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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-15-2014 Trails, Open Space and Parks Committee Minutes MINUTES OF THE TRAILS, OPEN SPACE AND PARKS COMMITTEE MEETING, May 15, 2014 COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Bob Hawks, Chair Sandy Dodge Don Beeman Tom Starner Doug Chandler Cyndy Andrus, Commission Liaison COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT: None COMMITTEE MEMBERS EXCUSED ABSENCE: None CITY STAFF PRESENT: Mitch Overton, Parks & Recreation Director Jeff Graff,TOP Program Manager Chris Saunders, Community Development and Planning OTHERS PRESENT Bart Manion,TOPs Project Applicant A. The meeting was called to order at 9:02 am by Chairperson Hawks. B. Approval of Minutes of April 17, 2014 meeting : Minutes from the April meeting were not distributed prior to the May meeting. The April meeting minutes will be added to the June agenda for consideration and approval. C. Changes to the Agenda None D. Public Comment None E. Disclosures: Sandy stated that he went to the Bozeman Creek Storm water project site prior to the meeting and coincidentally ran into Bart Manion while on site. Doug stated that he met with the Gallatin Valley Land Trust to discuss a project that would create a trail from the Lincoln Right of Way to Burke park and include a bridge over Bozeman Creek. He offered to provide design services for the bridge. Page 1 of 6 MINUTES OF THE TRAILS, OPEN SPACE AND PARKS COMMITTEE MEETING, May 15, 2014 F. Action Items: Bozeman Creek Community Park and Water Quality Improvement Project i. Staff Report: Staff provided a handout titled, TOP Program Staff Report Bozeman Creek Community Park and Water Quality Improvement Project dated 5.8.14. (attached) . Jeff provided an overview of the report. The report included a description of the proposed project and proposed park site. Staff recommended that if the project is approved by committee, further title research on the property should be conducted to determine if the terms and conditions of the settlement between Bozeman Deaconess and the applicant regarding a Transfer of Development Rights would affect the project. Additionally, staff recommended that the applicant provide an updated budget that provided a more accurate estimate of expenses and proposed funding sources. Bob asked about past precedent with previous projects and how committee would deal with this project given its uniqueness. Chris Saunders commented that a standard and process for evaluating new parkland dedication is somewhat open and that the way forward, including parkland review, and the subdivision necessary to create the parcel, which could be achieved via an exemption to eminent domain under state law, would need to be decided by Commission. Mitch commented that under current subdivision regulations, any park proposal with less than 50% road frontage would require a variance. He said the project appears to align with the PROST plan because of its proposed trail connections, but does not appear to align with the Community Plan. He said water quality is called out in the ballot language and one of the matrices. Chris said plans like the Community Plan or PROST don't get into a level of detail that would address development of such a small parcel as a park, but as a matter of policy,the project appears to meet the criteria related to water quality. ii. Applicant Presentation:The applicant, Bart Manion, provided a Power Point presentation of his proposed project to the Committee. Bart said that as a property owner, he felt compelled to address the issue of pollutants being Page 2 of 6 MINUTES OF THE TRAILS, OPEN SPACE AND PARKS COMMITTEE MEETING, May 15, 2014 discharged from a storm water pipe near his property into Bozeman Creek. Bart said that there was a constant flow from the outfall pipe into Bozeman Creek of 44 gpm provided by artesian ponds to the south. Bart presented slides that showed the deposition occurring in the stream from the pipe's outflow. He also showed slides depicting some of the pollutants that were being transported into the stream via the pipe. Bart said that the DEQ conducted a study of a coli in the stream and found high rates of a coli contamination from summer waterfowl. He stated that Bozeman Creek is impaired due to pollutants loading and that declining base flows have led to less buffering capacity. MS4 compliance is a new issue for Bozeman and Bozeman will have to address how to treat water that enters into waterways. Bart stated that upstream treat is the most efficient way to address watershed water quality and that his project represents a shovel ready project that can improve water quality. Bart described how a Vortex centrifuge could be located in the Lincoln Right of Way and could be used to treat water before it entered Bozeman Creek. Most of the out flow would pass through the centrifuge while some of it would be diverted to a retention pond to be located in the proposed community park. Maintenance of the centrifuge would include regular pumping and removal of trash and debris. Bart also provided a slide that showed the general location of the park to the RoW and potential parking sites. Doug asked if design modifications could be made to the retention