HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 09/29/1999PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD
Minutes of
Regular Meeting - September 29, 1999
281 North College Avenue
Conference Room A
5:30 p.m.
Council Liaison: Bill Bertschy Staff Liaison: Jackie Rael, 221-6351
President: Lance Freeman Phone: 491-7813 (work) 484-6789 (home)
Call Meeting to Order: President Lance Freeman called the Regular Meeting to order at 5:45 p.m.
Election of Officers
Since several board members needed to leave early in order to attend "back to school night' the
Election of Officers Item #13 was moved to the first item. By unanimous (6-0) vote, Lance Freeman
was elected to serve as President, Paul Van Valkenburg was elected to serve as Vice -President, and
Del Price was elected to serve as Secretary.
Items of Note: Rebecca Chavez called to say that she would late this evening. Del Price and Jessica
McMillan were not in attendance this evening.
Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the August 25, 1999 meeting were unanimously (6-0)
approved on a motion by Dean Hoag, seconded by Paul Van Valkenburg.
Citizen Participation: The only citizen participation dealt with the Recreation Fees and Priority of
Use item.
Recreation Fees and Priorily of Use
Jean Helburg passed out fees and costs information on tournaments and explained the survey
information. She said that the data was collected from eight communities and noted the material
included all aspects of 24 team 2 day tournaments involving 47 total games. She noted that Fort
Collins came out approximately 3rd or 4th in fee rates and explained that Fort Collins would be a true
3rd if the non-resident criteria was removed. She explained the Tournament Summary used the same
format and noted the basic costs associated with tournaments. She clarified that the estimated
tournament costs held in 1999 do not include any sponsorships except for the Triple Crown
Tournaments. She reviewed the revenue and maintenance cost information for tournament operators.
Paul Hudnut asked about fixed costs.
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Jean Helburg explained about how fixed costs could be lowered with respect to field preparation and
maintenance. She spoke about the on -going maintenance costs associated with long term seasonal
field preparation
Mary Ness asked why fixed costs fluctuate.
Jean Helburg explained that youth leagues get a 50% discount and noted that the figures do not
include overhead costs associated with full time staff. She clarified that the City is only down 3
tournaments in 1999 (21 total) compared to 24 tournaments that were hosted in 1998.
Mary Ness requested total tournament figures for adult softball games.
Jean Helburg noted that two more tournaments are scheduled to be hosted in the near future. She
noted per game costs were on Page 4 of the Recreation User Fee Inventory packet and noted the per
tournament cost information was on Page 5 of the Recreation User Fee Inventory packet. She
described in detail the scheduling priorities and preferences in the policy and explained that there is
only one prep a day during tournaments.
Lance Freeman asked for citizen participation.
Citizen Participation: Jerry. Brumitt, Buckaroos Director explained his frustrations associated with
trying to operate first class tournaments in Fort Collins. He noted that in May he had 95 teams
playing in Fort Collins and in June there were 165 teams that played for a week. He spoke of the
revenue generated by the teams was $100,000 is sales tax revenue and 3 million in economic
development for Fort Collins. He described the Buckaroos' expenses and stated that he believed the
"priority rule" hurts the Buckaroos. He said that the total cost of the 165 team tournament is
$70,000 and noted that the short days and needing to leave the fields at a set time is not economically
feasible. He asked the Board to help the Buckaroos continue the tournaments in Fort Collins and
he asked the Board to consider flexibility with field times. He stated the tournament fee could be
dealt with, but when will fee increases end?
Dave King, Triple Crown Sports asked if the Parks and Recreation Board sets policy.
Mike Powers explained that the Parks and Recreation Board is an advisory committee to staff and
City Council and stated that all policy is determined by City Council.
Marty Heffernan explained how the Parks and Recreation Lead Team worked to design the Priority
Scheduling Policy. He stated that the policy was a mechanism for controlling play to avoid conflicts
with field demand. He noted the policy was inspired by the Poudre School District's guidelines.
Dave King asked the Board to look at the legality of giving a lower priority to competitive youth and
a higher priority to non-competitive youth. He asked if Fort Collins' fields were built to
accommodate specific user groups and stated he believed that recreation goals need to be revisited.
He said that if the goal was to recover all costs, Triple Crown can't afford to pay it and asked the
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Board not to cost out the tournament operators. He spoke against the way the priority system was
developed and encouraged the Board to allow the fields to be used as much as possible.
Fred Flores, of the Fort Collins Stars, stated his organization cannot afford to pay to play on City of
Fort Collins' fields. He spoke in support of the Buckaroos tournament and said it was a great benefit
to the city.
