2005-05-09Official Minutes
Approved by Parks and Recreation Board 6/13/05
1 CITY OF SOUTHLAKE
2 PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD MEETING
3 May 9, 2005
4 MINUTES
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6 Board Members Present: Frank Cornish, Chairman; Mary Georgia, Vice Chairman;
7 Mike Mills, Secretary; Elaine Cox, Liz Durham, Emily Galpin, Katrina Peebles, Bobby
8 Rawls and Cara White
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10 Board Members Absent: None
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12 Staff Members Present: Malcolm Jackson, Director of Community Services; Steve
13 Polasek, Deputy Director of Community Services; Chris Carpenter, Senior Park Planner
14 and Steve Moore, Recreation Superintendent.
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16 Guests: None
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18 REGULAR SESSION
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20 Agenda Item No. 1. Call to Order
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22 Chairman Cornish called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m.
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24 REPORTS
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26 Agenda Item No. 4. Administrative Comments
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28 A. Volunteer for Park Board Report at June 7 2005 City Council Meeting - Park
29 Board members Mary Georgia volunteered to present the Park Board Report
30 at the June 7 meeting and Mike Mills volunteered to handle the Report at the
31 July Council meeting.
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33 CONSENT AGENDA
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35 Agenda Item No 3-A Approval of the Southlake Parks and Recreation Board meeting
36 minutes of April 11, 2005.
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38 A motion was made to approve the April 11, 2005 meeting minutes with no
39 corrections.
40 Motion: White
41 Second: Cox
42 Ayes: Cornish, Cox, Durham, Galpin, Georgia, Mills, Peebles, Rawls and White
43 Nays: None
44 Abstention: Rawls
45 Vote: 9-0
46 Motion carried.
May 9, 2005 Parks Board Meeting Minutes Page 1 of 7
Official Minutes
Approved by Parks and Recreation Board 6/13/05
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2 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON CONSENT ITEMS
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4 Agenda Item No. 3-A. Approval of the April 11, 2005 meeting minutes. Minutes were
5 approved as presented.
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7 REGULAR AGENDA
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9 Agenda Item No. 4. Public Forum
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11 Chairman Cornish opened the Public Forum.
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13 J.B. Manning, president, Southlake Baseball Association (SBA), 1319 Village Green,
14 Southlake, asked if the Board was considering the demolition of the existing ball fields
15 and the conversion of the Southlake Sports Complex to an exclusive lacrosse facility. The
16 Board clarified their previous recommendation was that no field would be torn down or
17 reallocated until there are additional baseball fields. The Southlake Baseball Association
18 is strongly opposed to demolition of any ball field at the Southlake Sports Complex.
19 Baseball and lacrosse associations cooperate with each other in scheduling practices on
20 the two fields and their uses co-exist at Southlake Sports Complex. One solution
21 suggested to alleviate the problem of shortage of practice baseball fields was that SBA
22 approach the CISD about the possibility of using the two fields at the Carroll High
23 School.
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25 If a baseball four-plex field was constructed in Bicentennial Park with three of the fields
26 built with dirt end-fields and adjustable bases, the SBA would have a different opinion
27 about preserving the fields at the Southlake Sports Complex that they now have.
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29 Spencer Sunstrum, Southlake Baseball Association, 614 Melrose Court, Southlake,
30 reiterated the position of the SBA in regards to the fields at the Southlake Sports
31 Complex.
32
33 Ann Wise, Citizens Academy, 904 Brazos Drive, Southlake, requested that the "Safety
34 Town," an initiative of the DPS Citizens Association, be placed on the Parks Master Plan
35 for Bicentennial Park adjacent to Adventure Alley instead of the Southlake Sports
36 Complex. (A copy of the proposal is attached to the minutes.)
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38 Kevin Cox, Southlake Baseball Association, 718 Edward Court, Southlake, talked about
39 the importance of continual maintenance of existing fields and related two incidents that
40 occurred recently in Bicentennial Park that support the need for improved field
41 maintenance. Mr. Cox encouraged the Board to look not only at long-term field
42 improvements, but at short-term improvements.
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44 Park Board member Bobby Rawls stressed the need to have a plan to improve the field
45 conditions in Bicentennial Park.
