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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-24-2023 PR MinutesPARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING J U LY 24, 2023 I. Call to Order -- Chairperson Drumheller called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. II. Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all. III. Present Ms. Drumheller Mr. Danise Mr. Allen (a) Not Present Mr. Renzi -- Excused Ms. Webster -- Excused Mr. Mauro (a) Ms. White -- Zoom Also Present Mr. Brian Benton, Interim City Manager Mr. Ken Killgore, Chief Financial Officer, City of Sebastian Mr. Nicholas Ladyman, Help Desk Technician Ms. Janet Graham, Technical Writer IV. Announcements and Agenda Modifications -- None V. Approval of Minutes -- Meeting Minutes from June 26, 2023 Everyone indicating they had reviewed the Minutes, Ms. Drumheller called for a motion. A motion approving the Minutes of June 26, 2023 as presented was made by Mr. Mauro, seconded by Mr. Allen, and approved unanimously via voice vote. VI. Public Input -- None VII. Unfinished Business A. Current Project(s) Update Mr. Benton gave an update on current project(s) as follows: Easy Street Playground -- He reviewed that he had given the Committee a timeline of early July. That has come and passed. Per an update based on late last week, the playground is being prepared to ship from the manufacturer. They were on a 2- to 3- week delay, so staff is awaiting shipment from the manufacturer. It will take approximately PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 2 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF JULY 24, 2023 a week or so to get to the installation company. Once that takes place, installation should occur sometime around late August. Filbert Street Playground -- This one is a bit further behind. We never really had a tentative shipment date from the manufacturer. We still currently do not have a date from them. At this time, he is looking at sometime in late September for that playground installation. Community Center -- The interior lighting upgrade project was completed a couple weeks ago. That included improvement of the lighting to new LED lighting and a reduction in the number of fixtures. Individual rows of lighting were installed along with dimmer switches. Also, individual fan switches were installed. Friendship Park Baseball Field Upgrade -- Staff is still working on improving the conditions of the field turf. That is probably the biggest challenge on that complex right now. That field was not taken care of. It was not treated as a baseball field in recent history. That is a project that staff took on due to the number of registrants for little league. They requested additional fields. They had been using North County who was charging them, so the City agreed to start improving Friendship Park for their usage. Currently, bids are being accepted for fencing to replace the backstop fencing and then run permanent fencing down along the sidelines. We are also going to look at getting a temporary outfield fence that can also be used at Barber Street for tournaments and such on the larger field. That would be a temporary fence for that area as we look at the dimensions that are going to work best for the little league program. He added that staff is working hard on the parks right now. He then called for any questions from the Committee. Ms. White -- Regarding the Yacht Club, is that finished or is there still work to be done. Mr. Benton said the Yacht Club boat ramp dock repair was completed about a month ago. We are now just waiting to see if FEMA is going to reimburse us. There are also Yacht Club interior improvements that are scheduled for this year. The interior lighting was just replaced. Selection of paint colors and cost estimates for flooring replacement in that building are being addressed presently. Once a decision on a floor option is reached, staff will go through and paint, install new flooring, and also do some bathroom upgrades. He estimates that should be completed by the end of the fiscal year. B. Committee Member Park Updates PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 3 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF JULY 24, 2023 Mr. Danise -- He stated all the parks look fantastic, not just the parks that were assigned to him. He did mention that he gets questions about when the piers are going to be repaired, and he tried to explain the problem with waiting on FEMA for funds. Mr. Mauro -- Regarding the Yacht Club, the yellow tape is gone, and it all looks good. The Main Street boat ramp looks good. The pickleball courts are in great shape. He thanked the staff who comes out and cuts grass, etc. They do a very nice job. Also, the bathroom is open on time. Ms. Drumheller -- Regarding Periwinkle Park, there is more action happening at that park. The other parks that are assigned to her look good. C. Upcoming Events at Riverview Park Mr. Benton stated that this is the time of year that there is a little bit of a break in activity at that park. There are no major events taking place there in the near future. He did mention that the Chamber of Commerce has their annual Grill -out Night scheduled for Friday, August 11 th, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. It takes place at participating locations throughout the City. A lot of businesses on US1, in the plazas, etc. will participate this year. This year's theme is "Backyard Barbeque," and you can check the Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce website once everything is posted with the businesses that are participating. D. Discuss Adopt -A -Park Committee Member Allocations A list of the parks and their Committee member assignments was attached to this evening's agenda. Ms. Drumheller stated that the Dog Park is one of her parks. She does not have any dogs, and when she shows up at the Dog Park people look at her questioningly. She asked if anyone who has a dog would