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Approved Minutes - 10/28/2002r^° ~ City of Boulder Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Minutes October 28, 2002 DO NOT REMOVE - PRAB File Matenal City Council Chambers 1777 Broadway 6 p.m. `r... The followtng are the minutes of the Ocrober 28, 2002 Caty ofBoulder Parks and Recreatton Adv:sory Board meehng (PRAB) A permanent set of these m~nutes and a tape recordang (ma:ntaaned for a pertod of 6 years) are retazned in Central Records (telephone 303-441-3043) Board Present: Ed von Bleichert, Chair, Susan Osbome, Vice Chazr, Chazles Manlove, Thomas Sanford, Suzanne O'Neill, Dave Wimng amved at 6.10 p.m. Board Absent: Pam Hoge ' Staff Present: Doug Hawthome, Sarah DeSouza, Georgia Jackson, Kate Bernhardt, Ten Olander, Julya Bndgewater, Ann Wichmann, A1 Quiller, Lisa Green Walt Fncke, City Attomey Teresa Gnlls, Manager of Valmont City Pazk Management and Plamm~g Assistance Team (MPAT) hll Krantz, GreenPlay, LLC I. APPROVAL OF AGENDA The agenda was approved as submitted. II. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION Cih2en Participat~on was opened. Amnnane Jensen, 540 Catalpa, Louisville 80027, spoke on behalf of the Boulder Baseball Commumty She said quite a few supporters of baseball were m the audience and invited them to stand. P_,t Jensen's request, a number of people stood up to show their support for baseball m Boulder [There were tecluucal difficulhes wtth the audiotapmg of the meehng and there was no recordmg unhl after Jensen spoke Jensen's comments were not recorded ] /"" ~~ Enc Harman, 4302 Peach Way, Boulder 80301, president of Diamond Baseball, spoke about the need for baseball fields for high school students He offered lus remaimng hme to speakers that would follow. IV. MATTERS FROM THE DEPARTMENT r-- ``'~-" A Valmont City Pazk update Presenters Teresa Gnlls, Manager of Valmont City Park Management and Plamm~g Assistance Team (MPAT) hll Krantz, GreenPlay, LLC Krantz gave a bnef presentahon on the Timberland day of volunteer service at Valmont City Pazk She showed before and after photos of work performed on the wildhfe enhancement azea. Tasks performed mcluded removmg debns and trash, pullmg weeds and plantrng shrubs Krantz explamed that fifty volunteers performed over three hundred hours of labor valued at $ l OK. Gnlls spoke bnefly zbout the Workshop Study Session scheduled for 6 p m. Wednesday, October 30 at the Meadows Branch Library. B. Recychng update Hawthorne bnefly spoke about the mformahon mcluded m the Board packet Hawthorne remmded Boazd members of an Open House for Parks and Recreahon on the Needs Assessment. The meehng will be held Thursday, November 7, 5 30 - 8 p.m at East Boulder Commumty Center Hawthome said r"' staff would be at the open house and mvited PRAB members to attend von `-~ Bleachert asked for a remznder e-mazl to be sent out to the PRAB and Jackson replaed that she would do that von Bleichert updated Board members on Genetically Modified Orgazusms (GMO) and what has been done smce the issue was addressed at the September 30 PRAB meehng He remmded Boazd members that one of the last thmgs they had done was request that City Council discuss and review a crtywtde GMO pohcy von Bleichert said the next step for the GMO issue will be for the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) task force to address ttus issue and sazd the first meetmg of the IPM task farce would be held on Wednesday, October 30 at the Meadows Branch Library from 4.30 - 6 p m He mformed the Boazd that Suzanne O'Neili would be attendmg to represent the PRAB and that he would be there to represent CU (Umversity of Colorado). V. MATTERS FROM BOARD MEMBERS O'Neill asked if staff was considenng beaz-proof trash cans for parks on the westem edge of the city Wtchmann, Envtronmental Resources Manager, repked that staff'had begun several years ago us:ng bear proof trash cans ~n parks on the western edge of the caty She added that early models were dtfficult for staff to work with but that withtn the ~~ last year 8 new, sltde out (and easter to empty) bear proof cans had been tnstalled ~...