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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 07/28/2004PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD Minutes of Regular Meeting July 28, 2004 215 North Mason Community Room 5:30 p.m. Council Liaison: Bill Bertschy I Staff Liaison: Marty Heffernan, 224-6064 President: Jessica MacMillan Phone: 495-1270(work) 407-8896 (home) Call Meeting to Order: President Jessica MacMillan called the meeting to order at 5:35 p.m. Agenda Review: Marty added one item under Other Business: Outdoor Handball Courts. Items of Note: Board Members Mary Carlson and Greg Miller called to say they were unable to attend tonight's Board meeting. Citizen Participation: There were several citizens in the audience representing the Sports Alliance and SWAN. Jessica informed the audience that the Board would allow 20 minutes of citizen participation. She explained that during this citizen participation, the audience can make comments, but cannot make any interaction during our regular meeting when the Board is discussing Spring Canyon Community Park. Amy Snider with Northern Colorado Sports Alliance spoke in support of adding sports amenities in the park. She turned it over to Rich Harter, Executive Director of Fort Collins Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). He said CVB works with many organizations that want to bring sporting events that will add economic vitality to the community. He further added that citizens in this community voted for open space tax. Yet, recreation opportunities are equally important. This is a community park and not a neighborhood park. He commends staff for the process taken place so far in trying to find a solution that allows for active recreation that would enhance neighborhoods in that area. We need a solution of active recreation with the folks that want passive recreation. We need lighted fields and this City is growing and we need active recreation in our community parks. Dave King, President of Triple Crown Sports spoke next. He is very active in the Northern Colorado Sports Alliance. He said they initially met with SWAN to accommodate the best possible relationship between the two parties in the design of this park. He seconds Rich's thoughts that we need adequate recreation space that represents some 25,000 participants throughout the Sports Alliance. We are not only short in practice space, but competitive space in our community. The change of this design to a more open space design is not a very pleasing solution. Representing the sports community, he is not supportive of any of these three designs. This is not a fair representation of the needs of the community. He mentioned Fort Collins Soccer Club, Fort Collins Youth Baseball Club, lacross, Feld hockey, rugby, and other various constituents saying this would not be a desirable design. He said they expect 4-6 ballfields and Parks and Recreation Board Minutes July 28, 2004 Page 2 4-6 multi -use fields. He commends Craig Foreman and his staff on the process. Restricting users to not be able to play tournaments is not legal and he does not recommend that a Board or the Council tie themselves to any code that restricts future use of this park. Adequate parking has been addressed, all three designs each have a good feel, there is space adjacent to this as very good open space. This should be dedicated as a youth sports complex. The most beautiful thing in the world is watching young kids participate in active sports. He said that if this space is dedicated to more open space than recreational space, his group will be very vocal. There is not another physical choice of property in the community to accommodate a youth sports complex. Pat Wunsch, Executive Director of Youth Baseball, said the City has supported Youth Baseball for fields for many years. She said since 1995, her group has been helping the City build fields for youth sports. At Spring Canyon Community Park, the sign was up in the 80's stating it would be a youth sports complex and we voted for a youth sports complex. What was originally voted on was not what these designs represent. Our community is 120,000 people and not just the surrounding neighborhood. It is not representative of a group of people who live in a two - square mile radius of the park. She said that the Youth Baseball Association will stick with wanting the original plan for this park. Anita Wright wants to speak to the issue of this as a sports complex. She said the citizens only voted to acquired the land in the 80's. She said a youth sports complex was not voted on in Choices 95. She referred to the soccer fields north of Budweiser and said that does not impact any neighbors and this community park will impact the wild life, the open space, and values of the surrounding homes. She further said this Board needs to look at other options before this is completely a done deal. Tami Agne-Moehle, Poudre School District Field Hockey Coach, said the reality is that it was voted on as a Youth Sports Complex. There isn't another site in the community that could be built on for a sports complex. The reality is we can come up with another site and we can make this work. She said that it can be managed well and she has faith in the Fort Collins Parks and Recreation Department to make it a wonderful park. The athletic representation is most important. She works with youth 14 to 21 and she said they need the athletic involvement with positive influences. It is about giving our youth a positive alternatives that helps them become productive citizens in the community. Revise the design to support the athletic community. Bruce Henderson as a representative of SWAN spoke to the Board. He said transportation is an issue. Two ways to access the park are Overland and Horsetooth — both are two lane roads. More active uses creates more congestion. There are plans