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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1st Quarter (January-March)MINUTES OF THE PARKS & RECREATION BOARD OF THE CITY OF THE COLONY HELD JANUARY 10TH, 2001 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 Susan King Member Rich Lewis Member Jim Briggs Member Larry Henderson Member and with members Baggett and Shaw absent; thus a quorum was established. Also in attendance was Pam Nelson, Director of Parks & Recreation, Sam Fitzgerald, Asst. Director Parks & Recreation, Dennis Sims of Dunkin, Sims & Stoffels, David Swain, Recreation Manager, Vicki Briggs, and Bunker Hill. 1. CITIZEN'S INPUT. None. 2. REVIEW AND CONSIDERATION OF ALTERNATE PROPOSAL FOR NAME AND THEME OF THE COMMUNITY COMPLEX. Pam stressed to the board that no one is trying to undo what was accomplished at the worksession. The theme both boards decided on is what we're going to use. She told the board she has gotten negative feedback from people regarding the name. They think it sounds like a museum. She said after hearing this, we started thinking again about a different name and came up with another name that encompasses more than just the theme of the park. Pam presented the board with a video presentation of the new name. The new name being considered is 5 Star. Some supporting factors for this name are - 1. The star represents Texas culture 2. It denotes a first-rate, top-of-the-line image 3. Each point on the star represents an element of the facility - recreation, community, sports, environment and culture. Recreation includes - hike/bike trails, community center, aquatic facility indoor and outdoor, and playgrounds Community includes - library, special events, opportunities for social interaction and opportunities for economic development Environment includes - preservation of open space, development of water features and protection of natural habitat Sports includes - baseball, basketball, football, inline hockey, soccer and softball Culture includes - Texas heritage signage and artwork to reflect Texas legends and culture. This is where the theme comes in. Member Briggs said he liked what was already decided on at the previous meeting. He also has talked to a lot of people, and they said they like the name. Member King said she likes the new name. Member Lewis said he didn't really like what we had, but he really doesn't like 5 Star. Member Lewis also said he thought the decision of the name and the theme made at the worksession was going to be presented to City Council, but now he is wondering if both names should be presented to them. He also asked if the names should be presented to the public to get their opinion. Member King said she is opposed to approaching the public unless we give them the names and theme and tell them to pick one, but she is concerned that this would also cause controversy. Pam said the name came from a resident after the worksession with 4B. We took the idea and developed it. The name was appealing. Nothing has been presented to City Council yet. Many people have told us they like the theme but not the name. Pam stressed that what is being presented tonight is just another idea. The night of the worksession, both boards agreed on the theme and that will not change, but there was really no firm commitment on the name. She told everyone they could table this item until they had some time to think about it more. Member Lewis made a motion to table review and consideration of alternate proposal for the name; of the Community Complex. Member King seconded the motion. Ayes: Member Lewis, King, Briggs, Henderson, and Chairman Sanders Noes: None. 3. DISCUSSION OF GRANT APPLICATION FOR THE COMMUNITY COMPLEX. Pam informed the board that a mock scoring of the grant application was completed. It was based on what we plan on including in the first phase, all the elements contained in the park, facilities we already have in our town and the priority list we have in our Park Master Plan, which are all factors in the scoring system. We scored 75 - 85 points, but that's only if we can get an outside contribution as our match. We have talked with Bill Sheveland at JNC who is currently doing drainage improvements on our park site, which are over $500,000. If we can use them as our match, our score would be 85 - 95 points, if it's not an eligible match, we would probably score 85 points or lower. Less than 50% of the grant applications submitted receive funding. Now we have to decide if we still want to apply for the grant or if we should skip the grant application this time around and move forward with creating the construction documents. Dennis said if we submit the grant application, it will be due at the end of this month. We would receive notification in the third week of August. We could be done preparing the construction documents in June. The Phase I side of the project does not have a lot of opportunities