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Minutes 09-22-03 MTNUTES OF THE RECREAT:[ON AND PARKS BOARD REGULAR MEETTNG HELD AT THE SENTOR CENTER, BOYNTON BEACH, FLOR:IDA ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2003 AT 7:00 P.M. Present Elizabeth Pierce, Chair Wally Majors, Recreation & Parks Director William Orlove .lohn Wildner, Deputy Recreation & Parks Bali Ramnarace Director Betty Thomas Tom Williams Pamela Winters, Alternate Absent Margaret Murphy Lisa Peterfreund ]:. Call to Order Chair Pierce called the meeting to order at 6:55 p.m. iT. Attendance Chair Pierce called the roll. I'ZT. Approval of Minutes of August 25, 2003 Mr. Orlove and Mr. Ramnarace asked that the minutes be amended as follows (in the paragraph following the park impact fee motion): "Mr. Orlove and Mr. Ramnarace favored instead pressing other Boards and the Commission to consider park space when new developments are in the planning stages." He did not feel that anything to do with the park impact fee needed to be reinstituted as stated in the minutes. Mr. Ramnarace agreed and the minutes will be so amended. Motion Mr. Orlove moved to approve the minutes as amended. Ms. Thomas seconded the motion that carried unanimously. Meeting Minutes Recreation and Parks Board Boynton Beach, Florida September 22, 2003 IV. Unfinished Business A. Senior Center Mr. Majors reported that the sprinkler system was installed and the other improvements were in the permitting phase. Since October 4 was the Center's Anniversary, he expected that there would be some celebration at the Center. B. Old High School Mr. Orlove reported that the members of the Task Force received a contract for $48,000 from Bender & Associates. The Task Force is trying to pare down some of the things that Bender & Associates offered to do and will meet this week to decide whether or not to go forward with the contract that was negotiated by the CRA. He suggested removing it from the agenda for the following month because if the Task Force decides to go ahead with the contract with modifications, the consultant will have to do the study and make a report. The Task Force has to report to the City Commission in December and will probably not receive the consultant's report until late October or early November. He will keep the Board posted. C. Naming of Parks - Community Support Mr. Majors believed the nomination for Mr. Williams went through and he expected to see it on the next City Commission agenda. Regarding the Bruce Black nomination for the Intracoastal Park, Chair Pierce reported that Mr. Black had moved away from the area. He has not responded to the request for evidence of community support for his nomination and she was not sure if he intended to provide this information or not. Mr. Wildner suggested that the item be removed from the agenda until such time as the information was received. Also, Mr. Orlove noted that the sense of the Board in the previous meeting was to have the name of Intracoastal Park remain the same. Chair Pierce verified that the Board members still wished to do this and when they indicated that they did, stated that she would send a recommendation to that effect in a letter to the City Manager. Coastal Cleanup - Chair Pierce Chair Pierce stated that she had participated in the Coastal Cleanup the previous weekend and picked up four bags of trash at Boat Club Park and four bags of trash at Mangrove Park. She felt that the Cleanup ought to be extended to allow organizations such as the Inlet Cove Association (INCA) to participate, especially at Mangrove Park. They were not able to pick up trash at Intracoastal Park since the contractor stated that the site was not finished yet. Mr. Wildner indicated that before leaving the site, the Meeting Minutes Recreation and Parks Board Boynton Beach, Florida September 22, 2003 contractor would be cleaning up much of the debris that could currently be seen at Intracoastal Park. Chair Pierce did not believe the debris resulted from the contractor's work but was bottles and cans that had floated in from the Intracoastal Waterway. She thought that the Intracoastal Park should be made as free of debris as possible before the proposed Opening ceremonies on October :[7 and that the weekend of October 11 would be the logical time to do this. Chair Pierce mentioned that the Coastal Cleanup would be held on the third Saturday of September in 2004 and the Great American Cleanup on May :[. The Board discussed ways to get more volunteers and suggestions were made to offer the opportunity to people living near the coast, the Boy Scouts, area ministers, high school students, and people in need of performing of public service. Chair Pierce asked Mr. Wildner to prepare a letter soliciting help in the cleanup efforts and if the response is sufficient, the cleanup could be done under some sort of Adopt-a-Spot or Adopt-a-Park program instead of or in conjunction with the Great American Cleanup. Mr. Wildner stated that Adopt-a-Spot could be done in municipalities as well as in the County. D. Items for the City Manager's Attention Earlier in the meeting, the Board decided to send a recommendation to the City Manager about the naming of Intracoastal Park. The sense of the Board is to leave the name as Intracoastal Park. E. Park Adoption - Pam Winters Ms. Winters visited Oceanfront Park and noticed that the waves were very high on Sunday and she inquired about using ATVs to get to people. Paul Gordon, the Beach Manager, said that the ATVs were currently out of commission and that it was a problem because it takes a long time to run to the people who are having trouble. She wondered if there was enough money in the budget to purchase new ATVs. Mr. Majors commented that they had two ATVs but that they were very vulnerable to damage by the elements of sun and salt. Ms. Winters asked the lifeguards if they had a defibrillator and the response was affirmative but it was of the older style. The lifeguards hoped that they could get the newer, smaller version. The consensus of people at the beach that she asked was that the meals offered at the Beach Concession were terrible and this was Ms. Winters' opinion as well. IVlr. Majors indicated that the same vendor won the bid the last time and had two more years to