Recreation & Parks Advisory Board

Regular Meeting of the Advisory Board of Recreation and Parks Held at the Falls Church Community Center 223 Little Falls Street, Falls Church, Virginia 22046 Minutes March 5, 2014 1. Call to Order Ms. Chandler called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. Members present were Kathy Chandler, Lori LaFave, Rob Meeks, Charley O’Hara, Leslie Rye, and Steve Selby. Staff members present were Danny Schlitt, Director of Recreation & Parks, and Krissy Loerch, Senior Administrative Assistant. 2. Receipt of Public Petitions and Board Member Petitions Ms. Chandler asked if there were any petitions from the public or board members. There were none. 3. Minutes Ms. Rye moved to approve the minutes from the February 5th meeting as amended. Mr. O’Hara seconded the motion. Mr. Meeks and Mr. O’Hara abstained from the vote. Upon voice vote, the motion passed. 4. Recreation Director’s Report • At this time our revenue is slightly above where it was at this point last year. Mr. Schlitt was asked to increase our target revenue next fiscal year. The department generates approximately 60% in revenue of our overall operating budget. • The City experienced two snow storms since the last meeting. It is becoming challenging for our small crew to maintain the areas that we are responsible for clearing snow. The department maintains sidewalks and areas around City Hall, Community Center, Library, Cherry Hill, Gage House, and all other parks. The department could explore adding greater funding to our temporary budget to employ additional people during snow storms. • The youth basketball league is finishing their regular season games and tournaments. The all-star games are starting. • Youth spring soccer registration was successful with 16 more teams registered than last spring. In order to accommodate field space, we will shorten practices for Kindergarten and First grade teams from one hour to 45 minutes. The league will also play regularly scheduled games on Sundays in addition to Saturdays. This year the deadline for Arlington Soccer team registration was two weeks earlier than usual. • The City’s Finance Dept. received a bill from the school system in the amount of $162,000 for Recreation & Parks use of facilities. At this time there is a discrepancy in the hours of use and its correlation to the amount due. Mr. Schlitt is reviewing the time we were billed for and the amount. 5. New Business • None to report 6. Old Business a. Open Space • It is in the CIP budget that the 1.2 million dollars is moving forward to be included in FY 15. • A memo was sent from the advisory board stating that we highly recommend that the open space account continually stay at 2 million dollars at all times. b. CIP (projects) 1. West End Park • Mr. Schlitt received a preliminary quote of $55,000- $85,000 to oversee the construction. Instead of paying an outside contractor to oversee our project, Mr. Schlitt intends to ask Mr. Herman to be the on-site manager. • The Public Works Dept. will have an engineer to available to oversee the technical pieces of the project. • We may not be able to begin construction this summer as anticipated and may have to push it back to this fall. 2. Tennis Courts • The City has a contract and a quote for the court repairs. The City Council has approved the contract since it is over $100,000. • The repairs are schedule to take place in the spring through early summer. • The tennis courts at Cavalier Trail Park will be replaced. The basketball courts at Cavalier, Cherry Hill, Lincoln and Madison parks will be repaired. c. Kenneth R. Burnett sign unveiling • The ceremony will take place on Saturday, June 14th at 12:30 p.m. in front of the Community Center. Current and former City Council Members will be invited. d. Park related proffers • The advisory board strongly recommends that the City develop a comprehensive list of proffers for developers to review upon initially applying. • Mr. Schlitt spoke with other jurisdictions for information on what and how proffers are determined in their communities. • The department with the advice from the advisory board should decide what type of proffer to request as a standard. Options include donating a designated amount to the open space fun or paying for specific park improvements closest to their development. • Mr. O’Hara suggested that every project that is proposed in the City should be reviewed by this advisory board in the initial stage. This includes any projects sent to the Economic Development Committee (EDC). • Ms. Chandler stated that the current process ignores any input from boards and commissions. She would like to see the process revised in a way to allow 2  boards and commissions to be involved as soon as a project is received by the EDC. • The advisory board would like to give input on the Kensington Project to the EDC and requested to attend their next meeting. 7. Other Business • The field turf replacement at George Mason High School was originally scheduled for FY 16 and then moved to FY 17. The Planning Commission is in favor of replacing the field earlier than FY 17 in order to get the maximum years of use out of the new field. • The field has an 8 year warranty and the company who installed it believes the field will last for 10 years. The company will assist in maintaining the field until this September. The field will have to undergo a GMAX test to determine if it is still a safe surface to play. • If the field was replaced in FY 16, the construction would take place in the summer of 2015. That would give the Recreation & Parks Dept. and school system enough time to plan use in advance. The field would take approximately one month to replace. • Mr. O’Hara moved to send a memo to Cindy Mester supporting discussions to consider replacing the field turf at GMHS in FY 16. Ms. LaFave seconded the motion. Upon voice vote, the motioned passed. 8. Closed Session pursuant to Virginia Code §2.2-3711. (A) 10. Discussion or consideration of honorary degrees or special awards; [Recommendation for 2014 Grand Marshal] 9. Closed Session pursuant to Virginia Code §2.2-3711. (A) 3. Discussion or consideration of the acquisition of real property for a public purpose, or of the disposition of publicly held real property, where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body; [Lynn Place property] 10. Items from closed session 11. Adjournment Ms. LaFave moved to adjourn the meeting; Mr. Selby seconded the motion. Following a unanimous voice vote, Ms. Chandler adjourned the meeting at 9:11 p.m. The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This document will be made available in alternate format upon request. Call 703-248-5027 (TTY 711). 3