in it to score points on. When we go across the street, we'll have more opportunities to get more points. Once we submit the grant application, we can't do any construction. If we submit the grant application in January and find out in August that we didn't get it, we can resubmit it again in 30 days. Based on past trends, right now we have less than a 50% chance of being awarded the grant, and that drops even more if JNC is not an eligible match. They give 6-7 million dollars in grants every six months. It is a very competitive process and the big projects usually score the most. You just never know who your competition is. Pam said she is going to City Council Monday night and she would like a consensus from the board on how they would like her to proceed with the grant application. Member Briggs - Move the project up 60 days, start moving dirt and save our money it would cost to apply Member Lewis - Go for the grant Chairman Sanders - Go for the grant Member King - Go for the grant provided JNC can be used as our match Member Henderson - Dennis is the expert, we should do what he recommends 4. The consensus of the board is to go for the grant provided JNC can be used as our match. UPDATE FROM DIRECTOR - BLUE SKY - They opened in December. They had 130 teams sign up which means they reached their capacity and they already have some teams on a waiting list. The Dallas Burn moves in at the end of the month. Peter will announce the grand opening date at the City Council meeting and everyone here will be invited. RIDGEPOINTE PARK - The rain we've had lately has delayed progress. The park is holding a lot of water so we have to let it dry out before we can start doing anything. The playground equipment will be shipped on February 2. MEMORIAL DRIOFFICE CREEK DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS - There is no new information to relay to you. There continue to be meetings to discuss the cost allocations. The office creek drainage improvements on our property have begun. The crossing under Paige Rd. is going to be installed. LEWISVILLE LAKE - The lake level is up. It is only 71/z ft. down and the boat ramp at Hidden Cove is open. REC CENTER - We are going to City Council on Monday night to ask them to award the bid for the gym floor. The fitness center has gotten a great response. We have 170 new members and it has brought in over $4,000. The customer base has changed dramatically. 5. ITEMS OF CONCERN TO THE BOARD. Member Briggs is concerned if a natatorium is built by the school district, how much control over that facility would the city have. Bunker said it would be best if the city ran it on their own. Pam said the school district does not want to run or maintain the facility. There are many issues that will have to be discussed and decided upon before each party commits to anything. There being no further discussion, it was unanimously decided to adjou the meeting at5 Kath Neal, R cording cretary John ders, Chairman MINUTES OF THE PARKS & RECREATION BOARD OF THE CITY OF THE COLONY HELD JANUARY 24TH, 2001 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 Susan King Member Rich Lewis Member Jim Briggs Member and with members Baggett, Shaw and Henderson absent; thus a quorum was established. Also in attendance was Pam Nelson, Director of Parks & Recreation and Sam Fitzgerald, Asst. Director of Parks & Recreation. 1. CITIZEN'S INPUT. None. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 8TH 2000 AND JANUARY 10TH 2001. Member King made a motion to table approval of minutes of November 8"' 2000 and January 10' 2001. Member Briggs seconded the motion. Ayes: Members King, Briggs, Lewis and Chairman Sanders Noes: None. 3. ELECTION OF OFFICERS. Member Lewis nominated Susan to be Chairperson of the Park Board. Member Briggs seconded the motion. Ayes: Members Lewis, Briggs, King, and Chairman Sanders. Noes: None. Member King nominated Jim to be Vice Chairman of the Park Board. Member Lewis seconded the motion. Ayes: Members King, Lewis, Briggs and Chairman Sanders. Noes: None. 4. DISCUSSION AND CONSIDERATION OF ALTERNATE PROPOSAL FOR THE NAME OF THE COMMUNITY COMPLEX. Pam informed the board that the 4B Board has unanimously decided to name the complex The Colony Five Star. They wanted The Colony to be included in the name. Chairman Sanders said he asked some residents their opinion about the name Five Star and they liked the name. Member Lewis said he also asked some residents about the name and they said they think The Colony should be included in the name. Member Lewis made a motion to name the Community Complex - The Colony Five Star. Member King seconded the motion. Ayes: Members Lewis, King, Briggs and Chairman Sanders. Noes: None. 5. DISCUSSION OF THE TPWD INDOOR GRANT. Pam informed the board that we did not get the indoor grant for the old library building. We were #8 on the list and the first 6 received funding. Most of the cities that