go. Mr. Wildner stated that there were not any other vendors who were serious about getting the business. IVlr. Majors stated that they monitor the situation and that the concession has quite a following of people who like the concession's offerings. Meeting Minutes Recreation and Parks Board Boynton Beach, Florida September 22, 2003 The .lunior Lifeguard program has 24 spots filled and hope to have 30 by spring and summer of 2004. The program is running smoothly and they will let the Board know if they are in need of assistance for any reason. Mr. Gordon will keep Ms. Winters informed and she will inform the Board. Ms. Winters stated that everything else at the Beach was run very well and that the playgrounds were clean and tidy. F. Monthly Report Ms. Thomas asked why Mae Volen had cut back on the number of lunches being served at the Senior Center. Mr. Majors thought it was related to the state of the economy and the budget issues at the State level. All grant-funded programs are experiencing cutbacks. Ms. Thomas asked who makes the decision about who gets a free lunch and who has to pay $1.50. Mr. Majors stated that the staff at the Senior Center was knowledgeable about their clientele and dealt with this issue with great sensitivity. someone is unable to pay, staff always finds a way to accommodate them. V. New Business A. Updating Park Assignments Mr. Orlove stated that in light of Ms. Winters' active role in Oceanfront Park, he would be open for an assignment and would get back to the Board with a choice of park. B. Smoking Discussion Chair Pierce commented that now that smokers had been forced outside, there were more cigarette butts on the ground. She commented on the number of them she picked up over at Boat Club Park during the recent cleanup. She suggested trash cans with sand on top be installed so that people could extinguish their cigarettes in them. The maintenance crew could scoop out the used cigarettes on their regular cleaning rounds. She thought there should be one at each pavilion, for example. Mr. Orlove suggested having one of these at places that were used a lot like Oceanfront Park. Mr. Wildner was dubious about whether people would actually go to a central place to extinguish their cigarettes when they were actually sitting on sand. However, staff will experiment with various ideas to help alleviate the problem. C. .Jaycee Park Mr. Wildner reported that the City Manager was working with the County to join forces to purchase .laycee Park. Staff is pursuing grants for the purchase also. Florida ]:nland Navigation District, the current owner of .]aycee Park, wishes to see the Park go into 4 Meeting Minutes Recreation and Parks Board Boynton Beach, Florida September 22, 2003 public hands and so far, the City is the most interested party. The County is desirous of getting more boat ramps and to turn .laycee Park, a passive park with green space, into a parking lot for trailers would be less than desirable from the City's point of view. The City prepared a preliminary master plan showing this area as a destination park with some docks where the boats could stop and use the restrooms and picnic area. This would allow boaters to use the land but not turn the land into a parking lot for boat trailers. D. Grants Overview Mr. Wildner announced that the official notification came that the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) will give the City funding of $440K in 2005-06 to extend Palmetto Greens Park along the south side of the C-16 Canal, as a Greenways/Bikeways project. This will be a major step for the Greenways/Bikeways program. E. Park Impact Fees Mr. Wildner stated that there used to be a dedication requirement when a developer would dedicate a certain amount of land to the City or a fee in lieu of land, based on the amount of property involved. The dollar amount required was getting to be very high so the City Commission directed staff to come up with an alternative formula for collecting fees. Staff devised a fee-based formula and dropped the land dedication feature. The fee was based on the cost of developing parks rather than the land. This pleased the developers. Chair Pierce asked where the impact fee money went. Mr. Wildner replied that it went into the Impact Fee Account and was designated for park and recreation facilities. The City's share of the development of ]~ntracoastal Park was about $600K and that money came from fees collected on the property adjacent to it. Chair Pierce mentioned a hotel next to Boat Club Park for sale for $350K. She thought that this would allow the expansion of Boat Club Park and would be a good place for park impact fee monies to go. VZ. New Business IVlr. Orlove brought up the General Obligation Bond issue coming up in the November election. He is on the Citizens Advisory Committee, which is made up of members from each of the advisory boards. Three of the four projects are Park and Recreation projects: Senior Center, Wilson Pool, and the Art Center. He asked the Board members to do what they could to encourage people to vote in favor of the bond issue. Even though there is an $11M General Obligation Bond Referendum, the City is seeking Revenue Bonds for $8M in projects. A large part of those projects are Park and Recreation oriented also. The Committee brainstormed ways to increase participation in the vote and they will be contacting the various Neighborhood Associations to speak Meeting Minutes Recreation and Parks Board Boynton Beach, Florida September 22, 2003 about this. Mr. Wildner noted that League of Women Voters had given their endorsement of the bonds and projects. Mr. Orlove commented that the League would also have a Speaker's Bureau that could go out. Mr. Orlove asked if the City would move forward on the Revenue Bonds if the General Obligation Bonds did not pass. Mr. Wildner responded that Revenue Bonds could be authorized by the City Commission, but General Obligation Bonds come from property taxes and require a referendum of the voters. VII. Next Meeting The next meeting will be on October 27 at the Senior Center. VIII, Adjournment Since there was no further business before the Board, the meeting was duly adjourned at 8:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Collins Recording Secretary (092403)