Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/14/2013 CDC November 14, 2013 MINUTES OF REGULAR SESSION OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION NOVEMBER 14TH 2013 The Regular Session of The Community Development Corporation of the City of The Colony, Texas, was called to order at 7:02 p.m. on the 14t1i day of November 2013, at City Hall, 6800 Main Street, The Colony, Texas, with the following roll call: TeRon Lawrence President Present Pam Nelson - Staff Stephen Sohn Vice President Absent Eve Morgan - Staff Lisa Leary Secretary Present Kathy Neal - Staff Donna Cole Member Present Richard Boyer - Council Liaison Don Beckel Member Present Susana Perez Member Present Kathy Braby Treasurer Present And with 6 board members present a quorum was established and the following items were addressed: 1.0 ROUTINE ANNOUNCEMENTS, RECOGNITIONS Call to Order Pledge of Allegiance to the United States Flag Salute to the Texas Flag Announcement of upcoming civic events and activities - TRAPS North Region Award - Pam told the board that one year ago the seniors did a lip sync show and they did it again this year. They used their own props and some equipment and food was donated. The show was held in the Community Center and was attended by 150 people. The Mayor° and some City Council members performed to "Elvira" and the seniors performed to well know songs such as At Last, The Streak, Big Spender, YMCA and others. The seniors accepted an invitation froin the Cultural Arts Committee to perform part of their lip sync show again at the Music in the Park event at Lions Club Park. This year this program received the Regional Excellence in Programming award from the Texas Recreation and Parks Society (TRAPS). The award will be presented to the seniors at the next City Council meeting. Pain added that the seniors do a lot of volunteer work and are a terrific group of people and she is very proud of this accomplishment. Holiday in the Park The event is Saturday, Dec. 7". The Parade of Lights will start at Peters Colony Elementary School and end at Five Star. There will be activities at Perryman Park - Business Expo, baking contest, performances by local performers, and the Christmas Spectacular kicks off. t These items are strictly public service announcements. No action will be taken and no direction will be given regarding these items 1 November 14, 2013 Citizen Input - None. Tenon announced that he is resigning from the board due to his family relocating. He expressed his appreciation to everyone for their support throughout the years and said he has enjoyed being a part of this board and working with everyone on all the projects throughout his time on the board. He wished the board continued success. TeRon was presented with a plaque for his service on the board. Pam said TeRon was a tremendous leader. 2.0 CONSENT AGENDA 2.1 Consider approval of minutes of the special session October 3rd 2013- Motion to approve the minutes - Perez; second - Braby; abstain - Cole; motion passes. 2.2 Consider acceptance of the CDC financial reports for the month of October 2013 Lisa asked for the sales tax information to be sent to the board as soon as it becomes available. Motion to accept - Leary; second - Beckel; motion passes. 3.0 REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS 3.1 Discuss and consider the purchase of QR Fit Trail Stations - Pam was introduced to this product at the NRPA Conference; there is a special cost through the end of this year. These are QR codes for signs that can be linked with smart phones. The purchase would be for 6 codes - have 1 at the trailhead and S others on signs throughout the park. The codes would change monthly, and a quarterly report would be available so we could track the usage, and if they are used in multiple locations, a report would be generated for each location. Currently these aren't being used anywhere in Texas. This does work with different QR readers and there are 4-5 different apps for them. The board members all agreed that this would be used more on the trail at Five Star instead of the shoreline trail; if used at Five Star, the signs could be installed close to the park benches; this is also a way to add exercise stations at Five Star. Pam said she has not done research to look for other companies that provide this service, and being the first in Texas to use this could possibly be to our advantage; all agree this would be a good asset for Five Star. The board is very interested in this but they have some questions before they will consider purchasing this - • How long has the company been in business with this product • Are there disclaimers that need to be included on the sign • What happens if the signs are vandalized - will we have a template to use so we can make another sign • Can we lock in the current price • Is there a discount for buying more than one package • Is the $2001month for one set or $200 for the city • If we choose 2 sites, can we get 10 locations for $200 • What happens if the company goes out of business Eve will get answers to the questions. No action was taken. 