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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 1998/09/17 CITY OF CHULA VISTA PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES Thursday - 6:30 p.m. September 17,1998 Conference Rooms 2 & 3 - PSB 276 Fourth Avenue 1. ROLL CALL Chair Palma"p"', Members Helton..E.., Dennison"p"', Vaccaro ..f.., Radcliffe ....lL, Rude l, Cochran..f.. Commissioners Helton and Radcliffe were excused. Others Present: Duane Bazzel, Jerry Foncerrada, John Gates, George Krempl, David Palmer, Nancy Woods 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - July 16, 1998 and August 20, 1998 The minutes of the April 16, 1998 meeting should reflect that Commissioner Rude was excused. MSUC (Cochran/Dennison) that the minutes of the July 16, 1998 meeting be approved as corrected. Chair Palma requested that the following changes be made to the August 20, 1998 minutes. The minutes, under Commissioners' Comments, should read, "Chairman Palma reported that Ex-Councilman Alvey, through Pacific Bell, has earmarked $1,500 to be donated as fund raising seed money. " Commissioner Cochran, by acclamation, was elected Vice Chair. MSUC (Cochran/Dennison) to approve the minutes of August 20, 1998 as corrected. 3. PUBLIC HEARINGS OR REMARKS - None 4. REPORTS - FOR INFORMATION ONLY - Future Reports Director Palmer reported that Assistant Director Shy was attending a Healthy Cities Conference. In October, she will kick off a series of short oral reports on programs the Recreation Division is doing. It will start off next month with sports. -"-- ,. ~ Parks and Recreation Commission -2- September 17, 1998 ACTION ITEMS 5. Unfinished Business - Chairman Palma asked Mr. Foncerrada about the ice cream vendor who wrote a letter discussed at the Commission's July meeting. Mr. Foncerrada reported that he will follow up on this matter. 6. New Business a. Senior Strategic Plan John Gates introduced Donna Daum, Chair of the Commission on Aging, to answer questions about the Senior Strategic Plan. Commissioner Dennison reported that she was on the committee to create this report. MSUC ( RudeN accaro) that the Parks and Recreation Commission supports the Senior Strategic Plan. Chair Palma reported that he found the Plan enlightening. b. Acquiring and Constructing Parks using Community Facility Districts in Otay Ranch Deputy City Manager Krempl requested that the Parks and Recreation Commission respond to a proposal fÌ"om Otay Ranch Company to establish a Community Facility District (CFD) in SPA 1. Park Acquisition and Development (pAD) Fees generated by Otay Ranch Development for SPA 1 would total $13.5 million, adding reserve funds, issuance costs, and capitalized interest would increase this figure to $17 million dollars. Otay Ranch Company has proposed that bonds or long term debt for the $17 million dollars to be recuperated by a special tax on homeowners. This tax for a typical unit would be about $461 per year. PAD fees are typically paid by the developer at the time of Final Map. PAD fees on a single family home total approximately $4,375; $2,100 for park acquisition, $1,500 for neighborhood park improvement, and $775 for community park improvement. The policy issue is whether or not the burden of paying the fee should remain as it does currently with the P AD at the Final Map stage, or should this cost be passed on directly to the homeowner as a special tax if a Community Facilities District is formed. Advantages: This option allows the money to be generated at the issuance of the bonds. ..~ Parks could be built sooner and available for public use. Otay Ranch Company has ,. - = A .. Parks and Recreation Commission -3- September 17, 1998 offered to pick up five years of additional maintenance beyond the one year of maintenance required on P-1. Disadvantages: Historically the City has relied on PAD fees to build parks. There is a concern that CFD's are for backbone infrastructure such as roads and sewers. Homeowners paying a special tax for a park may have concerns about other non-tax payers using that area. Homeowners may also wonder why are they paying a tax for a park when homeowners in other neighborhoods do not. This would be an additional financial burden to the homeowner. The City may desire to use a CFD to finance Olympic Parkway. There is also an equity issue as other developers have anticipated constructing parks using the PAD vehicle. This mayor may not give this project a competitive advantage over another project. Mr. Kilkenny, Otay Ranch Project Manager, reported that his company is anxious to move forward on this project and feels that it would be