pond to capture and treat a greater volume of outflow from the centrifuge. Bart showed additional slides that depicted the total drainage area of approximately 45 acres as well as the treatment systems' components. Bart said he thought the project could serve as a catalyst that would hopefully lead to further park land dedication from private property to the north. Northwestern Energy, which owns the land on the east side of Bozeman Creek, has already done significant mitigation work to Bozeman Creek. Bart closed his presentation by stating the Page 3 of 6 MINUTES OF THE TRAILS, OPEN SPACE AND PARKS COMMITTEE MEETING, May 15, 2014 importance of addressing water quality at the head waters to protect the water quality of the larger watershed. iii. Public Comment—none iv. Committee Questions : Members of the committee asked if there were matching funds at this time and whether TOPS would fund the project at the level requested or a higher level? Bart stated that there were no funds committed at this time from other funding sources but hoped to secure funding once TOPS recommended approving funding. Sandy asked if the infrastructure improvement costs for the Lincoln Street RoW were included in the budget. Bart said they were not and he preferred to keep the RoW unpaved. Mitch asked Bart if he had presented the project to his neighborhood group. Bart indicated that he discussed the project with members several years ago. Bob closed the staff and applicant discussion and asked if they should proceed with the rough cut or whether staff should conduct further due diligence prior to the rough cut evaluation. Mitch said that the rough cut should be completed first and that staff could continue to conduct its due diligence if the committee approved the rough cut. Sandy added that the Recreation , Parks Advisory Board generally didn't advise the creation of parks that were less than an acre for subdivisions nor did it count retention ponds as park acreage. The proposed park only had 25 percent road frontage and the proposed trail could only provide connectivity if the landowners to the north agreed to allow for trails on their property. He asked whether this was a park project or a water treatment project? Several Committee members commented that budget issues could be addressed later if the project was approved today. v. Motion &Vote: Rough Cut Evaluation. Committee conducted a rough cut evaluation of the project. All of the committee members voted in favor of the project by providing at least 5 yeses on their respective scoring sheets as required by the TOPS procedures. The Rough Cut passed by unanimous vote. Page 4 of 6 MINUTES OF THE TRAILS, OPEN SPACE AND PARKS COMMITTEE MEETING, May 15, 2014 Bart said he would update some of the application information including the budget for the next meeting. G. Action Item: Vote for Officers i. Discussion: Sandy stated that he thought Bob was doing a great job as Committee Chair. Don felt committee was working well and wanted to continue with the current leadership. Bob stated he was willing to continue as chair or let another person serve as chair. ii. Motion : Don introduced a motion to continue with Bob as the current Chair and Sandy as the Vice Chair. Tom seconded the motion. All members were in favor, none were opposed. The motion carried. H. Discussion i. FYI:Jeff announced that he had accepted a new job and his last day of work with the City would be May 16, 2014. ii. Project Updates: i. Sports Park—staff was waiting for a water and soils study from consultants to determine if the water and soil resources for the property would be sufficient to support a proposed sports park. Based on the reports, the City attorney would decide whether to accept assignment of the buy/sell agreement from the Bozeman Soccer Education Foundation and proceed to closing by June 30, 2014. ii. Story Mill —a site visit was conducted by the members of RPAB last week. Members discussed some of the issues related to the Park Master planning process. iii. Bozeman Ponds—the City closed on the Bozeman Ponds property on April 28 and would begin the park master planning process in May. iv. Bozeman Creek Enhancement—the project is on hold because one of the landowners along Bozeman Creek said he did not want any stream work done on his property. Gary Weiner of the Bozeman Creek Enhancement Page 5 of 6 MINUTES OF THE TRAILS, OPEN SPACE AND PARKS COMMITTEE MEETING, May 15, 2014 Committee is going to try to meet with the landowner this summer to discuss the proposed stream work options. v. Trail to the M — FLAP staff are working on a survey of the Route 86 corridor and collecting data. Once the data and survey are complete, they will contact City staff to set up a public meeting in the summer. FLAP staff hope to present trail route options at the public meeting based on the survey and data. iii. Setting date of next meeting. The next meeting will be scheduled for Thursday,June 19th at 9:00 a.m. in the Professional Building upstairs room. iii. Committee member Dodge moved to adjourn the meeting at 11:15 a.m. Committee member Starner seconded. Motion passed un nimously. Bob Hawks, Chairperson ATTEST: Doreen Olean , Recording Secretary PREPARED BY: Jeff Graff, Recording Secretary Approved on f Page 6 of 6