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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - Recreation and Parks Committee - 11/20/2017 RECREATION AND PARKS COMMITTEE MONDAY, November 20, 2017 5 PM-7:00 PM Medium Conference Room, City Offices AGENDA (5:00) Call meeng to order Review of safety procedures Changes or addions to the agenda Comments from the public not related to the agenda Approval of minutes from October 16, 2017 meeng (5:05) Paul Conner: Sustainability Office (5:15) Director’s Report: Maggie CIP Underwood SE Group Mozart Fesval (5:35) NRPA Performance Review: Jennifer Sub-commiee report, aached* Vote to approve (5:40) PUD discussion Documents aached* (6:30) Foundaon: Maggie and Jennifer (6:35) Orientaon: Set date (6:35) Reports and updates: liaison reports Please nofy the chair if your report requires discussion and/or a wrien report Bike & Ped (Rebecca) City Council (Mike) Natural Resources (Linda) SB Land Trust (Paul) Library Board (Glenn) School Board (Liz) Winooski Valley Park District (George) Planning Commission (Kae) Design Review/Public Art (Jennifer) Leadership (Jennifer and Mike) DRB (???) Energy (Jennifer, Mike) (6:40) Adjourn *Indicates aachment NEXT REGULAR MEETING: December 18, 5:00 P.M. Reminder: Ideas for Commiee Retreat Advocacy Myers/Briggs Other? Bike Rack: Make a List! May 11, 2017 Dra ToDo List of priories and Timeline 1. Schedule R and P Department budget review into meeng schedule. 2. Review the City Center Task Force Report with focus on R and P secon on facilies (updated). 3. Review the Site Evaluaon Matrix. 4. Review the Planning Commission revision of LDR’s and PUD’s. 5. Performance Review/Department Goals and Objecves: Schedule review and discussion. Work with staff onmaster Plan. Refer to Annual Worksheet generated by Leadership Commiee. 6. Finalize Orientaon Plan for 2017. 7. Invite speaker for advocacy. 8. Get Foundaon up and running! 9. Connue to maintain commitment to delivery of high quality programs. 10. City Center updates for Market Street and Dumont Park South Burlington Recreaon and Parks Commiee Minutes October 16, 2017 Meeng called to order at 5 p.m. Present: Jennifer Kochman, Mike Simoneau, George Donovan, Liz Robitaille, Rebecca Poquee, Paul Steinman, Linda Chiasson Regrets: Kae Langrock Guest: Travis Ladd Mike reviewed safety exits in the building. Move to accept minutes: Paul Steinman moved, second by Mike Simoneau, approved Introducon of members, and elecon of officers: Jennifer Kochman, Chair, Mike Simoneau, Vice Chair, Kae Langrock, Clerk Photo: Travis Ladd took a group photo. Move to Execuve Session: 5:15 adjourned 5:27 Director’s Report: Review and brief discussion of fall and early winter events Senior Holiday event is full Dog Park at Jaycee Park is being used and enjoyed by community. Community gardens have closed; all but one plot have been cleaned. NRPA Conference discussed. Holly Baker was a presenter. VRPA Conference held at Lake Morey Inn was aended by Maggie and Jennifer. Criteria for Naonal Accreditaon discussed and will be invesgated for possibility for the department. WPVD new MOU to be signed. CIP discussed, to be submied. Overview of upgrades, sites and budget allocaons for numerous projects. Members were encouraged to parcipate in upcoming events for set-up, greeng, etc. NRPA performance review: Jennifer created a dra of a cover leer, aached to the document. The commiee reviewed the document and suggested changes. Jennifer will send out the revised document. Members are invited to send comments and changes to Jennifer. PUD discussion: The Planning Commission has been working on revision to the LDR’s and PUD’s. It has been the pracce since 2012 that residenal developers bring their plans to Recreaon and Parks Commiee for review to ensure that sufficient and appropriate open space be included in new residenal development. Queson: If the PUD specifies measured requirements would we connue to have the developer present the plans to Rec and Parks Commiee? Should Rec and Parks, and SBNRC, and Bike and Ped be wrien into the process. The Phase Two dra of the PUD’s says that the commiees will be included in the discussion of the PUD’s. Some members felt that PUD specifics would be enough. Discussion to be connued. The commiee will study further the PUD documents. Foundaon: Invite for Monday, October 23 with lite fare lunch. Maggie and Jennifer will meet to prepare. Scheduling: Dates need to be set for Retreat and Orientaon. Reports and updates: Discussion of commiee assignments for members. Jennifer reported aending the first meeng of LBOT aer the announced move to the mall. Jennifer suggested that more PR needed to be done to inform the public. Meeng adjourned 7:07 p.m. Respecully, Linda Chiasson Dear Helen Riehle and City Council and Kevin Dorn and City Management, We ask how we can measure the quality and effecveness of our Recreaon and Parks Department. Are we serving the needs of our community? How are we doing compared to what we might be doing, or what other communies are doing? We are always asking ourselves these quesons. In 2017, the staff of South Burlington Recreaon and Parks Department parcipated in the 2017 NRPA Agency Performance Review. NRPA Park Metrics is “a benchmarking tool that assists park and recreaon professionals in the effecve management and planning of their operang resources and capital facilies.” The NRPA Agency Performance Review naon-wide summary can be found at hp://www.nrpa.org/siteassets/nrpa-agency-performance-review.pdf. We are pleased to offer here the NRPA Agency Performance Review for South Burlington Recreaon and Parks. Our Recreaon and Parks Commiee studied the Review, and we find that it shines an interesng light on the concerns that we have had for years. We have also presented a summary of the report. We hope that you will find the Review interesng and useful. Respecully, Jennifer Kochman Maggie Leugers Chair, SB Recreaon and Parks Director, SB Recreaon and Parks Commiee Department Summary of NRPA Performance Review South Burlington Recreaon and Parks Department Recreaon and Parks Highest Priories for the Near Future: · Create program and indoor recreaon facilies, including appropriate office space for department staff.