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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1st Quarter (January-March)MINUTES OF THE PARKS & RECREATION BOARD OF THE CITY OF THE COLONY HELD ON JANUARY 12TH, 2000 A REGULAR SESSION of The Parks & Recreation Board of The City of The Colony, TX., was called to order at 7:35 p.m. with the following board members present: Donna Baggett Chairperson Larry Henderson Member Mark Shaw Member John Sanders Member and with members Lewis, Bickerstaff, and King absent; thus a quorum was established. Also in attendance was Pam Nelson, Director of Parks & Recreation. 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 17TH, 1999. Member Shaw made a motion to approve the minutes of November 17'', 1999. Chairperson Baggett seconded the motion. Ayes: Member Shaw, Henderson, Sanders, Chairperson Baggett. Noes: None. 2. ELECTION OF NEW BOARD OFFICERS. The new chairman of the Parks & Recreation Board is John Sanders and Donna Baggett will be Vice-Chairperson. 3. UPDATE FROM DIRECTOR. The new bathroom facility at Stewart Creek Park is up but is not functional yet. It will be about 6 weeks before we can get the sewer hooked up. It does have water hooked up and the final inspection will probably be done next week. City Council has approved the agreement for Blue Sky to go to Eastvale Park. Ms. Nelson said she has a meeting scheduled with the Mayor, and Paul Mott of the Dallas Burn to discuss the details of getting the Burn in. The Corp has the agreements now and we are just waiting for approval back from them, which will probably be about 2 more months before we get the final approval. While we are waiting on that, we will begin doing construction plans and hopefully we can break ground in April. Tommy Hilfiger will be sponsoring our July 4t' festivities again this year. Ms. Nelson said we are in the process of putting the TCRex logo on the wall in the gameroom. We've been doing some painting, cleaning and some renovating. She added that some renovations would also be made at the front counter. She said we hope to be taking over the old library building, but we haven't gotten any word from City Council yet. When that happens, we will change this meeting room into a weight room and make the old weight room into a small classroom area and move a lot of our programs and activities we currently have in this meeting room to the old library. We are in the process of doing some improvements on the Little League fields. We will be expanding the irrigation, taking down old fences and putting up new fences and skinning 2 of the infields so they will be all dirt infields. On January 24 h, there is a worksession with 4B and City Council to discuss the Master Plan. She encouraged all board members to attend. We will be going out for bids on lights for the football fields soon. 4. ITEMS OF CONCERN TO THE BOARD. Member Henderson asked if there would be any new fitness equipment put in the new weight room. Ms. Nelson replied there would be new equipment purchased. Member Baggett said she has been discussing the issue of the pool and a natatorium with Elise Knox. She said if anything is going to happen, we need to have some movement. She met Bunker Hill, who is in charge of the natatorium in Carrollton, and he has volunteered his services to be on any committee to help us work with the school board. Elise was hoping to organize a meeting with some school board members and anyone else interested. There being no further discussion, it was unanimously decided to adjourn the meeting at 7:50 p.m. 4Katyal, ecordin r / G etary Donna aggett, Chairperson MINUTES OF THE PARKS & RECREATION BOARD OF THE CITY OF THE COLONY HELD JANUARY 26TH, 2000 A REGULAR SESSION of The Parks & Recreation Board of The City of The Colony, TX., was called to order at 7:40 p.m. with the following board members present: Donna Baggett Vice Chairperson Susan King Member Larry Henderson Member Rich Lewis Member and with members Bickerstaff, Sanders and Shaw absent, thus a quorum was established. Also in attendance was Pam Nelson, Director of Parks & Recreation, David Swain, Recreation Supervisor and Dennis Sims of Dunkin, Sims & Stoffels. 