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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/25/1995 MEETING MINUTES City of Bremerton Parks &Recreation Department . Parks &Recreation Commission Meeting MINUTES (unapproved edition) Tuesday, April 25, 1995 5:30 p.m. Conference Room Sheridan Recreation Center 680 Lebo Blvd., Bremerton, WA 98310 ATTENDANCE: Craig Smith, Mariwyn Tinsley, Carol Johnson, Larry Hall, Larry Sampson. ABSENT/EXCUSED: J. Michael Vaughn, Scott Krone. STAFF: Jodi Wroblewski, Acting Director of Parks&Recreation, Charleen Burnett, Program Coordinator II, Lena D'Agostino, Office Asst. II. . GUESTS: Lynn Horton, Mayor of City of Bremerton, Jim Spencer, Public Works &Utilities, Mr. George Cressman, Kitsap County Parks employee. AUDIENCE: John Carlson, Jack Lefcoski, Dale Mangels. L CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Craig Smith called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. IL ITEMS FROM Dili AUDIENCE: Introductions were made as requested by Chairman Smith from the audience to identify themselves for this meeting. • LEL AGENDA 1. Addition- Chairman Smith requested that Mayor Horton be included in the agenda. 2. Approval-MIS/C/U (Tinsley/Hall)to approve the agenda as revised. IV. OLD BUSINESS 1. Kitsap Lake-Weed Problem Commissioner Smith introduced Mr. George Cressman who worked for the Kitsap County Parks and lives at Long Lake. Mr. Cressman was invited to give information regarding the history, current status of a piece of equipment(weed harvester/mower), and his personal opinion on the potential use of said equipment. According to Mr. Cressman, the County Parks Department financed the weed-mowing operations which cost about 5150 a day to operate the weed harvester.. He stated that from his personal experience, the equipment does not work like people think it did for a lot of reasons: the equipment can only go down five and a half feet deep into the water and can only cut offithe top of the weeds, and it appeared that the weeds grew better the more they were cut; due to lack of visibility underwater, there is always a chance of damage to the equipment high cost 1 • 4 0 • , . in operating equipment (the County hired 3 people for its weed harvest operation in which time the equipment used up approximately 30 gallons of diesel oil per day). According to Mr. Cress he does not to the purchase of the weed harvester. He indicated hat the City was that the City approached regaof rding contributed out the weeds, but the City wasn't interested at that time. garding cutting In his opinion, Mr. Cressman said it is close to impossible to clean the weeds out of the lake since the mud needs to be dredged out in order that the roots are eradicated. Dredging out the weeds is the only solution to this problem. According to Mr. Cressman, the weed harvester can be leased from the County Parks Department and it was last used in 1982. He does not recommend allowing lake residents to use the equipment as it was not very stable. The equipment neednew engine and battery. In conclusion, Mr. Cressman said he does not recommend using the weed harvester to solve the weed problem in Kitsap Lake. Mr. Lefcoski asked Mr. Cressman if the County has ever tried using environmentall safe poison to kill the weeds, or any other method such as "mattin " y According to Mr. Lefcoski, poison method was g (nylon screen matting). developed somewhere in Wisconsin or Minnesota and within 20 hours the lake will be safe for swimming. Mr. Cressman said the County did not allow the workers to use poison neither did they use "matting" because of the cost. At this point, Mr. Lefcoski stated he blame a lot of this weed problem on the septic tank system which definitely contributed to this problem in the whole west side of Kitsap County. In the winter time when the ground is saturated and there is limited evaporation, septic system run-off is finding its way into the lake. Mr. Lefcoski added that between the boatramp and the city park, there is a tremendous amount of weeds that comes out into the lake. In the south end of the lake there is about 20 to 30 acres of swamp which is growing north where ass is north. Between the twoparks � growing up and working its way (boat ramp and the city park), there is also a tremendous amount of weeds that comes out into the lake (about 200 yards) and at this time of the year, boaters who are not familiar with the lake tend to carry the weeds downstream and unknowingly all over the lake. Because of this, the Kitsap Lake Neighborhood Association a esdistribute a proposal oeeds Pat Harris (former Parks director) that a buoy line from boat ramp to boat ramp (quarter mile of nylon rope with anchors coming down) to keep the boaters from going back in the swamp area. There was a general discussion regarding this issue. Staff will continue to do research into this problem. • 2. Roosevelt Field Replacement Plan Mayor Lynn of Parks Horton introduced Tim Spencer who will be as the andacting interim Director ector Department.epartment. It mayor not come to pass that he is the