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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 10/25/2017Parks & Recreation Board Meeting – October 25, 2017 Page 1 of 5 BE A GOOD STEWARD: Protect & Respect your Parks, Trails & Recreation Facilities Call Meeting to Order: Scott Sinn called the meeting to order at 5:39 PM Agenda Review & Items of Note: Citizen Participation: Bob Kingsbury, Friends of Traditional Bands, organization that was surprised about the increase in fees for renting Club Tico. Approval of Minutes: Bruce Henderson made the motion to approve the Parks & Recreation Board Minutes of September 27, 2017. Seconded by Mary Carlson Passed 6:0 Meeting Summary • The Board reviewed, discussed and updated their 2018 Work Plan. The 2018 Work Plan will be approved at the December 6th meeting. PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD MINUTES Regular Meeting Wednesday, October 25, 2017 5:30 PM Board Chair: Scott Sinn – 2017 scott.sinn@ymail.com Council Liaison: Ken Summers - ksummers@fcgov.com Staff Liaisons: Mike Calhoon, 970-416-2079 – mcalhoon@fcgov.com Kurt Friesen, 970-221-6618 – kfriesen@fcgov.com Bob Adams, 970-221-6354 – badams@fcgov.com Parks & Recreation Board Meeting – October 25, 2017 Page 2 of 5 Full Minutes AGENDA ITEMS: Revisit Work Plan – Board members Discussion Board – Would we like to update “Encourage continued dialogue and awareness of public safety concerns in Parks.” For the needles safety issue? Staff – I think it’s sufficient. Board - Do we still want to include “Review plans, provide feedback and offer suggestions related to the public process regarding the Southeast Community Center.”? Is that going to happen? Staff – The Innovation Center is what it’s called now and is planned for 2023. We have started offering those programs within our existing facilities. Bob says we can take it off. Board – I had a question about communication collaboration. The item “Work with staff to develop an outreach/marketing program promoting awareness and stewardship of the City’s parks, trails and recreation facilities.” Are we still doing any of that? Staff – Yes, it is ongoing. Staff – One thing that I think we should add since it will be initiated in 2018 is the Parks & Recreation Policy Plan review, so we may want to include that in the Work Plan under the main Goals since the board will be involved and it impacts Parks, Recreation & Trails. Board – We had mentioned adding Trail Connectivity. We have that in there, but we may want to consider calling that out more. Board – Is City Park Tomorrow apart from the Park Refresh? Staff – It would be included in the Park Refresh. Board – We should add something about Capital Expansion Fees since a member of the Board is participating in the community group learning about Capital Expansion Fees. Board – Should we add a bullet for Pickle Ball? The Pickle Ball community would like more so that they can host tournaments. Four courts limit their ability to host tournaments and they’re concerned about the quality of the concrete. Staff – The court quality could go into Lifecycle replacement. As for more courts, that is dependent on the policy plan, which currently recommends putting in something for everyone and generalizing features for the public. The City of Fort Collins serves the community, not just a segment of the community. Board – Okay, we can generalize and provide Pickle Ball as an example rather than specify goals for the Pickle Ball community. Board – Update “Encourage and review efforts improve low and moderate-income citizen access to, and participation in, City programs and facilities.” to reflect the changes made to the program and provide input as a part of the Plan, Do, Check, Act. Board – Change “Develop a collaborative partnership with FC Moves for an integrated, regional and local transportation network of parks, trails, bike facilities, pedestrian walkways and accessible recreational facilities.” To “Promote collaborative partnership…” Board – Change “Ensure and support the funding of ongoing maintenance of the City’s local and regional trails.” to "Encourage" or "Support." Board – Add to Trails “Encourage staff to understand trends impacting trail capacity and accommodate trail capacity changes.” Parks & Recreation Board Meeting – October 25, 2017 Page 3 of 5 Board – Besides the articles, do we as a board have time to focus on other things working with Staff on developing outreach/marketing? Should we focus this more on what we do? We’re not responsible for developing outreach programs, but we do promote awareness. Board – Does staff have a Goal around being more Carbon Neutral & working with Climate-wise? Is that