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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Parks and Human Services Committee - 09/15/2016Page 1 Parks and Human Services Committee Meeting Council members: Brenda Fincher, Chair - Dennis Higgins - Tina Budell Garin Lee and Merina Hanson, Interim Co-directors September 15, 2016 - 5:00 p.m. 1. Call to Order Chair Brenda Fincher called the meeting to order at 5:02 p.m. 2. Roll Call Councilmembers Tina Budell and Dennis Higgins were in attendance. 3. Changes to the Agenda There were no changes to the agenda. 4. Minutes, dated May 19, 2016 - Approve D. Higgins moved to approve the minutes dated July 21, 2016. T. Budell seconded. The motion passed 3-0. 5. Resolution to Surplus Naden Avenue Properties – Recommend Parks Interim Co-director Garin Lee reported that in 2005, the city began purchasing properties for the Naden Avenue area in an effort to assemble a campus for a future Kent Aquatics Center. Following the completion of the aquatic center concept design process in July 2008, City Council cancelled the project, due in part to the onset of the recession. As the region began to recover from the recession, the city began to seek alternative ways to provide a community aquatic facility. Currently, the city is in partnership with the YMCA to construct a facility that would include a community aquatic center on Kent’s East Hill. Economic Development (ECD) Deputy Director Kurt Hanson stated that on June 16, 2016, the Naden Properties surplus consideration was recommended by the Parks and Human Services Committee as the first surplus of land to go through the new policy process. As required by the new city code, a notice was posted on site on June 29. A public hearing was scheduled for July 19, with postcard comment / meeting notification cards mailed to 317 property owners within a 1,000 foot radius of the properties. A 20-day advance notice of the public meeting was advertised in the Kent Reporter and a seven day notice was advertised in the Seattle Times. Two interested parties came to the public meeting and the only comments received were Page 2 in support of surplusing the properties. Comments gathered from the public will be taken into consideration. B. Fincher confirmed with K. Hanson that no special grant money is attached to the purchase of the properties. K. Hanson commented that the city will enter into the market place in January 2017, and as of that date, the city will owe $3.6 Million on the property. K. Hanson said ECD is optimistic that the city will get more than what is owed on the sale of the property. B. Fincher referenced the strip of land adjoining the park property that is owned by the railroad. G. Lee said that the odd shaped strip of land is leased from Union Pacific Railroad. Lee also confirmed that, even if the lease didn’t occur, the city will retain the ball field and the skate park. G. Lee added that lease discussions will be underway with Union Pacific shortly. T. Budell asked about communications with the homeowner of the parcel that is located within this assemblage. K. Hanson responded that staff and agents have been in conversation with the homeowner Mr. Ball over the years, either directly or through agents. The city isn't actively pursuing the property, but realizes there is a parks piece to it. He does feel the general marketplace would look favorably upon the acquisition. If the city is dealing with an interested private party that wants to assemble the land, there is value in completing that assembly. At the same time, ECD is currently working with the state on access to the south end of the property. There are certain variations of the design that may require some real estate. ECD is not prepared to talk about it at this time, but may in the future. D. Higgins thanked staff for taking the surplus policy through the new process so smoothly. B. Fincher thanked staff for the thorough recap. T. Budell moved to recommend Council adopt a resolution declaring the Naden Avenue properties surplus to the City’s needs, and authorize the Mayor to take all appropriate actions to market the properties for sale or lease in one or more phases. D. Higgins seconded. The motion passed 3-0. 6. Amendment to King County Conservation Futures Interlocal Agreement – Recommend Park Planner Brian Levenhagen informed the committee that the city applied for and received a $500,000 Conservation futures grant from King County to help pay for the Walla property acquisition, as part of the Clark Lake assemblage. The property closed in June and this is a reimbursement grant to assist in paying for the $1.25 Million property acquisition that closed in June. Parks Planning and Development staff also received notification from Conservation Futures that they are reallocating an additional $150,000 to Kent from unused grant dollars from past years. In order to match the Conservation Futures grant, the city is using a Recreation Conservation Office (RCO) grant that staff applied for last August. The state notified staff that the application was well received and to be confident in expecting grant funds of $713,000, which will cover the entire purchase of the property. Page 3 D. Higgins moved to recommend the council to authorize the Mayor to sign Amendment “O” to the King County Conservation Futures Interlocal Cooperation Agreement for funds in the amount of $500,000 to be used toward the purchase of the Walla property at Clark Lake, subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the parks director and city attorney. T. Budell seconded. The motion passed 3-0. 