WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:12.400 >> Hello everyone and welcome to the parks board meeting for the 22nd day of February 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:19.520 2021. I am Frances punch, the chair of the parks board. Today we have no board members 00:00:19.520 --> 00:00:27.060 absent and we will have one member joining us late. It should be noted that the parks 00:00:27.060 --> 00:00:34.440 board did not have a meeting in January 2021 and the February 15th meeting was moved to 00:00:34.440 --> 00:00:42.960 today, February 22nd. And before we get started I would like to welcome our newest board member 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:47.840 Jerry Dooley. Welcome and thank you for your service ahead of time. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:53.960 >> Thank you very much. >> As a reminder to the board, please wait 00:00:53.960 --> 00:01:01.840 to be acknowledged by the chair before speaking. First item -- before we start, do we have 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:07.960 any participants from the public? >> No, not today, ma'am. Thank you. 00:01:07.960 --> 00:01:20.960 >> Thank you. First item, consider approval of the minutes for December 14th, 2020. 00:01:20.960 --> 00:01:24.520 >> Thank you, George. George, you have a question, concern? 00:01:24.520 --> 00:01:31.160 >> No, I just -- I motion to approve the minutes. >> Prior to that, are there any concerns or 00:01:31.160 --> 00:01:35.040 questions? >> No, ma'am. 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:43.680 >> I'll second. >> Thank you. George, motion has been made. 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:51.560 All in favor? >> Aye. 00:01:51.560 --> 00:01:58.520 >> Anyone opposed? All right. Minutes approved. Second item, receive a report, hold a discussion 00:01:58.520 --> 00:02:04.820 and give staff input regarding the parks, recreation and trails system master plan update. 00:02:04.820 --> 00:02:10.320 >> Good afternoon, Gary Pack and director of parks and recreation. We have some members 00:02:10.320 --> 00:02:17.460 of our half associate team, Lenny and Kendall, present to talk about our plan. Obviously, 00:02:17.460 --> 00:02:24.160 we started this in January of 2019, doing it internally, and we had some staff leave 00:02:24.160 --> 00:02:30.400 and then also COVID hit and we came to a screeching halt outside of our trails planning. So in 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:37.040 order to get this done efficiently and effectively, we decided to hire half to help us get to 00:02:37.040 --> 00:02:43.840 that point, and so we kicked that off a few months ago and we're moving right along with 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:49.680 hopefully an anticipation of completion by the end of the calendar year. So Lenny Hughes, 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:53.200 I'll go ahead and let you talk and then we can go from there with Kendall. 00:02:53.200 --> 00:02:59.200 >> Sure. Thank you, Gary. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Lenny Hughes, the regional 00:02:59.200 --> 00:03:06.080 director of planning and half associates and we're going to be presenting today, giving 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:11.840 you guys an update on the parks and recreational space master plan. This will be a series of 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:17.320 meetings that we're going to be holding with staff and also with the public at large to 00:03:17.320 --> 00:03:23.400 look at kind of going through our visiting process, giving the background for the plan, 00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:30.040 but also looking at next steps for the future there. So we have a brief presentation at 00:03:30.040 --> 00:03:36.360 the end that we're going to open it up to question and answer session here with the 00:03:36.360 --> 00:03:41.880 park board. So just quickly, the agenda, we're going to look at the project purpose, an overview, 00:03:41.880 --> 00:03:47.280 what's been done to date. Like Gary said, there's been a lot of significant work that's 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:52.160 been done by the staff as well as other consultants, and so we're going to be looking at compiling 00:03:52.160 --> 00:03:57.760 this information and developing a planning document for the city. Here we'll also look 00:03:57.760 --> 00:04:04.120 at the existing system and just also kind of share with you some of our initial observations 00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:09.680 from our citywide tour that we held back in January. Then again, as I said before, go 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:16.600 through a brief vision and exercise. So a little bit about ourselves. Half Associates, 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:22.720 we're a multidisciplinary firm. Our home office is located in Richardson, Texas. That's where 00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:27.480 I reside out of, as well as Kendall and the rest of the other planning team. We are full 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:33.200 service company that covers everything from architecture to architectural planning, to 00:04:33.200 --> 00:04:39.680 civil engineering and transportation. So again, we are full service and we'll be providing 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:48.360 park planning services here for the city. I myself, I'm the project manager. Also on 00:04:48.360 --> 00:04:54.240 the line here today is also is Kendall Howard. She'll be the deputy project manager. And 00:04:54.240 --> 00:05:00.260 then we have a whole host of others that will provide support for us from planning to QAQC. 00:05:00.260 --> 00:05:05.360 And also we teamed with Mike Svetz of Approach Consulting. They've done some previous work 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:12.720 with the city looking at the aquatics facilities review. And so we're going to be weaving all 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:19.920 that information into the overall planning document. So just a little bit of the plan 00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:24.560 on purpose. Again, as Gary said before, there's been a lot of significant efforts that's been 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:30.040 provided in the past. And so we're going to take this information, compile it all into 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:35.200 an overall planning document. There's also been a significant amount of public engagement 00:05:35.200 --> 00:05:40.400 that has occurred over in the past as well. And so we want to make sure that we're getting 00:05:40.400 --> 00:05:44.880 all this information in, testing it, make sure that people's thoughts and opinions are 00:05:44.880 --> 00:05:51.320 same as was initially gauged back in 2019. And also to look at some of the other, any 00:05:51.320 --> 00:05:59.160 other upcoming planning and recreational efforts for the city. This will be a guiding document 00:05:59.160 --> 00:06:04.000 for park development over the next five to 10 years. It will look at ways to enhance 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:10.040 or improve the existing system, but also make sure that we are in lockstep with the growth 00:06:10.040 --> 00:06:14.160 and development that's happening and occurring in and around Denton. There's a lot of things 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:18.280 that's happening in the area. And so we want to make sure that we're planning for parks 00:06:18.280 --> 00:06:22.400 in the future. One of the other key components of the plan is an action plan. And so this 00:06:22.400 --> 00:06:28.280 will provide guidance on what areas we developed, how much these things are going to cost. And 00:06:28.280 --> 00:06:35.320 so this is, we have a systematic way of looking at future development items here for the city. 00:06:35.320 --> 00:06:41.640 One other resulting aspect of the plan will be having this plan being compliant with Texas 00:06:41.640 --> 00:06:51.840 Parks and Wildlife, or TPWD, but also having this plan CAPRA compliant. So looking at the 00:06:51.840 --> 00:06:57.680 planning process, there are basically six different state phases here. The first phase 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:03.000 was really as important as community understanding, where we review existing data, make sure that 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:11.200 we understand what plans are in place, and go through a very exhaustive review of the 00:07:11.200 --> 00:07:16.640 current facilities and inventory of the current system. Phase two, we look at the community 00:07:16.640 --> 00:07:21.160 vision. Again, there's been a lot of information that's been gathered in the past. And so we 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:27.920 want to make sure that this plan meets those goals, are really and truly what they've heard 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:33.280 in the past. And if there's ways of looking and acquiring additional input, then we're 00:07:33.280 --> 00:07:39.440 going to look at engaging the public even further to provide additional information. 