· Create a Master Plan for city parks, insuring follow-through with creaon of amenies and maintenance.· Create addional playing fields so that the fields can be maintained, while meeng demand. · Expand support staff appropriately to meet the needs of increased indoor space and increased playing fields · Expand program offerings to beer serve the community. NRPA Performance Review: It has been interesng for us to see how our present Recreaon and Parks assets and budget compare with departments across the country serving populaons whose density is similar to South Burlington's. Here are a few parcularly relevant pieces of informaon from the NRPA of 2016:· Square footage of operated buildings: at 6,550, SB is well below at least 75% of respondents. Note: This isprogram space: see facilies secon Page 3· Acres of Parkland per 1,000 Populaon: at 20.7, SB is higher than more than 75% of respondents.· But, Park Operang Expenditures per Acre of Parkland: at $491, SB is among the lowest of all respondents; 75%of respondents spend $1,233 or more.· Capital budget for the next 5 years: at $2,231,000, which includes CIP projecons for new facilies, SB would sllbe lower than more than 50% of respondents.· Expenditures Per Capita: at $42.34, SB is lower than almost 75% of respondents.· Number of full-me employees: at 5, SB is lower than more than 75% of respondents. Further informaon from the report is presented below. We have aempted to clarify areas in which the basis for the stascs is not clear. We hope you will also refer to the full NRPA Performance Review. Understanding the Report: The stascs are grouped by category, with explanaons and quesons. Some items apply in more than one category. In what follows, “Respondents” means “Recreaon and Parks agencies serving a community or area with populaon density between 500 and 1500 residents per square mile, and for which data is available in Park Metrics/PRORAGIS”. (According to the column headings on page 7, 224 of the 762 agencies providing data for total annual operang budget were in this range of populaon density.) “SB” means South Burlington. Budget/operang costs Capital budget for the next 5 years: at $2,231,000, which includes CIP projecons for new facilies, SB would sll be lower than more than 50% of respondents. Operang Expenditures Per Capita: at $42.34, SB is lower than almost 75% of respondents. Revenue per Capita: at $12.99, SB is greater than more than 25% of respondents but lower than more than 50% of respondents. Revenue as a % of Operang Expenditures (Cost Recovery): at 30.7%, SB is higher than more than 50% of respondents. Park Operang Expenditures per Acre of Parkland: at $491, SB is among the lowest of all respondents; 75% of respondents spend $1,233 or more. Comments and Quesons: · Revenue/Expense data: FY 18 General Fund: Expenses: $976,000; Revenues: $565.000 Enterprise Fund 240: Expenses: $170,000; Revenues: $224.000 CIP: Expenses: $593,000· Revenue data: despite severe limitaons of program facilies, SB generates more revenue than 25% ofcomparable communies for both revenue per-capita, and revenues as a per cent of expenditures. Personnel Number of full-me employees: At five, SB is lower than more than 75% of respondents. Total number of full-me equivalent employees (FTEs): at 10.2, SB is lower than more than 75% of respondents. Comments and Quesons: · Number of full-me employees does not include public works employees; includes only office staff of 5 FTE. · Volunteer stasc does not include the work of commiees: Recreaon and Parks, Bike and Ped, Natural Resources.This stasc only includes park or program volunteers (community gardens, etc.) · Public works (park foreman, etc.) does not report directly to Maggie; communicaon is key · Revenue as per cent of expenditures is higher due to subcontracng – keeps lower number of full me employees(each FTE sub-contracted saves 61% of a fullme salary with benefits) · How do other cies’ agencies calculate the labor – volunteers, Bike & Ped, consultants, DPW? We don’t know! Parks Acres of Parkland per 1,000 Populaon: at 20.7, SB is higher than more than 75% of respondents. Number of acres of developed open space for which the Rec & Parks Dept. has management responsibility: at 218, SB is greater than more than 50% of respondents. Total number of trail miles managed or maintained by Rec & Parks: at 30.9, SB is greater than over 75% of respondents. Park Operang Expenditures per Acre of Parkland: at $491, SB is among the lowest of all respondents; 75% of respondents spend $1,233 or more. Comments and Quesons: · We are land-rich overall and especially in the natural, undeveloped areas · Expenditures per acre of parkland and per capita both illustrated the SB is on the lower side of expenditures butthere may be clear explanaons