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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 01/28/2009PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD �= ` ha Minutes' of Regular Meeting` . e Januaiy,-28, 2009� ' 413 S. Bryan Avenue 5:30 p,m. Council 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 5:35pm Agenda Review & Items of Note: Agenda was reviewed and no changes were noted. The Board welcomed the newest member, Brian Carroll. Brian is retired from the FBI, but continues to work with them as a consultant on anti -terrorism training traveling around the world. Brian and his family moved to Fort Collins 13 years ago from Chicago. After visiting other family members in Fort Collins, one of their attractions to Fort Collins was the Parks. Brian has been on the Human Relations & Citizens Review Boards. He also volunteers as a naturalist and gives tours at Bobcat Ridge and is hoping to also give tours at Lindenmeyer. Brian's house backs up to Indian Hills Park; he jogs Spring Creek Trail, and with four grandchildren has visited every soccer field; so he is pleased to be able to serve on the Parks & Recreation Board. Citizen Participation: None Approval of Minutes: Discussion: None. Motion to approve the minutes of December 3, 2008, by Bill Pickering, seconded by Ann Hunt — Minutes approved 7:0 Updates from Previous Minutes: December Meeting Questions: - Planters in downtown area, can they be purchased locally? No. The planters are specialized self -watering planters that are not produced by any local merchant. They are purchased in a joint effort with the DDA from a distributor out of Wisconsin, and are ordered from their representatives out of Denver. News Racks, installed? All but one news rack condo has been installed and that should be done by the end of the week, January 30. The free newspapers are being transferred over to the new condos, and as soon as locking mechanisms are attached by the charging vendors those newspapers will be transferred and the old racks will be removed. Parks is expecting this to be completed within the next couple of weeks. Agenda Items South College Corridor Plan — Tintothy Wilder The South College Corridor Plan focuses the development opportunities for South College Avenue between Hannony Road & Carpenter Road. Advance Planning is reaching out to all the Boards and Commissions to inform them of the Plan. The Plan involves some Boards more than others and those Boards are offering recommendations to Council. The Plan Parks & Recreation Board Meeting — January 28, 2009 Page 1 of 5 does not affect many parks or recreational facilities, but it does involve some medians and trails. The Parks & Recreation Board is welcome to provide a recommendation to Council, but it is not being requested. • Background: The Plan was City Council initiated as part of the commitment for the southwest enclave annexation. • Plan Foundations: City Plan, Transportation & Street Master Plan, South College Ave Access Control Plan, Mason Corridor Plan, Fort Collins Natural Areas Management Plan and Transit Strategic Plan. • Purpose of Plan: To articulate a common vision that meets the objectives of the many diverse stakeholders involved, including business and property owners, residents, the City, CDOT, and the broader community. • Steps in the Process: Plan Foundation, Condition & Issues, Vision, Goals, Public Involvement. There have been 8 public meetings, 2,200 surveys, one-on-one meetings, 3 newsletters, website, Plan tours, updates to City Boards, Planning & Zoning Board and City Council hearings. These steps are designed to regain the trust of the businesses and residents involved with the enclave annexation, and have open discussions regarding any issues. Existing parks and recreational facilities that are on the fringes of the Plan are: Homestead Park, Fossil Creek Community Park and Provincetown Park (future park). There are no specific city parks within the Plan area. There are opportunities to provide connectivity for South College neighborhoods and businesses to the Fossil Creek Trail. There has been a very good response to developing trail connections. The Fossil Creek Trail would be located on the edge of the Redtail Grove Natural Area, with a spur connection to the Skyway Development. The medians may impact Parks with maintenance, but the design of the medians is developed by the State and with some of their regulations, the maintenance on the medians could be minimal. The Plan is designed to improve South College Avenue, but preserve the unique shops. We will be working with businesses to implement a Plan that works in partnership with their needs. There will be more functional pedestrian access and multi -functional transportation needs. The framework outlines future possibilities of the corridor with transportation improvements. The Plan would provide a south gateway into Fort Collins, and design standards are being developed for this gateway. Some possible design standards would include a 50' setback with landscaping and multi -use path for both pedestrians and bicycles, and transit sites. The appearance design proposes clusters of trees instead of the current linear look. Infrastructure upgrades will occur incrementally through individual property redevelopment and comprehensively through major capital projects. Private development will pay its fair share without penalizing progress. Creation of one or more special districts will finance improvements through a reliable revenue source, thus spreading the cost of improvements out over time and reducing the initial cost impact on property owners or developers. Discussions/Questions: Since College Avenue is a State highway, is it regulated by the State? The City will review, but the State regulates signals, access points and speed. Will the City maintain the medians? There is usually a two year developer warranty and after that Parks takes over the maintenance. Do you anticipate more residential and commercial building? Yes, our surveys show support for residential and businesses; especially a supermarket. Do you have full cooperation with the businesses along South College Avenue? We have some cooperation, but are continuing to work with them on how we'll make things happen. Financial issues still have to be addressed. How does Parks budget for any