something we should include? Something like “Support staff on efforts that align with Climate Action Plan goals.” Staff – We do have strategic objectives around supporting the Climate Action Plan. For example, Parks has rolled out the Mean Green electric mower. Recreation does as well regarding energy use, chemical use, etc. We have members of our department on the Sustainability Committee. Board – How are we being informed on upcoming council agendas? How much in advance do we want to know? Chair – Usually Staff will provide that information for us during meetings. We can also subscribe to alerts on the City website, but it’s a 6-month agenda, so it is pretty far in advance. Staff – We can print out the 6-month agenda and highlight issues that impact Parks & Recreation so you can keep them in mind. Board – It would be interesting to know when you’re taking items in front of Council or during Work Sessions. We would appreciate the updates. STAFF UPDATES: Parks • Representatives of Natural Areas, Park Planning & Development, and Parks attended the Work Session with City Council to look at the Reductions & Revisions for the 2018 Budget to break out the East Community Park development, the East District Maintenance facility & the expansion of the Natural Areas maintenance facility. We need that satellite maintenance facility to keep the cost of park maintenance efficient. The good news is after a dialogue on each item; Council approved all 3. The first reading of the 2018 budget appropriation will be November 7th. They’ll be taking it to vote November 21st • There has been an increase in finding used hypodermic needles in our parks. The issue of needles in the parks is not a new issue; it has been going on for a long time. A 4-year-old child was stuck in Lee Martinez Park. We’ve also seen an increase in public comment on Facebook stating the parks are not safe. We are looking to work with Social Sustainability, Downtown Business Authority & other agencies to develop a needle exchange program that would allow for the distribution of portable sharp containers that can enable the needles to be collected, then exchanged for new, clean needles. It’s not realistic to expect people who are behaving disrespectfully and irresponsibly in parks to use stationary sharps containers. Even if they do throw them in trash cans, that puts City staff at risk of getting stuck when removing the trash. We need to get these needles out of the community. There may be a time when I come to you for support & to draft a letter to go to Council. • Council did approve $130,000 for a contractor for a camp clean-up program along the river & trail system. Discussion Board – Is there any data on incidents regarding needles? Where would the public find that? Staff – The Police & Fire Departments would both have reporting data. Board – Have any other communities implemented a similar needle exchange program? Staff – I’ve heard of organizations, but not communities with multiple agencies & city involvement. The business community is also supportive. Board – Have you explored any other options? Staff – The Sharp kiosk in Parks was another option, however, in reviewing other communities that have attempted that method, they have not been effective. They don’t get filled. I want to see 1,000 dirty needles safely disposed. If an organization hands out 400 clean needles a month, I want to see 400 dirty needles to come back and out of our parks. Board – Are these incidents mostly in Lee Martinez Park? Parks & Recreation Board Meeting – October 25, 2017 Page 4 of 5 Staff – No, this is parks all over town. It’s not specifically Lee Martinez or the Downtown area. Recreation • EPIC Therapy & Wader Pool has a tentative date of December 12th. They will most likely open at the same time. • The new ADA drop-off is complete & Parks will be doing a snow removal training there. We do also get to test the warming system under the cement. • EPIC hosted the South West Regional Skate competition. We had a successful large event with nine different states & over 600 figure skaters participating. • The Winter Recreator has been published, and we have copies for you to pick-up. The Recreator of the Year Ken Miller is on the cover. He’s an 89-year-old man who comes in every day to use the weight room and skate. There is more about him on pages 12 & 13. Registration will start on November 2nd o Thank you, Dawn Theis, for the Club Tico feature in the Recreator. • We have many events coming up: o Treatsylvania October 27th, 28th & 29th & BowWowvania October 28th at the Farm o Hogwarts Halloween at Northside Aztlan Community Center 6-8 PM Saturday, October 28th. Tickets are currently sold