Parks & Recreation Commissioners Meeting Department of Parks & Recreation Foothills Learning Center

Transcription

1 Parks & Recreation Commissioners Meeting Department of Parks & Recreation Foothills Learning Center Members Present: Tom Chandler, Mike Cunningham, Cissy Madigan, Mary McGown, Harvey Neef, Maggie Frole Spurling, Joe Taylor, Louis Uranga, and Madison Williams. Others: Jim Tibbs and Maryanne Jordan, Boise City Council Liaisons; Harry Krueger; R. L. Rowland, Bird Watcher; Dave Frazier, Boise Guardian; Pat Riceci, Boise City Legal; Jim Hall, Director, David Selvage, Toby Norton, Wendy Larimore, Tom Governale, Jamie Heinzerling, staff, Boise Parks & Recreation Department I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 4:00 P.M. II. MOTION MINUTES A motion was made by Commissioner Taylor THAT THE PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION APPROVE THE JANUARY 15, 2009 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES, seconded by Commissioner Spurling. Motion was approved by all Commissioners present. III. IDAHO HUMANE SOCIETY PROPOSAL TO MOVE GEESE POPULATIONS FROM PARKS ACTIONS/PRESENTATIONS Jamie Heinzerling is the Department s staff person that gets the special assignments in the department. Geese have been becoming more and more obvious in the parks. A number of communities have been facing this more and more. Some of the drastic measures that have been taken, such as Seattle, they got approval to go out and kill the geese. This created quite a controversy. Another method that is used by the Fish and Game is coddling which is shaking the eggs so they don t hatch. Coddling doesn t seem to have much effect. They have also tried to take the baby geese way away and they find their way back. The geese this past winter were having a tough time in Northern Idaho and they were coming here. The geese become less migratory during the winter months due to the green grass in the valley. Another contributing factor is feeding the geese. One, it is not good for them and two it is a cheap food source. Boise has a no feeding the wildlife law, yet some people 08/06/23/H:\Word\Commission\Minutes\2009 Commission Minutes\090219CommMtg.docH:\Word\Commission\Minutes\2009 Commission Minutes\090219CommMtg.doc/mcl

2 Page 2 continue to feed. If you go through the park in the spring you can see quite a number of goslings. Some communities have coddled the eggs; others have allowed all their dogs to be off leash in parks. One community put a dock in the middle of a pond and placed a fake coyote on it. What they had after three or four days was the geese were sitting on the dock looking at the coyote. When we took over the golf course there was a Border Collie that was trained to flush the geese. We had the Border Collie out there for 5-6 years and it worked well. Idaho Humane Society (IHS) is hoping we will be able to partner with them. The idea is to have prisoners train the dogs and IHS would agree to the upkeep care of the dogs. We ve looked at the Police Department and how they do their dogs. Staff would have to take their dog home each night, feed it, etc. The dog would need to be taken out to different location several times a day. The police flex the time that they are taking the dogs out. We are working with Risk Management as to what would happen if the dog would bite someone. Commissioner Taylor expressed concern that the prisoners would be able to train the dogs in a field and not get away with the dog. IHS actually has a trainer that goes to the prison to train the trainer and the dog. Councilperson Tibbs stated that the City pays $60,000 for enforcement in the foothills. Would funding be sought on this? No. They would donate the animal, medical care, etc. Councilperson Jordan asked for a brief description of the program at the prison. It is an ongoing training program to make the animals more adoptable. Councilperson Tibbs says Councilperson Jordan is correct. What he has seen in the past the offenders deal more with behavior issues. Prisoners won t be allowed in the field with the dog yet. That may change someday. Commissioner Taylor commented that once you get them in the field, you have to be able to control that dog. Lee Monroe was the greens keeper and he took care of the dog. There was a house on the golf course where she lived.

3 Page 3 Question was raised as to where is the ultimate place that the dog would go? When you take the dog to Ann Morrison and the geese move somewhere else, would the dog need to be taken to the next location? Staff is not sure at this time. Main thing is to keep the geese out of the major parks. There are fewer geese in Julia Davis than Ann Morrison at this time. If we would see an increase of the geese going to the other parks then we would need to follow. Commissioner Cunningham is a little concerned with a dog off leash and the perception on the public and how that might be rolled out. He is also concerned with the liability. MOTION A motion was made by Commissioner Cunningham, THAT THE PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSIONERS GO FORWARD WITH THE TRAINING OF THE DOG AND THAT WE INVESTIGATE AND LOOK AS SUCH THINGS AS LIABILITY, QUALITY OF TRAINING, ETC. AND GO FORWARD, seconded by Commissioners Taylor. Commissioner Taylor stated there is another dog at the golf course now. That dog is a heeler and that dog will bite someone. The Border Collie is a lot less aggressive. The only dog that IHS is willing to work with is the Border Collie. Councilperson Tibbs made another comment about the corrections program. That is a really good program. That s what they do with behavior issues. You have mentioned some of the measures Fish & Game have used in addition to taking the eggs. If there were dogs in the park, would Fish & Game continue to do take those measures? My understanding is that if you take the eggs there is nothing that deters the geese from coming back and nesting again. Tom Governale, Supt. of Resources, commented that there is another course of action other than coddling the egg and that is to oil the egg. The goose will continue to sit on them and they won t hatch. If the eggs are taken the geese will simply lay more. Mr. Harry Krueger has been taking a census of the geese in the downtown parks for the past five (5) years or so. The problem that you are addressing is one that is being faced by countless cities across the country. The difference is that the ones that have found an answer, he can count on one hand. The parks are currently being use by Canadian Geese and Cackling Geese. Geese move between the parks, primarily Ann Morrison,

