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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 09/26/2016Parks & Recreation Board Meeting – September 26, 2016 Page 1 of 4 BE A GOOD STEWARD: Protect & Respect your Parks, Trails & Recreation Facilities Call Meeting to Order: Scott Sinn called the meeting to order 5:30pm. Agenda Review & Items of Note: None Citizen Participation: None Approval of Minutes: Jessica MacMillan made the motion to approved the Parks & Recreation Board minutes of August 24, seconded by Bruce Henderson – Minutes Approved: 6:0 Meeting Summary  The Board was updated on the changes/updates to the Capital Expansion fees and the Transportation Expansion fee; which help 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 recommended changes for the Transportation Expansion fee are to use Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) as the basis for determining impact, instead of trips generated. Additionally, simplify the Transportation Impact fee schedule from 43 categories to a handful; residential (by size of unit) and two broad categories for commercial and industrial and increase fee to include additional improvements.  The Board was updated on the $500,000 grant awarded to the City for an area-wide Brownfield Assessment in 2015 which required prioritizing and selecting eligible sites, performing environmental site assessments, conducting preliminary cleanup planning and allowing for public participation. Brownfields are abandoned, idle, or underused properties, where the reuse or redevelopment may be hindered by real or perceived environmental impacts; with the goal being to protect human health and the environment and promote redevelopment.  The Board reviewed and voted on their 2017 Work Plan. The 2017 Work plan was approved by the Board with a vote of 6:0.  The Board was updated on the 2017-2018 City Manager’s Recommended Budget going to Council. PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD MINUTES Regular Meeting Monday, September 26, 2016 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 – September 26, 2016 Page 2 of 4 Full Minutes AGENDA ITEMS: Impact Fee – Dean Klinger, Manager of Capital Projects Engineering & Tiana Smith, Revenue & Project Manager Capital Expansion fees help to maintain the expected level of service in Fort Collins. As new people arrive and businesses are built they must “buy in” to the level of service; which equates to what it costs vs. who’s using it whether that’s a park, facility or equipment. 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. Most recently, the data used was cost per square foot applied across assets which was not reflective of the full value. We are working with consultants to get accurate data and costs for the first quarter of 2017. We are also integrating Transportation Capital Expansion fee into the update. Street Oversizing Capital Expansion fee was adopted in 1979; and we’re changing the name to Transportation Expansion fee to more accurately reflect what the fee covers. The recommended changes are to use Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) as the basis for determining impact, instead of trips generated. Additionally, simplify the Transportation Impact fee schedule from 43 categories to a handful; residential (by size of unit) and two broad categories for commercial and industrial. Increase fee to include additional improvements. In looking at VMT there are two options; Methodology Change Only Option or Methodology Change Plus Option. The Change only option is calculated on the City’s Capital Improvement Plan and assumes funding for streets and intersection improvements at similar levels to the existing program. Due to the methodology change, residential fees increase while commercial and industrial fees decrease. The Change Plus option adds the proportionate cost attributable for mitigation of development impacts to new development of additional intersection turn lanes, signals, signal timing, and Advanced Traffic Management Systems, Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Transit improvements. Residential fees increase significantly, while commercial and industrial fees increase slightly. Discussion Board – Will fees slow growth? Staff – Not sure, it depends on demand. Board – It appears that the small houses look like they get a large percentage raise which seems opposed to the Affordable Housing Act? Staff – This is valuable feedback we’ll take into consideration. Board – When neighborhoods don’t get a park for 10-15 years do they complain that they’re not getting what they feel they paid for? Staff – Yes. Board – Is this concept of level of service new? Staff – No, it’s been used for a while. Board – When are these changes happening? Staff – There is a Council work session on November 21, which if approved in early December would mean implementation January 1. Board – Is O&M concurrent with capital expansion fees? Staff – O&M is paid by sales tax. Northside Revitalization – Bonnie Pierce, Environmental Regulatory Specialist The City was awarded a $500,000 grant for an area-wide Brownfield Assessment in 2015 which required us to prioritize and select eligible sites, perform environmental site assessments, conduct preliminary cleanup planning and allow for public participation. Brownfields are abandoned, idle, or underused properties, where the reuse or redevelopment may be hindered by real or perceived environmental impacts; with the goal being to protect human health and the environment and promote redevelopment. The City developed a cooperative partnership with the Fort Collins Downtown Development Authority, Larimer County, a Project consulting team of TRC and A-Train and City Staff from eight departments. Major steps for the project will consisted of: • Site selection and approval • Conducting approximately 20 Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs) • Conducting approximately 4 to 6 Phase II ESAs including cleanup options and cost estimates Parks & Recreation Board Meeting – September 26, 2016 Page 3 of 4 • Providing assistance to project participants with redevelopment planning • Conducting public participation Site selection steps consisted of: • Compiling inventory of potential