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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 06/27/2001PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD Minutes of Regular Meeting — June 27, 2001 281 North College Avenue 5:30 p.m. Council Liaison: Bill Bertschy Staff Liaison: Marty Heffernan, 224-6064 President: Lance Freeman Phone: 491-7813 work 484-6789(home) Call Meeting to Order: President Lance Freeman called the Regular meeting to order at 5:35 p.m. Agenda Review: Lance requested a reorder of the Agenda as follows: Move Item #11 after #4 and #13 after #5. The Board unanimously agreed on the reordering of the Agenda. Items of Note: Board Member Dean Hoag called to say he would not be able to attend tonight's meeting. Mike Gavin sent an E-mail saying he would be out of the country this week. Citizen Participation: Randy Fischer spoke to the Board regarding the Parks and Recreation Board's May 2001 minutes and the SWAN discussion. He had a few clarifications to make to the Board. Referring to those minutes, he said that the Sports Alliance and SWAN have met. He credited the staff for letting the Sports Alliance know when the SWAN group was meeting. He said the meeting led to a discussion where their ideas were complimentary to each other. The groups then met with Marty Heffernan and Craig Foreman. The two groups would like a multi - sports facility constructed. He further stated that both the Sports Alliance and SWAN would like to work together to make this a win/win situation. He realizes a regional/community sports complex would be a large undertaking. Jessica MacMillan added there is a real need for indoor tennis courts in the community. She asked if tennis is represented in the Sports Alliance? She feels that if there is going to be a community sports complex, we need input from the whole community, including the tennis community for indoor courts. Randy said he is unaware of what sports groups are represented in the Sports Alliance. He then asked for strong support from this Board regarding the community sports complex. Randy said that the minutes reflected that I-25 would be a good site for a sports complex and he said that hasn't been decided. It was reported in the May minutes that Mike Gavin said that if we studied the demographics in the Southwest Community Park site neighborhood that most people Parks and Recreation Board Minutes June 27, 2001 Page 2 would want a community park. He said SWAN is very supportive of the Southwest Community Park. However, they have a problem with the design of the park. Referring to the minutes, Why is the SWAN group so opposed to the active community park? Randy said that they have problems with the existing design, and want to make sure the activities in the park are appropriately placed with a buffer to PineRidge Open Space. Randy distributed a copy of the ballot language for Choice 95. He challenged the description that the voters mandated a youth sports facility at Southwest Community Park. He said that in a previous meeting, there was mention that City Attorney Steve Roy had written a memorandum stating his legal opinion on what voters thought they were voting for when they voted for Southwest Community Park land acquisition. Randy would like clarification. Ross Cumuff asked also to see the memorandum. Marty said that he has a copy of that memo, but is not able to share it as it is confidential. Jessica said that in our community parks, we construct ballfields, lights, soccer fields, playgrounds, etc. We have a Parks and Recreation Policy Plan that states we have to supply 7 acres per 1,000 population for parkland. Lance said we have to address the needs of the community and the park. Jessica said that we have worked with the neighborhoods to mitigate the needs of the neighborhood. She added that the people in the Southwest Community Park neighborhood have to understand that this will be a community park. Ross said that although facilities are in our plan, if we can provide needs other places, we should look at that. Lance said that we need to start at a center point and go from there. Randy said that he is not sure what a youth sports complex is and he doesn't see a reference to a youth sports complex in our Parks and Recreation Policy Plan. Lance said it is part of a community park. Mike Powers said that this community park is scheduled for design in 2003 and we will allow plenty of public input at that time. Randy asked that the Board keep an open mind as to the design of the park. The SWAN group is proactive on this park design. He thinks it is important that within the next few months that the two groups (SWAN and Sports Alliance) come to the Parks and Recreation Board meeting to make their presentation. Approval of Minutes: On a motion by Paul Van Valkenburg, seconded by Mary Carlson, the Board unanimously (6-0) approved the minutes of the May 23, 2001 meeting. Note: Paul Hudnut joined the Board after the minutes were approved. Recreation Fees Recreation Manager Jean Helburg referred to the memorandum that she sent to the Board regarding the fees for 2002. She explained that this is informational only. City Manager John Parks and Recreation Board Minutes June 27, 2001 Page 3 Fischbach approves the fees so they do not go to Council for approval. She said that staff worked hard putting this fee schedule together in order to balance the budget. There will be some additional fees added to this with the new YAC. Lance Freeman asked what feedback we are receiving from the constituents? Are groups complaining? Are