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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 04/25/2012Parks & Recreation Board Meeting –April 25, 2012 Page 1 of 34 BE A GOOD STEWARD: Protect & Respect your Parks, Trails & Recreation Facilities Call Meeting to Order: Rob Cagen called the meeting to order 5:33pm Agenda Review & Items of Note: Agenda Review: Switch agenda items 5 & 6, and Bruce Henderson will speak on agenda item 7. Item of Note: • Introduction of Todd Galbate the newest member of the P&R Board. Todd lives on the southeast side of Fort Collins and has been in Fort Collins for about 10 years. He is the president of the Fossil Lake Ranch HOA. He was interested in joining the P&R Board when Radiant Park started construction in his neighborhood. He enjoys the community and wanted to help out. The Board went around the table with introductions. • Add full name and Association/Group for Disc Golf representatives on Craig’s planning information attached to the minutes. Citizen Participation: None Approval of Minutes: Discussion: None Danna Ortiz made the motion to approve the Parks & Recreation Board minutes of March 28, 2012, seconded by Shirley Christian – Minutes approved 8:0 AGENDA ITEMS: Water: Here’s My Take – Greg Speer, Save the Poudre; PowerPoint Presentation attached Greg Speer has lived in Fort Collins for 5 years, moving here from Alabama. He represents Save the Poudre: Poudre Water Keepers. They have information they want to continue to share with the P&R Board. Their mission is to protect and restore the Cache la Poudre River and it’s tributaries through scientific research, public education and stream restoration projects. The Poudre River is a working river but it’s also a recreating river with trail use, bird and wildlife watching, swimming, fishing and floating. Both fishing and floating are unrealized potential; Fort Collins is missing the boat. Across Colorado there are 30 plus whitewater/kayak play parks with more on the drawing board. Fort Collins and Loveland are the only Front Range river towns without a park. Golden Colorado is the “poster child” for water parks. In 1995 they realized the potential and invested $195K to create their water park. They are now seeing an annual economic impact of $2M, pushing to $4M with special events. Golden made the decision to protect the flows, which allowed them to have the water park. However, it’s not all about the money. A water park draws attention to the river and creates an amenity to be enjoyed by all. It also provides a controlled environment for beginning paddlers and fosters the local paddling culture. A good design includes restoration and enhancement of aquatic and riparian ecosystems. To have a regional draw you need about 5-6 weeks of 250 CSF flow. Prior to NISP, the City of Fort Collins hired a water PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD Minutes of Regular Meeting Wednesday, April 25, 2012 5:30 p.m. Council Liaison: Kelly Ohlson Staff Liaison: J.R. Schnelzer, 970-221-6301 Craig Foreman, 970-221-6618 Chair: Rob Cagen Phone: 970-689-7559 (home) / 970-482-3971 (work) Parks & Recreation Board Meeting –April 25, 2012 Page 2 of 34 park architect to come up with a plan for the river from College to the BNSF trestle; however NISP would narrow the park season so the City shelved the plan. We heard about it, but if the economic impact is $2M why give up? Based on the current flow up we feel that the City could see an economic impact of $2M if we had a water park knowing how well other communities have done. John Stokes is now working on a restoration plan for the river from Shields to Linden, improving land and animal habitat, public access, and adding a river park to the overall scheme. The Parks & Recreation Board could communicate their support to Council when the opportunity is presented. We would like to see staff moving forward on this. CSU had Dr. John Loomis study the economic impact for the summer of 2010. It’s lengthy so, I will send this information to Rob so he can share with others on the Board. Discussion Board – This subject is on our Work Plan so we’ll keep on it. Greg – It will enhance our community and quality of life. Board – I think it’s neat that you just moved here and have immersed