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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 02/28/1984CITY OF FORT COLLINS PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD MINUTES: Regular Meeting - February 28, 1984 The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m, by President Chuck Solano. All Board members were present. Councilman Horak was welcomed to the meeting. A ep Review: No additions to the printed agenda, however, some items w 11 bi a taken out of order because some people have to leave the meeting early. Citizen Participation - No citizen participation Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of January 24, 1984, were approved unanimously as submitted. Other Business - H. R. Phillips updated the Board on the Lee Martinez Park Farm master plan. Locations are more condensed than on the original plan. We start the conceptual review process soon. - H. R. reported on the potential archery range to be located at the old water works site on Bingham Hill and North Overland Trail. The 20 acres would not be a field range, but a target range for practice and tournaments. There will be a fee program for upkeep and targets and we are working with the Archery Association to develop a plan. - Council has approved $160,000 for repair to trails damaged by the flood on the Poudre in the lower areas. There are additional problems in the upper areas where we lost right-of-way, but no trails. The critical areas are at Riverbend Ponds and near the old sugar beet area. More money will probably be needed. - The appropriation ordinance to fund the construction of Landings Park will be submitted to Council March 20. - Jerry P. Brown said the dedication of Rolland Moore Park will be the afternoon of June 3. Board members are encouraged to participate. Chuck Solano mentioned citizen concerns about the bright ballfield lights at Moore Park. It will be a problem. - Councilman Horak was asked to report on the allocations from the Lottery for open space and trails projects. The approximate $600,000 for 1983 and 1984 will be used as follows: To complete the Foothills trail; $50,000 per year committed to connect the Foothills to the existing trails; $100,000 to the Loveland/Fort Collins corridor; $150,000 to $200,000 for land acquisition along the Poudre River; $100,000 for purchase of Foothills open space. H. R. stated that most other cities are spending their Lottery money for recreation facilities, and Fort Collins has taken a more unique approach for use of this money. Open Space and Trails projects have minimal impact on future operations and maintenance budgets. Mav 1 Sales Tax Ballot Issues There will be a special election on May 1, with at least three issues on the ballot as follows: 1. The annexation of the land for the proposed Anheuser -Busch Brewery; 2. One -quarter (1/4) cent sales tax for capital projects; and 3. One -quarter (1/4) cent sales tax for the pool/ice rink. There may also be other items added, including a nuclear freeze vote. The pool/ice rink is the same plan development from the 1973 seven-year sales tax program and submitted by Design Today -Tomorrow (DT2). The fac- ility is to be located in 20 acres at Edora Park, and will have a 50-meter pool, wading pool, diving area, a regulation (85 x 200) ice rink, and administrative office, etc. It is a quality facility. Based upon inflating the 1979/80 estimates for 0&M to 1986, staff feels the annual operating cost to be around $500,000 and revenues any place around $240,000 to $350,000 t. These are preliminary conceptual estimates, and are subject to change. As Councilman Horak stated, Revenues could be between 0 to $500,000." Staff does feel that there will almost always be a short fall in revenues vs. expenditures. This time both sales tax issues will not tax food items, and be good for a specified period of time (January 1, 1985 to December 31, 1989) with money designated for specified projects. The pool/ice rink 1/4 cent tax will pay for construction first, then assist with the O&M shortfall, and then go to the general fund if everything balances. The project is to be substantially complete by December 31, 1986, so interest payments for short-term borrowing of money is likely. Board members, staff, and Councilman Horak discussed the issues. Bob Aukerman asked what role should the Board take in the process. Council wants staff to remain neutral (provide only basic objective data) on the pool/ice rink issue. The Board should follow "normal, reasonable, and prudent judgements as individuals; and Board members could do whatever was requested to support (or whatever) the complex." Councilman Horak explained council direction that any Board can take any stand they want as -2- advisors to Council. Staff is not involved directly, and cannot campaign. We all want to educate people as to the specifications and costs. Regarding the other one -quarter (1/4) cent issue, there is a large number of unfunded capital projects, including a few Parks and Recreation projects. Most are "Public Works" oriented. The same criteria exists for this tax regarding food and time duration. However, Council has suggested staff take a "proactive" stance on this issue since Council initiated the question on the ballot. "We are putting it there, and support from staff is more logical." Board members unanimously agreed that they needed more information and back- ground before taking any position on the issues. Staff will prepare fact sheets with as much objective data as possible for the March Board meeting. Operations and Maintenance Costs for Parks Councilman Horak suggested that the Board might take a look at some 0&M cost saving alternatives, such as potentially cutting out some of our man- icuring at parks areas, letting areas grow natural, design minimal main- tenance into new areas, etc. He asked what might be done, and what would the dollar savings amount to? How are we using land? What are we manicur- ing? What are we leaving alone? Where might this or other 0&M operations be done differently? Staff pointed out we've added new lands to maintain, and haven't added any staff, except for Moore Park. Councilman Horak stated peoples' values have changed, and some non -manicured areas are now more acceptable. Tim Buchanan discussed our pilot Xeriscaping project with reduced maintenance and water conservation landscaping. Staff is investigating all options. Presentation: The Forestry Division Tim Buchanan, City Forester, spent about 30 minutes discussing the activities, responsibilities, and goals of the Forestry Division. Tim has five full-time and two seasonal staff people. They are in the urban forestry business, which basically started because of the Dutch Elm disease concern. From that a comprehensive street tree ordinance changed to make the City responsible for the street trees. Forestry is responsible for the tree planting and care of trees on all public projects. At a valuation of $550 per tree, and 16,500 public trees, Fort Collins has $9-million in tree valuation. Forestry is also involved with the design work in public landscaping and coordinating with other departments. The 1984 Budget is $235,000 plus tree planting costs budgeted as part of -3- capital improvement projects. 250 street trees can be pruned each year with a basic 12 to 15 year pruning rotation cycle. This is a weak link in the program, and we really need to prune 100 more trees each year to improve rotation time. In Fort Collins, 95 percent of all newly planted trees survive because of our ability to assure watering them at least seven times after planting. Tim reminded Board members of their responsibility as the Appeals Board on licensing of tree pruning operations and tree removals (Section 109-13 and 109-18 of the Tree Ordinance). Tim concluded by stating his goals as follows: 1. Wants to expand contract street tree pruning program. 2. Improve insect/disease control spraying program which has been limited by minimal budgets. 3. Expand annual flower program, such as having a garden in every park and every entrance to the City. 4. The Barco loader is old and needs to be replaced. It is a critical piece of equipment for brush and log removal. The cost is approximately $50,000 for a new truck and loader. Fort Collins was again recently named as Tree City U.S.A. for the sixth - year in a row. Other Business - Staff distributed the updated names and address list and Board description memorandum. - Francis Bujack requested that the Board meet earlier next month. Board members concurred to meet at 5:30 p.m. instead of 6:30 p.m. on March 27. The meeting was adjourned at 8:24 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jan Sheppard Board Secretary MEETING ATTENDANCE Board Members Staff Guests Chuck Solano H. R. Phillips Councilman Horak Mary Elson Jerry P. Brown Jan Sheppard Tim Buchanan Bob Aukerman Dave Mosnik Fran Bujack Sue Nelson, Intern Mike ImMasche Brad Newkirk, Intern Bill Loy Cathy Mulcahy Ann Schroeder