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Minutes 01-26-04MTNUTES OF THE RECREATION AND PARKS BOARD REGULAR t4EETING HELD AT THE ART CENTER~ 125 SE 2nd AVENUE~ BOYNTON BEACH~ FLORIDA~ ON t4ONDAY~ 3ANUARY 26~ 2004 AT 7:00 P. Pl. Present Elizabeth Pierce, Chair William Orlove, Vice Chair Margaret Murphy Bali Ramnarace Betty Thomas Tom Williams Jack McVey, Alternate Pamela Winters, Alternate Absent David Tolces, Assistant City Attorney Wally IVlajors, Recreation & Parks Director John Wildner, Deputy Recreation & Parks Director Lisa Peterfreund z. Call to Order Chair Pierce called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. II. Attendance Chair Pierce called the roll and noted any absences. She welcomed Assistant City Attorney David Tolces to the meeting. TT]. Approval of Minutes of November 17 and December 16~ 2003 There were no changes, additions, or deletions to the minutes, which were approved as written. Motion. Ms. Murphy moved to approve the minutes of the November 17 and December 16 meetings. Mr, Orlove seconded the motion that carried unanimously. IV. City Attorney Presentation - Sunshine Law Attorney Tolces explained that the City Attorney has requested that all the City Boards be provided with updates on three areas of Florida law dealing with Boards as follows: Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Boynton Beach, Florida .lanuary 26, 2004 (1) the Sunshine Law; (2) the Public Records Law; and (3) the Code of Ethics. Prior to Attorney Tolces beginning his presentation, he distributed a copy of pertinent provisions of the Florida Statutes. The Sunshine Law provides that all public meetings and records be open to the public. Attorney Tolces explained that the Recreation & Park Board is a public body of the City of Boynton Beach. Therefore, the provisions of Section 286.011 of the Florida Statutes govern this Board. This statute provides access for the citizens to their government. This applies to any meeting or gathering of any two or more members of the same board to discuss a matter that would deal with any action that might come before the Board that required some kind of action. The members will make decisions based on the information presented to them and not on any outside influences. Meetings must be noticed publicly and minutes must be taken. The Recreation & Park Board meetings are noticed by the City Clerk's Office and that office provides the Recording Secretary to take the minutes of the meeting. Two or members are discouraged from discussing any Board issues among themselves. If two or more Board members discuss anything among themselves outside of the meeting, they could be found to be in violation of the Sunshine Laws. The law provides for certain non-criminal penalties to be imposed up to $500 and under some circumstances, criminal penalties could be imposed as a misdemeanor. Attorney Tolces also noted that the law provides that all minutes of the meeting are to be available for public inspection. Sometimes written communication among Board members, including E-mail, could also be considered a violation of the Sunshine Law. All meetings must be open to the public, with the doors open, and anybody can come in. The Board is prohibited from meeting in a private place where access has to be secured from a security guard to enter. Reasonable notice is at least 24 hours, but normally 72 hours or more is provided. Minutes must be available to the public for review at anytime. The Public Records Law is covered in Section 119.011(1) of the Florida Statutes. Section 1 .A. states that all public records are open and available to the public unless an exemption is provided. Anything that Board members see and possess as it relates to the functions, duties and actions of this Board is considered a public record and must be made available to the public for inspection. Therefore, all the information in the agenda packet or any correspondence or letters received regarding any issues is public record. If any Board member receives any kind of communication from anyone associated with a matter that would be coming before the Board, this is also public record and should be forwarded to the Board Liaison for distribution to the other Board members. A copy must be given to the City Clerk's office as well, who will maintain the information in accordance with the records management laws of the State. Attorney Tolces remarked 2 Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Boynton Beach, Florida January 26, 2004 that the notes taken by Board members during a meeting were also considered public record and would have to be produced if requested. All requests for public records should be submitted to the City Clerk's Office. That office will contact the appropriate department or individual to ensure that the request is responded to in a timely manner. There are also potential civil and criminal penalties for not complying with the Public Records Act. If a person files suit against the City for failure to produce public records and the court finds that the City did violate the Public Records Act, the City would be liable for the attorney fees for that individual. Ethics In Government is covered in Chapter 112 of the State of Florida Statutes that deals with the Board's obligation to