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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 12/01/1999Call Meeting to Order: President Lance Freeman called the Regular Meeting to order at 5:40 p.m. Agenda Review: No changes to the printed agenda. Approval of Minutes: On a motion by Del Price, seconded by Jessica MacMillan, the minutes of the meeting of October 27, 1999 were unanimously (6-0) approved. Citizen Participation: None Tournament Issues Marty Heffernan recapped last month's meeting regarding the tournament issues. He said that staff discussed the financial burden created by requiring deposits for each tournament. Staffs proposal is that if someone has never run a tournament with the City or if we had problems with a group, a deposit would be required. The second issue was to provide a greater lead-time for tournament bookings as qualifying tournaments don't have enough lead-time. Staff will provide an opportunity for the tournament promoter to contact staff and the special interest groups to determine if we can accommodate the tournament. This should give the tournament promoter enough lead-time to organize their tournament. Dean said that he had a meeting with Jeff Jamison and Terry Keith. They will accommodate the Buckaroos. He added that Jeff is interested in bringing national tournaments to Fort Collins and that can be worked out also. Both sides are willing to work this out. Dean feels very comfortable with these recommendations. The best solution is to meet with staff and work out these dates. Staff is hosting a round table discussion with all the youth groups in the city. He Parks and Recreation Boardfutes • December 1, 1999 Page 2 agrees that youth should take priority over adult, but does not agree with the philosophy of recreation having priority over competitive users in the youth category. Marty said we have more and more demands on our fields and therefore, we needed to develop this priority system. The priority system is a framework in case we do have conflicts. We will cooperate as much as possible to meet everyone's needs; however, recreational sports will be given priority as a philosophy of the organization. Ross asked if Council wants recreation to be a priority over competitive use? Marty said the general policy is that we need to have a balance in our parks. Dean thinks that some of the organizations are claiming to be recreational rather than competitive to be higher on the priority. Paul said that when you get to the tournaments you are involving other cities, organizations, and other states/regions. Then the question is are we serving the needs of the city or are we supporting a tournament, which is another dynamic use. Lance agrees and said CSU hosts tournaments and if the tournament brings teams from outside the city then the cost is higher than if the tournament is for local teams. Dean is asking if we as a Board are willing to work on this. Del said he would rather have Dean work with staff. Dean said that as long as the staff allows the tournament to be held on a scheduled weekend, and doesn't allow a recreation league to bump this event, he feels comfortable. Lance said we should revisit this if it becomes an issue. Paul said we could revisit this next year to see how it goes. As long as there is flexibility with the staff, then we can work it out. If there are too many guidelines, then that ties staff s hands and they will be unable to work with these groups. Harmony Park Design Janet Meisel -Burns showed the Board two conceptual drawings of Harmony Park, which is located southeast of Harmony Road adjacent to Preston Junior High. Plan B shows the outdoor classroom components. She pointed out that one ballfield will be funded through Building Community Choices. She said we hosted two open houses and explained the process. We have an existing sewer line in place that we can connect to. By the field orientation we can accommodate a volleyball court. There are sidewalks surrounding the park for access. The existing basketball court will need to be moved to Preston Junior High. We will accept bids for construction in the spring and construct next summer. The model we are using for the restroom is the same as we have used in the last three neighborhood parks we have constructed. Dean asked if we are comfortable with the parking there? Janet said that we are comfortable with our needs. However, if the school is planning a football game and a softball/baseball game is scheduled at the same time, then there will be a problem. Janet said this is designed to collector street standards. Lance said he likes the plan except there isn't any quiet area. Janet said the outdoor classroom area is designed for daytime use for the science classes. Ross asked what the active/passive split would be. Janet said it is 60/40. However with the school and football field adjacent, there will be an active park use. The soccer field is located in a position so that it can Parks and Recreation Boardfutes • December 1, 1999 Page 3 be rotated. Del asked if the football field is constructed. Janet replied that it is. Del asked if the cooperation with the School District has been good? Janet said it has been very good and they have been very cooperative. The concept is that the School District will maintain the field adjacent to their school. Paul asked about the detention pond. Janet said we will re -grade the pond and expanding the capacity so that is shallower at the shorelines. On a motion by Dean Hoag, seconded by Del Price, the Board voted unanimously (6-0) to recommend Plan B. Board members were pleased that this is a cooperative plan with the School District. Fossil Creek Community Park Update Craig Foreman wanted to keep the Board updated on the project. BHA has been awarded the bid for the design. They designed several parks for us. Larson Company does some creative work, which Craig showed to the group. It will be a very special park with many stimulating ideas for children with a "Fossil Creek" design. This design will take Fort Collins to the next level of design. There will be room for adventure and design. The process of designing the park will take one year. Construction will begin in 2001 and park will open 2003. Marty Heffernan said that the public input will be very detailed and will have to be well crafted. There will be some special interest groups. This is a voter -approved park and some park elements were also voter approved. Dean asked if we were going to look at the down lights for the ballfields. Craig said yes we have videos and we have done research on this. 30 percent of the ballfield users in our community are from this zip code area. Update on Horticulture Center Jim Clark updated the Board on the Horticulture Center. There have been issues relating to Rolland Moore Drive. He explained that the orientation of the placement of Rolland Moore Drive on the south boundary of the two -acre building site burdens the project with the cost of building the street. However, half the costs would be reimbursed as development occurred on the opposite side of the street. When we were confronted with this high