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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 03/27/1984CITY OF FORT COLLINS PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD MINUTES: Regular Meeting - March 27, 1984 The meeting was called to order at 5:35 p.m., by President Chuck Solano. All members attended the meeting. City Manager John Arnold was welcomed to the meeting. A iF Review: One item was added to the printed agenda regarding the trolley. ome terns were taken out of order to accommodate certain time commitments. Citizen Participation: No citizen participation. Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of February 28, 1984, were approved unanimously, as submitted, on a motion by Mike ImMasche, seconded by Fran Bujack. City Park Trolley Alternative John Arnold made a presentation on a proposed trolley route through City Park. He would like the Parks and Recreation Board support and approval. He said it was time to rethink the whole thing, and maybe start again from scratch. Option #1 is the West Mountain Avenue median route, as per the existing agreement. Option #2 is a City Park route. John showed a map of the proposed route. His major park concern is the poles and overhead lines that must follow the track. He suggests planting trees on each side of the poles. There will be approximately 80 poles along 1.8 miles of track. The City Park route causes new financial consideration, plus actual City involvement in the construction to get the project built correctly. Some people on Roosevelt and on the short two block stretch of Mountain still may not want the trolley. There is a question whether the trolley is an amusement or transportation? Perhaps we need to start with a park route, showing people the trolley is not obtrusive, and later perhaps extend the route to be more for transportation. There are covenents on Jackson, Bryan, and Oak preventing any trolley oper- ations on those streets. Tracks inside the park will be flush with the grass. New City costs would be approximately $50,000 to do this work. The route as planned would eliminate zero park trees, and shouldn't interfere with playing fields or activities. A new operation agreement with the Trolley Society would need to be negotiated. The City would have more control. Parks and Recreation Board--2 The trolley would probably operate on Saturdays, Sundays, and Holidays, daytime hours, during warmer weather. The City could probably end up taking care of some 0&M. The existing route agreement calls for 71 trees on the Mountain Avenue Median to be relocated, 37 trees in the initial phase this spring. The City Park route would require relocating six or seven median trees only. Jan Sheppard suggested an Old Town to Foothills Mall route. However, this would entail a traffic hazard due to radius needed for turning curves. This would also introduce a network of overhead lines to the downtown area. After much more discussion and questions answered by John Arnold, Josh Richardson and H. R. Phillips, Bill Loy made a motion, seconded by Fran Bujack, to establish a trolley route in City Park. The motion was then tabled by a unanimous (9:0) vote. Board Members did not want to be rushed into a recommendation, and decided to hold a Special Meeting on Thursday, March 29, 1984, 5:30 p.m., in the City Park Nine Golf Course Clubhouse. Board Members will take golf carts to tour around the proposed trolley route. John Arnold thanked the Board and left the meeting at this time. Sales Tax Ballot Issues - Jerry P. Brown asked the Board to support the 1/4 cent sales tax for Capital items. Literature was distributed to Board Members explaining the issue. Food/groceries will not be included, there is a time limit, and projects are specified. If the tax does not pass, some existing programs could suffer to make some of these things happen. Some of the Capital needs may not happen at all, or be greatly delayed. After further discussion, the Board voted unanimously (9:0) to support the 1/4 cent sales tax increase for Capital projects. Board Members specifically endorsed this ballot issue because groceries are exempt, there is a specific time limit, there are specific project expenditures, and there is a tax refund program for low-income, elderly and handicapped occupants. - H. R. Phillips told the Board he is still finalizing 0&M costs for the Indoor Pool/Ice Arena. It will probably be one more week until we have everything together. He noted that it can't pay for itself, and there will be a deficit. Some citizens may consider this okay. An O&M subsidy will be a long -run impact. The Board again decided to wait on making a position statement until more information on 0&M and revenues is available. Presentation: The Planning and Open Space Division Randy Balok, Superintendent of Planning and Open Space, spent about 30 minutes r Parks and Recreation Board--3 discussing the activities, responsibilities, and goals of his division. He showed slides, which illustrated his presentation, and handed out detail information on parks, acreage, acquisitions, and expenditures from 1974 to 1984. Randy introduced members of his staff to the Board. Tom Fisher, Leslie Stumpe, and Ted Rutledge briefly discussed their backgrounds and specific project assignments. Other Business - Board Members received a copy of a letter from Joe Roesser refusing the latest City offer on his land adjacent to Pinertdge,. There is nothing that the Board can do at this point. He appears to be trying to stir up more support. The meeting was adjourned at 7:37 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jan Sheppard Board Secretary Meeting Attendance Board Members P&R Staff Guests Chuck Solano H. R. Phillips Mary Elson Jerry P. Brown Jan Sheppard Randy Balok Bob Aukerman Jean Helburg Fran Bujack Tom Fisher Mike ImMasche Ted Rutledge Bill Loy Leslie Stumpe Cathy Mulcahy Virgil Taylor Ann Schroeder John Arnold Josh Richardson