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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/09/2005 - Regular Minutes - Parks Board Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Minutes Tuesday, August 9, 2005, at 7:00 p.m. The EXIT Teen Center 1520 Rock Prairie Road College Station, Texas Staff Present: Steve Beachy; Ric Ploeger; Marci Rodgers; Curtis Bingham; Peter Lamont; Pam Springfield Members Present: Jodi Warner; Jeannie McCandless, Glenn Schroeder; Gary Erwin; Gary Thomas; Harry Green Members Absent: John Crompton; Carol Blaschke; Kathleen Ireland Guests Present: Michelle Bynum, Intern; Joe Schultz, TEXCON 1. Call to order. The meeting was called to order by Jodi Warner at 7:02 p.m. 2. Swearing in of New and Reappointed Board Members: Gary Erwin was sworn in for a second, two-year term and Harry Green was sworn in to his first, two-year term. John Crompton would be sworn in at the next meeting. 3. Pardon ~ possible action concerning requests for absences of members from meeting. John Crompton and Carol Blaschke had submitted requests for absence. Gary T. moved to accept the two requests for absence that had been submitted. Gary E. seconded and the vote was called. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. 4. Hear visitors. Hearing none, this item was closed. 5. Discussion, consideration, and possible approval of minutes from Regular Board meeting of July 12, 2005. Glenn S. moved to accept the minutes from the July 12, 2005 meeting. Jeannie M. seconded and the vote was called. The motion carried unanimously and the minutes were approved. 6. Discussion, consideration, and possible action regarding Park Land Dedication requests for Williams Creek Subdivision (Park Zone 14). Ric P. stated that this was a request for 110 single family units. Williams Creek had been seen twice by the Board - in April 2004 and again in May 2005 - and both times the Board had accepted a cash dedication in lieu of land. The development was near Lick Creek Park, at the southeast corner of the East Rock Prairie Road and Greens Prairie Road intersection. Joe Schultz, the engineer for the project, was there representing the owner. He could also answer any questions the Board may have. The building is wheelchair accessible. Handicap parking spaces are available. Any request for sign interpretive services must be made 48 hours before the meeting. To make arrangements call (979) 764-3517 or (TDD) 1-800-735-2989. For those new to the Board, Ric briefly described the purpose of the Park Land Dedication Ordinance. For this dedication, the Board had the choice of taking cash, land, or a combination of both. The owners had proposed a dedication of a 1.25-acre lot and some part of one of the detention facilities. Depending on how much of the detention area the board accepted, there could be anywhere between a one- and three-acre park. The detention area had a flat bottom, approximately 240’ x 120’, which could be used for soccer practice. The property had good street access. The residents in that area would not necessarily need open space (due to the size of the lots), but they would want a playground and a basketball court, and this was the way it could be provided. The city would be responsible for maintaining the accepted portion of the detention if it was accepted. Staff was recommending that the Board make a site visit before the next meeting in order to make a determination. Glenn S. made a motion that the Board look at the property before the next meeting. Gary T. seconded. Hearing no further discussion, the vote was called. All in were in favor of a site visit to look at the proposed dedication, and the motion carried unanimously. A site visit would be arranged. 7. Report, discussion and possible action regarding Interpretation Plan for Lick Creek Park ~ Michelle Bynum, Intern. Steve B. introduced Michelle Bynum, a senior at A&M from the Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences Department. He explained that Michelle was doing an internship project for Parks - developing an environmental interpretive plan for Lick Creek Park. Michelle gave a brief presentation (see attached) describing her research. She had gone out to the park and familiarized herself with the trails. She had also conducted interviews with experts on the topical aspects and had done some internet research. Once she’d gathered her information, she’d written the narratives that would go on the signs describing the history of the park, the plants, animals, and birds. Her presentation included two examples of signs she had created. Michelle had also been in charge of choosing the locations for the signs, as well as the best type of sign to use. She described the three sign types she’d chosen and explained how she had decided on the location and placement of the signs. A total of thirty-three signs would be interspersed throughout the park. Numbered stakes had gone into the ground with a corresponding map showing the number and location of where the signs would be placed. No sign color had been decided. The signs chosen were expensive, but Michelle suggested having signs in color for a few specific items and using black and white signs for the remainder. A detailed work-up of the signs would have to be sent to Pannier Graphics (the company who does the signs) in order to get a cost estimate. The members felt that this would be a wonderful asset to the park and that Michelle had done a great job. Steve B. stated that once Michelle had finished her report, estimates would be sought. Glenn S. made a motion in support of the signage for Lick Creek Park and to proceed as soon as possible to get the signs installed. Gary E. seconded. After a brief discussion regarding sign details, the vote was called. All were in favor, and the motion carried unanimously. 8. Report, discussion and possible action regarding potential changes to the Park Land Dedication Ordinance. Steve stated that a couple of recommendations had been made at the last meeting. Those recommendations had been incorporated into the document and reviewed by Legal, Development Services staff, and Parks staff. Steve had wanted to have a final discussion before the joint meeting with Planning and th Zoning on August 18, when the ordinance could potentially be approved. The revisions did not change the fee requirements or the number of dwelling units but they did define how a developer could develop the park and how smaller dedications could be approved at the administrative level to keep them from going to the Board. Steve stated that while the ordinance did not provide formal wording to state that the smaller dedications would be reported to the Board, the information would become a part of the reports that the Board received monthly. A dedication such as the one presented earlier in the evening (agenda item #6) would have to go before the Board for review. After brief discussion, Steve asked that any motion be held until the joint meeting. 