vote as a member of a public body. Section 112.3143 provides in detail the Board's obligation on voting unless a member has a conflict. A conflict usually occurs when a Board member would personally gain or lose financially, or a relative, family member, business partner, or associate would also stand to gain or lose financially from a matter before the Board. This is the only time a member may abstain from voting. Forms are provided by the City Clerk's Office that must be completed and filed when a member abstains from voting and the reason for abstaining must be listed. The forms must be completed within fifteen days of the vote. The reason for the Code of Ethics is to avoid any appearance of impropriety. If any Board member has any question on whether they should vote on a matter because of a potential conflict, they should contact the City Attorney's Office. Because the City Attorney's Office represents the City and the Boards, but not the individual members of the Boards, if any member feels that they may have done something, contrary to the City Attorney's advice, it would be beneficial to obtain their own attorney in those instances. Attorney Tolces explained that the City Attorney's office is always available to answer any questions and can be contacted at 561-742-6050. Attorney Tolces gave practical examples of some of the points in his presentation, saying that a Board member could call another Board member and ask if they were going to the meeting, but could not ask that person how they planned to vote on a certain issue before the Board. If the Board members refrain from discussing Board business outside the confines of the Board meeting, they can avoid trouble and any appearance of impropriety. Also, A person cannot be used as a conduit to get information to another Board member. For example, you cannot ask Wally Majors to call another Board member to see how they are going to vote on an issue and provide you with that information. Mr. Orlove asked Attorney Tolces a question about a potential conflict in serving on the Task Force for the Old High School and being a member of this Board. Also, his wife will be teaching a class he wants to have taught at the Old High School. Attorney Tolces Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Boynton Beach, Florida January 26, 2004 said that although it appeared to be a potential conflict, he would need to look into it more deeply. Chair Pierce and the Board members thanked Attorney Tolces for his very informative presentation. V. Unfinished Business A. Senior Center Mr. Majors stated that construction had begun for the Senior Center computer and fitness rooms and that they should be complete in 180 days. Staff is investigating the feasibility of establishing a membership system at the Senior Center, charging non-residents a fee to participate. Preliminary discussions are taking place. The hope is that people can be served through the food program, regardless of whether or not they are members. The meal program is provided through the Department of Elder Affairs and is from a Federal grant. Staff wants to insure that they do not contradict any stipulations involved with the disbursement of the grant funds. The non-members will be appropriately identified. There are over 3,000 registered members and even with the interior renovations, at some point there may have to be limited enrollment. Since 9 out of 10 activities are free at the Center, the consensus at the moment is that the non-residents should be asked to play a role in offsetting some of the costs at the Center. Ms. Thomas thought the City was already charging non- residents for programs. Mr. Majors said that for any program that has a fee, the policy is that non-residents are charged 25% of all program fees. When programs have a fee, it is only to recoup the cost of the program. Out of 3,000 members, there are only about 200 members who are paying for some type of program. The residents offset costs through their property taxes, but non-residents do not. The City wants the non- residents to participate, but wants that participation to be as fair as possible. Chair Pierce asked if donations were required to use the City's meeting rooms. Mr. Majors said there was a nominal fee, which is higher for groups who live outside the City limits. B. Adopt-a-Spot - Advisory Board on Children & Youth Mr. Majors reported that the Advisory Board on Children & Youth was also involved in Adopt-a-Spot at Rolling Green Elementary School, Mr. Dan DeCarlo is in charge of the annual Great American Cleanup and Mr. Wildner said that he had applications for interested persons to fill out and return to Mr. DeCarlo by February 1. T-shirts, bags, and gloves will be provided. 