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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007 01-09 Pre February 9, 2007 MERIDIAN CITY COUNCIL MEETING APPLICANT February 13, 2007 ITEM NO. 7-C REQUEST Approve Minutes of January 9,2007 Pre-Council Meeting AGENCY COMMENTS CITY CLERK: CITY ENGINEER: CITY PLANNING DIRECTOR: CITY ATTORNEY CITY POLICE DEPT: CITY FIRE DEPT: CITY BUILDING DEPT: CITY WATER DEPT: CITY SEWER DEPT: CITY PARKS DEPT: MERIDIAN SCHOOL DISTRICT: ADA COUNTY HIGHWAY DISTRICT: SANITARY SERVICE COMPANY CENTRAL DISTRICT HEALTH: NAMPA MERIDIAN IRRIGATION: SETTLERS IRRIGATION: IDAHO POWER: US WEST: INTERMOUNTAIN GAS: MERIDIAN POST OFFICE: OTHER: ~/ Contacted: Emailed: Date: Staff Initials: Phone: Materials presented at public meetings shall become property of the City of Meridian. Meridian City Pre-Council Meetina January 9. 2007 The Meridian City Pre-Council meeting was called to order at 6:30 P.M. on Tuesday, January 9, 2007 by President Councilman Joe Borton. Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, Keith Bird, David Zaremba, Charlie Rountree and Joe Borton. Staff Present: Bill Nary, John Overton, Doug Strong, Bill Johnson and Will Berg. Item 1. Roll-call Attendance: Roll call. X David Zaremba X Charlie Rountree X X Joe Borton X Keith Bird Mayor Tammy de Weerd Item 2. Adoption of the Agenda: Bird: Mr. President. Borton: Mr. Bird. Bird: I move we adopt the agenda for the Pre-Council meeting as published. Rountree: Second. Borton: It has been moved and seconded to adopt the agenda as published. All those in favor say aye. ALL AYES. MOTION CARRIED. Item 3. Update on Adventure Island Playground by Angela and Darin Lindig: Borton: Item number 3 we have got Angela Lindig here to provide us an update on the Adventure Island Playground and I think we have each been provided some materials to review. I think it is part of the PowerPoint? A. Lindig: Yes, most of which I am not going to do any of. Just for the record, Angela Lindig, Project Director of the Adventure Island Playground. We wanted to give you an update of where we are at and also what we discovered over the past couple of months and where we are going over the course of the next six months. So, I am going to start us out and tell you a little bit about what I know Meridian City Pre-Council January 9, 2007 Page 2 of 10 and then I am going to let my husband Darin give you a PowerPoint Presentation. He has really been the behind the scenes person as far as construction and cost estimates and working with the land group and working with Doug and Elroy all this time and so he is by far the better person to talk about all of that than I am and then I will come back and share with you some of the good things that we are going to do over the course of the next six months. The good news and the bad all at the same time. We discovered in November that the City of Eagle put in a playground up off of Hill Road, which you may now know is called the Steve Gerber Park and it was - from what I learned in the paper they raised - well, city funds over the course of three years and (inaudible) is $1.6 million dollars worth of playground equipment and by all accounts it is a universally accessible playground. It has (inaudible) at least 80 percent of the equipment. It has full rubberized partum surfacing just like Adventure Island has. It has a rock climbing wall and a water splash pad and a toddler area and shelters and it is beautiful and it is wonderful and the good news is we were thrilled to see our mission and our vision of universal design carry over into other communities. It was one of our original goals that we see that. What we weren't thrilled about was to find it just sort of over night without any acknowledgment to the work that (inaudible) and the City of Meridian has done over the last six years. It almost in some ways takes away from that message that we were so strongly trying to send and so at the same time because most of our fundraising hinged on the fact that we were the first and the only in the state of Idaho and certainly within a two hour drive, it makes it really difficult to go to the local community at this point and say by the way we are still raising money please donate to this. When we are not the only one any more they can go to the one in Eagle and they can go just about anywhere at this point. So, the good news is that you know Universal Design is carrying over the (inaudible) fact is that it stopped our fundraising almost cold. There are a few things that we can still do. So, I am still torn on exactly how I feel about it. I still would like to see some acknowledgment to the committee that has worked so hard on this. Also, the folks out in Idaho Falls that are on our heels modeling after Adventure Island and giving that credit - it would be nice for them - well, I just actually informed them that they are not actual the second and they have actually had a hard enough time raising funds out there. So, it makes it hard for volunteer groups to put themselves together and put themselves out there for years on end when some cities can just put them in the ground without any problem at all. So, it is good and it's bad, but that is essentially what brought us here tonight to give you an update. The other part of this that I will say - in some ways, we worked - as a committee we probably don't have more than six months in us anyway that brings us to seven years into this project by the time we hit July and I have got amazing people that have stuck with this the whole time and they continue to stick with it, but I think that after seven years a lot of lives have moved on and Amber my oldest daughter who much of this is a result of is