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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/09/1999 - Regular Minutes - Parks BoardF COLLEGE STATI ecreation hoar eeti Tuesday, Novem er 9 .1999 ecreation Department Conference 1000 Krenel Staff Present: Steve Beachy, Director of Parks and Recreation; Eric Ploeger, Assistant Director; Kris Startzman, Board Secretary. Board Members Present: Chris Barzilla, Chairman; George Dresser, Co -Chairman; John Nichols; Sarah Birkhold; Bill Davis; Glen Davis; Susan Allen; John Crompton, Alternate. Visitors: Brad Mason, 505 Harvey Road, #89, College Station, Texas 77840 Will Straton, 2804 Silver Spur Circle, Bryan, Texas 77801 Frank Thurmond, 3015 Gleneagles, Bryan, Texas 77802 Troy Weigand, 1511 Hawk Tree, College Station, Texas 77845 Erin Kern, 3328 Bluestem Circle, College Station, Texas 77845 Becky Hogar, 301 Holleman, #723, College Station, Texas 77840 Kim Kowalkowski, 950 Colgate, College Station, Texas 77840 Billy Slaughter, 701 Balcones, #A-5, College Station, Texas 77845 1. Call to order: The meeting was called to order at 7:10 PM. 2. Hear visitors: No visitors spoke. 3. Pardon — Consider requests for absences of members from meeting: All Board members were present at the meeting. 4. Approval of minutes from Regular Meeting of October 12, 1999: John Nichols made a motion to approve the minutes from Regular meeting of October 12, 1999, with editorial changes to item #5. Bill Davis seconded the motion. Alt were in favor, and the motion passed 8-0. 5. Discussion and possible action regarding the history of the College Station Parks and Recreation Department: John Crompton had asked for this item to be placed on the agenda. He would like to have a history of the circumstances of how the College Station Parks and Recreation Department evolved. He suggested approaching a history professor with the idea of using this topic as a doctoral visitation. He added that the City of Dallas' Parks and Recreation Department had their history done this way. John Nichols asked if the College Station Historic Preservation Committee could look into this topic. Steve said that the Board could approach the committee to see if this is something that they would like to explore and report back at a later meeting. John Nichols made a motion to direct staff to explore this idea with the Historic Preservation Committee and report back to the Board with their findings. Glen seconded the motion. All were in favor, and the motion passed 8-0. Page 1 of 4 Parks and Recreation Board Regular Meeting Tuesday, November 9, 1999 ................. r. S 6. Revisitation and possible action regarding FY 99100 Goals: Steve directed the Board to look at the Parks and Recreation Department's internal goals for FY 99/00 that were included in the Board packets. He said that these goals were created to coincide with the Parks and Recreation Board'sgoals and the CityCouncil Strategic Issues. Steve went over the Board's goals. He said that item #1 (Complete the Parks Master Plan) has been completed. Items #2 (Implement the approved Capital Improvement Program), #3 (Implementation of the Wolf Pen Creek Master Plan), #11 (Investigate the feasibility of cooperative ventures with CSISD), and item #13 (Inco orate public art into the park system)are in progress.He went on to say that the items not � mentioned have not had any activity involved with them. The Board agreed to remove item #8 (Investigate a dedicated revenue source for community park development) from the Board's goals. This item was explored by the Board and was deemed not feasible. Referring to the Parks and Recreation Department's FY99 Goals, John C. asked about the status of the acquisition of Madeley Park. Steve said that the Department does own the site,but that the City Council had made the decision not to acquire any additional land adjacent to it. This leaves a park site with no access from College Station. The only access is from Bryan,from a dead-end road. John C.would like to see this placed on a future agenda for further discussion. The Board discussed the status of the Parks and Recreation Department Board's FY 99/00 Goals. The Board would like to see#1 (Complete the Parks Master Plan)put on the bottom of the page as"Complete." George Dresser wanted to delete#15 (Explore the feasibility of a municipal golf course). Bill made a motion to amend the FY 99/00 Parks and Recreation Board's Goals, as discussed. Glen seconded the motion. All were in favor, and the motion passed 8-0 (see attachment with amended goals). 