director since Tim has to decide whether or not this is may right decision for him as well According to Mayor Horton, Jim has a very good reputation with the City and the Mayor suppportsti people from within if it works.for the advantageypromoting of the department. On the Roosevelt Field Replacement issue,the Mayor informed the group that she thinks there is a disagreement on the part of the City Council with the recommendation by the Parks & Recreation Commission. The City Council disagrees with developing the school sites. They however would like to acquire the Haddon site but they are not sure if they want to spend money to ,'acquire it there are City Park properties that the City needs to upgrade and/or develop. The main 2 ( • issue is the school property that needs to be dealt with and the fact that there is opposition in spending City funds to upgrade school district property. The Mayor added that she thinks that the figures presented by the Parks&Recreation Commission are a little unrealistic. Between acquisition and development, she said it would probably be close to the amount of$2,000,000 to purchase and develop the Haddon site. Based on the environmental assessment that she had seen, she suspects the property can be acquired for considerably less than $175,000. She feels the site is better suited for a park than for development because of the need to dig too far down to get a firm foundation for a building. Personally, she would like to see the acquisition of the Haddon site by the City. There are some things that can be done using Roosevelt Field Replacement Fund for some matching grant funding. Mayor Horton also commented that the Commissioners' proposal was to have some money from the Roosevelt Field Replacement Fund go into Evergreen Park expansion, which is what she is looking at for next year. Commissioner Tinsley asked the Mayor if the plan for Evergreen includes an area for youth play. The Mayor said the plan is totally reconfigured. There is one multi-purpose field and a volleyball area, in addition to expanding the horseshoe pits, replacing restrooms, picnic shelters and playground equipment. Commissioner Tinsley also asked the Mayor if it would be the Mayor's suggestion that the Parks Commission put a different proposal together to take to the City Council. The Mayor said she does not know how firmly the Parks Commission are locked into the school properties but she does not think those recommendations will go with the City Council. She said she had asked the Parks&Recreation Commission to leave the recommendations on at first, but now she felt there is a pretty strong sense that those recommendations should come off after meeting with council members. She feels strongly that by doing Evergreen Park, Blueberry Park, and other City projects, overall the City fulfills the obligation for the Roosevelt Field Replacement Plan in financial terms. Commissioner Tinsley stated that the Parks &Recreation Commission serves as an advisory capacity and when the Commission took the challenge of bringing a recommendation together, the Commission first looked at Blueberry Park. Commissioner Tinsley continued that the Commission is getting mixed messages in approaching this issue, and the Commissioners obviously want to see something get going after working on this project for two years. It seems like the direction that the Mayor is giving the Commission is for the group to go back and put something together that needs the Mayor's approval. She added that the Commission is trying to figure out the best strategy of what they want and it is obvious that the Mayor had bigger picture whereas the Parks Commission was only given the task that looks at only at a small portion of the parks. The Commissioners do not wish to jeopardize the funding source. Mayor Horton said that it always better to unite and go forward with a plan. The Commissioners can certainly present their proposal the way it is to the City Council. However, she will be making a different administrative recommendation than that. She mentioned that she is not saying that any of these in the singular is going to replace Roosevelt Field and she is also not saying that the City needs to look at cashing out oa that property. She views the waterfront piece of property as a perpetual endowment for the park system. Additionally, she is looking at money coming out of the Real Estate Excise Tax Fund to augment what the short-term Roosevelt Field replacement money can offer. She reminded the Commissioners that she allocated fundingfor master plans for Blueberry Park and Evergreen Park out of the 1995 Real Estate Excise Tax_ She commented that the Parks & Recreation Commission is a recommending body and if the Commissioners feel that is their recommendations,the Mayor definitely does not have any problem: • 3 S with the Commission going forward with their recommendation. In the meantime, the bottomline she is looking forward to is in developing or sprucing up some parks. She felt that looking at Evergreen Park was a pretty safe commitment because that