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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-25-2016 PR MinutesCITY OF SEBASTIAN PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING JULY 25, 2016 1. Call to Order— Chairman Sims called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm. 2. Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all. 3. Roll Call Present Mr. Sims Mr. Paschall Ms. Webster Ms. Gilroy (A) Excused Absence Ms. Flescher Ms. White Ms. Nelson (A) Also Present Ms. Marissa Moore, Community Development Director Ms. Dorri Bosworth, Recording Secretary 4. Agenda Modifications Mr. Sims called for a motion to reorder the agenda to bring New Business Items A and B to before Public Input. Mr. Paschall moved to reorder the agenda as stated, the motion was seconded by Ms. Webster and passed unanimously by voice vote. 5. Approval of Minutes — None 7. New Business Citywide Parks and Recreation Master Plan Presentations Ms. Moore explained that Tindale Oliver Design and LITTLEJOHN — An S&ME Company will make presentations to the Committee. Each presentation will be approximately 15 minutes long, the Committee will then have about 15 minutes to ask questions, discuss and rank, using the score sheets provided. The score sheets will be collected from each and tallied. Upon completion of the process and direction from the Committee, Staff will be authorized to enter negotiations with the highest ranking company to arrive at a cost. When that step is complete, Staff will bring the proposal back to the Committee for review and direction if the proposal should be forwarded to City Council or if Staff should enter negotiations with the second company. Mr. Sims noted that there is a quorum present and the presentations could take place. Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee Page 2 of 6 Minutes of Regular Meeting of July 25, 2016 A. Mr. Mark Zane Erquitt, SMPS, Tindale Oliver Design Ms. Ginger Corless, Tindale Oliver Design, introduced herself and stated that she will serve as the City's Project Manager. Ms. Kristen Caborn, GAI, introduced herself and stated that she is a Senior Planning Manager. Ms. Corless provided a brief history of the team who would be working with the City on the Master Plan. Ms. Caborn stated that both she and Ms. Corless have worked in the Parks & Recreation environment in Florida for a number of years and have a thorough understanding of Florida Statutes which apply. She reviewed the Presentation explaining each segment of the process. Ms. Corless stated that in addition to the planning staff their company has specialists in finance as related to public parks, their initial funding, upkeep, etc. Ms. Caborn provided details on other projects the company has handled. She stated that the majority of their clients come back because of the excellent customer support the company provides during and after the planning phase. Ms. Caborn moved on to talk about trends and mentioned that National trends are considered in their Master Plan. She stressed the importance of understanding our trends in Florida, which are different from the national ones. She explained that having a baseline for trends helps leverage for funding and if there was ever the need to seek accreditation, the master plan needs to include a trend section. She stated that they had visited with residents in some of the City Parks in Sebastian seeking their input on what is currently available and what they would like to see in the future. Ms. Caborn talked about facility assessments and physical inventory. She explained that physical inventories are very helpful when filling out FEMA paperwork. She concluded the presentation by stating that the entire company is experienced and passionate about park planning and implementation. Ms. Gilroy stated that she was very impressed by the fact that the company had been in business for many years, have done an impressive amount of projects in Florida and addresses the public financing subject. Ms. Corless stated that the firm is very familiar with public finance and have reviewed the City's financial data and are ready to begin the project. Ms. Webster commented that the firm appears to be staffed by women. Ms. Corless responded that the firm is diverse, but that over 60% of staff is female. Ms. Webster stated that she is glad to see that the firm is diverse. Mr. Paschall asked how many employees the firm has. Ms. Corless responded that there will be about 20 people working on the project as the core team, but other employees will be involved as their expertise warrants. He followed up with a question about how many projects they will have in progress if this is awarded to them. Ms. Corless responded that they will have 3 Master Plans in progress. Ms. Caborn stated that she has 4 projects in progress, but does not feel that will in any way conflict with her dedication to the City. Mr. Paschall asked, from