00:07:39.440 --> 00:07:43.920 Phase three looks at the overall needs assessment. This looks at the overall park conditions 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:52.220 and level of service. I look on it per capita for citizens per acreage there in the city. 00:07:52.220 --> 00:07:57.840 Step four will be the parks and recreation trail system recommendations, where we'll 00:07:57.840 --> 00:08:05.240 kind of vet out the different areas for improvement for the community, as well as how these things 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:12.040 would start to lay out for future park development. Then once we've already gotten all this information 00:08:12.040 --> 00:08:17.920 together, then we'll start to develop a draft plan where we will review this with staff 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:22.520 and also with the park board. From there, then we'll look at plan adoption for final 00:08:22.520 --> 00:08:31.360 approval by the board, as well as by city council. We kicked this project off in January 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:39.480 where we had a series of meetings to lay out the plan. We also had a two-day tour of all 00:08:39.480 --> 00:08:44.960 your park facilities at the end of January. So right now, we're looking at the community 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:51.600 vision, where we, again, have several meetings that set up over the next few days and extra 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:59.520 few weeks to gather additional input for the plan, and then have other subsequent meetings 00:08:59.520 --> 00:09:09.560 or touches to make sure that we're meeting the city's goals for the overall project. 00:09:09.560 --> 00:09:14.360 As we had said before, this is probably about a 12-month process, and the project will conclude 00:09:14.360 --> 00:09:24.480 in the month of December. As far as this engagement process, we've got several groups. We've got 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:29.360 a master plan focus group. There are three meetings scheduled for that. That looks at 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:34.520 the overall project initiation, a midpoint review, then a final review. This is also 00:09:34.520 --> 00:09:40.680 going to happen to occur with the department staff leads, and then also we have briefings 00:09:40.680 --> 00:09:46.800 to city council, as well as the park board, to make sure that we are, again, in lockstep 00:09:46.800 --> 00:09:53.560 with your goals and vision for the park plan. We have a series of public meetings. These 00:09:53.560 --> 00:09:58.200 will be held virtually. I believe the first public meeting would be held sometime in early 00:09:58.200 --> 00:10:05.840 March, and then a subsequent meeting later on in a process to present to them our plan 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:10.200 recommendations. Then part of this process, we're going to have an abbreviated community 00:10:10.200 --> 00:10:15.200 survey, gathering additional input from the citizens. 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:23.680 At this point, I'd like to turn it to Kendall to talk about what's been completed so far. 00:10:23.680 --> 00:10:28.880 Great. Thank you, Lenny, and good afternoon, everyone. As Lenny mentioned, there has been 00:10:28.880 --> 00:10:37.920 a lot of staff-level effort to date to assess the existing system and conduct some initial 00:10:37.920 --> 00:10:43.120 engagement efforts. We wanted to briefly touch on what has been completed so far and what 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:50.400 will serve as the foundation for this master plan as we work to finalize it. 00:10:50.400 --> 00:10:57.080 First we are taking a lot of credence into the existing plans and documents that have 00:10:57.080 --> 00:11:04.840 been done to date. Some recent efforts and studies that have been completed include the 00:11:04.840 --> 00:11:11.700 trails analysis, the urban forest master plan, and a whole host of other plans, as you see 00:11:11.700 --> 00:11:19.320 here. So as we work to put together the finalized master plan, we will be incorporating the 00:11:19.320 --> 00:11:27.400 key recommendations from these efforts into the overall park system master plan. 00:11:27.400 --> 00:11:34.880 The draft master plan also took a look at the existing needs assessment. So looking 00:11:34.880 --> 00:11:42.600 at what parks are within Denton today and how that translates to service areas and level 00:11:42.600 --> 00:11:50.800 of service. So these are early estimates back from 2020. So as we work to update the needs 00:11:50.800 --> 00:11:57.800 assessment, these numbers will change. They will be refined as we take into account some 00:11:57.800 --> 00:12:03.640 additional acreage that has been added to the system. But this is just a snapshot in 00:12:03.640 --> 00:12:11.920 time of some of the key needs assessment factors that we'll be looking at. So currently there 00:12:11.920 --> 00:12:19.360 are about 4,600 residents per park. Another way to look at that is about 10.3 acres for 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:29.000 every 1,000 residents. So this level of service metric is used by the NRPA to try to start 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:36.160 to compare benchmarks for similar communities. And then parks account for about 2.5% of total 00:12:36.160 --> 00:12:43.400 land area with the city. And then also through this process, we'll look at refining these 00:12:43.400 --> 00:12:53.160 deficit numbers to determine what the target acreage will be out to the year 2030. Staff 00:12:53.160 --> 00:13:03.060 has also created a very extensive design guidelines document for parks. So they worked with lots 00:13:03.060 --> 00:13:09.100 of subject matter experts to come up with very specific guidelines related to all these 00:13:09.100 --> 00:13:16.480 different topics. So as new parks are developed and as parks are renovated, they will have 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:24.840 a very clearly defined guidance for how to develop and maintain those parks. So as part 00:13:24.840 --> 00:13:30.480 of this process, these design guidelines will be incorporated into the final master plan 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:37.880 document as an appendix. And we will work to review and make any final refinements as 00:13:37.880 --> 00:13:46.720 necessary. Lenny mentioned there's been a lot of engagement to date for the master plan 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:53.960 process. So we are taking a very critical look at what's been heard and are there any 00:13:53.960 --> 00:14:00.600 gaps that we need to go back out and get additional input from the community on. So this slide 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:07.840 shows some preliminary vision characteristics that was developed as part of the draft master 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:15.120 plans. It's really focusing on what sort of key community benefits parks and recreation 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:22.540 can bring to a community. So some of those are community revitalization, promoting tourism, 00:14:22.540 --> 00:14:29.360 enhancing quality of life, creating a destination or experience. So these are really serving 00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:37.960 as the primary characteristics for the overall master plan vision. So as we conduct additional 00:14:37.960 --> 00:14:46.600 engagement, we will look at refining these as we move forward. So in terms of previous 00:14:46.600 --> 00:14:52.800 engagement efforts, over the past couple years, staff has done extensive engagement throughout 00:14:52.800 --> 00:15:01.440 the community. Back in mid to late 2019, there were five community wide meetings held at 00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:08.560 different parts of the city. So they did some dollar voting exercises and then had some 00:15:08.560 --> 00:15:16.920 input stations focused on different aspects of the parks and recreation system. In addition 00:15:16.920 --> 00:15:22.360 to those community wide meetings, there are also over 35 focus group meetings held. So 00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:31.800 these were held with user groups such as aquatics users, sports associations or leagues, recreation 00:15:31.800 --> 00:15:37.640 center users to really get targeted input from those key user groups about what they 00:15:37.640 --> 00:15:45.160 perceive to be the needs and issues moving forward for the park system. So lots of great 00:15:45.160 --> 00:15:52.260 input received from those focus group meetings. And then you'll also likely recall that there 00:15:52.260 --> 00:15:58.800 was a statistically valid survey done administered by National Service Research. So this was 00:15:58.800 --> 00:16:08.000 done in the first part of 2019. And there were just over 2000 total respondents. So 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:15.680 they were able to respond online or through mailing and paper formats. So we're not going 00:16:15.680 --> 00:16:22.760 to get into the statistics or key findings from that survey. We just have a couple top 00:16:22.760 --> 00:16:28.520 responses there looking at most frequently used facilities. Those include the natatorium, 00:16:28.520 --> 00:16:34.480 waterworks, the dog park, Clear Creek, and then the senior center. And then there was 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:41.760 also some questions related to why residents may not use city of Denton facilities. And 00:16:41.760 --> 00:16:47.520 some of those top responses were that facilities aren't conveniently located. They're not aware 00:16:47.520 --> 00:16:55.180 of programs or facilities. They don't have personal time and they do not meet my needs. 