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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-21-2020 PR MinutesPARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 Call to Order -- Chairperson Webster called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. 2. Pledce of Alleoiance was recited by all. 3. Roll Call Present Mr. Danise (a) Mr. Mauro (a) Mr. Agudelo Ms. Webster Ms. White (Zoom) Not Present Mr. Renzi -- Excused Mr. Sims — Excused Also Present Mr. Brian Benton, Leisure Services Director Ms. Barbara Brooke -Reese, MIS Manager Ms. Janet Graham, Technical Writer (Zoom) 4. Meeting Chair Makes Announcements Chairperson Webster announced that Mr. Sims is excused from tonight's meeting, and alternate member Mr. Denise will be voting in Mr. Sims' place. 5. Aoenda Modifications — None 6. ADoroval of Minutes Chairperson Webster asked if everyone had read over the Minutes from July 27, 2020. All indicated they had. Ms. Webster asked if anyone had any changes or corrections. Hearing none, Ms. Webster called for a motion to approve the Minutes from July 27, 2020 as presented. A motion approving the Minutes as presented was made by Mr. Agudelo, seconded by Mr. Denise, and approved unanimously via voice vole. 7. Unfinished Business — None 8. Public Inoul -- No one in Council Chambers or on Zoom PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 2 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 21.2020 9. New Business A. Proposed Athletic Rental, Pickleball and Tennis Fees Mr. Benton reviewed that this subject has been discussed several limes in the past. It came up when the Friendship Park tennis court resurfacing project was on the table for City Council. It was approved, but Council wanted to look into the fees that were charged at the tennis courts. Also, the City opened its new pickleball facility back in March. The lighting system has been installed, and part of that was the token machines that were approved and the charge for the tokens to access the lights. The other portion is the fact that the City does not have an athletic field rental policy in place. It has been lumped into the park rentals. Mr. Benton feels that the rates that were being charged are not appropriate when taking into account the current conditions of the athletic fields and the improvements that the City is currently doing. He feels the City should more accurately represent what it is offering to the outside groups who want to come in and host tournaments. For clarification, Mr. Benton said this does not affect Little League, Sebastian Sharks —those groups who currently have user agreements with the City. It will only affect outside groups who want to come into the City and host tournaments or if an individual wanted to rent a baseball field or a soccer field or a football field, it would apply to them. There will be a process where there will be an application they must fill out, and they will have to provide a certificate of insurance for those facility rentals, but not for pickleball and tennis. Mr. Benton has provided the Committee members with staff recommendations regarding the fees for these facilities (SEE ATTACHED). He will need to have that adopted as a resolution by City Council. Here tonight, he will facilitate a discussion among the Committee members after which the Committee will arrive at a recommendation that will go from the Committee to City Council. City Council will also see the staff recommendations; however, staff will provide Council with the input provided by this Committee if there are any adjustments that the Committee makes at Council's October 14th meeting. Mr. Benton further explained that the token fees for the lighting at the pickleball courts does include lax. On the document from staff listing their recommended fees, that is lumped under the athletic facility rental fee recommendations, which are identified as lax additional. However, the light token fees do include tax. He did work that out with the tax already included. The tax rate for facility rentals is 6.5%, and for tennis it is 7%. They do fall in separate tax brackets. PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 3 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 Chairperson Webster then called for discussion among the Committee members. She asked if everyone had had a chance to review the list of proposed fees. All indicated they had. Ms. While: Regarding the pickleball complex rental fees, she wanted to clarify if the fees listed are for group playing. Mr. Benton further emphasized that these fees are specifically if someone wants to reserve a court. Currently, the courts are available for open play. No one is being charged to come and use the courts. He also pointed out that there will not be any court rentals during the busiest limes at the courts. That is something that staff does not want to lake away from Sebastian residents. Currently, no one is permitted to give lessons, as this would be someone making a profit from a public spacelfacility. With the Increase for the clay tennis courts, she asked Mr. Benton if he has had any feedback from the public about not being happy with the increase in fees. Mr. Benton stated this is one of the items that was a direction from Council as well, for staff to look into the fees that are currently being charged. He described how he arrived at the figures for a resident single annual pass and a non-resident single annual pass as well as family passes, junior passes, and a discount for seniors. Regarding the fees, she asked if there is a way to track how many people are playing, if they are residents or not, and then at the end of the year it might provide information about who is using the facilities and the number of people using them. Mr. Benton stated those things are kept track of at Friendship Park, as there is a staff member there. When the new fees are put into place, the tennis attendants are