Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 02/22/2017Parks & Recreation Board Meeting – February 22, 2017 Page 1 of 5 BE A GOOD STEWARD: Protect & Respect your Parks, Trails & Recreation Facilities Call Meeting to Order: Scott Sinn called the meeting to order 5:31pm. Agenda Review & Items of Note: None Citizen Participation: None Approval of Minutes: Bruce Henderson made the motion to approve the Parks & Recreation Board minutes of January 25, 2017, seconded by Jessica MacMillan – Minutes Approved: 7:0 Meeting Summary  The Board elected Chair, Vice Chair & Secretary officers for the year of 2017, as well as a Bicycle Advisory Committee liaison. The 2017 officers were approved by the Board with a vote of 7:0.  The Board received an update on the Capital Expansion Fees/ Park Impact Fee study findings and recommendations for City Council. The Capital Expansion fee helps to maintain the expected level of service in Fort Collins. The Capital Expansion fees requires a new development to pay a proportionate share of infrastructure costs which go toward neighborhood and community parks, fire, police and general government facilities. In 2016 changes/updates were put in place to include updating formula inputs for current asset information, accurately account for value differences in land values and evaluate two options for general government, fire & police, to estimate construction costs or insured building values.  The Board provided reviewed and supported Park Planning & Development’s plan for a new method of project accounting for Neighborhood Park Development, starting with two projects: Sidehill Park planning and the Streets Facility Park. The Park Planning & Development proposal was approved by the Board with a vote of 7:0. PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD MINUTES Regular Meeting Wednesday, February 22, 2017 5:30 p.m. Board Chair: Scott Sinn – 2016 scott.sinn@ymail.com Council Liaison: Gino Campana – gcampana@fcgov.com Staff Liaisons: Mike Calhoon, 970-416-2079 – mcalhoon@fcgov.com Kurt Friesen, 970-221-6618 – kfriesen@fcgov.com Bob Adams, 970-221-6354 – badams@fcgov.com Parks & Recreation Board Meeting – February 22, 2017 Page 2 of 5 Full Minutes AGENDA ITEMS: Parks & Recreation Board Elections  Chair – Scott Sinn  Vice Chair – Jessica MacMillan  Secretary – Kelly Smith  Rob Cagen made the motion to approve the Parks & Recreation Board candidate slate, seconded by Bruce Henderson – Motion Approved 7:0 Capital Expansion/Park Impact Fee Update – Tiana Smith and Noelle Currell After working with Park Planning since our last presentation in September, we had discovered the recommendations were not reflecting the actual cost of parks at today’s construction values. Capital Expansion Fees (CEFs) & Utility Plant Investment Fees are charges imposed on new development to support the cost of providing public services and additional infrastructure to support new development. The CEFs requires a new development to pay a proportionate share of infrastructure costs which go toward neighborhood and community parks, fire, police and general government facilities. Revenue for each fee can only be used for the stated purpose of the fee. Every 4 years the CEFs will be studied and updated before Budgeting for Outcomes so leadership & council can understand the impact their decisions will have. As an example, Twin Silos Park at $15.8M was funded by Community Parks CEFs. Twin Silos cost per acre of $326k was significantly higher than $151k cost per acre of Spring Canyon Park. The cost per acre does not include the cost of land itself, but the cost of development. If fees are not increased as construction and design costs increase, funding shortfalls will occur when developing the next community park. Discussion Board – The formula used for Parks Fees uses “Equivalent Single Family Detached Homes.” Have you considered using individual people instead of households? Perhaps that would provide a more realistic ratio for usage? Staff – We do factor into the average number of people per dwelling unit. The thing that has happened is we are using data from the 2010 census, which we don’t believe accurately reflects the growth in Fort Collins. The number of dwelling units also has some discrepancies, but we felt it was a more accurate measure than the existing census data. Board – Community is going to have severe sticker shock. We’ve been able to provide world class parks for years and now we just cannot afford them. Have you considered resale fees instead of just new construction? Families move all