7. Morrill Meadows Park and East Hill Park Master Plan Update - INFO ONLY B. Levenhagen reported that a consultant, with the help of community input, created three alternative site plan concepts for the park. The alternatives were placed on the city's website, along with an online survey for the community to provide feedback. To publicize the survey, emails went out to park patrons, postcards were mailed to neighbors and the city issued a press release, with a resulting article published in the Kent Reporter. The online survey closed on August 25, with 125 responses. Results show that the residents like the trail and the shelter, but feel that East Hill Park is run down and that parking needs to be increased. Results from the schematic designs show that residents prefer to place the YMCA building in the middle of the two parks, and on the front side of the street. They also want the dog park shifting to the back. The feedback is going back to the consultant on these three options and one final conceptual design will go back out to the public for additional feedback. B. Fincher referenced the parking lot location to the dog park and keeping the two user groups separated. B. Levenhagen responded that they are looking at several alternatives; one is having a small parking area for the dog park in the back. G. Lee said that staff is being very deliberate with integrating the planning and collaboration with the YMCA in terms of the building, the parks, and the parking. D. Higgins asked about YMCA walking tours. G. Lee responded that tours are organized and hosted by the YMCA. They are scheduled for every other Tuesday and they alternate between walking tours and discussion meetings. All interested persons can call the Parks Administration office at 253-856-5100 and staff will connect them to YMCA staff for more information on these touring opportunities. B. Fincher is looking forward to an update on the YMCA being a topic for an upcoming Council Workshop. 8. Parks and Recreation Commission Report Chair Annie Saurwein, Co-chair Zandria Michaud and Tye Whitfield attended the committee meeting to update the communications they shared with the mayor at a meeting in August. Page 4 Z. Michaud reported on the Naden properties, stating that the original purchase of properties was identified for recreational use and that proceeds from the sale should go back into the Parks and Recreation budget. Also, since the Parks Department is paying the debt service for the original acquisitions, the proceeds should go back to the department. They felt the public hearing notice was too short, especially for residents who live outside the postcard mailing perimeter. And lastly, they prefer to see some kind of signage posted on the surplused property. B. Fincher asked about their statement on the debt service; she thought it came from the general fund budget. Annie said it's her understanding that the purchase was paid through a bond and that debt service is being paid by the Parks Department. Z. Michaud also stated that the commission feels that selling park property is not a sustainable way to fund capital. T. Whitfield gave an update on the Mayor's Youth Initiative, stating that the commission is awaiting direction as to their role. They don't want the initiative to take a bigger role than the existing recreational programs. Whitfield said the Youth Initiative Task Force is still restructuring. They don’t have enough non-profit and other agencies to offer their opinions or thoughts on the structure of the program as yet. The group plans on taking it back out to the nonprofits and to the community to get input. Whitfield shared that she is also on the Mayor's Youth Advisory Board and asked if the committee had heard of the initiative and if they have any requests of the board. D. Higgins remarked that it’s been very quiet and that council is still waiting to hear from the Mayor and the CAO. He feels they should hear something soon because there has been enough time. A. Saurwein spoke of the commission's endorsement of capital funding and referenced the capital funding handout that the commission shared with council on June 7. She focused on the first item that related to maintaining existing capital funding, level of service (LOS), and reallocating existing funding to parks. She felt it was especially timely to bring this to the Council's and Mayor's attention, in that it's the biennial budget period. The commission asked the mayor to include their funding recommendations in her budget when they met in August. The city does a great job