to expand Horsetooth to a 4-lane arterial, but it is down on the list of priorities. Design for maintenance —This is a great opportunity to look at the long-term maintenance costs. The more blue grass, the more maintenance costs. Think about the water issue. Think about roadway access and the impacts of the uses and the maintenance. Tracy Wright lives on Horsetooth Court. Her neighbors and her are concerned about access of fire trucks. The Fire Department raised concern about Horsetooth Court and access. All of these design, she will have problems getting help from an emergency vehicle. Mostly the concern is the congestion. Parks and Recreation Board Minutes July 28, 2004 Page 3 Brian Nakagawa has been a baseball coach for 14 years. We need more active recreational areas for our kids. We have to teach kids to grow up in a good clean environment. Keeping kids involved in sports is the answer. Sports is a very important aspect of children's lives. It makes them feel included and they will be better citizens for being involved in organized sports. Phil Ebersole owner of the EDGE sports center. He said that when he was thinking of starting his business, he met with Craig Foreman. He is impressed with our seven-year policy plan. People want and need a balance. He would like to see the Board stay with the strategic plan. He has been a baseball coach for several years. He said they almost had to camp out the night before to get reservation for fields. We have a need for this community park and we need fields. Rick Nay has concerns in the planning process. In June, the community was invited to an open house to gain public input. SWAN had 120 members attend. It was emphasized that this is a unique piece of property. After reviewing the three designs, the City did not take into consideration the input. This is a cookie cutter approach to a community park. The lighted fields are the biggest concern. He has concerns of the due process. Janet Elliott lives in Silver Oaks and used to live in Quail Hallow. She said when she built her house in Quail Hallow, as one of the selling points there was the sign with conceptual pictures of the youth sports complex. She would love to see it be constructed. The last community sports park was Rolland Moore and we need at least a few more parks like this to keep up with the need. She said that referring to the 60/40 methodology, 60 percent of the population uses the parks for active programmed activities not 40. We need to keep kids busy and out of trouble. We need to keep the kids growing with good mentors, organized sports, and exercise. Steven Schwartz said he and his neighbors find the parkland to be a very special place. Why does the word park have to be associated with tennis courts and ballfields? People need to have a passive park that can be enjoyed. This is all things to all people. To not consider it as an opportunity for passive park is to ruin and lose this natural area forever. He would like these designs to be like no other area in Fort Collins. David Haas has been a baseball coach and loves having his kids involved in sports. Common sense said we need a balanced park. If there is more in this park, there will be backed up traffic. He asked that the City does not push more programmed sports into this park. Dave Nichols lives in Quail Hallow and concurs with the transportation issues. Growth is going to occur five miles from this site. The sports complex should be more central in our city. Nancy Hunter lives in Silver Oaks. She has a concern about lighted fields and traffic. She asked that staff think about the traffic and lights for the people in those surrounding developments. Jessica thanked the audience for their input. Approval of Minutes: On a motion by Lance Freeman, seconded by Ann Hunt, the Board voted unanimously (5-0) to approve the minutes of the June 23, 2004 meeting. Parks and Recreation Board Minutes July 28, 2004 Page 4 Spring Canyon Community Park Craig Foreman gave an overview of the three plans. He spoke about the relationship to the neighbors and Pine Ridge. He said there are many amenities in the park design. Marty asked if we have met the responsibilities of the community. Is a Youth Sports Complex necessary in the park as part of the 1988 vote? Craig explained that the ballot language read: acquisition of land to build a community park and youth sports complex. This was reviewed by the City Attorney and we have an obligation to include a youth sports complex in the design of this park. It is a requirement to the design. Russell Lee from BHA reviewed the plans. He spoke conceptually. Pine Ridge was definitely a concern when designing this park. In all the plans there is a buffer between the park and the natural area. All the plans show a restored Spring Creek. Water would come from Dixon Reservoir. A major component is the cottonwood trees and we would bring in more cottonwoods and would give good wildlife corridor. Shane's Inspiration Park is designed in all the drawings for this park. It is a playground for all levels of play. This will integrate the new standard of play for all capabilities. Jessica asked what is the ratio of active and passive. The 40 percent is for programmed and in plan 2 there is only 18 to 20 percent of active play. All three of the plans lend themselves to a canyon affect. There will be some interpretation throughout the park. Cottonwood Glen Neighborhood Park stays untouched so it remains as the neighborhood park. Bob Loeven, Manager of Parks, spoke of the maintenance building and the access. Jon Sinclair would like to hear more about the transportation issue. Marty said that will be determined through the development review process and the majority of the impact will be determined on Horsetooth Road. We will do traffic studies and the Transportation will determine what street improvements we will be responsible for. The Transportation Department doesn't think the impact on this park will be a problem. Lance Freeman said he is opposed to the winding roads through the park. Group the parking in one area and not have winding roads like Rolland Moore. There is sensitivity of cars driving through. Plan 2 has the best parking and roads need to be eliminated. Dean Hoag asked how we are going to accommodate emergency vehicles? Craig illustrated how the emergency vehicles will travel from the maintenance building through the trails. Mark Lueker said that getting your cars to where you need to go is more efficient. You have to have access in a reasonable amount of space. He said he could calculate about 250 people using the park at one time and we have over 400 spaces. 