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Minutes 10-27-08 MINUTES OF THE RECREATION AND PARKS MEETING HELD ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2008 AT 6:30 P.M. AT BOAT CLUB PARK, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT: Betty Pierce-Roe, Chair Bill Orlove, Vice Chair John Allard (arrived 6:35 p.rn.) Robert Lapin Janelle Sloan Jody Rivers, Parks Superintendent ABSENT: John McVey I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Pierce-Roe called the meeting to order at 6:34 p.m. II. ATTENDANCE Chair Pierce-Roe called the roll. A quorum was present. Chair Pierce-Roe noted both Mr. Lapin's and Mr. Allard's membership on the Board was due to expire in December. Ms. Rivers, Parks Superintendent, announced the City Clerk sent letters to Mr. Lapin, Mr. Allard and Chair Pierce-Roe regarding renewing their membership. Mr. Lapin advised he had already submitted his application. Mr. Allard arrived at 6:35 p.m. Ms. Rivers announced that John Allard was a new "Dad." The members congratulated him on the arrival of his new son, Jack, born on October 8, 2008, weighing 8 pounds, 12 ounces and measuring approximately 18.5 inches. His wife was doing well, and he reported the baby was also sleeping well (for the most part.) III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM: September 22, 2008 There were no changes made to the minutes. Motion Ms. Sloan moved to approve the minutes of September 22, 2008. Vice Chair Orlove seconded the motion that unanimously passed. 1 Meeting Minutes Recreation and Parks Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida October 27,2008 IV. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. CIP Update (review plans of upcoming projects) Ms. Rivers reported the replacement of the picnic shelters and restroom at Boat Club Park should be in the final design stages this week and they would submit the plans for a second review permitting. They hoped to commence work at the Park in December or January. The replacement of the playground equipment at the Park would be ordered later in the week and the delivery of the equipment would take six to eight weeks. Some replacement landscaping occurred at the Park using Capital Improvement Plan funds. The Park would also receive two more benches. Most of the Capital Improvement Plan funds would be applied towards Intracoastal Park. When Intracoastal Park was designed, the Recreation and Parks Department purchased much of the equipment and many of the elements inexpensively. They now needed to be replaced. The benches were dilapidated. Ms. Rivers advised they would use powder coat products in the future and reported they have had success with them at Jaycee Park. The cost would be about $95,000. Two playgrounds would have equipment replaced this year; one was at Palmetto Green Park and the other at Oceanfront Park. The conditions at the Parks did not allow the playgrounds to last as long and Ms. Rivers explained they would use a different design plan at both Parks in an attempt to have the items last longer. The plans for the replacement of the boardwalk at Oceanfront Park were sent to the Department of Environmental Protection for their first permit review. Comments were received back and the consultant was responding to the comments, which would be resubmitted to the Department of Environmental Protection. The budget for the project was $2.4 million. Ms. Rivers advised Friday was the last day for the concessionaire at the beach, but they would issue an emergency temporary request for quotes to allow a vendor to service the beach until they could obtain another quote. She reported the first quote failed and they would issue the emergency request because the normal process would take too long. The City did not want to miss the beach season and they contacted some vendors that could accommodate the need. Comments had also been received from the Department of Environmental Protection regarding Jaycee Park. The plans were fine, but there were comments received from the South Florida Water Management District regarding footings and they were struggling to respond to the comments. The City had avoided the sea grass area at the park; however, the South Florida Water Management District indicated those areas may be a sea grass area in the future. Ms. Rivers reported it was becoming increasing difficult to build on the water. The boardwalk width was reduced from eight-feet to five- feet and was approximately 100-feet long. 2 Meeting Minutes Recreation and Parks Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida October 27, 2008 The Recreation and Parks Department has 28 capital projects this year, with most of them being small projects requiring maintenance. The Congress Avenue Community Park was a $2.9 million Park. Recreation and Parks received $136,000 from the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Plan, $200,000 from a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant