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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 12/06/2000Call Meeting to Order: President Lance Freeman called the Regular meeting to order at 5:35 p.m. Agenda Review: Marty Heffernan added under Other Business: 10 year Capital Improvements Update and Board Members Liability Clarification. Items of Note: Board Member Ross Cunniff called to say he would not be able to attend tonight's meeting. Approval of Minutes: On a motion by Del Price, seconded by Dean Hoag, the minutes of the regular meeting of October 25, 2000 were unanimously (7-0) approved. Citizen Participation: No citizen participation. Youth Activity Center Marty said that CSU has been very successful in raising money to remodel Old Fort Collins High. The State money, along with some private funding, has afforded CSU the ability to move along with their project. Their plan is to start renovation January 2002. They will start on the remodel on the south end of the building and the Youth Activity Center is on the north end. The worst case scenario is that the YAC lease will end December 2001. Recreation Manager Jean Helburg spoke to the Board about other groups who are interested in helping us relocate the YAC. Jean gave the Board a brief background of the task force that Brownie McGraw is chairing. In August 1999, she organized a group to discuss replacing the YAC. The Mayor and Brownie have been instrumental in this project. Late this summer, the group, along with City staff, Mayor Martinez and City Manager John Fischbach, toured the Timberline Church on Lemay for a possible replacement for the YAC. Parks and Recreation Board ates • December 6, 2000 Page 2 The timeline to find a new YAC is shorter than we originally thought. The Task Force is having a meeting next Wednesday and part of their strategic plan is to get a commitment from City Council and then they can start pursuing support from the community and private donations. They would like support from the Parks and Recreation Board. Jean Helburg said that three months ago she and staff toured the Faith Evangelical Church on West Drake. Both facilities are big enough to replace the present YAC. She explained that one of the reasons we are interested in the Timberline Church is that it is in a good location and is on the bus routes. We don't have a price yet from the church on West Drake. She said either facility would work well for the YAC. The Timberline Church would sell for approximately $3,000,000. Jean thinks it would cost $3,000,000 to upgrade it for the YAC. With the Faith Evangelical Church, we would only have to renovate the gymnasium. The Task Force requested a member from this Board to attend their meetings. Lance has been attending their meetings, but has schedule conflicts. They meet on the third Wednesday at City Hall at 3:00 p.m. The meetings last approximately 90 minutes. Del Price said that he would be interested and Jessica MacMillan said she would share the meeting with Del. Mike Gavin would like to see their strategic plan. He thinks it would be good to be involved. Dean Hoag also would like to be involved. Lance said that once they (task force) get their strategic plan, they could bring it to this Board. Mary Ness said that it would be good to have both YAC locations and that we have a need in the community for both. Jean said part of the plan for the Southwest Community Park is a youth activity center. Del asked what we are doing at the Youth Activity Center that we aren't doing at the Northside Aztlan Community Center? Jean explained that Northside is used by multi - generations. She further explained that Northside needs to remain as the multi -generational facility. YAC is used for adult leagues, alternative youth groups that don't have their own facilities, in addition to drop in youth activities, youth programs, and pre-school classes. We don't schedule any planned activities in the gym in the afternoon so that kids can have a free place to play. A new youth center will attract more youth. Jean said that when City Coucil put money into the program for a youth activity center in 1995, the participation exceeded everyone's expectation. The focus is youth first. It has provided a place for us to do all of our youth programming. From a marketing perspective, it has been great for us. Del asked if we are using the school gym facilities for kids. Jean said that we use the elementary school gyms for youth teams and junior highs for the same. We can't use the high schools since they are programmed with their own activities. Some of the teams in the high schools are using junior high gyms and that bumps us out and our adult programs have been reduced in size because of the lack of gym space. We run the recreational programs for kids and the schools run the competitive programs. The YAC gym is for drop in play. Del asked where these kids come from? Dave Mosnik said that they come from all over the city. Dave said that since we opened the YAC, the programs at Northside Center have increased. We have coordinated the schedule for drop in youth activities. Mary asked at West Drake how much Parks and Recreation Board Otes • December 6, 2000 Page 3 are they asking for the church? Jean said they haven't given us a price yet, but it will be market value and that is at least $3,000,000. Mike Gavin asked if there are some trade offs with prices when they are building the new church. Marty said the church is looking for market value. He said we are in the $6,000,000 category for purchase and renovation. Hopefully there will be some private money to help us out with this project. Del asked if we develop this youth center complex would it focus on youth only? Jean said we would program it as we do the YAC with youth first. This is the same way we schedule the Senior Center. We schedule the gym at the Senior Center gym for adult activities in the evening. Del said that this new YAC will not satisfy the needs of the community. Marty said with the new Northside we will have two gyms. If the Youth Center becomes a reality we could have a double gym. We are working with the School District for a possible additional gym for