like to take over the Dog Park. Ms. White stated she will take over the Dog Park if Ms. Drumheller will take over the Garden Club Park. Ms. Drumheller stated that would be fine. Ms. Drumheller asked Mr. Allen, a new member, if he had an understanding of what the Committee members do with monitoring their assigned parks. Mr. Allen said yes, and he was able to check out the three parks that are presently not allocated. No one else stated that they wanted to change parks. Mr. Allen said he would take over Bryant Street Park. The Historical Park was tricky to find, but once he found it, he appreciates the space. The Kildare Park was also a tricky one, as it is not called the Kildare Park anywhere on the PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 4 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF JULY 24, 2023 signage. He has had conversations with Mr. Van Meir, and they are working on normalizing that. Online it is identified as the Schumann Lake Park. He stated that he would be responsible for Bryant Street Park, the Historical Park, and the Kildare Park. Mr. Benton talked about the Kildare/Schumann Lake Park and what may happen there in the future. Ms. Drumheller asked regarding the boat ramp area where there will be some adult swings installed, what is the status. Mr. Benton said the City is waiting for FEMA to come and do a site assessment for damage due to the hurricane. They did come and do a site assessment, and now there has been a lull where the City has not received their site assessment report yet. FEMA will not let us proceed until we have that report from them to make sure they gathered everything the City wanted to be addressed in those locations. Karen Miller from Engineering has a meeting with them on Thursday, and hopefully we will have an update as to the status of this project. The shoreline has to be reestablished in that area. The City does not want to go ahead and install this swing/bench park area in its current condition, because it would run really close to the eroded shoreline at this point. Ms. White asked how many swings are planned. Mr. Benton estimated three to four swings and four to six benches. She asked if they will be memorial benches. Mr. Benton said yes, the plan is to do memorial benches. Mr. Mauro addressed the Historical Park and asked if anybody actually uses it. Mr. Benton said not unless someone is walking around the pond and looking at it. It is more a passive, green property that is labeled as a park property. He added that the City can install some small amenities once we get through the construction in that area. Mr. Mauro asked if that park is big enough for frisbee golf. Mr. Benton said no. Basically, the whole parcel is a pond. Ms. White asked why it is considered a park and not just a green area. Mr. Benton said he will have to go back and look at the history of this area. There is a monument there. That could have been how it was deeded to the City or something like that so it would be preserved as a park area. He will look into that. Ms. Drumheller asked that the Minutes for this meeting show that Mr. Allen will be responsible for Bryant Street Park, Historical Park, and Kildare Park. Ms. White asked that the Committee get a printed updated copy of the park allocations, and Mr. Benton said he will see to that. PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 5 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF JULY 24, 2023 VIII. New Business A. FY24 Capital Improvement Projects related to the use of Recreation Impact Fees Mr. Benton stated that Mr. Killgore will review the capital improvement project items that are specifically related to the recreation impact fees. Mr. Benton emphasized that these have not been approved by City Council. What is being done tonight is to present these items to the Committee for its input and support, and hopefully at the end, a motion supporting these projects will be made to go to City Council and acknowledge that the Parks and Recreation Committee agrees with what staff has presented. Mr. Killgore stated that it has been a pleasure to work with Mr. Benton and he reviewed the reports after which he called for questions or comments. There were several questions from Ms. White which were addressed by Mr. Killgore. Mr. Benton presented the items that are funded by the recreation impact fees. The Committee has the entire capital outlay schedule and the descriptions for the items are on the second page for the specific items under recreation impact fees. He reviewed the report, after which he called for questions regarding these items by the Committee members. There were several questions by Ms. White regarding recreation impact fees which Mr. Benton addressed. Ms. Drumheller called for a motion approving the Capital Outlay Schedule as well as the proposed recreation budget. A motion approving the Capital Outlay Schedule as well as the proposed recreation budget was made by Mr. Mauro, seconded by Mr. Danise, and approved unanimously via voice vote. B. Pickleball Court Discussion Mr. Benton reviewed the history of the discussion regarding potential pickleball expansion at the current pickleball complex located out at the airport. Based on that discussion, staff wanted to make sure that this Committee was in agreement to have staff do some research and come back with some very preliminary information. He stated that staff reached out to the company that did the present pickleball courts. Some preliminary cost estimates were obtained. The estimates that were obtained were for a pickleball expansion that would be situated right next door to the present pickleball complex. The existing pickleball courts cost in the range of approximately $650,000.00 to $700,000.00. If the exact same layout were to be built —and that was the easiest way for staff to do it, because staff did not cut parts out of it, currently the exact same layout, including PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 6 