better to build all of the park at one time. While the City of Chula Vista has not done so in the past, it is allowable by State law to establish a Community Facility District. Without a CFD, the Otay Ranch Company would dedicate, offer to dedicate, or place an easement on a site in Village n, and incrementally pay PAD fees with the sale of each home. These funds would sit in a bank until it was time to build the park in Village II. Using a CFD would provide the City the assurance that the land would be there and bonds for the park would not be sold until time to construct the park. Use of the CFD would provide the City with the flexibility to build the parks when the City wanted. Otay Ranch has also offered to contribute additional funds to maintain the parks, reducing the burden of maintenance on the City should the parks be built earlier than anticipated. Responding to staff concerns that this hasn1 been done before; Mr. Kilkenny replied that this strategy addresses the problem of financing parks and provides some benefits to the City that are not available through other mechanisms. He feels that the concern over homeowners sense of ownership is ill-founded. MSUC (Dennison/Cochran) that we accept the report by Deputy City Manager Krempl and Kim Kilkenny of the Otay Ranch Company. Commissioner Dennison liked the fact that the park would be built first. Commissioner Rude felt that anyone who could afford to purchase a house out there deserved to pay the fee. Commissioner Vaccaro felt that fees were getting too high and asked if homeowners ~ balked at paying these fees. Mr. Kilkenny reported that homeowners expect to pay two - ,. A Parks and Recreation Commission -4- September 17, 1998 percent of the homes cost in assessments. Vice Chair Cochran agreed with Commissioner Dennison. He felt it was to the advantage of the homeowner to have the park completed. Chair Palma did not care for the home owners association parks. c. McMillin - Village 5 Plan d. Park Name Request for Otay Ranch - P-1 Planner Bazzel reported that in the past, parks had been named by the developer. Plans for P-1 have gone through Council and received approval at the Master Plan stage. Changing the name from P-1 at this stage is a bit awkward. Otay Ranch Company has made a proposal to rename this park "Heritage Park" . Staff is in support of this name and asked for a recommendation fÌ"om the Parks and Recreation Commission to forward to the City Council. MSUC (Dennison/Cochran) The Parks and Recreation Commission recommends that Council accept the name of Heritage Park. e. Golf Oversight Advisory Committee Vice Chair Cochran asked that the mission statement of the San Diego City Golf Oversite Committee be included in the August minutes. He would like to see the Commission set up a similar sub-committee. MSUC (Cochran/Dennison) to request staff to find out how to go about setting up a committee of this type. Commissioners discussed how the committee would be set up, number of members, and who would comprise the committee. f Tour of Parks on Regular Basis Deputy Director of Parks Foncerrada reviewed the staff response to the Parks and Recreation Commissions request for future park tours. Suggestions ranged fÌ"om scheduling Commission meetings at recreation centers, appointing an ad-hoc committee to take quarterly mini-tours and reporting back to the Commission, or using a mini-van and limiting staff participation. Commissioners were asked to request appropriate funding when working on their next budget. ~ - Parks and Recreation Commission -5- September 17, 1998 7. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS Chair Palma reported that Ernie's Diner had re-opened in Chula Vista. 8. COMMISSIONERS' COMMENTS Vice Chair Cochran reported that he is now employed by Golf Smith in Mission Valley West. Commissioner Vaccaro reported that the senior report provided a great deal of excellent information. 9. STAFF COMMENTS Director of Library and Recreation Palmer reported that bids for Otay Recreation Center will go to the City Council in three weeks. Community Development and Engineering are currently reviewing the bids. Port Commissioner Malcolm has recommended that the Port pay for the development of an Olympic Theme Walk of Fame, Sculpture Garden, or Artwork on the bayftont. The Cultural Arts Commission has gone on record in support of this concept. The Mayor recently met with members of the US Olympic Committee who seemed very enthusiastic about this project. ADJOURNMENT - The meeting adjourned at 7:59 pm. The next meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission will be held on October 15, 1998. ~ ... ,