brownfield sites • Developing scoring system for prioritizing sites • Recruiting interested property owners and prospective property purchasers • Screening potential sites using TBL scoring system and make recommendations to project coordination team • Project coordination team selects sites • Preparing site eligibility determination application for EPA approval EPA Site eligibility criteria are: • It must meet the technical definition of a brownfield • The property owner: • Cannot have caused the contamination • Must agree to provide access to the property to take environmental samples • Must agree that all grant-funded materials be available to the public The Northside was selected as the project area based on history of past industrial land uses. The project area includes the historic sugar beet factory, Vine Drive Redevelopment, the Poudre River Plan and Railroad spurs and lines. We developed the scoring system to rank sites; which narrowed the sites to 20. There will be four phases of public outreach. Discussion Board – Will you include interactions with other groups who are also improving the Poudre River like the Heritage Alliance funded by US Parks? Staff – We will be doing more outreach and can include this group. We started with Boards and are now going outward to property owners. Board – How did you get to 20 from 220? Staff – By using the scoring system to rank the sites Work Plan 2017 Board members each took a section of the Work Plan for review and updating and sent their updates to Carol to compile for Board review prior to the meeting in an effort to save time at the meeting. At this time, is there a motion? Motion – Jessica MacMillan made a motion to approve the revised work plan as proposed. Seconded – Bruce Henderson Discussion – Board reviewed plan online and made minor adjustments to wording. Vote: Approved, with the minor amendments as discussed, 6:0 BFO Update For more information on the BFO 2017-2018 City Manager’s Recommended Budget going to Council, please go to: http://www.fcgov.com/citymanager/budget.php Page 67 of the recommended budget shows the Culture & Recreation Offers that are being recommended to Council. Parks is happy overall as our base offers are funded and we’ll get what we need to do the work. Although the park maintenance building is not part of the Twin Silo project we are hopeful to get it approved for the East Community Park site in mid-budget cycle since it’s already paid for with the impact fee. When Parks redistricts to accommodate for the upcoming parks, the site for the East Community Park makes more sense for the maintenance shop anyway. Parks also had the enhancements funded for: 3.5 FTEs for the Twin Silo’s Park; 4 FTEs for a Forestry Crew, Forestry contractual pruning, EAB Pre-infestation, Senior Park Ranger, Publicity/Marking Tech, ADA Compliance for playgrounds and a Landscape Architect position. Offers that came in below the line of concern were for the Parks and Forestry Replacement Fleet. Parks has to pay Fleet Services and in turn Fleet Services pays the lease; but somehow the dots didn’t connect; so the lease payment is funded for Fleet, but Parks & Forestry didn’t get funded to pay Fleet. Recreation only had Aquatics program not above the line and that was due to lack of data. Recreation did get an Ice Program Leader which was great with increased number of programs we anticipate that this will reduce overtime. Parks & Recreation Board Meeting – September 26, 2016 Page 4 of 4 STAFF UPDATES Parks Updates  Poured in Place at Spring Canyon Park has been renovated.  Conversion at Avery Park is starting.  Parks will be coordinating abandoned property on public grounds to help streamline the process.  A tennis court at City Parks has been converted to four pickleball courts. Recreation Updates  The 3rd Thurs of each month Recreation holds “Rec on Record” to discuss any Recreation Issues.  EPIC remodel should be done by November 30.  Therapy pool and tile was funded.  Operations Plan created 54 action items one of which was refunds. Aaron Harris was the chair for the Refund Policy.  They completed a department assessment and found inconsistent enforcement of the current policy.  The current policy has no clarity and the practice to refund is up to the area supervisor.  This is costing Recreation about $252,912 in lost program revenue due to participants registering for multiple classes at the same time and then cancelling later when they decide the don’t want to take the class. This keeps others from being able to register when it’s a popular class.  The cost to process an average refund is $10.00 (not including credit card fees)  The new policy will offer patrons a choice when requesting a refund of: Receiving a household credit or receiving a refund via check or credit card less a $5.00 administrative fee.  This new policy would also allow managers/supervisors to have good feedback to what’s causing the need for a refunds; a more efficient process for the front desk.  We will be able to quantify success by seeing a reduction in the amount of refunds processed each quarter while seeing a negligible drop in customer satisfaction surveys.  The rollout for the new policy will include signage in all lobbies, information added to all receipts and in the Spring Recreator. Once it’s in practice we’ll reconvene after the first registration and discuss what needs to be tweaked. Discussion Board – Why not have a no refund policy? Staff – We feel receiving a household credit or being charged $5.00 fee is a better process. Board – Good work – this will really simplify this for the customer. Park Planning Updates  Kurt was absent, sent updates via email. Bicycle Advisory Board Liaison Update: None Schedule of Articles/Calendar: Dawn will be writing an article on the behind the scenes coordination done by Park Planning with other departments. Bullet Points  Impact Fees  Northside Revitalization  Approval of Board Work Plan Adjournment: Meeting adjourned 7:45pm Respectfully submitted, Carol Rankin Board Attendance Board Members: Ragan Adams, Brian Carroll, Bruce Henderson, Jessica MacMillan, Scott Sinn, Dawn Theis Staff: Bob Adams, Mike Calhoon, Carol Rankin, Coleen Elliott Guest: Volunteer just observing