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF JULY 24, 2023 everything, is a cost of somewhere around $900,000.00 to $950,000.00 for exactly what is there now. He added that he has spoken to the Airport Director today, and that area to the south of the existing pickleball complex is zoned light industrial. He has had some groups interested in it. Nothing has gone any further, but that is an option that the airport is currently looking at with the property to the south. Those are the elements that are in play. If the City were to go forward in the future with building pickleball courts there, we would have to rent additional acreage from the airport. We currently pay them in the range of $7,000.00 annually. Ms. White asked regarding how the funds were paid for the present courts, and Mr. Killgore explained that process. Ms. Drumheller also had questions as to whether this is something that would be handled as a five-year plan. Mr. Benton explained that process. Mr. Danise asked what cost estimates would change if there were no restrooms and other amenities added. Mr. Benton gave a breakdown as follows: If it were just a flat piece of ground, with no ground work needed, and we were building eight pickleball courts with no parking lot, etc., the cost estimate would be approximately $350,000.00. Mr. Mauro stated that this is not going to happen in the future unless this Committee recommends it now to the City, to get this on the agenda to build more courts. He stated that the courts presently are overcrowded, and during the in season, they are even more overcrowded. Pickleball is very popular and continues to grow. The new homes and the residents that come with them in the future will add to the popularity of pickleball and the need for additional courts in Sebastian. He is asking the Committee now to look beyond the funding, and we need to go to the City and ask for more courts. Mr. Allen addressed the survey that Mr. Mauro took. He asked if there is an estimate of how many people actually use the pickleball courts. Mr. Benton said he does not have that information. Mr. Allen explained his thinking that $1 million buys a lot of fun and buying fun for 50 people versus buying fun for 500 people means we should weigh our options. He would like to know how many people this is going to impact. He also asked if the City is making any money from these pickleball courts —something that can go against that million -dollar investment. Mr. Benton stated that the City does charge for tokens to run the lights. He said staff will get this Committee the numbers of what the income is versus what the expenses are for the pickleball courts. Mr. Killgore stated that last year the tokens brought in $2,900.00. Mr. Allen asked, instead of doubling at the PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 7 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF JULY 24, 2023 current location, would it make more sense to have pickleball courts in other parts of the City. Mr. Benton said that is completely up to this Committee. Ms. Drumheller said the Committee needs more numbers as to need versus cost, etc. She suggested that we might not need to double the courts. Mr. Benton said that if you eliminate lighting, you save $100,000.00 to $120,000.00. You are going to have to add parking. If you eliminate the restroom, you save about another $100,000.00. The shade structure you are probably going to want to have, but if you do not want to have it, you will save in the range of $15,000.00 to $20,000.00. There will also be sidewalks to be installed. There is landscaping. All these things add up quickly. He delineated what the $350,000.00 would cover. Mr. Danise brought up the subject of noise, and if we decide to put pickleball courts in somewhere in the City other than at the airport, noise needs to be considered. He opined that the location of the present pickleball courts is an idea location. He added that, if we do not put a claim in for that property soon, the airport is going to find something else to do with it. Ms. Drumheller called for public comment. Eileen Hanley, 775 Holden Avenue, Sebastian -- She appreciates the Committee and the City recognizing that we need to think ahead. She cannot tell you how many people use the courts, but she uses an app on her phone that is called "Team Reach." There are two different groups that are on there, and there are over 150 people who are signed up to those applications. That does not include the kids or people who are not tech savvy. At Pocahontas Park, they have capped their membership, and she estimates that there are over 1,000 people there who are actually paying to have the privilege to play there. There are people who come to the Sebastian pickleball courts from Barefoot Bay and Vero Beach. There are some issues as far as different groups playing and court time, etc. So far, she said everyone works well together as far as the different communities. She agrees with Mr. Danise that we need to look forward with the new homes that are slated to be built in the not -too -distant future, and we need to plan for this. Robert Hatch, 910 Greenbriar Avenue, Sebastian -- He appreciates everything that the City has done to make the pickleball courts as nice as they are. He said that many tennis players are now going to pickleball. He reviewed that Schumann Drive is where the pickleball players played before we had the courts at the airport. Maybe it is a possibility to turn those two courts into three or four pickleball courts. A lot of people are converting tennis courts to pickleball courts because tennis is going down and pickleball is going up. He also added that having pickleball courts in Sebastian is a drawing card PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 8 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF JULY 24, 2023 for people looking to move here. Mr. Mauro added that The Villages is like pickleball heaven. He is not sure how many courts they have, but