HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/14/2005 Adjourned Meeting169
ADJOURNED MEETING
JUNE 14, 2005 - 7:30 A.M. - 9:00 A.M.
YAKIMA CONVENTION CENTER - ROOMS A & B
1. Roll Cali
Present:
Council:
Staff:
Absent:
Mayor Paul George, presiding, Council Members Ron Bonlender, Neil
McClure, Mary Place, Bernard Sims, and Susan Whitman (after 8:45 a.m.)
City Manager Zais and Acting City Clerk Watkins
Council Member Edler (excused)
2. Study Session regarding report from Parks and Recreation on options for future
aquatics facility
Mayor George opened the study session and introduced Denise Nichols, Parks and
Recreation Manager. Mrs. Nichols outlined the goals of the session as:
1. Share information on what other cities are doing in the area of aquatics.
2. Give an update on status of the summer pools.
3. Encourage dialogue on the future direction of aquatics in Yakima.
In a Power Point presentation, various cities' aquatic facilities were shown. Kennewick,
Washington has three aquatic playgrounds, with 28 features in an 1800 square foot area.
It is fully computerized and is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Memorial Day through
September. It is very well used and cost efficient having become a destination park. Also
shown was the facility in Auburn. It has been operational for about a year and their parks
director says it is the best thing that ever happened to their park system. They spent
approximately $165,000, for a 60' x 80' facility. They spent an additional $30,000 to install
two tanks to re -circulate water for nighttime irrigation in their parks and feel they have had
their investment returned by doing that. Water usage and costs are dependent on the
number of features and how long the water cycles are on when hooked into the city water
system. Each feature is rated by gallon per minute. Every city they talked to has put
these in as an alternative when closing the wading or swimming pools and have saved
enough money by closing their pools, that they weren't concerned about their water usage.
It is much cheaper to operate than the pool. Mrs. Nichols noted that a re -circulating
system doubles the installation cost and of the eight cities she spoke with, none have
opted for a re -circulating system. The presentation then covered some of the elements
that we asked to be included in the design for Yakima; 60' diameter, approximately 2800
sq ft with 24 activity zones. The target price for installation and construction was
$125,000.
The Moses Lake facility was shown next. It is a very successful outdoor aquatics center
consisting of a sand area, a 50 meter pool, water slides, diving boards, and drop slides. It
has green space incorporated into the park. It was built in 1994 for a cost of $2.8 million.
They used councilmatic bonds with payback from general fund sales tax. Moses Lake
does not have a full time dedicated aquatic staff on duty. They have a recreation
supervisor that takes on the swimming pool in the summer time and hires 80 to 90 life
170
JUNE 14, 2005 — ADJOURNED MEETING
guards and pool staff to work the summer months. The attendance went from 18,000
swimmers in the summer months to 140,000 swimmers once they opened and has
maintained that level ever since.
Next shown was the North Clakamus Aquatics Center, an indoor center. It is about ten
years old and cost $7.3 million to construct. It has five pool areas, a drop slide, a meter
diving board, a 25 yard lap pool, a wading pool, two water slides, one open and one
enclosed water slide, a tot area, a wave pool and a number of amenities adjacent to the
swimming pool such as a Jacuzzi hot tub, locker rooms, child care playroom and four
community center rooms.
Water play toys are unsupervised, unstaffed, have no standing water and are very safe. In
speaking with the other cities, there have been no problems with injuries. The concrete is
not slippery as they use a special texture. Maintenance goes in once a day in the evening,
washes them down and takes out any debris that fell into the play area. They are
winterized like an irrigation system. They are free to the public.
Following the Power Point presentation, Mrs. Nichols updated the status of the closing of
Miller Pool. Huibregtse Louman is currently in the process of preparing the bid package.
The earliest estimated completion date of the project is the first of October. Layouts of the
planned new basketball courts were distributed. There has been some interest raised
about a second water play toy area and it has been suggested that Miller Park be
considered for the second site. There is concern about the lack of green space at Miller
Park. Council Member Place noted that there are some vacant lots nearby and could we
look into purchasing those. Council Member McClure emphatically spoke about the desire
to serve the Miller Park area with aquatics. He disagreed with Randall Park as the second
site rather than Miller. Mrs. Nichols spoke to Randall Park as a location for a second
water spray toy site noting that we are also taking out a pool on the west side with
Eisenhower being closed. Randall Park is a heavily used park and its very passive in
nature in the upper part. There also is a parking lot. Water spray toy locations become a
destination site; people tend to drive to these from other locations. It is their
recommendation that if there is a second site, it would be at Randall Park.
Mayor George asked about the possibility of working out a deal with the school district and
putting a spray toy facility at the Barge Lincoln School. Council Member Bonlender
suggested a linear facility might work at Miller if space is limited.
Discussion then turned to the status of the repairs at Franklin pool. Budgeted repairs were
$25,000 for a major crack down the center of the main tank and also repairs to the slide
structure. Those are completed. Two weeks ago a major water leak was discovered as a
result of a meter read. This resultedin a $70,000 water bill based on consumption. It
required a contractor coming in to re -pipe and re -plumb. Even after receiving a discount
on the water bill, they ended up with approximately $47,000 in unanticipated costs.