1. II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JANUARY 12TH 2000. Approval of the minutes was tabled until the next meeting. RECEIVE PRESENTATION FROM DENNIS SIMS OF DUNKIN, SIMS & STOFFELS ON CONCEPTUAL DESIGN FOR FUTURE SPORT/RECREATION COMPLEX. Dennis Sims presented the board with a drawing of the park lay out. The athletic elements of the park are - regulation full size soccer fields, adult softball fields, baseball fields, an inline hockey area, tennis courts, a full size basketball court, playgrounds and 4 miles of hike & bike trails. The architectural elements will be a 30,000 sq. ft. Recreation Center with a 3.3 acre Aquatic Center, a 65,000 sq. ft. Library - Cultural Arts Center, 3 restroom/concession buildings and 4 shade structures. There are approximately 2,000 parking spaces which averages 55-60 per softball, baseball and soccer fields, 100 per football field, 345 for the library, 250 for the recreation center, and 578 parking spaces for the aquatic park. We also have a maintenance pavilion. There is approximately 80 acres in this park. Lighting this park will be an issue because of the layout of the park. There is cut-off lighting you can use which directs the light directly onto the field. There is 75 ft. between the easement and the Arbor Glen homes. According to the engineer's calculations, we will need to have some water features (retention ponds) at various locations throughout the park. The ponds can be used for irrigation, but they would have to be larger than these. The park will be totally irrigated but it will have to have a pump so we can water larger sections at one time. If you do water wells, you have to drill a water well, get the water tested, have it analyzed, and put in a brass dirty water valve. Affluent is good, the main cost is getting the water to you. A preliminary cost estimate to do the park is $10,000,000 - this does not include the Recreation Center, Aquatic Center or the Library. The Park Master Plan has to be revised, a priority list has to be established and we will apply for grants. The first phase is the infrastructure because that all goes in at once. The first phase in terms of usable facilities will be smaller than the second or third phase because we will be using most of the money on infrastructure. Ms. Nelson said there is another month before 4B knows how much money they will be able to allocate for this. We will apply for a grant and the deadline for this grant cycle is the end of July; the grant will be awarded in January 2001. That will allow us to do the design construction document and put together everything we need. We can also do some infrastructure work before we get the grant. Member Lewis asked if there was any kind of seating included in the design of the complex. Dennis said his firm has designed concrete, permanent bleachers in other projects but not is this complex. 3. DISCUSSION AND APPROPRIATE ACTION REGARDING CONCEPTUAL PLAN. Member King made a motion to approve the conceptual design for the future sport/recreation complex. Member Lewis seconded the motion. Ayes: Members King, Baggett, Lewis and Henderson. Noes: None. 4. ITEMS OF CONCERN TO THE BOARD. None. There being no further discussion, it was unanimously decided to adjourn the meeting at 8:45 p.m. C GV K thy Neal, ecording ecretary Donna aggett, Vice Chairperso MINUTES OF THE PARKS & RECREATION BOARD OF THE CITY OF THE COLONY HELD ON MARCH 8TH, 2000 A REGULAR SESSION of The Parks & Recreation Board of The City of The Colony, TX., was called to order at 7:35 p.m. with the following board members present: John Sanders Chairman Donna Baggett Member Susan King Member Mark Shaw Member Rich Lewis Member and with member Henderson absent; thus a quorum was established. Also in attendance was Pam Nelson, Director of Parks & Recreation, Dennis Sims of Duncan, Sims & Stoffels, Elise Knox, Aquatic Park Manager, and Sam Fitzgerald, Lake Parks Manager. 1. CITIZEN'S INPUT. None. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JANUARY 12TH, 2000 AND JANUARY 26T", 2000. Member King made a motion to approve the minutes of January 12`h 2000 and January 26`h 2000. Member Shaw seconded the motion. Ayes: Members King, Baggett, Shaw and Chairman Sanders. Noes: None. 3. DISCUSSION AND APPROPRIATE ACTION REGARDING DEVELOPMENT PHASES FOR COMMUNITY COMPLEX. Ms. Nelson said decisions need to be made about the design of the facility and what parts we want to do first. We need to make recommendations to the 4B board and City Council about what we think is the highest priority. The 4B board will have about $5,000,000 they can spend on the first phase. There is $1,000,000 shown now for infrastructure for the first phase and about $5,000,000 left for other things in the first phase. As CDC generates more revenue and they're able to leverage more bonds, then we'll be able to come back later and do more phases. Ms. Nelson said there is an opportunity to work with the school district towards funding a competitive facility for swimming. Discussions need to begin now to allow the school district, the city or 4B to plan for funding for the future. We don't want a stand-alone aquatic facility; we want it in conjunction with the community center. Dennis stated, referring to the diagram of the concept plan, that $3.5 million includes the 2 soccer fields on the top, 2 small soccer fields, 2 football fields, 2/3 of the baseball fields, one big parking lot, possibly part of the bottom parking lot, playgrounds, hike & bike trails, and bathrooms & concession stands. It does not include the inline hockey rink or the maintenance facility. Ms. Nelson stated the numbers for soccer continue to grow and the numbers for baseball have been declining because kids are going to Carrollton to play. We can't get enough kids to play on the big field and many of the kids at this age have gone select. She does not see the big fields as being a high demand. In softball, only 10 girls have signed up so they will be playing teams in Denton. Chairman Sanders said we should work on a larger area first which will have more of an impact on the community. He would like to leave the Rec. Center and the pool for the second phase. Elise said the plan that was given to us was an outside, stand alone play park with family interactive pieces. The plan includes a volleyball court, sprinkler shower going back to the pool, a 4-lane outdoor pool with some slides, a beach, a water sprayer, dressing rooms, raindrops which look like upside down mushrooms, which you could probably get those sponsored from outside organizations. She would rather wait to build a bigger facility with more flexibility. What was presented won't serve all of our needs, but it will take some of the pressure off of us. If we can get money from the school district and the city, we could get things we want and the swim team could get things they want, like a natatorium. Elise informed the board that a lot of the items listed in the Hunsaker Audit are things we've been doing without. At this time she does not want to renovate the pool. There is $40,000 in a reserve fund for doing the interior finish of the outdoor pool, tile work around the outside edge, bringing safety signage up to new codes and repairing tiles, which are all things we have been planning on doing. The audit lists a cost of $300,000 and she has come up with a cost of about $70,000. She believes his preferences overshadow our financial accountability. Ms. Nelson does not believe there is a high priority for the 2 big baseball fields and asked if they could be made into softball fields to begin with, then later transforming them into baseball fields and building the softball fields back on the east side. Dennis said that is possible. Referring to the diagram of the concept plan, this is a basic idea for the layout of the park. Setting the theme or the architectural design has not been done yet. This diagram shows a scaled relationship of the facilities to the acreage we have. The consensus of the board is to focus on development on the west side of Paige Rd. Member King said there is $1,000,000 allocated for infrastructure work. A lot of that will go for roads, water and sewer which is our obligation as landowners to do. We're required to put in our half of Memorial. The city, 4B or 4A will pay our portion. It will cost about $2,000,000 for our half to get Memorial built from Blair Oaks to South Colony. The developers are paying for their portion of the road with impact fees. Member King said we could get the majority of everything on the concept plan for $5,000,000 with the exception of the inline hockey rink and the maintenance facility. If we could get a grant from Texas Parks & Wildlife, that would pay for the inline rink and maintenance facility. Ms. Nelson said Dennis needs to put some cost estimates in place so the board needs to tell him what they would eliminate from the first phase if they had to. Member Shaw said he would eliminate 1 big soccer field, the inline rink, 1 baseball field. Member Lewis said he would eliminate 2 big soccer fields and 1 baseball field. Member Baggett said she would eliminate 1 big soccer field, 1 little baseball field, 1 large baseball field. Member King said she would eliminate 1 baseball field, 1 football field, 1 soccer field. Chairman Sanders said he would eliminate 2 large soccer fields and 1 large baseball field. There was a short recess taken at 8:45 p.m. The meeting resumed at 8:55 p.m. 4. DISCUSSION AND APPROPRIATE ACTION REGARDING UPDATING PRIORITIES OF THE PARK MASTER PLAN. Ms. Nelson said our priority list needs to be updated before we apply for any grants. We will score higher if the item we are applying for on the grant is item #1 or #2 priority on the Parks Master Plan priority list. Member King asked if we could list the complex or if we have to list individual items. Dennis said we would have an answer on that tomorrow. Ms. Nelson said there are indoor and outdoor grant programs. We are going to find out if we are eligible for