AD HOC RECREATION COMMITTEE CITY OF AURORA July 14, 2015

Transcription

1 AD HOC RECREATION COMMITTEE CITY OF AURORA July 14, 2015 The of the City of Aurora, Ohio, met on Tuesday, July 14, 2015 at Aurora City Hall Council Chambers, for the purpose of holding a regular meeting. Mr. Wolf called the meeting to order at 6:30p.m. ROLL CALL Present: Pete Conces Zena Elliott Amy McDougald John Sloe Scott Wolf - Chairman Absent: Brad Duguay Also Present: James Kraus Parks and Recreation Director Madeleine Marazzi - Recording Secretary Mr. Conces moved to approve the minutes of the June 23, 2015 minutes, Mrs. Elliott seconded and the motion was passed, 6 0 with a voice vote. 1 abstain Mrs. McDougald. CITIZEN S COMMENTS: Ms. Deb Conti, 234 South Chillicothe Rd. passed out information on the dangers of having a spray park in regards to germs. With all the cost and expenses and maintenance she did not see it as advantageous for the City of Aurora. Ms. Conti stated perhaps we can have an Aurora Day with Wild Water Kingdom and let them have all the headaches of having a spray park and helping our citizen to a free day. She was more in favor of the recreation center proposal and was in favor of the possibly using the former Aurora Country Club. It is centrally located, has an outdoor swimming pool. Aurora is not your typical town by it having two business areas and where the old country club building is one, it is old but is still flourishing, and then there is one in town. Her thoughts on the recreation center would be that having the club building would be a good beginning and the rest could be phased in. Ms. Conti stated the one thing that might deter having a levy if that is the way the city will go, is the governor cut funding to the schools and they might put a levy on which might affect the center.

2 Page 2. OLD BUSINESS: Athletic field complex Hartman: Mr. Kraus stated he had talked to the firm that developed the initial plan. They have not come back with a formal proposal yet but estimated it would be around $9,000 to $10,000 to modify the conceptual plan to include the items that was discussed at the last meeting. Mr. Kraus stated he expected to have it back sometime this week. It would include the four baseball/softball fields, five athletic fields, cross country course, arboretum, supportive structures, concessions, rest rooms, maintenance storage. It will also have an estimate what they think it would cost to construct the project as well as the costs to completely engineer everything that would be involved with it. With a project that size the engineering costs would be about 10% to 15% of the total cost. NEW BUSINESS: Spray Park: Mr. Kraus stated the conceptual plan for Kiwanis Moore Park that was done in 2007 had a spray park as a component. The location between the skate park and the playgrounds is still an option if it was built at Kiwanis Moore Park. Mr. Kraus stated other than that, it would depend what happens in the future with other projects such as having a spray park that is part of a recreation center. Mr. Kraus stated one other idea is to have detachable apparatus where it can be used as an ice skating rink in the winter. Mrs. Elliott asked where the idea of a spray park came from. Mr. Kraus stated it was part of the Parks and Recreation Master plan, which was an alternative cheaper option to an outdoor pool. Mr. Wolf stated they have received several s in favor of having one. Mr. Kraus stated there are options of how to recycle the water to help with the health questions. Conces stated Ms. Conti brings up a valid point but the State of Ohio mandates the water to be treated and can be put on a timer to minimize the impact of water usage and still maintain the filtration. The minimum parts of chlorine you have for a pool at any given time is 1-2 parts per million but for a spray park it s between 5 and 10 parts per million. If there is an accident you simply shut it down chlorine the tank, let it sit for 24hours and you are good to go. Mr. Conces stated the ultra violet lights are also a new mandate for stand - alone spray parks in a public facility. It would cost a little more to install but it would also minimize the chlorine cost. There are a lot of communities that have done it successfully. Mr. Kraus stated you could have it a very simple small one that just has guizers or a more intricate one with toys that shoot water. Mr. Wolf asked Mr. Kraus if could get different web sites of spray parks for the committee so they can go on line and review them.

