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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 04/26/2006Call Meeting to Order: Jessica called the meeting to order at 5:40 p.m. Walt Peeples and Mark Lueker called to say they would be absent. Agenda Review: None Items of Note: Citizen Participation: City Councilmember Kelly Ohlson was present at the meeting. He was interested in gaining a better understanding of what kind of low income provisions we require for organizations that use our recreation facilities. He mentioned an article about the City implementing an admission fee for the Lee Martinez Farm and was curious as to what could be done to get donations so that low income individuals can participate at the farm as well as other recreational activities. Marty asked him for clarification of whether he was asking what provisions the City follows or if he was asking what provisions the City asks of other organizations that use our facilities. Kelly specified that he was asking what provisions both follow in regards to low income individuals. He would like a better understanding of this because it relates to the Park Maintenance Fee that is going to Council in May. Marty informed him that a memo showing the different scenarios was provided for Council today and that he would receive it in his Council packet. Kelly wants to make sure the City isn't intending to use the funds to over maintain the parks and that green principles should be maintained. He said that he may be more inclined to agree with the fee if we are charging the adults who can afford it; however he is concerned with low income individuals especially children. Marty explained to him that Recreation has money in the budget that is used to cover the expenses of those who are unable to afford the fees. Kelly was wondering if we promote this discount and Marty said he believes it is in the Recreator. Kelly suggested that we also promote it in other places where individuals go to receive economic benefits. Marty believes this is a well utilized program and that the City also provides a discount to groups that use our facilities for youth oriented programs. He stated that Fort Collins Baseball and Fort Collins Soccer clubs are sensitive to the issue, but he didn't have all the details. Cathy mentioned that she donated her children's old uniforms to a City program that provides them for those who can't afford them. Kelly asked if the Board has had much discussion about the Park Maintenance Fee. Marty informed him that there was little discussion during last months meeting and that he briefly explained to them what the benefits would be if this fee were in place. He said that there was a concern from some of the Board members about the price of government going up and it was suggested that the City look at other ways of balancing our budget first. Kelly asked if there Parks and Recreation Board Minutes April 26, 2006 Page 2 would be a recommendation from the Board. Michael feels a recommendation could be made if the Board was given more information. Jessica asked Marty if there was any additional information that they should be aware of before making a recommendation. Marty said this fee would fund all of the existing parks as well as the new parks that will be established. Right now we are able to fund construction of the parks through the Impact Fee but we just don't have a good mechanism to maintain new parks and this fee would solve that issue. Marty explained that the fee starts at $4.00 a household which would generate between 2.2 million and 2.3 million dollars annually and that amount would increase to $6.00 a month if the Neighborhood Parks were added. Jessica asked if the park maintenance was currently covered by the General Fund and Marty said that it was. Jon asked if there had been any survey of the public to get their opinions and Marty said there hadn't been. Jon feels that we should get citizen's opinions about the issue before we ask them to pay a fee. Cathy stated that she feels the Neighborhood Parks should be included and Jessica agreed that they shouldn't be separated. Kelly feels Council wouldn't make a decision based on a survey and Jon responded that the Board is supposed to reflect public opinion and in order to make a recommendation he would like to know their opinion. Kelly explained that Council is holding a Work Session and there will also be a first and second reading where public input will be available. Kelly asked what was currently spent on maintaining the parks and Bob Loeven felt it was around 5 million. Kelly asked if the only reason the parks were separated was for the lower fee. Marty and staff feel that implementing a fee for the Community Parks has more of a community benefit. Kelly said he would appreciate a recommendation from the Board and he would like for them to discuss this issue with others and bring their opinions to Council. Jessica asked when he would like the recommendation and Kelly said that this issue was going to be discussed during the May 9th meeting. It was then decided that the Board would further discuss the issue under Other Business and make a recommendation tonight. Ann asked what was available to those who can't afford to pay their utilities and Marty said that there is a rebate program for that and the proposed model would provide the same rebate that is provided by Utilities. Kelly then informed the Board that this wasn't going to a vote and that Council would be the ones making the decision. He is concerned that the public may view this as a tax increase and Cathy stated that she feels once it's explained to them they may be more inclined to support it. Before Kelly left he asked if there were any other questions the Board has relating to any issue. Michael said that he would like to find out more about Spring Canyon Community Park. Kelly said that he is now comfortable with us moving forward. He feels the City will be more careful about they way they will bid things in the future. He commented that he was concerned with all of the trees being the same size. Marty noted that there would be over 1,000 new trees and