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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998-02 02/23 REG MIN City of Ashland PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES February 23, 1998 A TIENDANCE: Present: Absent: Al Alsing, Bob Bennett, Teri Coppedge, JoAnne Eggers, Laurie MacGraw, Director Ken Mickelsen None I. CALL TO ORDER Chair MacGraw called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. at the Civic Center, 1175 E. Main. II. ADDITIONS OR DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA None Commissioner Eggers said that she would like to add a discussion of the height of the flood wall in lower Lithia Park. The item was added under Old Business. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Regular Meetin~ - Januarv 26. 1998 Commissioner Eggers made the recommendation that the wording related to Commissioners' discussion of the critical need for "baseball fIelds" be restated to indicate simply "ballfields" and to delete the phrase "if possible". Other Commissioners concurred with the change in wording. Commissioner Coppedge made a motion to approve the minutes of the January 26, 1998 Regular Meeting as amended. Commissioner Alsing seconded. The vote was: 5 yes - 0 no IV. REVIEW OF FINANCES A. Approval of Drevious month's disbursements Commissioner Alsing made a motion to approve the previous month's disbursements as indicated by checks #18599 through #18929 in the amount of $180,388.34. Commissioner Bennett seconded. The vote was: 5 yes - 0 no v. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION A. Ashland Gun Club - request for lease modification Bill Longiotti, President of the Ashland Gun Club, Rick Georgenson, and D.W. Jay were present in the audience to speak to the club's request to re-es~blish the original property boundaries of the city owned Lithia Springs property which the club leases from the Commission. Mr. Longiotti explained that in 1994 the lease had been modifIed to delete that portion of the property which the club was not actively using at that time. The club would now like that property reinstated for the purpose of establishing an archery range. Regular Meeting - January 26, 1998 Ashland Parks and Recreation Commission Page 2 Reauest by Ashland Gun Club - continued Mr. Longiotti outlined the current use of the property and the various organizations such at the Ashland Police Department and the National Guard who used the gun range for qualifying events. He and Mr. Georgesen indicated that right now the closest archery range of any kind was in Josephine County. They also described the "fIeld archery range" which the club was proposing. Varying from the traditional range with targets and bales of hay set up in the distance, the "field range" would consist of a course which participants would walk through with various targets located along the walking course. In response a question by Commissioner Bennett, Mr. Longiotti explained that the course was so designed to maximize safety utilizing the natural contours of the property and separation from the gun ranges. The archery range would be an integral part of the Gun Club and would be covered under all the provisions of the lease agreement as the gun range including insurance requirements. Referring to the staff memorandum dated February 18, 1998, Commissioner Coppedge inquired as to whether or not the club would be willing to include the list of stipulations related use of the property which would be reinstated. Mr. Longiotti said that the list of restrictions fIt the club's intent for use of the area and saw no problem with adhering to them. Carlos Reichenshammer (600 Emigrant Creek), across the road from the Gun Club, was present in the audience to speak against reinstating the property to the lease. Mr. Reichenshammer said that the first he and his wife had learned that modifying the lease was under consideration was when they read the meeting agenda over the weekend in the newspaper. He said that because there was no prior notification to the neighbors, he asked that the Commission postpone its decision until the neighbors have the opportunity to meet. In response to a request to outline the basic reason for his opposition to the lease modifIcation, Mr. Reichenshammer said that he felt that having the Gun Club near residences was very intrusive to the neighborhood. He said that among his concerns were the hours of operation which are from dawn until dusk and that during the summer usage when the club was most active interfered with neighbors use of their property out- of -doors. He said that it was not just family activity but indicated that the amount of traffic generated because of the groups of users such as the National Guard and police departments was already high. Commissioner MacGraw clarifIed that his concerns were primarily with the existing use, not with approving the lease modifIcation to include the archery range. Mr. Reichenshammer said that he believed that an added facility would create more traffIc and more usage. Commissioner Bennett inquired as to how many houses were close to the property. Mr. Reichenshammer said that along the road there were about 7 to 8; two of which were very close. In response to a question by Commissioner Alsing, both Mr. Reichenshammer and Mr. Longiotti from the Gun Club indicated that they would be willing to sit down to discuss the neighbors' concerns. Regular Meeting - January 26, 1998 Ashland Parks and Recreation Commission Page 4 VI. OLD BUSINESS A. Discussion of height of flood wall in Lithia Park Commissioner Eggers said that she had asked for the item to be placed on the agenda because in looking at the flood wall which had been constructed in lower Lithia Park she believes that it has been constructed higher than necessary to handle a 100 year flood. She said that earlier today she made some measurements at the wall which is 5 blocks high, and will presumably be higher once the rock work is done. This is approximately 2 blocks higher (12 1/2") than the associated "wing wall" of the bridge. Her basic question was why the flood wall needed to be so much higher than the wing wall at that location. She indicated that she would like to have Otak, Inc. review its specifications for the wall to determine whether or not it would handle a 100 year flood if it were lowered one to two blocks. Commissioner Eggers said that if it were possible to lower the height of the wall she believed there would be several advantages to the park: to reduce the separation between the park and the creek, to provide a place for people to sit and relax, and to reduce the cost of the rock facing which would be placed on the wall. She said that she felt very strongly that the wall should only be as high as it needs to be for flood protection. She said the kinds of things which she would like to ask Otak, Inc. to address would be: how high is necessary to handle a 100 year flood and have it marked on the wall; how much. safety margin is above that line; what creek cross sections does Otak fmd relevant; and, why is the flood wall higher than the wing wall? Commissioners discussed various aspects of the proposal including. a rough guess as what it