BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING Park and Recreation Department 11th Floor City Hall Monday, December 11th, 2006 3:30 p.m. Present: Glen Dey, Janet Miller, Andy Solter, Mick Tranbarger, Dennis Brunner and Doug Leeper Absent: Nalini Johnson Also Present: Kevin Myles, President of the Wichita NAACP, Doug Kupper, Karen Walker, and Myca Bunch (staff) President Miller called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. PUBLIC AGENDA No items. REGULAR AGENDA Item 1: Approve and Sign Meeting Minutes Motion 1: Solter made the motion to approve the November 13, 2006, meeting minutes. Tranbarger seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously. Item 2: Executive Session Motion 1: Miller motioned that the Board adjourn to the Executive Session with a tentative return time of 4 p.m. Dey seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously. Item 3: Continuation of Prior Business Motion 2: Miller motioned that Item 3C be moved up on the Agenda and become Item 3A. Motion was seconded by Dey. Motion passed unanimously. 3A. Renaming of Reflection Square Park. Miller recapped that at the November meeting, the Board heard from Kevin Myles on the proposal of renaming Reflection Square Park in honor of Chester I. Lewis. She opened the discussion up to the public. Keynan Tucker, 1157 N. Piatt Thank you for considering this proposal. Please consider the significance of renaming this park and understand it is more important not only to Mr. Lewis, but to all of us. It symbolizes what young people can do just as the young individuals proved during the 1958 civil right movement. This will motivate more youth to stop being lazy and to do their part. We have gathered around 300 signatures of those in support of the renaming of the park. Miller returned the topic to the Board. Solter said he wanted to recognize the effort of the young people in the audience today that came out and fought for their cause. Kupper informed the Board that he had done some research on why and when the park was originally named Reflection Square Park. He said it was originally named in memory of the events that happened at the Dockum Drug Store. After hearing all public comment, the Board agreed that the park should be renamed in honor of Chester I. Lewis. Motion 3: Dey motioned to rename Reflection Square Park to the Chester I. Lewis Reflection Park. Miller seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously. 3B. Criteria for evaluating and prioritizing park requests. Miller reminded the Board that at the last meeting each member was given a draft policy and spreadsheet that outlined the criteria for evaluating and prioritizing any requests for new parks. Kupper said that the Park Department tried to create a tool that the Board could work from to evaluate these requests. He said that all requests begin with a written request and are then followed by a neighborhood assessment. Staff looks at the location and to see if we are currently serving residents with an existing park, school or open space area within a 1/2 mile. They look at physical barriers such as railroad crossings and major street crossings and thoroughfares. After that they look at any available land and assess it for possible park development. Dey said that this current plan does not give us any visual of whether we have any potential for future parks. He said he would like for Kupper to go through the spreadsheet and also outline how it fits in with the CIP. Kupper said that he wanted the Board to look at the documents and see if they like the criteria sheet or if they believe it is unnecessary. He said he would like to know how the Board would like the Parks Department to proceed on any future park criteria. Miller then suggested that staff determine which steps of the criteria fall under the neighborhood assessments and which steps fall under the financial assessment. Dey asked if the document could be used to defend or influence a city owned park that is being sold. He also noted that the criteria do not mention the redevelopment authority plan. Miller asked Walker to move the Citizens Visitors portion in Section 3 up and to move Item 3 up to Site Assessment Motion 4: Solter motioned to give the criteria back to Park Department staff to merge the documents using the first draft policy as the primary directive into which the other information folds. Miller seconded the Motion. Motion passed unanimously. 3C. Evaluate the Dry Creek Park Request using the new Criteria Kupper said that the area is underserved by the Parks Department and that there is a physical barrier between the neighborhood and an outlet for other recreation areas. There is city owned property that could be looked at but it has not been evaluated. He said that he feels the neighborhood should and could be served. Miller said that, using the new park evaluation, that the park staff should further assess the area for a future park. Motion 5: Solter motioned that consideration be approved and passed back to the Park Board for further evaluation of the area. Tranbarger seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously. 3D. PROS Plan and Discussion Miller informed the Board that the PROS Plan Staff Screening Selection Committee had selected and developed a contract with a preferred vendor. The City Council will review the contract on December 19, 2006. Item 4: New Issues for Consideration 4A. Annual Report Miller informed the Board that they are supposed to publish goals and an annual report each year. She said that having and using an annual report could be very helpful to the Board in evaluating and researching information on parks and past Board decisions. Motion 6: Miller motioned that the Parks staff bring before the Board an Annual Report each January. Dey seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously. 4B. Request for change of hours at Sim Park and the park at 71st. Street South. Kupper informed the Board that Sim Park and the canoe launch area at 71st St. South have had a lot of extra activity during the night hours and the police have recommended the hours be changed from sunrise to sunset. The police have also recommended that new signage be placed in the parks to recognize these new hours. Motion 7: Miller motioned that the change of hours be recommended as outlined in the green sheet. Dey seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously. Item 5: Park Board Tracking Sheet * Item 4: Item will come back to Park Board for review in January * Conquest Homes Tax Credits - Request was denied by City Council. * Riverbank Platting Moratorium - Park Dept needs to do the land review to determine true ownership of the area. Kupper will have update in February Item 6: Director's Update Kupper said that the MOU for El Zocalo is still being worked on. Staff is currently awaiting information on the footprint that is going to be identified. Item 7: Issues on the Horizon Miller showed the Board the updated Park Board Goals and asked if anyone had any updates or additions. She said that they would be working with these goals a lot in the future. Miller asked if there were any further items for discussion. No items. Meeting adjourned at approximately 5:30 p.m. ___________________________________ Janet L. Miller, President ATTEST: ____________________________ Myca J. Bunch Recording Secretary