going to have an address list to ensure someone is a resident. The reason for the difference in the fees for residents vs. nonresidents is because City residents pay taxes to the City, nonresidents do not. Regarding tournaments at the pickleball courts, she asked if there will be notice posted on the website. Mr. Benton staled it would be posted on the websile, notice would be posted on all the gates at the courts, and signage would be put up on the sidewalks so that there is adequate notification to the general public who go out and use the courts. Typically, the notice would be posted one to two weeks in advance. He stated there have been no requests for tournaments at this point, but he anticipates that eventually there will be requests here and there for them. Regarding the pickleball courts, she asked if the City pays the airport rental on [fiat property. Mr. Benton slated the City does have to pay a rental fee to the airport for those courts. The majority of this project was paid for by recreation impact fees, but the City does have an annual cost that it pays the airport for rental of the property. PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 4 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 He said originally the price was around $12,000.00, but the City negotiated it down to somewhere around $7,000.00 a year that it pays to the airport. Also, regarding the charge to use the Friendship Park clay tennis courts, she feels that the City is lucky to have them, but they are a cost to the City. She thinks, even with raising the fees, the clay courts need to be taken care of property. Mr. Benton recalls that when the question of increasing the fees was addressed both by this Committee as well as City Council, there were some who were against raising the fees, but the majority of people were in favor of the clay courts, even if it meant raising the fees. He has gotten lots of positive feedback on the resurfacing of these courts. He stated they just completed a drainage project on the north side of those courts as well. Mr. Danise: Stated that the Friends of the Court have parties sometimes, and they have a charge for that. He asked if the new fee structure is going to affect them. Mr. Benton staled it will not. He is Involved with a not -for -profit organization, and they might be instituting a 10- and-under program. It is a Saturday morning program for eight weeks. It is done in the spring. He asked if this would require a charge, because the kids are charged, and he does not know what the charge is going to be, but there is a fee to try to cover the expenses. It is at Schumann Drive. He also has a program for the volunteers at Schumann. He will have to Increase the fees if they have to pay the City anything. Mr. Benton said there needs to be a sit-down to look at the fees that are charged, the sanctioning bodies, and come up with a plan based on that. That would be similar to how Little League, tackle football, and soccer are charged. Regarding the token time element for plckleball, he would like to see the hour and fifteen minutes changed to just one hour. The reason the companies set it up that way is because, if there is a close game being played, that avoids arguments, and that gives people time to get off the courts and the new people time to get on. He thinks it will curtail arguments if the players know that the time allowed per token is one hour. Mr. Benton slated that is something that can be looked into if that begins to be an issue with multiple groups wanting to use the courts at night with lighting. He did lest the machine to see if you can put multiple tokens in to accumulate your time, and you can. So if someone wanted to play for two hours, they can put two tokens in, and they will get 2-1/2 hours of time. There is a camera out there, and staff can see what occurs. He can routinely check the camera to see how many people play. Staff will also know from the number of tokens that PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 5 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 are purchased. The plan is to empty the token machines every day, and adjustments can be made from that information if needed. Mr. Agudelo: • Regarding the fee for juniors, he asked if anyone under 18 has to have an adult accompany them. Mr. Benton said no, it does not mean that. He explained that typically what staff sees is, if a junior comes to play, they are typically coming and playing with an adult or practicing with an adult. So staff did not want to burden the parents by having them pay a higher fee for theirchild, since it benefits the kids to get them out and be active in the community. Mr. Mauro: • As to the clay tennis court fees, he understood the old resident session fee was $3.00 per session, and he asked how that worked. Mr. Benton explained that It is per session. They gel a block of time to play for that price. Mr. Mauro inquired as to how long it had been $3.00. Mr. Benton stated his understanding Is that it has been that rate for a long time. However, he has only been with the City since December of 2018, so he is not aware of the procedure before he came here. Mr. Mauro said that if the fees were $3.00 for a long time, he would not have a problem with it being raised or the other fees that are set out on the attachment. • Regarding pickleball and the court rental, he is in favor of the $25.00 per hour. So if an instructor wants to reserve a court, he/she comes into the City and pays the $25.00 versus the $10.00 per participant. • On tournament rentals, if somebody wants to come in and have a tournament, he will strongly urge that they not be allowed to use all eight courts and always keep one court available for the general public if they want to play during a tournament. • On the lighting fees, he would like to see the time go from 75 minutes to 90 minutes. Mr. Benton stated that 75-minute number is how the machines