4 Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Boynton Beach, Florida January 26, 2004 In Adopt-a-Spot, any type of group can get together to clean up a specific location 4X a year. Chair Pierce was hoping that this Board could send a letter to the homeowners' associations in or near the City's parks, encouraging the residents to adopt their neighborhood park. Tn Riviera Beach, the City took over a particular spot from the County, and the County assisted by providing bags, gloves, and so forth. Chair Pierce thought it would be nice if the City of Boynton Beach could take over some spots from the County via Adopt-a-Spot. Mr. DeCarlo will give the Board addresses of homeowners' associations. She suggested that a letter might say, "Here is some information about Adopt-a-Spot. Would you be interested in this? Tf so, please contact us and we will try to get some information together." She envisioned the Board putting this before the City Commission with a show of community interest, and asking for the backing of the City Commission to take it even further. Chair Pierce introduced an interested citizen who wants to see the arts integrated in the parks, by showcasing the work of different artists. She was directed to the Arts Commission under Ms. Virginia Farace at the Library. She was also interested in the park near her home. Chair Pierce noted her address so that she could mail the information about Adopt-a-Spot to her when it was available. B. Old High School Mr. Orlove reported that as part of the Capital l~mprovement Projects that were discussed at the City Commission meeting last month, it was decided that the Old High School would be stabilized at a cost of about $300K, which would go toward redoing the roof and doing the air conditioning. The engineer thought these were the critical issues that had to be stabilized before anything else could be done. After this, the project goes back into the City's hands. Mr. Orlove believes that the Commission is in agreement that the building should be saved but is concerned about where the money would come from to renovate the entire building. Ms. Thomas asked Mr. Orlove about the use discussion pertaining to the Old High School, and he commented that it was still up in the air. The task force asked the City to reinstate the task force with a charge of coming up with a plan for the building as part of its recommendation to the Commission, but as of today, they have not decided to move forward with that recommendation. The task force is now waiting for the City to come back to the task force and give them a charge, or for the City to take it over, or for the City to say the CRA should take it over. Also, there were tests that were done to check for asbestos and lead paint, both of which came back negative. Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Boynton Beach, Florida .lanuary 26, 2004 VZ. New Business A. Bond Pro_leers Chair Pierce stated that Parks 8, Recreation projects had fared well in the latest Capital Project Plan review. This might mean that the Board will be very busy and there might be a call for extra meetings. Ms. Murphy stated that Chair Pierce and Bill Orlove did a terrific job in presenting the desired projects to the City Commission. ~ Jaycee Park Mr. Majors gave a quick summary of the approximately $14M in approved capital projects. The City is still working with the State on the actual cost of .laycee Park. One of the obligations incurred from asking the County for support is that they expect certain amenities to be included in the park such as day docks, a boardwalk, and some type of educational kiosk or pavilions. The City is asking the County for $1M. The City allocated $2M for this in its workshop following the failure of the Bond issue, but this has not happened yet. Depending on the final sale price, the City will probably have to spend at least $3M for the property. Putting in the amenities desired by the County would come to between $500K and $900K. Staff will also seek grant funding from Florida Forever who requires 50/50 matches. Part of the matching could be the $1M from the County. Lawrence Road/Nautica Park Mr. Majors reported that this project is a retention area owned by the City where the County's Engineering Department wants the City to collect stormwater. The County is driving the project financially, but the City will put a small-scale path around it with some littoral plantings, at the request of the homeowners in the Nautica subdivision. The littoral plantings will probably attract wild birds, which could be very nice. ]> S.E. Neighborhood Park Mr. Majors reported that they were proceeding with the development of the 2.5 acres of property on the southern end of the old Zill property and that bids would go out in the next two to three months. The City has been trying to obtain the additional land from Mr. Zill, but he decided to turn the remaining land over to developers for estate homes. These would be homes on larger lots that would retain some of Mr. Zill's mango trees. Senior Center Phase III Mr. Majors reported that the Commission had allocated $650K for Phase III and this last and final phase would begin upon the completion of Phase II. 6 Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Boynton Beach, Florida January 26, 2004 Wilson Park and Pool This is the high dollar item of the capital projects. The City is expecting a design proposal from an engineering firm very soon. Some land acquisition issues remain and must be resolved. The entire Center will be redone from scratch. The new one is envisioned to be about ::[2,000 square feet, with two floors with a Floribbean theme. The pool footprint will be retained, but the pool will be brought up to date in terms of the amenities. There will be a beach-type entry into the water and so forth. > Ezell Hester Center