only the 200 or so evergreens would be about the same size so it shouldn't detract from the look of the park. Kelly was also concerned and that we would be getting cheaper stuff with value engineering and he'd rather spend the extra money then have to repair more later on. Jessica explained that Craig Forman said that they were finding alternatives that would work just as well, but weren't as costly. Marty explained the speck for the underpass was going to be more expensive so the aesthetics changed, but the quality didn't. Jessica feels that we are now in a better position with the contractor. Marty added that Kurt Kastein asked that we get the information to the surrounding neighbors because they were concerned that the park was going to have less than they had anticipated. Kelly was wondering if the contractor was going to be the only one allowed to bid on the skate park and Marty said that we would bid that separately. Kelly believes that will cause contractors to be more competitive with their bids. Kelly believes that Parks and Recreation Board Minutes April 26, 2006 Page 3 good things came from the Board making the suggestion that staff reevaluate the bid. He wanted to let the Board know that Council wants and appreciates their opinions. Approval of Minutes: Cathy reminded the Board that Walt felt the February Minutes didn't accurately cover the details. The Board then decided to table the approval of the February Minutes until their May meeting. On a motion made by Cathy seconded by Ann the Board approved the March 22nd Minutes (7:0). Overview of Park Maintenance Spring Activities Marty introduced Bob Loeven, Manager of Parks. Bob informed the Board of what the Parks staff does throughout the winter months and what they are currently doing to prepare for spring and summer. He explained that they repair their equipment during the winter. They turn on over 300 water valves to get restrooms, drinking fountains and irrigation systems running and that takes about four weeks. The majority of Park's workforce is made up of hourly employees and they have been having a hard time keeping employees because of the budget so they are constantly training people. Some employees return yearly, but a number of them are college students so they leave before the season is over. They are then faced with having to train new employees. Bob informed the Board that they will use contractors to do a job if it's cheaper. They have contracted with a company to maintain the medians. They open up the playing fields as soon as weather permits; this year it was the third weekend in March. Due to the BFO process some of the restrooms were closed from January to March and port-o-lets were provided in order to save some money. Jessica asked if there was a schedule to fix the restrooms at Rolland Moore Park. Bob wasn't sure when that would take place. Marty explained that Parks does an inventory of the parks and schedules times for repairs and the bad thing is that budget isn't what it should be to get everything done when they would like. Kelly asked why the fields were open in March. Bob said the demand is there. He said that they have satellite workshops set up for training and weekly training takes place until the season is over. The workshop at Fossil Creek saves money because it saves them 3,000 personnel hours in drive time as well as fuel. Bob said that they also use volunteers and have averaged about 6,000 hours of volunteer work, mainly clean-up. On CSU Unity Day they had 185 people that showed up to do volunteer work. Jon asked if we were losing much turf due to the lack of moisture and what amount is that going to cost. Bob said that Park Maintenance Supervisor Bill Whirty thought that it was about 5% and they'll know more in the next few weeks. Jon was concerned the removal of the gardens on Mountain Avenue. Bob said that was taken away during the BFO process and they would be mulched. He said they would entertain volunteers, but it's hard to find people that want to take on the responsibility. Jon recalls the residents of Mountain Avenue receiving a letter for monetary donations. Bob said there is a group of volunteers interested in doing some work with the horticulture at the Senior Center and the Adopt a Trail System is all adopted out. They are working on an Adopt a Park System and there are pieces of parks that are currently adopted. Kelly was wondering what other equivalents fell out over the last year or two. Bob said that a number of flower gardens that are not in the downtown area are going away. Marty stated that we tried to preserves the horticulture in downtown because of the emphasis to the down town. Jessica asked what was going to come of the planter at Mountain and LaPorte. Bob said there's a business that is going to adopt that. Greg asked him to clarify what was going to be kept at the parks and Bob explained that the entrance ways to the parks may be planted, but perhaps not Parks and Recreation Board Minutes April 26, 2006 Page 4 around the tennis areas or restrooms. Bob informed them that they would provide some basic training to neighbors who would be willing to properly maintain flow beds. Marty stated that our budget is in a difficult situation and the economy is still struggling and sales taxes are below projections. Kelly feels that things aren't going to turn around very soon for our sales tax. He explained that there are new projects that are coming on board that may help, but are a little ways away. Cathy feels that the electronic economy allows people to purchase things cheaper so that hurts our economy. Jessica asked if the Foothills Mall has unveiled their plans of reconstructing. Marty said they have not. Northwest Sub Area Plan Update Craig presented a map of the Northwest Sub Area Plan and reminded the Board that he brought this to them last year, but he wanted to bring them up to date. The yellow lines reflect the City's growth management boundary and the red lines reflected current City Limits. He explained that citizens have the opportunity to come and talk about their area of town during the Public Process. He then passed around