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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 01/24/1996CITY OF FORT COLLINS CULTURAL, LIBRARY, AND RECREATIONAL SERVICES PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD City Council Liaison to the Board: Bob McCluskey, Jr. Board President: Diane Thies 495-7359 (work) 225-6236 (home) Staff Support to the Board: Jackie Rael, Administrative Aide II Minutes: Regular Meeting -- January 24, 1996 Call Meeting to Order: The regular meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by President Diane Thies. Board Members Rebecca Chavez and Eric Reno called to say they would not be able to attend tonight's meeting. Agenda Review: No Changes to the printed agenda. Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the regular meeting of October 25, 1995 were unanimously (6-0) approved on a motion by Marilyn Barnes, seconded by Mary Ness. Citizen Participation: No citizen participation. Parks and Recreation Policy Plan (Master Plan) Park Planner Janet Meisel spoke to the Board about four alternatives she and the consultants have brought tonight. In November, a public meeting was held, for citizen input which approximately 50 citizens attended. She reviewed the perceived needs and said tonight's meeting is discussion only and is asking for the Board's comments. Sylvia Cranmer asked about the Soccer fields north of town? Janet replied that there will be 20+ fields and these fields will be used for game fields only and not practice. The logic is to use the fields in town close to the schools for practice. The Soccer Club presently uses 38 fields at one time. Diane Thies asked what is the percentage of citizens in the community who want more programmed fields versus non -programmed? Janet replied that from the 1991 and 1994 surveys indicated that we need more passive recreation/parks. Sylvia said she prefers City Park design with the ballfields to the back of the park and the buffering with the beauty of the park in the forefront. Parks and Recreation Board Minutes January 24, 1996 Page 2 Tom Keith, EDAW spoke to the Board about the continuation of the trail system; implementation of the Natural areas plan and how these relate to the citizens of the community. He added Southwest and Fossil Creek Community Parks need to be addressed. Do we want to continue the standard of 4 acres per 1,000 population? What's the nature of these parks and what do we want to achieve? Is there a certain quality we want in these parks? In addition, neighborhood parks continue as they are now or do we want more, smaller parks? Community Parks -- Jana McKenzie of EDAW spoke about the percentage of space devoted to certain activities. She explained that 50% of Rolland Moore Park is programed and City Park is 19% programmed. She showed slides of Westminster Community Park, which is 30% programmed, has a recreation center and library on the property, lake, amphitheater, soccer fields, gardens, a trail surrounding the 135-acre park. Alternative 1 -- Marilyn Barnes addressed the fact that all of the alternatives presented in the packet show Southwest Community Park as a programmed Community Park and the citizens in that neighborhood spoke loud and clear that they didn't want that park in their back yard. Janet explained that they (neighborhood) felt that was too heavily programmed. Diane asked about the Choices 95 money that was designated for sports youth center. She questioned why there is so much programmed in the "new `North Sports Complex'? And how are you sure that the people in the north are not going to complain about the sports complex as the neighbors in the south side did. Jana agreed and said that is an unknown. Rich Feller added that a sports complex should be adjacent to I-25. In review of Alternative 2 -- Jana pointed out that the Southwest Community Park would be dropped to 32% of programmed space versus 40% in the "north" community park. Janet said we are catching up with the youth needs, but we are not meeting the needs of the adult sports fields. She said we have met with the Soccer Club representatives who felt we don't have enough fields. Our population is projected to increase 35,000 by the year 2010. Jessica said that we need to pay more attention to tennis. Tennis sporting equipment sales have increased $39,000,000 last year. There seems to be a trend in adult sports towards tennis. Jana said that regionally tennis is maintaining the levels of need. Sylvia added that tennis is an ageless sport. Diane said that she likes to use the philosophy of being open to needs of the community and not to be locked into one plan. Rich Feller said that we have a need of an additional softball complex in the community. Has there been any thought of taking away some open space at Rolland Moore and adding another complex? Rich further explained since Rolland Moore is so sports structured, why not continue adding to it. Alternative 3-- shows less programmed areas in the community parks. Jessica asked about building parks in phases. She said start out with two fields and build the next two in two -to -three years and Parks and Recreation Board Minutes January 24, 1996 Page 3 build it in pieces as the population grows or shifts and develop what is needed. Tom Keith replied that this may not be cost effective. Marilyn said that Alternative 2 seems to be the most balanced? Marilyn said that there's no plan for additional ice. Rich said that CSU has plans to build a roller hockey rink that can be flooded in the winter. Mary said that we are turning away softball tournaments for various reasons. Some of the games could be played at Spring Creek Park. He thinks we could program more, but that will not leave any fields available. He suggested adding more soccer fields over by the church parking lot adjacent to Rolland Moore Park. Jessica asked about "perceived use" versus "used". What is perceived? Are we hosting that many regional tournaments? Mary said that we can use Edora, City Park, Lee Martinez, and Rolland Moore for tournament play. He added that