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PARAB Minutes 07/27/1994 R Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (PARAB) Minutes July 27, i994 MINUTES PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES - July 27, 1994 Cocohatchee River Park 13531 Vanderbilt Drive Naples, FL 33999 PRESENT: Mr. Joseph Zaks, Chairman Ms. Darlene Koontz, Vice Chairperson Mr. Max A. Hasse, Jr. Mr. Gil Mueller Mr. Timothy Blackford Mr. Stephen Klee ABSENT: Rev. Bruce Pray ALSO PRESENT: Mr. Steve Brinkman, Parks and Recreation Director Mr. Gary Franco, Parks Superintendent Mr. Murdo Smith, Parks and Recreation Operations Manager Mr. Jack O'Brien, Marco Eagle News Mr. Bill Rogers, Naples Daily News Ms. Jacquie Minnis, Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 2:05 p.m. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Approval of June 22, 1994 Minutes. Motioned by Mr. Max A. Hasse, seconded by Tim Blackford. IV. REQUESTS FOR DISCUSSION - SPECIFIC UPDATE ITEMS V. NEW BUSINESS/PRESENTATION: A. Estates Community Park - will be discuss at next PARAB meeting. VI. REPORTS/UPDATES A. The Immokalee Recreation Pool - has been approved with all the design sections of the pool, slide, main pool and the activity pool. The Parks Department was authorize to pursue construction. A construction agreement was signed two weeks ago. A meeting is scheduled with the School Board next week to discuss whether gym space is available at Immokalee Middle School or High School for Parks and Recreation usage. This would provide an indication of future potential use. After meeting with the School Board, a proposal will be presented to BCC on the 3rd or 4th week of August including a couple of different options for the renovation of the gym: a. To remain with the same original plan. b. To cut the 10,000 sq. ft. that interconnects the gym and pool area. -1- This will eliminate square footage and also lower the construction cost. There will really be two buildings one with the gymnasium, the other with separate pool and locker rooms. The pool space remains because almost everything was funded for the pool. Ms. Darlene Koontz asked Mr. Brinkman whether he was aware that the Seminole Indians are building two pools on their reservation. Mr. Zaks was under the impression that the Parks has an agreement with the School Board to use the gym as long as they schedule ahead of time. We have the ability to use the gymnasium whenever the schools are not using the gym at no charge, with the joint use agreement we have with the School Board. Mr. Zaks requested a summary of the result of the School Board meeting with the Parks & Recreation Department. PARAB was also invited to the School Board meeting. The Principle will be back from vacation on the 9th of August, a meeting will be schedule at that time. East Naples Community Park - the permitting for the ballfield is progressing. There has been some estimates done on the additional improvement cost, which is approximately $150,000 for mitigation purposes, however the plans are still the same. Steve Brinkman stated that he is not sure what the State will permit. In the future, the Parks and Recreation Department would like to be able to build a second field. Proposed Budget - Mr. Brinkman requested PARAB to review the proposed budget for next meeting. The last page of the proposed budget, is a list of capital improvements and a few of those affect some of the area parks. Under Athletic Fields there is a Roller Blade Rink which will be constructed at the East Naples Community Park. At Veterans Community Park there will be a large pavilion shelter basketball court built very similar to the one at Frank Mackle Park. These are just a couple of the major projects that will be happening. Eventually, pavilion shelters will be build in all the different parks. Pavilion Shelters have been proven to be successful and have a great double purpose use such as indoor basketball, large picnics, and our summer camp uses them quite frequently. Avalon Water Skiing - Mr. Brinkman had a meeting with the group were he also obtain a video tape which is approximately 20 minutes in length. Mr. Brinkman suggested that at our next meeting, a representative from Avalon Water Skiing will be invited to make a presentation of their facility and show the video tape. The group is very large, Mr. Steve Brinkman and Murdo Smith visited the site. Mr. Joe Zaks requested that Mr. Brinkman invite Avalon Water Skiing to our next month PARAB meeting. Mr. Zaks stated that he also visited the site and will be meeting with the chairman of the Botanical Society. -2- Mr. Brinkman suggested that it would be an excellent mix to have a Botanical Garden and a nice natural area. There is approximately 130 acres near the Gulf and the price is estimated at 1.1 to 1.2 million dollars. B. Fee Policy - Parks and Recreation actually did well with the budget this year. A new impact fee study will be done by the Parks Department in 4 or 5 months. It will be done in conjunction with a number of other impact fee studies that are done for all the other departments. The packet which was handed out included Palm Beach County's impact fees. Their impact fee is base on the square footage of the dwelling and how many bedrooms are in the house. If its a small 1 bedroom condominium there are fewer people that would use the parks versus a family of 5 or 6 people. So the ability to pay fees are based upon those two factors, so it helps equate in that prospective. Ms. Koontz question, whether if anybody based their impact fees on the cost of the construction because she never understood how they justify a $6,000 dollar impact fee on to a $25,000 house and a $6,000 on a $50,000 dollar house. A revised fee policy draft was discussed with emphasis on renting facilities to profit making organizations who engage in business consolidating some of the categories, etc. Motion was made by Max Hasse for out of door athletic facilities a fee of $30/hr. plus $5/hr. light fee, if necessary, be charged for non-profit groups and $45/hr. plus $5/hr. be charged for non-profit groups that rent facilities. Seconded by Tim Blackford and approved. The indoor fees should be changed to reflect the same percentage increase. Murdo Smith is to confer with the Attorney's office and bring back another draft for review. C. Concerned Youths - some interested youths asked Mr. Joe Zaks if the Parks Department is considering constructing some kind of skating ring. The question was answered earlier in the meeting. A proposed Roller Blade Rink will be constructed at the East Naples Community Park. It will be designed so that Roller Hockey can also have the use of the Rink. There is a Roller Hockey League in town already consisting of both adults and youths. Additionally, it will be designed so there