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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 04/25/2001Call Meeting to Order: Board President Lance Freeman called the Regular meeting to order at 5:40 p.m. Agenda Review: Marty Heffernan added "Recommended Name for the new Horticulture Center" under Other Business Items of Note: Marty introduced Bob Loeven, Manager of Parks, who has been a Parks' employee for over 20 years. Citizen Participation: No citizen Participation Approval of Minutes: On a motion by Jessica MacMillan, seconded by Mary Carlson, the Board voted unanimously (8-0) to approve the minutes of the Regular meeting of March 28, 2001. Budget Priorities 2002-2003 Marty updated the Board on the two-year budget cycle and then distributed copies of the staffs priorities, as requested by the Board, and asked the Board for their input. Dean Hoag asked how much it costs to maintain a community park? Marty said it costs approximately $500,000 annually. Ross Cunniff asked how that figure is broken down? Marty said that staff will bring that information to the Board next month. Board members all agreed that operation and maintenance costs should be assumed and we shouldn't have to keep asking for them every year. Ross said that should be bonded into the cost of building the park. Del Price asked what is the $150,000 one time cost for Fossil Creek Community Park? Bob Loeven responded that it is for equipment, hand tools, mowers, outfitting the maintenance facility for the equipment that will be used for the neighborhood parks, trucks, computers, and miscellaneous maintenance tools. Del further asked for clarification on the new parks, trails, and medians? Marty responded that is for operation and maintenance for these new facilities and the one time monev is the equipment to maintain them. Parks and Recreation Board Mini April 25, 2001 Page 2 Therapeutics Recreation Coordinator -- Paul Van Valkenburg asked if this is a second position? Marty said yes, and Jean Helburg added the participants have increased 45 percent for that program in the last four years. Ross asked about Recreation's direct costs? He would like to see how that is broken down. Jean said we will provide that. Jean and Marry said that we are reviewing our budgets at this time to determine what fees we could increase. Lance said that we need to capture the ideas that the Board thinks are important so that he can prepare a memo for the City Manager. Ross said the Youth Activity Center is the most important project. Marty said that if the negotiations for the replacement of the Youth Activity Center become a reality, we will need the operation and maintenance funding in this next budget cycle. Lance said he has had two meetings with Bill Bertschy regarding this and Bill said that Council is very supportive of this project. Second Sheet of Ice at EPIC -- Marty said that we think this project will be constructed in the next two-year budget cycle. The Twice the Ice group is very committed to raising their share of the financing and therefore we would need the operation and maintenance money in 2002. Ross would like to see the second sheet of ice on a lower priority list. Ross said his priority is the Youth Activity Center; Del said that Fossil Creek Community Park is number 1 on his list; new parks and trails is at the top of his request. He thinks the Youth Activity Center should be after that; and the Union Pacific trails should be put on another list for different funding requests. Jessica said that 4"' of July is a tradition in Fort Collins and it should not be overlooked. Downtown operation and maintenance should not be in our purview and should be a responsibility of Streets. Marty explained that our Parks Division maintains the street corners from Joe's Fireside to Laporte Avenue and this is an effort to keep it all in good condition and continue the beautification of the downtown. He further explained that we maintain the grounds of City facilities, i.e., Library, City Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Senior Center. Ross suggested that DDA and DBA maintain the downtown, and Jessica agreed. She said general clean up should be DDA. She said that if the City is going to continue giving liquor licenses to more and more bars downtown then DDA needs to find a way to clean up. The City needs to impress this upon the downtown merchants. Mike Gavin asked if the operation and maintenance budget for Fossil Creek Community Park could be cut? He doesn't want the operation and maintenance for the park to take away from the funding for the Youth Activity Center. Ross said that if we could find ways to cut costs for maintaining our parks in a way that would save resources, we could do more with the money we have. Marty said that we plant fescue grass in the parks to save water instead of blue grass. We also build the parks in a manner that reduces long-term maintenance costs. Lance added that the funding for operation and Parks and Recreation Boardoates . April 25, 2001 Page 3 maintenance should be in place for all new parks and recreation facilities. Marty mentioned that the lifecycle is included in our operation and maintenance budgets. On a motion by Del Price, seconded by Mike Gavin, the Board voted unanimously (9-0) to make the following recommendation to City Manager John Fischbach regarding the 2002-2003 budget for Parks and Recreation: First priority is for operation and maintenance funding for the new parks and recreation facilities that will open in 2002 or 2003. These facilities include Fossil Creek Community Park, a new Youth Activity Center, People of the Clouds Neighborhood Park, Soft Gold Neighborhood Park, Huidekoeper Park, and new additions to our trail system. Second priority, the Board is in favor of funding to operate and maintain the second sheet of ice that will be constructed through the Building Community Choices Capital Improvement Program. Also, as a second priority, the Board supports funding for a Therapeutic Recreation Coordinator to keep up with the overwhelming demand for recreation services for people with disabilities. Also, included in the Board's second priority list is adequate funding for the annual 4th of July celebration. Capital Projects Priorities The Board prioritized their top five projects as requested by the City Manager. Paul Van Valkenburg said that when he reviewed these he had a hard time voting for something in the cemetery or street improvements. Secondly, regarding park projects, he would have a difficult time recommending one community park improvement over another community park improvement. Del asked if the City is going to charge an entry fee to Gateway Park. Marty said that we will to help cover our operation and maintenance. Del suggested that the two maintenance facilities go as one package. Paul Hudnut asked are there some items on this that are very important to staff. Del asked if we replace City Park Pool, could we put that with the City Park improvements? Dean