their research, what they felt the City needs to focus on in the Master Plan. Ms. Caborn responded the parks in the densely populated areas should be addressed looking at the ability for residents to walk to the park and provide the facilities that serve that population. Ms. Corless explained Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee Page 3 of 6 Minutes of Regular Meeting of July 25, 2016 that possibly the City should look at the mixed-use of its parks. Ms. Corless also mentioned some ADA issues that the City has in its parks and informed that they have ADA specialists that do parks' assessments. She further mentioned that sand is no longer an appropriate surface for playground areas. Mr. Sims asked, regarding on-going projects, how it will impact the City if the project is awarded to them. Ms. Corless explained that other projects will be in the completion phase when the City is in the beginning phase. Mr. Sims asked how Sebastian compares to Martin County in the size of the project. Ms. Caborn responded that the Martin County plan is much larger and has different components than the City. Mr. Sims asked about the CAD team. Ms. Corless provided details on the technology used, how the plans are created and assembled to make it easier for staff when they have updates. Mr. Sims asked what the response time would be if the City encountered a problem. Ms. Corless responded that they have sufficient staff to be able to respond to any problems quickly. Mr. Sims called for any further questions, hearing none he thanked Ms. Corless and Ms. Caborn for their presentation. Ms. Corless thanked the Committee for the opportunity and stated that they are ready to get started right away. B. Mr. Matthew West, AICP, LITTLEJOHN — An S&ME Company Mr. Matthew West, LITTLEJOHN and Associates, introduced himself, Mr. Bruce Hall, Landscape Architectural Department, Ms. Teresa Penbrooke, GreenPlay, and Megan Bannon, Intern Planner. He provided details on the combined experience and qualifications of Littlejohn, GreenPlay and RRC Associates. Mr. West explained that the value of a Master Plan is that it provides guidance for current and future advisory committees and councils on providing recreational facilities for the community. A Master Plan would also guide the City in the budgeting process to get the most favorable results for the monies expended. He stressed that it must be a living document with adjustments for demographics, economics, etc. as community needs change. He stated that he and his team had visited a number of City parks and spoke with residents about their desires for park improvements, reviewed on-line and newspaper articles regarding recreation facilities and the needs of the community. He explained that in listening to some previous committee meetings it seems that there are a large number of projects the City wants to accomplish with a limited amount of resources, that is where the Recreation Master Plan would provide guidance and effective use of funds. He showed an overhead slide showing the city parks and adjacent lands and explained that there is a different approach to judging level of service rather than the land to Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee Page 4 of 6 Minutes of Regular Meeting of July 25, 2016 population equation that has been used in the past. He introduced Ms. Penbrooke and stated that she will explain the advantage to a Recreation Master Plan. Ms. Penbrooke introduced herself and stated she is founder and CEO of GreenPlay. She presented an overhead slide of their proposed comprehensive approach and their unique approach. She explained that they look at the recreation development from the position of the Advisory Committee regarding the needs/wants and available funding. She stated that their plan for 5 years is to address not only the maintenance of the existing parks but to track trends locally, nationally and internationally so needs can be planned for 5, 10, 20 or 30 years into the future as well as today. She concluded by stating that their job is to listen to the needs as expressed and to prepare a comprehensive plan both written and digitally that can be used for planning purposes. Mr. Bruce Hall, Landscape Architect, provided an overhead slide of Riverview Park and stated that he and his staff had redesigned the park and surrounding area to show what some possibilities are. Mr. West concluded his presentation by explaining that his team represents many years of experience in recreational master planning in all aspects of the process and look forward to working with the City. He offered to answer any questions the Committee may have. Ms. Gilroy asked for a brief description of projects similar to what the City wants to accomplish. Mr. Hall stated that they have worked with the City of Lakeland, Florida for 15 years on their parks. They have also worked with Auburndale, Lake Mount and Winter Haven. Ms. Penbrooke