over town. People who build new homes shouldn’t bear all the weight of the cost. Staff – That isn’t something that we’ve looked into. Board – The comparison of other sister cities was helpful to put the increases into perspective. The cost per acre information is hard to grasp, but the clarification was helpful to understand the increases in construction costs. Staff – Council has made a policy decision that growth will pay for growth. They’re not paying for the impact; they’re investing in this community. Board – Does the University pay additional for infrastructure improvements for the new stadium? Staff – They definitely paid towards utilities & streets, but we’re not sure about anything else. Parks & Recreation Board Meeting – February 22, 2017 Page 3 of 5 2017-18 Neighborhood Park Budget Offer - Sidehill Park – Kurt Friesen We will now be going to council to ask for the remainder to be appropriated for the Sidehill Park. Park Planning would like to change implementation for projects by setting up parent business unit, called New Park Site Development, for child projects to allow flexibility when funding future parks. We can then use New Park Site Development funds to plan Sidehill Park and appropriate further funding to complete the project in 2018. Sidehill Park is planned in the Bucking Horse development near the intersection of Timberline & Drake. We will also be able to complete the Streets Park located at the Streets Maintenance Facility near the intersection of Vine & Lemay using these funds. The City Council had approved $150,000 for this Streets Park project. We are learning from our mistakes by not building partial parks, such as Richards Lake Park. The original City Manager’s recommendation to develop Sidehill Park was $1.8 Million. Our new proposal is $900k for Sidehill Park & $900k for Streets Park. This is intended to complete Sidehill planning (design, raw water shares, land, etc.) Discussion Board – So you’re asking for a different process for funding this park? Staff – Slightly. Really what I’m asking for is instead of the $1.8 Million going to one project; I’d like it go to into a wider pot that will only be spent on Neighborhood Parks. This will allow for wiggle room and the ability to be responsive to opportunity projects based on Council’s direction that doesn’t fall into the Parks & Recreation Plan. We’re trying to be responsive as there is a lot of interest in the Streets Park site. Another example is Avery Park, which was another improvement project started based on the direction of Council that we weren’t originally involved in. Board – Would it make sense to ask council to do this for all parks? Staff – We’re going to work on transitioning once Trailhead Park is finished to do this for all parks. From that point on this new process will streamline our accounting system and give us a little more flexibility. But we will still be bound by offer language, the Neighborhood Park Program & the Parks & Recreation Plan. Board – I have one small concern. I think this approach is really creative, but, as a resident, how do you prioritize projects? Staff – How we do that is based on our Parks & Rec Plan. But we have recently encountered opportunity projects that are not within the plan and have partnered with other departments to tackle those. We are getting projects completed and using resources well. We’re also trying to help Council understand the differences between parks refresh, life-cycle & new park development. Board – I’m worried that this approach may become “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” If the public realizes that going to Council gets them a park, how will you be able to maintain your plan? Staff – I’m not worried about that with this current project. Part of the reason we’re moving toward this approach is to be able to respond to Councils requests in regards to Neighborhood Parks in a responsible way. Yes, there may be a delay going forward. But that’s also how this system works. We don’t start a project until we have fund secured. We don’t have the funding to start Sidehill Park right now. Motion – Bruce Henderson made a motion to approve Kurt’s proposal to the City Council Seconded – Kelly Smith Vote: Approved, 7:0 Parks & Recreation Board Meeting – February 22, 2017 Page 4 of 5 STAFF UPDATES: Recreation  Update on Senior Center Security – Started November 7th to have a central entrance point. There have been some complaints, but we have seen more pass scans to get an accurate accounting of how many people are using the facility. We were also able to identify expired passes. We had 17 engagement meetings with the public to discuss the policy change with Senior groups. Moving access TV & flyer rack to the front lobby area. It will be a “pay to play” facility where you should be paying a fee to get past the front desk. This will also help to keep the building secure and help us to know who is in the building.  