4 Page 4 Julia Davis, and Kathryn Albertson. Cackling Geese, which is a cross breed, are a sub species of Canadian Geese and doesn t know what it is. There are a lot of these geese in the Anchorage area. All of those geese will begin to leave in the next week or so and most are gone by mid-march. The balance will come back in mid- December. If a dog is used, the dog will go after anything that flies. Kathryn Albertson becomes a primary nesting area for the geese in the summer. The dog idea is in his opinion not a good one. The oiled eggs are the least destructive. The geese that utilize Ann Morrison Park are migratory and very opportunistic. Mr. Krueger would really discourage the use of dogs particularly when the geese are wintering here. It s the rare time when he s seen anyone out on those fields when the geese are feeding. Look and see what happens when anyone goes out with bread. Crosses of mallards and widgeons are attracted to it. The geese aren t here because of the bread. They are here in the summer because they are lazy. What is in the parks is very attractive to them. The primary problem is the spring and keeping them from breeding. Commissioner Neef commented that they have up to 1,000 geese out on their lake in Lake Harbor. They get thousands of pounds of excretment in their lake each night. One day at Willow Lane there was some children trying to play La Crosse and they were slipping and falling. Commissioner Spurling asked if we have done anything with regard to the breeding issue. Commissioner Taylor mentioned there is a company that manufactures a type of food that causes them not to procreate. It is very expensive. There is also a chemical that can be sprayed on the turf which works great in a defined area, but is too expensive to use in the expanses of land that we are dealing with. Commissioner Cunningham sees the dog training as the least costly. If it doesn t work, we can go back and look at doing something else. Councilperson Tibbs stated that this isn t a done deal; this is merely going through a process. Commissioner McGown noted that this strikes her as somewhat ironic when we are dealing with dogs off leash in other parks, dogs chasing geese in one park and in another dog s can t be off leash. Staff stated that dogs off leash are of bigger concern than the geese in the parks. We are experiencing a lot more problems with dogs

5 Page 5 off leash in Winstead and Elm Grove than the geese in Ann Morrison. Mr. Krueger is willing to help us go through this process and share his expertise through the spring and summer and implement something this fall. MOTION A motion was made by Commissioner Cunningham, THAT THE PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION ENCOURAGES THE PARKS & RECREATION DEPARTMENT TO MOVE FORWARD IN EXPLORING UTILIZING A DOG TRAINED THROUGH THE IDAHO HUMANE SOCIETY USING THEIR PRISONER PROGRAM WITH THE HELP OF MR. KRUEGER, seconded by Commissioner Taylor. Motion approved by all Commissioners present. MARIANNE WILLIAMS ENTRANCE SIGN David Selvage, Manager of Planning, Design, and Development apprised Commissioners that staff has been working for the past year and a half in developing a sign as well as procuring donations for the sign. The preferred location for the sign would be the primary entrance into the park. We ve looked at a secondary location near the restrooms. The concept is a sandstone style sign using a mix of real stone and a mix of stones similar to the stones at the Anne Frank site. Total length of the sign is about 50 and the height is about 12. We would like concurrence from Mr. Williams before staff begins. Staff believes the sign should be installed the summer of Question was raised if there will be any identification of the facility being a Boise City Park. The park will have a standard identification addressing sign at the parking lot and another where the Greenbelt sweeps across. Those signs are a standard requirement. MOTION A motion was made by Commissioner Cunningham, THAT THE PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION APPROVE THE MARIANNE WILLIAMS ENTRANCE SIGNAGE AS PROPOSED BY STAFF, seconded by Commissioner Neef. Question was asked when construction will begin on this park. Technically construction has begun. A couple of weeks ago Mayor and Council approved water and sewer and we are a few weeks away from receiving our Corps permits. We are close to signing a contract with Mr. Williams to begin on another area of the park.

