do with these open lands, how do you address the language? Boulder has a fairly active use in their open lands. Ann said this is an educational opportunity. We have another agenda for passive recreational opportunities and provide a balance for the community. Jessica said we need a laundry list of passive recreational opportunities for open space. Mary Carlson said'that community separators mean there isn't any development, but allow people to use it. Lance said that when he thinks of open space he said there's a definite need to review the area and in some cases when it isn't disruptive to nature, then make that more accessible. There's a community need for a more open interpretation of what people can do. Lance said that we need to provide lands for people to use. The Board brainstormed the following list: Trails Sledding Biking Dogs off leash Walking Horseback riding Picnicking Nature interpretation Hiking Painting Swimming Toy Boating (non motorized) Parking lot Field Trips Fishing Camping Access Concerts Visually esthetic Performing Arts The Board discussed the following: • Leave the lands open to the public. • They are not all -protected wildlife or sensitive areas. • Each acquisition needs to be looked at individually. • Bridge the gap between natural areas and non -intrusive recreational area. • Provide recreation and respite to citizens. • These lands covers a wide range of ages we could serve. Does the Natural Areas Policy Plan need to be revised to incorporate these statements? Parks and Recreation Board June 25, 2003 Page 4 Dean asked if there is a definition of open lands? They are making them sound like the same thing (natural areas and open space). Mary said that separators are not open to the public. Jessica asked that if a separator is acquired by the City is it a natural area or is it hands off. Each property has to be looked at individually. Each property needs to be reviewed by this Board. Greg said that Jessica explained what he is thinking. It is tough to provide a policy that addresses all the land, but we need to review and provide recreational opportunities and some properties we need to preserve. Dean said that their whole purpose is to buy lands and keep them natural. Jessica said that we need to ask for the opportunity to provide input on their new acquisition for the new tax. Ann asked if it has been decided to have a new Board. The Parks and Recreation Board already made a recommendation to form a new Board and that there be recreational input. Paul said that we need a subcommittee to review the City Plan changes. Jessica, Del, Ann, and Greg will serve on the subcommittee Greg said that we need to address this as soon as possible. Lance suggested John Stokes, Natural Resources Director, attend the Parks and Recreation Board's August 27 meeting. He father said that John needs to define what the terms natural area and open lands mean. We need to know specifically what the lands are. To make good City policy we need to have a defined term that citizens understand. Mary said we need to look at issues of jurisdiction, annexation, and liability. Marty said that those have been included in the City Plan process and dealt with by Natural Resources staff. Marty explained the techniques for conservation easements. Lance said we are not here to evaluate what should be purchased, but once it is purchased, we want the opportunity to evaluate the recreational values. Paul feels the recreational component should be valued in the decision before purchasing. Lance agrees with Paul if there isn't another Board developed, and if a new Board is formed, that Board will evaluate the recreational value. Report on Meeting between Parks and Recreation Board and Natural Resources Board Representatives Paul Van Valkenburg said that John Fischbach prefaced the meeting as saying that the two Boards have not seen eye to eye on many issues. Paul said that representatives from both Boards and City staff met. They discussed how to communicate better. The Natural Resources Board was asking for more feedback. For example if they make a recommendation on a park design, that they get feedback as to how their recommendation was considered. Jessica said that she thought there would be a more confrontational discussion, and was pleased that it wasn't. She said that the NRAB is influential in solid waste, air quality, and natural areas. Jessica said that the potential action items could be of value. They discussed the two Boards meeting twice a year to work out communication differences and discuss topics of mutual interest. Jessica further stated that as a volunteer on this Board, she represents the community's recreational interest. Parks and Recreation Board June 25, 2003 Page 5 Under the volunteer role, a Board member should only have a general interest. Lance said he was dropped from the e-mail list of the Natural Resources Board minutes. Jackie will check to make sure all Parks and Recreation Board members receive copies of the NRAB minutes electronically. Field Trio In Julv Marty said traditionally we try to have a field trip in July. Jackie distributed a draft of the tour for July 23. The Board unanimously agreed that the tour would be a good idea. The Board will meet at Collindale Clubhouse at 5:30 p.m. on July 23, tour new projects, and return to the Collindale Clubhouse for dinner. Soft Gold Neighborhood Park Craig Foreman updated the Board on Soft Gold Neighborhood Park, located west of North College on Hickory Street. Craig explained the conceptual drawing. There is a 30-car parking lot, a core area with playground, an adobe