with her developmental therapy tech tonight, so she is not here. But, you can see my other little ones. Amber was three and Ryan was two and Elise was not part of the world when this started and they are now almost 11 and 9 and 7, so time has Meridian City Pre-Council January 9, 2007 Page 3 of 10 gone on and it is time to move on. It is time to be proud of what we did and get on with our lives and do some other good things. I am going to turn it over to Darin unless anybody has any questions right now and then I will come back and show you what we are going to do for the next year, if that is okay? He is going to go over where money and what he and Doug and Elroy have gone over as far as what is in the ground currently and what is coming and where we are at financially, okay? D. Lindig: Hi I am Darin Lindig, Angela's helper. I wanted to go through what we have accomplished thus far and recent accomplishments and what we are looking to see what we can do to make this a complete playground. Just looking at some of the accomplishments that we have made with the Adventure Island Playground Group and the City of Meridian, I think it has been a good partnership and we have done a lot of good things and pretty seamlessly it seems like we attend to forget who - if the Parks Department is doing something or if we are doing something or if we are doing something because there is hardly any disagreement in the direction we are moving with this. So, I appreciate Doug Strong and Elroy in helping with this partnership here. So, we did create the Idaho Universally Accessible Playground. We had a great community built, one of the largest in the nation and it went real successful a couple of years ago. When we completed phase one, just breaking down some numbers approximately $200,000 was donated by an Adventure Island Playground Group, another $156,000 was donated services from the construction community that helped with the playground build and site development. Another $160,000 cost to the Parks budget for that, for Adventure Island and phase one roughly half a million dollars. So, this last year - these are accomplishments that are in the ground basically, so that phase one and you will see on the map what that includes and then in 2006 we have the swing area. We decided we could push for it to get it done in the fall because of our sse grant that we got from recycling funds, (inaudible) surfacing and the plate and the swing structure were recycled material. So, we got with $25,000 donated from the Adventure Island Playground group, another $25,000 from the sse grant and then we acquired another $14,000 donated construction services so together that swing area really values about $91 ,000, really with about $27,000 cost to the city. So, I think that that was pretty good, pretty quick accomplishment that we did there. Also, in 2006 the sod and landscape of the front half of the playground really makes it look nearly complete from the front. It looks nice and inviting. Before it was somewhat of an island of play in the desert, so it really made an appearance difference. One thing that isn't included, but on the way is the splash pad that was contracted for to be installed this spring and so that is soon under way. So, hopefully we will add that after the spring. So, if you haven't been to the playground here is the swing area. So, you have got 12 swings, 2 of which on the right hand side are accessible swings. So, you basically can - they are like a bucket seat to fit an adult. You can strap a person in if they are not able to hold onto the chains and such. Those are a really big hit. There is always somebody in those swings because really anybody can swing in those, whether they have a Meridian City Pre-Council January 9, 2007 Page 4 of 10 disability or not. They are pretty popular. Then there is also a tire swing in the middle. So, this is just showing the work that was completed through 2005. Basically, the main play structure, we call the grand voyage and the smaller play structure really put all of the sidewalks and colored concrete leading to that center area. This is work that was completed in 2006 showing the cement work, the sod and trees, the landscaping and the swing area. Also, we took advantage of replacing the bark that was underneath some of the larger play area section to rubberized surfacing that consistent around the playground and that really helps in the maintenance point of view, the bark tends to get all over the place. We did that originally for a cost saving, but it is nice to see that back into surfacing. So, together this is work completed through 2006, so if you go out there basically the ground that is colored there is finished, but maybe not as complete as I will get to. So, there are a couple of things that part of the core vision of Adventure Island Playground and that is the splash pad and sound garden. When we initially looked at creating universally accessible playground we wanted it to be accessible, but also to be very sensory rich places that challenges the senses not just a physical climbing area, but places that everybody could take advantage of, regardless of their ability. You don't have to be climbing on the monkey bars to enjoy a playground; you can be at any age, essentially and have fun. Splash pad basically brings in the water play feature and the zero depth area. The sound garden is really a unique part of our playground vision and it was really high in value when we as a committee designed this out and I will talk about that in a little bit. So, those are the main play components that we hope to get into Adventure Island still. The components that are still necessary to make the playground complete, there