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Park Board Minutes - 09/27/2001Wichita Falls Park Board Meeting September 27, 2001 Municipal Auditorium City Council Conference Room 1:30 p.m. Presiding: RECEIVED IN CITY CLERK'S OFFICE Date Gary Patrick/Chairperson Members Present: Gary Patrick, Clark Waters, Mark Howell, Kenneth Haney, Barbara Green, Bob McBee, Ed Godsey, William Barnes and Matthew Bohlen. Members Absent: Al Norris and Linda Bates. Staff Present: Jack Murphy, Glenn Jamison, Larry Nash and Genice Wilson City Council Representative: Johnny Burns Gary Patrick asked the guests to limit their presentation to five minutes in order to complete the agenda in a more timely manner and thanked them for their cooperation in this matter. CALL TO ORDER: The minutes from August 23, 2001 were put before the board. Mark Howell made the motion to accept the minutes and William Barnes seconded the motion. Approved unanimously. DEPARTMENTAL REPORT: The T -21 trail at Lake Wichita in Jaycee Park is progressing well. It appears to be ahead of schedule and should be finished in a couple of months. The Texas Parks & Wildlife gravel trail is in the design stage and construction has yet begun. We will be using federal CDBG funds to build the six curb ramps that are required for the TPW project. This will be a mile and a half compacted gravel trail that will connect to the concrete T -21 trail and then will make a three mile circle loop in Jaycee Park. The CDBG linear park on Holliday Creek is nearing completion as well. The former Funland Park at South Weeks Park is gone and South Weeks is slowly returning to it's original resemblance of a park. The Wichita Falls Radio Control Club extended an open invitation to the Park Board members to come out and visit their Annual Fall Fun Fly held this Saturday starting at 8:00 a.m. and to join them for lunch. Beginning soon, the Parks Department will be taking out the decorative summer plantings and putting out the winter plants including pansies. i We do not have a report yet on how many trees we can take out of the tree nursery and replant this fall, it still looks on the order of 800 or 900. Mr. Patrick ask about the trail extension at Hamilton Park? Jack Murphy said that we have a contract going for a 300 -400 foot extension of the Holliday Creek Trail from where it now ends near the Hamilton Tennis Center to the parking lot of the tennis center. It should be started in the next few weeks and completed by the end of the year. We have not heard yet whether we'll get the grant for the T -21 next segment of the Holliday Creek trail. We should know by December. In Expressway Village we are nearly complete with the trail on the north side of the park which is being constructed by the City's Concrete construction crew program. This is a CDBG project. OLD BUSINESS: A. Gymnasium: Larry Nash /Parks and Recreation Athletic Coordinator and Glenn Jamison /Recreation Superintendent were introduced to the board to present the facts and figures on building a new gymnasium at Jaycee Park. They showed a Video of the gym at Denton Ryan High School to give the board an idea of what would be a good size gymnasium. Mr. Jamison answered questions and gave some cost proposals. He also went over the possible staffing of such a facility. Bob McBee made a motion to recommend that the City Council fund a study for the construction requirements of a gymnasium in Jaycee Park. Kenny Haney seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously. B. Proposal to amend ordinance to permit motorized vehicles on trails. Mr. Patrick turned the meeting over to Kinley Hegglund with the City of Legal Department. Mr. Murphy had asked him to look into the legality of a person operating a golf cart on the city streets. Mr. Hegglund found that anyone can operate a golf cart on city streets as long as it has been registered with the Texas Department of Transportation. Park roads are public streets so this would apply to parks also. Due to safety issues, a person is not allowed to operate a motorized vehicle on the trails. It is also against City ordinance to drive a motorized vehicle on the trails. Kenny Haney moved to submit from the Park Board our recommendation that anyone who wants to utilize the parks be allowed to if their vehicle passes the necessary inspection and allowed to use the park roads, but not the trails. Bob McBee amended the motion to read, "The Park Board recommends that the citizens go by the State Guidelines required to operate a motorized vehicle on the roads in the Parks ". City trails are not included. Barbara Green seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously. C. Proposal for designation of an off -leash dog facility in a park. : a Mr. Jack Murphy stated that he has found some desire for the concept to have a Dog Park, but he doesn't know if it is enough to dedicate some land for that purpose. This land would probably be restricted to dog owners only, with a fence around it. Kenny Haney said that while this is a new concept, that with the proper research process to determine the potential liability, the City could be a leader in doing something that has not been done before in this area. Mr. Patrick requested that Jack Murphy try to get more information on how Dog Parks in other cities operate and find out what the pros and cons would be. More discussion was made on whether or not the park would have restrictions on who could use the park and who could not. Ed Godsey made the motion to ask the City Attorney's office to look at the legality of establishing a city ordinance for an off leash dog park. Also, the Park Board would like to include their recommendation that the city council consider establishing a Dog Park. The Park Board was in unanimous support of the Dog Park concept. Bob McBee seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously. NEW BUSINESS: A. New Budget. Jack Murphy let the Park Board know about what went on in the budget meeting and discussed some of the things that were approved and not approved by the City Council. B. Discussion of open space needs in new subdivision developments. Discussion was made on how to go about getting new park land from private developers when new subdivisions go in. This will be discussed again in future meetings. OTHER BUSINESS: ADJOURNMENT: THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS, THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 3:25 P.M.