Park Board Minutes 2006 01-26-06 UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE
YORKVILLE PARKS & RECREATION DEPARTMENT BOARD MEETING
Parks & Recreation Administrative Offices Riverfront Building
Thursday,January 26, 2006
MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER: /
Meeting was called to order by Chris Rollins at 7:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL:
Chris Rollins, Ken Koch, Van Truman, Gary Golinski, Tammy Smock, Heather Fiala;
and Alderman Paul .lances (Left early)
GUESTS/CITY OFFICIALS/STAFF:
Scott Sleezer, Interim Director/Superintendent of Parks
Sue Swithin, Interim Duector/Superintendent of Recreation
Travis Miller, Community Development Director
Vince Rosanova, DBCW Ltd.
John F. Philipchuck,DBCW Ltd.
Gary Neyer, Richard Marker Associates Inc.
Shawn Schumacher, Yes! Yes! Yorkville Referendum Committee
Alderman Dean Wolfer
I
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
None
PRESENTATION:
Lyme Burks'Presentation far School Referendum
Lyme Burks was unable to attend the meeting because she was attending a presentation
for the Chamber of Commerce. Shawn Schumacher, the co-chair, attended in her place.
The School Board resolution on Monday night that would cut out all extra-curricular
activities was passed because we are having a shortfall of funding of$1.5 million in order
for us to open the Grand Reserve School to alleviate some of the over crowding we are
experiencing in our schools. Cutting out extra-curricular activities will give them the
funds to staff the Grand Reserve School with teachers, aides, and administrators, as well
as all of the curriculum materials.
Two referenda will be placed on the March 21, 2006 ballot and Shawn Schumacher came
to give some information on why these referenda are important to pass. The two items to
vote on are...
1. $56 million bond for the Yorkville CUSD #115 Building Fund
This is to build three new schools as well as the opening of the Grand Reserve
School. It is important to begin to think ahead and be pro-active as the
1
schools continue to become over-crowded and the class sizes continue to
( increase year by year. It takes at least two years to build a new school.
2. 63 cent increase for the Yorkville CUSD #115 Education Fund
The education fund is primarily used for funding teachers, aides, other
support staff, and administrators along with any curriculum and instructional
materials.
We need these increases because the community is experiencing some alarming growth.
Within the last nine years we have experienced a 73%increase in student enrollment in
oru district, and they would like to stay proactive in trying to make sure that we ate ready
for this continued increase. The City has already approved 21,000 new home sites..
Currently,the district average is 273 students per grade level,which is up 12..2% since
last year. Just this year alone the district has had more than 120 new students enter the
district since the beginning of the school year. The school referendum committee feels
we need to build three more schools besides the Grand Reserve school, which would
included another elementary school, intermediate school, and a middle school. It would
cost approximately$56 million to build these schools, but they are trying to be good
stewards of the taxpayers' money. The building fund would also go towards the current
middle school for some renovations needed for the heating system and to Yorkville
Grade School and Circle Center for air conditioning.
The school referendum committee believes that passing the education fund is the most
important thing that needs to happen on the Match 21 ballot. Getting the Grand Reserve
School open is'absolutely essential to keep class sizes reasonable. Some of the class sizes
at the intermediate school and middle school are over forty students per class. The state
recommends that the average class size should be 22 students. Currently, in every glade
level in our district we are above that average.
If the referendum does not pass, all schools will close at 6:00 p.m. every day and will
remain closed throughout the weekend in order to conserve energy costs. Along with the
extra-curricular activities being eliminated, any organizations, such as Parks and
Recreation, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc., will not be able to use these facilities. The
school referendum committee believes that extra-curricular activities are part of the
learning experience and emiches the students' lives. They are essential not extra.
The reason why we are in such a poor position with a$1.5 million shortfall is because we
are under-funded by the state. It is not the district's fault or overspending. Currently,
70% of all the schools in the state are running a deficit, and we are one of them. Based
on what we do with the money that we do get, the district does a good job. It spends
$2,000 per child less than the state average. The salaries of the educators ate$5,000 -
$9,000 less than the state average and there ate fewer administrators than average.
Many people ask why the developers are not paying for the growth. The developers are
contributing and the district believes they ate doing their share. A developer can pay up
to $13,000 per home, but unfortunately, the school district does not see all that money.
The City Council can try to get more from the developers.
2
The bottom line is that on March 21, 2006 the people of this community will have a
choice of what is a priority to them and what they value. According to Sean Schumacher,
education—academically and through extra-cmricular activities—is what is important.
Although no one likes to have their taxes increased, it is very important to the children of
this community. The way the schools go will reflect on how the community will go.
They are looking for everyone's support.
