Board of Park Commissioners

BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS. REGULAR MEETING MINUTES City Hall, 11th Floor Park Conference Room 4SS N. Main Wichita, KS 67202 March 14, 2016 3pm Present: Hoyt Hillman; Chris Highfill, Chris Clark, Cindy Claycomb, Tori Deatherage, Ron Allen, Troy Palmer Absent: None Also Present: Troy Houtman (Director of Park and Recreation), Elizabeth Harlenske (Assistant City Attorney), Penny Garding (Clerk), Wess Galyon (CEO, WABA), Jeff Blubaugh (Counciimember, District IV), Robert Layton (City Manager), Tom Stolz (Director, MABCD), Brian Hill, Warren Mccoskey, Troy Hendricks, Greg Olmer, David McGuire (Staff), Lonny Wright, Terry Fry (Citizens) The meeting was called to.order at approximately 3:04pm. Item 1: Approval of Minutes Motion by Hillman, second by Claycomb, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to approve, sign, and file the minutes of the February 8, 2016, Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting (7-0). PUBLIC AGENDA Terry Fry, stated he wished to hold his comments until the agenda item on Pawnee Prairie Park. Troy Houtman responded that his talking topic is not in reference to the pros and cons of bicycles and horses in the park, but he will be talking about how we will be moving forward with a Master Plan. Councilmember Jeff Blubaugh stated the Prairie Travelers are working the old railroad right of way, previously they have worked from Garden Plain to 135th . Now they are going all the way in to Pa.wnee and Maize Road. They have been looking for some kind of connectivity as to howwe can bring this through eventually to Kansas Newman, Friends University and have connectivity into downtown. Right now one of their biggest feats they are trying to accomplish is saving the railroad bridge that is over next to the 1-235/Kellogg interchange. Right now we have agreement not to demolish it, but we don't have exactly howwe are going to get through 1-235. I just wanted to bring that up and let everybody know that this is very important to a lot of constituents and other folks in the city and how we could have a future vision of connecting all those rails into a center hub. He had a presentation at his District Advisory Board meeting lastMonday. They had a couple proposals they will be bringing forward on how they can getting through Delano and downtown. This is a vision being discussed in his district. Troy Houtman stated he has had the opportunity to attend a touple of bike and walking committee meetings and talk to them about it. There is a lot of interest and opportunities. We just need to find \ . .. . . matching opportunities for funding and leverage those ideas forward. As far as the Cessna Trail with the Prairie Travelers, we have been working really hard on getting thatdone and getting through their obstacles as well. Once that gets.done, that bodes well for leveraging other trails. With the Redbud Trail being used quite a bit, I think we are talking a lot more about it. BOARD OF·PARK-COMMISSIONERS MEmNG February_8, 2016 Page 1 of8  REGULAR AGENDA Item Z: New Issues for Consideration A. Big Ditch Commemorative Sign Tom Stolz, Director, MABCD. He is here to ask permission for'project in the pocket park area, right along the curb at 21st & West Street, where the Big Ditc_h spill-way is. He was contacted a couple months ago by Wess Galyon, CEO, Wichita Area Builders Association. They propose to do this as an honor to Mr. Mitchell, who helped design and build this. Stoltz indicated he has researched this from a zoning and sign code perspective to make.sure this type of sign in this area would be legal from a code.perspective. It is. We are asking for Park Board consideration and approval to put this signage into a piece of that park space. Wess is here today to answer any questions and give you the origination of this project from his perspective. Wess Galyon, CEO, WABA. This discussion started when he was visiting with Mayor Longwell shortly after he was elected. Mayor Longwell had.appointed MS Mitchell to serve.on planning commission. He came to Wichita in 1940s for the Big Ditch project. The Mayor said Mitch is going off planning commission, he's 91 years old now. Mayor wants to honor Mitch in some way. He's thinking about doing a proclamation and asked if he had anything else in mind. It was suggested that they do something tied to the Big Ditch. In the park that Tom mentioned is the main diversion point that Mitch always went to to check on how that Big Ditch flow was working. Galyon indicated he would have to be deceased'to have a park named after him. The sign would be a tribute to him and he would be so honored to have it. WABA will fund the entire project. We just want to know where we can put it and what criteria we need to meet. We are going to put a code on that sign-after it is built that you can scan with your smartphone and you can look at it anytime of year to see what it looks like when water is flowing at near peak