came from the token company. They program it before it ever gets sent to the City. • As to the five tokens for $20.00. he asked if there could be one more tier to allow for if someone spent 550.00, you could gel even more tokens. Mr. Benton slated he will have a discussion with the City Manager to see if that is something that could be worked out. • Asked if there is any time set for when the courts can be used or is it 24 hours a day. Mr. Benton slated the time the lights will go off will be 11:00 p.m. At the present location, there are no residential areas in the immediate area, and the LED lights do control the spill. There is not a lot of glare going one way or the other PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 6 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 from these courts. That could be something that staff will need to revisit if there are a lot of complaints from residents if the courts are in fact active until 11 o'clock at night. Ms. Webster: Regarding pickleball, she asked how tournaments will be scheduled or for someone to come and have classes if you do not want them to interfere with the people who are out there regularly. Mr. Benton replied regarding lessons where a person can come and rent a court to leach lessons, he knows people are off those courts typically around 11:00 to 11:30 a.m. Then they are back somewhere around 5:00 p.m. So the plan is to have set limes for anyone who wants to leach lessons, and the courts can be rented for lessons only during those set limes. There are only two courts that can be rented, and those will be courts 7 and 8, which are the furthest ones from the parking lot. As far as tournaments go, it would not be the rase where someone would come and ask to have a tournament next week. They have to submit their request two to three months in advance, and there will be notice posted at the courts stating that a tournament is scheduled for a certain date. He also slated the plan is to limit the number of tournaments. Regarding the baseball fields, she asked if one field at a time can be rented, not all four fields at the same time, and she asked if the fee is $175.00 per individual field. Mr. Benton stated that is correct--S175.00 for each field. He stated there is a group who has rented the fields quite a bit over the last year, but they were only charged S100.00 because that is what the ordinance was for a park rental. Sothis will bring it more in line with what should be charged. The condition of the fields and the Improvements that have been made he feels warrant the price that will be charged from now on. That all is approved by Little League before the tournament gets approved. Asked if the groups renting the fields will be allowed to use the concession stand. Mr. Benton stated he has gotten requests from the tournament group to see if Little League wanted to open the concession stand and make the money for their program. That is something that would all be discussed with the tournament people and with Little League. He does not foresee the City allowing a tournament to come In and run the concession stand because Little League has personal items in there. He said it is possible that the tournament people could have a tent set up and grill and do something outside the concession stand if Little League did not want to open the concession. Inquired if the lights a1 the baseball fields are now on a timer. Mr. Benton said they are on a timer, and he can electronically turn them on and off from his phone. He stated the schedule has already been set for Little League for the entire season. PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 7 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 The president and board members have a code that they can call in to shut the lights off early. They cannot extend them or turn them on, but they can shut them off early if they gel finished early. Ms. Webster is pleased with this plan. Regarding the lighting at the pickleball courts, she inquired as to what the $5.00 covers. Mr. Benton staled it is for one token. She asked how many people play for that hour. Mr. Benton said it varies whether they are playing singles or doubles. The lighting covers two courts for the $5.00. 8. Public Input Chairperson called for public input from anyone in Council Chambers Darlene Schwartz of Sebastian represents a pickleball group. She reviewed the flours the players use the courts, and she feels the fees that are proposed are exorbitant and will put a burden on the players. She also feels that the token program will be Hard for her group to manage. She also mentioned that the courts are built backwards because players face the sun in the morning and the sun in the evening, but they are beautiful courts. Eileen Bell of Sebastian stated it does not take much time to switch teams as the games are finished. She thinks, if people are given only a minute between games, that is enough. The players try to organize it so there is rotation, so when the teams on the far end are finished, they will come off, and the next team will lake to the court. Sue Peterson of Sebastian thanked Ms. While for acknowledging the public and asking if anyone has contacted Mr. Benton. She stated she has emailed him several limes, and he has answered at least once. She questioned whether Sebastian residents would be entitled to discounts. She stated there has been misinformation from people saying that pickleball in Sebastian is free. She thanked the City for building the new pickleball courts. She staled with the possibility of a tax increase this year, an increase to 55.00 from 53.00 could be difficult for Sebastian residents. She would ask that staff look into that and what other cities are doing with their fee schedules for pickleball. Marguerite Abercrombie of Sebastian asked about the lighting at the Pickleball Courts. She understands they are LED lights. Mr. Benton staled that is