Mary Ness stated he believed the fields belong to everyone and that the fields need to be fully utilized.
He stated he believed that Fort Collins should have the lowest use fees and said he disagrees that City
Council is not interested in tournaments to generate economic development.
Jean Helburg spoke in support of the Board, staff and the tournament operators all working together
and explained that staff and the Board function based on direction from CLRS management and City
Council. She stated that Council has said that they want tournaments to "pay their way" and that only
recently have some Councilmembers expressed more interest in economic development in Fort
Collins.
Mike Powers stated that staff is under direction from City Council and said that staff has been
directed to recover tournament costs. He stated that staff will help the Board present their concerns
to City Council.
Mary Ness stated he believed that a few Council members shouldn't dictate this kind of policy and
said that he is willing to help staff educate Council on how the tournament regulations impact the
community
Lance Freeman asked the Board if they wanted to look at the changing the fee policy.
Dean Hoag spoke in support of looking at changing the fees and presenting the information to City
Council.
Mike Powers stated that staff cannot lower tournament fees without different Council direction and
explained that the scheduling policy cannot be changed without Council direction. He added that the
Parks and Recreation Policy Plan direction was for tournaments to pay their way and not displace
local users.
Paul Hudnut spoke in support of the Board looking at the policy and fee structure and noted that the
Board should look at the entire issue and not just softball. He expressed concern that City Council
has been out of touch with economic development and stated he believed that Ray and Karen are now
interested in this issue. He spoke in favor of checking with City Council to see if the matter is worth
pursuing and said that if Council shows interest, then the Board could work on policy changes.
Lance Freeman stressed the importance of the Board understanding the big issue, including operation
and maintenance costs.
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Ross Cunniff spoke about actual capital costs and expressed concern about fairness issues implicated
by the priority rule.
Dean Hoag asked if exceptions with respect to priority could be made for longstanding tournaments.
Lance Freeman stated that the Board could look at a similar fee structure that Colorado State
University uses and stated that he would meet with Marty Heffernan to discuss how the Board might
present the issues to City Council.
Dean Hoag asked if there was a temporary "quick fix" to work with the large tournament groups.
Marty Heffernan stated that the direction from City Council was that tournaments need to pay their
way and explained the balance that the Parks and Recreation Policy Plan intended to create.
Lance Freeman spoke in support of an informal meeting with City Council on the fee structure.
Marty Heffernan said that at next month's meeting staff would have information for the Board to
review on the fee structure issue and the priority issues.
Dean Hoag expressed concern that the Buckaroos and Triple Crown tournaments could be bumped
off of the play schedule.
Jean Helburg stated she believed that the chances of a tournament being removed were very slim.
Mary Ness spoke in support of consideration being given to a grandfather clause to secure
tournament play for the Buckaroos and Triple Crown.
Dean Hoag asked the Board to look at the issue of the early cut-off of tournament games to allow
for field preparation.
Ross Cunniff asked the Board to look at the issue of when the field lights are turned off in relation
to when the game started.
Joint Land Purchase For Neighborhood Park - Fossil Creek Reservoir
Janet Meisel -Bums passed out Joint Land Use Maps and explained the revisions to the Parks and
Recreation Policy Plan. She gave the Board a brief update on a current land acquisition and described
the parcel of land that the City is hoping to purchase to build a neighborhood park. She stated that
the parcel is approximately ten to twelve acres and added that the City will be paying approximately
$15,000 per acre. She noted that the Poudre School District will be purchasing the additional acres
for a school site and related that Everitt Companies will be working with the Poudre School District
to develop adjacent land.
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0
Harmony Park Update
Janet Meisel -Bums presented an update on Harmony Park and explained the open house and the park
planning process. She explained that the construction bids will be received early in 2000 and
described the geographical relation between Traut Elementary school and Preston Junior High to
Harmony Park. She said that there are plans for a youth soccer field, baseball field, restroom, shelter,
and a field on School District property using BCC money and noted that Harmony Park would also
have a wildlife habitat area. She stated she would be back at the next month's Board meeting with
another update.
Craig Foreman talked about the design process for Fossil Creek Community Park and explained that
design work will take most of 2000 to complete. He said that the park would officially open in 2003.
Mike Powers explained the public outreach process that staff has done for Fossil Creek Community
Park and commented on the Board's possible involvement. He noted that this will be the first
community park that the City has built since 1984.