through those gates into the Arkansas River. Hillman stated he liked the design. He.stated they are making anti-graffiti.coatings for things now. Galyon indicated Greg Sullivan designed the sign, but it will be subcontracted out for printing and coating. WABA will install and erect granite pillars and other things that need to be there. We just want to make sure we are meeting with your approval and if the Board has a preference where it is set. He was thinking about setting up in knoll area away from parking and paths. Houtman stated his staff is-supportive. Galyon indicated he would like to keep it confidential. We want it to be a surprise. Claycomb asked for clarification on where the funding was coming from. Galyon replied WABA will fund it. We figure it is about $10-15,000, hope it won't be that much, but they are prepared. Highfill made a motion, pending location, to allow them to move forward this, seconded by Claycomb. Houtman stated when they get closer to installation they will work with staff find the exact.location that looks great. B. Rowing Association New Building Houtman stated we wanted to go to the Design Council first so are going on. Conceptually, we have ideas of whatit will look.like. _Once it goes through Design Council, we will bring it back next month. It is going to be at the same location as temporary building. It is aboutthe same size footprint. . Item 3: Continuation of Prior Business A. Aquatics Master Plan Update - Brian Hill Houtman stated they have been working really hard to get moving forward with a good plan. We have.received a lot of good input and hope this will meet your needs. We took it to the Aquatics Committee last month and they support some of the ideas. Brian Hill stated they have began work on this in 2011. It's not just about what we are doing with CIP money to build a new pool, it's about.the whole aquatics program. From an operational standpoint it needs to be something sustainable. The first $18M CIP is Phase 1, looking at our BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING February 8,.2016 Page 2 of 8 existing 10 pools. In all the surveys we've put out the options of indoor facilities, outdoor f acilities, or no facilities whatsoever; what do people want. The biggest support is to the neighborhood pools, improved restrooms, increased amenities, splash pads and water playgrounds. We kept hearing betteroperations. They want increased hours and a longer season. With less facilities we can provide better services, more_ quality lifeguards, times, etc. This yearthe Steering committee approved the plan, we've talked to the City Manager, and we are now talking to the Park Board and then Council Workshop later in the month. In 2017 the focus will be on the Edgemoor pool. We will also begin design work for the new facilities. We will start looking at replacements, as we take away we will add water playgrounds. Demolition of McAdams pool will begin along with construction-of the replacement water playground. We will be conducting an inventory of all of our facilities in 2018. We will close and begin demolition of the Boston pool at the end of 2018. The McAdams water playground should open in 2018. In 2019 we will initiate the CIP fund and awards to begin pool constructions. Boston pool will close_ at the end of the 2019 season. Construction of the Edgemoor pool will begin. Once the Boston demolition is cleared up construction of the playground will begin. At the end of the 2019 season Evergreen pool will be closed so renovations can begin. In 2020 we plan to open the new Edgemoor Pool. This will be one of our flagship pools. This is the one we want to get people excited about aquatics. Renovation of Evergreen pool will begin. Aley pool will close.at the end of the 2020 aquatic season. In 2021 we will open the new Evergreen pool. We will begin the closing and demolition to Minisa pool at the end of the season. We want to change that to a park space or a river launch site. It is a key spot for access to the river. Aley pool remodel will begin at that time. In 2022 we open the new Aley pool. This is the last of thethree renovations for this phase. We will close and demolish Linwood and Orchard pools at the end ofthe season and begin construction of the water playgrounds. In 2023, is the final phase, we will open water playgrounds at Orchard and Linwood. With remaining CIP funds, we will make improvements at Harvest and College Hill pools. If funds are available we may look at renovations at Harvest pool. Houtman added we spent a lot of time looking at the metrics. This plan was shared with the YMCA and impacts of the closings were discussed. They would be willing to offer programs to those impacted neighborhoods. We need to look at how all of us can work together to create a plan for the City. Brian is working on his partnership with Wichita Swim Club. This year we are starting swim lessons with them. We also want to start conversations with the schools to use their