out o Veterans Day Breakfast 7AM November 11th at the Senior Center o Downtown Ice Rink will be up November 12th – Collaborating with the Downtown Business Administration to improve the rink process used last year. We’re using the traditional oval rink with artificial ice now & adding dasher boards to surround the rink than the fence we had last year and provided some additional advertising funding. Operational hours will align with Santa Workshop hours to provide staffing at peak hours this year. o Holiday Market Craft Fair – November 24th – 25th at the Senior Center Discussion Board – You should come more often, Stephanie. We appreciate your succinct updates. Park Planning • 2018 Budget Revisions - Park Planning & Development staff will be presenting two budget revision offers at a City Council work session on Tues, Oct. 24. These offers are being presented outside of the regular budget revision process, at the request of the City Council. One offer is for $220,000 to pay for site improvements at East Community Park, including installation of an underdrain and seeding/revegetation. The second offer is for $430,000 and is for floodplain analysis, preliminary site master planning, and design of the maintenance facility at East Community Park. • Commission on Disability – Employee of the Year/Partnership Award - Park Planning and Development was cordially invited to the 2017 Mayors Awards - City of Fort Collins Commission on Disability on October 19th to honor team member Craig Kisling, and the Park Planning and Development department as a whole. Craig was individually recognized as Employee of the Year, and the department received the Partnership Award. These awards were earned in recognition of the installation of adult changing tables at Spring Canyon Park, and at the upcoming Twin Silo Park. • Twin Silo Park – Lumination - Park Planning and Development is pleased to announce the opening of Twin Silo Park. On November 9th, Park Planning and Development will hold a “Lumination” event at sunset, in which the park lights will be turned on at the end of the Ribbon Cutting ceremony, symbolizing the official opening of the park. This event is anticipated to begin at 3:30pm with self-guided tours of the park, speeches from Council beginning at 4:30pm, and the lumination of the park at sunset. • City Park Refresh – Core Area - A draft master plan has been circulated and will be discussed with an internal Technical Advisory Group in the coming weeks, including the City Park train. Hillcrest Shops from California was selected to build a bio-diesel Mogul locomotive, two gondola cars, a caboose, and 15 gauge tracks. The budget Parks & Recreation Board Meeting – October 25, 2017 Page 5 of 5 for the train and tracks is currently $350,000. Coordination with Hillcrest Shops on the track design is on-going. After the city park plan has been further developed, and costs prepared, neighborhood outreach will follow. • Streets Park – Will bring an update concept design to get the Board’s input. Discussion Board – Is this the same Streets Park that was presented last year? Staff – It is, but the plan has been modified. We did not get the original grant but have applied for another $350,000 GoCO grant. We’ve never applied for a GoCO grant for a Park before. Board – The Longview Trail Neighborhood meeting. What were the intersection safety concerns? Chair – The concerns were neighbors getting across Trilby to the trail itself from the Registry Ridge community. Also, they wanted to know where the trail heads will be located so they can park to get on the trail. Board – Is the Front Range Trail going to open November 14th? Has that date been announced? Where will the opening be? Chair – Yes. I’m not sure; it may be on the Larimer County website since they’re spearheading the project. The Trailhead off of Hwy 392 is where parking is planned for the openings. BAC Report • There was another presentation on the Bike & Pedestrian counts to get more granular with the data collected. Unfortunately, the changes to the data collection methodology over time prevents from providing accurate trail usage analysis. E-bike usage on the trails according to this survey was less than 1%. • There is a Bikes Projects fair tomorrow evening (October 26th) 5-7 PM at the Discovery Museum. Schedule of Articles • Spring Recreator volunteer needed. Kelly volunteered. Bullet Points • Work Plan Updates Adjournment: 7:04 PM Respectfully submitted, Coleen Elliott Board Attendance Board Members: Mary Carlson, Bruce Henderson, Kenneth Layton, Scott Sinn, Kelly Smith, Dawn Theis Staff: Coleen Elliott, Stephanie Munro, Mike Calhoon, Craig Kisling Guest: Bob Kingsbury, Bosid