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01/24/2023 Parks and Recreation Board Meeting Minutes January 24, 2023 City of Clearwater Main Library- Council Chambers 100 N. Osceola Avenue Clearwater, FL 33755 Meeting Minutes Tuesday, January 24, 2023 6:30 PM Main Library - Council Chambers Parks and Recreation Board Page 1 City of Clearwater Parks and Recreation Board Meeting Minutes January 24, 2023 Roll Call Present 6 - Vice Chair Patrick Raftery, Board Member Lisa Tuttle, Board Member Jason Hood, Board Member Kelly S. Kelly, Board Member Martin Armstrong, and Board Member Angela Tisdale Absent 1 - Chair Mark Rodriguez Also Present—Art Kader— Interim Parks & Recreation Director and Rosemarie Call — City Clerk To provide continuity for research, items are in agenda order although not necessarily discussed in that order. Unapproved 1. Call to Order— Vice Chair Raftery The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. 2. Approval of Minutes 2.1 Approve the minutes of the July 26, 2022, Parks and Recreation Board Meeting. Approve the minutes of the July 26, 2022, Parks and Recreation Board Meeting. Board Member Armstrong moved to Approve the minutes of the July 26, 2022, Parks and Recreation Board meeting. The motion was duly seconded and carried unanimously. 3. Citizens to be Heard Regarding Items Not on the Agenda Gary questioned when the renovations at Del Oro Park will be finished. Interim Parks & Recreation Director Art Kader said staff anticipates the project will be completed by February 15, 2023. The installation of the playground, which is scheduled to begin on January 30, 2023, should take one week to 10 days to complete. He said the pickleball and tennis courts need to be lined. Melissa Stamos submitted an eComment opposing the leasing of Marymount Park (see page 9). Interim Parks & Recreation Director Art Kader said Marymount Park is not part of the Clearwater Airpark lease. The park is zoned OSR (Open Space Recreation) and not part of the airpark parcel. Page 2 City of Clearwater Parks and Recreation Board Meeting Minutes January 24, 2023 4. New Business Items 4.1 Discussion of January Parks and Recreation Project Update Report Discussion of January Parks and Recreation Project Update Report Mr. Kader reviewed the project list. In response to a question, Mr. Kader said the additional funding for the fish design to be used for the CCT Overpass will come from the Florida Department of Transportation. The final agreement will come back to Council for approval. 4.2 Nuisance and Exotic Plant Survey of City Parks Discussion on the nuisance and exotic plant survey of city parks and develop a plan for removing them. Board Member Armstrong said he added the topic to the agenda. He has been doing aquatic plant control and nuisance species maintenance and management for 40 years in this area. He suggested that the City should survey all city parks to identify nuisance species and determine how best to address the invasive species. In response to questions, Interim Parks & Recreation Director Art Kader said staff is aware of the problem, particularly in undeveloped parks and the trail system. Funding has been budgeted to conduct an environmental survey of all undeveloped city parks. He said he was not sure when the project would begin but staff will ensure that the Board is engaged at the appropriate time. The Department utilizes city volunteers to organize clean-up days to remove the invasive species. He said he will look into creating a page that notifies the public where the invasive species have been identified. 4.3 Update on Coachman Park Governance/Stakeholder Group Activity Discuss any updates/status regarding the Coachman Park Governance/Stakeholder Group Mr. Kader said the Committee had a meeting in October and decided not to establish a conservancy at the present time. Due to the number of new city staff assigned to the park, the stakeholder group believed there would be several opportunities for staff to seek feedback from the public regarding what they are looking for at the park. The Master Plan would be a great opportunity to identify the conservancy's role. Page 3 City of Clearwater Parks and Recreation Board Meeting Minutes January 24, 2023 4.4 Board Discussion on New Proposal to Revamp Phillies Training Complex Discussion on the revamping of the Phillies Training Complex proposal. Vice Chair Raftery said he added the item to the agenda because he had a question regarding the upgrade being proposed by the Phillies. Mr. Kader said the Phillies are looking at a major expansion of their facilities that they would finance. 4.5 Board Discussion of Funding for Toole Design, LLC to Develop a Master Plan Discuss the funding for Toole Design, LLC to develop a Parks & Recreation Master Plan and timetable for completion. Vice Chair Raftery said he understands Toole Design has submitted a design proposal to assist with developing the Master Plan. He questioned if the agreement was presented to Council. Mr. Kader said the agreement has been approved by Council. In response to questions, Mr. Kader said the first in-house meeting has taken place. The Board will be involved throughout the process and will be advised when the public engagement meetings are held. He said the Board will review the proposed Master Plan prior to Council. The last update on the current Master Plan occurred in 2013. Staff has reviewed the activities contemplated in the current Plan and noted which ones have been completed. He said those not addressed were due to lack of funding. 4.6 Discuss Plans to Accommodate Recent Surge in Pickleball Players Discuss the recent surge in pickleball and plans to accommodate. Board Member Hood said pickleball in recent years has exploded and wondered if there were plans for additional courts. Mr. Kader said three pickleball courts are being added at Soule Road Park by the end of March. Staff anticipates adding four new pickleball courts at McKay Play Field after the new fire station is built. He said there are 36 tennis courts around the city, of which 20 include painted pickleball lines. The Clearwater Beach Recreation Center has one pickleball court painted on the basketball court. 