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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 02/28/2007 (2)Call Meeting to Order: Jessica called the meeting to order at 5:35. Agenda Review: No changes to the Agenda as printed. Citizen Participation: None Approval of Minutes: On a motion made by Cathy seconded by Michael the Board approved the January 24, 2007 Minutes 7:0. Parks and Recreation Policy Plan Update Craig updated the Board on the Policy Plan. He said that about 150 people attended focus groups. Craig commented that it was one of the largest groups they had seen. He said that at next month's P&R Board meeting Green Play should be able to give them a summary of the questionnaire. He said that they will now start reaching the general public. Cathy said she was surprised with the number of people that attended the focus groups. Jessica stated that there were a lot of special interest groups. She feels these groups don't fully understand the process like those on the Board. Craig then went over Green Play's work items. Marty explained that Green Play has done aerial photos of our parks to locate all the facilities and features they have. This information will be put into the GIS system and the facilities and features will be rated to show how well they are serving their intended purposes. Mark asked if this will help determine pavement management. Marty explained that we have an individual working for the City that does inventory of the pavement and he doesn't believe that Green Play will be a part of that. Marty stated that we would like to help these special interest groups out but we are facing issues with being able to maintain what we currently have. Mary also felt that these groups need to be informed of our issues. Bill stated that if we built parks that serve just one purpose we are not serving the entire community. He feels that we need to focus on multi -use parks that everyone can enjoy. Marty said that is our general approach. Jessica mentioned an indoor tennis facility. She said that tennis is offered in the schools and they currently have to go to Miramont for an indoor facility. She suggested that we take a look at enclosing the courts at Rolland Moore and start a partnership with the school system. Bill suggested that we contact the USTA (United States Tennis Association) to see if they offer any grants. Cathy said that the interest groups were very passionate but weren't sure about funding. Jessica agreed that when the issue of funding came up there wasn't much discussion. Mark asked if the City had a liaison that could help them set up their organization. Marty said that we have a bike coordinator that is currently working with the biking community. He said the issue is that we really aren't in a position to help fund their interests unless it fits into our plan especially when we are struggling with the issue of funding maintenance. Mark wanted to clarify that he was suggesting that the City give them resources and not funding. Jessica expressed her concern with us building out the park system. Bill suggested that we have the developers build and maintain the parks for a certain amount of years. Marty said that the Park Planning staff would prefer to build the parks because we want to make sure it's going to be good quality and meet the needs of the entire community. Jessica feels this could be an issue because we would be asking a non specialist to maintain these parks. Bill said that we could install it and ask that they fund it and provide the maintenance for a certain number of years. Michael said that may be a lot of money to expect the developer to come up with up front. He said that the market is tighter so developers are already putting in more money as a marketing tool. Greg stated his concern that the City made a promise to build out the park system and if we don't we may get a backlash from the public. Jessica feels that it's like any other business and you have to make adjustments because of circumstances and when things are better we can finish. She said that as a resident she wouldn't want to have a lesser product when we can wait a couple of years for something of better quality. Greg feels the public may not be satisfied with that. Marty said we have a system to build nice parks we are just struggling with being able to maintain them. He said that we would have to stop charging an impact fee if we stop building parks. Marty informed the Board that we have about 10 years to build a park from the time we collect the fees to build it. Bill asked if we had partnerships with the Home Owner's Associations. Marty said that some subdivisions have their own facilities. Jessica said that she serves on her HOA Board and they are currently having issues maintaining the tennis courts. She said that they just don't have enough money in reserves to maintain them. Michael said that he is involved with a subdivision that will have a number of amenities. Jessica believes that homeowners would end up paying too much for their fees if they are asked to maintain more. Michael explained that this subdivision will have 600 homes and they will have additional membership available for people outside the subdivision. Marty asked Craig if the Board needed to be prepared for anything that is upcoming. Craig said that he would ask Karen to provide them with the survey and information on the focus groups. Marty said that we want to continue with the Board's involvement. Bill asked when the public survey was going to go out. Craig believes it will go out in a few weeks and it will take about a month for them to get the surveys back. William then asked what percent they were expecting to get back and Craig said around 30%. Jessica said that they should consider spring break because a lot of people may not be in town at that time. Jessica then thanked the Board members who were present for the focus groups. Update on New NACC Jean informed the Board that the opening date has been pushed back to August or September because of the winter weather. They were originally hoping to be done around June but this later date will work better for staff because they would have been moving during summer registration. Marty informed the Board that the later date is still within the contracted time. Jessica asked what the thoughts