certain groups questioning the fees? Jean said that the staff has spent time speaking to most of the groups that would be affected with this raise in rental fees. The affected groups are private groups, i.e. hockey, softball, tennis, and drop in skating. Ross asked if there is a dollar amount of additional revenue? Jean said it is hard to say since we added some classes and dropped some classes. She said the bottom line is to balance the budget. Jessica asked about the Senior Center fees? Jean said the increase is for the activities. She further said we anticipate hearing from some of the seniors. Paul Hudnut said we don't discriminate against affordability. Jean said that we do give all participants in our programs a sliding scale option. Most affluent seniors don't use our facilities. The ones who use our facilities don't travel much, don't belong to health clubs, or country clubs. Ross asked about subsidized versus recoup and is it the same as in past history? Jean said that we are hoping to generate more revenue. Marty said we are getting direction from the City Manager and Council to become more self-supporting. Jean said that we give discounts to seniors if a senior is a member and if they ask for the discount. We have built in some incentives to become a member. Paul Hudnut asked if there are registration capabilities on the Internet? Jean said not yet, however, the City is working on that. Community Survev Referring to the Community Survey in the Board's packet, Mike Powers said that in 1988 the community thought recreation was very important and as important as basic services and they indicated the same in this survey. This year's survey indicated people want to retire in Fort Collins; the community's visual appeal was very high. Park maintenance was rated very high. Page 12 establishes the importance and the survey indicated that people wanted more youth activities. Mike explained that we are in the secondary services. Jessica said the secondary services are the reason why people come to Fort Collins. Mike pointed out that if you add all of the leisure services, we have 23 percent of this pie chart. On Page 17, it indicates that 80 percent of the residents have Internet access and they want to be able to purchase Lincoln Center tickets and register for Recreation programs on line. The Board found the survey very interesting and thanked Mike for sharing it with them. Sheldon Lake North Shore Improvements Landscape Architect Hetty Bixby spoke to the Board about Sheldon Lake improvements. Last year she met with the Board regarding staffs plans for improvements to Sheldon Lake. She explained that we are designing the north shore of Sheldon Lake. We have plans for the Mulberry side and the west side also. This design for the north shore will clean up and define the sidewalks and the wall separating the water. The design would extend to the pool. She showed the improvements planned with extending the moss rock wall theme all the way along the north side of the park. Long term we could remove the parking in the park and provide walking access through the park. She explained that the crusher fine surface area will provide a path on the Parks and Recreation Board Minutes June 27, 2001 Page 4 outside area so that people can always have an access through the park. Our goal is to make the entire park pedestrian accessible. Our schedule is out to bid in August and start construction in September. This project is funded through the Wilkins Trust. Poudre River Heritaee Alliance Marty distributed the packet of alliance heritage information. Senator Allard about five years was instrumental in the legislation to conserve land from below Gateway to Windsor. If this does get established, the projected funding is $500,000 annually. The purpose of the heritage area will be used to revitalize areas that are historically enriching. The uniqueness is the history of the Poudre River's water usage in the West. We could use interpretive pieces in Gateway Park and along the Poudre River. Marty said that Chuck Wanner is the chair of this group. Poudre River Water Flows Craig explained that there are several existing irrigation diversions on the Poudre River. hi town, one of the largest is the Larimer and Weld Canal that serves agricultural needs to the east at 300 cu feet per second. In the summer the river runs only between 200 and 500 feet per second. The question is how do we keep water in the river? The City could do management of diversion and possible exchanges. Exchanges would involve water court action and that is almost impossible to do. We could purchase water rights, which would take a great deal of money. The pump back option would be a possibility. We would have to build a pumping plant and divert some of the water to the ditches down stream of the downtown. To change diversion points the City would have to go to the Water Courts. We could hire a water engineer and have them do a study. Paul Hudnut asked if there is a potential for fishing and have less water diverted. Paul further said that half of the summer there isn't any water in the river, then we need to look at the uses and if we get ahead of it we could reroute it. Basically last summer we didn't even have a river through town. He asked if we could get at least 100 cf, in the river through town. When the irrigation diversions go from agriculture to residential, we could have more control through town. I-25 Subarea Plan Ken Wado, Advanced Planning, spoke to the Board regarding the I-25 Subarea plan and what it means to Parks