price for the street development, we visited with Transportation, and they confirmed the street needs to be constructed at that location. There are valid safety points for it to be placed here. There is a possibility that the $110,000 might not come out of the Horticulture budget. Jim explained that if the project incurs this unanticipated expense for Rolland Moore Drive it will have a significant detrimental impact on the quality of gardens that can be developed. Mike Powers added that the voters approved a Horticulture Center and the gardens. If we have to pay the $110,00, we would have three acres of gardens instead of 10 acres of gardens. Mike further explained that the budget on this project has been cut. The project has been capped so that no added interest goes into this project. The Board at some time needs to decide if they want to get involved and at some time we will need your support. Parks and Recreation BoardOutes December 1, 1999 Page 4 • Lance Freeman spoke of a memo submitted by the Natural Resources Board questioning the funding for the Horticulture Center. He said in the joint meeting with Councilman Bill Bertschy that they (Natural Resources Board) didn't write the letter and that it was written by a concerned citizen and submitted by Randy Fisher. Ross asked if we could see the ballot language? Jim said he would get that to the Board. Downtown River Implementation Plan Marty said that this project has been moved to Council's Agenda for May because the Council wants to deal with the floodplain issue first and then address the Downtown River Plan. Ross Cunniff questioned why the Oxbow property has been fast tracked instead of this plan? Del Price said that we are putting ourselves in a reactive position instead of a proactive position. Lance Freeman suggested that we discuss the proactive/reactive position of the Board under "Other Business". Update on Union Pacific Railroad Trail Craig Foreman showed this project on a map to the Board and explained that the location is between Prospect Street and Drake Road along the Union Pacific Rail line. We will connect the trail at EPIC and build a 10-foot wide trail continuing south to Drake Road. Craig met with the homeowners in the area and they are in agreement that the trail would be a good idea and it would be constructed approximately 150 feet from their homes. $150,000 would build this section and we have a grant of $140,000 for this. The trail will continue south to County Road 32 and then tie into a regional trail south to Boyd Lake. He further explained that where it crosses Horsetooth Road, we will install caution lights and signal lights. We will then want to build the trial under the street however the cost will be high. Del said the last time we talked about this we discussed bridge overpasses and we could possibly get ISTEA money. Craig agreed and said that when we do our feasibility study we will add that in the plan. Meeting with Councilman Bertschy Lance updated the Board on his meeting with Bill Bertschy and the Boards Bill represents. The participants were Board Chairs and Staff Liaisons to CDBG, Golf, Natural Resources, and Parks and Recreation Boards. Lance said the group discussed the role of City Boards and whether special interests should be voiced through Boards or should Board members be representative of constituents and not personal special interests. Bill will take those comments to Council and may have an orientation with the Board members explaining their role. Lance asked how we as a Board communicate to Council? Bill also took this back to Council. Lance said we are being forced to become proactive. Mike Powers added that Bill came to the luncheon to tell them that there wouldn't be any elimination of the Boards. Mike added some strategic planning could be in order. Parks and Recreation Board4kutes December 1, 1999 Page 5 • Lance asked if Board Members have any concerns about what is going on? Paul Van Valkenburg said that to be proactive takes much more time. It is a different orientation. He added he won't spend 5 or 6 additional hours a month on lobbying for our issues. His issues are that we have money to construct the parks, but no dedicated funding for operation and maintenance. Ross Cunniff said it is always good to talk about the role of the Board. It is up to us to decide what we want. Strategically he doesn't have a problem speaking to the Council on recommendations on the Parks and Recreation scope. Jessica MacMillan said that having lunch one on one with a councilperson or mayor is a way to get their ear. Other Boards lobby the Council and they are getting their ear. She would take time to meet with council members for lunch. Del thinks we need to keep it in the parameters of our role. We need to become proactive. We need to come up with a strategy and a consensus to work together. Lance said that we need to be more proactive, but where do we want to go? What projects are we going to champion? We need to choose our battles and act appropriately. He said on the next agenda we need to list the projects we want to be proactive on. Del said on the Downtown Implementation Plan we are reacting and perhaps we need to be more proactive on the plan and identify some of these issues we have. Mike Powers suggested that the Board list their five issues and go from there. Marty suggested that they identify the projects they want to champion and how they plan to communicate with Council. Oxbow Property Mike Powers said that he originally wanted to adjourn to Executive Session to discuss this. However, tonight he just wanted to inform the Board of an executive session to discuss this with both the Parks and Recreation Board and the Natural Resources Board. Councilman Bill Bertschy and City Manager John Fischbach will attend this Executive Session. Mike explained that the property is owned by the Kiefer and Chandler families. They want this property to be a legacy for the community. Board Member Comments • Del Price said he has been thinking about the corridor along the river and what a bad image the corridor makes when driving into the City. He was in Flagstaff and they have done a wonderful job of landscaping to the point where it hides the railroad tracks. Jessica MacMillan said that we spoke about that to Council several years ago. Natural Resources at the time wanted it left natural. Mike Powers will research to find out who owns that land. He asked if we could put this on one of our agendas and find out the right of way. Marty Heffernan said this has been considered under the railroad relocation project. The railroad Parks and Recreation Boar&utes • December 1, 1999 Page 6 9 said they need that area for switching. Del said that there should be Federal funds available to improve this area. Adjournment: The Board adjourned at 8:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jackie Rael Executive Administrative Assistant Meeting Attendance Board Members: Ross Cunniff, Lance Freeman, Dean Hoag, Paul Hudnut, Jessica MacMillan, Del Price, and Paul Van Valkenburg Staff. Craig Foreman, Marty Heffernan, Janet Meisel -Burns, Mike Powers, and Jackie Rael