and County Commissioner Bob Kanjian provided $150,000 to be used for a water feature the City would try to blend in with a fake stream. The last meeting with the consultants was scheduled for Thursday and then the plans would be value engineered to determine what would be put into the bid as an add-alternate and how to incorporate the water feature. The grants and City funds totaled $2.9 million, which they anticipated was enough to do the first phase. Ms. Rivers explained the construction costs have fluctuated and they needed to obtain a new estimate. Vice Chair Orlove inquired whether the first phase included a general use building. Ms. Rivers responded the City Commission had allowed Recreation and Parks to use $75,000 of the funds to hire a consultant to help develop a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization. The non-profit organization would be the fundraising arm of Recreation and Parks and the building would be the first part of the project. She hoped they would find a generous donor. A Request for Proposal should be issued within the next few weeks and the process would last about two to three months. Congress Avenue Community Park was a Barrier Free Park which would be used by individuals of all ages, with all types of abilities and disabilities. The public could use the facility on an equal basis regardless of age or ability and without limitation. Ms. Rivers reported they have seen these types of playgrounds before, but never an entire park. The concept was exciting. The park was located next to the tennis courts. Ms. Rivers announced they were working with a group of local wheelchair tennis players, and they wanted to draw them into the project because the park had four composite courts. Vice Chair Orlove inquired whether they would see final drawings of the final layout. Ms. Rivers explained the drawings had been presented months ago and they were working on the details. She agreed; however, to bring them back to the Board as not all members of the Board had viewed them. The construction drawings were almost complete. They had a design consultant team who put together the conceptual design and now were drafting the construction drawings for the Park. The second consultant was to establish the 501 (c)3 to raise funds for the rest of the Park. The development of the Park was contingent on the fundraising, so there was no schedule. She noted there were different elements a person could gift to the City. An example of this was if an individual wanted to donate funds for a sensory garden, they could gift it and it would be constructed. As to the other Capital Improvement Plan Projects, Ms. Rivers noted most of them were roof replacements, resurfacing, sealing of parking lots and other maintenance type 3 Meeting Minutes Recreation and Parks Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida October 27, 2008 projects. The full Capital Improvement Plan projects were still being reviewed by the Finance Department; however, Ms. Rivers would bring the information to the Board at the next meeting. B. New Park Development Ms. Rivers explained the Board made a recommendation, at the previous meeting, to develop Quantum Park as opposed to Meadows/Nautica Park. The City Manager received the letter from the Board and responded to them with an invitation to make a presentation on November 18, 2008, regarding why they feel Quantum would make a better park than Meadows/Nautica. Ms. Rivers inquired who the Board representative would be. After brief discussion it was decided that Vice Chair Orlove would make the presentation and he invited interested members to assist him and attend the meeting as well. Ms. Rivers distributed information and a draft of a Commission memo given to Commissioner Ross about Eco Parks and Eco Tourism, the benefits of them and a site layout and concept for the park. Vice Chair Orlove felt the presentation was more about why they would construct the one park and not the other in District 4 and he wanted to receive the salient points from the previous meeting and the Agenda Item. Additionally, he wanted to be able to present some history, and show there was an origin to the Park. It was noted Angela Budano had made a presentation to the Board some years ago regarding an Eco Park and Garden and the project was put on a back burner due to funds availability. The Board liked the project and had toured the site. Chair Pierce-Roe noted the Board could show the waterway and greenway, which they had been discussing for seven or 10 years. This would be completing part of a project that the Board had been interested in and everyone could use. Vice Chair Orlove requested receiving that information so he could use it as part of the presentation. Ms. Rivers recalled Ms. Budano had recently received training in community gardening, and how to start gardens from scratch which she presented to the Board in April 2006. Shortly after, the