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Minutes - Open Space - 10/25/2006Approved as amended II/8/2006. OPEN SPACE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Minutes October 25, 2006 BOARD MEMBERSPRESENT Bill Briggs STAFF PRESENT Mike Patton Ronda Romero Bruce Bland Dean Paschall Cecil Fenio CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 6:05 p.m. A1lyn Feinberg Jim Reeder Joe Mantione Jan Geden Alice Guthrie AGENDA ITEM 1- Approval of Minutes Allyn Feinberg moved that the minutes of September 13, 2006 be approved. Bill Briggs seconded and the motion passed unanimously. AGENDA ITEM 2- Director's Update Mike Patton told Boazd members that staff would be sending the city manager an update informing him that the chronic wasting disease (CWD) progratn has entered a new phase. Staff, working with the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOV~, is doing additional darting and notifying visitors about the program whenever possible. He reminded the Boazd that it is a five yeaz study. Dean Paschall reported that the dog tag program is going very well and about 10,000 tags have been issued. Registration l~as leveled off and staff is pleased that the program has been generally accepted by the community. Mike Patton added that some concerned citizens have commented on the appazent improvement in dog management on the system since the program began. Jim Reeder announced that staff is getting close to opening the new Marsk~all Mesa trailhead. The fust weekend in December is the target date. He added that the old Marshall Mesa trailhead will be closed sometime after the new trailhead is opened. Staff will sign the old trailhead announcing its im,.,;n~t closing and direct people to the new trailhead. Responding to a question from Bill Briggs Mike Patton reported ttiat he and Jim Reeder would be meeting with FRICO and a representative from the city of Louisville on Friday and Monday to continue remediation on the Highway 93 underpass. Staff believes an ageement will be reached. The ageement will probably include a time limit wluch will require renewal at the time it expires. If FRICO decides to expand the capacity of the canal at some point in the future use of the trail would be precluded. Mike noted there was no indication that would occur in the near term. Allyn Feinberg added that increasing the capacity of the ditch would require a major public works project. Bill Briggs voiced concern about the potential to spend a lazge sum of money on the underpass and then have it unusable if the agreement was not renewed. Mike also added that Louisville resists allowing horses in the underpasa This has been baffling to staff AGENDA ITEM 1B Page 1 considering the fact that cattle graze along much of the ditch and there is probably human contamination occurring fiuther upstream. AGENDA ITEM 3- Matters from the Board Allyn Feinberg reported on a recent bicycle tour conducted on the Crreenways paths. The tour focused on various results of IPM h~eatment on weeds along the route. Some patches that have not responded to altemative methods may require pesricide application. This possibility is being discussed. Bnxce Bland asked if a date has been set for a retreat. Mike responded that staff has not yet finalized a date. Bruce encouraged having a retreat sooner rather than later. AGENDA ITEM 4- Public Participation None. AGENDA ITEM 5- Discussion of Parks and Recreation Draft Master Plan Jan Geden, director of Parks and Recreation (P & R), tUanked the Board for providing an opportunity to talk about the Pazks and Recreation Master Plan. She reviewed the current schedule for presenting the plan: to the Pazks and Recreation Advisory Boazd (PRAB) on November 13, the Plaiming Boazd on November 16 and finally to Council on December 19. Jan introduced Alice Guthrie, pazks and planning superintendent, who gave a power point presentation about the master plan. Alice reviewed the extensive public process that was conducted and then higlilighted various aspects of the plan which was attached to the memo. Alice noted the use of the Core Services Business Model as a guide to establish fees and detemiine cost recovery. Two properties may be of interest to Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP): the Papini and Kentucky properties. Neither of these natural lands was used for its original putpose and may be available for purchase by OSMP at sometime in the future. Further discussion about this is anticipated. There was some discussion about pursuing the possibility of establishing regional taxing districts to help alleviate some of the funding difficulties the Pazks and Recreation Department has been experiencing. Recommendations in the plan have been based on departmental goals and investment priorities as well as input from members of the public. These