3 Page 3. Mrs. McDougald felt it should be part of a commercial area and wondered if any progress has been made for the use of the Geauga lake property. Mr. Wolf stated nothing as of yet has been decided or brought forward but he was pretty sure they would not build a spray park next to a water park. Mrs. Elliott stated she questioned why we would have one when the water park already does. Mr. Wolf stated it would be cheaper alternative for the community. Mr. Conces stated it would not be as crowded and felt the community would use it as a gathering place to socialize. Mr. Kraus stated if the committee is comfortable with the idea of a spray park might be a good idea, we will continue to investigating the ideas, costs, location, pros and cons for a possible recommendation. Mr. Wolf stated again the charge of the committee is to identify opportunities and present those to the Mayor. Recreation Center: Mr. Wolf stated he would like to throw a quick list together of absolute musts included in a recreation center, then at our next meeting we will have pie in the sky ideas of things that would work and be minimally done from a costs standpoint. He asked the committee to ask the community of what they would like to see in the recreation center so it could be considered. Mr. Conces stated the quality of life for a recreation center is full circle which means it s from cradle to grave. In order for it to be successful you must incorporate every age element. After discussion it was decided the absolute musts were indoor pool, community rooms, a minimum of 3 and it has to be expandable with closed walls, and be able to accommodate 150 people when open with round tables for potential rental, an exercise track, courts with multipurpose floors, fitness equipment, room for fitness classes, 2 basketball courts. Mr. Sloe stated one or two meetings ago there was talk about the YMCA wanting to expand their footprint in Portage County and asked Mr. Kraus if he had talked to them. Mr. Kraus stated he had reached out to Doug Kohl of Akron Area YMCA., Mr. Wolf, himself and any committee member that would like to go and talk to him and see what some options are. Mr. Sloe stated Crestwood school system will be building a YMCA recreation center with the Akron YMCA and they might want to look into that also. Mr. Kraus stated some options for partnership might be, schools, YMCA, neighboring communities, business or medical. Mrs. Elliott stated in Twinsburg by one of their premier fields there is a plaque that states in partnership with Twinsburg city school and Pulty homes, which means to her businesses in our city might consider some kind of partnership.

4 Page 4. Mr. Wolf stated we could reach out to Jack Burge (Economic & Entrepreneurial Development Director) to see what business would be interested. Mr. Kraus stated on the sponsorship level you might get business who might want to contribute because they might sign or be named which helps their business. Mrs. Elliott stated she would get a list together of people to possibly contact from the Cleveland Clinic. Mr. Wolf stated he might have a contact with UH Hospitals. Mr. Sloe stated he and Mrs. Elliott met with some school representatives (Russ Bennett, Pat Ciccantelli, Gerry Kohanski, Mike Roberto, Paul Powers and Sal Arquilla). They discussed the tennis courts. The courts were originally built by the city on school property. The school had a build out proposal put together about 1 year ago at the amount of $300,000 to $350,000 which was a complete refurbishment. Four years prior to that, the schools had obtained a quote of $125,000 for resurfacing. The schools were not interested in doing either one at that time. The schools have since gone to Western Reserve Fitness & Racket where they pay $6,000 to $7,000 a year to rent their facility. Mr. Sloe stated the position of the board is the city can have the land and build courts and the schools would donate $7,000 annually towards the maintenance of the courts. They also asked if part of the participant s fee would go in an escrow fund to be used at a later date to resurface or repaint or whatever would be needed on an ongoing basis. The number of courts needed for a competition would be a minimum of 5 but 6 would be ideal. Mr. Sloe stated Mr. Ciccantelli lives in Stow and said we might want to check their Recreation Center because Summa partnered with the city in building the rec center. Mr. Sloe stated the governor has vetoed the second year of a line item in his budget which was funding to wealthy districts and Aurora fell in that line item. This will affect the schools budget by around $600,000, at this time the board could not partner with anyone for a recreation center, it would not be in their best interest. Mr. Sloe stated Mr. Kohanski had mentioned he would be willing to listen to any future plans for a recreation center but at this time it was not financially sound for them to partner. MISCELLANEOUS: Mr. Sloe stated this was brought up at the meeting and he wanted to relay it to this committee. If the board made suggestions to make sure they were followed through, don t start on a path go 75% of the way and not complete it, or a fence or a retaining wall 90% complete and the baseball league had to come in and finish the project. The restrooms at Sunny Lake built but not usable. Mr. Kraus stated everything is completed or with a little delay it will be soon. Mr. Wolf stated this is something that should be brought up with the Mayor or Mr. Kraus not this committee.