is - we hope to have some climbing boulders - that was part of the original design to have some climbing feature in the playground. The tree of hope area is the brick area with a tree in the middle with bricks that are fund raiser bricks, partly fundraiser bricks but it is an entrance that isn't there yet. A donor recognition - there are a lot of donors that we do need to recognize as part of our donation agreements that we have made with our donors and then other site development that really make a playground inviting. There are some things that you don't realize that are missing out there if you go to the playground, but you do if you spend some time there. There is no place to sit and we do need to work at getting some areas to make it more a permanent playground area and then some gazebos and sunshades, especially in the hot summer it can get really hot if you are a parent just sitting out there with the kids and we do have some areas that are planned for shade, some shade structures especially with the splash pad there. We have scaled back on some components, just due to cost, design, timing but still trying to keep our vision. Part of the hope maybe that - we hate to take some components away, but you have to be realistic in some areas, but talking with the Parks Department, you know this could be an area within our design that communities, groups can come back in the future and place new features or things that we took out as a group, as community groups because some of these areas are already designed into the playground design and so even though they are empty they are not - they are all brassed up and you wouldn't know that it doesn't belong there, but there is Meridian City Pre-Council January 9, 2007 Page 5 of 10 room for other play, components. Basically the climbing wall in (inaudible) area we are trying to scale back to just a couple of boulders into the play area instead of a whole climbing wall area. The sand area, which was basically a sand box, but built so that you could have embossed fossils ready to uncover. We pulled those back out and maybe that could be a future thing to add. Pit stop with some spring riders and gas station, touchable waterfall - we are still trying to plumb that so that it could be added at some time in the future, but we do have a splash pad area which kind of covers that a little bit. We reduced the number of swings by four; we pulled that back because definitely by reducing the rubberized surfacing it saved us quite a bit of money just by doing that. Then in the original design there was also a finger park, which was taken out. So, this shows what could be done with our original site plan and then with the colored areas what could be done in 2007 by adding those features that we talked about - the sunshades over by the splash pad. The splash pad being already under contract and ready to go. Sound garden would be the musical equipment over here and if you are not familiar with it, this is the main entrance over to the right. The circle drive is above and the restrooms are over to the upper left. The sod - the back side is not greened up yet, there are some areas of colored concrete where we hope to have picnic tables and other tables for more of a passive area, rest area as well instead of having a whole climbing section putting some climbing boulders, small boulders into the existing play area. This just shows what areas were pulled back from the original design in hopes of completing this next part more timely and more reasonable. What is the sound garden? Basically it is designed outdoor musical equipment that really provides that extra sense of sound that you don't always get throughout the playground. Lindig: The sound garden if you guys remember correctly - one of the reasons why we really want this is because it not only provides inner generational play, it taps into the arts and it is one of the few areas where when we looked at universal design this is the one area where a person with a visual impairment can really access and enjoy the park whereas no other feature within the playground truly addresses their specific needs and so while it is for everybody and it is very different and no other, as far as I know no other park in the state has that door musical play equipment. So, this is one area when meeting the sensory rich environment that we wanted to do - at the moment I can say that we have fulfilled our mission in that, but this musical area actually finishes it off and this is one area I just don't want to sacrifice at all. These are the different outdoor components. You can see that you can do a lot of different things with them and there is one of these online at Liberty Park down in Utah, which was done in time for the (inaudible) Olympics a few years back has this at their playground and it really is neat equipment and just really something that anybody of any age and any ability can use. Is this the last slide? So, these are the items that we have on our agenda for this year. We already have in plan a golf tournament out at Falcon Crest that we are working on that we are essentially now going to do that as a completion celebration and we are going to call it a spring swing and we are hoping to get as much involvement as possible. I think that with the committee, Meridian City Pre-Council January 9, 2007 Page 6 of 10 the people have already agreed to work on that with us. It actually has the potential of rising between $10,000 and $20,000. So, I am excited about that actually. We continue with brick sales. We have not focused on brick sales just because we have had larger dollars to raise, so now is the time when our committee can really just look at and say folks this