both indoor and outdoor grants. If we are, we would apply for them in this grant cycle. Chairman Sanders asked if you apply for a grant in the first phase, can you reapply for another grant for that same phase. Dennis said you can if your priority list stays the same, you just reapply for those elements to complete the park. The board stated the 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. se items for the priority list - Athletic / Recreation Center Cultural Arts Center / Library Renovations Hike / Bike Trails Community Center / Aquatic Park Picnic Tables Shuffleboard Botche Ball Playgrounds Basketball Courts Volleyball Courts Orienteering Course Ms. Nelson asked the board to review the existing parks list and get their recommendations along with any additions to what we already have, back to her before the next meeting. 5. UPDATE FROM DIRECTOR. A. REPORT ON TAAF REGIONAL BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT. There were 80 teams participating, but there were 4 teams that did not show up. A preliminary financial report shows we cleared $12,000 and David Swain is working on the economic impact. Comfort Suites was the host hotel. Everything ran very smooth and it was very successful. B. OLD LIBRARY RENOVATIONS. We have negotiated a contract with architects Phelps/Wood from Frisco. They have done the bathrooms at Stewart Creek Park, and have also made renovations to the Senior Center. They are very familiar with the community. C. EASTVALE PARK UPDATE. We remain in weekly contact with the Corp. We are getting very positive feedback. Things are progressing slowly, but she thinks Blue Sky will get their approval. D. CDC PUBLIC HEARING. The Public Hearing is Thursday night and recommended everyone attend if they can. 6. ITEMS OF CONCERN TO THE BOARD. Member King asked when the Concert in the Park was going to be held. Ms. Nelson said it would be May 6th at Stewart Creek Park. The Silvertones will be performing which is the same group that did the Olde'Memories. Member King also asked when the bathrooms at Stewart Creek Park will be ready. Ms. Nelson said it would be about 5-6 more weeks before we get the rest of the parts in for the lift station and pumps. It should be ready by the time the park starts getting busy. Member Baggett said there will be a lot of swim team parents at the Public Hearing. She is going to add bike ramps to her list. There being no further discussion, it was unanimously decided to adjourn the meeting at 9:45 p.m. Ka by Neal Recor mg Secretary J Sanders, Chairman MINUTES OF THE PARKS & RECREATION BOARD OF THE CITY OF THE COLONY HELD ON MARCH 22ND, 2000 A REGULAR SESSION of The Parks & Recreation Board of The City of The Colony, TX., was called to order at 7:30 p.m. with the following board members present: John Sanders Chairman Larry Henderson Member Susan King Member Mark Shaw Member and with members Baggett and Lewis absent; thus a quorum was established. Also in attendance was Pam Nelson, Director of Parks & Recreation and Dennis Sims of Dunacn, Sims & Stoffels. CITIZEN'S INPUT. None. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF MARCH 8TH, 2000. Member King made a motion to approve the minutes of March 8", 2000. Chairman Sanders seconded the motion. Ayes: Members Henderson, King, Shaw and Chairman Sanders. Noes: None. 3• DISCUSSION AND APPROPRIATE ACTION REGARDING REVISION OF THE PARK MASTER PLAN. Ms. Nelson informed the board that the community complex can be included as one item on the priority list, however, we will have to do everything in the complex to get credit for it. The recommendation is to break it down and list each item individually. Dennis said we are trying to address the needs identified in the Turco Survey and also position the priority list to gain as many points as we can when we apply for the grant. In this cycle there are 50 grants; 50 cities will be applying for grants. You get the maximum number of points if you apply for your top 7 items in the list that's in your grant. You will get your most points by listing hike & bike trails, playgrounds, football field, baseball field, softball field, soccer field, and picnic table. Picnic table is a recreational facility. You don't list concession or restroom facilities because you don't get points for them. That is how the priority list should be set up. We need to justify why we set the priority list this way. Pam said we will be removing #6 shuffleboard and #7 botchy ball from the list. Dennis said we could include these in the grant because we can get a point for putting a shuffleboard court in there. But we only get points for the top 7 priorities - playgrounds, hike & bike, football, soccer, baseball, softball, and picnic tables-pavilions. The