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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-04-2008 Parks and Recreation Advisory Council Minutes PARK& RECREATION ADVISORY COUNCIL September 4,2008 In attendance: Mike Mathews, Edmon Daniels, Sheryl Smyth, Curt Shaw,Tom Davenport and Rebecca Francik. Staff. Stan Strebel,Administrative and Community Services Director and Paul Whitemarsh, Recreation Services Manager. Excused: Grace Adams, Duane Taber and Dan Dotta,Facilities Services Manager. Edmon Daniels acted as Chairman and opened the meeting at 5:30 p.m. Minutes of the August 7 meeting were approved as presented. STAFF REPORTS Recreation There will be staff turn-over at the Martin Luther King Center. The current supervisor, Micah,has resigned. The Tri-Cities Adventure Challenge,highlighting the Sacajawea Heritage Trail,will be held on Saturday, September 20. Details are in the City's recreation brochure. Participants will have the opportunity to walk,run,bike or kayak around the trail throughout the Tri-Cities,with a number of opportunities to win prizes in this community celebration. REI is the primary sponsor and has donated $5,000 worth of prizes and cash to help advertise the event. There will be a ribbon cutting signifying the completion of the trail on Wednesday, September 17, at 10:00 a.m. at Columbia Park. Paul indicated that the pools have now been closed. It has been a difficult summer keeping facilities operational. Stan indicated that over$47,000 was spent in repairs and upgrades in order to keep the pools open this year. Paul reported on the eleven month history with Cyber Stop. Over 6,000 units of participation were provided,representing some 1,700 different users. Most days the facility is open from 4:00—8:00 p.m. and in the afternoons on Saturday and Sunday. The computers are almost always fully utilized and the primary use has been things like"My Space" and video games. Staff feels that some students are still learning some important computer skills. This report will be presented shortly to the City Council. Facilities In Dan's absence Stan gave a brief report on maintenance activities. POOLS DISCUSSION In light of the failure of the bond issue to pass in the recent primary election, Stan asked the Council if they had recommendations or thoughts on what the City should do at this point. He summarized his observations and the key factors contributing to the ad hoc committee's recommendation that the Council pursue a"two pool" option(remodeling of Memorial Pool and the construction of a new facility in west Pasco). Did the Council continue to feel that that recommendation made the most sense? Stan indicated he felt that that is still the case. He outlined possible options for recommendation to the Council, including: 1)do nothing, in which case pools will continue to deteriorate and nickel and dime expenses will continue to have to be made,never really upgrading the facilities or taking care of major problems. 2) The second option would be to remodel Memorial Pool as proposed,recognizing that the City owns this resource and has the responsibility to maintain it. It is the best option that is available at this point. 3)The third option would be to evaluate the possibility of enclosing Memorial as some have suggested. This is not the best option because of additional cost(roughly$4 million). If the citizens were not willing to vote for an extra$5 million to build a new facility in an area that is not well served,would they be likely to vote to enclose a facility that still does not meet that need? Also,the location would be less attractive to users from outside the City which could help make it cost effective. 4) The fourth option to consider is to essentially go back to a one pool option in which a contemporary leisure facility would be added adjacent to Memorial Pool. Additional considerations could be the possible securing and designating of a land parcel for the new facility signaling the Council's intent to move forward with that option. Also discussed were initial recommendations of the committee that Richardson Pool should be closed ultimately and that Kurtzman Pool,when closed, should be replaced by a sprayground. As the committee discussed these issues,the following general themes and questions emerged: 1)The public may have been confused that the location of the new facility was not identified. 2) Should the Council consider putting forth a larger package with enclosure as was suggested by some bond opponents? 3)Would it make more sense to not remodel Memorial Pool but to build the new facility, thereby not having renovation costs of an older facility? (If this option were pursued there would be issues of splitting the community and urban decay,together with the feeling that the City had abandoned Memorial Pool and its neighborhood. Would the 50 meter capacity be lost?). 4)Perhaps there was not enough information regarding the election. 5) Should a longer lead time have been given and more specifics provided? One concept was to facilitate the transition to the two pool concept by replacing Kurtzman and Richardson,both with spraygrounds,to somewhat placate those neighborhoods that would be loosing facilities. There was a brief discussion on the 2001 Facility Study, Option 5C,which outlined an option for the remodeling of Memorial Pool and adding a 12,000 sq. ft. leisure pool. This option would be about$6.8 million dollars currently. It was also mentioned that Council may consider adding to Memorial and making other preparations that would enable a future addition if that were deemed necessary. The general consensus of the committee was that the Council should be encouraged to allocate the"cash" funding that was potentially available for the bond issue for swimming facilities as opposed to seeing that used on other programs. Stan thanked the Council members for their valuable input. Stan discussed briefly the plans to replace the restroom and playground at Chiawana Park. He also requested that Council members consider a possible name for the new park,which is being constructed at First Place Subdivision. This will be discussed at the next meeting. Council members were reminded of the All Parks and Recreation Commission meeting on Thursday, September 11 at Kennewick. RSVP's are due tomorrow. Mike Mathews asked regarding the bike path plan, specifically north/south routes. Stan indicated there are no plans to construct new off-road north/south routes,however,the Public Works Director was mindful of preferred north/south routes and would incorporate bike friendly features into new construction projects wherever possible. There being no further business the meeting was concluded at 7:30 p.m.