people enjoy coming to Fort Collins because of the conditions of our fields and they spend money in the community. That is beneficial to the community and the City of Fort Collins. Jessica suggests a combination of Alternative 2 and Alternative 3 with the gardens and water features. Diane prefers Alternative 2 and said she needs to hear about the funding sources for maintenance. She wants to see what is the meaning of " balanced"? She wants to hear from all phases of the community and not only the vocal ones. Neighborhood Parks -- Tom Keith showed a map with the distribution of neighborhood parks in the community. Alternative 1 follows the existing plan (neighborhood park within square mile). Alternative 2 and 3 are different. One idea is to replace the traditional neighborhood park of 15 acres with two or three two -acre parks equipped with a playground, picnic area, and then have a six -acre park within the "area" adjacent to a school. Jessica said one or two acres is not very big. She added that we need to look at the density of the area. Sylvia would go with the option of the smaller parks for aesthetics within the high density areas, frequency of use would be more of a daily use for the neighborhood kids, and the transportation issue of being able to walk to the park. Jessica asked when you get to the 9- to 10-acre parks what would be programmed? Tom replied youth activities such as softball and a soccer field. The two -acre parks would have grassed areas and open space which would be an extension of their yard. It would not have restroom facilities. Marilyn said that if you do affordable housing we need more park area. Diane said that she doesn't want to see it as a policy that we need so many small sized parks. Jessica said it needs to be sensitive to the neighborhood. Mary asked about the cost of building smaller parks for maintenance. Parks Maintenance staff said that we need to count on one-third more for maintenance. Marilyn said that even in the smaller neighborhood parks, we need to build restrooms. The Board members expressed a need to keep the flexibility and build what is needed in the neighborhoods. Mike Powers said we need to talk about funding at the February meeting. Parks and Recreation Board Minutes January 24, 1996 Page 4 The discussion then switched to the facilities in the master plan. Jana McKenzie of EDAW talked about an outdoor pool and recreation center in a new community park. Rich said that an outdoor pool should be placed in or next to the sports complex. Janet Meisel talked about developing a system for Fort Collins residents. For example, our ice arena serves the Front Range. The Board will discuss this in the funding segment in February. Other points the Board touched on were: the Horticulture Center should be a cooperative effort with the private sector; provide a youth Center and not at EPIC; build a gym with a library next to it; greater emphasis on secondary trails to get from one neighborhood to another; some trails and green ways could supplant parks in some neighborhoods. City Plan Janet Meisel gave the Board an update on the City Plan. She shared staffs perspective. This is the basis for the new comprehensive planning for the growth in the next 20 years in Fort Collins. It will hold the same weight as our goals and objectives for the City in the next 20 years. Fort Collins has tripled in size since 1977 when the last plan was written. This will set the vision. We will then take this plan for our Parks and Recreation Policy Plan. Janet reviewed the changes in the plan since the Board received their plan last week. The Board asked Janet for her input and suggestions as the plan relates to Parks and Recreation. Janet reviewed the highlights of the plan. Board agreed with staff and directed Janet to make the changes as suggested tonight. The Board felt that it is totally unrealistic to not addressing parking issues in the downtown area and the mall. In the interest of the small businesses, we need more parking. Many Board Members feel that people in Fort Collins do not car pool and Council needs to take a look at this. Diane said we need to balance our parks along with the open space areas. Capital Improvement Program (CW Mike Powers reminded the Board of the three one -quarter cent sales taxes that will sunset next year. Within the next few months the CIP team will come to the Board and discuss the next round of Capital Improvements as the Parks and Recreation Board will play an important role in the Parks and Recreation projects that will be proposed. Parks and Recreation Board Minutes January 24, 1996 Page 5 Parks and Recreation Board 1995 Annual Report Jackie Rael previously distributed copies of the draft 1995 annual report for the Board's approval. On a motion by Marilyn Barnes, seconded by Jessica MacMillan, the Board unanimously (6-0) approved the 1995 Annual Report as submitted by staff. Board Members and Staff Comments/Reports Update Report -- Jackie Rael asked Board members if this update report is still a valuable report and do you still want to receive it on a monthly basis or would quarterly be better? Board members thought quarterly would be better. Therefore the next update report will be in the April packets. Jessica MacMillan asked how many meetings a Board member can miss? Staff replied that according to the Boards and Commissions Manual, the Attendance Police reads that a Board Member should not miss more than three consecutive meetings or four in a calendar year. Staff will prepare an attendance record for the next packets. The Board members feel it is important to have the continuity. Jessica said Board members need to make this commitment to the Board and the community. Adjournment: The Board unanimously agreed to adjourn at 9:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ' n Jackie Rael, Administrative Aide II Meeting Attendance Board Members Staff Guests Diane Thies Mike Powers Tom Keith, EDAW Marilyn Barnes Janet Meisel Jana McKenzie Sylvia Crammer Tim Buchanan Rich Feller Jackie Rael Jessica MacMillan Mary Ness