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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 12/03/2008Council Liaison: Kelly Ohlson Staff Liaison: Craig Foreman, 221-6618 President: Michael Chalona Phone: 490-2335 (home) 472-8954 (work) Call Meeting to Order: Mike Chalona called meeting to order 5:38pm Agenda Review & Items of Note: Mary Carlson's P&R Board membership term ended this year. The Board Members acknowledged Mary Carlson's years of service to the P&R Board and presented her with a cake and her name plate. Citizen Participation: 14 CSU Students attended the meeting for their class, Natural Resources History and Policy. Approval of Minutes: Mary Carlson moved for approval of the October 22 minutes. Jessica McMillan seconded — Minutes Approved 7:0 Updates: None Agenda Items A. Winter Work Plans J.R. Schnelzer talked about the work done in the winter months in Parks, Forestry, Cemetery and Horticulture Center. 1) Parks -General • All restrooms and irrigations systems are winterized for the season. Two restrooms, City Park playground and Spring Canyon playground, remain open because they were designed for year around use. • Mowers are being converted into snow brooms. Sanders fitted onto equipment. • Employees attend conference/training such as: RMRTA, Pro Green, weekly in-house topics and are updated and trained on the snow removal plan for the year. • Continued work on achieving certification as an Audubon sanctuary from Audubon International for Rolland Moore, Spring Canyon, Edora and Fossil Creek. City Park was the first Community Park in Colorado to achieve this status. • Winter hours and light settings are in place at play courts. They are available with lights until 9:00 pm at Spring Canyon, Rolland Moore, Edora and Warren parks. • Continue leaf removal and general cleanup in parks, facilities and medians. • Flower bed winterization - deadheading, pruning and mulching. • Continue seven day coverage throughout the fall and winter except Christmas day. P&R Board Minutes — Dec 3, 2008 Page 1 of 6 Highlights from Park Districts: • Fossil Creek District — The water feature is being renovated. The current design has some issues with water quality, which need to be addressed. The plan is to not allow standing water, and add some spray features. • Southeast District — Install a new informational kiosk for the Disc Golf course at Edora that will feature a map of the course, rules and etiquette. • Northside District — There will be an electrical line to the shed at Rolland Moore for lights and a block heater to store a snow broom at that location eliminating the need to trailer a broom to the Senior Center, which will help with fuel consumption and promote environmental stewardship. • Downtown District — Finalizing 2009 flower order for Old Town Square and Downtown including 58 new plants pots. In addition, the DDA is looking at expanding the lighting downtown out from College Avenue to high business areas such as Oak Street. There has also been discussion about leaving the lights up all year so they can be used during special events downtown. Forestry has given their okay as long as they are taken down every 2 years and refreshed. • City Park District — Monitoring Sheldon Lake for the availability to skate. City Park South ballfield has been redesigned for baseball with a grass infield, turf maps will be utilized to hopefully allow for earlier play. • Southwest District — Install fencing at Spring Canyon Park to control traffic flow around the north cul-de-sac. • Front Office — Start taking reservations for ballfield and turf field usage for the upcoming spring/summer season. 2) Forestry • Pruning is being done around town on the City trees. • The Pine Beetle attacks on city and private property is being monitored. After a survey, it appears that less than 5% of the trees will be lost. Training for staff and licensed arborists will be taking place during this winter. Private property owners with Beetle issues, will be updated, via a mailing, as to what rating the trees receive A, B, & C based on the number of beetle hits per area of trunk, and if trees need to be removed. • Forestry began stockpiling large diameter wood at Hoffman Mill for chipping. This pilot program resulted in 800 cubic yards of material being diverted from the landfill. They are identifying a budget so this program can be continued in 2009. 3) Horticulture Center • Holiday light display was installed at the Gardens. • The Garden of Eatin' is currently being grated to accommodate for a storm drainage issue. Once the grating is complete, the Garden of Eatin' will be planted with eatable plants and fruit bearing trees. There will be a outdoor "kitchen" built and programs will be designed with chefs to show how to prepare items from the garden. They are also planning to have a section for international plants and plants across the United States. P&R Board Minutes — Dec 3, 2008 Page 2 of 6 4) Cemetery • Normal winterizing work clearing irrigation systems. • They are also working on being certified for green burials. Green burials mean no embalming, the body has to be in a shroud or cardboard casket... something that will bio-degrade; and they can't be in a vault. We are looking at a system which will allow us to keep the earth from continually sinking and we feel that if this system is allowed, we'll be able to be certified for green burials at Roselawn. Discussion/Questions Jessica MacMillan was curious if we bought our large pots locally. J.R. said they are ordered from a manufacturer in Denver, since they are specialized pots that self water. She thought perhaps we could/should check with some of the local garden centers. Michael Chalona felt it might not be possible since they are manufactured. J.R. will check into the possibility of ordering locally. William Pickering inquired about the news racks for the downtown area. J.R. said they are here, and weather permitting should be installed next week. William Pickering was also curious about staff levels in the winter. The seasonal staff is substantially downsized in the winter, but several remain on for snow removal as part of the snow team. B. Policy Plan After a preliminary look at our Policy Plan, the Council wanted us to re -address a few environmental