were awarded the grants were very small cities and the projects they were doing were first time Rec. Centers in their communities and that helped them to score a high amount of points. In one city, the school district was donating the land and giving the city the matching dollar amount to develop the facility. We now have to determine if we want to reapply. If we reapply, we'd delay the project for one more year but TPWD has encouraged us to reapply. They did give us hints to help get us more points. We can do projects without the grant money, but getting the grant money allows us to do more. Sam and Pam met with Dennis regarding the outdoor grant. You score well if you do your #1 or #2 project on you Park Master Plan, the #1 or #2 project on your priority list. The #1 project was the Community Conference Center. When we submit the grant for the outdoor complex, we would submit a letter with it saying this project has been approved, we will be moving forward on it and we want to delete it from the top of the list. By doing that, everything else on the list moves up. You get 10 points for the #1 project. If we leave it on the list because we're going to reapply for the indoor grant, we lose 10 points on the outdoor grant, but it stays in the top for when we reapply in July for the indoor grant. The consensus of the board is to remove the Community Conference Center from the list and try to get the most points we can for the outdoor grant. There is a worksession with City Council to discuss this issue. 6. DISCUSSION OF THE EXISTING PARK PROJECT LIST. Sam gave the board a consolidated list including all the parks. The list also has a separate section for the Aquatic Center, the Lake Parks Division and the Rec. Center. Each park has a total of what it will cost to redo, build or renovate things. These items came from discussions between Sam, Pam and Buck. Sam asked the board for any suggestions they have that they want to see implemented on the list. Pam added that 4B has $200,000 in their budget for existing parks. Member King suggested that the All Project section should be broken down to show who is paying for the project. 7. UPDATE FROM DIRECTOR / ASST. DIRECTOR. The grand opening for Blue Sky if March 3ra We are meeting with consultants to do roof repairs on all the buildings. The architect for Ridgepointe Park said they may be able to start work tomorrow, but the ground hasn't dried up that much. The playground equipment will be shipped on February 3`a. They want to put in a concrete parking lot so they can keep the playground equipment there when it comes in. The lake is at its highest level since September 23, 1998; it is only down 5.3 ft. 8. ITEMS OF CONCERN TO THE BOARD. Member Briggs asked why there are no free weights in the fitness center. Pam responded that there were some liability issues, but it was more of a maintenance and upkeep issue. Most of the people who used them were high school kids and we were getting more requests for other equipment. There haven't been many complaints about not having any free weights. There being no further discussion, it was unanimously decided to ad'ourn the meeting at 8. 5 p.m. i Kathy Neal, R cording Secretary J n Sanders, Chairman MINUTES OF THE PARKS & RECREATION BOARD OF THE CITY OF THE COLONY HELD MARCH 14TH, 2001 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: Susan King - Chairperson Jim Briggs - Vice Chairman Mark Shaw - Member Donna Baggett - Member Larry Henderson - Member and with members Lewis and Sanders absent, thus a quorum was established. Also in attendance was Pam Nelson, Director of Parks & Recreation, Sam Fitzgerald, Asst. Director of Parks & Recreation, and David Swain, Recreation Manager. 1 • CITIZEN'S INPUT. None. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 8TH 2000, DECEMBER 7TH 2000, JANUARY 10TH 2000 AND JANUARY 24TH 2001, Member Baggett made a motion to approve the minutes of November 8th 2000 and table the minutes of December 7th 2000, January 10th 2001 and January 24th 2001 until the ` next meeting. Member Shaw seconded the motion. The motion carried. 3. CONSIDERATION OF APPOINTING A BOARD MEMBER AND AN ALTERNATE AS REPRESENTATIVES ON THE FIVE STAR DESIGN COMMITTEE. Pam informed the board that there will be a representative from the Park Board and the CDC Board on this committee. They will help keep their respective boards updated on what is taking place. In John's absence, Susan conveyed his interest in being appointed to the Design Committee as the Park Board's representative. In Rich's absence, Pam conveyed his opinion that he thinks the entire Park Board should be on the Design Committee, Pam said it would be very difficult to have that many people on the committee. She said Rich is also interested in being appointed as the Park Board representative. Pam said there would be one member from Park Board, one member from the CDC Board, staff and Dennis on the committee. As we to through the design process, when we get to a particular section, like soccer, we will include a member of their board to be involved and get their input. The only way to be efficient is to keep the group small. The alternate's attend meetings if the appointed representative is unavailable. There may be some afternoon meetings, but we will try very hard to accommodate everyone Member Shaw made a motion to appoint John Sanders as the Park Board representative and Jim Briggs as the alternate. Member Baggett seconded the motion. Motion carried." 