is your chance to get a legacy brick because that is really all that is left for folks to do. I don't see us getting any large individual donations coming in anytime soon. Although, I say that and I got a call today from Larry Miller Charities that they have given us another $1 ,200. So, sometimes they come unsolicited and sometimes we work our tails off. You just never know, but really we are focusing on those bricks at this point. We want to select and purchase the sound garden component and I know I just said that, but it is an area that I just don't want to sacrifice. Appropriate donor recognition. I had a vision of this great big beautiful bronze statue custom made and I can't do that. We would have to commission that and that would cost around $80,000, so we are not doing that. What we are doing though is because of what the city did in surprising us with that beautiful rock is tying into that and as Darin pointed out, scaling back the boulder section and then creating sort of a natural environment of boulders that would be engraved and also have plaques inset in them for our donor recognition. I have talked to a couple of different local vendors that can help us with that and both have even agreed to help with possible donations for the play area type boulders as well. So, that is going to cost probably significantly less than any bronze statue would have cost, so not necessarily public art the way that I wanted, but still recognizing our donors and looking really nice out there. Our final landscaping donation commitments, I know one of committee members, Eric Olsen has really done an amazing job at working with the Landscape Association and many of the different companies locally that have agreed to help, so it is just a matter of lining them up and working them up with the city to get that final landscaping in and then at which point, if you remember last August we held a resource fair out at the playground and we plan to do that again in June. It brought a lot of awareness to what we have done out there and it also brought a lot of information to families of children with disabilities to let them know what exists and what wonderfully exists right here in Meridian. We are going to tie that in with the Meridian Barn Sour this year, so we will work directly with Colin over at the Parks Department to make that happen. After June, I think that that would be about the point - happens at the end of June, but after that that should be about the time that our committee exists the active build involvement other than where Doug and Elroy and Darin and they see fit that we still need to be involved and then finally depending on how everything goes, I think sometime - I think we talked about August or - is it August when you have the annually parks tour? I thought it might be a good time to do an official dedication ceremony at that point. So, we will tie that up as we go along - so seven years. I think that is it. Any questions? Borton: Thank you, Angela. Any questions? Lindig: Budget - did you want to add that to this or are we going to --? Meridian City Pre-Council January 9, 2007 Page 7 of 10 Strong: Obviously there are some costs involved in finishing the playground with the components that are unfinished and we have taken an initial look at that and kind of projected as best we can and just estimating costs of the additional concrete areas, the connecting sidewalks, the brick tree of hope area and we have some very initial figures with that. It looks like it is going to be around $300,000 or a little bit more to finish out the components that Darin showed you in the slides. The strategy at this point or what we need to do is figure out where we go from here because rather than continuing with community fund raising efforts, I think the intent is what can we do to just finish it, get it under contract and do it as kind of one final project and get it to a point of what we determine in our meetings is the point of completion beyond some of the items that Darin identified that at some point and time in the future if community groups or service clubs wanted to contribute something at the playground they could pick those features because they are already designed - the playground doesn't look like they are missing when it is done, but they could be added and just have much more compliment to the playground. We would be seeking direction from the Council either how to proceed with that or incorporating some idea of what it would look like in our next year's budget presentation for 2008 and seeing where we are with impact fee revenue and so forth. We have done some (inaudible) initial planning for that next step beyond what's been Adventure Island Playground group's involvement. Lindig: Do they have a copy of the potential expenses? Strong: No. A. Lindig: We just had the Land Group - just prepared cost estimate for us that we thought of as this morning and that really breaks down those numbers. Should we plan on --? Strong: I can forward that email onto the Council with all those numbers. It was updated from an initial or draft to probably a pretty close estimate to what it is going to cost with at least current prices. Everything is affected, certainly by time and we keep hearing that concrete is going to go up again in April when the building season starts. So, these are cost estimates based on today's costs. I always have to put a little bit of a caution out there when we look at estimates rather than hard bids. Borton: Thank you, Doug. Any questions? Rountree: I have no questions, but for Angela and Darin you guys have entered into this labor of love, probably not knowing it was going to take this amount of effort or time, but I for