yourself into this. Where is the NISP division? Greg – Monroe channel above Ted’s Place. Board – How are the water rights taken? Greg – It’s very involved, perhaps the Water Conservancy Team would be able to answer water right questions. Water: Here’s My Take – John Stokes, Natural Resources I have been with the City for 10 years. Though some reorganizational changes my position was changed to focus on the river. Greg spoke about river restoration; I want to be clear that this is expensive and complex with a lot of engineering issues. It will take the next 2-4 years to plan how we spend and raise money for this project. We developed a 236 page report on NISP. The Corp of Engineers plans a new statement in 2013. There were issues with how NISP would operate under real conditions and Corp wanted common basis of data. The City has been involved with reports being compiled. I also want to be clear that our plan is calling it a river park; not a white water park. We want to design something that can deal with a range of flows and are looking to create a recreation area for low to medium skilled paddlers and tubers. We don’t want to create something for big white water kayaking as it’s not necessarily good for the fish. In 2014 Shields Street bridge will be replaced; so we will be adding a parking lot and boat access at this location. It will also have a safe passage for pedestrians. Josh Ames diversion, the Colorado Water Trust and Natural Areas will remove the structure and do channel work for habitat, pulling in Sterling Natural Area taking the bank down, re-vegetating and allowing some safe overbank flooding. This will take 2-5 years for engineering and permitting the paperwork is complicated with high standards so it’s expensive and time consuming. McMurray Pond restoration has been done. The next phase will be fixing the river bank. For the section of Hickory Street Bridge to Legacy Park to College to Linden Street Stormwater, Park Planning and Natural Areas are putting in BFO offers to make continuous floating river all the way. We would modify Coy and Boat Shoot and create a fun place for people to recreate. We are modeling and engineering a $4- $6,000,000 50-100 year version to make it pretty, safe and fun. Most likely construction would start 2014 or 2015 if all goes well. Parks & Recreation Board Meeting –April 25, 2012 Page 3 of 34 CSU has an Eco System Response Model which is a scientific model which can predict the biologic parameters to see what happens in the future. We need this information for a discussion tool to know where to spend money so we know what to do on the front end to get to the back end. We are working on a big project from ELC to I-25. We are working with landowner to conserve land for habitat. There are many areas of instability where river breaks out. We are working with in-stream flow rights, DOW project, and Colorado Water Conservancy Board. In 5-10 years we hope to see a positive transformation. We developed a BFO “Mega Offer” to address a number of issues asking Council for money from KFCG, BCC, etc. we’ll be able to do some of the work, not everything and we’re raising outside funding. Discussion Board – How many diversions are there currently? John – 26 above Fort Collins Board – How do you envision fishery fitting into this? John – Fish want flow and habitat, CSU is currently collecting Trout data to know how to maintain. We have bad habitat so if this is improved it will really help. Board – Will there be river access for pedestrians? John – Yes, we won’t be adding more access points, but we’ll improve those that are already there. John – We think that with the Museum/Discovery Center at its new location will bring even more people and kids to the river. We’ve seen sky-rocketing visitation on the Poudre River. I think there’s a misperception that people don’t use the Poudre River but we see at least ½ million use the river. Now we need to figure out how we manage this to help preserve the experience. Board – Next month the Mayor should be here and Darin will be with us in July. If someone wants to hear about a topic, Rob will try to get it scheduled. Rob will see if the Water Conservancy Organization can attend. Board – Why can’t City have both issues talk at the