00:16:55.180 --> 00:17:03.520 So these are just a handful of, I think, 20 plus questions that were part of that statistically 00:17:03.520 --> 00:17:08.240 valid survey. So as part of this process, Lenny mentioned, we are going to be looking 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:16.240 at doing an abbreviated online survey. So this will help to fill in any gaps from this 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:25.340 original survey and also help to inform how people's use and perception of parks and recreation 00:17:25.340 --> 00:17:34.080 facilities have changed, especially since the pandemic began. So in looking at all of the 00:17:34.080 --> 00:17:39.760 engagement effort that has been done to date, this slide summarizes some of the top desired 00:17:39.760 --> 00:17:48.960 amenities or programs that has been identified to date. So those amenities are trails, open 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:55.440 space and tree preservation, splash pads, nature programs, outdoor events, and then 00:17:55.440 --> 00:18:03.040 more from an indoor programming aspect, we have fitness equipment and fitness classes. 00:18:03.040 --> 00:18:12.480 So again, as we go through that online survey and additional community input, we'll work 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:16.800 to confirm these top desired amenities and programs. 00:18:16.800 --> 00:18:23.640 Can I ask a question if I could? On the last slide or two ago, it looked like the green 00:18:23.640 --> 00:18:27.320 was related to things they wanted and red was related to things they didn't. But in 00:18:27.320 --> 00:18:32.520 this case, you're just identifying, I'm sorry, blue and red. In this case, it was just outdoor 00:18:32.520 --> 00:18:40.920 versus indoor is the color designation on those? Yes. On this one here? Yes. Okay. So 00:18:40.920 --> 00:18:50.040 these all seven of these are amenities or programs that are desired. This pinkish color 00:18:50.040 --> 00:18:57.160 just represents indoor amenities. Okay, thanks. Sorry if that was obvious to others. Oh, no, 00:18:57.160 --> 00:19:05.960 that's a great question. Thank you. All right. So then moving forward, really where the half 00:19:05.960 --> 00:19:13.320 team comes in is, again, to look at confirming the overall vision, updating the system needs 00:19:13.320 --> 00:19:21.560 assessment. As you can see, just driving around Denton, growth is happening very, very quickly. 00:19:21.560 --> 00:19:28.480 So we want to account for all the population growth that has occurred. And also, there's 00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:34.400 been quite a bit of land acquisition for additional parkland. So all of that will translate into 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:41.200 an updated needs assessment to really help identify where there are still gaps in providing 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:49.160 access to parks within Denton. Then we'll work to review existing recommendations and 00:19:49.160 --> 00:19:56.040 also add in additional recommendations for parks, recreation, and trails based on the 00:19:56.040 --> 00:20:01.960 needs assessment and the engagement. And then finally, we'll work to prioritize implementation 00:20:01.960 --> 00:20:12.000 actions and compile the overall master plan document. So we're sure you all are very familiar 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:17.440 with the existing system, but we have just a couple slides that gives a brief snapshot 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:24.020 of what Denton looks like today. So there are about 40 developed parks. So these are 00:20:24.020 --> 00:20:31.480 parks that have amenities within them. In addition to that, there's about 15 undeveloped 00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:38.400 or open space parks that don't currently have amenities within them. And the total park 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:45.840 acreage is about over 5,000 acres of total parkland. And this increased significantly 00:20:45.840 --> 00:20:53.580 recently with the addition of the Clear Creek Heritage Center now under the Parks and Recreation. 00:20:53.580 --> 00:20:59.880 And as part of this process, we'll also look at access or accessibility to parks. So we 00:20:59.880 --> 00:21:06.520 look at, and I'm sure staff has talked a lot about this with you, the Trust for Public 00:21:06.520 --> 00:21:14.000 Lands 10-Minute Walk to a Park. So currently, about 47% of residents within Denton live 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:19.560 within a 10-minute walk to a park. So as part of this process, you know, we'll be looking 00:21:19.560 --> 00:21:26.240 at some ways to increase that percentage, either through strategic sidewalk or trail 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:33.640 connections to increase access to existing parks or finding where there are gaps within 00:21:33.640 --> 00:21:40.240 certain neighborhoods in terms of accessing parks. And then trails is also a component 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:47.440 of this master plan. Currently, there are about 53 miles of trail within Denton. And 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:54.280 with the draft trail recommendations from the trails analysis that was done and completed 00:21:54.280 --> 00:21:55.840 in the fall last year. 00:21:55.840 --> 00:21:57.800 I think James has a question. 00:21:57.800 --> 00:22:06.080 Yeah, thank you. Yeah, hi. Thanks, Kendall. Just a clarification. You're saying the Clear 00:22:06.080 --> 00:22:15.400 Creek Heritage Center has 3,000 acres. Is that included in the 5,095 or is it not? 00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:19.640 It is included in the 5,000. 00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:30.360 Okay. That's one. Okay. Yes. That's a great question. Yeah, and in terms of the trails, 00:22:30.360 --> 00:22:38.360 the trails analysis that was completed in the fall, it recommends a whole host of additional 00:22:38.360 --> 00:22:44.280 trails throughout the city as well. 00:22:44.280 --> 00:22:50.920 So something else this plan will look at is to refine the different park classifications. 00:22:50.920 --> 00:23:00.320 So the list there are the current park classifications within the city. And so the purpose of defining 00:23:00.320 --> 00:23:07.720 park classifications is to really set some predictability in terms of what sort of amenities 00:23:07.720 --> 00:23:13.720 might be found in that park. So it can be directly tied to the design standards that 00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:18.840 staff has produced in terms of what type of amenities are found in different types of 00:23:18.840 --> 00:23:27.040 parks. And it also ensures that as new parks are developed, the amenities within parks 00:23:27.040 --> 00:23:32.200 are equitable throughout the system. So as part of this process, we're going to be looking 00:23:32.200 --> 00:23:39.920 at refining some of these park classifications to better streamline them and ensure that 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:45.880 they reflect what's existing in Denton. 00:23:45.880 --> 00:23:52.440 And then we'll also be taking a deeper dive into 10 parks throughout Denton to do more 00:23:52.440 --> 00:24:02.840 of an on the ground extensive audit. So these parks here, 10 parks represent a different 00:24:02.840 --> 00:24:09.400 types of park classifications and different locations within Denton. So we'll be taking 00:24:09.400 --> 00:24:18.560 a closer look at these 10 parks. Many of these haven't undergone a master plan effort recently, 00:24:18.560 --> 00:24:26.400 so we wanted to take a deeper dive at these parks. And when we're doing so, some of the 00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:33.080 attributes that we're going to be looking at to ensure that these parks continue to 00:24:33.080 --> 00:24:40.480 be quality parks in the future are looking at things like accessibility. Are the parks 00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:49.140 safe and comfortable? What do they offer from a social perspective? Are they activated at 00:24:49.140 --> 00:24:57.920 different times of the day? And are they maintained over time? So some of the more specific components 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:06.080 that go into these attributes of quality of parks are things like location, connectivity. 