46
May 9, 2005 Parks Board Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 7
Official Minutes
Approved by Parks and Recreation Board 6/13/05
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Marilyn Miles, 445 E. FM 1382, Suite 3295, Cedar Hill, Tx 75104, shared historical
background information about the acquisition of land by Bob Jones and how she now
owns some of the only remaining parcels that were once owned by Bob Jones. Her
property is currently land-locked by City property. In view of the impending update to
the Park Master Plan, Ms. Miles requested that the City grant a dedicated, recorded
easement to her property through the park during 2005. Ms. Miles said she is open for
ideas on the placement of an easement to her property.
The request for an access easement may be noted in the narrative section of the Park
Master Plan. The exact location of the requested easement does not have to be identified
in the Plan. Staff will conduct research on previous action(s) related to the request and
will bring back at a future time, if appropriate.
Public Forum was closed.
Agenda Item No. 5-A. Consider: Absence of Parks and Recreation Board Member(s)
There were no absences to consider at this meeting.
Agenda Item No. 5-B. Consider: Recommendation to approve revisions to Parks,
Recreation and Open Space Master Plan and Trail System Master Plan (Southlake
Pathwa s
Staff presented a re-cap of the Board's progress in reviewing the Park Master Plan.
Changes were made as suggested from the Board's previous discussions which include:
• Add photo credits from Bob Jones Nature Photo Contest
• Add the Continental building and the Liberty Garden with Phase II
• Change the designation on the west fields in Bicentennial Park to baseball
rather than softball,
• Add a definition section
• Delete commentary on demographics
• Change page numbering to a section level (ie. Page 2-1)
• Put most of the photos in the front of the section and not break up the text in
the rear of the section
• Do not include the entire survey but note that it is available for review
• Include vertical summaries in tables with running totals
• Correct legend on Bicentennial Park
• Change park map legend with updates
• Twick Overview Section of existing and proposed park radii
• Change nomenclature on Plan to "school property" rather than "future
school."
Staff is currently working on making the changes to the goals, needs assessment, park
concept plan, park maps as outlined by the Board's comments during the previous work
sessions.
May 9, 2005 Parks Board Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 7
Official Minutes
Approved by Parks and Recreation Board 6/13/05
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2 Staff reviewed the priorities that were discussed at the previous Park Master Plan work
3 session and highlighted the following points:
4
5 Historic log cabin - Will not be drawn in on the diagram for any specific location
6 but will be mentioned in the text sections for Noble Oaks and other optional
7 locations.
8
9 Lacrosse field issues at Southlake Sports Complex - Staff's recommendation is to
10 leave the existing infrastructure [ball fields] in place at the Complex and to
11 construct a new facility elsewhere for lacrosse if land can be acquired. The Park
12 Board indicated at the last meeting that there may not be any land that can be
13 acquired and thus Southlake Sports Complex would be the suitable site for
14 lacrosse. Staff's recommendation is that two separate options be included in the
15 Plan dependent upon the acquisition of land. It is the Park Board's intention to re-
16 work the fields at Southlake Sports Complex only after additional fields have
17 been provided for baseball.
18
19 Bicentennial Park west field sizes, parking issues and development of "Safety
20 Town" - Staff's proposed layout and angles of the west fields (1 large and 3
21 smaller fields) is different than what was previously displayed and will not extend
22 more than 150-feet north of what is shown on the existing Master Plan. The
23 northern end would still be open. Some of the parking would be across the creek
24 area, as opposed to using all the parking on the west side of the creek. The
25 Southlake DPS Citizens Association proposes construction of a "Safety Town" (a
26 miniaturized city designed to teach bicycle safety to children) in Bicentennial
27 Park near Adventure Alley. The Board favored inclusion of the "Safety Town"
28 but believed it should be located elsewhere in Bicentennial Park that would not
29 have traffic safety issues.
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31 Ann Wise, DPS Citizens Association, 904 Brazos Drive, Southlake,
32 presented a handout depicting other "Safety Towns" found in other cities
33 and spoke about the benefits of having a permanent versus a portable
34 "Town."
35
36 Several Park Board members had concerns about selecting a specific
37 location for the "Safety Town," although they were in support of the
38 project. There are many components to be resolved and considered by the
39 Park Board.
40
41 The Park Board agreed to list the "Safety Town" in the text narrative of
42 the Park Master Plan as a potential location for the project, similar to how
43 the log cabin is being shown in the Plan.