correct. She pointed out that when the City is making the decisions about the fees, LED lights are extremely less costly to run. That is why she wondered why the fees will be so high when LED lights cost a lot less to use. Ms. White opined that the cost to use the LED lighting is cheaper but pulling up the lighting system was expensive. Mr. Benton stated the lighting was about 5104,000.00 plus the cost of the token machines, which would put the cost at PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 8 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 somewhere around $105,000.00 for the lighting portion of that project. Chairperson Webster called for public input from anyone on Zoom. There being none, she closed the Public Input portion of the meeting. Mr. Benton stated this item does have to go before City Council for them to approve the fees, and City Council will see the staff recommendations. He asks that the Committee make a recommendation to City Council on this fee schedule. He staled that the public will be able to have input at that Council meeting. Chairperson Webster called for a motion. A motion to accept the fee changes that were presented to the Committee this evening was made by Ms. While, seconded by Mr. Agudelo, and passed with a vote of four in favor and one against. Motion carries. B. Committee Member Discussion on Adopt -A -Park Mr. Benton slated that there are some new Committee members. The rest of the Committee members have had their park(s) allocated for a little over a year. It was suggested that the Committee take a look at this program and reallocate some parks. He slated the Committee can decide to do this any way they would like. One method that he suggested is that everyone who currently has parks allocated to them could keep one of those parks, and that will open up all the rest of the parks for everyone and would give the new Committee members a chance to choose one from those, and then they could go back down the list for everyone to choose a second or third park if desired. Ms. While suggested that the Committee members who are present tonight pick one park and then at the next meeting pick their second one. She would like to give the new people a chance. She would favor picking one park each right now and leaving the others for the new members to have more of a selection. Ms. Webster agreed. Mr. Benton said that would be fine, and then it could be brought back as Unfinished Business at the next meeting. So one park can be allocated at this meeting, and then at the next meeting reallocate the parks that are left over. Discussion was had among the Committee members on how to accomplish allocating of the parks, after which it was decided as follows: Mr. Mauro Pickleball complex Main Street Boat Ramp Yacht Club Boat Ramp PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 9 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 Mr. Agudelo Bryant Street Park Barber Street Sports Complex Historical Park Kildaire Park Mr. Denise George Street Park Schumann Drive Park Blossom Street Park Ms. While Easy Street Park Garden Club Park Mr. Renzi Stormwater Park Friendship Park Mr. Sims Filbert Street Park Sebastian Bark Park Riverview Park Ms. Webster Community Center Hardee Park Barber Street Sports Complex Open to members absent at this meeting Periwinkle Park Mr. Benton emphasized that, if any member notes something needing allention at a park, even if that pard is not assigned to him/her. to please reach out to him immediately via email, cell phone or text, and his department will gel on it ASAP. 10. Staff Matters A. Current Project(s) Update Mr. Benton updated the current projects as follows: • Baseball and Softball Field Fence Project -- This project was finished in August. That included the fence replacement from the dugouts all the way around the outfields, an additional fenced -in area for bullpens, and additional fencing along the batting cages. PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 10 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 • Dugout Replacement Project — This project is moving along somewhat slower than he anticipated. He has been in contact with the Little League program. This project was designed inhouse and is being built inhouse. There were some issues with gelling concrete and building supplies. There is a shortage of wood nationwide. The first base dugout on field 2 is almost complete. The new dugouts are going to be lots bigger than the old ones. The roofing still needs to be installed on this one. He anticipates [hat the other ones will move along quicker. Fields 3 and 4 will be done after Thanksgiving when the fields are shut down for the winter. • Batting Cages — New batting cages were Installed, including new artificial turf and batting mats. The artificial turf was paid for by Little League. One last thing that is needed is that the netting that comes down on the sides needs to be anchored down to the concrete to keep it from blowing, and he expects this to be accomplished in the next week or two. There is now electric installed in the cages. • Pickleball Lighting -- Pickleball lighting is installed and has passed inspection. There was some damage caused to the landscaping around the poles, so the lighting contractor is going to reduce their charge to the City in order for [he City to go in and do the work. That should be taken care of soon. • Friendship Park Tennis — There was a drainage issue on the north side of the courts that had been there for some time. Last week the area was regraded, and sod was installed. That project should be complete by the end of this week. • Riverview Park Sidewalk Project — That project is almost complete. Lisa Frazier from Community Development was the project manager on this. Funds were paid out of the CRA for that project. The contractor did have to return and replace a portion that did not quite meet the City's standards. That