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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRBMINUTES122006Parks and Recreation Board Meeting Minutes Wednesday, December 20, 2006 West University Place, Texas I. Call to Order: Chairman Russ Schulze The meeting was called to order by Chairman Russ Schulze at 11:40am. II. Introductions: All Reporters from The West University Place Examiner, The Village News and The Houston Chronicle were in attendance. Nina Springer, the former chairperson of the West University Place Parks Master Planning Task Force, introduced herself. West University employees Tim O'Connor and Michael Ross were in attendance as were City Council members Dick Yehle and Steven Segal. West University resident Ramsey Elder also attended the meeting. Parks and Recreation Board members, Janine Schueppert (Vice Chairperson), Mardi Turner, Helen Talianchich, Joni Fichter and Laura Theis gave a brief overview of their current Board projects and interests. New Chairman Russ Schulze introduced himself to the Board and outlined his prior experience with the Board in the late 1980s, highlighting two projects. Russ was involved in the movement to increase the size of Colonial Park and spinning off the fundraising portion of the Board into the current Friends Board. The new Chairman feels he was brought onto the Board to provide continuity to the improvement of Colonial Park and the Recreation Center projects. 111. Citizen's Comments: Any member of the public wishing to address the Board Nina Springer addressed the Board to defend the Master Plan and Task Force. Ms. Springer stated that the Task Force looked at previous surveys, talked to citizens, facilitated focus groups in order to draft the Master Plan. After their year of work the Task Force felt positive about their Master Plan. Ms. Springer described the recent bond proposal failure as a "small failure", due to the closeness of the race. After talking to citizens she feels the largest obstacle to the proposal was the dollar amount not the proposals themselves. As a whole the Task Force still believes in their Master Plan but she does think it makes sense to "flush out"the plan in order to determine what exactly the citizens want. Ms. Springer reiterated that the Master Plan allows for a large range of options. However, she did not support spending the money to perform a survey, stating that we had the results from a 2000 survey. Finally, Ms. Springer feels that if the dollar amount can be reduced a future bond proposal for parks will pass. Ramsey Elder spoke out and said he felt Ms. Springer was absolutely incorrect. He said the Task Force in fact did not do what they were explicitly told to do in writing. He argued that the Task Force instead created random, man on the street focus groups ar I West University Place does not need more buildings but more parkland. Mr. ` a so felt that the Recreation Center plan could not be "tweaked" but instead that it was a failed plan altogether. IV. Review and Approval of November 8, 2006 Parks Board Meeting Minutes: Janine The minutes from the November 8, 2006 Parks Board meeting were unanimously approved. V. Recognition of Dave Stephan, for his service to the Parks Board: Janine Deferred due to Dave's absence. VI. Discussions relative to planning forward regarding the Parks Master Plan and Future Bond Elections: Janine, Laura & Russ After the last City Council meeting it was determined the Board would get Russ's input to our proposed Request for Statement of Qualifications and then return to Council before moving forward and asking for requests. Vice Chairperson, Janine Schueppert and Board members Laura Theis and Mardi Turner maintained the need to hire a professional firm to conduct a survey to determine communitys desires and create a detailed plan including projected operating costs and usage. Russ agreed that another set of eyes to review possibilities would be helpful. He also pointed out that West University is unique in its urban setting with upscale needs. Russ agreed with Ramsey in that we need to talk more to the community to determine what is wanted. He supported a specific survey to determine these needs but not another general survey. Regarding the Board's proposal, Russ suggested changing the deadline for the Board's specific recommendations for each facility from May 10, 2006 It t4rb May 1, 2001.7He would also like to remove the paragraph focusing on "non- resident use" and focus on residents' desires because West University residents are the ones being asked to pay for these improvements. Any non-resident use would be as a guest of a resident or limited to excess capacity at a cost to non-residents that would help set off the taxpayers' obligation to pay for the facilities. Joni agreed that we should focus on residents use and hopefully create facilities that would draw residents in instead of having them all leave the city to participate in similar activities outside West University. Councilman Segal discussed the old building at Colonial Park that needs to be replaced. He felt the bond proposals features were not voted down, instead the dollar amounts requested were voted down. Segal also suggested the Scope of Work in the Board's Proposal state that "perhaps" a survey would be conducted, but to give the consultant a voice to assist in making the decision whether to conduct another survey. Mardi reiterated that an attempt to engage the community had been done but it was not enough and the last survey was conducted in 2000 which was seven years ago. Mardi agreed with an earlier statement made by Councilwoman, Phyllis Cohen, that if we don't ask the community- how are we going to know what they want? Councilman Segal said he simply did not see many options at Colonial, it is an old building and an old pool but we don't really know what we're going to do with the Recreation Center. Joni added that the Recreation Center has the field space so badly needed by the community but the facility itself fails to serve the community's needs. The Board feels this is one of the reasons a survey and professional should be brought in, to answer questions like what to do with the green space and facilities at the Recreation Center that are not up to par. Mardi mentioned that the specific user groups, like Tri-Sport, are brought into the process and potential survey. Councilman Yehle added that the dollar amounts initially suggested by the Task Force were not a good benchmark because they rise dramatically by fully costing like the model done by PGAL. Newly proposed numbers by Councilman Segal used a full cost model in which he removed high dollar items, like a removable roof over an outside pool. Councilman Yehle saw a problem with linking the two facilities because at this time we do not fully understand what is going to be done at both facilities. He is also reluctant to support a survey because he feels they tend to be fraught with problems and tend to tell you what you want to hear. Russ agreed there can be problems with surveys. VII. Staff Reports: A. Tim O'Connor The shade project at Colonial Park is complete except for umbrellas. The Liberty Hill bluebonnets have germinated and a barrier and signs have been added. Rice Pocket Park is waiting on geotechnical results from soil samples taken earlier. The Park Caretaker I Position has been posted and they hope to have it filled by January 2007. B. Michael Ross Land acquisition for a new park is being studied. MLS listings are being reviewed and an updated map is being created which will highlight likely "teardown" houses for the City to purchase per Proposition Three. They hope to have the map by Council's January meeting. The ideal park space would be two to three lots or approximately 1/2 acre. Vlll. Board Reports Park Lover's Ball is coming up and this is the last year for the Lewis Match. We need to set a date in the spring to host our pilot PARDners Volunteer Day at Wier Park. IX. New Business: At their January meeting, Council will discuss appointments for Paul's vacant Board position. X. Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 12:40pm. 2