Parks and Recreation Board Meeting Minutes – August 24, 2004
CALL TO ORDER:
A.
Roll Call
Chairman Trent Renner called the
Parks and Recreation Advisory Meeting to order at 6:00pm, at the Surprise
Regional Library – City Classroom located on 16089 N Bullard Ave Surprise,
Arizona 85374, on Tuesday, August 24, 2004.
Also in attendance with Chairman Trent Renner were Vice-Chairman Wayne
Turner, board members; Vanessa Goodrich, Lorraine Esman, Alex Theis, and Jack
Hitchcock (via teleconference).
Staff Present:
Mark Coronado: Community and
Recreation Services Director, Melissa Miller: Recreation Manager, Donna Miller:
Recreation Manager, Jim Mallon: Recreation Manager, Tara Combs: Recreation
Supervisor, Fred Sanchez: Recreation Supervisor.
B.
Approval
of Community & Recreation Services Advisory Board Minutes of June 16, 2004
Trent Renner moved to approve the minutes of the June 16, 2004
meeting. Wayne Turner seconded the
motion. 6 yes votes. Motion carried.
CURRENT EVENTS REPORT
A.
Chairman Report
a.
Introduced/welcomed Alex Theis to the board
b.
Congrats to all recreation staff, wonderful job
c.
City is seeing growing pains
d.
Mike Planeta researched and then sought Trent out and is
interested in bringing a baseball satellite museum to Surprise
i.
Not on television, an actual satellite museum
ii.
Make it a future note to discuss
B.
Community & Recreation Services Director’s Report
a.
Program Update: July, August, September
Mark reported that we have facilitated and took care of approximately
3,000 residents in the registrations for July, August, and September. For our sports programs, we have
approximately 400 teams ready to play.
Some programs filled up in the first five minutes of registration. Right now, we need more facilities to
accommodate and facilitate more residents.
b.
Celebration
of Baseball
The Celebration of Baseball press release will go out next week. The
annual event is scheduled for February.
Mark stated that Luis Gonzalez would be on campus for the event.
c.
Spring
Training 2005
Mark stated that the preliminary schedule is out for Spring Training
2005 and the first game is scheduled for March 3, 2005. He reported that the Chicago Cubs and
Seattle Mariners would play at the Stadium three times this season. Attendance is expected to exceed last year’s
140,000 +.
d.
Department
Update
Melissa overviewed and reported on the July through September
Department Update.
e.
Overview
5-Year Capital Plan
Mark overviewed the submitted capital projects for the FY2004-2005
fiscal year.
REGULAR
AGENDA ITEMS
·
Consideration
and Action – to recommend to the Mayor and City Council acceptance of Section
10 Park into the Community & Recreation Services Department Open Space and
Park Inventory.
APPROVED with stipulation that it meets ADA standards
and it is part of the stipulation
(Wayne made the motion, Lorraine seconds
motion, 6 yes votes, motion is approved)
Public Comment
Tedd Carr is very involved with the American
Disabilities Act and expresses that in all the designs, nothing is shown or
addresses the ADA. He states that we
should provide numerous activities that meet the needs of high adventurous
junkies as well as passive and reserve users.
Persons of all activities to be involved in competitive and
non-competitive arenas. Not just the
able body, but also the person with disabilities and parents with disabilities
that have able body children.
Jim Olmstead is also very involved with the
American Disabilities Act and discussed the Parks and Recreational Amenities in
Surprise. Within the City of Surprise,
there are over 20,000 disabled residents, based on the 2000 census brought
forward to a population of 70,000+.
This means that over one of four people that have the potential to use
our parks and recreational facilities have a recognized facility. If the facilities are not designed to take
full consideration of the special needs, a significant and growing number of
our community will not be able to use some portion of the parks and
recreational amenities. He would like
to recommend that all facility designs, whether on property owned by the city
or developer parks and facilities that will be turned over to the city at some
point, and used by the public be designed and construction supervised by
architects that are ADA qualified. All
equipment purchased for the facilities should be ADA certified as a part of the
purchasing procedure.
Mark Coronado stated that accommodations for
all populations are important. Do we
meet the minimum standards or should we go above and beyond the standards? We believe the Attorney General is getting
ready to come out with new requirements as well as the Department of
Justice. We have all those updated
requirements and all of our architects do meet the minimum requirements per the
plan review process with the City of Surprise.