was the one common denominator that everyone all agreed upon. Commissioner Tinsley asked the Mayor if she thinks the City Council is giving the Parks&Recreation Commission different recommendation from what they(Commission) had. The Mayor answered she cannot tell the Commissioners how the new members of the City Council will going to react on this issue and the Commissioners can still go ahead with their recommendation. The only disagreement the Mayor heard from the City Council is the joint development with the schools. When asked where would she see herself with these recommendations and what might be the Commissioners' timeline if they want to bring this together, the Mayor replied the Commission can probably take their recommendation up in a month. However, if the Commissioners are doing a joint one and if they need to go back to public hearing, she can certainly wait for their. timeframe. She stressed that if the Commission wanted to continue on with their recommendation, the Mayor certainly does not oppose their decision. At this point, Commissioner Tinsley informed the group that they did go to the City Council study session and presented the Parks & Recreation Commission's recommendations for Roosevelt Field Replacement. They followed the same model of presentation that have been agreed upon at the last Parks &Recreation Commission meeting: chronology of the Roosevelt Field issue to educate the new council members of its history; addressed to them the Parks Protection Ordinance; and discussed the Parks and Recreation Development Fund. One area that surfaced during the study session was the Legion Field request for funding, to which the Parks and Recreation Commission's 1995 recommendation was that $25,000 is to be provided to that project. The School District has currently asked the City Council for $44,000. This issue brought back to the Parks Protection Ordinance which specifies that City Council will consult with the Parks&Recreation Commission prior to commitment of expenditure funds. According to Commissioner Tinsley, the Parks & Recreation Commission was directed to come back to the City Council in a formal meeting and present the recommendations to the City Council. Additionally, Commissioners.Tinsley and Smith informed the group that there was nothing during the study session that eluded to their(City Council members) having different opinion on this matter. Commissioner Tinsley then suggested an open dialogue from the group. Another ° suggestion from her was to see where the Parks&Recreation Commission stands after meeting with the City Council and the Commissioners might want to look into the members of the City Council who have broader understanding of the park system. At this point, Commissioner Craig stated he would like to see the subcommittee of the Roosevelt Field Replacement Plan convene and he suggested that the Parks & Recreation Commission keep some items that they (Commissioners) previously recommended: He also added that the Commissioners spent months to come up with what they felt was the best thing for the young people/citizens of Bremerton and at this point, ( Commissioner Smith said he is not willing to give up what he thinks is the best for the children in the City of Bremerton. Jim Spencer commented that he is concerned to hear two different views on this issue whiclf will place the City Council in a very awkward position. He feels it will be very difficult for the City Council to come up with a decision that is going to be equitable with everyone. j The group then entered into a general discussion relating to this issue 4 • • • • 3. Tree Committee Members Jodi informed the Commission that Kevin McFarland, Municipal Tree Coordinator, has recruited two more highly qualified committee members: Tom Probst, Puget Power Arborist, and Bill McKinney, Forester, City of Bremerton Utility Department. Commissioner Smith requested a motion from the Commissioners to accept the two applicants for said committee. M/S/C/U (Sampson/Hall). 4. Bremerton School District Agreement At the City Council meeting on April 5th, Pat Harris presented the interlocal agreement between the Bremerton School District and the City of Bremerton. During the meeting, a number of citizens expressed concerns that the agreement was linked to the school district properties associated with the Roosevelt Field Replacement Plan. They strongly felt that there was some sort of collusion between the two issues. Although there seemed to be support and agreement • at prior City Council briefings, the City Council did not take action on the said issue and returned the agreement to the Parks &Recreation Commission to clarify the agreement. Jodi recommended that a sub-committee of the Commission contact City Council President, Sherill Huff-Menees, and arrange a meeting with a committee of the Council to clarify what the Council is looking for in order to start the process over again. It should be explained to the City Council that the interlocal agreement involved sharing gymnasiums and ballfields only and does not include any