Chris Rollins wanted to add that he believes that we need to pass a referendum in support
of our schools. The connection between schools and Parks and Recreation is direct as we
do not have a community center to use for our programs. If the school board suffers, so
will Parks and Recreation along with it. He wanted to make it clear that the referendum
is not on the superintendent. Citizens should not use their opinions of the superintendent
as an excuse to withdrawal their support of our schools or our community. If people are
unhappy with the superintendent—his demeanor/performance—they should take it up
before the elected school board officials and seek to do something about it, But this is
not the issue that is before us in the referendum.
Chris Rollins also stated that the schools do not have a spending crisis but instead have a
revenue crisis. Our schools stand in a critical junchue in its history and development.
The district takes good care of the brick and mortar that it has and in spite of their-age the
schools are well maintained and used to the fullest degree. One of the things that we
must keep in mind is that commtmities are known and judged by the quality of the public
institutions in the community. If we want to continue to be proud of our community,we
must make the investment to help our schools' infrastructure keep pace with community
growth.
Chris Rollins will pledge to do all he can, both individually and as part of the Park Board,
to encourage greater cooperation between the City and schools on the development of
,joint school park sites that provide the greatest utility to our citizens at the lowest
possible total cost to taxpayers. There is much that we can do to enhance the well being
of schools and parks in these joint site opportruzities. He believes that reforms like these
can ensure that the need to go to the taxpayers to ask for Rinds can be reduced to a
minimum in the future. Right now,he believes our only option is to support school
funding through the referendum process.. He wanted to note that there aid tax caps for
our older members of the community who are on fixed income. We can either have low
taxes and little else in our community or we can bear slightly higher taxes and have a
much better quality of life here. The schools sit at the very heart of the community. It
brings people together in a way that few other things in the community can bring, through
its sports,plays, and concerts. Even though our state school funding formula is
inadequate, our kids should not be the victim of that.
Chris Rollins'personal feeling is that all board members throughout the City need to
demonstrate leadership. And leaders need to be optimists and must have vision beyond
the present situation. If no one demonstrates that and do not have the qualities to be
strong in our beliefs to stick through popular and unpopular things and to explain to the
community that we are keeping faith with the paths of our community and keeping the
promise of the future for everyone,then we will not serve any one well.
3
Chris Rollins is disappointed that the school board has not taken full advantage of the
situations that the Parks and Recreation Board had offered. It has been an interest of the
Board to have a liaison with schools with the liaison being a full voting member of the
Board. This would give schools an opportunity to be fully aware of developments that
become before Parks and Recreation and to understand what is going on with the land
cash formula,particularly for Parks and Recreation and to observe whether or not the
formula is serving schools well. He recommends strongly that the message of the school
board needs to be present at the Parks and Recreation Board meetings.
Ken Koch wanted to clarify that the education fund is only enough money to fund the
Grand Reserve School if the referendum passes. The other schools that will be built if
the referendum passes will still not have the funds to put teachers in these schools. So in
a few years we will have to go back for another referendum.
Van Truman questioned when the resolution would take into effect—if one referendum
failed or if both. Sean Schumacher responded that it world take effect if both fail. Sean
was unable to answer Van Truman's question about the inflation adjustment cost per
child. Van Truman's final question was if the dollar amount or the tax rate would
decrease each year due to the tax cap and the answer was the tax rate.
Heartland Crossing—Concept PUD Plait
John Pbilipchuck, the attorney who represents Richard Marker Associates, Inc.,presented
Heartland Crossing which is adjacent to Route 47 and south of Ament Road. It is
approximately 514 acres with 833 lots including several commercial sites. They are
currently contiguous with Yorkville but they are working on an annexation corridor.
Richard likes innovative designs that are pedestrian friendly communities. Ninety-five
percent of the lots back up to open space and seventy percent of the lots back up to the
open space corridors where they intend to put in the pedestrian path. As a result,they
will have over 5 %2 miles of'pedestrian paths within the subdivision so that there are
minimal areas where they will have to cross public streets. They are looking towards
establishing three smaller park sites. There will be a possible junior high school site in
which Ur. Engler, Superintendent,would like fifteen acres. In return it was suggested
that the possible school park site on the Montalbano plan could go to a total park site.
They are looking at establishing a community center with a pool near the commercial
sites that will include a restaurant and a daycare facility.
They would like Parks and Recreation to consider giving them some credit for some of
the open space areas, such as the path system which will be privately owned by the
homeowners association. However,their trails are eight feet and the City standard is ten
feet with five feet easement on each side. Their trails are,though, designed to link up
with a regional trail and will be open to the public. The land cash allowance is
approximately thirty-one acres.
