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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/15/2012 CDC MINUTES THE COLONY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION SPECIAL SESSION FEBRUARY 15Tu 2012 PRESENT: Stephen Sohn - Vice President* STAFF: Pam Nelson Kathy Braby - Treasurer* Keith Helms - Absent Lisa Leary - Secretary* Kathy Neal Dan Mahle - Member* Don Beckel - Member ABSENT: Tenon Lawrence COUNCIL LIAISON: Allen Harris - Absent Susana Perez *PLAY TC TASK FORCE MEMBERS: Jen Ondryka Kathy Costa Alyssa Powell The meeting was called to order at 5:35 p.m. 1. THE BOARD WILL CONDUCT A CONFERENCE CALL WITH REPRESENTATIVES FROM SHANE'S INSPIRATION TO DISCUSS KIDS COLONY2 PLAYGROUND - Brad and Virginia from Shane's Inspiration were on the conference call. There were members of the Play TC! Fundraising Committee, Play TC! Task Force and CDC Board members present. The CDC Board is considering partnering with Shane's Inspiration for Kids Colony2 Playground. Brad is the Director of Project Development and Virginia is a Landscape Architect and Director of Design. Shane's Inspiration was established in 1999 and opened their first playground in 2000 and the second one in 2001. They have built 40 to date in Colorado and California and recently opened their first one in Mexico. Currently there are 75 in development and 5-7 are scheduled to open this year. The first step after the grant is accepted by The Colony and Shane's Inspiration governing board, is to set up a community action - see what the community wants to have in the playground and then the design process begins. Brad will be working with the fundraising group and grant writing. Virginia said the design process is completely involved with the community; when she knows what the community wants in the playground, she will review that with Pam and Keith to make sure they as well as the community are ready to support it, then the design will be made and sent to Pam and Keith for approval. Pam explained that there is already a theme in place for the next phase of the playground and that the playground is being constructed in phases; Virginia said that information gathered from the community can be incorporated into the current theme. Brad reviewed the process - when the grant is signed by the City and Shane's Inspiration, they will come here to see the site, they will have a design meeting, and then a fundraising meeting. When the design is made and is at the conceptual stage, a sponsorship packet will be created, then a salon event will be set up; they suggest this event take place on a Thursday night and at someone's home. From the time the grant agreement is approved by Shane's Inspiration and signed by the city it could take up to 6 months to complete the project; this includes the community meeting, concept plan, design development and the bid process unless the city already has a contractor. The average time to build the playground though is 90 days. There was discussion about rubberized surfacing being a requirement. Brad said they prefer to have a rubberized surface throughout the playground, but because Kids Colony is already an existing playground with wood chips and we have already completed our first phase, they would want us to make a pathway to the structures from the ramp that currently exists that would lead into the second phase. There was discussion about how Shane's Inspiration will support the city in fundraising efforts. Brad said they will provide us with grant templates for state and local grants, they don't have a list of corporate entities we can contact for donations. They don't have any statistics they can show us to regarding their success rate in obtaining grants. Following the discussion with Brad and Virginia, the consensus was not to partner with Shane's Inspiration for the following reasons - • We are already too far in the development of Kids Colony and there would be a lot of adjustments we would have to make to be able to work with them • Thought they would be more hands on with grants instead of just giving us a grant template • We already have a design team, don't know what Shane's Inspiration could bring; we could bring in people from Scottish Rite, UNT, and LISD to get their input • We can do the fundraising ourselves • We have it under control • The design they would give us may be at a level we can't afford and we already have a Landscape Architect on staff and a good contractor There being no further discussions, the meeting was adjourned at 6:55p.m. 1 alt G"':,I c = 2/,-~ _ C-` Kafhy Neaf, Recording Secretary Stephen Sohn, Vice President