leveraging capital funding with grants, volunteers and sponsorships, but it’s a limited amount of money and not sustainable to maintain the current LOS. As a commission, they did work on a capital funding strategy to improve funding capital over time. Funding would take approximately $3 Million per year, i.e. an additional $2 Million to the existing $1 Million that is currently allocated to parks capital. The commission made some suggestions as to how this can be accomplished, as identified in the handout. The commission sees it as a dialogue and decision between Council and the Mayor. The benefit of taking this to voters is that they can choose whether to improve LOS. In addition, the commission wants to see improvement to the all over LOS. The commission feels that maintaining the level of service is the city’s obligation. They offered a funding strategy that could be enacted over the next six or twenty years, in order to execute the great plan that the Parks Department has laid out in the Park and Open Space Plan. Page 5 Z. Michaud summarized some of the accomplishments for the commission this past year: adopting the Park and Open Space Plan, designing a capital funding plan, and negotiating with the YMCA and the Van Doren’s levee process. She also shared that the commission feels the loss of Parks Director Jeff Watling. A. Saurwein thanked Garin Lee and Merina Hanson for their interim leadership. She understands the difficulty in hiring the Parks Director position and expressed their appreciation in being invited to participate in the Focus Group interview for the director position. She thanked the committee for their time and appreciated the opportunity to share their report. A. Saurwein invited the committee members and the public to attend Parks and Recreation Commission meetings. The meetings are regularly scheduled for the fourth Tuesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. in Centennial Building, with the exception of this month; the meeting has been re-scheduled to September 29 at 6:00 p.m. to accommodate the commission's attendance at the budget workshop on September 27. Fincher spoke to the history of the Naden Avenue acquisitions, assuring residents that a pool is included in the YMCA project. She added that she will check on the debt service and payment to the Parks Department. D. Higgins also plans on following up on how the debt service is being paid. He was glad to know that the commission was included in the focus groups for the Parks Director position. The comment period for the position is still open if anyone is interested in offering input. D. Higgins referenced the public hearing on September 27, when the Mayor presents her budget, asking if the mayor is supportive of funding parks. Saurwein responded that the Mayor intimated at their meeting that she is in favor of funding parks, but feels the challenge is in the source. The mayor won’t be able to solve it in her budget. She feels it is a city-wide issue and the conversation needs to go out to the community. T. Whitfied commented that people need to understand that recreation and parks capital budgets are two separate budgets within the department. G. Lee thanked the commission for putting in a lot of time with the Parks and Open Space Update, as well as working with new faces while continuing to support the work of the Parks Department. 9. Director's Report • Twelve concerts were hosted this summer with approximately 7,000 attendees. For more information on this year's Spotlight Series concerts, go to KentArts.com. The first concert of the season is October 15. All concerts are at Kent Meridian High School and Kentlake High School. Page 6 • The Re-Leaf event is October 8 at Clark Lake Park. The volunteers will focus on trail maintenance and invasive removal. • September 17, is World-wide Day of Play. This is a free event to to disconnect from technical equipment. • A potential buyer for the Par 3 is conducting soil testing at this time. • As previously reported, the well at the 18-hole golf course was not supplying enough water to irrigate the golf course. A well was drilled and water was hit at 454 feet. Currently, the contractor is in the process of reinstalling the pumps. The supply lines will be installed in the next few weeks. The new well will support the 18-hole course's irrigation needs and the city will no longer have to purchase water. • On First Avenue between Gowe and Titus, the trees are in decline. The city is currently discussing tree species with KDP, as well as working through a plan for replacement. The goal is to replace the trees within the next 1-1/2 months. G. Lee confirmed to T. Budell that the trees will be deep rooted, adding that there are always new species available that are much more adaptive to existing and thriving near streets. • The Lake Meridian dock replacement project is delayed until next spring, due to planning and permitting. The goal is to have the dock in place before the summer swim season. The meeting adjourned at 5:49 p.m. Submitted by, Teri Petrole Teri Petrole City Council Committee Recorder