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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWORK SESSION SUMMARY-04/08/2008-Work Sessionto 0 Culture, Parks, Recreation and Environment 215 North Mason Street. 3- Floor PO Box 580 Fort Collins. CO 80522 MEMORADUM DT: April 11, 2008 TO: Mayor and Members of City Council TH: Darin Atteberry, City Manager ./ Diane Jones, Deputy City Manager �( FR: Marty Heffeman, Director of CPRE Craig Foreman, Manager of Park Planning and Development c RE: April 8, 2008 Council Work Session Summary -- Parks and Recreation Policy Plan Update Staff presented three options for developing new parks with different operation and maintenance costs. Staff also presented a number of options for funding new park O&M expenses. Council was asked to provide direction on the park development option they preferred and their preferred funding option. Councilmembers had the following comments and questions: There was a question about the current Park Operation and Maintenance budget. The budget for trail and park operation and maintenance in 2008 is about $4,000,000. A Councilmember noted the City has cut about $1,000,000 from the Park budget over the past few years. There was a question about how well the communities listed on slide 6 are achieving their parkland standard. It was noted that although Fort Collins doesn't have the highest parkland standard, we are achieving our standard and other communities may not be achieving their standard. Staff will provide information on actual park development in these communities. There was a question about a systems approach to park standards. Is the entire system of parks, trails, open space and natural areas considered when we look at developing our parks and when we compare our system to other communities? Staff will provide more information on this question. There was a question about stormwater facilities and their maintenance. The Stormwater department maintains stormwater areas that are not in parks. Maintenance of stormwater areas on park property are maintained by the Parks department. 0 r. A request was made for a list of practices employed to reduce operation and maintenance costs and the cost savings associated with them. Staff will provide this information. There was a request for a list of "greed' or environmentally sensitive practices currently employed by Parks, how this differs from past practice and plans for the future. This should include practices applied to existing parks and plans for future parks. Staff will provide this information. A request was made for information about flower beds and the cost to maintain them. Staff will provide this information. A request was made for a list of future parks and the timeframe for their development. Staff will provide this information. There was a request for information on how park construction and maintenance is funded in other communities and their sales tax rates. Staff will provide this information. There was a request for information on the number of disc golf courses in other communities. Staff will provide this information. A request was made for information about areas of the community that do not meet our parkland standards and ideas for how to address the deficiency. Staff will provide this information. Council gave direction that they support the Current Option for developing funrre parks. One Councilm ember expressed interest in a systems approach that may help reduce O&M costs. Council gave direction that the funding needed to maintain new parks should be part of the "Price of Government" discussion. The BFO process should be used to allocate funding reeded to maintain future parks. Some Councilmembers expressed opposition to the further use of Conservation Trust funds for park maintenance. Some Councilmembers indicated an interest in considering a trail impact fee, perhaps as a replacement of the library impact fee. Council directed staff to continue to work on options to address the disc golf needs in the community.