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2001-03-12APR 2 3 2001 C~'~~a L~T.T[pT e sa;T~~I~~.N Meridian Parks and Recreation Commission March 12, 2001 The regular meeting of The Parks and Recreation Commission was called to order by Sheri Baker at 7:06. Present were David Moe, Sheri Baker, Ed Fong, Tammy De Weerd, Bruce MacCoy, Creg Steele, Jim Keller and Tom Kuntz Agenda: David Moe made a motion to adopt the March agenda with two additions under correspondence and announcements. Ed Fong seconded, all ayes motion carried. Approval of Minutes: David Moe made a motion to approve February's minutes seconded by Ed Fong, all ayes, motion carried Public Introductions/Comments: Correspondence/Announcements: Tom went over the information the department sent to the Mayor for his State of the City Address. There were three articles in the Statesman, the first is about all access playground equipment, and the others are about the dog ordinance. The Commission liked the editorial in the paper because it gives us the option that was discussed which is if it doesn't work out, we will go back and change it. Tom went over the warrantee on the panels for Generations Plaza. Bruce asked if putting them in plexi-glass would help protect them. Tom said they were not designed to be put in a case. Tom said they could probably sand down any damaged areas and put the photo back on. The request for bids went out for the tiling of a ditch at the 58 acres. The bids will be opened on Monday the 19~h. This needs to be done before the water comes in, around mid-April. Tom is working on plan b. The department received a call about one of the local churches holding an Easter Egg hunt in one of our parks on the same day as the Optimist Club holds theirs. The Commission felt that this would be fine if the times were different. Tom said he would pass that on. Informational Items Single Loaded Streets- Tom addressed the memo to the Planning and Zoning Commission regarding the single loaded street issue. Also attached are letters from the Chief of Police and the Fire Chief in support of the single loaded street issue. Bruce felt that the P&Z Commission was behind us and that we presented a good case. Tom felt P&Z was concerned that we might be bringing this up at the last hour. The City Planner did say that we brought this up at a pre- development meeting and were not taken seriously. Tom went over the discussion between the developer and the Parks department. We propose that if they give up ten lots, they would meet the green space requirement. They countered with them putting a road into the northwest corner of our park. We would then need to shift the 5-plex down and move 100 parking spaces up to the corner. They said if they were forced to follow the 5%, they would rather put in pocket parks throughout their subdivision. Creg felt P&Z would give in to the developer, or they will tell us to put the road on our property. We need to make a case for Council. There will be people parking all over the subdivision and the developer doesn't care. Jim said if this is still a preliminary plat, it will only take five hours of work to re-arrange the lots. The Commission discussed several ways of re-designing the subdivision. Ten lots allows visibility and safety in the northwest corner. David Moe asked about making the pathway a road along the northern border and opening 1 lot for emergency vehicles to enter. Tom sad that would take care of one of our two concerns. David asked where the police were at the P&Z meeting. Bruce said they were there. Bruce also said he wondered what would happen if this is shot down when visibility is such an issue, especially with the skate park. Jim Keller made a motion that we ask the developer of Cedar Springs to give up 8 lots and ask them to leave the road where it is or redesign the road and bring it down and give up the same amount of lots. David Moe seconded. There was some discussion regarding 8 or 10 lots, Sheri said she did not want 8 lots if what we are showing is 10. Bruce agreed. David felt that 8 lots would soften the blow and might make it easier to get. Bruce asked if this is in lieu of the 5% green space and Jim said yes. The vote was 3-2 in favor of 8 lots, motion carries. Chamber Restrooms- Tom met with the Chamber of Commerce restroom expansion committee. The Council is comfortable with the $58,000 for us to participate in the expansion. There will be some re-writing of the lease that will state if the building is sold, we will retain ownership of the restrooms. Bear Creek Comp Plan- Bear Creek was presented to Council and they seemed to like it but no motion was made. Bridgetower Development- Bridgetower will go before the P&Z Commission soon. Ed wanted to make sure that pathways don't lead anywhere. Sheri said that it should be entered into the record that the pathway can't just be thrown into the middle of a development with no connectivity. Jim said we need to get the policies in place so that P&Z knows what they are dealing with so we don't go through this every time. Consent Agenda- it was discussed that we move the consent agenda to the first item, before correspondence and announcements, after role call and public introductions. Bruce MacCoy made a motion that we accept the consent agenda, which is the selection of the landscape architect for the 58-acre site. Jim Keller seconded. All ayes, motion carries. Discussion Items: Skate park site selection- Sheri asked if there had been more discussion with Council regarding the skate park. Tom said no. He would really like some direction. Sheri asked Tammy what could be done to change the Councils mind. She also said she has been down there and thinks it is much more visible than the Council thinks it is. Creg Steele said he is concerned that when a building goes up the visibility will be diminished. Sheri says that she is frustrated that once again we say we are going to do something and we don't get it done. Tammy says unless you address the Councils concerns, they won't consider it. Address the issues about safety and visibility. Bruce said the Commission needs to net ideas on how the group can show the City Council our point of view with pictures or video presentation. Bruce also suggested getting a site plan and do a schematic drawing