00:25:06.080 --> 00:25:13.280 Is it visible to surrounding areas? Are there any hidden parts of the park? Is it oriented 00:25:13.280 --> 00:25:21.960 to specific types of users like children or adults? Is it meant for different generations 00:25:21.960 --> 00:25:28.840 to be able to use? Is it engaging? What type of facilities and amenities are offered? What 00:25:28.840 --> 00:25:36.760 type of programming or events are available? What sort of maintenance issues are there? 00:25:36.760 --> 00:25:44.300 And then looking forward, how can the park be revitalized or rejuvenated in the future? 00:25:44.300 --> 00:25:50.880 So as we go visit these 10 priority parks, we're going to be looking at all these different 00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:58.160 components of what makes quality and complete parks. So with that, I'm going to turn it 00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:03.440 back to Lenny to talk through some of the initial observations from our tour back in 00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:07.680 January. Thank you, Kendall. And a lot of the images 00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:13.840 that you're going to see, as Kendall said before, we did a two-day tour with the city. 00:26:13.840 --> 00:26:20.000 And you know, really good information, a lot of good background on the types of parks and 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:26.760 amenities that you have here in Denton. But also, as a team, we came out beforehand and 00:26:26.760 --> 00:26:32.520 took several photos, visited a majority of your parks during the summer and fall months. 00:26:32.520 --> 00:26:37.320 So a lot of the imagery that you're going to see is probably going to be from the summer. 00:26:37.320 --> 00:26:41.900 But you know, one of the things that we really highly noted, the next slide, is when we think 00:26:41.900 --> 00:26:47.000 about the strengths of parks in Denton, that your parks are well maintained. And so as 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:53.320 we traverse the city and looked at your facilities, that didn't matter if it was in the summertime 00:26:53.320 --> 00:27:02.720 or if it's even the winter, you have a well-maintained park system. Also looking at the level of use. 00:27:02.720 --> 00:27:08.540 Your parks were highly used. For example, they're here at Fredmore Park. Again, citizens 00:27:08.540 --> 00:27:14.480 are out there on different times of the day. And even back in the wintertime, a few weeks 00:27:14.480 --> 00:27:21.160 ago, there were citizens out there at the park. It's also a growing trail network. Your 00:27:21.160 --> 00:27:24.400 parks are well-connected. As Kendall said, there's about 53 miles of trails that's on 00:27:24.400 --> 00:27:32.560 the ground right now. But the city also has embarked and recently completed a trails master 00:27:32.560 --> 00:27:39.800 plan. And so as we continue to look at the park development and trail development here, 00:27:39.800 --> 00:27:44.000 we want to make sure that we're providing access, connectivity to a lot of your major 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:49.840 destinations here within the city. There's also a very diverse type of group of facilities. 00:27:49.840 --> 00:27:56.280 River Creek. Again, this is a hidden gem. This has now become part of the park system 00:27:56.280 --> 00:28:04.760 preview. And so, again, 3,000 acres that's been acquired, but has been handed over to 00:28:04.760 --> 00:28:09.560 the city parks department. Again, this is a great opportunity to really enhance and 00:28:09.560 --> 00:28:18.440 provide better visibility and access to the park itself. There's also a significant amount 00:28:18.440 --> 00:28:23.880 of existing partnerships, specifically with ISD with an auditorium. We see that there 00:28:23.880 --> 00:28:33.560 is a growing opportunity to further enhance this and provide access to an expanded park 00:28:33.560 --> 00:28:40.400 network system as well as expanded partnerships there. You've also really started to include 00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:47.920 the educational features such as park signage that looks at some of the different vegetation 00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:53.280 and tree characteristics there within the city. We saw this in several parks where you've 00:28:53.280 --> 00:28:59.400 incorporated educational aspects into the park network. But one thing that really we 00:28:59.400 --> 00:29:07.440 took notice of was the overall tree canopy. Being in the -- next slide there. You've got 00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:13.840 such a tremendous amount of trees here. You're right in the heart of the cross timbers area. 00:29:13.840 --> 00:29:20.080 And so that is highly reflective of your parks. Again, they're not only well maintained but 00:29:20.080 --> 00:29:30.000 also just the amount of tree canopy that's been preserved for your park network. As we 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:35.880 driven all across Denton, there's a lot of roadways very active. There's a lot of roadway 00:29:35.880 --> 00:29:41.720 projects that are happening and ongoing. And, you know, we mentioned that partnership earlier. 00:29:41.720 --> 00:29:48.480 So you guys have -- parks has really embraced the partnership with some of the engineering 00:29:48.480 --> 00:29:56.960 and the roadway projects. And so I really applaud the city and being proactive and incorporating 00:29:56.960 --> 00:30:06.240 these types of pedestrian access and connectivity with their roadway networks. Then lastly, it's 00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:11.520 a progressive outlook. There's a lot of things happening in Denton with community gardens. 00:30:11.520 --> 00:30:15.960 There's a paddling trails initiative that you guys have really taken the leadership 00:30:15.960 --> 00:30:22.320 on. And so being -- having that progressive outlook even with the wildfire plantings. 00:30:22.320 --> 00:30:30.120 And so that will help transform your current park system to something that will be marveled 00:30:30.120 --> 00:30:40.440 by many of your -- you know, competing cities within the DFW region. So with the great strength 00:30:40.440 --> 00:30:45.880 there's always opportunities. There's always opportunities for making sure that we address 00:30:45.880 --> 00:30:50.960 the significant growth that's happening, occurring with the community. Make sure that we're planning 00:30:50.960 --> 00:30:56.840 for parks and trails and connectivity. With that, there's also a demand for additional 00:30:56.840 --> 00:31:02.440 recreational facilities. And so one of the things that we've taken a look at is, you 00:31:02.440 --> 00:31:08.640 know, what's the -- as Kendall mentioned before, there's those 10 parks that we look at audits. 00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:12.800 And so what type of additional recreational facilities are needed? What is the condition 00:31:12.800 --> 00:31:18.680 of the current park? Are there rooms for improvement? Then again, also what is the overall vision 00:31:18.680 --> 00:31:28.520 for recreation for Denton? There's also the unique amenities with the splash park. And 00:31:28.520 --> 00:31:33.200 so other opportunities to really enhance that. And we see that there are plans in place to 00:31:33.200 --> 00:31:39.200 add additional spray grounds and splash pads for some of your other park facilities there 00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:45.440 in the community. We want to look at, you know, signage. You know, what are some of 00:31:45.440 --> 00:31:51.240 the signs that's there? Are there ways to help clean up and maybe modify, look at some 00:31:51.240 --> 00:32:00.400 top unified branding or signage improvements for the city? Looking at ways to -- next slide 00:32:00.400 --> 00:32:08.960 there. Enhancing pedestrian access or connectivity to your parks. You know, this is Mack Park 00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:15.840 here. And, you know, you've got parks on either side of the road. But are there ways to provide 00:32:15.840 --> 00:32:24.800 safe crossings for park users? You know, incorporating art and culture. You guys got some really 00:32:24.800 --> 00:32:31.320 unique and eclectic venues around town. And so there may be a way to incorporate art into 00:32:31.320 --> 00:32:38.000 your parks. And we talked about connectivity earlier. You know, make sure this is well 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:44.120 connected. Providing wide enough sidewalks to handle to the pedestrians and cyclists 00:32:44.120 --> 00:32:52.960 or other many users there within your trail network. And are there opportunities to refresh 00:32:52.960 --> 00:32:59.400 or enhance your existing rec facilities and aquatic facilities? And so to be competitive 00:32:59.400 --> 00:33:06.120 with other communities, a lot of cities are having these multigenerational facilities. 