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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/17/2005 - Regular Minutes - Parks Board Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Regular Meeting Tuesday, May 171 2005, 7:00 p.m. The EXIT Teen Center 1520 Rock Prairie Road College Station, Texas Staff Present: Steve Beachy; Ric Ploeger; Peter Lamont; Marci Rodgers, Senior Services Coordinator; Curtis Bingham; Pete Vanecek; Pam Springfield Members Present: Jodi Warner (arrived late); Jeannie McCandless; Glenn Schroeder; Carol Blaschke; Don Allison; Larry Farnsworth; Gary Erwin; and Gary Thomas Members Absent: Kathleen Ireland; Ann Ganter, CSISD Liaison Guests Present: Robert Meyer, Frank Camplone, Yvonne Stevens, Joanna Yeager, Laura Holmes, Senior Advisory Committee members; Joe Schultz, TEXCON; Wallace Phillips, Forest of Castlegate 1. Call to order. Jodi Warner, Chair would be late arriving, therefore the meeting was called to order by Don Allison as acting Chair at 7:05 p.m. 2. Pardon - possible action concerning requests for absences of members from meeting. One request for absence had been received from Kathleen Ireland. Larry Farnsworth made a motion to accept the request as submitted and Gary Erwin seconded. The vote was called and the motion passed unanimously. 3. Hear visitors. Hearing none this item was closed. 4. Discussion, consideration, and possible approval of minutes from Regular Board meeting of March 8, 2005. Larry F. moved to accept the minutes as presented and Jeannie McCandless seconded. Hearing no discussion, the vote was called. The minutes of the March meeting were unanimously approved. 5. Discussion, consideration, and possible action regarding park land dedication requests for the following projects. • Williams Creek Subdivision Amended Master Plan - Park Zone 14. This subdivision had come before the Board in 2004, at which time a cash dedication had been made. The land dedication for the current seventeen lots would be .168 of an acre, therefore, staff was recommending acceptance of the $9,452 fee in lieu of the land. Another thirty-six lots have been platted and the money for those lots should be received within the next few months. This neighborhood is close to what will eventually be the park that will be built when the landfill closes. After further discussion, Larry F. moved to accept the staff recommendation of the cash dedication in lieu of land and it was seconded by Gary Thomas. Hearing no further discussion the vote was called. The motion passed six to one, in favor of the cash dedication. • The Forest of Castlegate - Park Zone 10. The land dedication for the 295 units of this development would be 2.92 acres, however, the developer, Wallace Phillips, was proposing to dedicate 4.19 acres - all the land required for the entire development - and the development fee of $105,610. He would like to build the park himself if he can work through the legal issues with the city as he did with Castlegate Park. Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Page 1 May 17,2005 Regular Meeting Minutes A previous dedication of 1.5 acres had come from the Spring Creek Townhomes and with this dedication the total park would be 5.86 acres. Staff was recommending acceptance of the land and the dedication fee. Steve stated that discussions would be taking place regarding greenway area along the creek. If the City could acquire that greenway area, it would provide a connection to Southern Oaks Park. Street frontage is only about 27% of the perimeter of the park. Wallace Phillips suggested that perhaps the land dedication fee could be put toward the development of a parking lot for the park since there were a lot of people that came from outside the development to use the park. Glen S. moved approval of the changes and the reconfiguration of the park. Larry F. seconded. There being no further discussion, the vote was called and passed unanimously. 6. Review, discussion, and possible action from the Senior Advisory Committee regarding a Senior Center. This item was moved up from item #7. Marci Rodgers, Senior Services Coordinator introduced six of the fourteen Senior Advisory Committee members in attendance and then turned the meeting over to Bob Meyers. Mr. Meyers was there to introduce the idea of building a senior center. He stated that the seniors do a lot of things, which were summarized in Section 3 of the report the members had received. Originally their proposal had been to take over the Central Park headquarters. Since then, there has been indication that not all of the building will be vacated so they had to go to another plan. He stated that the Senior Advisory Committee was not impressed with a multi-generational building, as they felt that it would be designed for use by younger people. Therefore, the seniors would like to have a building specifically designed for ages 55 and older. They were there to ask for the board's support and help to get a senior center, and to present their petition to Council. Steve explained that some of this started when the City Council had a strategic issue that dealt with issues for seniors and talk of a senior center was discussed. As part of that initiative, the Senior Services Coordinator position came about. Using the EXIT Teen Center had been an interim solution for a meeting place, but the time had come to move forward with the idea for a senior center. A master plan would have to be developed with a public input phase. Steve recommended that the board accept this report and take it to Council. He applauded the seniors for their work on this. Mr. Meyers felt that everyone would agree that they have a good program going that reaches quit a few people. With a senior center, it would be possible to have all the senior information brought together in one place. Mr. Meyer thanked Steve and Marci for all the work they do and asked for support from the Board in the form of a motion that could then be brought to Council in the near future. Steve added that Council was aware of the topic and were anticipating a report coming to them. Glenn S. made a motion to accept and support the report, adding that at the time the City Center master plan is developed, that this be included. Larry F. seconded and the vote was called. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. 