6 Page 6 To date how much has Mr. Williams donated for this park? $14M in land value along with the $150,000 for the sign. We will start within the current time frame; we just won t finish within the time frame. Motion approved by all Commissioners present. JD PARKING AND CIRCULATION STUDY CONTINUATION OF COMMISSION DISCUSSION Toby Norton, BPR Landscape Architect, noted that at the last meeting of the Parks & Recreation Commissioners they requested other options to explore. We are down to two questions. What should be the circulation pattern between the Museum and Zoo Boise and in front of Zoo Boise? One option is to leave the flow as it is. Another is to look at two-way along the River Road and twoway in front of Zoo Boise. The other option is to reverse the direction which has been in place for a long time. Staff is questioning how to handle the parking along those roads. Boise Art Museum would like to leave the parallel parking along the road as it currently is. If two-way traffic is done the parallel parking could be maintained. The original concept was to do head in parking. They feel that what staff has gotten from the Commission is that this is not an issue. If the River Road goes reverse one-way staff will just have to re-orient the posts. In front of Zoo Boise the concept is to realign the road, provide a larger turn around to accommodate delivery vehicles, buses, etc. One of the requests was to look at possibly putting a bend in the road to slow traffic down. The adopted Master Plan shows no road in there, but with the African Plains Exhibit we really need to get an emergency vehicle in there. Commissioner Spurling stated that if we are eventually going to close off the River Road, she is hesitant to make any investments there. Staff commented that they are showing that any closure of the River Road would be very seasonal or one day a week. It is not something that would become a permanent closure until someday further down the road. Commissioner McGown stated that what rankles the most is we are designing for cars rather than people. If the sidewalk is removed from in front of Zoo Boise, people will pretty much have to walk in front of the cars. She supports the original recommendation of closing off the sidewalk on the Zoo Boise side of the street. Staff noted they have begun to explore that.

7 Page 7 Commissioner Neef likes the first set of bollards down by the road and a set by the Boise Art Museum. Commissioner Madigan noted that when she met Toby Norton on site, the Zoo Boise frontage was the point of discussion. By taking out the median it makes it much cleaner. Commissioner Cunningham questioned if we are moving toward making this pedestrian only. He s heard it would be nice if we didn t have cars in there. Staff indicated part of the challenge in the park is there is a disjointed sidewalk system all through the park. It is not consistent with the new facility in Zoo Boise. Staff is proposing allowing for experimental closures from the Zoo Boise back to the tennis courts. When there is a large event like Zoo Boise, we pretty much need that road there. By keeping it two-way, staff can address all the safety concerns and make it safer. Commissioner Taylor noted that the option that Toby Norton put up was originally proposed one-way from the Boise Art Museum to Zoo Boise, clean up the sidewalks, and put gates/bollards at each end of River Road. River Road is already one-way therefore keeping it the same traffic pattern. Commissioner Spurling noted the original proposal was to keep the traffic pattern in front of Boise Art Museum two-way as it is now. Commissioners have no opinion on the parking. President Chandler reminded the Commissioners that Option 1 is the staff recommendation. Commissioner Neef commented that if we don t have an existing two-way in front of the Boise Art Museum, we don t have the option of turning the westerly end of the River Road two-way. He would like to see the River Road eventually turn to pedestrian only on weekends. Commissioner Taylor noted the only cars he saw when he was in Julia Davis Park yesterday were BSU cars. Commissioner Spurling is concerned about the beautiful bridge by Zoo Boise and would like to see some signage added. David Selvage had John Priester out there looking around and at the old rock bridge. The bridge looks like it is starting to fail. It really

8 Page 8 is a cool feature. If you want to preserve the area, all we would need to do would be to try to get a walk way behind it. Though it could be expensive to preserve. Commissioner Neef noted that the downtown parking garages could be used by park users if an East-West trolley and North-South trolley were in place. Toby Norton commented that the original parking study addressed that issue. MOTION A motion was made by Commissioner Spurling, THAT THE PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION RECOMMENDS ACCEPTING OPTION 1 OF THE PARKING STUDY AS DISCUSSED WITH THE MODIFICATION THAT THE SIDEWALK CLOSET TO ZOO BOISE BE CONSIDERED FOR REMOVAL AND CONSIDER PRESERVING THE BRIDGE, seconded by Commissioner Taylor. The Idaho Historical Museum is in favor of turning the traffic one-way in front of their facility. Question is how a car gets out if it is one-way. Does the staff want a motion to close off all of the River Road? That was approved at the meeting in January. Motion approved by all Commissioners present. FINAL DETAILS/30 TH STREET COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT David Selvage, Manager of Planning, Design, and Development updated the Parks & Recreation Commissioners on the progress of the project. The plan will incorporate a median and a round-about at Stewart Street. A second entry on what is the NW side of Reagan is being planned. There will be two full access entries into the park. The project is slated to begin construction in Staff presented a sketch of what the park concept is starting to look like to the Commission. Commissioner Neef asked if those rectangles are La Crosse fields. David Selvage noted that much of the space was purchased with Open Space money. The Simplot s are not wild about dedicated fields. UPDATE RIVER RECREATION PARK Tom Governale, Superintendent of Resources described items of interest to the Commissioners utilizing a drawing. A couple of things have come up recently that have given staff one challenge after another. Staff has discovered that about 300 yards of Thurman Mill is all in Garden City limits. Staff is working with Garden City to figure out what permits are needed.