would entail due to the structure of the wall. Commissioner Coppedge said that she too would have preferred a lower wall and indicated that she too might be interested in seeing if the wall could be lowered without risking flood control. She also said that if a lower wall would be appropriate for flood control, what would it take to remove the top course of blocks? Commissioners Alsing and MacGraw said that they were not interested in second guessing the engineers at this point in time. MOTION Commissioner Eggers made a motion to postpone rocking of the wall until the questions expressed earlier were answered. Commissioner Coppedge said that she would be willing to second the motion if it were added that the questions would be answered with deliberate speed and that a decision on whethe~' or not the rock work could proceed did not have to wait until the next Commi&sion meeting. Further discussion ensued related to the practicality of removing the top course of rocks due to the rebar. Commissioner MacGraw stated that she was strongly opposed to taking an action which she felt would be going backwards. The motion died for lack of a second. Regular Meeting - January 26, 1998 Ashland Parks and Recreation Commission Page 3 Reauest bv Ashland Gun Club - continued Chair MacGraw inquired whether or not there were any additional questions or comments on the lease modifIcation issue itself. Commissioner Eggers inquired as to the length of the lease. Director Mickelsen said that it was a 15 year lease and that the expiration date was 2009. Commissioner Eggers encouraged the Gun Club and Reichenshammers to get together in the spirit of neighborliness to give the neighbors the opportunity to talk about their concerns. Indicating that the roads were county roads and that archery was a quiet activity, Commissioners Coppedge and Alsing indicated that they did not see adequate reason to postpone making a decision related to modifying the lease and authorizing an archery course. They said that they believed that the concerns expressed by Mr. Reichenshammer were more "good neighbor" issues which needed to be addressed directly with the Gun Club and were not related to the issue of the lease. MOTION Commissioner Coppedge made a motion to grant the Ashland Gun Club's request to modify the current lease to include the entire property as was indicated in the original lease agreement including the conditions outlined in the memorandum to the Commission dated February 18, 1998. Commissioner Alsing seconded. In discussion of the motion, Commissioner Eggers said that she did not have any diffIculty with the request that was being made to modify the lease but that she would be voting against the motion because she felt that the neighbors should have been notified so that they would have had more opportunity to discuss their concerns related to current usage as well as the lease modifIcation. The vote was: 4 yes - 1 no (Eggers) B. Open Forum Duncan Coppedge (2927 Barbara Street) said that he wanted to speak to the Commission about the proposed BMX track which would be located on the Greenway property near the sewage treatment plant. He said that he understood that Public Works would be making a presentation this evening which would include a request to use the site currently under consideration for the BMX track as a staging area for construction. He asked that the Commission not postpone constructing the BMX track in order set it aside for Public Works purposes. In response to a question from Commissioner Alsing, Mr. Coppedge indicated that the group of young people had been meeting with Department staff and had canvassed the adjacent neighbors to hear whether or not they had any concerns about locating a BMX tract in that location. He said that in talking with Department staff it appeared that one day's use of earth moving equipment would be all it would take to construct the track and that rules and regulations for use would need to be adopted. He anticipated being able to get back to the Commission with a proposed design in about a month. He said that in speaking with the nearby neighbors, no one expressed negative concerns about the concept. Commissioner Eggers inquired as to whether or not Mr. Coppedge would be able to stay for the presentation by Public Works. He indicated that he would. Regular Meeting - January 26, 1998 Ashland Parks and Recreation Commission Page 5 MOTION Heie:ht of the flood wall - continued Commissioner Coppedge made a motion to move with all deliberate speed to have the questions related to the height of the wall answered as to whether or not the wall could be lowered and still handle a 100 year flood, and, in the absence of compelling evidence that the wall could be lowered, to proceed with the rocking of the wall. Commissioner Eggers seconded. The vote was: 3 no - 2 yes (Eggers, Coppedge) VII. NEW BUSINESS A. Discussion of upcoming WWTP Improvements/ModifIcations Public Works Director Paula Brown was present to discuss the upcoming Public Works project for improvements to the Waste Water Treatment Plant. Commissioners had previously reviewed a memorandum from Ms. Brown related to the project which requested that the Commission grant permission for a berm to be constructed on the west end of the project area, and, that the south end be made available as a staging area during the construction phase. Commissioners had many questions related to how the project would proceed. In particular they expressed concern for use of the south side as a staging area. Ms. Brown explained why Public Works was making the request which primarily focused on the need to keep the existing plant operation while construction was underway. Other possible options were discussed. Related topics such as the proposed BMX track and the completion of the Bear Creek Greenway trail in the area were also discussed. At the close of discussion, no specific determination was made related to using the south side as a staging area. It was determined that Director Mickelsen and department staff would continue to work with Director Brown to fInd a winlwin situation for all concerned. Both Ms. Brown and Commissioners indicated that they were confident that the two departments would work together to fInd the best solution to complete both the WWTP project and to minimize impact related to park needs in the area. MOTION B. Aporoval of youth activities levy a2reement with Ashland School District Director Mickelsen indicated that the Commission needed to authorize the Chair to sign the agreement related to the Youth Activities Levy with the school district. The agreement as written by the City Attorney is based on the requirements related to the ballot measure which authorized the levy. Commissioner Coppedge so moved. Commissioner Bennett seconded. The vote was: 5 yes - 0 no MOTION C. Aoproval of proposed budgets for fiscal year 1998-99 Commissioner Alsing made a motion to approve the 1998-99 budgets for the Ashland Parks and Recreation Department as reviewed by the Commission and to authorize staff to make minor adjustments as needed in final preparation for the city's budget document. Commissioner Bennett seconded. The vote was: 5 yes - 0 no