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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 03/22/2000Call Meeting to Order: President Lance Freeman called the regular meeting to order at 5:45 p.m. Agenda Review: No changes to the printed agenda. Items of Note: Board Member Rebecca Chavez called to say she would not be able to attend tonight's meeting. Citizen Participation: No citizen participation Approval of Minutes: On a motion by Dean Hoag, seconded by Paul Hudnut, the minutes of the meeting of February 23, 2000 were unanimously approved (6-0). Poudre River Floodplain Regulations Bob Smith, Water Planning Manager, updated the Board on the Poudre River Floodplain regulations. He will be presenting this to Council at the April 11 work session and needs comments prior to that. He would appreciate any feedback from the Board this evening. Background information: Questions were raised regarding the adequacy of floodplain regulations after the 1997 flood. He explained that a study was done to review the existing floodplain regulations and make recommendations. The question is what level of protection the community is willing to live with concerning the hazards of flooding along the Poudre River corridor. The regulations could be tailored for the safety of residents for the 100 year flood, which has a 1 percent chance of being exceeded in any year or for the 500 year flood which has a .2 percent chance of being exceeded in any given year. Paul Van Valkenburg asked what point do you allow carrying capacity? Bob explained that the closer, encroachment of the river, the greater the risk. Parks and Recreation Board Mir. March 22, 2000 Page 2 Lance asked what are FEMA's requirements? Bob responded that FEMA has a one -foot floodway, which is narrower than we have now. The one -foot floodway has a high velocity and unstable conditions. Lance asked in reference to the FEMA plan, would that be unsafe? Bob replied that it would be unsafe. FEMA criteria has been in effect since the early 1970's. He showed a map that illustrates the floodplain options. Floodplain is determined by the encroachment on the sides of the river. Paul Van Valkenburg asked what kind of public property is there along the river? Bob explained the property along the river is two-thirds public owned from Taft Hill to I-25 in the 100 year floodplain. Paul asked who is paying the insurance rates and does this just affect the public entities? Bob said that it relates to all property owners. Lance asked how the criteria changed from 1904 to present? Bob replied that we have multiple structures along the river. He explained the option we have now, which is stricter than the FEMA, is a safety issue. Paul Hudnut asked are there other issues that are driving this? Bob replied no, safety is the only reason. Lance said that according to the rating system, we are more restricted than most other communities nationally. Bob said, yes and the question is do we want to go even higher on the restrictions. He explained that unfortunately, there is not a nation-wide database available that compares floodplain regulations for various communities. Bob explained that the master plan on the Poudre River identified two areas of concern: We need to construct a levy across the Buckingham neighborhood to keep that neighborhood safe and the other area is Vine and College. Paul Hudnut asked what is the Parks and Recreation Board's involvement? There aren't limits on the parks. Bob explained that Option C would prohibit a structure along the river. Jessica said that if we wanted to construct the horticulture center building at Lee Martinez, it couldn't be constructed. Bob replied that is correct. Marty Heffernan asked if there are any parks that we have planned that are affected by this? Bob asked if we were planning any structures? The proposed site for the new Northside Aztlan Community Center is outside the floodplain. The proposed amphitheater makes sense because it would include a levy west of the Buckingham neighborhood. Trails are not affected. Dean says that his personal opinion is that he does not want it to get more restricted on North College. It prohibits development in the area and the cost of development escalates. Paul Van Valkenburg asked if the levy is built, where does the water go? Bob explained that a positive drainage plan would be in place. Ross Cunniff said that we need a balance between safety and the cost of development. He would like to see us shepherd these dangerous areas out of the development area. Paul Van Valkenburg asked what parts of this would affect our projects. Marty said that he has asked that question and all projects we are planning at this point are not Parks and Recreation Board Mies • March 22, 2000 Page 3 affected. Craig said nothing in the Poudre River projects are affected; the Spring Creek basin plan (if the same as the Poudre River Plan) could affect our Southwest Community Park and the Fossil Creek Plan could affect Fossil Creek Community Park. Craig, Marty, and Bob Smith will review our projects and determine how the plan will affect future development of Parks and Recreation facilities. Mike said we would have to take a good look at Option C for future parks. The other options appear to fit with our projects. Dean said that once this is adopted, will it more than likely affect the other basins? Bob said we are looking at only the Poudre at this time. He does see differences with the other basins. Dean further said that standards would probably be the same throughout the City. Paul Hudnut said we need not comment as this doesn't directly affect us. We need to address the entire Poudre River Corridor. Dean stated he opposes Option C because he feels it could affect future development of our projects. Craig Foreman asked where the trailhead is located on Taft Hill, would we be able to