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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin - Parks and Recreation Board - 1996 - 11/21 - Special CalledMINUTES PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD SPECIAL CALLED MEETING NOVEMBER 21, 1996 - 6:45 P.M. PARB MEMBERS PRESENT Jim Waldbauer, Chairman Dan Turner, Vice -Chairman Mike Rippe, Secretary Mark Stout Anne Campbell Kevin Pierce MEMBERS ABSENT ICheri Jones GUESTS PRESENT Debbie Stout, Chairman, Allen Community Development Corporation Sheila Condon, Clark Condon Associates Ken Roberts, Huitt-Zollars STAFF PRESENT Rhoda L. Savage, Director of Parks and Recreation Tim Dealer, Parks Superintendent Sue Witkowski, Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 6:50 p.m., by Chairman, Jim Waldbauer. A PAGE 2 PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD MEETING NOVEMBER 21, 1996 II. SUMMARIZE COMMENTS PROVIDED TO STAFF BY PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD MEMBERS Chairman, Jim Waldbauer referred the Board members to their agenda packets which contained the summarized list of suggestions made by the Board members regarding budgetary adjustments to Phase I of Allen Station Park. III, WORKSHOP PRIORITIES REGARDING ALLEN STATION PARK, PHASE I Sheila Condon began by providing the Board with a revised list of cost estimates, along with some notes that were different from the previous estimates. Some of those changes to the Base Items are as follows: 1. Costs for site grading and utilities have either been added or increased. 2. Grass and irrigation for the ballfteld complexes have been broken down into separate line items. 3. The restroom/concession building has been scaled back by reducing the size of the large roof structure. 4 The stone bleacher walls have been replaced with interlocking concrete block walls (split face, limestone seat). 5 The score keepers table has been replaced with a modified off the shelf picnic table (wood table w/one bench seat). 6. Reduce decomposed granite paving around the restroom/concession buildings. Grass and irrigation added behind the dugouts. 7 The trees have been reduced in size around the restrootn/concession buildings. 8. Landscaping outside of the ballfteld complexes has been quantified and broken down into separate categories. 9 The secondary concrete trails have been reduced to an 8' width. Additional Items added to the previous estimate are as follows: 1, Lighting and parking have been added to the soccer fields. 2. The canopies for the score keepers area and the dugouts are listed as donor elements. Kevin Pierce indicated his concern with the reduction of secondary trails from 10' to 8' in width. He indicated that with the wide range of traffic using the trails, it would become a safety hazard to narrow the trails. PAGE 3 PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD MEETING NOVEMBER 21, 1996 Mark Stout indicated he would prefer to see stone used for the seating areas at the ballfields rather than the proposed use of concrete block. Following a brief discussion, it was determined that the lighting at the soccer fields should not be upgraded since they were probably not going to be used to hold tournaments on Sheila indicated she needed to know the time frame on the Parks and Recreation Board going before the Allen Community Development Corporation (Allen CDC) to make their request for funding for Allen Station Park. The maintenance/storage building will be eliminated from the phase I contract. The building may be funded and built separately and located at another location in the park. It was also discussed that storage of marble dust would be done in the restroom/concession buildings. Rhoda indicated that Chairman Jim Waldbauer would be going before the Allen CDC at their next meeting on Monday, December 16. Upon being questioned about the time -frame involved following the PARB request, Chairman Debbie Stout indicated that the Board up to this point, had been dealing strictly with the logistics of setting up their corporation and adopting the by-laws associated with that procedure. She also indicated that everyone on the Board feels strongly regarding parks in Allen, and that there were definite plans to do something toward park issues. Mark Stout indicated his most pressing concern to be the time line involved with getting started on the construction. He also indicated that if we needed to cut ballfields in order to get moving on the project, then that was what needed to be done. Mike Rippe indicated that the cutting of ballfields might provide the easiest item to "come back to" and complete at a later date. The issues of cutting trees was brought up, and it was indicated that whether there were trees at the facility or not, the athletic events could still take place. Upon further discussion, it was determined that the longer we held back in planting the trees, the longer it would take them to reach maturity It was suggested that the Allen CDC might want to fund the landscaping portion of Phase I, thereby cutting the proposed budget by $280,870. Tim Dentler and Rhoda Savage both indicated that based upon their experience, those items if added later by the contractor or as PAGE 4 PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD MEETING NOVEMBER 21, 1996 an alternate, could become very costly, and be offered at a greatly inflated price to the City Mike Rippe indicated that he wanted to know what were "off limits" for cutting based on the criteria for the Grant with Texas Parks and Wildlife. It was determined that those items were listed on the information Sheila Condon provided as italicized and noted