250 cars can be distributed throughout the park easily and doesn't appear to be a problem. Horsetooth is an arterial road. Jessica said you can't predict traffic and turnover. She has a concern about automobiles throughout the park.She Parks and Recreation Board Minutes July 28, 2004 Page 5 things that it doesn't hurt for people to walk an extra 100 feet. Design it so that all the athletics fields are in the center of the park and northern part a more passive area. Mark suggested keeping the road on the eastern boundary of the park. Jessica asked about the BMX bicycle track. What is the background information on this? Bob Loeven addressed this by saying the BMX club has been at Edora for about 15 years. We need to move it from Edora as it has heavy usage. It needs to be redesigned. It gets a lot of drop in use and they have Thursday and Saturday programmed activity. Lance said that Design 1 has too many one of every thing or do we want to focus on more of one thing. Craig said that we talk about that. Marty said that came out of a compromised discussion. The sports groups want more fields, and we look at the overall city usage and the needs. The demands of fields will continue. It represents a compromise. Dean spoke about the 40/60. He said Craig said it now stands at 18%. Dean would like to see a plan with more active use. He said in Plan 1, we could add another ballfield. He is looking for an option of more active use and the lights do not affect the neighbors at Fossil Creek. Educating people on the new improved lights is imperative. Ann Hunt said it seems like we are a little short on tennis courts. For USA leagues there should be 5 courts. There's not many places where we can have five courts. Jessica agrees with Ann. She said at Rolland Moore there's six courts. Marty said this is good feedback. Lance asked the Board members, if the three designs are over developed or less developed for a community park. Jessica said there is some good space in each of the designs and it preserves Pine Ridge. She thinks the biggest compromise is the impact on the neighborhoods. Congestion is where the neighborhoods are located. She hears their concerns. Ann said seeing the people here tonight she appreciates their passion. It has been known for a long time that this property is going to be a park. We need to compromise. We can construct a nice park. As far as the use, we need to cluster activities in this park to preserve the views. High tech lights are acceptable and we need to make the best of this. Development came after the park was purchased. She was surprised that there isn't a design with more ballfields. Jon Sinclair said he was also surprised that there wouldn't be more active use. He is pleased with the less active use designed and would like to see the northern area of the park more passive. He likes the dog park with the water feature. Mark said we could build more fields. If we have the opportunity to construct more ballfields we should do it. It is a limitation to the community as a whole, if we don't meet their needs. It is a resource for the entire community of Fort Collins. We could increase the amount of recreational fields. Restoring Spring Creek seems expensive. We need to have a path right next to it so people can enjoy it. If not, no reason to restore it. With water as a precious resource, it doesn't seem like a logical thing to do. Parks and Recreation Board Minutes July 28, 2004 Page 6 Dean Hoag said that he would like to see more active recreation in the park. We voted for it. It should be a youth park and we over compromised. We need more opportunities for ballfields or soccer fields for the kids. Lance Freeman was surprised by the drawings. He said they are all middle ground. Everyone needs to get into the process. We have allocated millions of dollars for open space and natural areas. Transportation is an issue. He also added that we should consider access from the Quail Hallow neighborhood. Jon asked what the staff s point is on more or less fields. Marty said looking at our park system overall, we have been keeping up with our needs. We have done a good job in relation to other communities in the front range. If we don't include two ballfields and two soccer fields it is a minimum for our community for games, but not for practice space. Jon referred to Dave King's statement, are we keeping up geographically? Marty said we are building a community park to serve the community. This is a minimal approach to meeting our needs. Jessica said there isn't space to develop another community park in the core of the City. Marty added that a sports complex could be developed along I-25 with other communities. However, it would have to be one of the cities capital plans, but so far it never happened. Dean said he feels sorry for the people who live on Horsetooth and is there another way to enter the park and if there were two street accesses it would work better. When we constructed Fossil Creek, we were asked by seniors, what's in it for the older folks. That is why they added the bocce ball lawn. Mark asked about lighting fields in other parks. Marty said we