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Parks Comm MINS 12-04-2014g:\parks comm mtg notes\2014\agendas and minutes\120414 minutes.doc CITY OF FEDERAL WAY PARKS, RECREATION AND CULTURAL SERVICES PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION Thursday, December 4, 2014 Hylebos Conference Room 6:30 p.m. City Hall MEETING MINUTES Chair Koppang called the meeting to order at 6:30pm. Present: Chair Koppang, Vice Chair Mike Hoefel, P.K. Thumbi, David Berger, Laura Belvin and Lynda Jenkins, George Pfeiffer, Dawn Coggins, Anthony Murrieta Excused: David Wilson Guests: Deputy Mayor Burbidge, Diana Noble-Gulliford – Historical Society, Bob Kellog Staff: Parks Director John Hutton, Deputy Parks Director Steve Ikerd, and Parks Administrative Assistant II Mary Jaenicke. PUBLIC FORUM Diana Noble Gulliford invited the Commission and staff to the Historical Society’s Christmas open house on December 6 from 12:00pm – 4:00pm. She spoke about the Cabins at West Hylebos Park. Due to the extensive storm damage, access to the cabins has been blocked because the park is closed. She would like the parks department to move the temporary fence back to give the public access to the cabins. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Minutes from the November Parks and Recreation Commission regular meeting were approved as written. Motion by Hoeffel to approve the minutes as written, seconded by Belvin. Motion passes. COMMISSION BUSINESS Commissioner Pfeiffer moved to move agenda item A to B. REVIEW 2015 WORK PLAN DRAFT Commissioner Berger would like a 4th task added to the Trail & Pedestrian access improvements and repair. He would like it to be more specific with the locations that need to be repaired. Mr. Ikerd stated that there ar e approximately nine parks that need work. He has started working on the bid documents. Commissioner Pfeiffer would like to add the assessment of trails. Mr. Hutton stated that staff knows which parks they want to repair first; but if a commissioner notices something that staff is not aware of then they would like to know. Mr. Ikerd explained the challenges of writing the specs for the bid, and stated that this is a high priority, but West Hylebos Park needs to be dealt with first. Vice Chair Hoeffel wou ld also like a task #4 for assessing trail maintenance. Chair Koppang asked to consider the role of the Commission as he has concern it is being expanded from an advisory role to management role. Commissioner Pfeiffer said that they have always had a role in providing public input for programming. Commissioner Berger stated that staff is looking for public input from the perspective on priorities. The commission will help in the prioritization in terms of usage and safety, not managing staff. Mr. Ikerd suggested changing the wording on task #3 to “Assess trail improvements and repairs”. Commissioner Pfeiffer had a friendly amendment to change the wording on task #3 to Assess trail improvements and repairs. Mr. Ikerd requested assistance from the commissi on in helping Parks and Recreation Commission, December 4, 2014 Page 2 g:\parks comm mtg notes\2014\agendas and minutes\120414 minutes.doc to decide which parks to take asphalt out of and replace with gravel. The Town Square Park project was discussed. The following changes to tasks are 1) Solicit public input. 2) Provide input to consultants. 3) Review and to support the recommendations on further improvements. Summary/Objectives: Review and give input to any future recommendations for park development. Commissioner Pfeiffer moved to approve the 2015 Work Plan with the changes and forward to Council Committee. Commissioner Berger seconded. Motion passed. Anthony Murrieta arrived. TOWN SQUARE PARK PRESENTATION Ida Ottensen and Steve Nowazyk from Nakano Associates provided a Power Point presentation. Ms. Ottensen stated that Town Square Park will set the tone for how downtown is going to change over the next couple of decades. Ms. Ottensen recapped how the park fits into Federal Way’s comprehensive plan. Although the future Light Rail is 1-15 years away, it should be taken into consideration in terms of the long-term function of the park. The north and west part of the site is being reserved for future private development. Ms. Ottens en stated that the whole park site will be redone. The park features that here today will not be there when the final design of Town Square Park is completed. The goal is to have the park completed in 1.5 years, which is a very ambitious schedule. The next step is the design of the park. Three different concepts will be presented in February. These concepts will show alternatives of where the par k elements could be located. The bid phase will take place in October, construction will take nine months and the grand opening will take place in July of 2016. The design elements were reviewed. Some of those included a park pavilion, water feature, pla y feature and a Veterans Memorial. There will also be an opportunity to get local artists involved. The budget for this park is $1.7 million. Commissioner Berger provided feedback on the vision of the park. Commissioner Berger also gave his idea for a wa ter feature that would connect the PACC and Town Square Park. There needs to be something unique that will bring people to the park ; the key to getting developers to develop that site is foot traffic. If the water element is connected, then the parcel wou ld have to be split. There is a concern from some of the commissioners that if there is commercial development on that corner, then there will be no access to the park from the PACC and vice versa. Ms. Ottensen stated that the design of the park will be a traditional urban downtown park with simple lines and the elements laid out in a classical way. It would be fun to do something unique, but the safer route is to go with designs that have been well proven in other locations, and let everything grow up around it. The vision of the park needs to play in with a larger vision for what downtown is. Chair Koppang