long-range planning. • V. NEW BUSINESS 1. Boat Launch Fee Commissioner Hall mentioned the copy of correspondence he received from Susan Zemek of the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission and the Restructuring Report for Washington State Parks dated December 1, 1994. Unfortunately, Pat Harris did not have the opportunity to review the recommendations relating to implementation of launching at the Kitsap Lake Park. There has been a discussion on a launching concept in about a year and they are anticipating that waterfront patrols be provided by the police again this year. It was also discussed that the boat launch fees could be dedicated to the providing of lake patrols. The report received from the Fishpro people indicated recommendations for a clean-up area at the wash site(these are some of the things that are not in the budget). Jodi added that, according to the Maintenance Department, the washdown area is relatively simple to install and they do not see a problem with installing it within the Department's general funding. Commissioner Hall requested a motiotr that the Commissioners adopt a recommendation for the City Council on boat launch fees at Kitsap Lake Park to be collected by the Parks&Recreation Department, and be placed into a dedicated fund to be used for patrol services_ Any surplus may be used for improvements to the park. Motion carried unanimously. The group then entered into a general discussion regarding initiation of a boat launch fees and reduction of the speed limit at Kitsap Lake Park. Parks and Recreation Department staff will research on policies regarding this program and current boat launch fees in the Kitsap County. • 5 • 2. Change of Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting Day Jodi brought to the Commissioners'attention that Tuesday is the meeting for the Fiscal and Budget Committee of the City Council in which the Director of Parks and Recreation Department is often scheduled to attend. She requested that the Commissioners consider changing their regular business meeting day to another day of the month since Tuesday is not a good day for the staff. The other alternative is to begin the meeting half an hour later(6:00 p.m. instead of 5:30 p.m.). Commissioner Craig suggested to the Commissioners to look into this request and discuss it further on next meeting. VI. STAFF REPORTS 1. IAC GRANT APPLICATIONS Jodi informed the Commission that she will go to City Council tomorrow(Wednesday, April 26)to get the City Council's authorization to submit for two grants (Evergreen Park/Phase I - total of$600,000; and Blueberry Park-total of almost $500,000) to the Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation(IAC). The IAC has a grant cap of$300,000 for development. The City must provide at least 50%matching.funds for projects. 2. DNR GRANT APPLICATION Next week Jodi said she will go to Council to get approval to continue the Department's DNR(Dept. of Natural Resources)for$50,000.00 for the urban forestry project. This is the Department's third grant(from Congressman Norm Dick's efforts) and there is no competition. 3. PARK TREE REMOVAL PROJECT The Department is in the process of removing hazardous trees at Evergreen Park, Eastpark and Warren Avenue. Jodi informed the Commissioners that they will probably be hearing from the park users regarding their concerns once this project starts. There are signs in the parks and there will be news releases informing the park users of what is being done. 4. McKENZIE BASKETBALL COURT DONATION Jodi also mentioned that a month ago, the Department received a donation of a piece of park land(an outdoor basketball court) on Juniper Street which is being named "Clif McKenzie Court". 5. Miscellaneous Speaking on behalf of the Parks and Recreation Department stag Charleen Burnett mentioned that the staff are very pleased to have Tim Spencer as their interim director.... VII. COMIVIISSIONER'S COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS The Commissioners welcomed Jim Spencer to the Parks&Recreation Department and to the Commission.. Commissioner Sampson said he feels that the Commission needs to be more than an advisory and it is really frustrating for him for four years to try to do things and hoping to make a difference but not having the opportunity to do very much. He is hoping that the Commissioners will have more involvement to accomplish the projects they were assigned to do. & OP Commissioner Tinsley informed Jodi, if at all possible, to have Jodi provide the Commissioners with a copy of an executive summary(sort of) on long-range planning at Evergreen for the Commissioners to look at. Commissioner Smith said he felt frustrated with the Roosevelt Field issue. He also thanked Jodi for personally delivering the meeting packets to all the Commissioners. VIII. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: March 28, 1995 (M/S/C/U) (Tinsley/Sampson) to approve the minutes as submitted. IX. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Lena D'Agostino, OA II Jim Spencer Interim Director • • 7