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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 05/23/2007Parks and Recreation Board Minutes May 23, 2007 Page 1 Call Meeting to Order: Michael called the meeting to order at 5:35 Agenda Review: Citizen Participation: Approval of Minutes: Ann stated that she contacted staff to inform them that she was unable to attend the meeting and the minutes indicated that her husband was absent and she wanted to clarify that. On a motion made by Mary seconded by Mark the Board approved the April 25, 2007 Minutes: 8:0 Craig introduced the new Director of Parks, J.R. Schnelzer. J.R. gave a brief overview of his education and work history. He then reviewed the new restructure of the Parks Department. BFO Discussion- Kelly Ohlson Kelly opened the discussion to questions of the Board. He said that he has followed Municipal Government for a number of years and he believes that Parks and Recreation is one that changes the least and he is hoping that we are not mimicking the old plan and that we are taking a serious look at the new recommendations. Kelly explained that he supports Parks and Recreation he just feels that it's important to push for change as well as improvements. He suggested that staff not mow right to the edge of the water because that requires more money as well as pollution. Kelly feels that we need to improve on Green Design and he wasn't sure if that was addressed in the Master Plan but he would like it to be covered. He also stated that he would like to see individual maps of each park and their maintenance plans. Wait asked if there is a policy in place in regards to mowing and Kelly said that he's not sure but that he has suggested this to staff. He feels that it would be beneficial to minimize the ongoing maintenance. Kelly stated that he was a skeptic of the BFO process at first but he now feels it's a good process. He said that we know that there are parks that are coming on line and his concern is the ongoing operation and maintenance costs and we need to design parks that are good quality in order to minimize the ongoing maintenance. Cathy asked Kelly if he felt that other City Council members were supportive of Parks and Recreation and she personally supports it because it's a quality of life. He said that he personally Parks and Recreation Board Minutes May 23, 2007 Page 2 values it and other Council members do as well however, they may have a different take on things. Kelly said that he believes that Council will look at Green practices, maintenance costs, making sure the number of parks coming on is reasonable and going back to trail placement. Kelly stated that it's important to him to have funding available for those who can't afford it recreation. Cathy responded that the soccer club is good about allowing individuals who can not afford it to participate. Craig said that staff could update the Board more often on what the maintenance crews are doing. He stated that they have cut back the mowing at Case Park. William asked when putting together a BFO offer do you get into a lot of detail on maintenance and Kelly said that there isn't much detailed in regards to that. Craig informed the Board that their next Public Meeting will take place on June I 1 th to present GreenPlay's findings. He said that they will tell us how many parks they suggest we bring on. Kelly said that he believes that if we are focusing on cost saving then Council may be more inclined to support things. J.R. stated that there has been a change in leadership and things are going to be different and he will be facilitating those changes. He said that he has also asked for a map of every park and what maintenance we are doing in that park. Jessica asked Kelly to clarify his concerns of having the trail system run through the natural areas. Kelly feels that it has an impact on wild live and it can have a negative impact on the natural systems. Craig explained that it's nice to purchase open land where we have larger sections and we can separate the trail from sensitive areas. He said that we can artificially bring that type of landscape to the trail so that it doesn't feel that far away. Cathy asked what the Budget looked like and Kelly said that he isn't aware of any cuts taking place however, if they look at things and decide that we no longer need to do something or that we need to change they way were are doing it we can make that change. He explained that we are going to balance the Budget on reserves. He said that our reserves have grown because of the conservative budgeting over the last four years. Kelly feels that the changes should have been spread out over more years, unfortunately there was a great deal of change at once but the organization needed it. Parks and Recreation Policy Plan GreenPlay The Policy Plan Update Survey was conducted through a mail -back methodology. The survey was originally sent to 4,000 households throughout Fort Collins. Karen said that in about a month or two they will be working on the recommendations and a lot of what was discussed this evening is the direction they are trying to go with the project. She said that their approach is very community based and she reminded the Board that around 105 people attended the focus groups which they feel is a great turnout and it also shows that the public is interested. She stated that they feel staff knows their system inside and out which is very impressive. Karen then reviewed the Fort Collins Parks and Recreation Policy Plan Update Survey results. She said the philosophy of their team to not make recommendations that aren't obtainable. One of the first things they do is to look at the demographic analysis so that they have a good understanding of who the agency is serving and how that community is changing. The population in For Collins is around 130,000 and it's projected to grow to around 141,000 over the next five year. This means the average rate of growth is about 1.6% and the average national rate of growth is around 1.3%. Karen said that they look at the different age groups to determine what kind of programs, activities, park amenities and services need to be provided. Karen pointed out that Fort Collins has a large percentage of a 24-34 year age group. Jessica said that is kind of surprising due to the recent Parks and Recreation Board Minutes May 23, 2007 Page 3 publicity that Fort Collins has received as being a place to retire. Karen informed that Board that they have done work in other college towns around the country, such as Blumington Indiana, and it was also considered a great place to retire. Craig wanted to clarify that they also count the college kids for that age range so that's one reason the age group is large. Jessica asked if the survey was sent only to those within the City limits and Karen said yes. Michael asked why the 35-54 group is a twenty year increment when the others are ten. Karen