At the Ezell Hester Center, a pedestrian path will be made and a fence replaced beside the baseball field. Clubhouse at Intracoastal Park Mr. Wildner stated that this project did make the list. Mr. Majors stated that the Wilson Center and Pool project was the highest priority, but that he hoped that some of the other projects such as this one could be started in the near future. General City Improvements 1) Sealing many of the City's parking lots 2) Redoing the boardwalk at the beach 3) Redoing viewing/fishing pier with ironwood Mr. Williams asked when the Field House at Ezell Hester Center would be finished. According to Mr. Majors, staff had advised him that FP & L was either doing that or had done it already. Mr. Williams said that he had been over there and it had not been finished yet and Mr. Majors will find out when it will be done. Mr. Majors offered to meet with anyone who wanted more information about any project. He wants the Board members to be as informed a possible. Desired Proiects Not Included in Current Plan Mr. Wildner was hopeful that the Spray Playground at Intracoastal Park could still be accomplished through grants. It is still on the Master Plan for this location. Ms. Murphy asked why the Monthly Report referred to the amount of grass in Intracoastal Park being reduced. Mr. Wildner responded that the City was exploring ways of reducing water consumption by taking turf away from around trees, having clusters of trees in mulched areas, and changing from spray irrigation to drip irrigation. Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Boynton Beach, Florida .lanuary 26, 2004 :It was not intended to take turf away from areas that would be used for play or activities. C. Greenways/Bikeways Mr. Wildner stated that the Greenways/Bikeways project had to take a step back during the City's deliberations on capital projects. Prior to the bond issue, $1M had been designated for the Greenways/Bikeways project. That $1M was removed from the project and this will affect quite a few people who are very interested in this project. The advocates of the project might have to consider other alternatives. Chair Pierce stated that the City Commission was once again looking to the Board to explain why the program is important. She felt that the Board should stand behind it. She commented that Commissioner Ensler had asked to see a presentation. Mr. Orlove stated that at the workshop, Commissioner McCray also expressed interest in seeing a plan. Mr. Orlove stated that there was a plan, but the City Commission had not seen it. He mentioned the many public meetings that had been held on this topic and believed that it was now time to make a formal presentation to the City Commission. Mr. Wildner agreed with Mr. Orlove. He showed the Board members a map of the City showing locations for a Greenways/Bikeways network throughout the City. The trail begins at the C-16 Canal at the Palmetto Greens Park. The bikeway path in this park is adjacent to the Canal. This path helped to revitalize a neighborhood that had been in trouble by improving the landscaping of the homeowners' backyards. The pathway is south of the canal on the east side of Seacrest Boulevard. :[t extends to the East of the F.E.C. Railroad and the plan has been and still is to extend that bikeway along the C-16 Canal to :[-95 and then continue at some point on the other side of :[-95. :[n the long- range plan, a pedestrian bridge would lead out to the western areas. The map shows the remaining green space that could be incorporated into the connections and bikeways/pathways. There were a number of public meetings to settle the specifics of the Plan. Staff has been working with the developers who have been asked to voluntarily give up some land in favor of green space. Mr. Wildner referred to the Motorola land where a mixed- use project of residences and shops is underway. Based on the preliminary plans, the advocates of the program were able to convince the developer to incorporate some bypass and connections east of Congress Avenue and Motorola. There is another canal, that runs north and south called the E-4 Canal and some of those bikeways and green space will be adjacent to that canal. That is an example of working with the developer to provide green space. Not all developers are that cooperative. One of the problems in working with the developers informally is that they do not really want to give up the property. Some people have asked whether there could be a mechanism for convincing 8 Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Boynton Beach, Florida .lanuary 26, 2004 developers to give this property. That was probably why this project was taking so long to get before the City Commission. It is a controversial subject. They have been struggling with that aspect of it. Some other issues are that the F.E.C. Railroad has leased a right-of-way to the City for a fairly nominal amount of money to permit beautification. It may be possible to coordinate with the F.E.C. Railroad to build a bike path through their right-of-way and add landscaping to it. There have been some projects like this in Boca Raton. There is a fence that is placed adjacent to the railroad tracks that separates the pedestrians and bicyclists from the railroad. He had seen