is an actual track around the outside of the Rink. It will be used for skaters and for recreational purposes. The surface is made of concrete. One of the youths mentioned skate boards and the other was a BMX bicycle rider. Skate boarding can done on either streets or the side walks. Mr. Brinkman will research the safety of skating. Mr. Tim Blackford was contacted with a complaint from women's softball team. Their attitude is that they always come last when it comes to field reservation or the ability to play. Apparently, the time that they are allowed to play their game is always during the summer or in the evening. As many as 75% of their games have been rained out. How do you determine who plays and who get the fields? Mr. Smith will check with Jim Thomas, the Athletic Supervisor, for more information regarding a women's softball league. The youth's league has taken more of the fields and that leaves less for the men's and women's leagues. -3- Max Hasse, what time of the year are most of these youth programs run? During spring is when most on the youth programs are run. This is when baseball is at its peak season. Yes, they do play throughout the year. The fall baseball program has started, soccer is basically played all year. This is big impact on the Parks Department because we do not have enough fields to accommodate all the leagues. When the fields need to be maintained we are unable to close one field and allow games to go on. One of the complaints our maintenance department has, is that with the high usage of the fields there is not enough time to maintain fields. D. Estates Update - Murdo Smith met with the architects and landscape planners and a master plan has been developed that the Parks Department is comfortable with. The plan was submitted to the school so the School superintendent can review. We are meeting with the Principal once he is back from vacation. Once we meet, PARAB will be advised. Basically, there are 2 softball fields, 2 basketball courts, 2 tennis courts, 2 sand volleyball, a soccer field, community center, and a covered pavilion. Also, there will be a covered Basketball court same as Frank Mackle Park. Discussion took place regarding the entrance to the park. The School Board had a concern about traffic during the time frame when buses would be entering and leaving the premises. With the proposed entrance the buses and other vehicles would not be mixed. E. Vending Machine Bids - RFP's were sent to 5 vendors with 1 Bid received from Naples Vending, who would give a 25% return. This vendor has been providing this service for our facilities successfully for the last 6 years. As the contract was to expire 7/29/94, there was not enough time to bring the Executive Summary to PARAB before going to BCC for approval. F. Executive Summary - Friends of Barefoot Beach This Executive Summary is for information only at this point. The Friends are proposing building a shelter at the Preserve for use as a learning center and dispensing information. It will be built adjacent to the existing concession building. Any programs offered must have prior approval of the Department. This group recently completed the nature trail at this facility. G. Caxambas - Recently BCC approved Cool Concessionaire, Inc. as the concessionaire at Caxambas and some money will be spent next year to improve this facility - upgrade the gas system and the existing trailers used as concessionaire buildings. This money will come from Boat Ramp dollars. H. Growth Management - The Department is requesting that PARAB review the Growth Management Plan and modify the standards. The existing format on page 1 of the handout shows the facility type, standard, number required, number needed and the dollar amount per unit. These figures were reviewed the last time impact fees were reviewed. -4- Currently there are no provisions made for beach access acquisition, beach parking, and other beach related items. What we would like to do is list these items, determine a standard a unit value, and add it to the facility list. Parking fees, when collected, went into the general fund, and revenues were not designated for beach related expenses. If these items were added, impact fees could be collected, and money would be available for the acquisition of land, etc. for beaches. BCC has voted not to charge any parking fees for the next fiscal year. If an impact fee is not collected, money has to come from the 306 Capital fund, and it is becoming more difficult to have projects funded from this account. The procedure for changing this Growth Management Plan is as follows: Changes made are reviewed by the Growth Management Department, Planning Commission and then by the BCC before being sent to the State level. The impact fee review will adjust the fee so that within the next five year period there will be enough funds available to construct what is indicated in the Plan. It would be up to the Department whether to spend this money annually or let it accumulate. Page 5 of the handout indicates various ideas and suggestions that could be made to improve the Plan. Mr. Brinkman would like to brainstorm with PARAB for options and get some type of consensus from the group. 1. Marco Impact Fees - Currently Marco does not pay a community park fee, but does pay the regional park fee. Some expansion is now needed at various Marco facilities and impact fee money would be used if it were available. Marco is a separate district and the impact fees collected would remain in Marco can be used for acquisition and development, but not renovation of exiting facilities or maintenance. These fees are currently based per dwelling unit, not size of family or home. Consensus was to collect fees in Marco. 2. Consolidate various types of facilities into one unit titled "typical Community Park". If a typical community park were listed as a facility, it would be necessary to have a standard for all the facilities contained within that category. The regional facilities would still be required to be listed and standards created. The Department would like to redevelop existing parks so they will be 100% developed. This would require land acquisition in some cases, i.e. East Naples and possibly Veterans. We need to compile a list of the existing facilities, the dollar amount needed over a five year period, and list the facility type. PARAB is to review this list and be prepared for discussion at a special meeting to be held at the Vineyards. This meeting will be the 2nd or 3rd Wednesday of August - the secretary will do a poll and notify members of the outcome. This information needs to be presented to Growth Management by the end of October. V. Adjournment: Tim Blackford made motioned to adjourn the meeting. Stephen Klee seconded, it was passed 6/0. Adjourned at 4:45 p.m. -5-