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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 08/25/1999Call Meeting to Order: President Lance Freeman called the Regular Meeting to order at 5:55 P.m. Agenda Review: Discussion on the Downtown Renovation has been pulled as the project has been delayed until spring. Staff added "Proposed Baseball Stadium" (Mike Powers) after #12 on the Agenda. Items of Note: Jessica MacMillan called to say that she would be late this evening. Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the June 23, 1999 meeting were unanimously (8-0) approved on a motion by Dean Hoag, seconded by Paul Van Valkenburg. Citizen Participation: Sally Craig, a member of the Planning and Zoning Board, spoke about the Open Space initiative that will be on the ballot and she is hoping the Board will add it to their agenda for next month and send a memo of support to the City Council. She hopes that the Council will make an endorsement partly based on our letters of support from the City Boards. Tim Johnson, Transportation Board, commended staff and the Board for adding the soft surface for runners next to the hard surface trails. He further spoke of the Union Pacific's right-of-way east of EPIC and supports wide trails. Tim suggested that staff request financial support from CDOT. He supports the Bike Ranger position; suggested staff set a priority to map these right- of-ways to the trails as alternative routes to schools for the kids. Lance addressed the Union Pacific trail right-of-way and thinks Tim's input is very good and appreciates his comments. Paul Van Valkenburg said that if the Transportation Board has suggestions such as these to formally pass them by this Board. Citizen Input: Paul Van Valkenburg distributed copies of a letter from John Bartholow regarding Southwest Community Parkland. He would like us to take some fresh looks at this area for new ideas. Jackie Rael advised the Board that Mike Powers responded to John's letter and will Parks and Recreation Board Minut August 25, 1999 Page 2 Downtown River Implementation Plan City Planner Timothy Wilder made a presentation to the Board regarding the downtown river implementation and its relation to the City Plan's vision for the downtown river corridor. Tim said that he has been working on this project for the last 18 months with Mike Powers and other staff members. Their vision is a balance of natural, recreational, cultural, and development for the corridor. He explained that from North College Avenue to Mulberry Avenue there are 330 acres and 72 landowners. He presented the Board with a slide show that outlined potential projects based on the feedback from the community. After his presentation the Board had the following comments/questions: • Ross Cunniff asked about the public support for this project? Timothy said major public outreach has not yet occurred. The property owners have been uninvolved mostly at this point. • Paul Van Valkenburg asked about the Jefferson Street area and Buckingham Park. He said there are businesses that have dumped their equipment and lumber in these areas. When we do redevelopment, is clean up part of this? Timothy responded that regarding the redevelopment we will not force it to happen as City Code defines opportunities. Paul further stated that we need to use natural features to stabilize the banks. This will not happen over night and we can do some planning now for the future. • Del Price commented that the railroad property along Riverside would immensely increase the image of Fort Collins if it were simply landscaped. He asked if we can we work with the railroad to beautify this area? Timothy responded that we have to define the truck route and we can't go further until that has been determined. • Del further suggested that we make a better interface with the river and the downtown. Having access for people along the river is very important in his opinion and he encouraged Tim to keep that in mind. • Ross said he was curious to see public input comments. He further spoke of the bank stabilization. He recommends that the City be careful with what materials we will use to stabilize and how we do it. • Paul Hudnut said it seems to him that we are manicuring land along the river. There are areas that will be attractive from the old town. As part of manicuring we should look at kayaking course. This will attract users to the area. Lincoln and Mulberry work on improvements for fishing and access points. Let's have a cutoff point to where we preserve. Timothy said there aren't many spots along the river for retail development. Parks and Recreation Board Ates • August 25, 1999 Page 3 • Paul Van Valkenburg said a retaining wall/levy should be constructed to protect Buckingham neighborhood from flooding. He said it should be a high priority. Timothy said that it is a project that we need to revisit because it is part of the floodplain review. • Paul Hudnut said there has been talk about turning Link-N-Greens Golf Course into a hotel. He wondered if staff was aware of this project? Timothy said he doesn't know the status of that project. • Lance asked Timothy what he is asking from the Board tonight? Timothy said comments and recommendations. He then asked the Board if we should revisit this? He said we would want to see the final proposal. Timothy said that if the Board wants to make comments, you will need to make them by October since this will go to Council in November. • Paul Hudnut asked if the bike trail rehabilitation is part of this project? Timothy said it is not part of this plan. It will happen through the process of our work program. • Del said looking at the boundaries, we, as a Board, are interested in beautifying the corner of College and Chevy as a part of the enhancement program. Timothy said that the gateway enhancement in the downtown