of how the park will be laid out. We need to come up with ideas that will show them that we have a plan, we need to anticipate every question that the Council has, and we need to cover our bases. Creg said he felt this was a good idea, suggested we add that we will build the road off Water Tower and there will be access once the surrounding buildings are built. Tom said nothing would happen with the road until the speedway is defunct and we take over development rights for that 5 acres. The Commission suggested that Tom look into the triangle owned by Western Ada Recreation District and also the front north west corner of the park, and costs to close off the road at Storey Park. Jim will look at the site plan of Storey Park and help Tom figure out if another site will work at Storey Park. Jim made a motion that Tom select the second place architect and Jim will help come up with siting for a skate park with better visibility. This was seconded by Bruce, all ayes motion carries. Penn Station-Tom went over the pathway in the Penn Station development. This will be a quarter mile pathway. Staff recommends accepting ownership of the pathway only and not any of the landscaping. Staff is supportive of this because they don't want to miss the opportunity to build a'/< mile path that would connect Danbury Faire subdivision to Locust Grove. The other reason we are supporting this is because P&Z said there is a possible development along the east side of Locust Grove so the pathway could continue down Settlers Drain. Ed Fong said this would fit into the Pathway Committee's overall plans. David asked who would put in the pathway. Tom said the developer would put it in, but we would take ownership of it. Ed Fong made a motion that the Commission recommend to Ciry Council that we accept the Parks and Recreation Departments recommendation of the Danbury Faire/ Locust Grove Pathway. David Moe seconded, all ayes, motion carried. Action Items Action Plan- Sheri handed out and went over the list of changes from the first meeting. The biggest change that was made at this point was section 3-6, change Indoor Recreation Center to Community Center through out, since we don't have a definition of what that would be. Chapter 4-4.2, it appears that the Parks department is over staffed. Tom said that we will be inline with what the norm would be, because as we grow, we will realign the way we maintain the parks to make our man power more efficient. One example would be us going to a mowing crew with a large mower instead of a smaller mower in each park that takes two days to mow each park. Tom feels that it is fairly accurate. Bruce said that there are areas not listed such as the fire department, City Hall, Fothergil etc. that the parks department is taking care of, which are taking up more time to maintain and therefore our ratios are high. Jim said as we grow and our parks get bigger, the ratio of staff to park acreage would balance out. 3 04J18J01 11:04 FAX 208 695 0071 .lim-'Sheri Baker ~ 01 • • Impact Fee Section- Sheri feels that the impact fee plan should not be part of an action plan. Tammy said she is concerned that we already have a park deficit and we are putting the burden on new growth to catch up for what the growth has already put us behind. She says it is really not a fair estimate of what the true impact of what new grow this going to add. It would be nice to have a tool to separate and measure the cost of today, and what it will be from tomorrow on. Tammy said that the impact fee area could not take into account a deficit of what we should be at. Jim suggested listing impact fees from other Cities to get a comparison. Sheri said that the people who are already living here have contributed to the deficit, and they need to be paying for it as welt, since they are going to tae using the parks as much as the people coming in. Jim said that when they figure impact fees for water and wastewater, they figure what it is going to take to upgrade facilities that are meeting the needs of the community, but to update them for additional growth. That is the kind of statement we should have here instead of a statement that says since we are 260 acres behind schedule, that means everybody who is new needs to pay this much even though other residents don't pay anything. Tom says in order for us to get to an acre per thousand standard, there has to be a way to equate a number that will bring that 52,700 per household into more realistic terms that would be more palatable to the Council and to developers. Jim moved that Tom restructure the last paragraph in 4.3 and bring it back for approval. David Moe seconded, all ayes motion carried. Project Priorities- Sheri asked if these are Jerry's priorities. Tom said these are a recommendation from the consultant, and Bruce said it seems like a logical progression. David asked when we would devebp the 56 acres because he wants to see it done. David says he would like to see #5 (community center) moved to #15. Also, change the name of 5.2 to Implementation Plan from Project Priorities, and change the order that they are in. they should be placed 1,2,8,3,4,6,7 and 5. Expenditures, table 5.1 Jim said phase 1 priority 1 is what are we going to build with the 2.1 million dollars that we have this year. We wilt be doing phase 1 in the 56 acres, Chateau Park, skate park. Phase 2 is we need to come up with some money. Are we going to ask City Council for more money, are we going to go for a ten million-dollar bond election, what is the next implementation phase that we intend to do? Sheri said her concern with the 5-year expenditure program is that it only shows us completing phase 1 of the 56-acre park, and we had better complete that park in 5 years. Our list relies on passing a bond so how are we going to do it. The Commission agreed that Jerry Dragoo should be present for section 5. Tom will invite him down to go over it with the commission. There should also be maintenance costs in section 5. Tammy mentioned the mill levy and that the commission may want to get involved because 'rf the mill levy increase can't get passed, the odds of a park bond being passed are not very good. David Mo made a motion to adjourn at 9:45, seconde by Bruce MacCoy. Approved: :.Pig- Date: Q I President-Sheri Baker