00:33:06.120 --> 00:33:12.920 And so they're much larger. It has a larger capacity. But also they offer more program 00:33:12.920 --> 00:33:18.720 items. And so, again, as part of this process, we're looking at how do we enhance or expand 00:33:18.720 --> 00:33:24.840 upon your current recreation aquatic amenities here within Denton. 00:33:24.840 --> 00:33:30.480 The lastly is destination parks. You know, we've had a chance to drive around and look 00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:38.960 at your facilities. And, man, you've got a lot of great amenities here within the city. 00:33:38.960 --> 00:33:46.860 And you know, for us destination facilities, you know, this is the park here. It's City 00:33:46.860 --> 00:33:54.080 Hall, Quickertown Park. And it gets used by for several community events. And so, is there 00:33:54.080 --> 00:33:59.840 a way or are there opportunities to really enhance these parks to make it more multifunctional 00:33:59.840 --> 00:34:04.160 year round and for multiple activities for the community? 00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:08.600 Excuse me, Mr. Hughes. There's a question. Mr. Amory? 00:34:08.600 --> 00:34:12.440 Yes. Can you hear me okay? Yes, sir. 00:34:12.440 --> 00:34:19.040 Thank you. Yes, Lenny. Thank you on that. My question for you is, did when you were 00:34:19.040 --> 00:34:25.120 looking around and at the trails and the connections and so forth, was there a look at what our 00:34:25.120 --> 00:34:32.040 surrounding communities are doing so that there are if there are any connection possibilities 00:34:32.040 --> 00:34:38.040 with them? And I'm going to use an example. For example, the Cottonwood Trail, which coming 00:34:38.040 --> 00:34:46.760 up from Fort Worth and supposed to go all the way up to Oklahoma along the 377 railroad 00:34:46.760 --> 00:34:52.520 there. So I just wondered if you guys took a look at the surrounding communities for 00:34:52.520 --> 00:34:56.480 possible connections to their trail systems and vice versa. 00:34:56.480 --> 00:35:01.680 As far as process, we will look at the internal connections as well as the external connections. 00:35:01.680 --> 00:35:10.000 So I know that the trails plan was recently completed. And so we'll look at and evaluate 00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:16.120 where those connections are. Really importantly for us, are the other communities talking 00:35:16.120 --> 00:35:21.600 to or are we talking to our adjacent neighbors? Then how do we facilitate those connections? 00:35:21.600 --> 00:35:30.340 And so yes, that will be part of our process. Hey, Lenny. And staff has reached out to all 00:35:30.340 --> 00:35:43.200 our surrounding cities also. Great, great. So now looking at this preliminary 00:35:43.200 --> 00:35:50.040 vision concept and we talked about destination parks and we talked about connectivity access. 00:35:50.040 --> 00:35:55.800 There's also a lot of significant growth that's happening and occurring in and around 00:35:55.800 --> 00:36:03.240 Denton. And so we've identified what we see are really four, you know, as we see these 00:36:03.240 --> 00:36:09.760 destination parks, one there is Clear Creek Nature Center, as North Lakes Park, as South 00:36:09.760 --> 00:36:16.240 Lakes Park, as Quaker Town. There's also some of the major destinations such as the universities 00:36:16.240 --> 00:36:21.360 and downtown. But, you know, the growth and development that's happening and occurring 00:36:21.360 --> 00:36:26.560 in and around Denton is just incredible. And so, you know, one of the visionary concepts 00:36:26.560 --> 00:36:33.320 we talked about is, you know, how do we provide access and connectivity, you know, specifically 00:36:33.320 --> 00:36:40.920 from, you know, from Clear Creek Park in the downtown or to Quaker Town? And what are those, 00:36:40.920 --> 00:36:46.680 you know, opportunities to enhance the green belts and provide greater access and connectivity 00:36:46.680 --> 00:36:51.640 through the trail network? And then really, you know, something that's really unique for 00:36:51.640 --> 00:36:57.620 this region is the paddling trails. You know, and they've done an excellent job of reaching 00:36:57.620 --> 00:37:05.160 out to their neighbors and surrounding communities on the lakes to provide, you know, additional 00:37:05.160 --> 00:37:12.040 trail access and paddling access, canoe access to in and around the area. And so the overall 00:37:12.040 --> 00:37:19.880 vision for the plan is, you know, looking at a series of connection points, access, how 00:37:19.880 --> 00:37:26.720 do we enhance and really look at these destination parks? What type of amenities or facilities 00:37:26.720 --> 00:37:31.840 should be incorporated into those? And then, you know, look at, you know, how do we provide 00:37:31.840 --> 00:37:36.240 parks and access to accommodate, you know, all the development and growth that's happening 00:37:36.240 --> 00:37:45.000 and occurring in Denton? So next steps, again, as mentioned before, 00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:50.680 we've got a series of engagement meetings. We've got an engagement meeting tomorrow morning 00:37:50.680 --> 00:37:58.160 with staff. Then also on March 4th, we have our first virtual public meeting, and we'll 00:37:58.160 --> 00:38:05.200 get the invites sent out. And you guys, again, welcome to attend and to participate in that. 00:38:05.200 --> 00:38:11.880 From there, we're going to continue our needs assessment of the recommendations for the 00:38:11.880 --> 00:38:18.280 plan. Then as part of the process, again, is look at an abbreviated online survey to 00:38:18.280 --> 00:38:24.480 reach out to the citizens, make sure that we're addressing any other needs or concerns 00:38:24.480 --> 00:38:29.720 and for the project. So before I start on the next phase, are there any other additional 00:38:29.720 --> 00:38:40.800 questions or comments that you may have here? >> I have a comment, question, kind of something 00:38:40.800 --> 00:38:50.240 to consider. You were talking about adding art and culture into the trails and the parks. 00:38:50.240 --> 00:38:57.880 And I would just like to add that I think we should be looking at cultural history of 00:38:57.880 --> 00:39:04.840 the areas of those parks, and also making sure that the natural history is preserved 00:39:04.840 --> 00:39:15.040 as well. One of the things I worry about, especially with areas like Clear Creek, is 00:39:15.040 --> 00:39:22.040 as they become more of a destination, they lose some of the nature feel that they have 00:39:22.040 --> 00:39:29.720 right now. So I don't know how to put things in place to preserve that natural feeling. 00:39:29.720 --> 00:39:36.040 Because if you go to like one of the big preserves and say like Plano, I think Arbor Hills is 00:39:36.040 --> 00:39:43.080 one of the ones, it just doesn't feel like you're in nature. Right now, Clear Creek feels 00:39:43.080 --> 00:39:49.280 like you're in nature. And I would just like to know how we could preserve that feeling. 00:39:49.280 --> 00:39:56.760 >> You can take that one on Clear Creek. >> Clear Creek is unique in its own because 00:39:56.760 --> 00:40:04.040 it is a lease with the core of engineers. And anything that happens at Clear Creek has 00:40:04.040 --> 00:40:09.160 to get special permission. Clear Creek is also designated as an environmental sensitive 00:40:09.160 --> 00:40:19.600 area on their mapping systems and all their GIS maps. So obviously, most of us know anything 00:40:19.600 --> 00:40:25.240 that has to do with an ESA, you can't change. And especially with the Army Corps engineers, 00:40:25.240 --> 00:40:32.200 there's no permits to change their ESAs at all, and that is their property. So happy 00:40:32.200 --> 00:40:37.240 to say that Clear Creek will stay as natural as it is. 00:40:37.240 --> 00:40:44.960 >> What about the other areas that are maybe in the future park area that will definitely 00:40:44.960 --> 00:40:49.960 be growing really, really fast with lots of concrete? How do we make sure to preserve 00:40:49.960 --> 00:40:55.120 some of that nature? >> So we're working on that right now. Gary 00:40:55.120 --> 00:41:02.320 and I and other staff, we work with developers weekly on property, for instance. We hope 00:41:02.320 --> 00:41:09.280 to bring you a property soon that's actually a nationally recognized wetlands property. 00:41:09.280 --> 00:41:14.880 And you know, so it'll have something like, you know, Louisville has. And then we have 00:41:14.880 --> 00:41:19.240 other property, especially like with the, you know, prairie restoration and wildflower 00:41:19.240 --> 00:41:24.640 planning program that I brought a few months ago, you know, restoring those properties. 