2 November 14, 2013 3.2 Receive presentation and discuss future dog park - Pam told the board that there have been many requests for a dog park for several years. A committee was formed in 2007 and Steve Sohn was assigned to that committee. The project has a priority 2 rating in the CDC Master Plan, but City Council wanted the board to work on improving existing facilities first, so the committee disbanded. Recently the board allocated $40, 000 in the budget for a dog park, which was approved by City Council. A new committee was formed - "Pawsome Playground" and Susana and Steve are on the committee. Pam toured the city with the committee to look for a site to build a dog park. They decided the best, location is the old driving range on 423 (Main St.) or Rill Allen Memorial Park. The driving range is 12 acres, S of which could be used for a dog park ; it has electric, water, a sewer connection, some parking, is easy access fi°om 423 and the shoreline trail, and it is not by a residential area. There is concern that it is in a fTood plain. At Bill Allen Memorial Park there is parking, it is not in a flood plain, there is a water source, and it is separated from the residents. There is concern of the erosion issue, it conflicts with the disc golf'course, there is no water or electric on the south side, and extra parking would be required. There was discussion about requiring users of the dog park to pay a fee or keep it free to users. This would help offset the maintenance cost. Pam said there is a fee based dog park in Florida operated by the Parks & Recreation Dept. and it has been a great success; the fee is nominal but it was met with some resistance. There are some private, fee based dog parks, but it is not normal to charge a fee to use a public dog park. She said if we make this a fee based park, we could set this up as a class, no additional staff would be needed, the only additional cost would be a tag or other identification form needed to show that the dog is registered. Susana said the committee would be able to help the city with additional work. The issue of people not following rules to use the dog park was discussed and the suggestion was made to implement the Trail Ranger program in the dog park. Renate Morehouse, 7622 West Shore, The Colony - She is on the dog park committee and said that they prefer the Main St. location. It is the most cost effective, has the largest space, the large and small dog areas can be side by side, there is easy access to water. Having a fee based park with a membership requirement could help ensure that people provide proof of vaccinations. Shawn Kelley, 4840 South Colony Blvd., The Colony - She said there is a fee based park in North Carolina; they have resident and non-resident fees, they did gate keys and they also had a 7-day pass for non residents. She is researching dog bites and hasn't found that many happen in dog parks, but she said the group can check with the other cities. One city created flyers that they mailed and people could sign up and make donations that way. The committee is working on a websile. The group is ready to help in any way they can. Also mentioned was that many dog parks around us are free, but will there be backlash from people who use fi°ee dog parks in other cities and they have to pay to use one in their city. Pam said the dog park will be discussed with City Council in their work session on Tuesday night. She and members of the committee will discuss their location choice is the driving range on Main Street, making a ,formal non-profit group to help maintain and give support to the dog park, and do fundraising and if Council is supportive of this we would put money in next year's budget for construction. 3 November 14, 2013 3.3 Discuss and consider final design and quote for the human sundial project - Eve told the board she changed the design in an effort to simply it and be more cost effective, but when she received the quote from Jade at Enso Fabrication it was much higher than anticipated. She will continue to work on the design in an effort to reduce the cost. The consensus of the board was to continue to work getting the design costs down. No action was taken on this item. 3.4 Receive update from staff and discuss the following items - Veteran's Memorial - The committee chose a 10.5 acre site on the southern corner at Five Star. An RFP was issued and consultants were interviewed; the committee selected HaffAssociates to design the memorial. Contract negotiations are in progress and this will be brought to the board for a potential source of funding. Tribute Nature Trail and Grand Opening - The grand opening was on Oct. 26Ih. The Tribute HOA had a country fair, the weather was good, a lot of people attended the event, a bike club from Frisco brought some bikes out, and Elise from the Aquatic Park talked about kayaking. A couple of people signed up to be in the Trail Ranger program. TeRon adjourned the regular session at 8:53 p.m. 3.6 Executive Session - The Board shall convene into a closed executive session pursuant to Section 551.072 of the Texas Government Code to deliberate the purchase of properties located within the Eastvale area for public park purposes. TeRon opened the Executive Session at 8:54p.m. TeRon closed the Executive Session at 9:15p. in. 3.7 Reconvene to regular session TeRon opened the regular meeting a 9:16p. in. 3.8 Action to be taken as a result of the Executive Session None. There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 9:16p.m. X-m athy N al, Recording Secretary TeR a ence resident 4