it and thought it could work. IVls. Winters stated that they had them throughout Florida and it was called Rails to Trails. IVlr. Wildner referred to the $1M that was taken from this project, saying that they had planned to use this as seed money to get additional property and use it to match other grant monies they could get from the State. This is a transportation-related issue and as such, there are monies available from a program called T-21 that would allow the bikeway to be built. They have received the transportation funding, but will not be able to use it for four more years. The $1M they were talking about getting was going to allow them to build it now and get reimbursed when the transportation funding became available. The rest of the $1M was going to go towards buying additional pieces of property adjacent to the greenways/bikeways or natural areas and right now, there is no way to do that. IVlr. Wildner believes that the Bikeways/Greenways Plan had to get from this Board to the City Commission so they could discuss it. He suggested that the Board might want to pass a Resolution saying that it approves the Plan as it is and wants to move it forward to the City Commission to discuss. :It was generally felt that the Commissioners and City Manager needed more information and that it was up to the Board to provide it. There was also a feeling that some other groups might have to get involved such as the Planning & Zoning and Code Compliance Divisions. After a lengthy discussion, the Board decided that it wanted to meet with Mr. Bressner to discuss this prior to moving it ahead to the City Commission so it could determine his views on the proper venue/board to move this project forward, and to understand his views on this issue in general. The Board felt that this was a quality of life issue in general and that if the City expected to incorporate some 20K more people in the near future, they would have to have areas to recreate and have parks. IVlr. Orlove commented that the City needed to provide space for a growing community that could go places that did not require a car and that allowed a person to get out of his car and walk or bike through neighborhoods. The safety issue of people biking on the public highways was discussed. 9 Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Boynton Beach, Florida .lanuary 26, 2004 IVlr. Wildner commented that one of the reasons the plan was being proposed was so that people did not have to bicycle on the road. Mr. Ramnarace was in favor of having the City insist that developers incorporate green space and links to existing or proposed Greenways/Bikeways paths in their projects and that this should be enforced by the Code Enforcement Division. Motion Mr. Orlove moved to include under the Items for the City Manager's attention that the Board requests that Mr. Bressner attend one of its future meetings, hopefully in February, to have a discussion on the Greenways/Bikeways project. Ms. Murphy seconded the motion that carried unanimously. Mr. Wildner added that if the Board could show how the acquisition of Jaycee Park would link up with other parks, it could probably gain more "points" on the grant application. For some time, staff had talked about the potential in the future of running a boardwalk along the I/C waterway that may link up as far as Woolbright Road and eventually to perhaps Ocean Avenue, continuing on all the way up to Intracoastal or Boat Club Park. IVls. Murphy thought a lot of that area would be private. Mr. Wildner agreed, saying that there had been discussion over the years that there might be an opportunity to set up cooperative arrangements with some of the private areas that would allow that type of walk to go through. There actually is a boardwalk in a small section of a rental community, Tuscany on the Intracoastal. An agreement was reached with them to allow the public access to it. IVlr. Wildner continued, saying that this was the type of thing that staff thinks could happen. Now, there is movement towards a lot of the coastal condominums because those properties are getting to be quite old, many of them having been developed in the fifties and sixties. Their owners are starting to turn over several times. There is discussion about developers approaching them and saying, "We will pay you, compared to the appraised value of their property, a lot of money to demolish the properties and then build much more expensive properties." Inherent in that redevelopment plan, and the CRA are talking about doing those things, it is possible that we would say, "In return for increased zoning at these locations, you (the developer) must have a boardwalk." That would be part of the mechanism in support of the Greenways/Bikeways project. Mr. Wildner commented that this was a long-range program, perhaps over a 20-30 year period, but he felt strongly that someone had to get these ideas written down so they could be accomplished and so their children could see them come to fruition. l0 Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Boynton Beach, Florida .lanuary 26, 2004 Mr. Wildner asked the Board to consider adding a potential boardwalk that would run from .laycee Park north all the way to Intracoastal Park, having several links, over time, that would