maintenance they would have to provide? We have a good idea of what it would cost to maintain trails and medians and those costs would be built into a BFO offer. Parks & Recreation Board Meeting — January 28, 2009 Page 2 of 5 Is there an Urban Renewal Authority (URA) for the entire area or just specific areas? We're in a wait and see mode, we can't commit to any details yet. Will there be Tax Incentive Financing (TIFs) to encourage development? Yes, probably, but the highway improvements would be a Capital Project. Will there be anymore underpasses under College Avenue to connect trails? Not on this project. Trail system would be neighborhood development, so the trails will meet up with signals. How wide are the bike lanes going to be? The Plan is calling for 8' bike lane with a 9' parkway and an 8' sidewalk, which would give the option for bicycles to ride on the sidewalk or the street. Is the 8' bike lane standard for all streets? There are differences if the street is a minor or major arterial. Craig will find out what those differences are and get back to the Board. BFO 101—Allocation of Dollars — CraiQForeman The City will be starting the BFO process for the 2010/2011 budget cycle. Structure of the BFO process is: There are 7 Results Teams: Safe Community Cultural & Recreational Opportunities — Parks & Recreation fall into this Results Team High Performing Government Transportation Economic Health Neighborhood Livability Environmental Health Result Teams are made up of City Staff, typically including someone from Finance. The Team members are educated on departments, and their needs, that would be making an offer. Sellers (Departments) write up an offer and present the offer to the Buyers (Results Teams). The Buyers review the offer and determine if they will be funded or not. Selling offers with Restricted Funds that do not use any General Fund money have a better chance of having their offer accepted. Sometimes it can be confusing as to why a fund from one area can't interchange with a fund from another area, and that is due to City Charter. Restricted Funds can not be used to fund the General Fund. So if there is a budget of say $6,000,000 for a Result Team there could be a possibility of $2,000,000 in restricted funds so in reality there is only $4,000,000 available from the General Fund. GENERAL FUND NEEDS RESTRICTED FUNDS Parks Conservation Trust Recreation Parkland Fees Museum Golf Another example would be if the voters approved the building of a new pool. The pool could be built with capital project restricted funds, but the only way it could be maintained would be through an accepted BFO offer needing General Fund dollars. This is where it can get hard, and sometimes a Seller has to get inventive and team up with another Seller to make funding work. The Results Teams may have a Seller further explain their offer and/or adjust their requested funding. Once all the offers have been reviewed by the Results Teams they are placed on a drilling platform which is sent to the Leadership Team. The Leadership Team will review all the offers and may ask the Results Team to re-evaluate Parks & Recreation Board Meeting — January 28, 2009 Page 3 of 5 some offers. Once the offers are "final" they are again presented to the Leadership Team and discussed with Council. The public is involved throughout the BFO process. There can be several times that the offers are moved back and forth and re -prioritized on the drilling platform until the Leadership Team and Council feel the offers on the drilling platform make the most sense for the budget. Key Dates in the BFO process for the P&R Board: — February/March — Mike Freeman's Questions — March/April — Staff Offers to Results Teams (an offer will be brought to P&R Board Meeting for example) — August — Recommended Drilling Platforms — September/October — Public Input Di scussion/Questions: Carol will provide the Cultural & Recreational Opportunities section from the 2008/2009 BFO manual and send to the Board. Carol will resend the letter from Mike Freeman regarding the Board and Commission Involvement in 2020/2011 BFO Process. Policy Plan Update — Craije Foreman Craig met with Kelly Ohlson on environmental additions to the Policy Plan. Marty Heffernan is re -writing this section for better clarity. The 4 areas to address are: • Air Quality • Solid Waste • Climate Action Plan • Green Building We will try to have the Parks & Recreation Policy Plan on the Council Agenda for February 17. If any Board members are able to attend the Council meeting, it would be nice to have the support. We will keep you posted, but if it follows the typical time line, it will probably be up for discussion around 9:00pm. Discussion/Questions: None Project Updates The 2008 Citizen Survey results have been published. J.R. Schnelzer wanted to share some highlights. The City Overall — as a place to live — 94% Good -Very Good The City Overall — available recreational opportunities — 85% Good -Very Good The City Overall — Quality of Life — 90% Good -Very Good The City Overall — Visual Attraction — 92% Good -Very Good Recreational & Cultural Programs & Facilities Recreational Trails — 95% Good -Very Good — We're Above the National & Front Range Comparisons Parks — 93% Good -Very Good — We're Above National/Similar to Front Range Comparisons Gardens on Spring Creek — 91 % Good -Very Good (no comparisons available) Golf — 85% Good -Very Good — We're above National Comparisons/Front Range was not available Athletic Fields — 88% Good -Very Good — We're above National Comparisons/Front Range was not available Parks & Recreation Board Meeting — January 28, 2009 Page 4 of 5 Cemeteries — 79% - Good -Very Good — We're similar to National Comparisons/Front Range was not available Correspondence - None Adjournment — Motion for meeting adjournment Mark Leuker, seconded Michael Chalona — Meeting adjourned 7:33pm. Respectfully submitted, ` 6i 1 U-e i��itti Je Carol Rankin Administrative Support Supervisor % Parks DepartmentQ����hcht°� Board Attendance Board Members: Fred Bitting, Brian Carroll, Michael Chalona, Ann Hunt, Mark Leuker, Greg Miller, William Pickering Staff: J.R. Schnelzer, Craig Foreman, Carol Rankin, Steve Budner Guests: Timothy Wilder, Senior City Planner — Advanced Planning Parks & Recreation Board Meeting — January 28, 2009 Page 5 of 5