Turco Survey had hike & bike trails as #1. Playgrounds came in #5 on the Turco survey. Pam said we want to apply for the indoor grant to renovate the old library building. If we do that, where does that fit into the priority list if we apply for both grants? Dennis said if you go for two separate grants, you have to use the same priority list. If you're going for matching funds, you want to go for the biggest, that would be the outdoor grant. Pam said if we want to apply for both grants, we should apply in July for the indoor grant and make the cultural arts center #1 on the priority list. The indoor grant also needs a wide variety of elements. The limit has been raised to $750,000 on the indoor grants. Dennis said if we apply for the outdoor grant in July, we will find out February 2001 if we get it. We will not be able to start until June 2002. On the indoor grant, we can apply in July 2000 and find out in January if we got it. You could apply for another grant January 31, 2001 for the outdoor, but you would have to have to redo the priority list, and find out in July, 2001 if you get it. You still can't start anything until 2002. Pam said we need to do the indoor grant first because the outdoor grant has 2 cycles a year and applying in January as opposed to applying in July will not hurt us. The old library will become a multi purpose recreation facility. There will be some cultural arts activities, wedding receptions, karate classes, and a lot of different activities. We will just be renovating it. Pam asked if this was not a high priority on the Turco survey, how that affects us in the grant process. Dennis replied that they will ask for an explanation in the needs analysis and we will say we did a Turco Survey and public hearings. We will also tell them that the 4B Board, Park Board and City Council have determined that these are the current needs of the city. Pam believes the community will be supportive of renovating the old library facility now. City Council has already approved an architects contract to renovate the building. She has been given a directive to find a consultant to do the grant application for us. She thinks Council will see this as a high priority. Susan asked if 413 was going to put up matching money for this. Pam said no, we were planning on using hotel / motel tax money, but we may have to come back to 4B. Susan said if we don't apply for the grant until January 2001, that will give us more time to accumulate funds. Pam said we need to build our priority list on the indoor grant. Then we will have another priority list implemented later on. Susan asked if when 4B goes to City Council on the 17"', if this would be a part of that proposal. Pam said this new priority list will be in the updated version of the Parks Master Plan, and they will need to understand why the library is listed that way on the priority list. She would like to give Council a timeline to help them to understand why the priority list is the way it is. Pam will meet with the architect to discuss what we want to see happen in the old library building, and then we will bring a list back to the board. Member King would like to cover the bleachers and dugout areas at the Little League Complex and Bridges, update the playground area and add a sprayground area at Perryman Park and add flower beds and gingerbread stuff on the gazebo at the Historical Park. Chairman Sanders would like to see a playground at the football fields. Member King made a motion to table revision of the Park Master Plan. Member Shaw seconded the motion. Ayes: Members King, Shaw, Henderson and Chairman Sanders. Noes: None. 4. ITEMS OF CONCERN TO THE BOARD. Member King asked Pam if there was anything taking place the board needed to be made aware of. Ms. Nelson said Gene Ramsey was killed in a car accident this morning on a way to a meeting. Sam Fitzgerald has been promoted to the Assistant Director and it will be effective tomorrow. His first priority will be to get Ridgepointe Park taken care of. Eve Farmer has resigned from the Senior Center and we have not replaced her with anyone yet. The Chili Cook Off was very successful. Member Shaw asked if there was ever going to be a summer basketball league. Pam said David would like to have one, but there are scheduling and facility issues to resolve. Member Henderson asked if the youth girl's basketball coach will be permitted to coach again since he was ejected from a game during the TAAF Regional Tournament. Pam said we have received an apology from him, and he will not be coaching again for us in basketball. There being no further discussion, it was unanimously decided to adjourn the meeting at 8:10 p.m. i Kathy Neal, ecording Secretary sd *S~anders, Chairman