12-15-2008 (Parks & Recreation) Minutes 11( Parks and Recreation Board
CITY OF WYLIE
MINUTES
Monday, December 15,2008—6:30 pm
Wylie Municipal Complex—Staff Conference Room
2000 Highway 78 North
CALL TO ORDER
Announce the presence of a Quorum.
Chairman Anne Hiney called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m.
Board Members present: Co-Chair Dan Chesnut, Brandi Lafleur, Donna Larson and David Willey. Absent was
Benny Jones. Joy Cortinas arrived at 6:44 p.m.
Staff members present: Public Services Director Michael Sferra, Parks & Recreation Superintendent Bill Nelson,
Parks& Recreation Asst. Superintendent Robert Diaz& Parks Secretary Charlotte Rice.
CITIZEN COMMENTS ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS
Residents may address Council regarding an item that is not listed on the Agenda. Residents must provide their name and address. Council
requests that comments be limited to three(3)minutes. In addition, Council is not allowed to converse,deliberate or take action on any matter
presented during citizen participation.
Wylie Football League representatives Christine Price, of 1815 Country Walk Ln, Wylie, TX, and Scott Newmeyer
of 613 Oxford Dr., Wylie, TX, were present to jointly express a desire for an additional playing fields for their
teams at Community Park. They are experiencing a rapid growth of 15-20% annually, which is creating issues
regarding space. Currently, there are 17 tackle teams and 10 flag teams that must share one playing field. They
asked the Board to consider allowing an additional field upon which to play and presented a map to staff,
illustrating their vision.
BUSINESS ITEMS
1. Consider and act upon approving the Minutes from joint council meetings on October 14 &28, 2008.
Board Action:
Board Member Willey motioned to pass the minutes and Board Member Chesnut seconded. A vote was taken
and passed 5-0.
2. Discuss and act upon recommending changes to the budget for the Founders Park Expansion & Renovation
Project that reflect additional funding from the Collin County Parks and Open Space Grant.
Board Action:
With the addition of the$400,000 Collin County grant award, the Board had the opportunity to select five
amenities upon which to apply the funds, in order of importance. Mr. Lenny Hughes with Halff&Associates
presented a modified budget for up to seven alternate ideas, from which the Board chose five. The consensus
of the Board was: sodding baseball fields(#1), sodding of soccer fields(#2), upgrading the playground with a
large pavilion (#3), shade structures for ball fields(#4)and a 10'trail expansion (#5). Mr. Hughes said he
would generate new maps offering various options for pavilion placement and other alternates to present to
the Board for review. Board Member Larson motioned to pass the five recommendations—with the condition
that the playground pavilion be comparable to the existing pavilions at Community Park and Olde City Park—
and Board Member Willey seconded. A vote was taken and passed 6-0.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
3. Discuss&review the draft of the telephone survey provided by Half&Associates as part of the Parks,
Recreation and Open Space Master Plan.
Board Discussion:
As part of the citizen input portion of the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan, a telephone survey,
conducted by Raymond Turco&Associates,will be implemented in order to gauge the interests of Wylie
citizens. Mr. Turco apprised the Board on what he hoped to garner from the sample: 200 people would be
queried, which would yield a 95%confidence level and a 6% margin of error. Board Member Willey suggested
that the survey statistics be compiled contiguously with the boundaries of the three existing park zones, in
order to use them for possible reference, later. Mr. Turco said that the margin of error would increase if done
by this method, but it was easily achievable. Public Services Director Mike Sferra agreed that separating the
survey statistics into three zones would assist in future budget-planning sessions. Mr. Turco said that the
survey would take approximately 10 days to complete with a month's turn-around time to calculate results.
4. Discuss"preserve"options for public park land.
Board Discussion:
The Board reviewed the ordinances set for protecting public park land in surrounding cities, to see how each
protected future developments from breaching saved land designated for parks purposes. The responses
from each city queried followed similar protocol that suggested that if City property was dedicated as park
land, then it would not be able to be sold for development, unless the citizens of that community voted for
development. This research was performed in order to see if the Wells Property would be impervious to
development in the future, as it has not been final platted, yet. Mr. Lenny Hughes with Half&Associates said
that he could include the Wells Property on the Master Plan, but could not plat it. Public Services Director
Mike Sferra recommended waiting until the Master Plan was complete before dedicating any portion of the
land as park land, in order to use the Plan as a tool to support the request. After the Wells Property is
dedicated as parkland, it would protect it from being targeted for commercial development in the future.
5. Discuss proposed non-smoking ordinance for parks and park facilities.
Board Discussion:
Assistant Superintendent Robert Diaz received a complaint regarding smoking on parks property, particularly
at ball games. He presented the Board with a sampling of current policies employed by other cities, along with
the personal opinions of various athletic coaches he queried. For the most part, surrounding city ordinances
currently employ a "25-feet away from public parks, playgrounds, bleachers and other areas where crowds of
people are gathered" policy. Board Member Chesnut suggested different distances for different areas and
Assistant Superintendent Diaz said that any kind of"feet designation"would be hard to enforce as it would be
better to designate an area, such as "parking lot only". Board Member Willey agreed with the parking lot only
designation with a sign that says, "No smoking beyond this point". McKinney's ordinance was the Board's
favorite, which was a detailed "complete 25-feet away from children's playground equipment, restrooms,
pools, pavilions and sports fields; on public sidewalks within 25-feet of an indoor enclosed area; with fines up
to$500 per offense."The Board agreed to discuss the matter further at the January 2009 meeting.
ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made by Board Member Willey to adjourn and :oard /ember Chesnu seconded the motion;
consensus of the Board was to adjourn. The Board adjourned - 9:1. p
L � '
Anne Hiney,Chair
ATTE T:
Cha otte Rice, Park Board Secretary
Minutes—December 15,2008
Wylie Parks and Recreation Board
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