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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes RAB 111504PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD November 15, 2004 Minutes The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board met on November 15, 2004. The meeting was called to order at 7:04 PM in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Complex, located at 10500 North Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and opened with the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL Members Present: Bert Premuroso, Tory Buckley, Phil Milton, Ernest Volonte, Carolyn Chaplik, Alan Leyland, David Lutrin and Wendy Walker Members Absent: Mary Anne Hedrick Also Present: Charlotte Presensky, Staff Liaison and Community Services Division Director, Mike Kelly, Parks Director, Justin Lucas, Athletics Superintendent and Susan Bell, Public Information/ Recording Coordinator. COMMENTS BY THE PUBLIC There were approximately 15 teenagers that attended the meeting to discuss the lighting at the Gardens Skate Park. Nicole Holderbaum of 9024 Gardens Glen Circle presented to the board the reasons why the Skate Park needs to have lighting. Lindsey Histler also spoke about the need for lighting at the park. They stated that there are many teens and adults that want to utilize the skate park but now that it gets dark early they cannot skate past 5:30 PM. They presented the board with a notebook that contained over 200 signatures of people who support lighting of the park. Bob Beiby from North Palm Beach also discussed the petition and congratulated the kids on doing a great job getting signatures. He stated that he is an adult skater who skates 1 to 3 days a week. He feels that the lighting is very important to the skaters. The park is used by young and old and it is only fair that there is lighting. There were several other teens that spoke and stressed that by the time they get home from school and do their homework it is dark outside and there is no lighting to skate at night. They pointed out that all the other City parks have lights and since this is also a sport this park should be lit too. Charlotte discussed the history and background of the Skate Park and the lighting. When the park first opened the attendance was very low so the lighting was put on the back burner. Since then the attendance has substantially increased. The Board discussed the possibility of charging a fee to use the skate park but staff does not think that a minimal fee is worth collecting. It will actually cost more to collect the money and do all the paper work involved than the actual fee collected. Charlotte explained to the Board that they have the opportunity to adjust their priorities though the 5 -year Capital Improvement Plan. If they want to focus on this next year they add it in their budget. The Board was concerned about waiting too long to put in the lighting. They would like to come up with a temporary fix until there is a permanent solution. Some suggestions were renting lights and readjusting the ball field lights. Charlotte feels that temporary lighting will be hard to accomplish because of safety and liability issues. The Board was very definite that they want the kids to be able to use the park at night and asked staff to come back to the next meeting with information on what can be done on a temporary basis until permanent lighting can be installed. ITEMS BY STAFF LIAISON Charlotte reported on the status of the Burns Road Facility. Staff is making plans on how to take the building off line, get the building built and move back into the facility. They are in the process of an inter -local agreement with the School Board and working with Gardens High School to provide space to hold Summer Camp this Summer. If they are able to do that they can vacate the Burns Road building for 3 to 4 months. It will be much easier for construction if no one is in the building. Charlotte will report back at the next meeting with more information. OLD BUSINESS Charlotte presented the updated plans for City Park, Lilac Park, and Burns Road Community Center. The City Park plans included the layout for the exercise equipment, two hard court tennis courts, a pavilion, lighting the basketball courts and adding a shaded structure over the playground. They are also proposing a hard service ADA exercise trail for people with disabilities. The grant is for $400, 000. This is a match of $200,000 from the State and $200,000 from the City. The plans for Lilac Park have incorporated the next phase of the park. This includes the playground with shade protection, picnic areas and exercise equipment. This is also a $400,000 grant with a match of $200,000 from the State and $200,000 from the City. There was discussion among the Board as to where the foot bridge and the walking trail will be. The conceptual plans for Burns Road Community Center were presented to the Board. The drawings included: a new front desk area, new entrance to the pool, with locker rooms, a new conference room, a new kitchen, and a large storage facility. Also included are new offices for the Athletic staff, a full court basketball, 2 short courts and 2 volleyball courts. The City is also proposing to build a second floor on the Community Center to be used as an EOC (Emergency Operations Center) that will sustain 155 mile winds. City facilities are now built to handle 110 mile winds. The City would like to take this opportunity to build the EOC while they are already redoing the building. The Board was concerned if the money for the EOC was coming out of the Parks and Recreation budget. Charlotte assured them that none of the money to build the EOC will come out of Parks and Recreation Budget. The total cost for the building and EOC will be about 1.1 million. Staff would like to have the biding process for the Community Center start by January, be awarded in March, start construction in April and be done by the end of December 2005 to early January 2006. Howell Watkins Inter -Local and Public Meeting Charlotte explained that she is rescheduling the public meeting in reference to the lighting at Howell Watkins until sometime in March. She felt it was too early to hold the meeting because the School Board will not be ready to discuss this subject for several months. Bert Premuroso suggested April or May because March is very busy due to election. NEW BUSINESS 1. Charlotte presented a draft of a calendar that she would like to use to start slating out discussions for each meeting. There was discussion among the Board about the items on upcoming meetings. 2. The Board would like to reschedule the December meeting because of the Holidays. Charlotte will send out an email with possible reschedule dates. 3. The Board would like to meet at the Ilex Circle Green Space on Saturday December 11, 2004 @ 10:OOAM to answer questions from residents about the park. They will post signs to notify the public that they will be there to give out information. Mike Kelly discussed the background of Ilex Circle Green Space. He also talked about the fencing, irrigation, landscaping and electrical. The project is expected to be completed by February 15, 2004. 4. In January Charlotte would like to give the Board an update on the impact fund and how the funds are coming in. Recently impact fees were updated and Parks and Recreation impact fees have doubled. Therefore, the Board should have more money to use for upcoming projects. 5. In February the Dog Run will be dedicated. It will have fencing, grass and irrigation. When the grant comes in it will become a dog park. 6. Tory Buckley asked if there are plans for a new football field. Charlotte stated that it is being discussed but no plans have been made at this time. Storm Update Mike Kelly gave an update on the storm repairs. Staff is going before City Council to ask for $625,000 to replace and repair lighting at 7 different parks. Out of that $433,000 is for Gardens Park which had substantial light damage. Gardens Park will be done by baseball season. Tryouts are January 15, 2005. Mostly all the park fences have been repaired. Some of the netting still needs to be fixed. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM. Approval: Robert Premuroso, Chairperson Mary a Hedric , Vice Chairperson Phil Milton, Board Member Wendy Walker, oard Member Ernest Volon , Board Member G��—w M-,As� Carolyn Chap 'k, Board Mehiber A an Leyl , Alterna i ' David Lutrin, Alternate Attest: r� Susan Bel , ublic Information/ Recording Coordinator