Loading...
2000-08-21• ~ R~CE~D Meridian Parks and Recreation Commission August 21, 2000 C C T 2 3 2000 CITY ~k,1VIERIDIAN The regular meeting of The Parks and Recreation Commission was called to order by David Moe at 7:37 p.m. Present were David Moe, Sheri Baker, Ed Fong, Tammy deWeerd, Debbie Watkins, and Tom Kuntz. Agenda: Sheri Baker made a motion to approve the July agenda. Ed Fong seconded. All ayes motion carried. Minutes: Sheri Baker made a motion to approve the minutes for July. Ed Fong seconded. All ayes motion carried. Public Introductions/Comments: Present was Kelly Garrick of the Idaho Athletic Club. CorrespondencelAnnouncements: Tammy de Weerd said that she would postpone her announcement until next month. Tom went over an article on the Nampa Recreation center, which came out in the Idaho parks and recreation monthly bulletin. The article talked about different ways to fund a Recreation Center. Tom then went over an editorial regarding Eagle's skate park. Tom also referred to a memo from Tami Smith about a couple of kids who have an interest in having the Skate Park developed. Old Business: Comp Plan- David asked if everyone got their Comp Plan. David asked what we do next. David suggested that we get the disks from Norm and get together to make our own revisions so that we can move forward with this. David said that there are some items that we can work with, but there are also items that are un- realistic for the City of Meridian. Sheri and Tammy said that it is too wordy and repetitive. This is nothing more substantial then what he has already given us. Ed wondered if the Commission felt that they should summarize the important points for the Council and say here are our recommendations. David said he felt that Norm is still using that "national average" and the City can't afford these targets. Tom said Norm (to quote Trace Leighton) skinned a fat hog. The plan is no better than what we got the first time. We wanted a plan so that we could start building a parks system, and Norm did nothing more than pick out the pages that he liked. This did not give us a working plan, which is what we wanted. Tom says a sub committee would need to meet weekly and work on a capital improvement plan that we can adopt as part of our impact fees. David said he would like the disks. Sheri said that she thinks the Commission should go through the Plan and highlight what they felt were relevant. Then, at a later date the entire Commission or asub-committee could assemble it. Tom would like to bring Rich Dragoo to the next Commission meeting to inform the Commission of what could be done with the plan. Debbie Watkins said that she felt that the plan applied to any city in the United States. Budget- David made the statement that he is very proud of this Commission for submitting a letter to the City Council expressing that they wanted more money for park development. David felt the comments went a long way. Tom went over the line item adjustments. Ed asked what we would not be able to accomplish with the deduction of the budget. Tom felt that we would be able to accomplish a lot with the 56 acres, especially phase 1, Chateau, but we will be limited on what we can do at Bear Creek. David said that he would write an editorial to the paper. Sheri said that we need to come up with a flyer that is less aggressive than the police departments and hand them out asking for support at the Council meeting for parks. Generations Plaza Phase 2- Tom went over the time line for bidding and construction of phase 2 of Generations Plaza (area 1 and 2). The areas will be bid as one unit. The City Council approved the final design, and Tom wanted the approval or suggestions of changes from the Commission. David Moe said it looks excellent. He was concerned about where the developers would be doing their staging for the project. He was concerned about damage being done to areas already developed. David said that he is concerned with how they plan on accessing the area. Tom said he thought that they would use the parking lot behind the auto body shop and asked them to install a plastic barrier fence three feet off of the sidewalk. Tom went over the problems that Gary Benoit has with the plans. They say that they will start demolition in August, but we have not seen any movement on their part. Commission Seat- There was no response to the ad placed in the paper for the Commission seat available.. It is still being advertised until the first of the month at which time David will meet with Anita to get it filled. Jabil Status- Tom said he really doesn't have a status on Jabil. Tammy suggested that Tom contact them to see if we can do the scheduling for them. David wants to know if they have set something up with PAL or CYSA. Pathway Committee Update- Ed Fong said that they will be meeting soon, so he can give a report around the next meeting. Tom said that Autumn Faire subdivision is considering leaving 30 feet along a drain for a pathway. Tom wanted input on who the Commission felt should pay for the pathway. There was then a discussion about how much land should be put aside for parks for each neighborhood development. 3-mile Creek Pathway-Tom wanted the Commission to know that he had spent a lot of time working on the 5-Mile creek pathway project we are making a run to get everything in so that we can get the money obligated for spring construction. Tom was under the assumption that we pay for the project up front and then we get reimbursed. This is not the case. The federal Government set a limit of $140,000.00 and anything over that we pay. Our share will be approximately $110, 000.00. New Business: Park Land Donation Update-Autumn Faire is probably 3 years out. Bridge Tower needs to put the park and the pathway in, and hopefully another acreage will come in. Tom then went over a letter from Wendell Bingham, who wanted to know about property out near Thousand Springs. Toms understanding is that they have 2 years fo act on this property, which is 4 acres north of the proposed high school site. Park Plan Open House-David said that barring any problems, we should have dollars available to start getting things done on these parks. Once the budget is approved, we may want to hold an open house for the public to come and review the plans for the new parks. Tom feels that we should wait until we have design plans ready to go. Tammy said we might not want designs made until after the review because we may need to change them after the public input. Debbie reminded the Commission that the public has already had a chance to give input on what they want in their parks, plans should be made up and the public should be told that his is what we are going with. Directors Informational Items: Tom has a conflict with the next commission meeting. It has been rescheduled for the 11"' at Keller and Associates. Tom also went over recycling commodity revenue, which is the City's possible recycling program. The recommendation from the recycling company is that the revenue goes to the parks dept. The program was approved by the Council. If the funds do go to the Parks Dept, Tom would like to designate them to buying playground equipment, curbing around playgrounds and the soft fall. Sheri said she would call City Hall and ask for a copy of the Council Meeting minutes so the Commission could go over how the recycling revenue program was discussed. We have contacted North Park fellowship Church about possibly using their excess land for a bmx track. Tom also went over the height of the walls at Generation Plaza phase 2 Other Business: Costello Recognition- David Moe felt that the PAL league sent him off without any sort of formal recognition, just a thanks for all of your work, goodbye. Dave Costello started the PAL program, took out a loan on his own and started it all for the good of the kids. David Moe felt that the City of Meridian should be doing something to recognize Dave Costello and all of his efforts. There are 3,000 kids playing soccer through PAL as well as other sports that were not available to the kids before. Debbie suggested a paver at Generations Plaza stating founder of PAL. A Memorial Tree or a plaque were suggested, or at an open house for the Parks plans. If the Parks Commission wants to do something with their budget, it needs to be done by the end of this fiscal year. Debbie Watkins made a motion ~i that David Moe be in charge of this reception/recognition. This was seconded by Sheri Baker, All ayes, motion carried. Tammy said that Tom should contact the Police Dept. to see if they would like to be involved. Sheri Baker made a motion that A memo be sent to the City Council and the Mayor from the Parks Commission requesting that we recognize Dave Costello, at the October 3 Council Meeting, for the work that he has done for recreation for the City of Meridian. Seconded by Debbie Watkins, all ayes, motion carried. Adjournment Debbie Watkins made a motion to adjourn at 9:47, seconded by Sheri Baker.