Mass Registration Day - $192,000 record sales. Total enrollments were down a little bit. 67% used online registration. Top areas Child Dev, Trips & Travel, Fitness, Farm, & Youth Sports  Aqua Fitness & Aquatics are down 50%. We are going to be doing some research to identify why. In theory it is the EPIC closure & the therapy pool.  EPIC & Mulberry locker rooms will be getting a facelift. We’re also going to ask for more help with cleaning the Senior Center locker rooms during the day. Discussion Board – Are you going to reconfigure the front desk? Staff – We are going to be creating signage to indicate a Daily Admission workstation & Registration specific workstations. Board – Are you doing more outreach with the Senior Center groups in advance of this new policy? Staff – We are meeting with all 17 groups again and have brought it up the past 3 months on Rec on Record. Board – Both of my kids have been in the swimming lessons program and they were amazing. I also liked the survey you sent out. That was a great idea. They took them at Mulberry & Senior Center Park Planning  We had a great retreat to talk about vision and goals. We also invited folks from other departments to provide input.  Gave presentation to CSU on the Whitewater Park. It was interesting. A lot of great questions and feedback.  Twin Silos Park finally got our Army Corps of Engineer permit to do the creek work. Given the good weather there is a chance we may be able to complete 90% of the creek work before spring runoff.  The Shields to College tunnel to connect the Fossil Creek Trail has 8-10 feet left to go.  East Community Park – Drake & Ziegler - moving towards maintenance plan  Poudre River Project. Moving forward with the art. There has been a flurry of activity for FEMA and Army Corps of Engineers Discussion Board – Have there been any cost increases on that? Staff – No. The longer it takes the more we pay, but we haven’t encountered anything that will add to the time & cost of the project. Board – Maple Hill Park, there have been issues with speeding in the area near the proposed entrance to the park. What are you going to be doing for traffic control? Staff – The entrance is a little further north, but I know that the Streets department is looking at ways for improving that street. The park won’t address the issues you’ve described because we’re north of that area Parks & Recreation Board Meeting – February 22, 2017 Page 5 of 5 Parks  Christmas Tree Recycling Program – 504 cubic yards of Christmas Trees ground to mulch  On Site Chipping – 5400 cubic yards, 5470, 504 Xmas, o In the last 2 years we have not taken a single piece of wood to the landfill. Before that it was only 1 very large cottonwood that had a concrete plug. o Reused on City Projects & on Mulch Day $5 to load it up  March/April – Emerald Ash Borer Update & Plan (20 mins)  Successful Holiday Season – Started taking the lights down last Wednesday. Takes about 3 weeks. Downtown Skating Rink, discussed plans for improving for next year. This year the Bohemian Foundation specifically asked for no marketing. City park pond was open for a month.  CSU Baseball is out practicing on City Park South. Discussion Board – Do we know how successful was the Mall skating rink? Staff – We don’t know Board – How to make sure that City Park Pond is safe to skate on? How do you keep people from being out there when it’s safe? Staff – Our rangers measure the ice and place signs out about the safety. New Business  Gardens on Spring Creek are looking at doing the Great Lawn & Stage & naming the stage the Bob & Joyce Everett stage. Jessica contacted George Lundeen sculpture studio. Helping to raise fund for a bronze statue on a bench, that will be placed as a part of the audience in the Great Lawn. Bullet Points  Election of Officers  Impact Fees Presentation  Sidehill Park Proposal Adjournment: Meeting adjourned 7:27pm Respectfully submitted, Coleen Elliott Board Attendance Board Members: Ragan Adams, Rob Cagen, Mary Carlson, Bruce Henderson, Kenneth Layton, Jessica MacMillan, Scott Sinn Staff: Bob Adams, Mike Calhoon, Kurt Friesen, Coleen Elliott Guest: Robert Kingsbury – Observing Presenters: Tiana Smith, Noelle Currell