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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-04-01 - MinutesNft a e ay-1.1e Alt%A H'•M1' FAYETTEVILLE PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD Minutes for April 1, 2013 Opening: The regular meeting of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board was called to order by Steve Meldrum at 5:30 p.m. in Room 111 at the City Administration Building at 113 West Mountain Street in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Present: Parks and Recreation Advisory Board members Meldrum, Lawson, Leonard, Maxwell, McKnight, and Proffitt were present. Proffitt, Sass, and Watson were absent. Staff members Edmonston, Humphry, Jones, and Gipson were in attendance. AGENDA: 1. Welcome to Parks & Recreation Advisory Board Meeting for April 1, 2013: Steve Meldrum, Chair PRAB 2. Arkansas Recreation and Parks Association Awards: Chase Gipson, Recreation Superintendent The City of Fayetteville was honored to receive two awards at the Annual Conference of the Arkansas Recreation and Parks Association on March 14, 2013. • Individual Volunteer of the Year: David Bowman • Group Volunteer of the Year: Southeast Fayetteville Community Center Board Gipson presented Dave Bowman and Nancy Allen to the board. Bowman has logged 7,780 miles on the Fayetteville Trails. Allen is the board president of the SEFCC, and has contributed hundreds of hours for the YRCC. 1 3. Approval of March 4, 2013 PRAB Meeting Minutes: PRAB Motion: McKnight motioned to accept the minutes as written, and Leonard seconded it. Motion passed 6-0-0 by voice vote. 4. Park Land Dedication: Development Name: Engineer: Owner: Location: Park Quadrant Units: Total Acres: Land Dedication Requirement: Money in Lieu Requirement Existing Parks: Carole Jones, Park Planner II Legacy V Jorgensen & Associates Bank of Fayetteville South of Wedington Drive, east of Double Springs Road and west of Persimmon Street SW 106 single family Approx. 47 acres 2.44 acres $97,520 Harmony Pointe Park, Bundrick Park Developer's Request: Money in lieu Staff Recommendation: Money in lieu Estimated Annual Maintenance: N/A Justification: The existing parks in the area will meet the recreational needs of this development. Jones gave an overview of the project. There was no discussion. PRAB Motion: McKnight motioned to accept $97,520 money in lieu, and Paul seconded it. Motion passed 6-0-0 by voice vote. 5. Botanical Garden Society of the Ozarks Annual Report: Walt Eilers, Board of Directors President and Ron Cox, Executive Director Eilers said last year there were 76,000 visitors to the gardens and 10,000 were children. He said an educational center is needed. The gardens have had an impact of 3.2 million dollars to Fayetteville. He said there is a critical restroom on the trail that trail users frequent. It costs $8,700 per year to maintain it. He said Marr and Jordan asked for access for the trail, and the gardens agreed. He said the gardens are being a good neighbor. He said it's the best place in Arkansas to get married. 2 Someone asked if this report was the annual report. Eilers said yes. He said they were asked to keep it to the point with bullet points. Maxwell asked if it was the audit. Eilers said no. The audit was given every year to Connie. 6. Botanical Garden of the Ozarks Master Plan Presentation: Walt Eilers, Board of Directors President and Ron Cox, Executive Director BGSO will present their new Master Plan of the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks to PRAB according to our lease agreement. We need PRAB to set a date for a Public Meeting to review BGSO's proposed Master Plan during the 3rd or 4th week of April. We hope to find a date that all members can attend so please bring your calendar. BGSO Master Plan will go before PRAB again on May 6th monthly meeting for approval. The plan must also be approved by the Planning Commission and then it will go to City Council for final approval. With the change in BGSO's Master Plan, a new lease agreement between BGSO and the City will be presented to PRAB at a future meeting. Final approval of the lease agreement must be granted by the City Council. PRAB will not vote on this item tonight in order to give an opportunity for public input. Eilers said nine acres have been developed. There are five days in May for butterfly days. The butterflies are native to Arkansas. He said whether you believe it or not, the climate is changing. The gardens will tell people how to adapt their yards for the climate change, and will be bringing long term educational plans. The original plan for the Botanical Gardens was made in 1998. They are now moving things around in the plan, such as moving the location of the future amphitheater. The estimated cost to build everything is $60 million dollars. The cost of the educational center will be approximately five to six million, and the Botanical Gardens will raise the money for that. The Hilton Creek was trash filled and filthy at the beginning of the gardens, but a two year study has been done, and the creek has been cleaned up. They are developing it and using the Streamside Ordinance. There is no water from the creek flowing into Lake Fayetteville that's not in compliance with the Illinois Watershed plan. The Farmer's Market feature is held Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. The gardens are also planning to plant 174 ten inch caliper trees into the arboretum. They are working with Byron to relocate the meadow side entrance of the gardens. When Hwy 265 is developed c into a divided highway, the traffic light at the entrance will be where the entrance currently is. The future entrance will be lower. They are trying to use the land for its best use. A parking lot will be created with trees and shade. Right