connect that property to others. Motion Mr. Orlove moved to endorse the concept of creating a boardwalk from 3aycee Park to Intracoastal Park to further the application on 3aycee Park for the FRDAP grant and include it as part of the Greenways/Bikeways Plan. Ms. Thomas seconded the motion that carried unanimously. D. Monthly Report Already addressed. E. Cemetery Ms. Murphy asked that this item be put on the Agenda. She thought it was important to discuss this because she understood that the Cemetery Board wanted to expand into Little League Field. She did not think that should happen and she also felt that the City should get out of the cemetery business. She did not know if Mr. Wildner needed information from the Board about its wishes in this matter, since he would be going to the Cemetery Board meeting on the following night. IVlr. Wildner stated that staff had discussed having a joint meeting between the Cemetery Board and the Recreation and Park Board to discuss this item. Mr. Wildner has been an advisor to the Cemetery Board as long as he had been an Advisor to the Recreation and Park Board, so he understood the issue from both sides. He was asked by consensus of the groups involved to prepare a recommendation for the Cemetery Board. They had done recommendations in the past but the Cemetery Board had a different composition at the time and some people on the Board were especially interested in expanding into Little League Park. The people in favor of this have now left the Board and he felt that this Board had an opportunity to make a new recommendation to the effect that the Recreation and Park Board no longer had the desire that the Cemetery expand into Little League Park. Mr. Wildner prepared a lengthy recommendation memorandum to the Cemetery Board suggesting that the City Commission was well aware that the Cemetery Board had been interested in moving into the Little League Park, which would require the City to demolish it, find and purchase suitable land, and replace the infrastructure, at a cost of $3-4M. :It is unknown where the money for this would come from. The City Commission did not include that expenditure in the current Capital Project Plan. Also, this item has been on the Future Agenda list for about a year. The Cemetery Board has Mr. Wildner's recommendation and is considering it now. 11 Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Boynton Beach, Florida January 26, 200,t The recommendation is that the Cemetery Board seriously consider withdrawing its recommendation for expansion into Little League Park and look seriously at reevaluating the use of the cemetery in terms of the rules. Right now, the prices are very Iow for both City residents and non-residents. Mr. Wildner's suggestion was that they might want to look at some of the rules and say that they had to conserve the amount of space they had for their City residents. He suggested raising the price on gravesites for non-residents so it would no longer be desirable for them to fill up the Cemetery. He suggested looking at ways to intensify the use of the plots. The rule now says you may have full remains in a plot and one additional cremation (cremains) on top of that. This is a normal configuration. Cemeteries up north had been increasing the amount of cremains that can be put in a plot. Chair Pierce said that New York had up to three cremains. Mr. Wildner commented that depending on land conditions, deeper plots were a possibility but the water tables in Florida preclude that. Basically he was suggesting to look at the existing cemetery and find solutions that will extend the life of the cemetery. There is also Sara Sims Memorial Park, which is undergoing redevelopment in the Heart of Boynton. This cemetery does not get much use and is in a poorer section of town. The Heart of Boynton is a redevelopment plan that extends around the whole perimeter of the site. There are some vacant buildings that might be available for demolition that would expand the size of Sara Sims somewhat. They might be able, then, to beautify Sara Sims, and accommodate a lot more graves there. That would be another solution. By consensus and by several previous discussions, the Board reiterated that it did not want the Cemetery to expand into Little League Park. E. Items for the City Manager's Attention The Board would like Mr. Bressner to attend its February meeting to engage in a dialogue about the Greenways/Bikeways issue. VII. Next I~leeting: February 23, 2003 at the Senior Center VIII. Adjournment The issue of starting the meeting earlier will be put on the Agenda for February 23. Ms. Murphy asked why there had been a $5.00 charge to view the Christmas lights this year. Mr. Majors stated that this decision had been made by the Special Events Department. Ms. Murphy wanted her disapproval of this made known. Mr. Majors stated that they had transitioned into one Monthly Report instead of two separate reports for Parks and Recreation. The new format began in December of 2003. 12 Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Boynton Beach, Florida .lanuary 26, 2004 Since there was no further business before the Board, the meeting was duly adjourned at 8:55 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Collins Recording Secretary (020204) 13