00:41:24.640 --> 00:41:30.940 You know, Haywood Morgan, our urban forester, is doing a tree transplanting project right 00:41:30.940 --> 00:41:37.520 now to remove post oaks from a property that's going to be developed. And now we're getting 00:41:37.520 --> 00:41:43.000 those properties and we'll continuously, you know, try to work on saving as many trees 00:41:43.000 --> 00:41:48.760 as we can from developed property into our undeveloped property that we have designated 00:41:48.760 --> 00:41:53.720 as undeveloped. And the only thing it'll have there is that experience for you to go like 00:41:53.720 --> 00:41:58.600 Clear Creek and soft surface trails for you to be able to go and experience nature. And 00:41:58.600 --> 00:42:04.560 of course that includes, you know, the wildflowers, the prairie restoration, wildlife habitats 00:42:04.560 --> 00:42:09.160 and wildlife corridors. 00:42:09.160 --> 00:42:23.920 A quick question. This is Denona. I'm just wondering, and it just goes back to the last 00:42:23.920 --> 00:42:31.840 question that was asked about the preservation piece. Is there a city or a suburban city 00:42:31.840 --> 00:42:39.760 or a large city or small town that we're kind of benchmarking ourselves against? You know, 00:42:39.760 --> 00:42:46.920 a lot of times when we look at a lot of the plans, you know, it's hard to see the larger 00:42:46.920 --> 00:42:53.400 vision of it. And so I'm just wondering, is there anybody that we strive to be like? Or, 00:42:53.400 --> 00:42:57.960 you know, of course we want to be like ourselves. We want to be like ourselves. But if we knew 00:42:57.960 --> 00:43:07.040 if the vision was more urban versus more sprawlish, then we could, I think as a board, at least 00:43:07.040 --> 00:43:11.400 have an idea of where we're all trying to go. 00:43:11.400 --> 00:43:19.160 So as part of the process, and we'll bet that with staff to determine, you know, what are 00:43:19.160 --> 00:43:25.840 the other comparable cities or cities that you would strive to be like, or better yet, 00:43:25.840 --> 00:43:32.320 let's be uniquely Denton. And I think that, again, you know, I've worked with many communities 00:43:32.320 --> 00:43:40.600 in around the state of Texas and beyond, but you guys have a such a unique geographic position 00:43:40.600 --> 00:43:46.520 and location with, you know, these extensive green belts, but also, you know, the vegetative 00:43:46.520 --> 00:43:53.320 quality that you have here in Denton. And so, again, there has to be a strike of balance 00:43:53.320 --> 00:44:00.840 and really and truly, you know, the footprint that is that you guys have laid already with 00:44:00.840 --> 00:44:05.600 the current parks. And again, I'll go back to know some of the strengths that you have 00:44:05.600 --> 00:44:11.760 here in Denton and the quality of trees, the way the trees were preserved. And, you know, 00:44:11.760 --> 00:44:17.960 to me, that is what makes your city, you know, unique. And so we will definitely be looking 00:44:17.960 --> 00:44:24.100 at now what other cities that are out there, either locally, regionally, or nationally, 00:44:24.100 --> 00:44:29.760 that we would compare ourselves to. Then in that same vein, how do we get there? You know, 00:44:29.760 --> 00:44:34.100 what steps need to be put in place? What preservation measures are there right now that we need 00:44:34.100 --> 00:44:40.720 to enhance or put in place to, you know, to make sure that we're preserving, you know, 00:44:40.720 --> 00:44:45.800 the natural character and vegetation here in Denton. 00:44:45.800 --> 00:44:47.600 Thank you. Brooke, did you have a question? 00:44:47.600 --> 00:44:52.480 Lenny, I was curious in regards to kind of public art, if you guys were looking at any 00:44:52.480 --> 00:44:58.280 kind of graffiti art in our interactive art places, we have acne brick, which could build 00:44:58.280 --> 00:45:05.840 a really cool wall or Peterbilt, and just kind of like you think about Cadillac Ranch, 00:45:05.840 --> 00:45:11.040 or like Peterbilt Ranch, and you can come spray them. It's an idea that I've talked 00:45:11.040 --> 00:45:16.440 to Gary about previously and presented to some groups, and everybody seems really like, 00:45:16.440 --> 00:45:23.400 "Oh, that's so Denton," and a little Austin as well with Hope Garden there, or Hope Park. 00:45:23.400 --> 00:45:26.280 But just throwing it out there, I don't know if that's something that you guys have looked 00:45:26.280 --> 00:45:27.280 into as well. 00:45:27.280 --> 00:45:31.800 We haven't looked into that yet, but I think, you know, comments like these will start to 00:45:31.800 --> 00:45:36.320 spur conversation, and, you know, and look at ways how do we incorporate that into, you 00:45:36.320 --> 00:45:41.560 know, the park vision. And really and truly, for me, it's creating the vision that makes 00:45:41.560 --> 00:45:47.560 -- you already have such a unique and eclectic city already, but how do we weave that into 00:45:47.560 --> 00:45:54.240 the park system? You know, my thought, my vision is, you know, going back to that map 00:45:54.240 --> 00:45:58.760 that showed all the different developments and the dust station parks and the series 00:45:58.760 --> 00:46:04.120 of trails there that you have in the city, but how do we make this -- yes, that image 00:46:04.120 --> 00:46:10.280 right there. So how do we make and weave in, you know, the qualities of preservation, art, 00:46:10.280 --> 00:46:16.520 culture, history, connectivity, and so that we can make this uniquely Denton? And to me, 00:46:16.520 --> 00:46:21.400 I think that's that overall vision that I have for the system is, how do we create this 00:46:21.400 --> 00:46:26.960 series of uniqueness here within the community? 00:46:26.960 --> 00:46:31.200 So I think that will start to spur our questions. If you guys want to go there. 00:46:31.200 --> 00:46:39.240 >> If I could just add one more comment to follow up Danona's thoughts. We have, in fact, 00:46:39.240 --> 00:46:46.000 Eddie has been working on this, identifying the cities we want to be like Mike. And it's 00:46:46.000 --> 00:46:52.160 not just one city per se, but we've started to narrow it down to the cities that do trails 00:46:52.160 --> 00:46:57.040 best. The cities that do rec centers best. So we -- because not everybody does everything 00:46:57.040 --> 00:47:03.140 well. I mean, there's definitely some highlight cities out there for sure. But there's different 00:47:03.140 --> 00:47:08.320 things that we would like to pick and choose from different cities. So we started that 00:47:08.320 --> 00:47:12.000 and then we've been on a couple projects. So it needs to circle back around and get 00:47:12.000 --> 00:47:15.880 some more attention. But that is something that we started to do. And as soon as we get 00:47:15.880 --> 00:47:18.480 done with that, we'll definitely share it with our consultants. 00:47:18.480 --> 00:47:27.160 >> And can I add to that, Gary? You might. It's Eddie. And just exactly what Gary was 00:47:27.160 --> 00:47:32.760 saying. I think some of the criteria we're looking at as well is if there's like a university 00:47:32.760 --> 00:47:37.320 nearby very similar to population as well. You know, all very similar characteristics. 00:47:37.320 --> 00:47:44.600 But again, just not all cities, just like Gary have said that, you know, some do things 00:47:44.600 --> 00:47:47.560 a little bit better than others. So we're just kind of trying to follow that track that 00:47:47.560 --> 00:47:54.280 fits Denton, because there's not one particular city that is like Denton as well. 00:47:54.280 --> 00:47:59.200 But on another note, I'm not sure who's controlling the PowerPoint, but I think you might want 00:47:59.200 --> 00:48:05.240 to pull it down so the public could see, you know, the faces and the people who are asking 00:48:05.240 --> 00:48:19.120 the questions as well, just noting that. Yeah, so if it's Kendall, then, right? Are you the 00:48:19.120 --> 00:48:20.120 one who's controlling that? 00:48:20.120 --> 00:48:24.200 >> Yes, I didn't really understand what you were saying. 00:48:24.200 --> 00:48:28.960 >> So the PowerPoint presentation, this is being viewed by the community. We can't see 00:48:28.960 --> 00:48:34.560 everyone's face when they're asking a question. So do you mind pulling it down whenever there's 00:48:34.560 --> 00:48:35.560 a question? 00:48:35.560 --> 00:48:40.400 >> Oh, yes. I got -- yes, I understand. 00:48:40.400 --> 00:48:41.400 >> Thank you. 00:48:41.400 --> 00:48:45.840 >> Thank you. Okay. I think Jerry, you had a question? 