Horticulture Center Update
Jim Clark updated the Board on the Horticulture Center and commented on the boundary and north
property line orientation issues. He explained the potential purchase of two additional acres of
Colorado State University property. He noted that the State Board and CSURF had met and said
that the State Board passed the land swap agreement. He noted that staff had postponed going to
City Council until the boundary issue is resolved. He described the south boundary compromise that
Kathleen Byington of CSURF has proposed to staff. He noted that per City street standards a
through -street needs to connect to Centre Avenue and explained the associated costs with preparing
the street site. He stated that on September 30 there will be a meeting between all parties to discuss
the street issues. He said that the Horticulture Center Request For Proposals is out for bids and
noted there has been a lot of interest from landscape architects and engineers.
Youth Activity Center
Jean Helburg explained that the current lease agreement with Colorado State University would
continue to the end of 2001 and stated she believed that Recreation would have use of the building
for quite a while. She said that staff would like to build a new facility beginning in 2004, and spoke
of the amenities that a new facility would need. She described the extensive public process that
would occur and reassured the Board that staff does not view the new Northside Center as a
replacement for the Youth Activity Center. She spoke of staffs intention to maintain the current
positive elements for the youth in the north part of Fort Collins. She reported that the Mayor's
Community Dialogue program supports a youth center in Fort Collins. She stated that staff has been
looking for a new youth center location and noted that a support group may become involved in fund
raising.
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Poudre School District/City Outreach Process
Jean Helburg passed out a draft describing the proposed outreach process between the Poudre School
District and the City outlining joint BCC projects. She noted that capital money can't be used for
recreation programs. She noted that these projects. are supported by City Council and the School
District and explained the Board of Education's involvement. She asked the Board if they would
write a letter supporting the proposed projects.
Craig Foreman explained the time line for the funding and how the money was carried over from
1998.
Lance Freeman asked if a management plan was in place.
Marty Heffernan explained how the existing management plan works between the City and the School
District and noted that the School District gets scheduling priority and maintenance responsibilities
on fields on their property.
Jean Helburg spoke of the Great Outdoors Colorado Grant for the new skateboard park at Edora
Park and explained how City fields might become available for more users once the new fields are
built on Poudre School District property.
Marty Heffernan spoke in support of the skate park and in -line hockey rink as an after school activity
location for youth.
Rebecca Chavez expressed concern that the majority of the projects were located on the south side
of Fort Collins.
Jean Helburg stated she would be back next month with additional information for the Board.
Downtown River Implementation Project
Mike Powers explained the Downtown River Implementation Project and asked the Board if they
were comfortable putting a recommendation together.
Paul Hudnut spoke in support of a recommendation.
Lance Freeman spoke in favor of a recommendation.
Mike Powers mentioned the open house at October 6, 1999 at 7:00 p.m.
Marty Heffernan stated he believed that Tim Wilder needed feedback from the Board by mid -October.
Paul Hudnut spoke in support of attending the open house.
Lance Freeman stated he believed a report from the open house would be beneficial before a letter
is written and asked that discussion of the letter be placed on the October meeting agenda.
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Marty Heffernan said if he discovered a timeline problem he would let the Board know through
Lance.
Marty Heffernan explained the County Open Space Ballot Issue and what the City would gain from
this tax extension. He passed out a ballot summary to the Board. He noted that this ballot issue
would continue the existing County 1/4 cent sales tax for 15 years plus bonding authority which
allows early use of the revenues to buy open space before costs go up. He stated that 2.4 million
dollars a year in revenue is generated for the City by this tax and described what has been
accomplished with the monies including preservation and conservation issues. He explained the
benefits for Parks and Recreation could be the trails program and spoke of the benefit of having land
for trails and recreational purposes.
Paul Hudnut made a motion that the Board recommend that City Council support this ballot proposal.
Ross Cunniff seconded the motion.
The motion passed unanimously.
Marty Heffernan stated the Board needs to develop a work plan for 2000 and requested that all Board
meetings for 2000 need to be scheduled by November 1.
Lance Freeman stated he would like the Board's ideas for work plan items for next month and
thanked the Board for voting him in again,'as Chair.
Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jackie Damer
CLRS Support
Meeting Attendance
Board Members: Rebecca Chavez, Ross Cunniff, Lance Freeman, Dean Hoag, Paul Hudnut, Mary
Ness, and Paul Van Valkenburg.
Staff, Jean Helburg, Terry Keith, Tim Buchanan, Jim Clark, Craig Foreman, Janet Meisel -Burns,
Marty Heffernan, Mike Powers, and Jackie Darner.
Guests: Michael Rosso, Jim Mohney, David King, Fred Flores, Joe Helm, and Jerry Brumit.
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