have lighted fields in all the community parks, but it would be inappropriate to light the neighborhood fields. Mark further added that in regards to the BMX, it might be a bad idea as the kids would go up to Pine Ridge after they master the BMX track. He said do not take the BMX track out of Edora. Lance said we can all feel good about this as we are working together. This is definitely a middle ground. He addressed the audience by saying that they should continue to bring their ideas to the Board. City Park Master Plan Hetty Bixby, Landscape Architect/Park Planning, spoke to the Board about the City Park Master Plan. The policy plan speaks of designing a master plan for our community parks. City Park would not be designed the way it is right now if we were to plan a community park. The 3 roads through the park would not be designed today. Hetty said there are four issues we need to talk about. We need to add a basketball court, additional core area to include a restroom and shelter, and omit through traffic at Bryan and City Park Dive; and widen Sheldon Drive to allow two way traffic. Parks and Recreation Board Minutes July 28, 2004 Page 7 Next to the baseball fields, we could add the basketball court. By placing it next to the ballfields it would allow for accessible parking. There's a need for one basketball court. Adding a restroom and shelter: We need a restroom and shelter along the soccer fields on the internal site of the park. We would also add another shelter on the east side of Sheldon Drive. Jon questioned putting a stage in the proposed location would take away from the views from Mulberry. The Board unanimously disagreed with the proposed stage site. They said bring in the showmobile when needed and when not, get it out of the park. Mark would propose putting parking at City Park Drive and Sheldon Park where they intersect. Marty said there is a need for additional parking next to the pool. Hetty said that in this plan we are not losing any parking spaces. Lance thinks this is a wonderful design. He remarked at City Park Dive we should stop the road a little shorter. Jon asked about the Fire Department and their access to the north. Lance said that it is a big mistake for the fire trucks to go through the park. He said the kids are everywhere and it is very dangerous for the fire trucks to use that as a north access. Mark asked what is the rationale of blocking the road off to the east. Hetty said that there's too much walking traffic through there and it is a cruising space. The Board liked the concept. Hetty said if you have more thoughts, please let staff know. Jessica asked how many basketball courts do we need? Lance said that one is sufficient, and Hetty agreed. Project Updates Craig showed slides of Soft Gold Park. The theme is fur trapping and adobe design. The Artist constructed a beaded necklace in the grass out of field stone for the art in public places portion in the park. Northside Aztlan Community Center —Marty said that EPA will build a deep vertical wall that will stop the flow into the river. This will be a $5,000,0000 expense that Xcel will pay for. Clean up will be in accordance to EPA standards. We will be able to move forward with our project once this is resolved. The bike trail will be rerouted. Marty will keep the Board posted. BOB --- City has a web page and all these projects are on the site. There is a survey that has been installed on this site. Marty explained the concern Council addressed with operation and maintenance. With the proposed new recreation center and the expansion of the senior center, we are looking at ways to add the O and M into the projects. Marty spoke of the initiative to repeal the sales tax on groceries. The impact it could have on Parks and Recreation is that this could reduce the sales tax revenue by $6,000,000 and this could impact our programs. Marty wanted to make the Board aware of this. Parks and Recreation Board Minutes July 28, 2004 Page 8 Staff has been contacted by the group who visited the Board a few months ago wanting outdoor handball courts. Since that time, they asked how much they need to raise to make this a reality. They would like to add the courts to the redesign of Northside Community Center. Marty said they are trying to raise $75,000 for these courts. We could work it into the project if they raise the money. The Board felt it was a good idea and the group is willing to recruit kids to teach them handball. Other Business • Jessica and Ann asked about installing a backboard for tennis courts. Craig noted. Jessica said that we should take out the paddle courts at Rolland Moore. Lance said that he heard from several people wondering why the City couldn't do the 4`h of July celebration at City Park, but we could purchase a piece of property for $8,000,000. Marty said that people were happy the way it worked out moving it downtown. The history of the 4ch of July was a drop -in in the evening. In our opinion it was time for a change. For others it is tradition. • Councilman Kurt Kastein said that he appreciated the work that the Board did tonight and he encourages the Board to build a park for the community. Adjournment: The Board unanimously agreed to adjourn at 9:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jackie Rael Executive Administrative Assistant Board Attendance Board Members: Lance Freeman, Dean Hoag, Ann Hunt, Jessica MacMillan, and Jon Sinclair Staff: Hetty Bixby, Craig Foreman, Marty Heffernan, Jeff Jamison, Bob Loeven, Jackie Rael, and Stephanie Van Dyken Guests: Councilman Kurt Kastein, Amy Snider, Rich Harter, Tami Agnes-Moehle, Anita Wright, Bruce Henderson, Pat Wunsch, Dave King, Brian Nakagawa, Phil Ebersole, Rick Nay, Janet Elliott, Steve Schwartz, David Haas, Dave Nichols, and Nancy Hunter. Several other guests representing SWAN and Sports Alliance were present but did not sign the guest register.