9 Page 9 Another thing is the FEMA study. FEMA allowed alteration of the FEMA map without altering the maps. It looks like there are a couple of houses in the flood way. This presents some critical impacts with Boise City and Garden City. FEMA needs to recognize that they didn t alter their maps when the development went in. Staff has talked with the Corps of Engineers and they will allow us to put in the first set of diversion dams, do some bank work, and get the permits. Jim Hall, Director, complimented Tom Governale on the work he is doing on this project. Tom has the irrigators to the table. Farmers Union and Boise Valley are down stream of this project. They want to have an indemnification agreement in the event a bladder that will be installed fails. They will be able to be part of the permit process with us. Friends of Parks are getting very anxious. If we get that signed agreement by the end of this month, they will begin fund raising. The official name is the Ray Neef River Recreation Park. We should be under construction in October once the water goes down. Staff is attempting to set up a meeting with the Mayor and the Colonel, who will be in Boise next week. These types of projects seem to take forever before anything happens. Then dirt moves. Councilperson Tibbs reminded everyone not to forget about the value of the families that have made these donations. UPDATE ESTHER SIMPLOT PARK BUDGET REVIEW AND APPROVE Wendy Larimore, BPR Park Development Coordinator/Landscape Architect was on hand to update the Commissioners on the progress of the Esther Simplot Park. The Simplot s have hired a consultant out of Denver. What is really being talked about for this park is the access to the river, the park, and shoreline development. Getting both consultants on board has helped a lot. If they can get a design, they could start construction when we do construction on the diversion. The next opportunity will be when the next phase of the River Recreation Park is started. Jim Hall, Director apprized the Commissioners that this topic will be on the March agenda. The budget needs to be submitted on March 13 th ; however DFM has allowed us to extend the date in order to bring this to you in March. Currently we are looking at not filling positions, eliminating positions, doing job share, etc. We will bring back a list to you as well as the CIP.

10 Page 10 DISCUSS ELEMENTS IN EACH APPOINTED BOARD AND COMMITTEE OTHER UPDATES Councilperson Maryanne Jordan stated that over the course of the past 5½ years or so it s important to cover a few events. The City has found them in an awkward position in terms of management. Things were improved and structures were put into place. One of the things that helped come to mind as we worked our way through the Strategic Plan was that the City has not been very good about communicating to the Boards and Commissions. We are asking everyone to look at their charters and supportive documents and see if changes may be needed. Please give some thought to how we can be of better service in communicating. During the next few months meetings will be arranged with Board and Commission chairs and vice chairs. Velma Morrison and Jim Hall have talked about the 50 th anniversary over the past 3-4 years. We will be looking at having the anniversary on the 4 th of July not on June 8 th. The Mayor s office thinks this is a good idea as well. At this point, there is no set agenda. We are possibly looking at a concert, some type of food vendors, having the Mobile Recreation van available that evening, etc. Two years ago an individual said he had gone on E-bay and purchased 2-3 large books of construction photos of the construction of Ann Morrison Park. We will be working with the retired employees of Morrison Knudsen as well. When we did the Julia Davis Celebration we had $50,000 to work with. MK has a big old steam bucket that we will inquire to see if they might want to have it in the park for display. Commissioner Taylor questioned if it is Comp Plan update time yet. Staff is working on that. Commissioner Taylor also commented on the pool articles in this past month s NRPA magazine. Staff has been working on this since October. Staff feels confident that our covers quality. However, manufacturers don t have good criteria on how to certify that. We don t use chlorine in pools any longer. Commissioner Madigan asked what staff s response to the Winstead dogs off leash was. They are being invited to the March 19, There is an ordinance in place that dogs are to be on leash in City parks. We will be looking at the Comp Plan for areas for dogs off leash. There is no money to build any new one s anywhere. The Comp Plan could identify in which parks a piece could be carved out for dogs off leash. Jim Hall, Director, wishes we had the money to build the ones planned for.

11 Page 11 Commissioner Neef questioned if parks run right out to the water line in a river? And would it be alright to let a dog off leash? Normally if a person would be below the 6500 CFS line, it might be ok. Meeting adjourned at 6:15 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Margaret C. Lancaster CPS/CAP /mcl