Board of Park Commissioners

BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING MINUTES City Hall, 11th Floor Park Conference Room 455 N. Main February 10, 2014 3pm Present: Bryan Frye, Hoyt Hillman, Steve Hieger, Cindy Claycomb Absent: Tom Roth, Doug Kupper, Ron Allen Also Present: Elizabeth Harlenske, City Assistant Attorney, Christina Butler, Clerk, Larry Dennis, Phil Meyer, Chris Goebel, Max Ogden, Jason Taylor, Citizens. The meeting was called to order at approximately 3:00pm. Frye noted that Kupper was out of the office and that David McGuire was attending in his place. PUBLIC AGENDA None. REGULAR AGENDA Item 1: Approval of Minutes Motion by Frye, second by Claycomb, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to approve, sign and file minutes of the January 13, 2014, Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting (4-0). Item 2A: Bylaw Amendment Harlenske noted that Hillman caught another change that needed to be revised in the bylaw and thanked him. She changed the bylaws to read that the Board’s monthly meeting would be changed to the second Monday of each month instead of the third Monday. This will accommodate the federal holidays in January and February and the conflict with spring break in March. She also changed the election of officers to be at the September meeting. She will change the dates the bylaws were amended to March 1, 2014. She stated it would be on the next City Council Consent Agenda. It would have to pass with a 2/3 majority vote of the Park Board. Motion by Frye, second by Hieger, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to approve the Bylaw Amendment and go to City Council for approval (4-0). Item 2B: Ogden – Swanson park Frye introduced Phil Meyer and Chris Goebel to present the easement request in District V at Central and Maize Roads at Swanson Park for a new plat for development adjacent to Swanson Park. Chris Goebel (153 S. Gleneagles) stated he is the contract purchaser for Parcel A of the Ogden Addition. He distributed aerial pictures of the area. Parcel A, also known as 11106 W. Central, has the sewer BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING February 10, 2014 Page 1 of 5 issue. Max Ogden is the contract seller of the property. Goebel stated he is speaking because he is responsible for digging the sewer. Phil Meyer is representing Baughman & Company. They all came to the meeting in case there were any questions. He stated there is a problem with the sewer on the front lot. This land was originally one lot that was approximately 5.9 acres and was the homestead of the old Swanson farm. A portion of that lot later became Swanson Park. The park surrounds the development on three sides and Central borders the fourth side. In 1991, the home on parcel B (the middle parcel) was granted a private easement and a single home sewer line was installed through the park at that time. In 2009, the single parcel was replatted as three lots with two reserves. The sewer plan for parcel C (back lot) was to extend across the 20’ private sewer easement. The sewer plan for parcel A (front lot) was to be served across Central Avenue. The problem is that there is a 42” storm sewer line that they cannot get under and if they go over the top of it, they are not deep enough to serve the home. Plan B was to join the others coming across the park land, but the problem is that he cannot do a service line through that distance in the City of Wichita so it will require a 8” sewer line to come across and go south. On December 3, a letter was sent to Max Ogden from Mr. Kupper suggesting they use the existing 20’ easement and put the line on their property heading south. Since receipt of this letter they realized there were new trees that had just been planted in the middle of the proposed new easement. Originally, the north part of the easement was not blocked, but now it is. They would like to get across the park and would stay on their property from there south and withdraw the original request. It will be more costly, but it is possible. There is a double easement coming across the park to the north and the existing line comes across. The problem is the neighbor has three large trees directly in the path of the sewer line. They are proposing to add another manhole, swing around trees and put a manhole on one side in the park and another on their property on the other side. They will cut the line and connect it to the manhole on their side so all three homes will go into the manhole and the new house from parcel C will too. They would like to request a substitute 20’ easement for the existing 20’ easement and abandon the other line. They will shorten the service line to the existing house and all sewer will be on the other side of the park. This is different than originally requested with Kupper because they have been trying to figure out how they can get there on their side and had to change things. Frye asked if the current private utility easement will still be needed. Meyer stated they would be able to eliminate it after the others are hooked up because they are swapping out one for the other. Frye asked if the north/south one will be on Ogden’s property. Goebel responded yes and they will directionally bore the service line a lot longer to get it where it is clear. Frye asked what was currently on this area. McGuire stated that the north end of this property has pretty much been cleared out with the exception of the recently planted trees. It falls in line with what Kupper was talking about. Hillman asked about the scale of the drawing. Goebel stated that it is going to be 170’ and it will be almost 500’ from the manhole to his house. It is not a cheap sewer line for his house. The manhole will go just to the reserve and will directionally bore around the trees so he should be ok with the trees and tree roots. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING February 10, 2014 Page 2 of 5 Frye asked if there was public comment and any other questions from the Board and there was none. He stated that he went out there and there is thick brush out there in that area. He thanked Goebel and Meyer for re-doing the plans to save the trees. He suggested they defer for one month since the Board needed to see new schematics to allow time for all to view the revised documents. Meyer stated their goal is to make sure if there are any other concerns, they can have a resolution by next month’s meeting. Frye stated they would need the site plans revised. Motion by Frye, second by Hillman, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to defer the Ogden – Swanson Park easement request for a 30 days (4-0). Item 3: Continuation of Prior Business None. Item 4A: Recreation Update (Larry Dennis) Larry Dennis, Recreation Supervisor II at Evergreen and McAdams Recreation Centers, presented a slide show discussing the Junior Basketball Program at Evergreen. They had 63 boys and girls signed up this season from K-5th Grade. It is a recreational league where the children gain basketball skills and get exercise. Hillman stated that from the pictures it looks like they could use bleachers. Dennis responded that the gym is not large enough for bleachers. He stated they previously had bleachers on the ends of the gym but there was a safety issue because the gym is a high performance center with volleyball and soccer leagues practicing in there. Hieger asked about the length of the program. Dennis responded that it is an eight week program. Dennis stated that the McAdams Golden Age Club wished to thank the Board for its support. Frye noted he would like to have them in sometime. He thanked Dennis for his presentation. Frye noted that the Recreation Department had received a couple of nice awards. One was a national award from the US Department of the Interior – Partners in Conservation for the Great Plains Nature Center. McGuire stated that Jim Mason attended the ceremony with Lori Beck in Washington DC and accepted the award. Frye also noted that the Hook A Kid of Golf Program had also received recognition. McGuire stated that Mark Lowry, Recreation Supervisor II at Orchard Recreation Center, and his Hook A Kid on Golf program were awarded national recognition for his efforts in fundraising approximately $8- 9,000 per year for the Hook a Kid on Golf Program and received recognition as the #1 site nationwide. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING February 10, 2014 Page 3 of 5 Item 4B: Golf Update (Troy Hendricks) Frye then introduced Hendricks to discuss Golf numbers through January. Hendricks stated that rounds are down slightly and expenses are up slightly. He added that they have a full staff at all of the golf courses now which they did not have last year. The first part of January last year was decent, but turned ugly at the end of the month and continued through April. He stated that the pre-emergents went to bid and it was awarded in the morning. Hieger asked if they bid each application or annual applications. Hendricks responded they bid six products annually to get a better price. He stated that the Golf Advisory Committee would meet the following day and they would present the marketing plans. Frye added that the meeting would be at Auburn Hills at 4pm. Claycomb asked what would be on the agenda. Frye responded it would be mostly updates and there would be discussion on pace of play. Hendricks stated that a couple of courses had increased space between tee times as a trial to see if it would positively affect pace of play. He stated that the new software program details were still being worked out. He thought it was going to be on the upcoming City Council agenda, but it was pulled. They are just waiting for approval from City Council and still hopeful to have it in place by the spring. Item 4C: Updates from Director and President McGuire stated he had additional comments regarding the Swanson Park - Ogden issue. He stated that the schematics for Ogden were not lined up right. Frye responded that everything form the south end of the northern manhole will go south on their property. McGuire stated this is what they proposed them to do. Frye stated he would check with John Philbrick to see what compensation was received in the past for similar distances. He thought there were agreements with Westar and Black Hills. It probably should be nominal for that short of a distance. This might be different since they would be getting rid of one and replacing it with another. He does not want to start another precedence. Frye noted that a citizen had walked into the meeting late and asked him if he had a public agenda item that he would like to speak on. Jason Taylor (9025 W 11th Street North) responded the he wondered about updates with Clapp Golf Course. Frye responded that there were no updates at this point. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING February 10, 2014 Page 4 of 5 Hillman requested to show a slide presentation associated with the property at Delano that will be reviewed at the next meeting. He discussed the Delano neighborhood plan that was to mimic the Chisholm Trail. The area is not designed anymore how it was in 2001. Frye asked who developed the plan. Hillman responded the City with the Delano neighborhood and the Historic Society developed it. They would like to have signage through Friends University that would tie the neighborhood and Chisholm Trail together. He wanted to update the Board on this because it is part of the green space they are trying to develop. Claycomb asked if there is green space there now. Hillman responded that it is the proposed library space which is the public green space that has not been developed. Claycomb asked if that used to be the railroad corridor. Hillman responded yes. They have business and neighborhood support for a walkway/bicycle path. Frye stated the next meeting will be Monday, March 10, 2014. Item 5: Adjourn There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:45pm. ______________________________________ Bryan Frye, President _____________________________________ Christina Butler, Clerk BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING February 10, 2014 Page 5 of 5