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HomeMy WebLinkAbout4A - Draft Minutes - Parks & Recreation - 1/24/2011 City of Boulder Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Council Chambers V 1777 Broadway January 24, 2011 Action Meeting Minutes To listen to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board meetings in their entirety, please go to the following link: www.boulderparks-rec.org Board Present: Todd Bryan, Marcelee Gralapp, Bob Yates, Michelle Estrella, Rick Thayer Board Absent: Pete Webber, Myriah Conroy Staff Present: Kirk Kincannon, Alice Guthrie, Sarah DeSouza, Sally Dieterich, Perry Brooks, Teri Olander, Annie Noble, Randall Rutsch, Marni Ratzel Guest Present: Dave Clark, Boulder Bike Sharing kk. The meeting was called to order at 6:05 p.m. 1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA The agenda was approved. II. FUTURE BOARD ITEMS AND TOURS Kincannon provided a update on future items: • Future item - City Council public hearing on the Boulder Reservoir Master Plan originally scheduled for March 2011will be re-scheduled to the 3`d quarter • Future item - Thunderbird Lake 2010 year end report • PRAB retreat - Working with PRAB to set retreat time frame to formulate the next level of the work plan • February PRAB meeting - Public hearing on the lease agreement with Boulder Bike Share III. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION Public participation was opened. Erv Bell, resident, asked that the City of Boulder establish a task force to evaluate the Pottery Lab facility and a new, more efficient building to determine what support or subsidy is reasonable. He added that the task force should include Pottery Lab staff, student users, outside experts and Parks and Recreation financial analysts. He said a new building could increase income and reduce expenses. Al Segal, resident, co-chair of Friends of the Pottery Lab, pooling time with Julia Freiburger, shared FOPL's three goals for the Pottery Lab: 1 I . To see the Pottery Lab made sustainable at its high level of quality 2. To assure the Pottery Lab continues to service users and to expand how it can serve them. 3. To provide user focused standards for programming, pottery production process and the student's experience. He added that FOPL has no interest in operating the Pottery Lab, but asked that a task force be established to consider and resolve the issues at hand. Christy Gunter, resident, representing Friends of the Pottery Lab, spoke on the importance of the Pottery Lab to the City of Boulder. She said it is more than a place to make pots and that it provides a sense of community. Ron Broome, resident, representing Friends of the Pottery Lab, said that FOPL is committed to providing recommendations to the Parks and Recreation Department regarding how to more efficiently operate the Pottery Lab. Public participation was closed. IV. CONSENT AGENDA A. Approval of minutes from December 13, 2010 Minutes from December 13, 2010 were approved as written. V. ITEMS FOR ACTION A. Public hearing and consideration of a motion to approve Boulder Bike Share Station locations on Parks and Recreation land and a review process for future stations. Randall Rutsch presented this item to the Board. He said the purpose of the Boulder Bike Share proposal is to provide short-term bike rental from automated stations providing highly adjustable urban bikes from multiple check outs at various locations within the City of Boulder. He added that one station is proposed to be located on Parks and Recreation Department property and requires the approval of the PRAB. Two additional proposed locations are on City-owned property maintained by the Parks and Recreation Department and have been included as information for the PRAB. Additionally, Rutsch said there will be a public meeting on February 1 that will provide public input and on February 28 the PRAB will be asked to approve a lease agreement for Boulder Bike Share station locations. PRAB discussion and comments included: Overall, PRAB members were positive about the Bike Share program and station locations. Estrella questioned the purpose of voting to approve station locations prior to receiving public input. 2 Yates had reservations about approving the concept of a location before reviewing the lease for that location. He suggested that this agenda item be merged with the lease agenda item and be placed on the meeting agenda of the February 28 PRAB meeting. Bryan disagreed, stating that if the PRAB agrees with the concept, then it should approve the concept and let it proceed to the next stage. Public participation was opened. No one spoke. N Public participation was closed. Bryan made the following motion: I move to approve the proposed bike sharing station location at Greenleaf Park on Parks and Recreation owned land subject to consistency with the Parks and Recreation Department criteria and Board approval of a lease agreement, acknowledging that the lease agreement will come at the next meeting. Thayer seconded the motion. The motion failed 1-4 as follows: Bryan - yea Yates - nay Gralapp - nay Thayer - nay Estrella nay Conroy - absent Webber absent Although the PRAB supports the Boulder Bike Share program, they felt voting on the station location at this meeting would be premature. The PRAB agreed that this agenda item (to approve the location) be merged with the agenda request to approve the lease at the February 28 meeting. VI. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/INFORMATION A. Fourmile LEAP/Elks Neighborhood Park Brooks provided a power point presentation on the planning process of Elks Park along with Anne Noble, City of Boulder Greenways Coordinator, who presented the concept plan for the Fourmile Canyon Greenway Trail, that runs through Elks Park. Brooks said as part of this collaborative effort, the Parks and Recreation and Transportation Departments have established the following project goals: 3 • To improve the Elks Neighborhood Park to meet the needs of the neighborhood • To meet the obligations of the 1996 Parks and Recreation Department ballot measure • To partner with Transportation Department staff • To improve trail connections along Fourmile Creek • To utilize the Go Boulder Safe Routes to School Grant He added the following timeline status of the project: • Three public meetings held • Postcards mailed to 379 residents within 1/z mile of the park, postcards distributed to HOA's within park neighborhood, postcards posted on the Parks and Recreation Department website • Responses indicated residents prefer the park remain a naturalized area with recreational amenities • Residents pleased with a shared walking/bike trail Abbe B. Pottery Lab (Values and Objectives) Olander provided an update on this item including the power point presentation that was given at the Pottery Lab public meeting January 12, 2011. She provided the following timeline: • Fall 2010 - RFP issued for Pottery Lab • In lieu of awarding RFP, Department prepared long range plan and staff assessment • January 12, 2011 - Public meeting • 2011 - Pottery Lab will continue to be operated by the Parks and Recreation Department She added that the Pottery Lab is recognized as a valued service to the Boulder community and staffs primary goal is to determine how to make it sustainable and reduce the subsidy by 50% in 2011. Suggestions from the Pottery Lab public meeting: • Obtain a larger building that could offer additional classes/rental space • Include a designated amount of clay per class and charge a fee for additional clay • Use volunteers • Shorten the number of class sessions and provide more classes • Reduce hours of operation • Schedule weekend workshops • Increase fees • Charge hourly fee for lab time 4 PRAB discussion and comments included: Overall, PRAB members were appreciative of this discussion/presentation. Questions/suggestions provided by Board members were: Bryan said good ideas came from the public meeting and he looked forward to the follow-up. Gralapp felt there was disconnect between the Department and Pottery Lab users. She requested that staff be innovative and establish a public/private partnership. Bryan suggested a "Pottery Lottery" to raise money for the Pottery Lab. He added that the PLAY Foundation could have the lottery as a yearly fund raising event for the Pottery Lab. Thayer said that there are two competing forces. A value force (the community) and a money force (the City). He added that if the City is not willing to value the value force by greater subsidy, then fees must be raised. Yates suggested as the issue is revenue vs. expense, perhaps non-users could pay .50 or $1.00 per year to help subsidize the Pottery Lab, similar to how green space is subsidized. Estrella felt that staff is viewing the Pottery Lab as a program versus a community. She asked for more transparency and a task force to deal with the issues. Kincannon appreciated the input and said the Pottery Lottery fund raiser is a good option, as is looking at a public/private partnership. He added that staff will be reviewing the management analysis and assessment to determine how to arrive at a level of sustainability. C. City and Department Special Events Kincannon spoke briefly on the Department special events policy. He cited Valmont City Park as an example of a facility that will be in strong demand for special events and that the Department is studying how requests for public events use will be processed. DeSouza said that the Department is researching best practices on how government agencies partner with promoters/planners to benefit all parties regarding special events use. This would include revenue sharing, profit sharing, a competitive and open process for event bidding, supply and demand and branding. She added that this item will return to the PRAB in February as a public hearing on special events guidelines. 5 VII. MATTERS FROM THE DEPARTMENT A. Boulder Reservoir Master Plan Update Kincannon requested that the Board refer to the written update provided in the packet. B. Park Development Update Kincannon requested that the Board refer to the written update provided in the packet. C. Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Kincannon requested that the Board refer to the written update provided in the packet. Kincannon added the following items with verbal updates: 1. CIP - City of Boulder departments are looking into how the City does Capital Improvements and specific bonding relative to city infrastructure. He added that a City Council study session on this matter will be held on Tuesday, February 8 and the PRAB is encouraged to attend. 2. February PRAB meeting - Community Gardens lease 3. February PRAB meeting - Request for delegation of authority for the City Manager regarding licenses, contracts and permits 4. State of the City - City Manager Brautigam and Mayor Osborne will present the 2010 City of Boulder State of the City address on January 27, 2011 at the City of Boulder Main Library at 8 a.m. 5. Boulder Creek Festival 2011 - Kincannon met with promoter Chris Dailey for contract discussion in mid-January. The Department hopes to have a signed contract by mid-February. VIII. MATTERS FROM BOARD MEMBERS Bryan introduced a short discussion regarding recreation center fees and the need to raise them to market levels. He said the current recreation guide shows that fees have been raised, but added that raising fees higher is the way to increase potential revenue for the Department. Kincannon responded that the Department has implemented a three year plan to have fees reach the market level. IX. NEXT BOARD MEETING: February 28, 2011. X. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m. 6 APPROVED BY PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD Todd Bryan Board Chair Attest: Sally Dieterich + Recording Secretary 7