a community use facility. Marty added that we have plans for recreation centers at Southwest Community Park and Fossil Creek Community Park. Jean said the West Drake site doesn't have fiber optics for our computerized registration for classes, and could be a concern. Mary asked if we could trade off development fees for the new church? Marty said no that isn't possible. Del asked why we don't build gyms at Edora? Mike Gavin said we need a central facility and we need several satellites at every community park. Satellite areas around the city would be the best scenario. Lance said that funding isn't available in the next six years to get the Southwest Community Park youth center constructed. Lance said, as a Board, we have to decide if we value the youth enough to back this project. What is the best long-term strategic plan? Del said we have to look at staffing the facility and the infrastructure is expensive. How far does this go with the City's funding? Jessica said we are paying for the existing facility and how much is that costing? Marty said that we currently spend $519,000 for operation and maintenance for the present YAC. We would need an additional $110,000/annually for a new facility. If we take the existing $154,000 that we pay CSU for rent for this facility, and Council funded the additional annual expenditure of approximately $150,000, and the task force raises some private dollars to help us lease -purchase a new facility, it could be feasible. Del asked if we charge drop -in participants at the YAC? Dave said that Council determined that kids don't pay for drop in activities. We have exceeded our revenue projections every year. Jessica asked if the revenues go towards operation and maintenance? Dave said that the revenues go back into youth programming. It is not a break even revenue source. Dean Hoag said that the YAC is a great project and we can't run out of time and not have a place for the kids to go. We need to move on this. Jessica moved that we support this task force and we will support them by attending their meetings. The Board would like copies of their minutes in our monthly packets. Mike Gavin said that we are all in agreement that we need to continue the YAC support and need additional gym space. Jean added that we are lucky in this community that there is this much support for youth. There's everything from church activities to sports camps to private health clubs and all that reduces the City's burden. Considering the fact that we are limited, we are still serving many youth in our programs. Parks and Recreation Board ates isDecember 6, 2000 Page 4 Del said that the big issue for us is the long-term goal of providing youth activity centers. Ultimately it will be the responsibility of the Parks and Recreation Department to support this. The demand is infinite. Is it the role of the City to satisfy this demand? Is it the role of private groups or is it a joint effort? We will never meet the demand. Jessica said that these other entities are providing facilities and we are still way behind. We have a need and we do the best we can with the dollars available. The schools are meeting their need with the kids and if we don't, we'll have to increase our Police force. Del further added that we have parameters in Parks and Recreation. We established parameters in our Master Plan. Lance said the City of Denver has chosen to spend $35,000,000 on recreation centers in all areas of the city. Should we make that a priority? Mike Gavin said the YAC is more than a gymnasium facility. All these outreach classes are located at the YAC, including the youth arts and crafts classes. It is more than organized sports. Marty recapped our discussion, saying that we are all in agreement that we need to continue our search for an alternative space for the YAC. If we put a plan in place we could use it for our next capital improvement program. When we refined our last Master Plan we added the gymnasiums. Del would like the Board to address the bigger issue. He feels that we need to partner with the School District to add a gym to one of the schools. Lance said he will put it on our agenda for further discussion. Note: Next week's Task Force meeting will be attended by most Board members at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, at 214 North Howes, Recreation Administration office. Trail Funding Park Planning and Development Manager Craig Foreman spoke to the Board about the trails funding and provided the Board with background information and the projects for next year. Lance said that he talked to two Councilmembers during his Board interview and they asked how much funding we would need to construct and complete the trail system now. Craig will address all of that. Referring to their packets, Craig explained the balance sheet for the Conservation Trust funding. He explained that revenue is based on population, the more population the more funding we receive. Powerball will not take from the Lottery proceeds. Overall proceeds should be increased with Powerball in the beginning of the program. Conservation Trust funding helps with funding for open lands projects when there is no other funding available. Trail repair is taken out of this funding also. He highlighted the Trail Acquisition and Development account. He said we use money from this account for the Poudre and Spring Creek Trail projects, including asphalt to concrete conversion. He reviewed these and said that it costs an average of $300,000 a mile for trail development. Parks and Recreation Board &tes • December 6, 2000 Page 5 He distributed a summary sheet showing that over the next five years we will have $2,750,000 in Conservation Trust for trail construction. The Poudre Trail to Laporte is estimated to cost $800,000, but we will receive a Legacy grant of $300,000. If we complete all our projects, we will have a deficit. Del asked if all of our Conservation Trust money is coming from Lottery funding? Craig said, yes. Jessica asked that if the Lottery's Power Ball is implemented, will we receive more money? Answer is yes, it keeps the Conservation Trust Fund whole and anything left over will go for other State funding