7. Update,discussion,and possible action concerning the special venue tax for sports facilities: Steve said that this item,(whether the City should increase the ad valorem tax rate by 2%to help fund Veterans Park and Athletic complex), was discussed during previous meetings. Steve said that the Department met with the City Manager, the City Attorney, and the Fiscal Services Director and came up with a Venue Project Tax Proposal. Steve talked about the steps in the proposal. The first step would be to generate an internal preliminary cost estimate for the park. The cost estimate is a little under$6 million dollars to build the park. The second step would be to come up with an operational cost estimate to maintain the park. Steve said that this step is key,because legislation requires that once the facility is built,the City cannot use property taxes to operate it sales taxes have already been committed. Steve went on to say that the third step would be to develop a hotel/motel revenue cost estimate (the Fiscal Services Director's preliminary estimate was that the park would generate around$5 - $6 million dollars). The next step would be to develop operational revenue estimates (ex: revenue generated from team fees, concessions, etc.). Under the statutory requirements, this would become a review process with the Legal Department, the Fiscal Services Department, and State Comptroller's Office. A determination also has to be made as to whether this proposal is politically feasible, and whether this project would be the best use of the funds generated from the ad valorem tax rate increase. Steve said that once the City receives approval from the voters, then it would have to go to the Attorney General's Office for their review/approval. Steve asked the Board if they were willing to commit the time and resources to proceed with this project. The board agreed to continue to investigate the ad valorem tax rate increase as a means to fund building Veterans Park and Athletic Complex. No motion was made on this item. Page 2 of 4 Parks and Recreation Board Regular Meeting Tuesday,November 9,1999 • S. Update, discussion, and possible action concerning Veterans Park and Athletic Complex: Steve said that the City Council approved O'Malley Engineers (an engineering firm from Brenham)to work on the design of the park. An archeological survey contract is scheduled to be on the City Council agenda for December 11, 1999.This contract would include a survey for both Veterans Park and Athletic Complex, and Lick Creek Park and would be conducted by Dr. Alston Thorns,an archeologist on staff with Texas A&M University. Steve said that the Department met with the Veterans Committee and agreed upon a general location for a memorial to be put in the park. This memorial will be included in the park's Master Plan. Steve invited the Board to attend the site dedication that will be held on Thursday, November 11, 1999, at 1:00 PM. Steve went on to say that there is a lighted flagpole with an American and a P.O.W./MIA. flag that will remain up during the duration of the park's development. Once the park is built, they will determine a permanent location for the flagpole. Steve said that the memorial will be called the `Brazos All Wars Veterans Memorial", to be inclusive of all veteran groups. 9. Update, discussion, and possible action on proposal for additional lights at A&M Consolidated High School Tennis Courts: Steve had no update on this item. He said that he would meet with the school district to determine whether they would agree to pay for the operational costs to maintain additional lights,if the City would provide the funds to install them (installation cost is estimated to be around$70,000). Bill made a motion to ascertain whether College Station Independent School District (CSISD) would fund the operational costs for additional tennis court lights if the City of College Station funds the installation of the lights. If CSISD agrees to pay for the operational costs, then going to the City Council to request the funds to install them. George Dresser seconded the motion. All were in favor,and the motion passed 8-0. 10. Report and discussion on the Bike Loop Project: Eric Ploeger had included in the Board packets an e-mail that the Project Engineer, Brett McCully, had sent him a few months back regarding the status of the Bike Loop Project. Eric said that very little has changed on the status several phases have been developed, but phase one of the project is still under state review. Bill asked if there was someone that could be contacted to help speed up the process. Eric said that he would ask Brett McCully,and report back to the Board. 11. Consent Items: Capital Improvement Report: John C. asked about Teen Center usage. Steve said that participation has been pretty good. John thinks that it would be useful to track the number of people in attendance at the Teen Center. Steve will ask the Youth Services Coordinator il7how he tracks this information and report back to the Board at a later time. Discussion of future meeting dates and agendas: • Review of revisions to a plat in the Pebble Hills Subdivision (this will be on the agenda of a special Board meeting to be set up the following week). o Adoption of the annual report from the College Station Recreational Sports Association. ® Update on potential agreement between the City of College Station and CSISD to add additional lights at the A&M Consolidated High School tennis courts. Requests from Lincoln Center Advisory Board for the feasibility of additional parking. o Bike Loop report. o Amateur Softball Association report. Page 3 of 4 Parks and Recreation Board Regular Meeting Tuesday,November 9,1999 • GIS study. O Roller Hockey usage. 12. Adjourn: Chris made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Susan Allen seconded the motion. All were in favor,and the meeting adjourned at 9:20 PM. Page 4 of 4 Parks and Recreation Board Regular Meeting Tuesday,November 9,1999