Council Member Sims requested this be brought back to a Council meeting for approval of
the expense.
Council Member McClure brought up the cost of purchasing and installing the play toys
and mulled over the idea of more, smaller locations in the city. He spoke about the
potential opportunity of having service clubs or citizens help contribute to construction
costs. He is anxious to see these facilities come to fruition soon, not three to four years
from now.
2
JUNE 14, 2005 — ADJOURNED MEETING
1.71
Mrs. Nichols then brought up challenges when considering building an outdoor and/or
indoor aquatics center. We do not have any vacant park property other than five
undeveloped acres at Randall Park. If we were to build one, we would need a minimum of
five acres, preferably ten. The financing of one is another item needing discussion. Either
outdoor or indoor there are a number of options to look at for financing. City Manager Zais
addressed Public Facilities District dollars if this were to become a regional project. The
PFD has other tax options available to them under state statute. To build an aquatics
center, indoor or outdoor, will require a lot of participants to bring it together. It was his
suggestion to make a presentation to the PFD about this idea and concepts. He also
recommended the formation of a committee that would include potential partners to be
involved in the analysis. Others that would be invited into a partnership with the PFD
would be the school districts, the YMCA, the community college, and the Yakima Athletic
Club. He suggested Council Members McClure and Edler, or possibly Bonlender, co-chair
the committee. Working together, this could generate a clear roadmap on how to get this
done. They could choose between an indoor and outdoor facility. That would initiate other
evaluations needed on the remaining pools. Mrs. Nichols described how the city of Boise
entered into an agreement with their YMCA to develop a community aquatics center
attached to their YMCA. The advantage to the city was they had no ongoing operation
costs as the YMCA assumed fiduciary control of the facility.
At this point, Mrs. Nichols reviewed the planned activities for the pools this summer.
Washington and Franklin pools will open June 17th. She spoke about the free transit
passes and the marketing materials that have gone out. She said they hope to come back
during the budget process with a policy issue to retain a consultant to guide them in the
feasibility of an aquatics facility. That is expected to cost to be between $50-$100,000
Council Member McClure questioned whether they should ask staff to look into creating a
plan to install two or three locations with water spray toys this year. Council Member Sims
suggested that staff should bring options and alternatives for other activities than just a
nine week swimming period. He would like to see a variety of different options supporting
recreation programs for kids throughout the year rather than just the summer months.
It was the consensus of Council to get the committee established to start researching the
options.
3. Audience Comments (8:45 a.m. — 9:00 a.m.)
Alonzo Marquez, 613 North 3rd Street, claimed, by closing pools on the east side of the
city, this is all discriminatory and dishonest.
Dave Roberts, 4206 West Lincoln Avenue, is the pastor of The First Baptist Church. He
said he doesn't see middle and high school kids using a spray park. He also questioned
how kids can learn to swim without pools.
Mike Murphy, 4411 Snow Mountain Road, expressed concern about the closure of the
pools on the east side and the potential of an increase in crime and drownings.
Maud Scott read a letter from Russell Montiero who expressed disappointment with the
Council meeting times and with the pool closures. He suggested the pools be left open
until there is an aquatics center. He requested that spray toys not be put in.
172
JUNE 14, 2005 — ADJOURNED MEETING
Leni Skarin, 213 South 28th Avenue, spoke as a member of the Budget Strategy Team.
She said the city spends about $45 a year per citizen on parks. And it has to be kept in
mind that there are budget concerns when you want everything. One suggestion of the
BST is to look at regionalization as consolidation and sharing resources and costs is
beneficial. Parks in high family population areas need attention paid to them and we
should keep track of what kids are doing year-round so we can supply the right kind of
facilities. She pointed out that it is not just the southeast and northeast areas of Yakima
that have heavy family populations, but north central Yakima is an area that has a lot of
difficulty with finding green space as well.
Bob Busse, Parks Commission, gave some history of issues over his 25 years on the
commission. In 1980 they voted to close the old Lions pool because the roof was falling
in. Over the years they have discussed closing pools, the problems with them, boilers,
pipes, water costs, etc. yet they have kept them open. He applauds the Council and the
Commission for recognizing that we need to do something. He agreed with the need for
more water toys. He also agreed that spray toys are for the younger kids so what do we
do with kids from twelve on up. Speaking for the Commission he said, let's provide
something for everyone with the money we're saving.
Mike Gulick, Executive Director of the YMCA, said they are interested in being a part of
the committee.
Russ Kelly who lives by Franklin Park said an aquatics center needs to be seriously
looked at as a way of bringing in people from outside of Yakima. He likes the outdoor
aquatics center in Moses Lake with water slides as that would be a great place for
teenagers and it could also be used to hold swim meets.
Mayor George thanked everyone for coming and said that we would be establishing an
Aquatic Advisory Committee. He expected they would hold sessions around the city to get
input from all segments of the community.
4. Adjournment
r
Mayor George adjourned the meeting at 9:0,8
READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY
ATTEST:
ACTING CITY CLERK
DATE
ATE
PAUL P. GEORGE, MAYOR
Minutes prepared by Linda Watkins. An audio and video tape of this meeting are available in the City
Clerk's Office
4