same time? Board – We want people to feel they can speak freely at these meetings. Board – No, I mean a City “round table”, have all the various members on the different sides speak to this so as a citizen you can hear from all parties at the same time. Listening to one at a time can make you feel their way is best, when you just hear that side. Water: Here’s May Take – Bob Adams, Recreation In Recreation we use water in pools, ice rinks and showers. EPIC – 560,000 gallons of water are in the main pool 20,000 gallons of water in the therapy pool 20,000 gallons of water in the kid’s pool Senior Center – 60,000 gallons of water in the pool 2,000 gallons of water in the spa Mulberry Pool – 197,000 gallons of water in the pool 715 gallons of water in the spa City Park Pool – 212,000 gallons of water in the pool By putting in the ultraviolet system in the pools, we save a lot of water. With the cleaner water, we don’t have to backwash as much. The ice rinks use 100 gallons of water every time it’s resurfaced and both rinks are resurfaced about 17 times per day. We also have installed, at all the Recreation Facilities, low flow sinks and urinals. Parks & Recreation Board Meeting –April 25, 2012 Page 4 of 34 BFO 101 – Craig Foreman How does it work? There are seven results areas: Economic Health, Environmental Health, Community and Neighborhood Livability, Safe Community, Cultural and Recreation, Transportation and High Performing Government. The dollars are allocated to each results area by the City’s Budget Leadership Team. There are General Funds and Restricted Funds. Funds are budgeted through the BFO (Budgeting for Outcomes) process. Restricted Funds are voter approved or a fee is generated for a service such as electric rate generation, or fees for a new park. Parks and Recreation are funded from the General Fund and have to create BFO offers and compete for General Fund monies. The departments or services are the Sellers and the results teams, comprised of City staff and one citizen are Buyers. Each selling offer contains a description, justification, revenue, expenses, people, etc. and is sent to a results area. Each Buyer or Results team has to review the offers and rank them against each other and create the drilling platform. If an offer lands below the platform it is unfunded. The estimated schedule for the BFO process is: • Set desired outcomes April by Council • Forecast revenue entered in March • Results Team request for offers starts April 12th • Sellers 1st round offers due May 4th • Public outreach June 4th to 14th for initial drilling platform • Sellers final offers due June 21st • Results Teams final drilling platform due July 3rd • Recommended budget – August 14th - Darin • Public input – Sept/Nov - City Council • Adopt budget – Nov - City Council The Board will be informed of Parks and Recreation offers. Discussion Board - Is your performance appraisal linked to you being able to sell your offers? Staff – Somewhat, we have to put in offers for administrative costs. Board – How many offers are there? How many are funded? Staff – There can be as many as 600 offers. Nearly all are funded. Board – When do we add our support? Staff – Marty will come to you if help is needed for an offer. For example, we’re doing an enhancement offer for a Park Ranger. If it’s not funded we would come to you to see if it’s important to you to be funded and then ask for a recommendation. Board – When is the first time we’ll see it? Staff – I believe they go public in June. Side Note on Trail Expansion – Craig Foreman The trail expansion was going to go under I-25, but now it will be going over I-25 at Horsetooth. There were too many flood plain and environmental issues to work out that it was less expensive to actually build a bridge over the highway. This will provide year-round service and a more successful project. We have applied for a $2+M GOCO Grant for this project. Bicycle Ambassador Program Update – Bruce Henderson The Bike Ambassador Program is multifaceted and designed to educated people on safe biking. A group of individuals will be trained to help coach proper behavior on the trials and will compliment the Rangers. Nothing is fully defined yet, so any ideas are welcome. Parks & Recreation Board Meeting –April 25, 2012 Page 5 of 34 Discussion Board – Who’s funding this? Bruce – There will be a BFO offer from Transportation. Board – What are Bike Garages, how will this work? Bruce – A person would donate their time, expertise and garage in their neighborhood to help people make simple repairs to their bikes. Bruce – When Lory Park had to rebuild their trails it brought that community together which changed the culture of how the neighbors felt about the trails at Lory Park. I think this is what the Bike Ambassador program is trying to accomplish, a change in culture encouraging community involvement. Board – Dawn drafted a memo to address the e-bike issue again and the Board’s position that they should be studied on the Power and Mason Trails. STAFF UPDATES Parks Updates BFO Offers: Pkg Offer 20 Community Services 20.1 Community Services Admin & Tech Support 55 Memorial Parks 55.1 Memorial Parks 55.2 KFCG - Memorial Parks 55.4 KFCG - Roselawn Fiber Optics 79 Golf Courses 79.1 Golf Courses Parks Division: 15 Downtown Landscaping and Maintenance 15.1 Downtown Landscaping and Maintenance 15.2 KFCG - Downtown Botanical and Cleaning 15.4 Old Town Square Ice Rink 15.6 Holiday Lights 81 Outdoor Recreational Facilities and Grounds 81.1 Community Parks 81.2 Neighborhood Parks 81.3 Trail Maintenance 81.5 KFCG - New Parks 81.6 KFCG - Parks Infrastructure Improvements 81.7 KFCG - Parks Seasonal Workers 81.8 KFCG - Future Maintenance of Neighborhood Parks 81.10 KFCG - Neighborhood Parks 81.11 KFCG - 4th of July 81.13 KFCG - Shelter at Inspiration Playground 81.15 ENHANCEMENT: Senior Warehouse Worker 99 Medians 99.1 Median Maintenance 99.2 ENHANCEMENT: Median Renovations Parks & Recreation Board Meeting –April 25, 2012 Page 6 of 34 127 Parks Environmental Stewardship 127.1 Mosquito Control 127.2 ENHANCEMENT: Big Belly Recycling 127.2 ENHANCEMENT: Pet Waste Removal Forestry Division: 189 Urban Forestry 189.1 Urban Forest Management 189.2 GPS Tree Inventory/Administrative Forestry Tech 195 Contract Tree Work and Forestry Field Worker 195.1 Contract Tree Work and Forestry Field Worker 195.2 Forestry Deferred Work from Fall of 2011 Storm 203 Neighborhood Street Tree Replacement 203.1 Neighborhood Street Tree Replacement Gardens on Spring Creek: 102 Gardens on Spring Creek 102.1 Gardens on Spring Creek Services and Operations 102.2 KFCG - Gardens on Spring Creek 102.3 ENHANCEMENT: Shared Horticulture Technician 102.5 Community Garden Outreach Program - Enhancement 103 Gardens on Spring Creek Capital Project 103.1 Great Lawn Discussion Board – If they don’t fund moving the 9 holes from Edora, what’s going to happen? Staff – We feel it should be funded, if not we’ll be very disappointed. Recreation Updates BFO Offers: 2013 2014 BFO Packages/Offers Package 48 – Recreation Program Area 1 (Ice & Aquatics) Offers: 1. Edora Pool & Ice Center (EPIC) 2. EPIC .25 FTE Administrative Support Supervisor Enhancement 3. Adaptive Recreation Opportunities (ARO) (KFCG funded) 4. ARO .75 FTE Recreation Coordinator Enhancement (KFCG funded) 5. Mulberry Pool (KFCG funded) 6. City Park Pool 7. City Park Railway New Track & Train (KFCG Reserves) 8. City Park Railway Operations Parks & Recreation Board Meeting –April 25, 2012 Page 7 of 34 Package 49 – Recreation Program Area 2 (Senior Center) Offers: 1. Senior Center 2. Pottery Studio & Club Tico 3. The Farm at Lee Martinez Park 4. Senior Center Expansion (BOB Funds) Package 50 – Recreation Program Area 3 (NACC) Offers: 1. Northside Aztlan Community Center (NACC) 2. NACC Clerical Staff and Youth Programming (KFCG funded) 3. Child Development and Youth Activity Center (YAC) 4. Youth and Adult Sports Package 51 - Recreation Administration Offers: 1. Recreation leadership, finance, business 2. .5 FTE IT Support Enhancement 3. Community Relations 4. Recreation Scholarships (KFCG funded) 5. Recreation Reserves – Facility Improvements & Equipment Replacement 6. Recreation Reserves - $500,000 Senior Center Expansion 7. Special Revenue Accounts 8. Southeast Recreation Facility Study (KFCG funded) Discussion Board – Are there any issues with ADA compliance with City pools? Staff – We’re good, we made enhancements. Board – How do you help kids get better ability to play sports between competitive travel