were of those individuals who currently use the NACC. Jean said that there is a group of people who are very passionate about the facility. She said the change is similar to the closing of the Senior Center. She stated that they have informed them that there would be an increase in the number of programs. Jean said that the new center will have a lot of class rooms to accommodate more programs. She said they are planning on meeting monthly with this group to keep them involved. Jessica asked if we would have to start charging a fee for those who use the NACC for special occasions and funerals. Jean said that they would have to take a look at their circumstances. Marty said that it didn't make sense charging a high fee for the use of the current facility but the new facility is going to be much nicer. He said that we will have to charge fees similar to our other recreation facilities but provide assistance to those who can afford it. Jean acknowledged that it is hard to change something that has been in place for so long. Jessica asked about bussing those from the south side of town and Jean said that there is a bus route on College. She believes that once the Mason Street Corridor is complete there may be bussing to that area. Marty informed the Board that depending on funding there may be a possibility of a bus service around the Mason Corridor that would go to Willow. He said if that happens then the kids could catch the bus at Mason and take it to the NACC and also the new Discovery Science Center and Museum. Cathy asked how many kids currently use the YAC and Jean wasn't sure of the numbers off hand. She said that they do plan on accommodating them. Cathy feels it is important to get that message out to them. Jean informed the Board that the owners of the YAC do not have tenants for the facility and they have been cooperative. Jessica asked if there would be a fee and Jean said there would be for snow removal and utilities but not a rental fee to use the gym. Jean said that they have applied for a GOCO grant to help finish the park at the NACC and they should find out in June if they get it. She then gave an overview of the park and said the Handball Association has raised some money for the handball courts. Ann asked if they are still raising money and Jean said they are and that they have committed to raising half of the cost which is about $75,000. Jean said this group is very passionate about the game and they are anxious to help get more kids involved. Proiect Uudates Registry Ridge Crag introduced Coulter Hooker from Lennar Homes and Cody Snowden from Northern Engineering. He said that they are involved in the last development around Registry Ridge. Craig then showed the Board the location of the area. He said that the park is scheduled to open in 2011. He said initially the park was going to be six acres but the School District decided to make the school area larger so we lost an acre. Craig said that the School District then decided to move their location near Homestead Park. Craig and Coulter met with the HOA for the existing neighborhood in the area. The residents felt they weren't benefiting any from the new homes coming in like they may have with the school. Some individuals mentioned that they liked the idea of having more land connected to the back of their homes and they asked if the park could go back to six acres. Craig, Coulter and Cody have been working on this. Craig then reviewed the most current map of the area. He said that they will need to run a sewer line across the park site to some of the homes and they would likely tap that for the park restroom. He then showed where the additional land for the park would be and said that they discussed purchasing it at fair market value. He then asked the Board for their recommendation of getting the park back up to six acres by purchasing the additional land. Jessica said that it makes sense to her and she believes it adds to their quality of life. Greg said that it sounds like a great idea and this type of partnership is good for the City. Coulter said that it doesn't always work in everyone's benefit but in this case it does. The Board then voted unanimously (8:0) to support the acquisition of the City for approximately one acre of land as shown on exhibit SK-1. Spring Canyon Craig showed slides of the area. He then showed the Board where the pedestrian underpass and playground would be located. He said that the shelter's have rusting steel on them to show a more rustic look. Jessica asked if the trees had been planted and Craig said some were planted around the outside of the park last fall. Golden Meadows Craig showed where they were taking water from the irrigation pond to convert it to domestic water. He said Connell is going to charge us around $40,000 for this. He then informed the Board that we tried to bid this out 3 years ago and we didn't get a bid any less than $115,000. Jessica asked how they could come in so low and Craig said they offered to do this because they didn't have much to do in the winter. Craig said that they were impressed with the type of work Connell does. He then reminded the Board that this will save the City and the School District each $7,000 a year in water charges. Craig said that they will come back in the spring to clean up the area. BBC Sidewalks/Parking lot Craig said that they have scheduled putting in the parking lot at Rolland Moore Park. He also said that the sidewalks at City Park, Edora, Lee Martinez and Rolland Moore will come on schedule as weather permits. Case Park Craig said that they are in the final phase and it's scheduled to be completed in May. Election of Officers The Board voted unanimously (8:0) to appoint Michael as Chairperson and Mary as Vice - Chair. Marty asked Michael to contact Craig to set up their monthly meetings. He also reminded the Board that the new Director of Parks would be working with Craig on the Board Meetings. Other Business None Correspondence Adjournment: The Board unanimously agreed to adjourn at 7:10 p.m. ti�1Y s a, w Worth Administrative Aide Board Attendance Board Members: Mary Carlson, Michael Chalona, Ann Hunt, Cathy Kipp, Mark Leuker, Jessica MacMillan, Greg Miller, Bill Pickering Staff: Craig Foreman, Marty Heffernan, Jean Helburg, Dawn Worth Guests: Cody Snowden, Coulter Hooker