now the whole parking lot is accessible to the general public. Cox said that they are working with a University of Arkansas architecture class. The students get to choose projects in the gardens. They gave the gardens concepts to choose from. Eilers said that part of the plan was to have a boardwalk and wharf for kids to draw samples from the lake. The new plan is roughly five times the size of the gardens now. The gardens have come to the City to revise parts of the old lease. The gardens will retain the fee area. The timeline is three to five years. Cox added that the infrastructure has to go down first. A guest commented that an area for parking buses is very important. Meldrum said that the non -fee area should be given back. Eilers said if you go roughly 7/ 10 of a mile to the Welcome to Fayetteville sign, there is a cove there where two streams meet. They want to retain that cove. Meldrum asked how much of the soft trail would have to be given up. Eilers said approximately three quarters of a mile. Jon Pennington, a guest, asked what would happen to the trail. Eilers said a thirty day notice will be given to the City. At that time, the City will say the trail is closed. Pennington asked what the original intent of the park was. Edmonston said in 1970 three lakes were purchased for a water source. Fayetteville then started using Beaver Lake as their water source. The three lakes still belong to the City. The ballfields and trails came in. The City went into a long term agreement for the Environmental Center. After that, the Botanical Gardens came in. A guest wanted to know about the fence. 11 Eilers said it was to keep the deer out. The guest then wanted to know what would happen to the paths the deer used. She asked if the drivers on the highway would be endangered. Eilers said he had no answer for that. Cox said that either they could have gardens or have wildlife. He said the deer were detrimental. They ate many of their plants last year. A guest said that it would go against the lease if the gardens made the parking lot exclusive to garden visitors. Eilers said yes, but they are trying to change the lease. They need the parking lot for paying customers. There are 47 parking spots for 76,000 visitors. To be successful as a business, you need a space for the paid customers. The gardens aren't trying to get out of the original lease, but when the lease was done, no one had tried to run a successful botanical garden. The gardens would like the trail head users to use the meadow for parking, so the paying guests can use the parking lot. Maxwell said that the meadow isn't normal parking. Paul commented that Eilers said that the City doesn't give any money to the gardens. Eilers said no operating money is received from the City. Paul said that Eilers said no money was being taken from the City, but the City gave the gardens land, which is the City's land. Eilers said the point was that no operating money is from the City. Paul said that he just wanted to clarify that the Botanical Gardens is operating on City land. Eilers said that it's a partnership. The lease is a tradeout. Edmonston said that one of the provisions put into the lease was to allow free admission to the public on Saturday mornings. 5 Eilers replied that passes are handed out every year to Council members and Parks and Recreation to hand out to the public for a free visit for anytime. Cox added that it was for residents of Fayetteville. Maxwell said he called the gardens today and was told the gardens weren't open. He only made one phone call. Eilers wondered who he talked to. Meldrum said his concern was that citizens don't want to be locked out. He said he's sure that there is room for compromise with a fence that can keep the soft surface trail. He added that he was concerned that deer would be forced onto the highway. He then asked what PRAB's goal was right now. Edmonston said PRAB needed to approve a special public meeting for the entire community. The meeting was set for April 24 at 5:30 p.m. at the Botanical Gardens. 7. Other Business: Paul said the dog park has caused Yale Street to become a parking lot. People can't get out of their driveways, get their mail, etc. He doesn't think this can be solved by Parks and Recreation, but he wanted to bring it up. Edmonston said when the dog park was developed, the parking lot that was built was the right size at the time. The Traffic Department says that people can park on public streets, but not in front of driveways. She says she hopes that north of the park a road will go through and allow parking on the street. Lawson asked if parking was allowed on both sides. Edmonston said yes. Lawson said the neighbors can petition the City for parking only on one side. He said whatever side the fire hydrant is on, there can be no parking. Meldrum said that maybe educational signs can be put up. Edmonston said they were already in place. Paul asked if any of the neighbors had reached out to Parks. 3 Edmonston said yes, Jumper has visited with the Traffic Department. Gipson reported that not much had changed with the youth softball program at FPS. Both Parks and the school are serving the same age group with the same program. Edmonston said a meeting was held with FPS. They said they should have told Parks before they formed their program. She said a discussion was held about doing specific age groups. Gipson said they were told that the Booster Club is running the program, and receiving the money. Meldrum said that if they want to establish a more skilled club, then that is a good idea. Edmonston said that she just wants to offer the best programs possible. She wants every child to learn to play and enjoy sports. S. Adjournment Meeting was adjourned at 6:52 p.m. Minutes taken by Chase Gipson and Melanie Thomas 7