4. REVIEW AND CONSIDERATION OF PARK IMPROVEMENT PROTECT LIST. Sam informed the board that this list shows all the projects we want to do, when they are scheduled to be done and the cost. It is broken down into sections - pocket parks, recreation center, aquatic center, community complex which we hope to call Five Star, and the shoreline parks which are Stewart Creek Park, Hidden Cove Park, and Ridgepointe shoreline. We have approached the Corp of Engineers with a 10-year projection of what we want to do along that shoreline. We put in that we warned to do a walking trail from Ridgepointe shoreline to Stewart Creek Park and eventually to Hidden Cove Park. We've already been approached by Little Elm, Austin Ranch and Frisco about spurring off on our trails. This list will be the focus of the 4B Public Hearing on April 19th. The funding they will put toward these projects has not been determined yet When we made this list, we scheduled many of the same types of projects at the same time to help get a better cost. This also eases the bid process, Each year during the budget process, we will prioritize the items listed for that year, prior to that year coming up. CDC has already committed to spending $200,000 per year toward upgrades and improvements for existing parks. Tony is also trying to get the city to contribute a matching portion toward the existing parks. Projects that don't get funded will be re-evaluated. This will begin in March because the budget process starts in April. The list will be reviewed, we will see what has been accomplished from the previous year, see what needs to be moved ahead, list our priorities and go to 4B to request funding. We'll prepare another list to present to the city to see what they will allocate funding for. Pam is asking the board to approve this list so it can be presented at the Public Hearing. Member Shaw made a motion to approve the Park Improvement Project List. Member Baggett seconded the motion. The motion carried. 5. DISCUSSION OF IMPLEMENTING A NO SMOKING ORDINANCE ON THE ATHLETIC FIELDS. Pam informed the board that the CYSA has approached her on implementing this on their fields. People are complaining that they feel it's not right to smoke in front of the kids, it bothers some people and there are cigarette butts on the fields. There have been many complaints over the years and there are now a lot of cities that have no smoking ordinances. One problem with the ordinance is where do you designate there is no smoking and where do you designate where smoking is allowed. The organization would have to be the ones to enforce the ordinance, and if they had an ordinance to back them up, it would make enforcing the ordinance easier. The board requested Pam to provide them with samples of ordinances from other cities regarding this issue. 1 6. UPDATE FROM DIRECTOR / ASST. DIRECTOR - SKATEPARK INFORMATION - Sam and Susan toured a skatepark in Sherman and Plano. The park in Sherman was built on an old tennis court and is free to the public. The park in Plano is called Eisenberg's. It is a private facility not run by the city. Anyone who skates in the park has to sign a waiver releasing the facility of any liability in case of injury, otherwise they can't skate. They require a helmet but not pads. You pay to skate. CHILI COOK OFF - The cook off is March 17th and volunteers are needed. TAAF BASKETBALL VOLUNTEERS - The tournament is this weekend and volunteers are also needed, especially on Saturday. RIDGEPOINTE PARK - Sam gave the board pictures showing there is still a lot of work to be done. VISITOR & CONVENTION BUREAU - Sam and Pam attended this workshop hosted by the Chamber of Commerce. A Visitor and Convention Bureau is trying to be established in The Colony. 1 PARK iROJECTS PUBLIC HEARING - There is a Public Hearing scheduled for April 19th. GYM FLOOR - A new gym floor has been installed and looks fantastic. We have gotten a lot of compliments on it. 7. ITEMS OF CONCERN TO THE BOARD. Member Baggett informed the board that she is resigning because of medical reasons. She doesn't feel it's right to remain on the board if she is not able to be an active member. Pam thanked Donna for her 10 years of service to the board. There being no further discussion, it was unanimously decided to adjourn the meeting at 8:45 p,m. Kathy 14eal, Re rding Secretary 0-1-)~ I All Susan King, Chairper n