stated that her firm had worked with Martin County, West Palm Beach, Maitland, Broward County, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami and provided details on the services provided to each. Ms. Gilroy asked if the work in Sebastian would be subcontracted. Ms. Penbrooke responded that because of the certification requirements of the RFQ her company would subcontract to LITTLEJOHN because their experience best met the needs of the City. Ms. Webster asked who would be the project manager. Mr. West responded that he would be, but everyone on the team would be involved in the project. Ms. Webster asked if the firm was a minority enterprise. Ms. Penbrooke responded that it is 100% woman owned. Mr. Paschall asked what some of the larger challenges the project would present. Mr. West responded that it would be determining quality to quantity as directed by the City. Ms. Penbrooke stated that their job would be to assist the City in deciding between maintaining the existing facilities or adding facilities requested by residents or a balance of both. Mr. Sims stated that he was impressed by the amount of research the firm had done. He called for any further questions, hearing none, he thanked them for their time and presentation. Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee Minutes of Regular Meeting of July 25, 2016 6. Public Input Page 5 of 6 Mr. Sims called for comments from the public on any topics except those already discussed. Mr. Jim Sunnycalb stated that he is the webmaster for the Dog Park and requested that the disposal bag supply be maintained at a higher level; at Riverview Park three lights are out on the Volley Ball Court; the Pete Harris plaque has still not been reinstalled; at the Easy Street Park there was a fish kill and he believes it was the result of the fountain being turned off, but that has been corrected. He stated that a light could be installed and the company has offered to share the expense. He requested that the light be blue to acknowledge autism and possibly have some City activity there to recognize autism. Ms. Webster responded that it would be difficult for the City to recognize one condition and not others. Mr. Sunnycalb suggested recognizing different conditions at different parks. Ms. Moore stated that based on the Committee's desire she could speak to the City Manager and determine the best way to proceed. Mr. John Tenerowicz, 310 South Wimbrow, stated that the new maintenance building at Barber Street is in place, but it was put in the overflow parking lot and not where the old one was located. As a result a portion of the overflow parking has been lost. Mr. Sims called for any further public comment, hearing none he closed the meeting and called for the tally on the presentations. Ms. Moore stated that both firms had waited for the results and she would bring them back into chambers. Ms. Moore reported that the score was 331 for Tindale Oliver Design and 260.5 for LITTLEJOHN. She explained that at the Committee's direction the next step would be for staff to enter into negotiations with Tindale. Mr. Sims called for any discussion, hearing none, he called for a motion. MOTION: by Webster/Gilroy "to authorize staff to enter into negotiations with Tindale Oliver Design." The motion carried unanimously by voice vote. 8. Staff Matters Ms. Moore reported that as a result of the incident at Disney World, staff has designed a sign which cautions about alligators and snakes to be placed in various parks with bodies of water. Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee Minutes of Regular Meeting of July 25, 2016 Board or Committee Member Matters Page 6 of 6 Ms. Gilroy asked about the list of parks assigned to each Committee Members. Mr. Sims responded that it was not an assignment per se but, the intent that each Committee Member could do a walk through periodically. He suggested that Ms. Gilroy get with staff to provide information on the parks she wanted to visit. Ms. Moore explained that she will be the point of contact regarding the park visits. She stated that it may be addressed in the Charter which she is researching. At Mr. Sims request she stated that she would email the Committee Members what she finds. Mr. Sims thanked the public for their input and stated that it is very helpful. 10. Items for Next Agenda and Date Mr. Sims stated that the next regularly scheduled meeting would be Monday, August 22, 2016. Ms. Moore responded that due to early voting the chambers would not be available. If the Committee did want, a special meeting could be scheduled for a different day. Mr. Sims called for input about the meeting date, hearing none he stated that the August meeting is cancelled and the next regular meeting would be September 26tH 11. Adjourn Chairman Sims called for any further business, hearing none he adjourned the meeting at 7:35pm. By:'r Matthew Sims, Chairman Parks and Recreation Committee s/m