4.7 Provide Direction on Tiny Parcels Being Considered City Parks Page 4 City of Clearwater Parks and Recreation Board Meeting Minutes January 24, 2023 Clearwater's smallest park, Sunburst Park, is .11 acres. Another park at Narcissus on the beach is a triangle median (.15 acres). Both tiny plots have nothing on them. In comparison, there is Garden Street Park (.22 acres) that has benches and a playground. If a tiny plot of land like a median is considered a park, it should have something on it to make it a park, as benches for example. Discussion ensued with comments made that the item should be considered as part of the master plan development. Mr. Kader said there are some parcels that are zoned OSR (Open Space Recreation) that are smaller. Historically, developers had pieces of property they could not use and would donate the land to the City. Valencia Park was the first park donated to the City through a council policy requiring 10% of the developer's land be given to the City for parkland. He said some parks have never been developed due to maintenance costs. In response to questions, Mr. Kader said most of the donated lands were acquired in the 70s through the 90s. Some neighborhoods have adopted a park via an adopt a park/median agreement and are responsible for maintenance. Several neighborhoods parks were donated in the Countryside area. 4.8 Develop a Policy of Planting New Trees to Replace Removed Trees Discuss creating a policy regarding the replacement of additional trees when they are removed from a park. Vice Chair Raftery said the tree assessment and inventory program has been put on hold due to growing number of citizens opposed to the tree removals. The City contracted an outside firm to conduct a tree inventory and identify trees that should be removed due to disease or other reason. He said Public Works will be providing an update on the program at the January 30, 2023 council work session meeting. He encouraged all to attend the meeting. It was suggested that Council should consider replacing each tree removed with tree(s) that when grouped together would be similar in size (i.e., inch for inch). 4.9 Discussion to Create Video Tours of Each City Park Develop a plan for the city to create video tours of each city park to promote tourism and encourage residents to visit them. Also, include a link to each video on the city website and social media pages. Page 5 City of Clearwater Parks and Recreation Board Meeting Minutes January 24, 2023 <https://colorfulclearwater.com/amber-visits-1 1 0-clearwater-parks-gallerv/> <https://youtu.be/mQEsvHYS11 s> <https://youtu.be/iityJKZFEGI> In response to a question, Mr. Kader said video tours for each park is a great idea. Public communications is looking at doing more videos. 4.10Presentation to the Parks and Recreation Board by Board Member Kelly Shannon Kelly Presentation to the Parks and Recreation Board by Board Member Kelly Shannon Kelly Board Member Kelly provided a PowerPoint presentation regarding the the removal of trees in city parks. She suggested the creation of videos of the City's park system to inform the public. 4.11 Election of Officers for 2023 Parks & Recreation Board Elect Chair and Vice-Chair for 2023 Parks & Recreation Board In response to a question, Vice Chair Raftery said Chair Rodriguez was not able to attend the meeting. A comment was made that Chair Rodriguez'term will soon expire. Board Member Hood moved to elect Patrick Raftery as Chair. The motion was duly seconded and carried unanimously. Board Member Raftery moved to elect Jason Hood as Vice Chair. The motion was duly seconded and carried unanimously. 5. Old Business Items Chair Raftery said the 3 Score Senior Softball group proposed installing a Hall of Fame plaque at the Eddie C Moore Complex, as well as a National League Alumni sign at the Sid Lickton Fields area. He said Mr. Halios mentioned to him that staff was waiting on the group to submit plaque and sign options. In response to a question, Mr. Kader said staff is still waiting for the group to submit the plaque and sign options. Vice Chair Raftery encouraged members of 3 Score Softball to contact city staff in order for the project to move forward. Page 6 City of Clearwater Parks and Recreation Board 6. Director's Report Meeting Minutes January 24, 2023 Mr. Kader said Jim Halios' last day with the City will be February 10, 2023. Mr. Hallos has accepted a position in the private sector. He said staff is excited about the Master Plan process; staff is very impressed with the consulting firm's experience and end -product. Staff will be presenting a text amendment as it relates to impact fees at the next Community Development Board meeting. He said the impact fees will be used to purchase new lands or new facilities. He said the impact fees would impact new residential development constructed within city limits or residential property of eight units or more annexed into city limits. There are three fees a developer would have to pay: an open space fee, a recreation facility land fee, and a recreation facility fee. The first two fees are related to the value of the land and will be eliminated. The policy would also allow all funds collected to be spent citywide, no longer being tied to the local area in which the fees were collected. He said the proposed ordinance eliminates the impact fee charged to affordable housing units and impact fee exemption for all projects constructed within the Community Redevelopment Agency area. 7. Board Members to be Heard 8. Adjourn Chair Raftery said Mr. Halios did a fine job as the Parks &Recreation Director, thanked him for his leadership, and wished him well in his new endeavor. The meeting adjourned at 7:41 p.m. Page 7 City of Clearwater k:)PL Chair, Park Re r=tion • visory Board