9. Report, discussion, and possible action regarding Senior Advisory Committee member recommendations ~ Marci Rodgers. Marci Rodgers, Senior Services Coordinator was there on behalf of the Senior Services Committee to recommend five people (Robert Meyer, Edgar Jones, Doreen Todd, Joyce Davis, and Rick Heaney) to be appointed to the Committee. She was also asking that the Board to appoint Robert Meyer as Chairman and Neal Nutall as Vice Chairman. Marci said that she had met with all five and they had agreed to serve. This would give the Committee a total of fifteen members with five rotating off every year. Gary E. moved to accept the names as submitted. Jeannie M. seconded. The motion was amended to accept the names as submitted with the recommendations for Chairman and Vice Chairman. Jeannie seconded the amended motion. There being no further questions, the vote was called. All were in favor, and the motion passed unanimously. Marci told the Board that the presentation to update the City Council on the senior center had gone well, with Council responding very favorably. She said the next step was for the Senior Advisory Committee to meet with other senior groups to find what they would like in a center. Those results would come back to the Board and then to Council. Jodi stated that the Board members would be happy to help with the public hearing process if needed. 10. Report, discussion, and possible action regarding Third Quarter Park Maintenance Standards ~ Curtis Bingham. This report had been included in the member’s packets. Curtis said that Parks Operations had broken the 89% barrier of the last two quarters, with 91% of the maintenance standards met. He briefly went over a few items: 8.5 basketball courts had recently been resurfaced - there may be improvement in ? this category in the next quarter. Repairs had been made to the sand volleyball courts. ? Gabbard Pond had been treated to get rid of weeds. Major fishing pier/deck repairs ? need to be done. Parks Operations is certifying staff to put dye in the park ponds. ? Repairs had been done to signs, benches, and water fountains, and trash ? receptacles had been painted. Curtis stated that the goal was to reach and remain at 90% in 2006. Gary E. commented that Parks Operations did an excellent job as always. Harry G. asked if there was a schedule for repairs. Steve stated that there was a schedule for bigger items such as playgrounds, but not for smaller items like trash receptacles. This was an information item only and no action was required. 11. Report, discussion, and possible action regarding proposed FY2006 Parks and Recreation Department User Fees. Steve B. stated that this was the first report regarding the fees for FY2006. An updated fees schedule (attached) had been distributed with new fees or suggested fee changes highlighted in yellow. Staff was not asking for any action at this time, just wanting to keep the Board informed. The Fees Subcommittee (Gary Erwin, Carol Blaschke, Glenn Schroeder, and Kathy Ireland) had met twice. Some of the changes were briefly discussed: Transfer/cancellation fee - In order to help recover the administrative cost of the ? process, this fee was being added throughout all the services. Redevelopment fee increase – The athletic field improvement and replacement fund ? had started at $5 per child or $75 per adult team to do improvements on the facilities those people were using. The fees are not used for maintenance. When it was set up it was agreed that the amount would be looked at after a period of time in order to try and build up the fund. Going from $5 to $10 was an attempt to move in that direction. The adult field improvement fund was not changing. Pavilions – There was a small increase proposed in some of the fees so that the ? costs for similar pavilions were the same. The fees for Crompton Park pavilion had also been added. The fees for the Conference Center were changed in order to simplify them. ? There were some pool fees that had changed. ? Wording regarding Xtra Education and Wolf Pen Creek amphitheater had been ? added. Athletic field fees - A flat daily rental rate would be charged, with no more weekend ? rates. Any rental over ten hours will be charged the daily rate of $100 per field, per rental. Hourly rentals fees will go to $10 per hour and the fee for lights would go to $10 per hour also. A game field prep fee, per field is being added. Steve briefly went through the process for fee changes. New fees will go into effect on st January 1. Staff would come back to the Board in September for approval and hopefully to City Council in November. 12. Review, discussion, and possible action concerning Board and Departmental Goals and Objectives, and City Council Strategic Plan. The Program and Facility Needs Assessment final surveys were being collected from ? city staff through Friday, August 12, 2005. The report could come back to the Board in October or November. The dedication for Crompton Park should be sometime this fall. ? BVSWMA did approve a second round of funding for 2006 for the Grimes County ? st Regional Park. A meeting was tentatively set for August 31 with Chet Edwards to see if it would be possible to seek federal assistance for the project. The appraisals th will be presented to TMPA board in Denton on September 8. The Board will try to do a fall site tour. 13. Report, discussion, and possible action concerning the Capital Improvement Program. The Capital Improvement Project List and the Park Land Dedication Project List had been included in the Board packets. Ric stated that there had not been a lot of changes since the last meeting. He had slides of the Jack & Dorothy Miller basketball court, the Crompton Park development, and renderings of the pavilion and concession buildings for Veterans Park, Phase II. A few Once the Park Land Dedication Ordinance revisions were complete, approval from ? Council would follow soon after – most likely within a month. Edelweiss Gartens Park would most likely be developed by the developer. ? On the Park Land Dedication List, Park Zone 1 fees should be more. The list would ? be updated and sent to the board. Hearing no further questions this item was closed. 14. Discussion of next meeting dates and possible agenda items. The next Regular Meeting ~ September 13, 2005. A report will be given about the ? landfill park project. October Regular Meeting ~ October 11, 2005. The recreation center report will be ? given at that time. th A site tour for Williams Creek was tentatively set for August 25 at 5:30 p.m. Pam ? would send an e-mail out. The Planning & Zoning joint meeting will be held on August 18, 2005. Harry G. ? stated that he would be out of town. 15. Adjourn. Gary T. moved to adjourn the meeting, with a second from Gary E. The vote was called. All were in favor and the meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.