Scott Sleezer mentioned that if Parks and Recreation does a swap where they would get
the land on the Montalbano plan and give up the land in Heartland Crossing, it would
C give them ten acres of land for athletic fields. Ur. Engler is receptive to this idea.
4
Chris Rollins mentioned that there is a good deal of density building in this area and
schools want to take fifteen acres without Parks having any ability to get one contiguous
larger site. We will now have a school and a park in close proximity but not adjacent to
one another. That does not benefit either schools or parks because both will need to
develop separate amenities and parking. If we had better planning where we worked
together;we could save money. It is important to find some means to come to dialogue
for instances like these. We have park development standards that we are trying to
adhere to also.
Since Heartland Crossing does not offer contiguous large open space, it puts Parks at a
disadvantage because we end up with a number of very small park sites of two to three
acres. The Board is trying to get away from these small park sites. They are in favor of
larger open space sites that offer more utility for active recreational purposes. These
presents a lot of maintenance challenges for not a lot of recreational utility. Instead they
will have to migrate elsewhere to go play baseball or soccer.
John Philipchuck indicated that we have to think about the adults, too, who get a lot of
use out of the trails. Cluis Rollins indicated that the Board does think about the adults
but has the trail standards so bikes, strollers,people skating etc. along with walkers can
all use the trails. Unless it is a retirement village, everyone must be considered.
Parks and Recreation would be glad to give credit to the part of the trail system that
allows a connection with an existing trail system and is built to the City's standards. For
those sections of the trail that only serve the citizens of Heartland Crossing, do not meet
City standards, and are privately maintained and are situated primarily for the
subdivision,Parks and Recreation does not intend to give credit. Mr. Philipchuck said he
would consider making the Heartland Crossing trails to the Board's standards. In the
past,against the Board's recommendation, the City did give credit for their trails for the
other Heartland properties, but the Board still does not recommend it unless it meets our
standards,.
Chris Rollins would like some type of dialog on the strategy for the school sites to give
him some sense why such balance of land is being requested and why so many schools
are being sited in this particular area without doing some consolidation of these sites.
Scott Sleezer believes the schools are just trying to do the same as what Parks and
Recreation is trying to do. Chris Rollins indicated, though, that we don't bus people to
parks. John Philipchuck indicated that as long as it is open space, it does not matter who
owns it. Contrary to that thought, Chris Rollins does believe that it does make a
difference because if the open space is used as a paved area for vehicles then baseball and
soccer cannot be played there.
Chris Rollins was interested in the Community Center as it has potential acreage around
it, is connected to the central trail, and can possibly be used for some of'our programs.
Scott Sleezer needed direction on where to go with Park D. It is two acres and typically
the Board does not take this type of land. The people who live around these parks love
them,but the Park Board does not want private parks tucked away behind houses. Scott
Sleezer does not believe that these parks are not watched because the homeowners tend to
5
watch them even closer than the police. The argument is that it makes it very difficult for
people who do not live there to find the park or to find panting to go to the park. They
will open up Park D for more visibility from the roadway. It will also be a potential trail
head that will link to the school, commercial, and park sites.
Travis Miller recommended that the developer preserve some of the natural features to be
incorporated into the subdivision, even if it requires rerouting trails and roads.
Rush-Copley Development adjacent to Fox Hill Subdivision
This has been rescheduled.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Minutes from the January 12, 2006 board meeting were approved on motion by Heather
Fiala and seconded by Tammy Smock. The motion was unanimously approved.
BILLS REVIEW:
Cash Analysis&Bills List
Van Truman motioned to approve the bills list and was seconded by Ken Koch. Roll call
vote: Chris Rollins—Yes, Ken Koch—Yes,Van Truman=Yes, Gary Golinski—Yes,
Heather Fiala—Yes, and Tammy Smock—Yes. The motion was unanimously approved.
OLD BUSINESS:
Parks Maintenance Building–Public Works Joint Use
Scott Sleezer will draft a letter and move it forward to the Public Works Committee
Meeting. Then he will have Joe Besco move it forward to the Committee of the Whole
who will probably bounce it to Finance. When the discussion gets to these meetings,
Scott Sleezer mentioned that it would be nice to have representatives from this Board
there. They may possibly have Public Works share in the cost of construction for the
projected time they intend to be there instead of paying rent. They will have the finance
director determine what the best course of action might be to commingle funds. The
building will be built for park maintenance,not Public Works. With the new treatment
plant Public Works is limited on what they can store there so they may be putting salt
storage on that site. The Board would like some written agreement that the salt storage
will look nice,preferably a rectangle, barn-like appearance as in Montgomery.