stated his preference for the whole parcel to be developed as a park but also stated that while the current design includes a large “L” shaped building the eventual development could be something completely different. Casual dining and coffee shops would be very complimentary to the use of an urban park. Whatever is decided on, having a park adjacent to the new PACC that is cut off by a building would be counter productive to the goal of a harmonious downtown. Vice-Chair Hoeffel added that the vision is to be a destination place, and bring people in – the Cultural center of the city. Commissioner Murietta asked if the “L” shape building was set in ston e. Ms. Ottensen answered that this is what they have been told and those are the parameters that they have been given from the Mayor’s office. The Parks Commission can make recommendations. The consultants asked for input on how to reach out to a broad spectrum of Federal Way residents. The commission provided suggestions. Deputy Mayor Burbidge stated that the Council wants to hear feedback from the commissions. She believes that it is good to provide different design options. Commissioner Coggins agreed that options don’t have to be to either build a 5 story building or nothing, there are plenty of options for other types of development that wouldn’t obstruct vision. Commissioner Murietta asked if the commission should be sending a message to the full Council that the commission wants something different than the “L” shape and if so how do you go about doing that. Chair Koppang reminded the Commission that then can speak as citizens at the City Council meetings and also speak individually to Council members. It is still very early in the process, but at some point the committee will vote on a recommendation. Mr. Ikerd stated that it is important to look at the site elements and think about how it all fits, it may be discovered that it doesn’t all fit, and some elements may need to be eliminated or you take more of the property. Options for the design concepts were discussed. Mr. Hutton stated he Parks and Recreation Commission, December 4, 2014 Page 3 g:\parks comm mtg notes\2014\agendas and minutes\120414 minutes.doc would relay to the Mayor that the Parks Commission has a strong desire to keep it as much as a 4-acre park as possible, and there is a reservation about the “L” shape building. ELECTION OF OFFICERS Commissioner Belvin nominated Chair Koppang, Vice-Chair Hoeffel seconded. There were no other nominations. Motion passed by acclamation. Commissioner Pfeiffer nominated Vice-Chair Hoeffel, P.K. Thumbi seconded. There were no other nominations. Motion passed by acclamation. Vice -Chair Hoeffel stated that everybody that comes to the parks commission meetings is important, and everybody has different perspectives that are unique, he would like participation from all of the commissioners. The new commissioners were introduced themselves. The start time of the meetings was discussed; the start time will remain at 6:30pm. STAFF REPORTS PANTHER LAKE UPDATE Ikerd provided background information for the new commissioners. The Master Plan for Panther Lake is at 90%. The cost for the improvements is over budget, and the consultants have been asked to re-evaluate how to reduce the costs. The contract has been amended, and the consultants Huitt-Zollars should start re- evaluating the plan soon. Staff is hoping to get an update from them in January, and bring it back to the commission. TRAIL REPORT Ikerd reported that there are 32 parks in the system. He has started writing the specifications on the repair of the parks and trails. This is a difficult project to bid. Approximately ten of them have trails that need to be repaired. This project has been put on hold due to the damage that the West Hylebos parked received during the Veterans Day storm. Commissioner Pfeiffer asked if staff has explored the possibility of hiring an in - house person to spend three months during the summer to work solely on this project. Ikerd answered that we have the knowledge and the equipment, but we do not have enough staff to do that. There will be a specification developed for each site that needs to be repaired. Mr. Hutton stated that it would be a big help if the Parks Commission could identify which parks they think need the most imme diate attention. Steve and Jason will focus their efforts on writing the bid specifications for the parks that are in the most critical need. Ikerd will provide the commission with a list of the parks, and each commissioner can respond directly back to him with their findings. Mr. Ikerd would also like to know which parks should have the asphalt removed, and replaced with gravel. Commissioner Jenkins left. WEST HYLEBOS PARK – STORM DAMAGE Mr. Ikerd reported on the damage of the West Hylebos Park. There are three major areas that were damaged. Staff is looking for funding sources to help pay for the repairs. The park will be out of service until repairs can be made. AmeriCorps will be on site December 12 with Park Maintenance staff to do as much clean u p and repair work as they can. Many other volunteer groups have also offered to help with the repairs. Parks and Recreation Commission, December 4, 2014 Page 4 g:\parks comm mtg notes\2014\agendas and minutes\120414 minutes.doc NEXT MEETING/AGENDA ITEMS The next meeting is scheduled for January 1, 2015. Discussion was held on re -scheduling the meeting. Commissioner Murrietta moved to re-schedule the January 8, 2015 Parks & Recreation Commission meeting to January 8, 2015. Commissioner Belvin seconded. Motion passed. Items for the January 8, 2015 meeting are: Commission Business Staff Reports West Hylebos wetlands Park Storm Damage Update Panther Lake Update Trail Report OTHER BUSINESS Mr. Hutton invited the Commission to come out to the Tree Lighting Festival event on December 6. The program will start at 4:00pm. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Pfeiffer, Second by Thumbi to adjourn the meeting. Chair Koppang adjourned the meeting at 8:47 pm.