construct a restroom? Bob said under Option C, a restroom would not be allowed. Also a restroom in Legacy Park would not be allowed. Mike Powers said that Option C could restrict our parks/facilities construction plans. Dean thinks Option C is too extreme and too restrictive. Note: Jessica MacMillan left at this time. Paul Hudnut agrees with Dean, but from the Parks and Recreation impact, it doesn't affect our present plans and to oppose it is too extreme. We are only talking about restrooms. Mary Ness agrees with Paul Hudnut. He thinks Council will get enough recommendations from other entities and doesn't think it affects us. Paul Van Valkenburg said that we don't have enough of a case as the Parks and Recreation Board to comment. Marty and Craig will work with Bob Smith to determine if the proposed regulations do impact our facilities and will discuss this with the Board at our next meeting. Downtown Implementation Plan Timothy Wilder, City Planner/Advanced Planning, spoke to the Board about six months ago regarding the downtown implementation corridor. He explained that staff is now prepared to take final comments from the Board and will make a recommendation of the plan to Council April 11 at their work session. Lance asked why Martinez Park is not included in this plan? Timothy said the park was not identified as an area in the need of redevelopment. He reviewed the plan's background by saying that this area has been a focus for the city for years. He showed where development might occur along the river. Paul asked about the priorities. He commented on how they look different from the meeting he attended in October. Timothy said that all the projects are the same, however the names/terminology may have changed. Staff held an open house in May and received a lot of feedback. Paul again asked if these priorities came out of the community meeting? Timothy said some did and some have changed since then. These have been reviewed by the Council Finance Committee and several Boards and Commissions. Parks and Recreation Board Mir March 22, 2000 Page 4 Lance said that at a previous meeting, Del Price voiced his opinion on the need to improve Jefferson/Riverside. Recreational River Channel Enhancements --- Tim said we know there is a need to do a feasibility study on this, as it is the number one priority from the citizen input. He said the people who he has talked to look at Linden as a drop in for their boats (kayak/canoe). Paul Hudnut said at the October meeting the Kayaking community was out in full force. He f irther added that he has heard from canoers also and they don't need white water, but access to the river along the trail is important. Paul added that recreational boating could benefit from stream enhancements for fishing. Timothy said that was a good point. Lance thinks that Martinez Park should be looked at with this project. He thinks Martinez could play a good transition with this project. Paul Van Valkenburg said that it would be a logical plan for parking, the recreation trail, and interpretive trail to transition into downtown. Timothy said there will be opportunities to incorporate this. The trail enhancements should be included. He will keep that in mind when we look at specific projects. Lance said that we are in the process of developing a management plan for Martinez Park so we need to deal with these issues now. Paul Van Valkenburg said that this will be a great enhancement to the city. Paul Hudnut stated that several amenities in the first priority are for recreation and he applauds Timothy for his work. Lance asked if there have been any plans for the Heritage Park enhancements? Timothy replied that staff would be open to ideas to what could be done with the area. For example, what kind of interpretation could we create to the historical uses at the Fort? Paul Hudnut made a motion that this Board back this plan as it would enhance the recreational opportunities in the community, seconded by Paul Van Valkenburg. Ross said his only concern is the costs associated with this project. What are the funding sources? Tim said the matrix gives some funding ideas. For example, some of the open lands natural areas sales tax. This will tie into that program. We would look at various sources and try to obtain grants. Mike Powers said Timothy has done a great job and our staff has been very involved. Funding could come from various sources as Timothy explained and there will be some excitement in the community, which may lead to donations and private funding opportunities. The Board voted unanimously (6-0) to support this plan as presented by staff. The Board said they would write a letter to Council expressing their support for the Downtown River Corridor Project. Gateway Mountain Park Marty gave the Board an update on the project. He said that John Fischbach asked staff to update Council on a conceptual plan of Gateway Park. Development of the park includes the completion of a new access road from Highway 14 into the park. The existing road is unsafe and must be redone before the park can be opened to the public. The new road will be built during the summer and fall of 2000. Construction of park amenities will begin in the fall of 2000 with completion scheduled for the summer of 2001. Future stages of development will be completed, as additional funding is available. The Council was positive about this conceptual plan. Parks and Recreation Board M•es March 22, 2000 Page 5 Martinez Park Management Plan Marty said that at the last meeting we developed a subcommittee and Tom Shoemaker will form a subcommittee from the Natural Resources Board. Craig Foreman said that he did a walk through with interested citizens in the neighborhood. He is interested in taking the Board through the same process to walk through the park. Lance said that Del Price (at a previous meeting) said