area could fit into that idea. As a Board, Lance said he would like to see what the public input is and discuss this at the October meeting. He asked for a volunteer for the public meeting. Paul Hudnut and Rebecca Chavez will attend the October 6 open house meeting. Prior to our October 27 meeting, Timothy will get focus comments on the recreational areas and a copy of the final recommendation prior to our October meeting. Jackie Rael will get details on the October 6 meeting for Rebecca and Paul. Community Horticulture Center Update Jim Clark distributed updates on the project. Executive summary is that we have met with CSU to work out some of the documents; memorandum of understanding; report to their state board; and basically have agreed on the price. We are still working on boundaries of the site. Orientation of the south boundary is still in negotiations. They will meet with the architect and will reach some resolution and get back to us. The State Board of Agriculture will review this on September 1. They will examine the land transfer and memorandum of understanding. Secretarial Note: State Board has approved and directed Gerry Bomotti to complete the deal. Marty Heffernan, along with our Legal Staff, has been working on the legal documents and City staff sent those documents to CSURF. Our next step will be to put together a design team --- landscape architect, and a consultant will be selected in October. Mid -March we will have finished construction documents and master planning. Local horticulturists will design flowerbeds and construction will hopefully start in June 2000. Parks and Recreation Board Minty August 25, 1999 Page 4 The College Avenue underpass will be constructed the summer of 2000. O&M budget for the Horticulture Center has been given to the City Manager. Jim thanked the Board for their continued support on this project. Park Planning and Development Update on Projects Craig Foreman gave the Board an update on the construction project as follows: Case Park adjacent to Fort Collins High School and Cottonwood Glen Neighborhood Park at Overland Trail and Drake will be completed in the spring. Ross asked if the erosion control at Cottonwood Glen has been addressed? Craig said that we are going through the development review process with this. Mary asked about the relationship with the neighbors at Case Park and the path planned through the park. Craig said that we will be planning that path in the third phase and we will monitor it and revisit with the neighbors at that time. Miramont Park on Boardwalk is two-thirds completed and it will be open next year. Spring Park east of College Avenue — We have funding to create a new restroom in this area and the JC's will help in constructing the shelter. It will be completed next summer. Fossil Creek Community Park — Construction will begin in 2001 and opening the park in 2003. We will need one year to design and to get public input. Craig explained that this park was supposed to be on line at a population rate of 100,000. We are behind schedule in accordance with demographics in that area. Craig explained that we are planning on constructing the trail from College to Lemay at the same time we are opening the park. Center Avenue — Lance Freeman asked when are we going to construct the neighborhood park in that area? Craig explained that we are working on this with Jim Clark in coordination with the horticulture center. Skateboard Park at Edora — Craig explained that we received a GOCO grant for this project. Rebecca asked about the input from the kids? He said we are getting calls weekly from the kids. We are going to do a design process where the kids give input. Paul Hudnut asked if there is input from the junior high schools? Craig said that we will get input from that age group also. GOCO Grant Application/Recreational improvements — Craig explained that staff is asking for additional money for Sheldon Lake improvements since we didn't get full funding for that on the first grant. Youth Corp will do the plantings. This will entail a retaining wall on the south side. Mary asked if we have a place in Fort Collins where we could make a beach area? Craig said probably the Fossil Creek Community Park. Del Price complimented the Park Planning and Development staff on their work. Parks and Recreation Board Ates • August 25, 1999 Page 5 Gateway Mountain Park Update Marry Heffernan showed a preliminary plan for design uses of the park based on the input from the committee. This is a reflection from Landscape Architect Jeff Lakey's interpretation from that committee. He pointed out the boat access into the river and explained that the commercial rafters would be allowed in this area. There will be shelter, restrooms, picnic areas, and design to channel pedestrian traffic to the river. There will be horse access, but no motorized vehicles will be allowed in the upper area to Seaman Reservoir. The existing water treatment plant may become a museum/book store with main focus on water and the byway information and nature interpretation. We could possibly put an amphitheater next to the museum. Parking will terminate behind the museum. Del Price said there are some areas of concern. He said this plan works functionally. He said we may want to do some development in the area. He has concerns about the vegetation along the river if we don't create a path. Marty said that we will be looking for more grant money to develop this park. We have enough at this time to open the park. Rebecca asked about the ridge trail connection? The Poudre Paddlers have given the committee their input and they want to be able to come back up the river. Paul Hudnut asked about user fees for this area. Marty said that the question is if we have the state or city manage this park. We need to talk to state parks and get a more solid feel