the flyers that citizens were given that show examples of what the houses, landscape and streets may look like. They were also given some scenarios of what that land could look like if it were commercial property. They then get to vote on their selections. Craig feels that it is a good process and the consultant has done a good job trying to capture their ideas. He stated that they talked to folks about a trail system and that they are trying to connect Poudre Trail to Lincoln Junior High. Natural Resources is also talking about getting the Michaud lane trail to go under Overland to the Poudre Trail. Jon feels it wouldn't be a safe on Michaud Lane for a bike lane or path because it's narrow. Mary mentioned an article in the paper that was discussing how some rural land where homes were going to be built and there were concerns that we're going to be a suburb of Denver. Craig mentioned that CSU has said that they would like to be annexed into the City so that opens up the potential for another trail to come into their property. Kelly would like to hear the Boards opinions before it comes to Council again. Craig said that he would provide information on the schedule for this. Kelly said that he went to the first meeting and citizens were under the impression that if the plan didn't happen things would always remain the same. After the meeting they realized that change would eventually happen. Spring Canyon Community Park Construction Update Public Notices Craig went over the SCCP Master Plan and wanted to inform the Board on what's going on. He said that Connell is currently doing the earthwork. The ground was so dry that they have been able to move dirt quickly. Next they will be doing the utilities and the foundations will be started in July. Jon asked if they went out in June if it would give an idea of what it will essentially look like. Craig said that during May you should start seeing the building formations and the site earthwork close to final grades. Jessica suggested a field trip in August. Marty informed the Board that a construction ceremony was scheduled on June 2nd. Project Updates • Oak Street Plaza Craig explained that they have had some surprises with what they have came across under ground during construction. Jessica asked if they found anything archeological items. Craig Parks and Recreation Board Minutes April 26, 2006 Page 5 said they hadn't and that they were wondering about finding remains since it is over the old cemetery. He said a water line was hit along with an electrical line while taking out old planters. With the planters out he feels it makes the area look bigger. Craig said that the surface construction is currently taking place. Jessica asked what the projected time of completion was and Craig said that it should be late July or August. Jessica asked about a grand opening and Marty said typically that would happen. • Fossil Creek Trail Underpass at Highway #287 Craig said the walls have been poured now to hold back the water and those walls are a wavy shape so you can see the water as it comes over the top during a flood. There is plexi-glass so that you can view the water and behind that is heavy duty bullet proof glass and the plexi- glass can be replaced when needed. He said that they are trying to get it all tied into the Mason Corridor by July. He believes this project has gone well. • Poudre Trail Downriver from Lemay Avenue Asphalt/Concrete Conversion Craig said that they are currently at Lemay and Harmony with the project. Jon asked if there would be an additional gravel path because it's narrow. Craig said that they would look at touching up the shoulders and take away some rocks, but it's built on a levy. Jessica asked if any trees had to be cut down and Craig said that there weren't many taken out and City Forestry provided direction. Cathy was wondering if horses are allowed and Craig said that horses are allowed except on manicured turf. Marty said that they have to stay within a certain distance from the trail. Other Business Marty provided the Board with a copy of the memo on the park maintenance fee that was going to be presented to Council and the Board then discussed it. He explained that it would bring back the things that were cut and also provides a stable funding source. (Walt arrived at 7:15) He asked if all of the money would only be used to fund the park maintenance. Marty explained that when a fee is created for a certain purpose it then has to be used only for that purpose. Walt then asked if it could be used for an increase in employee's salaries. Marty said there would be money in there to make sure we can recruit hourly people to be able to adequately maintain the parks. Jessica asked if this fee would then prevent us from receiving the money we usually receive from the General Fund. Marty stated that we would no longer need those funds so the money would then be available for other needs. Jessica feels that the public will agree once they are aware that the money would then be available to fund something else with out a tax increase. Jessica asked what happens after 2020 and Marty said we would be built out by then. Jon wasn't sure about charging the higher fee and Walt reminded him of the rebate that would be available. Michael feels that it's important that we inform the public that there is a rebate available. Mary then made a motion to make a recommendation to Council for further consideration of their support of a Park Maintenance Fee at Council's discretion to choose which one; however the Board supports the full amount. Jon seconded the motion and the Board unanimously voted (8:0) to send a memo to Council showing their support. Parks and Recreation Board Minutes April 26, 2006 Page 6 Board Member and Staff Comments None Correspondence None Adjournment: The Board unanimously agreed to adjourn at 7:45 p.m. motion to Respectfully submitted, Omo Dawn Worth Administrative Aide Board Attendance Board Members: Mary Carlson, Michael Chalona, Ann Hunt, Cathy Kipp, Mark Leuker, Greg Miller, Walt Peeples, Jon Sinclair Staff: Craig Foreman, Marty Heffernan, Bob Loeven, Dawn Worth Guests: None