was done this week, so the project should be complete by the end of this week. Mr. Benton has also worked with Lisa Frazier and Kim Haigler, who is the Environmental Technician. Kim identified some native planting, so staff will begin to do some native plantings along the sidewalk entrances to the park. • ADA-Accessible Playground Equipment — Based on input at a recent City Council meeting and input from this Committee, Mr. Benton had a discussion with the City Manager after one of the recent Council meetings, and the City Manager asked Mr. Benton to go ahead and purchase an ADA-accessible swing for Schumann Drive Park. It will be about six to eight weeks until the City receives this equipment. There will be an ADA-accessible pathway, and the swing will be right there so that the kids can access it. He staled ilia City is also purchasing PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 11 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 mats for underneath the ends of the slides and underneath the swings. That should reduce the kickoul of the mulch and maintain the accessibility to some of that equipment. Mr. Benton invited questions/comments from the Committee members. Ms. While inquired regarding the playground equipment that is going to be changed out. She asked if there is going to be an order in which those playgrounds are going to be changed out and are they to be done on a certain timeline, or just when they are not in good shape. Mr. Benton staled that in the City's Capital Improvements Plan, this has been scheduled out over the next five years. This year George Street was allocated, but when COVID hit he thought the projects at the baseball fields could be done a lot quicker so it would not impact the kids and the Little League program, and he reallocated that money in order to get those projects done faster. So next year, there are two playgrounds are allocated for new playground equipment. Those will be George Street Park and Filbert Park. He said the following year will be Blossom Park, and then the following year will be Easy Street. He recalls that that is the timeline on most of those playgrounds. He spoke with the Procurement Manager, and he would like to have a couple members of this Committee be involved in the selection process when the bids are opened and in selecting the manufacturer who is chosen. Within each of those playground replacements, it will be required [hat there are ADA-accessible components. Ms. While asked if all the playgrounds are going to have the same style of equipment. Mr. Benton said Dial is something that can be discussed among this Committee. He would like to have the playgrounds separated as to the age ranges of the kids. He suggested having the manufacturers of the equipment present two separate proposals for each of the two parks, George Street and Filbert Street, which are going to be addressed in the next fiscal year. Ms. While recalled that Ms. Webster had mentioned a playground in Melbourne with ADA equipment. She suggested that whoever is on the committee picking the equipment go and visit a few other places before a decision is made, just to see what is out there. She volunteered to be on that committee. Mr. Benton stated that the park where there is the most opportunity to include the most accessible components will be when the Creative Playground is addressed. He recalls that the initial budget for that facility is about $100,000.00 for that playground replacement. But he thinks that is the playground that presents the best option to have multiple pieces of ADA equipment installed. He again emphasized that all of the City's playgrounds are going to be accessible, which includes an accessible pathway to the playgrounds and ensuring ilia correct heights so that they are accessible to everyone. PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 12 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 Ms. While inquired whether Halloween is going to have an event this year. Mr. Benton slated yes. He does not have the date yet. As soon as he has everything worked out, he will send an email to each one of the Committee members. Things may be done a little bit different this year. He stated the event is probably going to lake place at Riverview Park. He said he has not heard anything about having trick -or -treat in Sebastian. Ms. While stated that it is the responsibility of the Committee members to go to the parks that have been allocated to them and become familiar with them, even If it is not a park that has been allocated to a particular member. Mr. Mauro asked when the lighting at the pickleball complex goes into effect. Mr. Benton stated it will be presented to Council on October 141h. As soon as the fee structure is approved, it will be approximately a week or two after that. He wants to include the fee schedule in the signage that will be installed. He approximated that the third week in October or shortly after that, it will all be in place. It will be on the website, and tokens will be available for purchase. 11. Board or Committee Member Matters Ms. Webster staled Little League is practicing for the fall season, so the games will start soon, and she suggested Committee members go out and be supportive. Regarding the fees for pickleball, Ms. Webster said the fees as proposed sound reasonable to her. If the public has input, they can go to the October 14th City Council meeting and have their say then. Ms. Webster thanked the Committee members and especially City staff for sticking it out over the last several months. She realizes It has been a struggle, and she appreciates the staff for all they do. The rest of the Committee agreed. 12. Items for the Next Aaenda and Dale: October 12th. 2020 due to early voting Ms. Webster urged everyone to gel out and vote. 13. Ad ourn Th 'ng no further business, Ms. Webster adjourned the meeting at 7:12 p.m. Date: ��r jg oann Webster, Chairperson