pickleball is crazy popular there. Karen Pallon, Arega Street, Sebastian -- She cited an article that she read recently that said 36.8 million people in the US have played pickleball this year. She would like to have the exact replica of the present courts duplicated. If we had more courts, we could advertise, and be able to teach people how to play. It is now ADA accessible, so we could actually be able to open it to Special Olympics and have tournaments. Tournaments would also bring money in. She added that a lot of people who cannot play other sports are able to play pickleball. She reviewed her experience in working with the former City officials in getting the 8 courts built when the suggestion had been to have 16 courts built. Don Anderson, 705 Ewing Trail, Sebastian -- He addressed the comment that Mr. Allen had made regarding possible revenue stream for the pickleball courts. He stated that he played in Vero Beach's tournament last year. They had a little over 500 people, and they charged close to $125.00 a player. So that means maybe $50,000.00 just by having one tournament a year. So that would take care of the cost of inflation, etc. Those types of revenue streams are available. They have also started doing things with the community. They had the Boys and Girls Club here last week, and they spent about 2- 1/2 hours playing pickleball with them. Ms. White asked if Vero Beach charges for people to play pickleball. The answer was yes. There was discussion regarding the charges and who can play at what time, etc. Mr. Benton clarified that that is a pickleball organization that leases the courts from the City of Vero Beach. He said he will check into how that lease reads. He added that the pickleball organization recently made some capital improvements to the courts. Mr. Allen estimates that approximately 150 people are playing a day, and at $15.00 a person that is about $2,200.00 per day. That is substantial revenue for the City of Vero Beach. He suggested that Sebastian would be a little kinder to our players. Ms. Drumheller commented on how the revenue is handled in Vero Beach, and she suggested that this Committee not look at things from a revenue standpoint as much as from a needs standpoint to increase the availability in the community for services that are not presently offered. She added that maybe that would develop down the road into some kind of a revenue stream. Ms. White emphasized that the tennis courts behind City Hall charge the players. Mr. Benton stated there is a staff member who is present in the mornings and then in the evenings on the clay tennis courts. He added that, if we charged the players at the pickleball courts, we would have to build a new building at that complex if we did this. Ms. White asked several additional questions regarding expenses at the pickleball courts which Mr. Benton answered. PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 9 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF JULY 24, 2023 Ms. Drumheller asked for comments/questions from the Committee members. Mr. Mauro suggested that a recommendation be made at this time to present to the City Manager/City Council. Ms. Drumheller asked Mr. Benton what needs to be done to get preliminary research, etc. started. Mr. Benton mentioned some preliminary information that he will get from the airport on what their plans are for this property and some information from the City as to whether this project is an option. He stated that the numbers he already has are good; however, there would need to be additional parking added into the numbers. He stated that, if the direction from this Committee is to continue to explore this option at the current time, it will not make it into this year's CIP. We are past that point. So it would be something that we include in a future CIP. How many years we would program it down the road would be based on where we see monies coming in and what funds we can utilize. Mr. Benton wanted to emphasize that Sebastian's pickleball courts are open to the public, we do not charge fees, and it is a public amenity. When you start to compare it to Vero Beach, the City leases their courts to a pickleball organization, and that becomes a completely different program. He will find out what their lease reads and what the numbers are. A motion that this Committee direct the Parks and Recreation division of the City to continue their discussion on developing more pickleball courts and also to bring back to the Committee some information on what is happening regarding pickleball in the City of Vero Beach was made by Ms. Drumheller, seconded by Mr. Danise, and approved unanimously via voice vote. A motion directing Mr. Benton and the Parks and Recreation Department to continue their assessment for additional pickleball courts and also to ask for some information on what is happening at the Vero Beach pickleball courts was made by Ms. Drumheller, seconded by Mr. Danise. Mr. Allen suggested an amendment to the motion, which he later withdrew. A voice vote approving the motion by Ms. Drumheller was unanimous. Ms. Drumheller asked Mr. Allen if he had gotten the orientation booklet about sunshine laws, etc. He said he did. She also asked Mr. Benton if at some time we could get a sunshine law presentation by the new City Attorney. Mr. Benton said he would check with the new City Attorney. It may be a month or two before we can have her do the presentation. Ms. Drumheller also asked if Mr. Allen could get the email that the City Clerk had sent out on sunshine laws and some of the litigation that has happened. She felt it was a very useful article. IX. Items for the Next Agenda and Date: Auqust 28. 2023 PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 10 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF JULY 24, 2023 X. Adfourn There being no further business a motion to adjourn was made by Mr. Danise, seconded by Mr. Mauro, and approved unanimously via voice vote. By:lee jg � Date: �3