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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09242013 OF PORT TOE � ys ti City of Port TownsendwA Meeting Minutes Parks, Recreation and Trees Advisory Board Tuesday, September 24, 2013, 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm City Hall Meeting Room 41 L Meeting called to order at 4:31 pm by Chair, Rosemary Sikes. Members in Attendance: Ron Sikes, Rosemary Sikes, Lys Burden, Debbie Jahnke and Jason Cecil Staff: Rick Sepler Visitors: Margaret Lee and Bob Gray IL Approval of Agenda —Agenda was approved by voice vote. III. Approval of Minutes —Minutes for August 27th were approved as amended. IV. 1999 Parks Functional Plan Update—Key Issues. Rick Sepler provided an informal workshop format with an overview of the history of the process to date and some of its challenges. The Planning Department is now stepping back to review the two previous functional plan drafts and comments to find and include the best from all documents. This third hybrid, clean-copy draft will be the starting point for the next round of reviews. The review process will start with the PRTAB subcommittee review, then to the full PRT board and on to the Planning Commission as first steps. Rick sought board member discussion and input on several key issues including: Levels of Service, Style, Implementation, Goals and Policies, Inventory of Facilities to be Included, Previous Planning Document Discrepancies. Discussion of Key Issues - Levels of Service: LOS are performance standards for parks and recreation that provide more in-depth yet flexible detail for facility planning and program development for capital outlay and budget planning. It was noted that older NRPA (National Recreation and Parks Association) LOS standards were more guidelines than standards. Jurisdictions are now encouraged to customize them according to their settings and needs. Typical LOS benchmarks are: number of acres per thousand residents, number of trails to parks, connectivity and distribution of parks. The draft planning document should start with the adopted Comprehensive Plan Parks and Recreation LOS and work from there. - Style: In the plan overviews, park history and definitions should be short enough for clarity and ease of reading, but more detail should be provided in appendices to capture PT's rich historical information and tables should elaborate with detailed park and recreation data through time. The Kent Plan will serve as a good style guide. - Implementation: The draft plan must acknowledge the role of other jurisdictional facilities and programs in delivering park and rec facilities and services to the community. The plan needs to call for cooperative inter- local agreements and protocols for changing priorities to address changing needs, monitoring all facility maintenance and budget needs and establishing excellent intercommunication procedures between all agencies and organizations involved. - Goals and Policies: The draft functional plan must be consistent with the existing adopted/amended Comprehensive Plan, however it must also be flexible enough to incorporate any new goals and policies that may emerge through the updating process of the larger defining document in the next few years. For example, the Kah Tai amendment that is currently docketed and held can be included as draft language. - Inventory of Facilities to be Included: Additional discussion of park categories for the plan concluded that parks should be categorized by attributes, use and function, not by some standard that doesn't necessarily apply locally, e.g. facilities that service City and neighborhood recreational needs and include natural open space for wildlife and passive recreation and trails for bicycling, walking and horseback riding. For language in this section, the needs analysis in the Kent plan serves as a useful model to adapt with tables for different categories of parks, e.g. community parks, neighborhood parks, urban mini-parks and linear natural corridors (with language to embrace any future visioning by the community). The plan must include language stating that quality of life in this community depends in large part on maintenance of strong connections to the natural world through access to parks and natural areas for passive recreation, walking and bicycling, and as such dedicated and sustainable funding must be sought. Should the plan include the golf course and pool? Board consensus was yes to both; the City owns the golf course, and it has been included in prior plans (until the 2011 draft). The Mountain View Campus and swimming pool belong to Port Townsend School District; however, a trust to serve as an operating entity is being established to enable long term lease of the property to provide sufficient ownership interest for the City to qualify for grants and loans. The functional plan should state that a pool is essential for community recreation and health and present options for partners, like Jefferson County and Jefferson Healthcare. (One quarter to a third of public use comes from residents who live outside City limits.) The City has managed the pool since the County and School District withdrew from this responsibility. On the topic of separate master planning for parks like 35th Street Park, it was suggested that the functional plan include sufficient detail to address these considerations. -Previous Planning Document Discrepancies: V. Visitor and PRT Board Comment— 1. Jason Cecil brought up the status of the old cottonwood at Chetzemoka and described bracing/strapping/flagging options that could be helpful to monitor continued structural failure of the limbs. Proactive management is needed for limbs starting to fail but before they cause public hazards. 2. Visitor Robert Gray inquired about the condition of the business park open space and park area, which has deteriorated substantially. Rick Sepler indicated that the business park owner was required to properly maintain the park and open space area and that he would check into it. VI. Future Meeting Agenda Items —Next regularly scheduled PRTAB meeting will be on Tuesday, October 22, 4:30 to 6:30pm. VII. Adjournment—Meeting adjourned at 6:30pm. Action Steps Needed: I. More detailed Bulbfest planning before October 201' 2. Review Key Issues for Functional Plan 3. Lys still has it on her list to check on software for logging in volunteer hours. 4. Annual Report on Volunteering in Our Parks needs to be compiled and the Adopt-a-Park program needs to be promoted.