- Wachmann also satd that mulft-language stgns were berng placed by the trash cans to Mmutes PRAB Meetmg 10/28/2002 - Page 3 '"'' hm Peterson, 4140 St Luc~a, Boulder 8030_, spoke on behalf of the Boulder GirPs `~-' Softball commumty and the need for additronal fields. He remmded the Boazd of the approved concept plan for Valmont City Pazk that included four Litfle League/Girls' softball fields [with fences] and two Legion ball fields He spoke about the strong need for those fields and urged the Board to mclude them m Valmont City Pazk Jeff Harmon, 4302 Peach Way, Boulder 80301, a sophomore at Boulder High, spoke about the need for additional Leg~on fields and how they would benefit Boulder High students He said the city has only one Legion field [at Scott Carpenter Park] and said there ~s nowhere he can go for daily prachce Jack Taylor, 986 Arapahoe, a Physical Educahon teacher and coach at Boulder High, said the city should work wrth the school distnct to build addihonal Legion fields His understandmg was that the school distnct has funds and is ready to proceed [with buildmg fields] but that the city of Boulder keeps backmg off to re-evaluate Jim Rianoshek, 1920 Vista Dnve, Boulder 80304, Pres~dent of North Boulder Little League, thanked the Boazd and mamtenance staff for the work they have done on the North Boulder fields over the years He spoke about the poor and unsafe condihon of the Ins Fields [Boulder County owned and mamtamed fields] and Aurora '7 fields. He asked the Board for help m providmg capital assets m terms of fields and mamtenance. ~"" Ed Byme, 4324 Snowberry Ct, Boulder 80304, said a lot of baseball supporters were t~-' hopmg Valmont City Park could get developed somehme soon He said rt appeared to him that the city of Boulder 3id not finnly support having addirional ball fields at Valmont City Pazk Byme concluded by saymg teenage boys would hke a place to play baseball Joe Ritchey, 2737 Kaimia Ave , Boulder 80304, spoke about the great demand for addihonal fields for practice and games as well as fields that are safe to play on. He asked the Boazd if volunteers could be used to do the work to bnng fields up to safe standards Ritchey also spoke about the ball fields north of the Elks Club, suggesUng that those fields be brought up to standard C~hzen Partrc~paUOn was closed III. CONSENT AGENDA Mmutes of September 30, 2002 The mmutes were approved with a minor change. r"^ ' ~..- Mmutes PRAB Meenng 10/28/2002 - Page 2 anform the pubkc of the rmportance of not leaving trash outstde the receptacles tf they ~ were full , O'Neill asked if staff was developmg a strategy for drought before it is known whether the drought will conhnue next year Hawthorne sazd staff is do:ng an tnventory of parks to determ:ne condrhon of the landscape - whtch :s an ongorng pro~ect as effects of the drought won 't be fully known untal next spr:ng He said Parks and Recreatton staff es worlang wath Pubkc Works staff on a recommendahon to be made to the Water Resources Advzsory Board (N'RAB) as to how we mzght ~mplement a watenng program for next year Hawthorne sazd the process has zncluded several meetzngs where pubkc testamony has been taken He added that zt appears (from the draft report) that parks matntenance staff may be able to reallocate water based on need, anstead of havzng all parks trrtgated ~n the same manner Osbome said Pazks and Recreation couid be a model for the commumty by planhng drought resistant flowers and turf. Hawthorne sazd hortrcultural staff would be loolrtng at whether to plant annual or perenraal flowers and drought reststant flowers and shru6s In addahon they would conscder the stze(s) and locahon offlower beds Hawthrone stated that another part of the drought assessment would be to look at how future parks w~ll be planned and destgned, to anclude usang less bluegrass turf and more drought reststant turf von Bleichert asked when the Water Resources Board would review the '~ recommendarion from Pubhc Works Hawthorne repked that he was not certarn of the ~ date but would get that informatzon to PRAB members and would also have tt :ncluded on the Itst of Future Board Items Osborne asked tf it would be helpful to have PRAB members involved m the process and have them look over the matenals before they go to the WRAB [Stahc on audiotape cut out response.] von Bleichert said the Needs Assessment showed softball as having a higher pnonty m part because of hmited use at Stazio and Mapleton fields. von Bleichert said rt was iromc that the service with newer and better facihhes could be rated lugher m terms of what is needed simply because some of the exishng facilihes have restncted access He added that this was the opposite of how Pleasant View fields (toumament only) were treated m the Needs Assessment where they were mcluded m the total number of [mulh- use] fields von Bleichert said the Boazd might want to discuss at a later date how tournament style fieids are considered when determming need von Bleichert sazd Wmmg had brought up a pomt that the Board might need to consider Is ~t better to build sports complexes or spread mdividual fields throughout the city to meet geographic need? von 8leichert also said the Board might want to consider the "nahonal standazd" as it was used m the Needs Assessment and whether it is appropnate for what the Board is domg wrth the Needs Assessment ,M-. • ~... Minutes PRAB Meehng l0/28/2002 - Page 4 ~ VI ITEMS FOR ACTION '..~ There were no Items for Acrion VII. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/INFORMATION A. Maxwell Lake Park easement Presenters Doug Hawthome, Pazks Supenntendent Walt Fncke, City Attomey Fncke provided Board members with background and lustory mformahon on the three encroachment properties ad~acent to the park Fncke brought the Boazd up to date on the progress of a lawsurt [to establish ritle to the property] since November, 2001 when the PRAB turned down an offer by a homeowner to purchase pazkland He said there has been another offer to explore settlement of the lawsurt to leave the city with ritle and allow for a formal easement for theu roof overhang and adequate room to perform rouhne maintenance However, the condihon that was important to the other side was that the property would remam the same, save for planhng narive grasses, and Fncke said no agreement has been reached on this Fncke sazd negohahons through outs~de counsel were slow and added that if agreement were reached m ~„^ pnnciple for settlement, the matter would have to come back to the PRAB ~ Manlove said he had no problem with allowmg easements for roof overhang and rouhne mamtenance Osbome said she thought property owners had gotten together to buy property and deed rt to the city for Maxwell Lake pazk Frzcke and Hawthorne replaed that only the eastern half of the park had been purchased ~n that manner Hawthorne said one property settlement ought to be commg back to the Board withm the next few months Board members said it would be helpful to have mmutes from the 1993 PRAB meetmg mcluded with the item when rt comes back to the Boazd as an actron rtem B. Dtsc golf at Tantra update Presenters Doug Hawthome, Parks Supenntendent Lisa Green, South Zone Mamtenance Supervisor Hawthome mtroduced Green to Board members and said the issue with disc golf m parks was not new but that rt was escalating He added that cirizens and park ~, users expressed safety concems related to disc golf actrvity m Tantra Park Dtsc golf ts a non-designated activity m the pazk and the Secret Rambow Disc Course ~.- Mmutes PRAB Meetmg 10/28/2002 - Page 5 is mazked wrth colored tape placed on vanous poles, trash cans and other '" structures where members aim theu discs. As the disc is harder than a regular `-' fnsbee, it is of concern when a throw is off the mazk Green said it was her observation that the populanty of disc golf has mcreased dramatically withm the last three years She sazd homeowners say the course is la~d out m such a way that a bad throw could land m back yards where children play. Smce the deparhnent does not manage the course, Green said she is unable to ad~ust the "baskets" or tape Green said the course gets a lot of use but is laid out m such a way that it has potential to be dangerous She has spoken with several members of the disc commumty and they aze w~llmg to wark with the city to make the course at Tantra legitamate and safer Green mformed the Boazd that the disc golf course at Harlow Platts Park ~s only ava~lable for play six~months a year She said baskets are removed so that sledders and cross-country skiers can use the area without fear of bemg tut with a disc Hawthorne spoke about the four ophons presented to the Board m the memo and asked for their direction. ''"' Osbome said tt was difficult to deal wrth the issue when staff had made no `~' recommendarion She asked if disc golfers use Tantra because the Harlow Platts course is too busy or ~s not good enough. Osbome also asked if staff has been m touch with Secret Rambow Disc Course golfers at Tantra. Green repleed that dtsc golfers are usually tn thezr late 20's or 30's (with some CUstudents) and that they are all very consaderate of pedestrtans Even c:ttzens who have safety concerns do not have anyth:ng negahve to say about the pdayers. Green added that there are no personakry ~ssues and ~t ts~ust a matter of tncreased popularzry :n the sport. Green mformed the Board that the course at Harlow Platts ts shll busy. She explained that it is a different kind of course than at Tantra and disc golfers tend to prefer one to the other, but both courses aze well used. Manlove and Sanford suggested that that the Hazlow Platts course could get more use if it was open year round. They didn't think golfers would be using the course when there was enough snow for sleddmg and skimg. Sanford also suggested that staffwork with the disc golfers at Tantra to design a safer course O'Neiil asked if Green thought it was feasible to work wrth the stakeholders to develop a 9-hole golf course at Tantra. Green said she defirately thought tt was worth trying She added that all of the golfers she has spoken wtth are ~"'' ' reasonable and they want the course to be playable and safe ~ Mmutes PRAB Meenng 10/28/2002 - Page 6 "" O'Neill expressed surpnsed that "frog catching" at the pond was hsted as one of `•' the achvities popular with children m the park and sazd it didn't seem very appropnate to her