same developer that developed Knollwood Park for the City approached them indicating they needed draining around the Quantum site area, and he inquired if they could do the same thing there as they did at Knollwood Park. Vice Chair Orlove requested some of those salient points also. Ms. Rivers agreed to provide that information to him. The park was considered a passive park with walking trails, kayaking and blueways. Active parks were considered soccer fields and baseball fields. Chair Pierce-Roe noted that currently, the emphasis was on going green and eco events. She noted Palm Beach Junior College has Florida Power and Light donating monies to get their Green initiative going. Quantum Park was located near L.A Fitness between High Ridge Road and Congress Avenue backing up on Miner Road. There was a waterway there. If the initiative passed, they proposed to have the main entrance off Miner Road. Ms. Rivers advised they would need to hold public meetings for neighborhood input. The plan was just 4 Meeting Minutes Recreation and Parks Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida October 27, 2008 conceptual. The park sits next to a 30-acre site zoned Conservation that was owned by Quantum. It was hoped they could partner with Quantum for additional trails. The biggest challenge was all terrain vehicle use, which was tearing up the property. It was noted All Terrain Vehicles owners and motorcyclists often use vacant property, and there was no way to prevent it or enforce it. The property had Conservation qualities with Gopher Tortoises and Sand Pine Scrub on the premises. Ms. Rivers would send the needed information, including history and dates to all the members. This item would be an agenda item under the City Managers Review. Other members of the Board expressed interest in attending the meeting. It was noted the time of the meeting was 6:30 p.m. C. "Be Green, Halloween Clean" Ms. Rivers explained the Sand Sifters and Gary Solomon were a group of volunteers that started doing a monthly beach cleanup. The effort has grown to include three clean-ups per month and they have cleanup events at Intracoastal Park, Gulfstream, and Hammock Park usually involving 100 and 150 participants. They have received sponsorships and have partnered with Palm Beach County, Ocean Ridge, Gumbo Limbo, Sandaway House, and the City. The event at the beach, held earlier this month, was Be Green, Halloween Clean. It was attended by the City's recreation leaders. Halloween Olympics, costume contests and gourd paintings took place. The event was attended by about 150 residents. The November event would be a canned goods food drive, which would be donated to the Community Caring Center. The December event was to bring a gift, which would be donated to either the Community Caring Center or Toys for Tots. The organization came to them looking for support and they have given so much in return they like to give them as much recognition as possible. The January event would be "Help Beautify, Get a Slice of Pie" and would be a beautification effort. Last year there were 800 slices of pie. V. NEW BUSINESS A. Meeting Schedule - November and December Ms. Rivers inquired if the members would like to change the meeting date for November and December. Ms. Rivers polled the members and it was agreed the meeting date for November would remain. The November meeting would be held at Intracoastal Park. The members discussed the December meeting date and thought December 15th might be more convenient. Ms. Rivers would check the date and let the members know. 5 Meeting Minutes Recreation and Parks Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida October 27, 2008 B. Monthly Report Not all the members had received the September Monthly Report. Vice Chair Orlove had a question about the August Monthly Report, as it pertained to events at Intracoastal Park. He inquired if the facility was used for City business programs. Ms. Rivers confirmed it was. He noted there were two rentals listed on the report and inquired if there was a method to determine if the facility was doing well. Ms. Rivers responded it takes about a year before they can gauge whether the facility rentals were successful and she agreed they should start to monitor the facility use. Rental information could be put in FunFare Magazine and aired on the Boynton Beach TV Channel. Ms. Rivers requested the members confirm their contact information. Mr. Lapin noted there was an extra zero on his telephone number. Ms. Rivers would pass the information on to the City Clerk. C. Items for the City Managers Attention None. VI. NEXT MEETING: 6:30 p.m., November 24, 2008 Vice Chair Orlove inquired about the date of the Holiday Parade. Ms. Rivers would check and respond back to the Board. VII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, the meeting properly adjourned at 7: 13 p.m. JCL-t/\i/0JVlC 0 J"--VlJL(;{ Catherine Cherry 0 Recording Secretary 102908 6