7. Review, discussion, and possible approval of the Steeplechase Park Master Plan. Ric Ploeger stated that the city had accepted the land for this park in 1999 and that City Council had approved $315,000 in 2005 budget to develop it. Two public hearings had been held in February and March, and although not a lot of people had shown up, a lot of ideas had been received. At the second hearing, staff had come back with a plan based on the suggestions from the first public hearing, with most of the recommendations included in the design. Staff was ready to move forward with the bidding and construction of the project. Pete Vanecek briefly went over the plan. The citizens had requested a dog park because there were a lot of college students living in the area with pets. There are two bus stops there for A&M, so staff proposed a bus shelter there with a roof and plexi-glass walls. There will be fencing around the dog park and some fencing around the main entrance, lights around the %2 - 3 mile walking/jogging trail, a fabric covered playground, and a basketball court. There will be no restrooms or parking lot. A sewer line was going to be installed running under what will be the playground and staff will find out when the sewer work will be done (staff had been told summer 2005) and how deep the line will be buried. Normally they are buried 8'-10' deep. A bridge will also be installed in the park (probably steel and wood) to go over the low water crossing. It will cost approximately $315,000 to do everything, including the addition of some trees. Don A. stated that he liked the idea of putting the dog space in the retention pond. Glenn S. moved approval of the Master Plan for Steeplechase Park. The motion was seconded and the vote was called. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously. 8. Park Playground Replacement Report, discussion, and possible action. Curtis Bingham stated that this item had come about as a result of a question posed by Kathleen Ireland at a previous meeting. She had asked how Parks replaced playgrounds and if there was a program for that. A report had been included in the packets and Curtis went over it. In the packet, the first section was a brief history referencing all playground replacements and the manufacturer of the playgrounds. He explained how detailed, formal, playground inspections were done one time per month by the Parks Operations maintenance crews. The supervisors also check them over when they are on-site. A playground inspection sheet had also been included in the packets. Steve stated that Curtis and his folks do a very good job of keeping track of the playgrounds, with the replacements now being forecast out. Don said the report was very informative and he would like to see it included in the notebooks for new board members. 9. Report, discussion, and possible action regarding the second quarter Park Maintenance Standards. Curtis B. stated that the standards were still at 89%. With the issues relating to volleyball courts and the ponds it is hard to reach that percentage. He explained that pond maintenance is difficult because you have to have a certified person to administer chemicals — even pond dye. However, Parks Operations would be certifying some of its crew members to administer chemicals. Also, in the near future, staff will be looking at some of the maintenance standards and may be removing or including some items. Steve stated that the Department was in its fourth year of maintenance standards implementation and added that it has been an excellent tool. This was an informational item only and no action was required. 10. Report, discussion, and possible action concerning the Capital Improvement Program. Ric stated that the regular reports had been included in the members' packets. There were a number of projects in progress: • Thomas Park rubber surfacing should be complete soon. • The intergenerational parks project and John Crompton Park were under construction. • VPAC soccer lights were installed, being tested, and the project was nearing completion. The installation at Central Park was complete. There had been some damage done to the fields when the lights were installed at VPAC, but those fields were scheduled to be taken out of service for the summer anyway. • The Wolf Pen Creek Multipurpose Building design was underway. • The Boy Scouts had built a Frisbee golf course at Lemontree Park, which had turned out very nice. Pete Vanecek had coordinated the project with the scouts. • The design firm was putting the final touches on the conceptual plan for the Veterans Park &Athletic Complex, Phase II, which will drive everything once it has been approved. Steve and Ric had approved some final footprint concepts several months prior and once the conceptual plan was worked up it would come back before the board. This was an informational item only and no action was required. 11. Review, discussion, and possible action concerning Board and Departmental Goals and Objectives and City Council Strategic Plan. • The proposed Grimes County regional park site appraisal process was nearing completion and should be ready within the next couple of weeks. A meeting would be held in June with TMPA to go over that appraisal. The Brazos Council of Governments was working with a non-profit organization for possible funding. This project was still in the preliminary stages but once the appraisal was received, it would give a dollar amount to start shooting for. There is a lot of interest in doing the project as well as interest from state and elected officials. Another tour will be arranged at a later date for Council members and any board members interested in going to the site. • Urban Forest Management Plan - There has been no new word on this plan. There is the possibility that may be a dead issue. • Park Land Dedication Ordinance update - The revised draft is tied in partially with the Unified Development Ordinance, but staff thought it best not to wait on the UDO, and will move forward with the Park Land Dedication updates, which are further along. • The Castlegate and Edelweiss Gartens developers were interested in developing those parks themselves. • City Center Project - Steve stated that he has become more involved in this process and he has recommended that the Parks Board and Planning & Zoning Commission get together to discuss this and then perhaps hold town hall meetings for input into the process. Every bond issue since 1976 has included some item related to that area - not called city center - but there has been interest in that area for the better part of thirty years by the city, who has a significant investment in the area. This has been a long term project. • Steve and Jodi will need to get together to do a report on the board's goals for Council when they go on their retreat. 12. Discussion of calendar, future meeting dates, and possible agenda items: • Regular meeting - June 14, 2005 • Memorial Day celebration -This program will have the first memorial pathway dedication and it will be for the War on Terror. Chet Edwards will be the guest speaker. • There will be a bike loop report at the next meeting. • A joint meeting with Planning and Zoning will need to be scheduled for sometime in the near future. 13. Adjourn. Glenn S. moved to adjourn and Gary E. seconded. The vote was called. All were in favor and the meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.