asked on the four Community park improvements, what are the highest priorities in staff s opinion. Marty responded City Park and Lee Martinez Park. The Board voted unanimously to support funding for the following projects: • Youth Activity Center Replacement • City Park Pool Replacement • City Park Improvements • Gateway Park • Lee Martinez Park Improvements Webster and Staley Park Sites Craig Foreman illustrated on a map where this site is located. He said that it is south of Harmony Rod and bordered by County Road 7 and County Road 9. The School District bought 25 acres referred to as the Staley site and the City bought 10 of those acres for a park. The School District will use 15 acres for the school. Parks and Recreation Board Mini April 25, 2001 Page 4 The Webster site is 160 acres bordering County Road 9. PSD will use 100 acres for the new high school and then the City will buy back 60 acres of land to build a park at this site. The two staffs will get together next week and talk about the planning of this site. Housing will be constructed on the south side of this property. Lance asked why do we need both of these parks if they are across the street from each other? Craig responded the two parks are essential to serve the two different needs much like southwest Community Park and Cottonwood Glen. Lance said that the neighborhood park should be different --- more passive since we have the community park across the street. Craig explained that we still need the zones that we have in the other neighborhood parks. The McCullen Ditch runs through this site. Marty agreed with Lance that we need to have different elements in this neighborhood park, given its proximity to the community park. Paul Hudnut asked where the bike path will tie into this? Craig explained where it will be constructed and said it will be off road as much as possible. Del asked if there is a possibility of going under the road with a trail to connect the two parks and Craig said no because there is a large sewer line under the road. Mike Gavin said that there is a parental comfort issue where parents will allow their kids to use the neighborhood park, but may be less comfortable leaving the kids at the community park. Marty said that all of the Board's thoughts and comments are valid and staff will take all of these concerns into the design. Del said that there is a positive aspect of putting lighted ballfields at this site next to the high school. Mary said that when the school is built, and the neighborhood is constructed, there should be an expectation that there will be noise and lights. The Board asked staff to keep them informed. Parks and Leash Laws Marty said that staff has been talking with FIDOS (Friends Interested in Dogs and Open Space) Craig said that staff attended a meeting with Boulder staff regarding dogs off leash and how they handle it. He first explained Fort Collins situation with the Natural Areas Program. We are constructing the dog parks in community parks. In Boulder, a dog management plan was implemented in 1996 and made their open space lands available to dogs off leash. Boulder has 10 rangers and most of them have worked or trained dogs. The FIDOS want to use this as a model for Fort Collins. There is a different mindset in Boulder. Mary Carlson has strong opinions on this. What is most dangerous about a dog park is the people who have confrontations. Pineridge was originally going to be an off leash area for dogs. She would like the City to designate in natural areas, parcels where dogs can be off leash. Special Events Marty advised the Board that Jackie Rael and Jackie Darner are the Special Events Coordinators for our department. This decision was made to allow for more advanced planning. He asked the Board to mark their calendars for the following dates: • Northside Aztian Community Center Skate Park Dedication -- Saturday, May 12 • Gateway Park Grand Opening --Saturday, July 21, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. (date subject to change) • Edora Skate Park Grand Opening --Friday, August 3, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Parks and Recreation Board Ones • April 25, 2001 Page 5 Other Business • Trails Subcommittee -- Paul Hudnut said that the main issue that they are discussing is the lack of signage at Pineridge. Natural Areas staff will be closing about half of the trails for revegetation. Mary asked about bike trails? Marking the authorized trails at the trailheads with a natural look. What are the appropriate uses and appropriate designs? They have discussed how to connect the trails. Paul said that we need proper design. There is very little enforcement. We don't have a big maintenance budget for these natural soft path trails. The main issue is using the trails and having self-discipline. Lance said that Paul has done a great job on this committee and we are making progress. We are trying to expand this type of trail system in the community. Del asked if there will be any public input on which trails will be closed. Paul said that there is a plan that has been in place for a few years. Natural Resources will post ahead of time and give reasons why. • Horticulture Center Naming -- The staff has been talking about naming the facility with the Friends Group, and they have come up with "The Gardens on Spring Creek". The Board agreed that the name was alright. • SWAN -- The SWAN group is meeting tonight and the Sports Alliance is attending the meeting to represent their interest. SWAN contacted Marty and wants to meet with staff on Friday to discuss their ideas. Del asked when staff will design the park. Craig said the design will begin in 2003 and construction in 2004. • Fossil Creek Community Park -- prairie dog letters to the editor. Lance said that he is concerned about the article and it didn't explain all the effort people have put into the relocation of the prairie dogs. Marty said that if it does delay the construction of the park, it could cost us thousands of dollars. There is a disagreement with the Natural Resources staff and the people wanting to relocate the prairie dogs to Coyote Ridge. If the City relocates these prairie dogs, they will move over the ridge and eat the premature grass that has recently been planted which will kill the vegetation. • Trails and Sidewalks -- Paul Van Valkenburg said he was impressed over the winter that the trails and sidewalks through the park were cleaned up quicker than the streets or schools' sidewalks. • Poudre River Stream Flows -- Ross would like to be educated on the flows of the Poudre for recreational values. Adjournment: The Board adjourned at 8:00 p.m. R Pec tfu,c Rael Executive Administrative Assistant Parks and Recreation Board Mini April 25, 2001 Page 6 Meeting Attendance Board Members: Mary Carlson, Ross Cunniff, Lance Freeman, Mike Gavin, Dean Hoag, Paul Hudnut, Jessica MacMillan, Del Price, and Paul Van Valkenburg Staff: Craig Foreman, Marty Heffernan, Jean Helburg, Bob Loeven, and Jackie Rael