for this. · SB numbers o Do not include DPW FTE o Do not include DPW expenses for Recreaon & Park work o Do not include any Open Space funds used · Reflects the fact that a large fracon of our park area is not developed, used for passive recreaon and requireslimited resources to maintain. · High volunteer support reduces the need for paid maintenance of parks. o Community garden maintenance for example · 255k uses of park facilies: This stasc is from SE Group with electronic counter. Facilies Square footage of operated buildings: at 6,550, SB is well below at least 75% of respondents. Number of building facility users per year: at 27,375, SB is above almost 50% of respondents. Number of park facility users per year: at 255,000, SB is above at least 75% of respondents. Comments and Quesons: · Reported 6550 square feet includes City Hall, Wheeler House, and studio space. This figure does not include officespace., and does not include space that is not always available for us to use. · Recreaon programming takes place in the following spaces: o Five schools, (Elementary-middle-HS, shared and mostly unavailable) o Wheeler House at Homestead (1st floor shared with Friends of the Library) o City Hall large meeng room (shared) o Studio (The only indoor program space used only by Recreaon and Parks Department.) · Most of the communies studied have dedicated (not shared) facilies. We have none of these, except possiblythe nature center: (See Page 12) o Recreaon center o Community center o Senior center o Teen center o Fitness center o Gym o Stadium o Ice rink o Arena o Performance amphitheater o Indoor track o Nature center (???) And these: (Page 13) o Mul-use courts-basketball, volleyball o Diamond fields: soball, tee-ball o Ice rink (outdoor) o Rectangular fields: cricket, field hockey, football, lacrosse o Overlay field o Mul-purpose synthec field o Indoor compeve pool (50 meters or 25 meters) o Outdoor compeve pool o Indoor separate diving well o Leisure pool o Therapeuc pool· 400 programs offered in prior year (on this survey) How was this was calculated? o Jr Rec for 8 weeks –is this counted as 1 or 8? Answer: 8: mul-week programs are counted in that number of weeks. A program of one week or less is counted as one. · 27,375 contacts in programs – how was this calculated? One person going to 5 days of camp counng as oneperson or 5? Answer: 5: Mulple contacts counted by day. · 255k uses of park facilies: Stasc is from SE Group, using electronic counter. · Who are the populaons we most urgently need to serve beer with our recreaon programming? o Pre-school children o At-risk families o Tweens-teens (ages 10-19 years) o Young adults (ages 20-44) o Seniors (age 65 and over Summary: Excerpt from South Burlington Recreaon and Parks Foundaon: Projects (Dra) · The Recreaon Department offices are housed in the City Hall Building, and are insufficient to accommodate current and future staff. The current space of approximately 5,000 square feet includes four offices, a waing area, conference room, display space, storage and some shared funcons with the rest of the building. The total area includes 2,000 square feet of addional storage space made available aer the Police Department was relocated. · The Recreaon Department offers a wide array of programs, including sports, art, hobby and educaonal programs; and play groups and fitness; and serves community members from pre-school age to senior cizen. In 2016 over 380 programs were offered. However, these programs are offered in various city, schools, or privately- owned facilies. · The major obstacle this department faces is that there is no program space assigned solely to the Recreaon Department to schedule throughout the day. This limits our ability to offer many programs during the school day/aerschool program hours that could otherwise serve the pre-school age children and seniors in the community. · The large meeng room located in City Hall is another space that is oen used; however, programs must work around the various meengs scheduled in the space, not to menon the less than ideal condions for athlec acvies. · During the summer months, the Recreaon Department is unable to offer evening programs at the schools due to limited schedules of custodial staff during the summer months. Once again, the programs offered by the Recreaon Department are dependent on and limited to the available space within outside enes The second need, also a chronic and long-standing need, is to create addional playing fields so that the fields can be maintained. · The playing fields are constantly in use throughout the season. The Recreaon and Parks Department and Commiee generate ideas to beer serve our community. Some of our ideas envision amenies to be created in our exisng parkland. · The $1.3 million Conservaon fund will cover the most immediate priories for upkeep and basic amenies in Red Rocks, Underwood, and Wheeler Nature Parks. However, compleng the list of amenies would cost $4.5 Million. · For example, it would be nice to have exercise staons along the many beauful pedestrian trails. · Improving the bath house at Red Rocks Park is the first item in the line below the “First Priories” list. But improving the bath house would greatly enhance the pleasure of going to Red Rocks. · Creang a gazebo for events would be an enhancement, and might even allow for events that create revenue. · Some small parks lack signage altogether. · The city has no facility to enable aquac acvity, including water safety instrucon.