However, I believe it’s an acceptable recommendation to make that part
of the RFP qualification, that the architects are ADA certified. We are supporters of the new Dreamcatcher
Park and look forward to working together.
·
Overview
2004 Aquatic Season
Donna discussed and gave an overview of the
2004 Aquatic Season.
·
Discuss
/ Update request regarding the creation of Library Advisory Board
Mark stated that he would like to delay this
item for approximately six months because in out 5-year master plan/ capital
plan a third library will be coming.
This advisory board would be able to then hold public meetings for
library services and help design. We are going to delay this for
approximately six months and then bring it back to Mayor and Council for
approval and development, if they accept this recommendation.
Jack Hitchcock states that it is fair to him
but he wants the whole community to be involved.
·
Consideration
and Action to discuss / approve FY2005 Capital Project timelines, recommended
locations and process.
APPROVED with stipulation that it meets ADA standards
and it is part of the stipulation
Wayne made the motion, Jack
seconds motion, 6 yes votes, motion approved)
Mark gave an overview of the FY2005 Capital
Project timelines which included the new city trail / bike system, Surprise
Farms Community Park Development, Section 10 Park, scoreboards, restrooms,
Gaines Park, Surprise Recreation Campus Community Park, Youth Baseball Complex,
Recreation Center (Sierra Montana Elementary School), and the Youth / Adult
Softball Complex.
OPEN
CALL TO THE PUBLIC
Ted Carr stresses the importance on
concessions. Create more self-sustaining projects that are not at the
taxpayer’s expense, this will be all profit for the city.
Mark Coronado agrees with the idea of
concessions. We currently have a
seven-year contract with Aramark that is no expense to the taxpayers. It is in our plan to put out a RFP for
concession services, at the concession’s cost.
David Cormany expresses his interest in
pickle ball. This game is growing 20%
every year with the Senior Olympics and they need a facility for the game. A pickle ball court can be used for
paddleball and badminton as well. They
ran six courts for Senior Olympics last year and it was not enough.
Alex Theis asks, “What is pickle ball”?
David Cormany states that it is like
ping-pong on the ground. It is a quick
3-4 step game. The exercise is great,
games usually last 2½ hours, and we usually play from 7am-12pm.
Joan Hancock is also a pickle ball player but
expressed her concern for bike trails.
We have no bike trails for kids and adults. She would also like to see a learning center where kids can go
and get help with school.
Chad Hills is new to Surprise and a recent
grad of ASU. He stated that he is
impressed with how the city has taken an active role in sports but think it
would be a good idea to consider skate parks.
This will attract certain youths who would not usually participate in
sports. It also decreases vandalism in
parking lots, where kids usually skate.
Mark stated that a skate park is included in
the five-year capital plan. The scope
and design will be determined. The
approximated budget is $500,000.
Mark recommends proceeding with the planning,
design, implementing process with all these projects and providing a stipulation
that every effort meets ADA requirements, be part of the process. We would then present to Council when all
the contracts, legal requirements, and procurements are completed.
Mayor discusses Dreamcatcher Park and how it
will accommodate children with special needs.
In February she will be holding “Make a Difference” week to raise money
for the park.
Wayne Peterson appreciates the bike lanes on
our roads but expresses his concern for trails. It is good for youth and adults to get out on hikes. Also, there are a number of ladies who have
strollers on the streets because the sidewalks are too narrow. We need to have more eight-foot sidewalks.
Lets improve Bell Road to make it a show place.
Councilman Cox agrees with Wayne on bike and
golf trails. We need to stop, look, and do something today and not later.
Chairman Renner thanks Mayor, Councilman Cox,
and Councilman Arimendez for attending.
Lorriane moved to adjourn meeting - Alex
seconded
ADJOURNMENT
Trent Renner adjourned the meeting of Wednesday,
August 24 at 7:15pm
Trent
Renner, Chairmen
ATTEST:
Sherry
Ann Aguilar, City Clerk, CMC
CERTIFICATION:
I, Sherry Ann Aguilar, City Clerk for the
City of Surprise, Maricopa County, Arizona, do hereby verify that these are the
true and correct minutes of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Meeting of
Tuesday August 24, 2004.
Sherry Ann Aguilar, City
Clerk, CMC