00:48:45.840 --> 00:48:50.920 >> Yeah, and I want to drag you down because I'm trying to catch up here. But can you clarify 00:48:50.920 --> 00:48:55.680 what you mean by connectivity? I mean, you keep bringing that up, and I'm not sure what 00:48:55.680 --> 00:48:59.520 you're thinking about the connectivity aspect of it. 00:48:59.520 --> 00:49:06.280 >> So one really good example, and as we did our two-day tour, and, again, I was marveled 00:49:06.280 --> 00:49:16.080 by Clear Creek Park, just saying a destination, but also Quaker Town. There's a lot of history, 00:49:16.080 --> 00:49:22.760 a lot of culture. This is where the city does their business there. And as we went from 00:49:22.760 --> 00:49:36.680 Quaker Town out to, you know, we drove along, right, Mingo Road. There's several other potential 00:49:36.680 --> 00:49:45.720 park opportunities there along Mingo. And so if we can enhance that, the connectivity, 00:49:45.720 --> 00:49:50.160 if there are roadway projects that's happening and occurring now with the engineering and 00:49:50.160 --> 00:49:56.440 streets department, and we can piggyback on that and provide now this pedestrian connectivity 00:49:56.440 --> 00:50:03.200 and connect to Clear Creek, connect to Quaker Town, and connect to other parts of the community. 00:50:03.200 --> 00:50:10.320 To me, that's connectivity. How do we connect either through our bicycles, pedestrians, 00:50:10.320 --> 00:50:15.400 and various ways to incorporate and weave in art, history, and culture, education? I 00:50:15.400 --> 00:50:22.320 mean, there's some really nice, cool educational opportunities there along Mingo Road. And 00:50:22.320 --> 00:50:27.360 so how do we weave that into, you know, our network, our park system? 00:50:27.360 --> 00:50:31.760 >> Well, thank you. That's awesome. Yes, thank you. 00:50:31.760 --> 00:50:32.760 >> Sure. 00:50:32.760 --> 00:50:38.720 >> I have just a quick question. I joined late. Sorry about that. Lenny, I was just 00:50:38.720 --> 00:50:46.000 wondering what organization you are from. Met you before. 00:50:46.000 --> 00:50:51.520 >> I'm with Half Associates. I've been with Half now for about 25, 26 years now. 00:50:51.520 --> 00:50:52.520 >> Okay. 00:50:52.520 --> 00:50:59.440 >> I lead our recreation and planning teams in North Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas. 00:50:59.440 --> 00:51:01.440 >> Okay. Thank you. 00:51:01.440 --> 00:51:06.920 >> Yes, you're welcome. Yes, sir. 00:51:06.920 --> 00:51:10.120 >> Yes. Yes, Mr. Freed. 00:51:10.120 --> 00:51:16.560 >> Hi. Sorry. I couldn't get myself unmuted there for a second. Hi. Thank you, people 00:51:16.560 --> 00:51:21.880 at Half, for your presentation, first and foremost. So this is set to be complete at 00:51:21.880 --> 00:51:23.840 the end of this year. Is that correct? 00:51:23.840 --> 00:51:25.480 >> Yes, that is correct. 00:51:25.480 --> 00:51:30.800 >> Awesome. Blossom. And yeah, I just wanted to uplift kind of what I'm hearing from a 00:51:30.800 --> 00:51:36.040 lot of people on the board about I'm all about having those benchmarks like Gary mentioned, 00:51:36.040 --> 00:51:40.040 like who's doing the best at this, who's doing the best at that, and then also staying very 00:51:40.040 --> 00:51:45.240 uniquely Denton to our own identities and wanting to uplift the preservation side in 00:51:45.240 --> 00:51:50.680 that I feel like there can be this marriage of both, right? Where we find parks where 00:51:50.680 --> 00:51:57.280 more interactive, very cool Cadillac Ranch style. I've been there, actually. I went during 00:51:57.280 --> 00:52:01.320 COVID because it was an outdoor activity where you could just go do something, right? Brooke, 00:52:01.320 --> 00:52:08.160 I totally hear that. I went there and went to Palo Duro Canyon and went, you know, backpacking. 00:52:08.160 --> 00:52:12.120 But also having those like Clear Creek being preserved, right? Not adding in elements that 00:52:12.120 --> 00:52:18.320 kind of take away from the natural aspect of what we want to keep. And I know that we've 00:52:18.320 --> 00:52:24.360 had lots of meetings and that you guys have had over 40 was listed in the, you know, the 00:52:24.360 --> 00:52:28.280 advisory sheet. So I know that you're doing the due diligence. I just wanted to uplift 00:52:28.280 --> 00:52:33.760 that and like keep that as a fun, like, center focal point. But yeah, thank you all for your 00:52:33.760 --> 00:52:38.080 presentation and your hard work. So I think there's a few more slides and I think, Lenny, 00:52:38.080 --> 00:52:42.280 some of those questions are going to tie into some of this. So why don't we go ahead and 00:52:42.280 --> 00:52:47.720 work through that so we can collect that data in your presentation. Yeah, thank you, Gary. 00:52:47.720 --> 00:52:54.520 So as far as process, we've got three questions and, you know, I would like, basically, I'll 00:52:54.520 --> 00:53:00.800 read the questions to everyone. And if you guys can either jot down your thoughts, you 00:53:00.800 --> 00:53:06.160 know, can they be your top three, right? And so they will go around the room, they will 00:53:06.160 --> 00:53:09.640 ask everyone to kind of present their idea. And, you know, I know we have limited time 00:53:09.640 --> 00:53:16.960 here, so we want to make sure that we use everyone's time as best as possible. But thinking 00:53:16.960 --> 00:53:23.660 about the big vision and, you know, there's, we heard a lot about preservation and protection 00:53:23.660 --> 00:53:28.600 of our natural resources and connectivity and, you know, how do we weave in our culture, 00:53:28.600 --> 00:53:37.380 how do we make this plan uniquely Denton? But how do you envision Denton in 10 years? 00:53:37.380 --> 00:53:42.920 What is your, how do you foresee your community 10 years from now? If you had a crystal ball, 00:53:42.920 --> 00:53:49.560 can look into it. And, you know, so we've, we've brought this one, what is, you know, 00:53:49.560 --> 00:53:55.560 what do you envision for your community? So I'll give everyone, you know, I'll give it 00:53:55.560 --> 00:54:00.840 a minute or two for everyone to think about it, jot some answers down. And, you know, 00:54:00.840 --> 00:54:08.720 I know this is, we're doing this COVID, we're COVID friendly. But if you can, if you have 00:54:08.720 --> 00:54:15.400 something that's on your notes, and maybe you can take a photo of that, email that to 00:54:15.400 --> 00:54:21.200 Gary and Drew or the, or to your, actually to your, your cardboard chair, that way we 00:54:21.200 --> 00:54:24.320 can still collect all the information with that. 00:54:24.320 --> 00:54:30.120 So Penny, I have a question for you. I'm a fundraiser. So whenever I hear these questions, 00:54:30.120 --> 00:54:36.640 I assume that cost is no limit. Is this what we're going on the basis? Okay. We're dreaming 00:54:36.640 --> 00:54:41.280 big. I'm a dreamer. So you're asking the right person. I just needed to confirm that cost 00:54:41.280 --> 00:54:45.440 is no limit. Okay. Thank you. Make sure that, you know, when we, at the end of the day, that 00:54:45.440 --> 00:54:49.500 Gary and his folks have funding in place to support it. 00:54:49.500 --> 00:54:50.500 Sure. 00:54:50.500 --> 00:54:54.320 This is Texas. Everything's big in Texas. Okay. 00:54:54.320 --> 00:55:00.480 Right. So everyone's had that opportunity to write their comments down. And so the first 00:55:00.480 --> 00:55:07.240 question is, how do you envision Denton in 10 years? And so I want to bring up the, you 00:55:07.240 --> 00:55:15.520 want to type here or do we want to bring up the, the full view of everyone? What's your 00:55:15.520 --> 00:55:23.120 thoughts on that? There we go. Great. So the question is, how do you envision Denton in 00:55:23.120 --> 00:55:30.960 10 years? And so I'm going to start around the horn and on my screen, we have Mr. Whitmore 00:55:30.960 --> 00:55:37.200 to the, to my, to my left. And so I'll let, and the rules of engagement. You only give 00:55:37.200 --> 00:55:43.400 one answer right now. And then if they're in effect, yes, I know that we have a lot 00:55:43.400 --> 00:55:47.840 of overachievers here, right? So, but we're going to give one answer. Then we're going 00:55:47.840 --> 00:55:51.600 to go to the next person. They're going to give one answer. But if that answer is on 00:55:51.600 --> 00:55:55.760 your sheet, strike that off and go down to your next comment. Okay. 00:55:55.760 --> 00:56:01.520 Hey, Lenny, do you just want to focus on the park board, the park board members? Yes. Yeah. 00:56:01.520 --> 00:56:06.800 Okay. Okay. So John's a staff member. I'm sorry, John. I'll go ahead. I'll go ahead 00:56:06.800 --> 00:56:11.520 and lead it just to help with that. So I'll start with the most important person on the 00:56:11.520 --> 00:56:21.040 screen is Francis as our chair. I see Denton a continuous place of growth and education 00:56:21.040 --> 00:56:28.880 and diversity. So growth, diversity, diversity and education. All right. All right. Jerry 00:56:28.880 --> 00:56:42.480 Dooley. You put me on the spot day one, right? Gary, that's slick, man. No, I'll see. I mean, 00:56:42.480 --> 00:56:45.840 there's a lot of growth happening in Denton and I don't want to see that growth inhibited 00:56:45.840 --> 00:56:51.000 by any means, but Denton has a unique character with the arts and the culture and the diversity 00:56:51.000 --> 00:56:57.360 and the history. So if there's a way we can balance the growth and still maintain the 00:56:57.360 --> 00:57:11.280 Denton-ness, does that make sense? I don't want to turn into Frisco. Okay. Okay. Alana, 00:57:11.280 --> 00:57:19.960 I should have said you second as a vice chair. So vice chair. Well, since I can't repeat anything, 00:57:19.960 --> 00:57:37.520 I see Denton as a place where children can play freely in nature. Okay. Didona. I'm sorry. 