pools for swim lessons. It is a hard pill to swallow when closing pools but maybe it is right-sizing our inventory of pools and making some great pools that would get a lot of participation. Hillman asked if there are planned rate increases. Hill responded there may be small increases, but looking more at increased usage to generate the needed revenue. Wewill continue to offer discount tickets and family passes. Allen asked about timeframe on construction, beginto end_. Hill stated closi�gs will be at the end of the season and immediately .begin demolition. Just to be safe we have that whole next year setto be closed and will plan to open the following season. Houtman added we want to have all designs completed and get public_engagement in 2017. Then we can have plans ready and get bids during season and when the season ends we can roll in equipment and begin demolition and construction as soon as the very next day. Claycomb asked about splash pads. It appears the pool will close, demolition will begin and the splash pad will be open the following year. Hill stated if everything goes as planned the splash pad would open the following season. Hillman asked_about doing concessions at other park centers that would support basketball and other activities. He can see a real opportunity for centers to help pay for themselves. Hill stated Evergreen has been doing concessions with basketball. McAdams has some with the baseball fields. Deatherage stated it is important to have a lot ofsignage-up during the renovation-period so the neighborhood does not get concerned. Hill stated this is going to get a lot of_ press but it is a good suggestion to have signage on site showing this is what your future pool is going to look like. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEmNG February 8, 2016 Page 3 of8  Houtman stated that we will be getting public engagement ahead of time. They would then know what to expect Clark stated to use caution if there is a desire to close in fall and open on the following Memorial Day. If you fast track it.is going to become a very stressful process. Hillman made a motioned to support the Aquatics Master Plan, Deatherage seconded. Motion passes. B. Encroachments - Mr. Layton Houtman stated his department has m.ade several presentations on encroachments. We have spent time with Law Department and explored many options. We have brought three options to'you again today. Mr. Layton wanted to share some of his thoughts and experiences as well. Mr. Layton stated he has been through this issue in previous communities. It is one of the most difficult a.nd damaging issues in terms of public trust and perception. This is why Option 3 is in front of you today. He is fully supportive of the concept of protecting our public property. Parks are there for the enjoymentof everyone, not just those who are adjacent to the park. However, it is human .nature, when people are adjacent to an open space with.little to no active use, to go ahead and slowly annexthat property into yours. Big picture is that we maintain parks for everyone. However, it is one thing for us to say and another to.then go out and,tell everyone "that's city property, get,out" and we'll give you 60 days. They did do that in his previous community. The issue was controversial for a couple years. Some people left the community because·of the bad taste it left in their mouth. Another thing that happened when enforcement action.was taken was they began to turn their neighbors and others in the community. We are doing a great job of getting the message out about the positives of dynamic programming: This really seems to fly in the face of what we are trying to do in the parks. Realizing we can't ignore the issue, what I asked staffto put together in Option 3 is a recognition that encroachments should not be ihtroduced"in the park system going forward: The Park Board and the Council would take positive action to say that we do not condone nor do we want to promote the use of public land for private purposes going forward. Then, we would adopt an ordinance and put penalties in place. However, we recognize the encroachments that are there today occurred over a period of time. We would say we are going to grandfather those in. We will let you keep those encroachments unless there is a public safety reason not to. A fire break would be a reason or an attracting nuisance li.ke a tree house. We would have to be careful how we do that. There are other conditions that would go with that. For instance, you could say that someone putting a playground. in a public park is•an attractive nuisance and represents a safety issue. So in order to continue to grandfatherthose in they would have to provide to us a hold harmless agreeme.nt and a certificate of insurance. If someone were to be injured on that private amenity on public property, the liability would transfer to that property owner. The other provision is that it is only good as long as the existing