and perhaps some more into the Lottery and Lotto programs.. Predictions are that the Power Ball will spike and then level off. Craig explained that from 2005 to 2010 we need to start constructing trails north as the City grows. Grants: Legacy helps with the Poudre Trail. Grants are possible each year from Colorado State Parks Great Outdoors Colorado that have a maximum limit of $175,000. We could possibly receive up to $175,000 a year from Great Outdoors Colorado, but it is not likely. Lance asked about the $100,000 a year from Natural Resources. Could we ask for $500,00 up front for the total for five years and could we build the UP trail now? If Natural Resources acquires land in the Taft Canyon area (west of Taft Hill) then it would be beneficial for us to build a trail north to Southwest Community Park. Del asked how much right-of-way do we need to build Fossil Creek Trail? Craig said that the City owns the land from College Avenue west to the railroad and from the railroad east is an easement we would have to purchase. We would also have to purchase approximately one - quarter mile of land along the UP trail north of County Road 32. Lance asked to build what we have planned, how much do we need? Craig explained we will be $500,000 short in five years. The Fossil Creek Trail has funding. It will cost $1,500,000 to build the UP trail completely. Lance asked if we could get the BCC money up front and build the trail? Del said all of this funding is on an assumed summary. If we want to complete the trail system couldn't we put a package together to look at other revenue sources? Lance said that both Council members he and Del talked to were interested in completing the trail system earlier than later. He thinks we need to be more aggressive to complete the trails with open space money. Lance agreed with Del. Fossil Creek Community Park Final Design Craig showed the plan for the park. He showed the changes with the dog park on the east side in the front of the park. The parking lot will be half completed and will be totally built when we construct the recreation center. The maintenance building will have its own entrance and exit. There will be five tennis courts. A large pavilion will over look the green area. The consultant is working on the final design for the City's final review. Jessica asked about the outdoor ice Parks and Recreation Board ates • December 6, 2000 Page 6 arena. Craig said we will keep it in turf right now and then build it later. Craig said it would cost approximately $200,000 then we could build it and probably add it when the recreation center is completed. Dean asked if staff is comfortable with the parking planned? Craig replied that we think it will be enough but will allow a space for overflow parking. Jessica asked if there will be space between the courts and green space. Craig said we have them tucked together and there will be a walk of time between them and the play grounds. Marty said one of our goals is how we want to emphasize horticulture into our parks. We will put more into our parks. In January the staff will bring back the colored rendering of the park's final design. The turf will be fescue. The Board's comments for change must be made tonight. Jessica asked about straightening out Lemay? Craig said it will be moved about 50 feet to the west. The trail will go under Lemay and tie into the maintenance center behind the golf course and through Paragon Point. Our plan is to open the park in 2003. Board Comments: good job and this is exciting! Park Planning Projects Update Craig Foreman gave the Board the following update: Gateway Mountain Park. The access road off Highway #14 has been bid and the City has awarded a contract. Approval of the low bid contractor will occur in December and construction on the road will begin in January as weather permits with completion in the spring. Staff is working on the design of the restrooms and picnic shelters. We are planning on opening the park to the public the summer of 2001. We will hire a ranger/park manager in February or March. Plans are to have a self-service entrance fees. When we finalize the fees and charges for the park, we will bring them to the Board for review. Edora Skate Park. G. L. Hoff has been awarded the contract for the park. The construction on the 14,000 square foot concrete skate park will begin in January and hopefully will be completed in the spring. Harmony Neighbhorhood Park is going to bid in January and will be constructed in 2001. The Board requested that the design be brought back for their review in January. BCC Poudre School District Ballfields. The soccer field is grassed in at Rocky Mountain High School, as well as the baseball field. We are working on Poudre High School ballfield. Renovation will then begin at Webber and Blevins Junior High Schools. We are also working on inline hockey at Edora Community Park and the improvements at Northside Aztlan Community Center skateboard park. Beattie Junior High School fields are being upgraded as part of our renovation plan. Parks and Recreation Board Otes • December 6, 2000 Page 7 Other Business • Paul Hudnut had brought up concerns of Board members' liability at last month's meeting. City Attorney is going to Council this month with clarification on this issue. Their suggestion is that they will update their memo to Boards and Commissions in January or February. • City Council will be reviewing at a Study Session next Tuesday an update on the Taft Hill Road project, which will not affect our trail. Council will be reviewing the 10 year capital plan with all the capital projects the City would anticipate funding/building in the next 10 years. Transportation has over 100 projects on the plan. It is an inventory and informational document and is not prioritized. Adjournment -- On a motion by Mike Gavin, the Board voted unanimously to adjourn at 8:25 p.m. Respectfully submitted, gacee Rael Executive Administrative Assistant Meeting Attendance Board Members: Lance Freeman, Mike Gavin, Dean Hoag, Jessica MacMillan, Mary Ness, Del Price, and Paul Van Valkenburg Staff: Craig Foreman, Marry Heffernan, Jean Helburg, Dave Mosnik, and Jackie Rael