were organized into six categories: administrative and fmancial recommendations, pazk recommendations, indoor recreation facility recommendations, outdoor recreation facility recommendations, Boulder Reservoir and Flatirons Golf Course recommendations. The plan is projected to span the next ten years with a major update at the end of that tune. Alice said staff is developing business plans for funding both the reservoir and golf course enterprise facilities and will be looking at a new funding source, Certificates of Participation, which function like revenue bonds. The capital derived from these certificates would be invested back into those aging facilities. Allyn Feinberg asked about the potential of fundraising by interest user goups. Alice responded that a public/private roundtable is being developed to set criteria to provide clear AGENDA ITEM IB Page 2 guidance for such a par[nership. Jan Geden acknowledged that those funding sources may or may not align with the priorities in the plan. This would require coordination. Allyn suggested that development excise taxes are insufficient to compensate for the impacts of new development on parks and recreation needs. She said that it was very critical to increase development excise taxes. Alice responded that one of the funding sources the department plans to pursue is increasing development excise tax. The possibility may also exist to expand the tax to include commercial and industrial properties. Allyn thought there would be community support if specific projects were identified as the recipients of the money. She suggested the need to increase the general fund subsidy for recreational facilities so they remain competitive with private facilities and stressed funding as the key issue needing to be addressed. She added that OSMP, being directed by the charter, would be limited in how it could participate in the management of P& R natw~al lands. She stated that the wording regarding the Lottery Fund should match the memorandum from the city manager. Jan and Mike assured the Boazd that council understands that the Lottery Funds aze anticipated to return to OSMP in 2008 using the agreed-to formula. Jan aclmowledged the potential for an increased development excise ta~c considering all of the infill that is occurring in the city. Council has encouraged P& R to get aggressive in pursuing other funding sources. There was some discussion about the positive and negative aspects of dedicated taxes. Bruce Bland suggested a one or two-yeaz talc for a specific project that would k~ave community support (such as the tax for the fire-training facility). Jan noted that the resulting on-going maintenance needs for such a proj ect would not be covered by such a tax. Bill Briggs asked about the privatizing of municipal golf courses and if it would make sense to do so. Jan said that privatizing a single golf course would be too risky for the owner. Currently the golf course is probably not recouping 100% of its indirect cost although with the budgeted subsidy it is bringing in additional revenue that is going into the activity fund. Jan also pointed out the fact tt~at if the course was privatized and failed the land could possibly face development. More information would be needed. The importance of providing recreational opportunities for the public regazdless of ability to pay was stressed. Bruce Bland commented that the proposed two new dog pazks would be of interest to OSMP. This provides places for people to train their dogs. Alice said the idea of providing dog-parks with more amenities that would chazge membership or a fee is being considered. Bruce remiuded P& R staff about the importance of providing wildlife corridors within the city. He added that OSMP would probably be interested in the Papuu property but was unsure of the Kentucky property noting that OSMP does not usually purchase Area II properties because they aze expensive and often do not meet open space purposes. He agreed that trying to recapture money from new development should be pursued. Mike Patton explained where the wetlands on the Kentucky property are located, responding to a question from Allyn, and ageed that part of the site could feasibly be built on. He added that there was a tacit agreement that OSMP would not purchase Area II properties. Finally, Bruce remarked on the high quality of work that went into the master plan and aclmowledged the compleJCity of the mission and funding sources of the Parks and Recreation department. AGENDA ITEM 1B Page 3 (Joe Mantione, staff planner, has since clarified that the Kentucky property is located in Area III.) ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 7:43 p.m. These minutes were prepared by Ceci[ Fenio. APPROVED BY: ii y''(" _ ~.. Bruce Bland Vice Chair Nov', 27 2~O(~ DAT~ AGENDA ITEM IB Page 4