44
45 Bicentennial Park west lighted fields - If the large premier, semi-pro/collegian
46 size field is constructed as was earlier proposed, three fields may be the maximum
May 9, 2005 Parks Board Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 7
Official Minutes
Approved by Parks and Recreation Board 6/13/05
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to get the appropriate pedestrian areas in the area. The Master Plan text narrative
will indicate that the space may or may not accommodate four fields as originally
planned if the premier field is constructed, thus one field may be deleted. The
Board feels that having four fields is the priority.
Staff presented the Trail System Master Plan (Southlake Pathways) results from the
matrix survey recently received from Park Board members. Board members would like to
receive the matrix sorted by the hierarchy during the planning stage.
The top priority is to have trails that connect from neighborhoods to schools. Second was
connectivity to key parks and third, connectivity to businesses.
Staff will apply this information, make the logical breaks on the trails as discussed and
present an assessment based on the overall policies of the Board to do connections to
schools first, parks and neighborhoods second and present a list categorically as what
they wish to achieve.
Staff recommended that all the direction and suggestions received from the Park Board
be consolidated into a final version of the Master Plan within the several weeks,
distributed to the Board for one last review and comments, which will then be acted upon
by the Board at a special meeting prior to the end of May.
A motion was made to TABLE this item until such time as the Board has had time
to review the final draft and can make a recommendation.
Motion: Durham
Second: Mills
Ayes: Cornish, Cox, Durham, Galpin, Georgia, Mills, Peebles, Rawls and White
Nays: None
Abstention: None
Vote: 9-0
Motion carried to TABLE this item to a future agenda.
Agenda Item No. 6A. Discussion: No items this agenda.
Agenda Item No. Liaison Reports
Board members reviewed the following:
(a) Recreation/Special Events - Art In the Square was a huge success with
over 60,000 attendance and park staff was commended for the hard work.
Family Campout will be held May 14 at Bob Jones Park. Summer Camps
signups are underway. Last week's Saturday Nite was a sold out event.
May 9, 2005 Parks Board Meeting Minutes Page 5 of 7
Official Minutes
Approved by Parks and Recreation Board 6/13/05
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(b) Youth Sports Associations - See the Public Forum section of minutes for
comments about the field conditions. Signups continue for the summer
basketball league.
(c) Community Groups -
Bob Jones Nature Center Nature Walk About 30 people attended the last
nature walk and the next is scheduled for May 12.
Southlake Sister Cities - Next meeting will be May 17.
Keep Southlake Beautiful will hold a "Great American Cleanup" at
Liberty Garden Saturday, May 15, 8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Volunteers are
invited.
Friends of Southlake Library - Had a successful sale of books at the April
30-May 1 Art in the Square event and made about $2,500.
Thank you to Church of the Latter Day Saints Group - An official thank
you proclamation will be presented to the group of volunteers at the City
Council meeting in recognition of their work at Bob Jones Park.
(d) SPIN - SPIN will host the Transportation Forum on May 19.
Cara White suggested that the Park Board have a discussion about naming
the trails at Bob Jones Park. Staff has been working with representatives
from the Corp of Engineers to erect signs on the trails.
(e) SPDC - No report at this time.
(f) JUC - Meeting on May 12 has been cancelled.
(g) City Council Monthly Report - Elaine Cox volunteered to present the Park
Board Report at the May 3, 2005 City Council meeting.
Deputy Director Steve Polasek was honored to deliver a speech at the Eagle Scouts
ceremony at a meeting last week.
Director Malcolm Jackson announced a planned sidewalk improvement day at Koloaty
Park this Saturday, May 17 and invited members to participate.
Agenda Item No. 8. Adjournment
A motion was made to adjourn at 9:06 p.m.
Motion: Rawls
Second: Georgia
May 9, 2005 Parks Board Meeting Minutes Page 6 of 7
Official Minutes
Approved by Parks and Recreation Board 6/13/05
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Ayes: Cornish, Cox, Durham, Galpin, Georgia, Mills, Peebles, Rawls and White
Nays: None
Abstention: None
Vote: 9-0
Motion ar ied.
Frank Cornish
Parks & Recreation Board Chair
Mike Mills `
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Parks & Recreation Board Secretary
Attachments: Item 4 and Item 513 - Safety Town - proposal
May 9, 2005 Parks Board Meeting Minutes Page 7 of 7
Please sign this form if you would like to speak
during PUBLIC FORUM.
Park Board Meeting
Monday, May 9, 2005
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