style restroom building. Craig explained that the playground will have a beaver pond look, and the sidewalk will look like a river. Other features in the park are: a ballfield, multi -use turf area for medium sized soccer field, a small one -acre dog park, a dirt bike area, and an irrigation pond. A concrete sidewalk will provide access to the trailer park. There will be a crusher fine path along the natural area. More native grasses will be along the side transitioning into the natural area. Hickory Street dead ends and we had to preserve the right to expand that street if needed. Staff has gone through the development review process and had two open houses with the neighborhood. Construction will begin this fall and the grass will be planted in the spring. Lance asked if there will be some interpretive signs regarding the adjacent natural areas. Craig said that they will probably build a split rail fence constructed by the Natural Resources Department between the areas. The Board felt the fencing between the park and natural area is not a good idea. Craig will speak to Mark Sears, Natural Resources, regarding the Board's concern. Paul asked if there is road access to Wilox? Craig said no. Craig said that he will look at the sidewalks to make sure there is adequate access from Hickory. Craig explained that the name "Soft Gold" was suggested by the Museum staff. In the 1800's gold was valuable and beaver pelts were as valuable and were referred to as soft gold thus Soft Gold Park. Jessica suggested a plaque explaining the history of the name. Craig thought that was a good idea and he will follow up with it. The Board unanimously approved the final design of Soft Gold Park. Lights at Fossil Creek Community Park Craig explained that last week we had the lighting contractor visit the park again at night. Musco Lighting technical people realized that they designed the lights 8 feet higher as Parks and Recreation Board June 25, 2003 Page 6 some of the poles set on a berm and are too high. They will tilt them and do adjustments within the next two to three weeks. The lights will be on from May through October. Proiect Updates • Fossil Creek Community Park construction is 20 days behind schedule because of the wet spring weather. The shelters are nearly done; the contractor is paving the parking lot areas, irrigation lines are being installed, and by August 24 we will have substantial completion. Plans are for the grand opening in late September. Lemay Avenue will be open in two weeks. • Homestead Park: (Trilby and College) the park has been seeded. We will visit on our tour next month. • Trail Construction: Poudre Trail reconstruction from asphalt to concrete will begin soon east of Lee Martinez Park to east of Shields. The Power Trail from Drake to Horsetooth will be completed next week. Fossil Creek Trail east of Fossil Boulevard will be constructed this fall. • Spring Park: A new restroom has been installed. The facility is located near the ballfields at the east end of the park. The project also included new sidewalks through the park. Funding for the accessible restroom came from Neighborhood Parkland Fees. • City Park Pool has been completed with great success. Paddle boats are in and the boardwalk is done. Ann asked about the use? Marty said we will check on that and get back to the Board. Note: The pool is extremely popular and we are regularly breaking attendance records) • Horticulture Center: The project is moving along well. We are planning on opening in the fall. • Second sheet of ice is very well utilized. • Northside Center: We did not get the Brownfields Grant, but could possibly receive a grant for testing from EPA. Staff will meet with Margit Hentschel, Senior Environmental Planner/Natural Resources. Funds will be available for design of the Northside Center next year. We need $560,000 from the General Fund for Operation and Maintenance annually. We need to get a sense if it is wise to build on the current site. Staff is looking at other properties in the neighborhood. We will bring this back to the Board in August or September. Trails Committee Update Parks and Recreation Board June 25, 2003 Page 7 Dean Hoag gave an update on the meeting. He said the subcommittee reviewed the trial at Edora Park, the Fossil Creek Trail where the hawk was nesting. Natural Resources staff reported the hawk has not used the next for the last two years. The subcommittee reviewed the Ross property south of Rolland Moore. Dean feels that the meetings have been productive and have gone well. Other Business The Board will write a letter thanking the NRAB for the support of Natural Areas funding for trails. Lance asked when staff is addressing the City Park Master Plan, if they would consider closing off some of the roads through City Park temporarily to determine what impact that has. Lance will attend this month's City Park Neighborhood meeting. He said the feedback he has received is that the neighbors feel it is a safety concern with all the traffic through the park. Request to Move September 24 meeting to October 1. Staff requested moving the meeting as it conflicts with the State Parks and Recreation Conference. The Board unanimously agreed to move the September 24 meeting to October 1 (meeting place to be determined). Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m. spect yZsubed, J ckie Rael xecutive Administrative Assistant Meeting Attendance: Board Members: Mary Carlson, Lance Freeman, Dean Hoag, Ann Hunt, Jessica MacMillan, Greg Miller, and Paul Van Valkenburg Staff: Craig Foreman, Marty Heffernan, Jackie Rael, and Ken Waido