5 Page 5. Mr. Sloe asked about the Skyhawk Camps being an outside group using the school facilities and makes 80% of the money and the schools nothing for the maintenance of facilities. Mr. Conces stated this is normal, he runs in Beachwood 45 one week specialty camps and every vendor gets 80% of the proceeds. Mr. Conces stated we don t have the staff or ability to offer some of these programs, and these people specialize in that, they come in with all their assets all the resources and all the marketing and they help make that camp successful in our community. Yes they take 80% of the proceeds but they also take 80% of the burden. Mr. Kraus offers these programs because it offers the parents an opportunity to participate in a program that we don t necessarily have in Aurora. Mr. Wolf stated this is a discussion that the schools should have with Mr. Kraus. Mrs. Elliott stated the Ad Hoc Committee sent a few representatives to the schools to discuss partnering; they just wanted to send forth a couple of issues. You can take those and discuss at a later date with them. Mr. Wolf stated at the next meeting they would do a white board sticky note process. This will add on some additional things that maybe we don t think that they are critical and central might be advantageous. Different ideas come up doing it this way and the cost is minimal compared to the benefits. ADDITIONAL CITIZENS COMMENTS: Mr. Harold Hatridge, 195 Devorah Drive, stated the city has tried several times for a recreation center and every time it has been presented as a Taj Mahal and so costly that is was a sticker shock to the public as a whole. He understood what the committees focus was but he recommended lowering the cost. In reference to the tennis courts he thought it was a shared agreement with the schools and the city. He was not sure how many people play tennis that would warrant brand new courts. He agreed with Ms. Conti about the Aurora Country Club golf course being a good start for a recreation center. Mr. Hatridge stated as a councilman and trying to look out what is best for Aurora as a whole and the citizens he wondered if we could support a recreation center and felt caution should be used. Mr. Dale Moravec, 360 River Glenn Dr., stated he represented the aging population. He commended the committee for taking on the responsibility as an Ad Hoc committee. He heard several things during the meeting that he would like to comment on. One of the things he heard was cradle to grave which encompasses all age groups, and was a great public relations statement. When the committee were talking about different groups to contact he did not hear financial institutions, he felt if someone knows a key person in not local branches

6 Page 6. but nationally he would be trying to get money from them, because we know they have the money. Mr. Moravec stated he heard activity and rec center and he felt when you start using them in public relations they should be used together because they mean different things to different people. He felt the committee needed to define what is recreation and with that physical activities and effort versus mental activities and effort. He felt in the future as we all get older we might want to sit down more and get on a computer and do something virtual. The committee might want to consider one of those kinds of rooms. He also felt the committee should identify what they are building and at the same time identify what will be added in the future. Mr. Wolf stated when we get to the end with our recommendations we might want to consider having a public forum to give the community a chance to see what we have come up with before it is given to the Mayor. Mrs. McDougald asked if an ABC version of what we decide could also be presented. The next meeting will be held on August 11 th at City Hall at 6:30pm ADJOURNMENT: Mrs. McDougald moved to adjourn: Mr. Conces seconded and the meeting adjourned at 8:15pm Mr. Scott Wolf Chairman Madeleine Marazzi Recording Secretary