issues. We will address the issues, but we still want to keep the data somewhat general, so that as new innovations or ideals change we can move with the changes and not held back due to verbiage. The 4 areas to address are: • Air Quality • Solid Waste • Climate Action Plan • Green Building We will add the following verbiage into the Policy Plan. Air Quality The development, operation, and maintenance of the Parks and Recreation System shall support the policies in the City's Air Quality Plan. Parks and Recreation shall proactively identify and implement actions that improve Fort Collins' air quality. Solid Waste The development, operation and maintenance of the Parks and Recreation System shall support the City's Solid Waste Reduction Program. Parks and Recreation shall proactively identify and implement actions that reduce, reuse and recycle. P&R Board Minutes — Dec 3.2008 Page 3 of 6 Climate Action Plan The development, operation, and maintenance of the Parks and Recreation System shall support the City's Climate Action Plan. Parks and Recreation shall proactively identify and implement actions that reduce Fort Collins' contribution to total global greenhouse emissions. • Green Building The development, operation, and maintenance of the Parks and Recreation System's buildings shall comply with the City's 2008 `Building Design Standards". Parks and Recreation shall proactively identify and implement actions so that new buildings over 5,000 gross feet meet LEED Gold Certification. Once we've made the appropriate adjustments to the Policy Plan, we'll repackage it for Council approval at the January 20 Council meeting. D iscussion/Questions Michael Chalona was curious about the Green Building criteria. He said that John Armstrong is a great contact and valuable resource for this type of data. Craig Foreman was already in touch with John and does feel that we can take what they've learned in the private sector and adapt it to our Parks. Michael also said he had some websites that had good information about the LEED EB program which is changing to the LEED O&M and will get those website addresses to Craig. C. Registry Ridge Just a reminder we are having an open house with the Registry Ridge neighbors to begin the design process for their park. The meeting is set for December 11 th from 5:00 pm to 7:30 pm at their Club House. Staff will have a site map, information on typical park features to show people, etc. No formal presentation will be made, so people can attend anytime. The Club House address is 1332 Bon Homme Richard Drive. Traveling south on Shields Street, you would go past the Trilby Road stop light to the second turn to the right (west) which is Bon Homme Richard Drive. The Club House is about 3 blocks west on the right side of the road. D. Bicvele Advisory Committee David "DK" Kemp would like to have a representative from the P&R Board to sit on the Bicycle Advisory Committee. Greg Miller will represent the P&R Board, with Michael Chalona as alternate. They will both attend the March meeting to find out the details of the Advisory Committee and will make a final decision as to which one will be able to be the representative. E. 2008 Accomplishments The Board reviewed the 2008 Accomplishments and did not have any changes to the document. William Pickering made a motion to approve the 2008 Accomplishments, Jessica MacMillan seconded. Motion was approved by Board 7:0 P&R Board Minutes — Dec 3, 2008 Page 4 of 6 Proiect Updates Disc Golf— Bill Wright is working to do a course layout at CSU's Hughes Stadium for an 18-hole Disc Golf Course. Once this is secure, Park Planning will work with Bill on design plans for the course. Provincetown Park — We're in the final design and starting into the bid processes. Nix Farm Trail — Staff and a contractor will do a test section to place recycled concrete in the relocated trail location where the lime deposit is located. This should secure the ground to allow for the trail to be placed in the new location. Concrete will be done when weater permits in early 2009. Poudre Trail East of Shields Street — An easement has been secured from the land owner to move the trail away from the river at the washout area. Staff is now starting into the bidding process to replace the old asphalt with concrete. The conversion can happen when a contractor is selected and weather permits in early 2009. Poudre Trail South of Harmony — Staff has started to layout the trail from Keenland Drive to Trilby Road. The section of trail will be constructed in 2009. Fossil Creek Trail South of Trilby Road — Staff has started to layout this trail section. Construction of the gravel trail will occur in 2009. Concessionaires — We received 5 proposals for the concessionaire at Southridge. There are 3 viable proposals, so the position should be filled soon to begin January 2009. Discussion/Questions Greg Miller inquired about how many acres a Disc Golf Course required. Craig said about 1 acre per hole. Greg asked the CSU students in attendance if they played disc golf and if so, if they played at Edora 10 of the 14 students replied that they did play and they played predominantly at Edora. They do travel to play, but prefer to play closer to or in Fort Collins. Other Business Jean Helburg will be retiring. Her last day is January 1, 2009. We will keep the Board informed of any event in her honor. Jessica MacMillan inquired about what happened with the tree near Spring Creek at Spring Park. J.R. said the initial clean up was requested by Stormwater and the neighbor also wanted it cleaned up. Parks did their normal trimming around the area, Forestry did prune the tree and remove the suckers, and then the church mowed under the tree up to the creek. Correspondence — None Adjournment— Board adjourned: 6:50pm Respectfully submittetl� """" Carol Rankin )) p� t Administrative Support Supervisor Parks Department P&R Board Minutes — Dec 3, 2008 Page 5 of 6 Board Attendance Board Members: Fred Bitting, Mary Carlson, Michael Chalona, Ann Hunt, Jessica MacMillan, Greg Miller and William Pickering Staff: Craig Foreman, J.R. Schnelzer, Carol Rankin Guests: 14 CSU Students for their class: Natural Resources History & Policy vW�.,ti, � 's �-A 0� I tti_ a 710 P&R Board Minutes — Dec 3, 2008 Page 6 of 6