on what they want to do. The City Manager will then make the determination. If the City maintains this we are looking at $150,000 annually for operation and maintenance. Lance said we need to identify all the plans we can have with this park. We need to identify all the potentials on the master plan so we have open variables. Marty said we will develop a management plan from this. Ross Cunniff said he likes the development sites for the day users and the remainder kept as natural areas. Paul Van Valkenberg and Del Price have given a great deal of their time and input on this project. Paul said that Del has been a good influence on the committee. Paul Hudnut said that Marty mentioned no mountain biking. If a reservoir is constructed, would there be a path to that area? Marty said that the reservoir would not be accessed through this park. The access area to the reservoir would be from Red Feather. Paul further asked about rock climbing? Will there be an areas for that recreational opportunity? Marty said that the rocks are unstable for climbing. Poudre River Natural Areas Plan Marty Heffernan said there has been a long process regarding the completion of the management plan for the Poudre River Natural Areas. Our staff had concerns about Martinez Park being included in the area. Our suggestion to the Natural Resources staff is to take Martinez Park and the Archery Range out of the plan and we will address those areas separately. Natural Resources staff will soon have a plan ready for us to review and we will get a copy for the Parks and Recreation Board's subcommittee to review and they will have their comments at the Parks and Recreation Board Minu August 25, 1999 Page 6 September meeting. We will work with the Natural Resources staff to come up with ideas on how to work out a plan for Martinez Park. Our goal is to get the overall plan completed. Secretarial Note: The Poudre River Management Plan will not be ready for our subcommittee's review until October. Election of Officers Lance Freeman reminded the Board that at our September meeting, we will elect officers. Paul Van Valkenburg asked Lance if he would be willing to serve as Chair one more year? Lance replied that he would. Baseball Stadium Mike Powers said there is a proposal to bring a minor league baseball team to Northern Colorado. The DDA is looking for areas in the downtown for possible stadium sites. The major concern is financial. It will cost $5,000,000 and must come from private sources. Dean Hoag asked what is the process for choosing Fort Collins. Mike replied that Fort Collins was one of several cities selected in the region. Paul Hudnut asked why they can't use the CSU stadium? Lance replied there isn't enough room for seating. Paul clarified that he meant the football stadium. Lance said it is not configured for a baseball stadium. Other Business • Lance said that the second week of the month, he and Marty review the agenda. Lance asked Board members to call him to add items to the agenda. • Building Community Choices Projects/Joint Project with Poudre School District — Mike Powers explained that the committee agreed to the projects as presented, but would like a community outreach — mostly from the kids. The projects would include softball, baseball fields, and roller hockey rink and skateboard park at Edora. The skateboard park will be a joint financial funding from GOCO grant (we already have) along with $50,000 from BCC. Dean asked who would have control over the fields at the schools? Marty replied that the school district would have first priority. Ross said it would be good to see more joint ventures with the school district. • Dean asked what is the procedure for developing a schedule for Recreation fees? Mike said that staff develops the fees and they are approved by the City Manager who includes them in the overall budget. They are not presented to Council separately. Mary said that we need to revisit this. He supports the Buckaroos and we need to support our hometown teams. He said there were very few tournaments on the weekends because the City is outpricing the sponsors. He feels that the City gives no incentive to people to use Parks and Recreation Board Wes • August 25, 1999 Page 7 these fields for tournaments. He further stated that we don't need to alienate the Buckaroos. Triple Crown is providing a service, which brings revenues to the city. Marty explained that Council wants tournaments to pay their own way. Mary said are we doing nothing to provide anyone over 55 the opportunity to play softball in the community. Staff replied that we are looking into kids and parents teams. Dean said we need to take into consideration the economic impact of the revenue to the community. Mary said we need to educate the council and tell them there wasn't any drop -in play at Rolland Moore on the weekends. Mary further said that the Parks and Recreation staff sets the fees for tournaments without input from the tournament directors. Mary asked why the City employees can use the fields without charge? Staff will put this discussion on Board's September Agenda. Request to move the September 22 meeting to September 29. Staff requested that the September 22 meeting is moved to September 29 as many staff members will be attending the Colorado State Parks and Recreation Annual Conference the week of September 20. The Board voted unanimously to move the September meeting to September 29. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m. submitt ackie Rael, Executive Administrative Assistant Meeting Attendance Board Members: Rebecca Chavez, Ross Cunniff, Lance Freeman, Dean Hoag, Paul Hudnut, Del Price, Mary Ness, and Paul Van Valkenburg Staff. Tim Buchanan, Jim Clark, Craig Foreman, Marty Heffernan, Mike Powers, Jackie Rael, and Timothy Wilder Guests: Sally Craig, Timothy Johnson, and Randy Fischer