NEW BUSINESS:
YYBSA—Youth BaseballAgreernent
There are a few minor edits that need to be made to the agreement.
(1) The season will end July 31 (not September).
(2) Delivery to City of Certificates–This has always been our practice, but the City
attorney just wanted to have it in writing.
(3) On page four of the agreement a number eleven will be added listing the policies
dealing with parks.
Scott Sleezer requested the Board's permission to have Chris Rollins sign this t
agreement after the revisions have been made and then forward it on to the Committee
of a Whole, It was unanimously approved by the Board.
6
REPORTS
Parks 2005 Year End Report
Scott Sleezer highlighted in his report the things that have made a difference. Chris
Rollins wanted to make special mention about the significant staff contributions and
development of the staff this year, Chris Rollins wanted to commend all the people on
Scott Sleezer's staff that have participated in educational and certification opportunities
who are putting their skills to work on behalf of the City Tony Houle,Ryan Horner,
Jaime Jackson—to be better professionals and to serve us..
We have some parks to be truly proud of that show significant accomplishments. Thanks
goes out to the Board for their contribution and efforts in the planning stages of these
parks. A thank you also goes out to the professionals who carried out the daily work and
to Schoppe Design. People can look around their neighborhood with pride about their
parks.
ADDITIONAL BUSINESS
There was a change to the layout of Park F because of detention in the final engineering
for Unit 19 in Grand Reserve. The acreage will remain the same but is wider instead of
deep. This park will only have the trail head, a shelter, and a picnic table or two. The
Board unanimously agreed to the change.
Scott Sleezer has addressed a letter to Dave of Pasquinelli. This has not been resolved
but Scott is working with the City Administrator and City Attorney to get it resolved.
Their concern on the annexation agreement is that Pasquinelli is thinking we will be
building certain dollar amount parks,which may not be the case. It will be based on what
the City feels the amenities should be for these parks.
When Scott Sleezer was tallting with the developers, it was found out that they were not
intending on putting in the concession. There was a developed plan for the regional park
and they will need to reinstate the concession. Scott Sleezer is wonting with the City
Administrator and the City Attorney to get the situation straightened out.
Travis Miller has just started with Community Development, and he is working on filling
some positions to populate that department. He provided a draft job description for the
position of City Park and Urban Designer. His purpose is to share it with the Board and
to get some feedback in what they would hope to envision for the staff services to the
Board. He is working on determining the work load and wants some clarity before he
makes his final recommendation to City Council. On February 2, 2006 he will be going
to the Administration Committee with this draft and hopes to come back to Parks and
Recreation next:month with some final input. Because there is a lot of redevelopment
opportunity in the downtown area, he would like to get someone not only with landscape
arelritectuTe as well as urban design so he can maximize the resources. Chris Rollins
asked how much filling this position would reduce our dependence on outside service
contracts. Travis Miller indicated that this is his goal,but it will be a case by case
situation in working towards that goal, Scott Sleezer indicated that we will probably
never be able to get rid of consultants 100%. Travis Miller plans on getting someone in
this position by May which will be the beginning of the fiscal year. Although it was not
7
planned, it will be a great way for the new hire to get knowledge in what is going on by
j working on the master plan update. City Council hopes to take the comprehensive plan
to the next level to get a finer level of detail.
In the job description Heather Fiala noted that the person should represent the
Community Development Department in bi-monthly Park Board meetings—not monthly.
Sue Swithin indicated that the holiday schedule has been provided and that she has also
given everyone a copy of an article titled For Better Parks and Recreation that is about
Packs and Recreation forming a partnership with other government agencies, such as
schools.
Gary Golinski provided an article titled Grants Outlook for 2006 in the packets, and he
wanted the Board to lmow that the last opportunity to hear the Protect Kendall Now
presentation will be on Monday at Newark High School. I-Ie encowages everyone to
attend. Chris Rollins wanted the Board to take note of the less well lmown grants, such
as recreational vehicle use for trails for snowmobiles, go-carts, fora-wheelers, etc. There
is a recreational vehicles manufacturers association that provides matching grants for
communities that choose to develop special use trails for that purpose. They may be
something worthy of consideration as there may be less competition for the grant because
not all communities would have the same character as Yorkville in favor of establishing a
tail for that type of use. There are a lot of grants available for a lot of different situations
and should keep them in mind in order for us to qualify for the projects that are on the
drawing board.
Richard Korinelk will be presented with a plaque on February 14,2006 at the City
Council meeting. It would be nice to have representatives from this Board there.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned to Executive Session at 9:20 p.m. following the motion by
Heather Fiala and seconded by Gary Golinski. The motion was unanimously approved.
Minute Taker—Jeaune Arbet
{
8