teams and schools? Where does Recreation fall? Staff – This will be part of the strategic plan for Recreation. Park Planning Updates BFO Offers: • Recreational Trail Development • Neighborhood Park Development • East Community Park Land • Southeast Community Park Design This gets tricky. We have to ask for the money now in 2013-2014 ($500,000 design money) for the master plan and public process. In 2015-2016 we would ask for construction money so we can open in 2017 and in the meantime $300,000 has to show up for O&M starting in 2017. Wildcard would be trail impact fee of about $400 on new houses. It would generate $200,000-$400,000 per year which could allow Conservation Trust funds to fund O&M for the Southeast Community Park. • Disc Golf Improvements – Enhancement Offer • Recreational Trail Impact Fee – Enhancement Offer Parks & Recreation Board Meeting –April 25, 2012 Page 8 of 34 Discussion Board – Why would a fee come as a BFO Offer? Staff – For Transparency Board – Knowing that Darin’s here in July we could talk with Marty in June so we could give our opinions to Darin. BOARD WORK PLAN ITEMS UPDATE Budget – Bruce H - Nothing more than what was discussed. Communication – Dawn T – I will do the letter for fall Recreator. The article for the Coloradoan on Disc Golf, focuses on play at the new Hughes course. I will send out a draft to Board for review. Kathleen Duff is taking over at the Coloradoan. Dawn will get all the new contact information for the next article submission. Sustainable Practices – Michael C (not available) Parks – Michael C (not available) Trails – Bruce H – nothing additional to report from the Bike Ambassador discussion Recreation – Danna O – Strategic Plan Goals & Outline to be discussed next meeting Other Projects/Program – Natural Areas – Brian C – Kelly Ohlson made a comment at a double-header we were both at that he and his wife fought for Soapstone, but he’s only been there once since it was dedicated and has never been to Bobcat Ridge which made me wonder if Council members really ever experience the Recreational Facilities and Parks. How could we involve them? Discussion: Board - The Senior Center is another good example, people need to go to the Senior Center and use it to understand what it has to offer. Even though the focus is on people 50 years and older, it’s really for people 18 and older. Going to the Senior Tsunami was very informative. NISP – Rob C – If you’re not on the mailing list for Poudre River you should get this from Gary Walker, Rob will send link. Bicycle Advisory Board Liaison Update No other news, updated Board on Ambassador Program Bullet Points • BFO 101 Update • River Plan – Recreation Plans for Poudre River – met with Greg Speer, Save the Poudre and John Stokes, Natural Areas River Master • Overview of Bike Ambassador Program Adjournment: Bruce Henderson moved to adjourn. Meeting adjourned 8:48pm. Respectfully submitted, VtÜÉÄ etÇ~|Ç Carol Rankin Administrative Support Supervisor Parks Department Board Approved the minutes, of April 25, 2012 – 5:0 Board Attendance Board Members: Ragan Adams, Rob Cagen, Brian Carroll, Shirley Christian, Todd Galbate, Bruce Henderson, Danna Ortiz, Dawn Theis Staff: Craig Foreman, JR Schnelzer, Bob Adams, Carol Rankin, John Stokes Guests: Greg Speer, Save the Poudre Parks & Recreation Board Meeting –April 25, 2012 Page 9 of 34 Parks and Recreation Board April 25, 2012 Park Planning and Development work items: The Great Outdoors Colorado River Initiative Grant was submitted by Larimer County on the 16th. The project has a total cost of about $10.6m with the GOCO grant amount being about 55% of this total. This project includes our Poudre River Trail from the east end of Horsetooth Road to the east side of I-25. Our cost estimate for the trail work and grade separated crossing of I-25 is estimated at about $1.9m with the GOCO grant request being for about $1.1m. The grant notice of award will be in June. Construction would then occur in years 2012, 2013, and 2014. Policy Plan: No new items. Budgeting for Outcomes: Sellers are now preparing their offers with the first round of offer due on May 4th. Building on Basics (BOB) Park improvement funds – 2009 funds to Roselawn Cemetery for improvements. Park improvement funds will be available in 2015. NISP: Staff is anticipating the Supplemental EIS to be late 2012? Park items: 1. Waters Way Park: Grass will be seeded the week of April 23rd. 2. Tennis court plan for neighborhood courts is being reviewed by management. 