She suggested signage to explam their role [frogs]. Green replaed that she has Irad conversanons w~th chrldren about bezng careful and returrang frogs to the pond Hawthome asked Green to explam ~ce blockmg to the Board Green sa:d rhat sleddtng u popular tn Tantra and that SS bales of hay have been placed in the park thu fall to prevent rn~ury to sledders 5he explazned that tce blockzng zs a stmzlar sport done zn summer Ice blocks are purchased from Krng Soopers and you sat on the block at the top of the hzll and rtde the ice block down the hall Green saad tt cs a very popular pastime at Tantra Wimng expressed support for disc golf If a formal course were designed for Tantra he wanted to know if that meant poles wrth baskets would be placed m vanous locahons throughout the park Wming expressed concern that ~f those baskets were placed away from the boundanes of the park they might mterfere with other acrivittes witlun the pazk. Wmmg also said that disc golf would be a perfect achvity for Valmont, between the ditches on the north side, hut now that azea will be open space that people can't use von Bleichert said the Board expressed support for d~sc golf at Tantra He also r^ was puzzled that there was no recommendahon from staff as there aze issues `~ with proximity to the playground and cnsscrossing the paths. von Bleichert suggested staff contact the leaders of the Secret Rambow Disc Course and see what can be worked out. Hawthorne sa~d the Board's recommendation is to • Look at the Tantra site. Work with the disc golf commumty and surroundmg reszdents to design a legihmate course that allows for as much other achvity m the park as possible Design the disc golf course to keep the achvtty away from boundanes (wrth potential for conflict such as homeowners back yazds) and playgrounds as much as possibie C Boazd Liazson appomtments Presenter• Sarah DeSouza, Assistant to the Director DeSouza asked the Board to take a look at the list of appointments and make changes as needed DeSouza said appomtments to the Parks and Recreahon Foundahon Board were needed m light of Osbome and Manlove's resignahons from the Foundation $oazd r~ M mutes PRAB Meenng 10/28/2002 - Page 7 Boazd comments and suggeshons. '~' • Change the name of the Fiahrons Design Committee to Flahrons ""' Development Committee and make rt temporanly mactrve. • Remove Boazd Liaison for NBRC as the work is almost complete • Add a Drought Committee Liaison • Change some of the appomtments to one Liaison plus an alternate as opposed to two Liaisons • Members on each committee should give some thought to what is bemg done on that committee If nottung is bemg done, do we need that committee~ • Leave Greenways Advisory Committee as it is. • Ehmmate Skatepazk Advisory Committee as staff attends the quarterly meerings. Staff cauld provide Board members wrth penodic updates • O'Nexll added as member of Integrated Pest Management Committee. • Change Neighborhood Pazk Liaison to one Liaison plus an alternate? • It would be useful for Board members to come back with a true sense of what is achve and what is not. If on a sub-committee what that committee should be domg and who should they be meehng with. • Foothills Commumty Park to be temporanly designated Inactrve • Clearly mark the Inactive committees for easier recogmhon • Combme Neighborhood Park L~aison and Foottulls Commumty Pazk • Organize the ]ist to show wluch positions were requested membership, show which aze for a contact person (where staff may need a Board member at a ~"" publtc event) and tndtcate "areas of mteresY' or "machve" commtttees. ~ There was discussion aboui the vacant pos~hon on the Parks and Recrearion Foundation Board Wmmg said he was willmg to serve on the Foundahon Soard but he could only serve unril he left the Board m Mazch Osbome said ~t would be better to have a Foundahon member who could serve longer than March and suggested Hoge might serve on the Foundarion. von Bleichert said he would discuss tt with her. VIII. FUTURE BOARD TTEMS AND TOURS A. Valmont C~ty Pazk work session to develop a pazk mission statement - Wednesday, October 30~' from 6 to 8 p.m at Meadows Branch Library at 4800 Baselme B Needs Assessment Open House 5 30 - 8 p m Thursday, November 7, at the East Boulder Commumty Center, Semor Wmg, 5660 Sioux Dr C"Open House" to rev~ew prehmmary playground designs for Wonderland Pazk and Foothills Phase 2- Saturday, November 16, 2002, 2- 4 p.m , FooUulls Commiuuty Park mamtenance buildmg, 800 Cherry Avenue, Boulder IX PIEXT BOARD MEETING: Monday, November 25, 2002 Mmutes PRAB Meehng 10/28/2002 - Page 8 X. ADJOURN The meehng ad~ourned at 8.20 p.m APPROVED BY PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BO ~1 ~~ , ~ Ed von Bleichert Boazd Chair Attest ~ Georgia kson Recordmg Secretary r°"'' ti..- ,r~ • ~... Mmutes PRAB Meetmg !0/28/2002 - Page 9