and Recreation. He explained that we are at the preliminary plans of possible 6,000 units of residential development in this area. Also, he showed what the City would generate in parkland fees for the four square mile. At $1.5 million for a neighborhood park x 4 parks equals $6.4 million. As this plan develops, Ken said he would like to work with our staff to update our Policy Plan. He pointed out the Boxelder Creek with the trail running along the creek. He wanted to bring this to the Board so they are aware of this plan in its preliminary stage. Craig said that we would also implement the Community Parkland Fee in this area and construct a community park. We have to amend our Policy Plan as it correlates with this I-25 Subarea Plan. Ross has a concern if we don't address the I-25 access, we will have a major problem. He Parks and Recreation Board Minutes June 27, 2001 Page 5 suggested modifying the fees to address the needs. Ken said there would be improvements to the County Roads to address the traffic that would not include I-25. There would be $70,000,000 of interchange improvements. This would be added to the $40,000,000 needed for street over sizing with a design that encourages alternate transportation use. Paul Hudnut said that this is quite a few years out. Ken said we are looking at adoption in September and the build out would occur in 10 to 20 years. Del asked why there won't be any growth planned south of Prospect. Ken said it is the Timnath and Windsor growth area. Paul Van Valkenburg asked about the zoning and direction of the City and would the standard development fees pay for it? Ken said that they look at all that when they are planning for the infrastructure. Poudre River Downtown Study Craig explained that the City submitted to the DDA a proposal for the design phasing of this project. DDA appropriated $60,000, as did some other entities of the City for enhancements along the river. There could be some historical interpretation that could educate people on the importance of the river. This plan would also re-establishing the vegetation and stabilize the banks. The interest is there and partnerships are starting to form. The schedule on the project is design this year, 2002 secure the funding for the construction, and construct 2003-2004. We are involved in making sure the recreational needs are met. Conservation Trust is contributing $20,000 to this project for the design of the trail. Del Price asked if we are going to move the trail? Craig said that we will make adjustments to the trail in this area. Gateway Update Marty updated the Board on the project. The entry road is running into soil problems that will result in more money than we planned and will cut into the amenities of the park. We will know in a week or so if we will have to delay the park opening. Youth Activity Center Replacement Mike Powers appreciated the Board being so patient with staff regarding the YAC negotiations and its confidentiality. As the Board is aware, the City announced last Friday the plans are to move the YAC to the new 26,000 square foot location on Monroe Avenue (across from the mall), which the City will take over on July 1. Our plans are to open September 9. The fall Recreator will be published at an appropriate time for scheduling. Marty Heffernan, Jean Helburg and City Attorney Came Daggett are working on the lease. Mike explained that the building is the same size as we have now at Old Fort Collins High, but with a different mix of amenities. It is a better location near the mall and staff will begin cooperative plans with the mall. Bob Everitt has been the real star in this, along with City Manager John Fischbach who added $200,000 to the Recreation budget to allow this to happen. Jessica asked if we could expand the facility to add indoor tennis courts? Mike said no. It is part of the mall and it has to be part of a viable contributor to the mall. Mike said our focus would Parks and Recreation Board Minutes June 27, 2001 Page 6 be for a new gymnasium. Losing the gym at the present location will be a huge deficit. When Med-X moves out we will have two classrooms for preschool. CSU will let us continue our preschool at the Old Fort Collins High building until we can move to the new location. Request to Reschedule the August 22 Staff requested moving the August 22 meeting to August 29. All members agreed that August 29 will work. Other Business Marty said that Jessica MacMillan had previously requested staff' to obtain the cost of bubbling two tennis courts. Marty explained that it would cost $750,000 to $1,250,000 to cover two tennis courts. He added that we are in the process of obtaining bids to resurface Rolland Moore tennis courts. Ross asked if the budgeting is done for 2002? He said that he will be interested in seeing the final budget recommendation. Mike said the budget will be adopted in November. • Paul Van Valkenburg asked about the Citizen Board day in the National Conference in October? He asked if other Board members would be interested? Staff will get details to the Board at our meeting in August. Adjournment: On a motion by Jessica MacMillan, seconded by Mary Carlson, the Board voted to adjourn at 8:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jackie Rael, Executive Administrative Assistant Meeting Attendance Board Members: Mary Carlson, Ross Cunniff, Paul Hudnut, Lance Freeman, Del Price, Jessica MacMillan, and Paul Van Valkenburg Staff: Hetty Bixby, Craig Foreman, Jean Helburg, Marty Heffernan, Mike Powers, and Jackie Rael Guest: Randy Fischer