3. Registry Neighborhood Park: Final grass seeding will take place in April. 4. Radiant (was Staley) Neighborhood Park: Park is in the pilot program for The Sustainable Site Initiative program. The park is in the construction award process with construction likely to start in May. Trails: 1. Poudre Trail at Nix Farm: Staff will be developing the trail user resting area design. Natural Resources have seeded the area with native grasses. We are sensitive to this costly effort and will plan our construction of the resting area for a later date to minimize disturbance to the new grass. 2. Power Trail: Keenland underpass of the UP in approval process and in the second step of the railroad approval process. 3. Fossil Creek Trail along Stanton Creek north of Carpenter Road is nearing completion. 4. Fossil Creek Trail at east Trilby Road: The project for the trail along Trilby Road east of Lemay Avenue to a new trail underpass of Trilby Road and then new trail south to the Stanton Creek trail section is in the design phase. The project will also join the Power Trail to the Fossil Creek Trail at the new Trilby Road trail underpass. *The project has just been awarded a $200,000 grant from Colorado State Parks Trail Program. 5. Poudre Trail at Lemay: Mulberry Bridge to be replaced by CDOT. The design team has incorporated our trail bridge needs downstream of Lemay into the floodplain analysis. Latest from CDOT is they are planning for construction to start in 2013. The MPO has awarded $368,375 toward the construction of the $530,000 trail project. 6. Poudre Trail to Timnath: Scoping of the project in 2011. Staff will start to work with CSU/Environmental Learning Center for an easement for the trail to extend to Drake Road. The City is a partner with Larimer County for their GOCO River Corridors grant for the trail on the Arapaho Bend Natural Area and the grade separated crossing of I-25. 7. Engineering has the funds to reconstruct County Road #11 including our new trail underpass (our funding) to be constructed in late 2012. 8. Spring Creek Trail east of Centre Avenue to the railroad tracks. R.O.W. is working with CSU (CSURF) about the new trail easement process. We hope to acquire the easement in 2012. 9. Staff is working with the City Bicycle, Natural Resources, Communications Office and Park Maintenance staff on a plan to update our trail signage. 10. Plan Fort Collins action item – Trail Design Standards Amendments in 2011 and 2012. Update bicycle/pedestrian trail design standards to address use of trails for commuting/transportation purposes without impacting the recreation value of the trail system. Designate which trails these new standards would apply to and avoid impacts on environmentally sensitive areas. Staff has a team with Park Planning, Transportation Planning and Natural Resources to work on this item. Parks & Recreation Board Meeting –April 25, 2012 Page 10 of 34 Miscellaneous: 1. Veteran’s Plaza at SCCP. Info can be obtained at the web page of the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado, News and Events section, and into Veteran’s Plaza page. The final phase involving the installation of the monitors is happening in May. 2. Disc Golf at Hughes Stadium Course: The course at Hughes Stadium is now open. We plan on having a grand opening for the course on May 13th. 3. Disc Golf at Edora Park: Staff is working on the potential for more disc golf holes east of the railroad tracks. A site visit has occurred with Bill Wright, The Wright Life; Vince Castillo, Northern Colorado Disc Golf; and staff to review this area. Darin and several Council members toured the site last week with Light and Power staff. 4. Water Craft Course – NISP impact unknown at this time and fund raising very slow. 5. Old Fort Collins Heritage Park skate park lights – Group of users are attempting to find funding to supply lights at the skate park. 6. Bike Safety Town location determination process continues with PSD input. 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