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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/12/08 CDC MINUTES THE COLONY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION REGULAR SESSION JUNE 12TH 2008 PRESENT: Don Beckel - President STAFF: Stephen Sohn - Treasurer Debby Short - Secretary John Sanders - Vice President David Munden - Member TeRon Lawrence - Member Pam Nelson Keith Helms Kathy Neal ABSENT: Lisa Leary - Member COUNCIL LIAISON: Allen Harris - Absent 1. CITIZEN'S INPUT - None. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF MAY 15TH 2008 - Corrections to be made to the May 15th minutes - #4 - add Dale's last name in the second paragraph, indicate the specific motion in items #5 & #7, and specify who "we & they" are in #6. Motion to approve the minutes of May 15th as amended - Lawrence; second - Sanders; motion passes. 3. DISCUSSION OF WORK SESSION WITH CITY COUNCIL- The board was given a list of discussion items to focus on at the work session with City Council- Strategic Plan, Master Plan, goals and expectations of Council, maintenance funding issues relating to Five Star, trails, playgrounds, and landscaping, Beautification, Stewart Creek Park Master Plan, Historical Park, Dog Park, and other issues including the debt ratio and minimumfund balance and a suggestion was made to include the arts. Allen said there may be a push to get the sales tax reallocated to help pay for street improvements and public safety. He believes that if this gets put on a ballot, people will probably vote for the reallocation. Jf the board is not willing to amend their contract and absorb more costs, they may see fewer projects approved by City Council and a drive to see reallocation of the sales tax. Jf the Board agrees to take over maintenance and operation costs at Five Star, you're more likely to see the sales tax discussion dropped or pushed more towards EDC than CDC. Allen thinks it would be more beneficial for the board to give Council their ideas than to have Council push their ideas on this board. The board requested additional information regarding the expenditures for maintenance at Five Star, the amount of income that is generated from Five Star and summary numbers for the topics to be discussed with Council. The board will meet to discuss this prior to meeting with Council. 4. DISCUSSION AND UPDATE OF THE CDC MASTER PLAN AND PROVIDE STAFF WITH DIRECTION REGARDING SURVEY DAT A- Pam told the board that a City Council member requested the CDC survey be mailed with the May water bills to every resident. The response has been more than we anticipated; to date we have mailed over 600 completed surveys to Halff Associates. There was discussion about having volunteers come in to input the datafrom the survey onto the spreadsheet used by the consultant to record the survey data, but after further discussion, the consensus of the board is to pay the consultants the additional fee to have them record all the data from the surveys. Currently thatfee is $3,000 and is based on 450 questionnaires; however that figure will change as we are still receiving questionnaires. 5. UPDATE ON CURRENT TRAIL AND PARK PROJECTS - Shoreline Trail- We have a verbal approval from the Corp to move forward, we're waiting on the formal letter. City Council said to put it out for bid. The Engineering Dept. has had more comments on the plans and has requested more revisions, so the consultant is working on those revisions; upon completion of the revisions, we'll be ready to go out for bid. These revisions could affect the bid specifications. Austin Ranch Trail - On the trail along Windhaven on the south side of the road along the big hill, there is a lot of seepage from that hill, so the Engineering Dept. suggested we put in a French drain on the hillside. We added that and now they want more things added. Halff Associates is also reviewing the plans. The changes the Engineering Dept. wants will increase the cost of the project. Lions Club Park - The new playground equipment will take 6 weeks for delivery, 1 week in transit, and 2 weeks to install, but it should be installed in August. We'll plan a neighborhood party after the new equipment is installed. We can do a special mailing to the residents in that area to invite them to the party. Historical Bridge - The bids are in and they exceed the budget. There is $59,000 in the budgetfor the bridge. The bids received include the delivery, refurbishing, and installation. There is a grant program through the Texas Historical Commission, but you have to apply before the project happens and not as a reimbursement. A request was made for Pam and Keith to verify the rules and regulations regarding these grants. The base bid is for picking up the bridge, moving it to Greenway Parkfor installation, refurbish in Greenway Park and set in place. For alternate #1, we have to work with Oncor and make sure they are o.k. with us refurbishing the bridge under their easement, alternate #2 we allow the contractor to take the bridge anywhere they want to refurbish it and then deliver it back to the park. We are in the process of getting references from each company and we will find out where the bridge will be refurbished. Historical Park Master Plan - We received a proposal from Halff Associates for $19,000; it included a topo survey and base mapping information, but we told them to exclude the survey because we have the topo information and some base map information we can provide to them, so that will reduce the cost. This will be included in the public hearing. Stewart Creek Park - A sprinkler system is being installed. We are installing an enhanced irrigation controller, which is a 2 wire system and is easily expandable. The system is using city water now, but it can be changed to lake water. 6. UPDATE FROM DIRECTOR- FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - Sales tax continues to increase. The board askedfor information about an equipment paymentfor $9,250 from the park improvement fund - Pam said she would find out what that was for. PUBLIC HEARING - Topics include fundingfor the Kaleidoscape project, Historical Park site plan and development, Recreation Center / Kids Colony site plan and development, operating and maintenance costs associated with CDC projects, a Stewart Creek Park Master Plan, and the Christmas Spectacular. The public hearing will be on July 10th at 6:30 p.m. JULY 4TH - LIBERTY BY THE LAKE - The events this year include the 5K & 1 Mile Fun Run, the parade - The Colony Goes Hollywood, Salsa Shootout, Anything that Floats Regatta, Kids Fun Zone, The Silvertones and Escape- the Journey Tribute Band. This year we have added a Watercross Racing event. A course will be set up between the swim beach area and the island and they'll have an actual sanctioned race there. Practice races will be on Friday and the actual races will be on Saturday. Their goal is to have a national competition at the park. THE COLONY CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR- Pam and Kevin Braby, a volunteer working on the Christmas Spectacular, met with an electrical engineer to discuss the electrical needs for this event. The engineer put together the bid specs needed to do the bidfor the infrastructure. The proposal does allow for future expansion and also to potentially go across the street to Perryman Park. There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m. I~~~ Kathy Nealf Recording Secretary ,-(~~ ~ Don Beckel, President