one really appreciate what you have done for the community and in terms of the bronze statue if I could get one out there and dedicate it to your family, I would do that. Meridian City Pre-Council January 9, 2007 Page 8 of 10 A. Lindig: Thank you, that is nice. No, we are so honored to be able to - no we certainly never anticipated we would end up with a million dollars and seven years into a project, but it has obviously filtered through the community and through the state and it just keeps - it has a little bit of a domino affect and little things just keep happening as a result of it and so it has really been an amazing project to be a part of and I can't imagine having done it with any other city than with Meridian. It has just been amazing. Don't make me cry. De Weerd: Mr. President. Borton: Madame Mayor. De Weerd: Angela, I think with the 2008 Special Olympics coming up there still is opportunity to gain momentum and certainly the recognition that you and your group deserve and really setting a standard and raising the bar for the entire state and I think you can really use examples and I don't think what was done over in Eagle will take away from it at all, other than just another example that and I know we have had this discussion of how you have influenced what people are doing and that is a positive example to use that it is not even seen as - it is universal and it is now the new design. It is the new expectation for play. A. Lindig: You know, when we started out with this we hoped that at some point, obviously universal design becomes so normal that there is no longer a message to convey and so if that the route that we are going down and that is what is happening then that is a good thing in the long run. De Weerd: Mr. President, I guess with the Special Olympics coming up, I would like to have .Doug work with this committee and bring back a recommendation to Council as a heads up for the budget process, but I think that Angela's committee probably needs that renewed commitment from our elected officials that we believe. (Inaudible discussion) De Weerd: -- but, we need to do that and we need to do it in gearing up for sending a strong statement that we not only welcome the Special Olympics to this Valley, but we have the kind of commitment by our citizens and your working group and the city that says it is just more than just any event, it is a lifetime and it is learning certain elements that are important through play and those are good things. Borton: Angela one thing that perhaps you and Doug going forward that would be of interest to me is I think the passion that you and Darin and your family have brought to this over the past seven years is phenomenal and it is going to carry forward for seven more and decades after that and you did set the standard for the entire state and everyone is following your footsteps and doing nothing else. Meridian City Pre-Council January 9, 2007 Page 9 of 10 What I would like to see is your entire vision as you talked about without scaling it back, each and everyone of those elements were based upon a need that you saw in this community and region and the fact that there mayor may not be funds doesn't negate the fact that there is a need for that particular type of amenity. The sound garden is an excellent example of one of the many opportunities in this area. So, I would like to see that full build out and you probably already have it and maybe Doug has that and then the associated costs with these particular elements, if you have it broken down like that and perhaps it might start with the Parks and Recs Commission and partner with that and reviewing it, perhaps prioritizing those particular elements within the parks so we can complete some, but it will be an ongoing process through the years, which I don't think is bad. I think the community will have a continual opportunity to participate and help fund and expand this center piece of Meridian. I think that might, along with the Mayor's comments might fit in with the budget cycle and provide us an opportunity to continue with this wonderful development. A. Lindig: Thank you. I think that those costs are broken out to a certain point or at least estimates anyway. So, yeah I think we have that. Thank you. Borton: Thank you, Angela. Zaremba: Mr. President. Borton: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: I really have nothing to add except to say thank you. I have taken a couple of the parks tours and seen the area and your work is wonderful. A. Lindig: I will reiterate it. We are not alone. It is not just Darin and me. Sometimes we feel alone, but no we have had, like I said amazing people for the last six years that have stuck with us. I think far longer than this type of project would expect that people would just keep jumping on board and keep being a part of it. So, it has been, not just us it is community wide. I will add that we have had over 200 people make donations and over 300 volunteers over the course of the time, so you are talking at least 500 people in the community that have participated in this along with us. So, we are not alone and it takes all of us. It has been great. Thank you. Borton: Council anything further? Rountree: I have nothing. Borton: We have come to the end of the regular agenda for the Pre-Council meeting. I would entertain a motion to adjourn. Rountree: So moved. Meridian City Pre-Council January 9, 2007 Page 10 of 10 Zaremba: Second. Borton: It has been moved and seconded to adjourn. All those in favor. ALL AYES. MOTION CARRIED. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:06 P.M. (TAPE ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) APPROVED: 2- / IS / ~ 7 DATE APPROVED