property owner lives in the house. Ifownership changes, they would lose the grandfathering. It would then require a permit from everyone, not to generate revenue, but to monitor ownership. Law thought we could put something in the title. We would then also be able to give notification attransfer of property that this requirement is in place and the encroachment would have to be removed. This is a good compromise and eventually all will get cleaned up. But it will take some time. Clark askedif there is any possibility of people rushing to get something out so that it can get grandfathered even though it happened after the fact. Layton stated there are probably a few thatare going to be that way. Houtman said his staff has a good knowledge of what encroachments currently exist. Palmer stated Option 3 will make it a lot easier than to try to track down everyone. McGuire stated all three will require some kind of staff involvement and customer service. His staff is ready to take on the task whatever option is decided upon. Hillman stated we had. someone doing the opposite, harvesting trees and,selling firewood and asked how will you handle encroachments that actually damages the park? Layton replied that is not an encroachment but an illegal operation. Hillman asked if there is something that could be written or already existing that covers damage to BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING February 8, 2016 Page 4 of 8 park property in general. McGuire stated we could go into the ordinance and talk about pre-existing conditions. Harlenske stated we have criminal penalties. Mccoskey said there is already provision within section 900 that you can'ttake the trees. Harlenske talked.about dumping lawn debris over fence into the park. We already have ordinances that cover that. McGuire stated having language about creating fire breaks will cause people to move stuff in. Hillman asked who will approach homeowners. McGuire stated it would be McCoskey's staff. Allen asked about larger encroachments be grandfathered. McGuire replied yes, after they have dealt with all of the issues that could come up within that encroachment. Harlenske stated they would have to sign an indemnity. Parks have recreational use immunity. You have to be grossly negligent for a governmental entity that maintains a park to be liable. We will solve the private amenity on public property issue by getting the homeowner to indemnify us and provide us proof of an insurance policy that meets the $500,000 cap. Layton stated there is one other exemption; that is any ground that .is purchased with Bureau of Reclamation funds. If we have any lands that were purchased with either state or federal funds, then we would have to remove the encroachment under the grant conditions. Houtman stated we would have to look at those on a case-by-case basis.. Harlenske stated we will need to add·this to ordinance. Highfill asked if these people know they are encroaching. McCoskey stated some do some, do not and some choose to not accept that they are. Highfill asked if he knew about how many were covered underthe federal grant. Mccoskey explained what Mr. Layton was referring to is what we call the Land Water Conservation Fund. When you accept those funds for a park, you are making a guarantee to the federal government that those properties will only be used for recreation purposes. We have 15 parks that have had Land Water Conservation Funds on them. It is.some of our larger parks and tend to be our wildland parks, which people tend to go out into worse than they do a developed park. Hillman stated this would be something like Cowskin Creek. Mccoskey indicated Pawnee Prairie Park is a good one. Houtman stated he has walked Pawnee Prairie Park several_ times in the past couple weeks. The encroachments are hot that intense. What he is seeing is the tree house.that nobody claims because it is far away from the houses. The other thing he is seeing a lot of people dumping their tree clippings and branches. McGuire stated we are addressing only established parks for now. There are a lot of encroachments along the river. This is not addressing those. Claycomb asked Harlenske about the title issue Layton talked about. Harlenske stated what we are proposing to do is to put together a Notice ofEncroachment document that wouid be filed with the Register of Deeds, giving notice of encroachment and that it will need to be removed upon change of title. McGuire stated getting the Hold Harmless established and buying insurance is going to be a big deterrent. Houtman stated that once we make that contact and let them know that everyone is going to have access to that property now and that we are not going to be held responsible for any accidents. That is going to be a huge eye opener. Hillman asked how we will know if they have proper insurance and maintaining it. Harlenske stated it will be a part of the annual permit process. Hillman asked if the permit funds will go into the Park Board budget or the City Budget. Harlenske stated the permits will be issued by the Park Department and not Licensing. Houtman does not want to burden any other department so his office will take the lead on it. Claycomb stated this is a good compromise. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING February 8, 2016 Page 5 of 8  Claycomb made a motion that we have the Park Department move forward with Option 3 of the Encroachment Policy, Allen seconded. Motion approved. (7-0) C. Pawnee Prairie Park Master Plan - Troy Houtman Houtman stated that last month we talked a lot about and filed a motion to work on creating a Master-Plan for Pawnee Prairie Park. He has several other projects that need to be comp_leted and need to find funding as well. The Master Plan process is typical of any other park, there ·will be an opportunity for community engagement. More than likely an outside agency will be hired to lead and develop it so as not to be biased by staff. We will be putting together a plan to have outside agency to help create this master plan. It will require some resources, some funding. We are going to have to look for ideas for grants and other funding opportunities. It is going to take a good 6-8 months. We are trying to get other projects completed first but wanted to provide an update and expectations on whatitis going to take. Hillman asked if the Park Foundation has any funds. Houtman said the Foundation could help us find funds. There could be some fund raising opportunities as well as some grants they could apply for. Palmer said there are more walkers and bikers than horses and encourages everyone to go out and see for themselves. Houtman stated this is what the Master Plan is for. This is where we set up priorities. The way the trails are set up now it is not safe for horses and bicycles to be on the trails together. That is just writing the master plan. Then there is getting funding to actually build anything out there. Item 4: Updates from the Director and President A. Recreation Update (Greg Olmer) Olmer stated, they visited.Chance Manufacturing along with two Councilmembers, Hoyt Hillman, and Brian Hill. They were given,a tour of the facility and a view of the new train. Hill shared that our train is Engine No. 389. Looking at a target delivery date at the end of April. The engine will have exciting new technology. The new coach is just about finished. McGuire asked about ADA accessibility. Hill stated that is why we retained our first coaches. Our first coach does have ADA accessibility. B. Golf Update (Troy Hendricks) Hendricks stated rounds are up year-to-date 29%, revenue up 17%. Encumbrances up 20%, this is due to getting all chemicals in already. We also bought a Buffalo blower. Did something different at MacDonald as well. That course still has 30-40% ryegrass in the fairways. We sp_rayed with Round Up to kill it. We want to promote Bermuda growth in fairways. Rounds for February up 3,500 for the month over last year. Revenue up $55,000 over the previous year. Best February since 2009. At the last Golf Committee meeting we had some discussions about five-somes for pace of play purposes. The Golf Committee recommended we allow five-somes Monday-Thursday and.eliminate them on Friday-Saturday-Sunday and Holidays. That is a policy change. Claycomb asked what the competition does. Hendricks replied that some allow them and some do not. Clark asked about cart rental factor as well Hendricks replied yes, every time you have that 5th person you are sending an extra cart out. We talked about increasing our cart fleet to 337 from the 276 we currently have. He is checking with two cart manufacturers to see if we can lease for May through September, so that we do not run out of carts on those days. Clark asked if the cart issue will still be there if we do not allow five-somes on those days. Hendricks replied no. It will be atTextonsolver and Sim, our two busiest courses. They run out of carts by 9:30 in the morning regardless. Claycomb asked if golfers have to have a reservation to get tee times on Friday or Saturday. Hendricks stated they still take walk-ins. Our golf pros do a very job of squeezing a group in. Highfill made a motion to acceptthe proposal as presented, Palmer seconded. Approved BOARD OF PARK COMIVIISSlONERS MEETING February 8, 2016 Page6of8  unanimous. Hendricks stated they would like to take to Council a business plan to raise the season pass $20 for the 5-day single, 7-day single, 5-day couple, 7-day couple, 7-day retired military and to raise the season pass $25 for the 5-day senior and driving range. We also have in there to raise the season pass on Super-senior $25 in 2016, .18, 20 and 22. That way we get the two senior passes the same so we can eliminate the super-senior pass and get back to just one. We recommended to the Golf Committee that we raise the cart fee by $2. They recommend only going up $1. That would go from $10 per person to $12.50. The Golf