with a "(G)" Rhoda indicated that she had inquired as to her current numbers for interest earned funding that could be used on this project. She indicated that we had accrued about $185,000 in interest. When she was given the direction to do the engineering for Cedar Drive, she was told to take it out of park funds, therefore that interest earned money will be spent on the engineering. Kevin Pierce indicated that he would rather see the "landscaping package" cut before he would want to see a concession/restroom facility cut. Jim Waldbauer reminded the Board indicated Sheila could cut down the size of the concession building. Rhoda indicated that if the Board wanted to cut $80,000 worth of trees from Phase I now, she felt that Interested Earned for next year could fund the trees to be put back. Following a brief discussion, it was determined that this would not provide a large enough savings to consider. Rhoda indicated that she would prefer a concession/restroom building be cut and added it later rather than cut the landscaping package. It was determined that if the following were cut, a savings of $388,700 would be obtained: 1 200ft baseball field would save $ 124,900 1 250ft baseball field would save $ 143,400 1 200ft softball field would save . $ 120.400 $ 388,700 Sheila would be asked to "squeeze" miscellaneous items to find any additional savings needed to meet budget. Mike Rippe suggested that one option to cut expenses would be to eliminate one of the concession/restroom buildings, and move the remaining facility to a new and central location. A discussion followed regarding the accessibility of one central concessionlrestroom facility and the distances the patrons would need to go to access that faclity from different parts of the athletic complex. It was determined PAGE 5 PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD MEETING NOVEMBER 21, 1996 that some distances might be too great for small children to travel. Following a lengthy discussion, it was determined that if one concession building were eliminated now, it would be too costly and difficult to add it back in during a later phase of development. It was also suggested that those "undeveloped" ballfield areas would be used as practice areas for the time being, and that the anticipated pressure from baseball/softball users would ensure the fields be put back as soon as possible. Debbie Stout asked when this project needed to be started in order to reach the desired time line for ballfield play. Rhoda indicated that the bids would probably go out in February, award a bid, and have the facility under construction in April of 1997 The goal is to have games being played at this facility in 1998. Rhoda indicated that the Allen CDC Board would be meeting with finance experts at their December 16th meeting, and asked at what point Jim Waldbauer should plan to present. Debbie indicated that it might serve everyone's needs better if Jim appeared prior to the presentation regarding financing. Rhoda indicated that there may be individual calls made to Parks and Recreation Board regarding what the Board has done to achieve the budgetary restrictions for Phase I. She indicated that the Board may be placed in the position of demonstrating their support of the decisions made tonight. She indicated that there may be some criticism directed at the Board and that she feels the Board and staff has done the best they could to get as much out of Phase I as possible. Mark Stout indicated his support for cutting the three fields, although there is a strong need within the community for those fields. He indicated that he felt confident those fields would be added in the near future when funding is made available. Rhoda indicated that the projects for the first year of half -cent sales tax is $1.2 million. The first quarterly check will be cut in December for funds that began collecting as of October 1, 1996. She reminded the Board that the Allen CDC has already received a lengthy "wish list" from the City and is concerned that they go through the "public input" process prior to agreeing to fund small projects. She also indicated that within six months, the Allen CDC would have collected essentially the amount that the Board will be requesting of them. Other possible requests that might be made to the Allen CDC were briefly 9 discussed, and it was encouraged that at a future workshop, the Parks and q C PAGE 6 PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD MEETING NOVEMBER 21, 1996 Recreation Board spend some time prioritizing possible requests to be made to this corporation. A brief discussion followed, outlining a possible Master Park Plan, Neighborhood Renovations, Leather's Playgrounds, economic development of Allen, development of unique shopping, recreation, tourist draw for Allen, as well as park development on the west side of Allen and other possibilities for projects to be funded by the half -cent sales tax revenue. It was also discussed that streets, fire protection, police protection, water and sewer are all items that will generally be funded by general bond elections, while some of the funding for recreational items might better be funded by sales tax revenue. IV. OTHER BUSINESS Chairman, Jim Waldbauer reminded the Board of the following upcoming events in the month of December: December 7 Rudolph Run December 7 Tree Lighting Ceremony December 7 Christmas Parade December 10 Boards and Commissions Appreciation Dinner 1r�\ laLllil dCl There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9 p.m. These minutes read and approved this 9th day of December, 1996. T . dbauer, Chairman I]. 1+ Mike Rippe, Secretary