explained that it goes along with the Census track and that it's probably because this age group has similar interests. Karen explained that they only do five year projections because after that time it's hard to say that the numbers are accurate. Jessica stated that she believes that retirees are moving outside the city limits. She feels that it could possibly work to change the mall area to a residential area if they don't redevelop. Kelly said that the City needs an increase in Sales Tax so we'd prefer it to be retail but agreed that it might work. Rob then gave a description of the inventory and findings with the GRASP analysis. He said that they took a look at what Fort Collins has in their parks. They look at the quantity as well as the quality and then assign them a qualitative value. From that they determine levels of service and they use it as benchmarks. After they get the data all of the components have a score. He said that they looked at indoor as well as outdoor facilities Rob said that trails rated high and that's probably because they appeal to all ages. Rob explained that when something isn't being utilized we can re -purpose those; like changing a tennis court to an in -line hockey rink. J.R. referred to is as value planning. Karen said that they did bench marking analysis against other similar communities and Fort Collins seems to be providing a fairly high level of service. He said that during the study they found that 30.5% of individuals have access to an indoor facility. Jessica asked if that included privately owned facilities. Rob said that it was just City provided facilities and schools were also counted. However, the schools were only counted as half because their limitations of availability. Michael asked if CSU was counted and Rob said that they only counted the tennis courts. Rob said that they did look at all providers of tennis which did include private facilities and they were evenly distributed. Jessica said that she feels that the HOA tennis courts are generally in poor condition. Rob if it's in that shape that it may not be utilized. Jessica feels it's because they are expensive for the HOA to repair. The Board then took a brief break to look over the maps GreenPlay provided. Karen said the12% survey response rate really shows that the community is interested. She said that based on the survey percentages the community feels that the City is doing a great job. Karen said that the goal now is to keep this high level of service. Rob pointed out again that trails rated high because everyone can use the trails. He said that skate parks didn't rate very high but it's important to keep in mind that those who use them might only use the skate parks and no other facility. Cathy asked if they asked the entire household to fill out the survey or one individual per household and Karen said it was for the entire household. She said that they asked about a large outdoor facility and about 40% supported it. Craig said that for example it would be for large group picnics. Greg asked if they looked at both indoor and outdoor aquatics and Karen said both. She said that teen activities ranked high which was interesting based on the demographics of the area. Rob felt that it might have something to do with the YAC closing. William asked if the programs are being marketed enough of if we needed to do more marketing. Karen said that is a common issue because marketing is one of the first things cut during budget cuts. Jessica said that she thinks Parks and Recreation Board Minutes May 23, 2007 Page 4 there is probably and increase of on-line registration and that the Coloradoan does distribute the Recreator. Cathy said that the Recreator is available in a number of places. JR said that the Recreator is important but perhaps the document isn't carrying the weight. He also said that we are revamping the City's website. Karen mentioned that this is a very active community and they hold very high expectations for the Parks and Recreation facilities. Walt stated that there wasn't much discussion on utilizing the River for recreation. Jessica commented that it would be great to utilize the river area, like a river walk, but it may be a better idea to put the funding towards improving and maintaining what we have. She feels that we really need to look at marketing Fort Collins because the economy isn't working for us. Karen reminded the Board that the next public meeting will take place on June 11th, they will be presenting a draft recommendation in mid July and the final presentation at the end of July. Karen said that overall she is very impressed with Fort Collins. Michael asked if that GIS information for Matt (Youth Activity Board) had been given to GreenPlay and Craig said that it had been. He said that they are going to meet to talk more. Craig said that he would contact the City Clerk to get this on the City Council Study Session. Project Updates Case Park: Craig then showed pictures of the park. The location of the park is next to Fort Collins High School. He informed the Board that Matt Day is the architect for the project. He said that Matt suggested repainting the columns by the restrooms green which enhanced the look. The theme of the park is twisting water that goes winds down to the irrigation pond. Craig informed them that the swell area is a no mow area and he was told by the Parks staff that it took around 1.5 hours off their mowing time. Greg said that he lives close to the park and he has been hearing great comments about it. Board Member and Staff Comments Michael asked about Oak Street Plaza and Craig said that some damage occurred during the snow removal. J.R. stated that we are changing the maintenance of that area. Ann stated her appreciation of the Parks staff. Cathy asked if some of the dirt areas on the north part of Spring Creek Park and Cottonwood are going to be parking and Craig said yes. Cathy also asked about the exercise trails at Golden Meadows. Craig said that Eileen Scholl is in charge of the Life Cycle program and she had that replaced and it's now more inviting. Ann asked about Rolland Moore Park and Craig said that the sidewalks and parking lot are done. He mentioned that all of the sidewalks at Lee Martinez Park and City Park are done as well. Other Business Walt mentioned an incident of a child being swept away by the water a creek in the Denver area and he wanted to make sure that we are prepared for something of this nature. Parks and Recreation Board Minutes May 23, 2007 Page 5 Correspondence Adjournment: The Board unanimously agreed to adjourn at 8:20 p.m. motion to spectfully submitted,, /-L / rl ) 4 awn Worth Administrative Aide Board Attendance Board Members: Mary Carlson, Michael Chalona, Ann Hunt, Cathy Kipp, Mark Leuker, Jessica MacMillian, Greg Miller, Walt Peeples, William Pickering City Council Representative: Kelly Ohlson Guests: None Staff: Craig Foreman, J.R. Schnelzer, Dawn Worth