Committee also recommended raising senior greens fee $1. Highfill made a.motion.to approve the rate increases, Palmer seconded. Motion approved. Hendricks stated hetook Mr. Houtman to a luncheon today with the Wichita Junior Golf Foundation. They had some concerns about the Wichita First-Tee Program that started. It is based at Terradyne. We have entered in to contract with.them to have them do programming at Tex Consolver. They are concerned it is going to affect them but he doesn't see any conflict. They can.run concurrently. Wichita Junior Golf Foundation charges $20, they are looking at charging $75 to $100 for the kids to do their programming. While he was there, Mark Berger, Bishop Carroll Golf Coach was there practicing. He said the school system was looking at cutting high school golf from their activities. Allen stated that is probably true. Hendricks indicated that all high schooi golf would go away. Claycomb asked if this had to do with the K-12 funding issues. Hendricks replied yes. Hillman asked if that was just USD 259. Allen replied yes. Claycomb asked if that would affect us. Hendricks replied we get about $18,000 in revenue from the school system. Houtman stated what's even more concerning is thi� is where our golfers come from. Teaching those kids, givingthem an opportunity to have a home cou.rse and get more involved. Hendricks indicated our focus is towardthe youth this year. We are starting the SNAG junior program in April. We are going to s�art the PGA Junior League. We've talked about hosting tournament for junior tour at our courses. We are trying to feed kids into these high school programs and now they are cutting. Hillman asked if he had been in contact with the current high school golf coaches and trying to get the information out to them. Hendricks replied that all of this information has been given to the high school coaches. Allen stated money is the. issue. Clark stated.this is not a discussion for us, but what does it cost the school district per golfer to put a kid through the program. Hendricks stated it is not a very expensive program. It probably costs $2500 or less for a.golf team. Houtman stated there are other aspects with the administrative paperwork to go with it. And the other part of it is you pay to go into a basketball.or football game. Nobody pays to go watch golf: There is no revenue at all. D. Wichita Parks Foundation Update (Chris Highfill) Highfill stated they now have a full board. They had a Foundation retreat meeting two weeks ago with a guest speaker. He gave us a goal of raising money and set that amount. Currently they ar_e selling tickets to The Band Perry. They are. also moving forward with Fourth of July event planning, This is going .to be a fireworks show, band, food trucks, beer garden, etc. It will all coincide with Lawrence Dumont's baseball game going on. lt·is a separate event, but trying to work together on timing. They are trying to make it a Second Annual event for the Foundation. Hillman stated the Lights on the River group may be interested in working with Foundation on something for that night. There are several people who want to decorate their boats and canoes and float up and down the river. Highfill expressed concern about it being night and fireworks on the river. Houtman stated fireworks will be even better this year. Doing bigger fireworks on the ground since BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEEnNG February 8, 2016 Page 7 ofB  we are unable to go too high. E. OJ Watson Park Committee Update (Hoyt Hillman) Hillman stated at 1:30 today they had a meeting about setting up a haunted house on the island. It is a 5 year contract. We had 3 different groups show up. We are making good headway cleaning up island. Watson is about year and half away from breaking even. With the new train and the extra cab, the process might begin to pay for itself. Claycomb asked if Haunted House is just for Halloween. Hillman replied yes. Once we get the island cleaned up, we can look at other opportunities and concepts for areas of island. Houtman said a big part of the improvements is due to development of the master plan. Hillman added the miniature golf course has been upgraded. H. Director Houtman stated Barry the Bison was in the St. Patrick's Day parade over the weekend. Buffalo Park is moving forward. McAdams field is moving really well and we are hoping to be ready by baseball time. Capital projects are big for us. The Aquatics Master plan will be presented to Council. We have a working draft of the PROS plan, will bring it to next meeting. He will send prior to the meeting. Accreditation is coming in June. Visitors will be here to do their evaluation. We will have a breakfast get together and make sure the board included. Claycomb asked about what is happening at Crystal Prairie Lake. Houtman replied they are excavating and shaping it the way we want. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING February 8, 2016 Page 8 of 8