that we need to discuss the undeveloped area of the park. Marty suggested that he and Craig work together with Mark Sears and Tom Shoemaker and bring their ideas to the Boards and further discuss how it will fit into the Poudre River Plan. Lance agrees with Marty that we should have staff develop a preliminary plan and then bring this to the subcommittee. Lance is meeting with Jay Hardy, DDA Director, to discuss if DDA wants to be involved in the plan. This could include a visual enhancement of the gateway to Fort Collins. In terms of cooperative planning, the Board agrees that this is the way to go. Paul Hudnut said to build on Lance's idea, we could integrate the features of the park and downtown. Fossil Creek Community Park Marty explained that staff hired BHA Design to design the park. In 1996, BHA was hired to do the original design for Fossil Creek. The Building Community Choices funding for 2000 is for design. BHA performed a needs assessment for the community with our staff. The last community park we constructed was Rolland Moore Park in 1984. Our budget for Fossil Creek Community Park is $8,000,000+ interest, which equals $9,400,000 for design and construction. Staff and consultants spent four days discussing and planning the park. The 1996 plan has been available to the community for input for five years. We are planning on construction in 2001 and 2002 and to open in 2003. Craig added that our public process outreach will be in April, May, and June. This will be the same format we have used for the neighborhood parks. Matt Day, Park Planner, gave the presentation on the park. He said the park is located across the street (west) of SouthRidge Golf Course. The access will predominately be on Lemay and Fossil Creek Drive, however, the two streets will not connect in the park. The site has Fossil Creek and the existing lakes that were developed by Huntington Hills Development. Matt explained that the Knob Hill, which allows for great panoramic views, will have sledding activities. There will be access to water in the park. An active area is planned for two lighted softball fields, tennis and basketball courts and recreation areas. There will be a large pavilion on the lake, and community gardens. The restrooms will be located near the softball fields, and where the community gardens are located. An area called "the Greens" can house special events and soccer fields. Space is allocated for a recreation field, outdoor ice skating pond, and an outdoor pool. The park will also have a skateboard park and inline hockey, and a playground. At the time of the park construction, we will connect the Fossil Creek trail with walking areas to access areas of the park. The park will also have passive areas that will be flexible space. A creative theme area is designed that will have canyons and walls with a dinosaur theme. There will be wetlands interpretation. Plans also include a dog park at the entrance with water. Parks and Recreation Board Mir March 22, 2000 Page 6 New community park features will be inline hockey, creative play areas, community garden, sledding hill and the green for special events. These are all features that we don't have at any of our other parks. There will be a 7,000 square foot satellite maintenance building for Park Maintenance. Mary asked if there could be a joint facility of SouthRidge maintenance and satellite parks maintenance? Marry said we're looking into this possibility. He asked the Board to look at this design and get comments back to us at the next meeting. Council had positive feedback on the design and are very supportive of the new community park. Mary said that we should name the lakes in the theme of the park. We need to enhance the water feature of the park. We need to have handicapped fishing, youth fishing, and a beach. We have the availability of the water and we need to utilize it. He thinks we will have good input and comments from the Huntington Hills neighborhood. The entry road to the park should be enhanced. The maintenance center should not be in direct view when entering the park. They should have a separate entrance into the park for maintenance vehicles. Ross asked if we will be getting Natural Resources input on this park. Answer, yes. The maintenance facility will be approximately 7,000 square feet. Lance suggested the Recreation Center be closer to the inline skating area. The activity area should be a more focal point when entering the park. It could also have a theme associated with the park. Roger Sherman of BHA said the topographic elements of the land drove the initial design of the park. Other Business • Mike Powers advised the Board that the City is partnering with the County for a GOCO Grant. They are requesting letters of support for Fossil Creek Reservoir. The plan is to buy this from the State for wildlife watching and a passive recreation area. The Board is supportive of this proposal. • Craig Foreman said that Janet Meisel -Burns has moved to Loveland as the Senior Park Planner. Mary Ness said that Janet's move will help us in cooperative projects with Loveland. • Paul Van Valkenburg asked if we ever use granulated rubber for ballfields? Lance said they tried it at CSU and it killed the grass because it was such a heat attraction. Adjournment: On a motion by Ross Cunniff, seconded by Dean Hoag, the meeting was adjourned at 8:50 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jackie Rael Executive Administrative Assistant 0 Parks and Recreation Board Minutes March 22, 2000 Page 7 Meeting Attendance Board Members: Ross Cunniff, Lance Freeman, Dean Hoag, Paul Hudnut, Jessica MacMillan, Mary Ness, and Paul Van Valkenburg Staff: Matt Day, Craig Foreman, Marty Heffernan, Jackie Rael, Mike Powers, Bob Smith, and Timothy Wilder Guests: Sally Craig; Roger Sherman and Allan Calder, BHA Design; Cindy Murdock, CSU Student