00:57:37.520 --> 00:57:46.760 I'm at work. So I've got two things going on. When I saw that question on the screen 00:57:46.760 --> 00:57:53.040 just a few minutes ago, I thought about, you know, cities that I've lived in before. I 00:57:53.040 --> 00:57:58.760 lived in Portland, Oregon. And so that's a city that, you know, has lots of mass transit. 00:57:58.760 --> 00:58:05.800 We are developing mass transit with our rail system, our train system. And I love that. 00:58:05.800 --> 00:58:13.040 And I would love to see development around that and parks and rec have an influence and 00:58:13.040 --> 00:58:20.640 footprint around the train line. Yeah. And that's a very important aspect of it because 00:58:20.640 --> 00:58:26.840 again, if you go back to the map, I won't go back to it now, but there's a lot of development 00:58:26.840 --> 00:58:32.840 opportunities in the city. And I think, Gary, I pointed out before that there's potential 00:58:32.840 --> 00:58:43.280 to expand the DCTA line and, you know, it goes further out. But, you know, one thing 00:58:43.280 --> 00:58:48.600 is that, you know, how do we weave in, you know, there may be a new classifications when 00:58:48.600 --> 00:58:52.600 we talk about urban parks. You know, I said I have pocket parks or maybe urban parks that 00:58:52.600 --> 00:59:02.160 could be part of this new network of amenities and facilities here in the city. 00:59:02.160 --> 00:59:12.840 James? Yeah. Well, I, my vision is that we have a, you know, I've also been in near Portland, 00:59:12.840 --> 00:59:19.000 Beaverton, Oregon. I lived out there for several years. I didn't know that, you know, but anyway, 00:59:19.000 --> 00:59:25.280 but I, my vision is that we have a large, we have one of the best music schools in United 00:59:25.280 --> 00:59:34.220 States of America right here. And my vision is that it's a very, very large park, 50 plus 00:59:34.220 --> 00:59:41.680 acres in the areas that is most accessible, that these musical groups and talent can be 00:59:41.680 --> 00:59:47.320 brought in, kind of like South by Southwest, but a more culturalized version of it, you 00:59:47.320 --> 00:59:55.200 know, with more artistic venues and a better, you know, a trail system that comes into that 00:59:55.200 --> 01:00:04.160 area wherever that becomes. My opinion is, is that I think that Quaker Town is one of 01:00:04.160 --> 01:00:09.840 the most beautiful parks around. The only problem with it is it's too small for a city 01:00:09.840 --> 01:00:18.120 to size or don't even be smaller as it gets bigger. So my vision, I wish for, I know I'm 01:00:18.120 --> 01:00:23.800 a dreamer outside the realm here, but that we have a 50 plus acre. They, for example, 01:00:23.800 --> 01:00:28.800 they have Zilker Park down in Austin, which is huge. And you got plenty of room for parking 01:00:28.800 --> 01:00:34.640 and music and all that. I'll tell you, the musicians up here are just low. I mean, they're 01:00:34.640 --> 01:00:42.680 just 10 times better music up here. And I think we should take advantage of that. 01:00:42.680 --> 01:00:54.400 Sorry, trying to unmute. Okay. I want to throw another angle. What I wrote down was actually 01:00:54.400 --> 01:01:00.560 just kind of a short phrase of living and working and experience. And I think that one 01:01:00.560 --> 01:01:08.100 of the things that I wish Denton had a little bit more of is the ability for people to stay 01:01:08.100 --> 01:01:13.880 in Denton for all of their things. I know too many people who have to leave Denton for 01:01:13.880 --> 01:01:23.140 work, for activities elsewhere. I would love for the Denton experience to be everything 01:01:23.140 --> 01:01:27.800 that somebody needs. And that requires pretty good balance, right? I mean, you don't want 01:01:27.800 --> 01:01:33.860 to turn it into urban sprawl because one of the things that we need is also experience 01:01:33.860 --> 01:01:39.480 and that experience being parks or outdoors and all of that. So, I think it's a tough 01:01:39.480 --> 01:01:43.360 balancing act, but one of the things I would really like to see is it not, I hate to call 01:01:43.360 --> 01:01:46.480 it a bedroom community because there's a lot of people that work here in Denton, obviously, 01:01:46.480 --> 01:01:50.480 but there are so many people, myself included, that have to commute 30 miles away for my 01:01:50.480 --> 01:01:56.280 job because of specific opportunities. And I would love to see a balance of that in Denton 01:01:56.280 --> 01:01:59.640 in 10 years. Thank you. 01:01:59.640 --> 01:02:07.400 Thank you, George. I get to go last. What's great about that, thank you, Gary, is I got 01:02:07.400 --> 01:02:14.400 to hear all of my fellow board members' opinions. And I think to Dave's point, that brings up 01:02:14.400 --> 01:02:20.240 a really great word that Mr. Hughes kept using, which is connectivity, right? How do we solve 01:02:20.240 --> 01:02:25.040 a lot of these issues? And it's with connectivity. We've talked about the master plan having 01:02:25.040 --> 01:02:30.900 that giant connective oval of Denton from park to park. Eventually, 10, 20 years from 01:02:30.900 --> 01:02:36.500 now, that could be a possibility. I think part of it is, and what I wrote down is equitable 01:02:36.500 --> 01:02:43.520 availability to green space. And I think uplifting what Dinona was saying, with mass transit 01:02:43.520 --> 01:02:49.420 being developed, it's also bike paths, connectivity of paths to get to work. If people could get 01:02:49.420 --> 01:02:54.480 around without a car, maybe they would have a different job. They could be in Denton. 01:02:54.480 --> 01:03:01.580 They wouldn't have to X, Y, Z. They'd have easier transport. Lower our footprint. Connectivity 01:03:01.580 --> 01:03:07.860 to me is the buzzword of this conversation. And I think that that would help solve a lot 01:03:07.860 --> 01:03:21.580 of concerns and would also uplift our status on the map of Texas, right? What we hold and 01:03:21.580 --> 01:03:26.700 how much value we put in these spaces and how we can connect our community better. 01:03:26.700 --> 01:03:33.380 Very good. Appreciate that. Lenny, we have two more questions, correct? 01:03:33.380 --> 01:03:39.180 Yes, sir. But before I move on, is there anything that someone wrote down that has not been 01:03:39.180 --> 01:03:46.300 mentioned before? I wrote clean our parks only because I clean 01:03:46.300 --> 01:03:51.100 up trash in our parks all the time, which usually comes down to the type of trash cans 01:03:51.100 --> 01:03:56.740 we have. Some of our parks have really terrible trash cans, but it's very expensive to replace 01:03:56.740 --> 01:04:02.060 trash cans and that's a hard sell. Well, I wrote composting. You're fine. 01:04:02.060 --> 01:04:15.700 I think Drew and I had a very extensive conversation about cans. Good. All right. Anything else 01:04:15.700 --> 01:04:21.100 to add? Anyone? All right. Let's go on to question number two and I don't know if you 01:04:21.100 --> 01:04:30.660 could pull that back up again, please. So question two is a two-part question. And 01:04:30.660 --> 01:04:36.060 the first part of that is what is the biggest challenge that Denton faces related to parks 01:04:36.060 --> 01:04:43.300 and recreation today? What is the biggest challenge that you guys face in parks today? 01:04:43.300 --> 01:04:47.660 And then also part of that is what do you anticipate the biggest challenge will be in 01:04:47.660 --> 01:04:54.780 the future? So we're thinking about today, parks and recreation, one of the challenges 01:04:54.780 --> 01:04:59.120 that you guys are seeing right now currently, but also one of the challenges in the future 01:04:59.120 --> 01:05:06.940 that you see parks and recreation having. So we'll leave that up here for about a minute 01:05:06.940 --> 01:05:15.420 or two. Everyone can jot down their questions or their answers. But think about what are 01:05:15.420 --> 01:05:22.580 the challenges that we face now and what are the challenges that we face in the future. 01:05:22.580 --> 01:05:32.620 And this is dealing particularly with parks and recreation. All right. So let's bring 01:05:32.620 --> 01:05:39.800 the full screen up. And Gary, you want to kick us off again? And this doesn't have to 01:05:39.800 --> 01:05:44.260 be in that same order. If you want to mix it up a little bit, that's fine. 01:05:44.260 --> 01:05:51.420 That's okay. I'm ready. I'll get it started. Today, I think the biggest challenge is access. 01:05:51.420 --> 01:05:56.540 In the future, I think the biggest challenge is going to be parking. 01:05:56.540 --> 01:06:01.820 So talk a little bit about that. You said access. What do you mean by access and parking? 01:06:01.820 --> 01:06:11.140 Access, we don't have enough parks yet. We are acquiring them. But we don't have enough 01:06:11.140 --> 01:06:17.800 parks yet that everyone can access a park within 10 minutes. And I know that is part 01:06:17.800 --> 01:06:26.380 of the plan. And parking in Denton is an issue now. And I think it's going to be a larger 01:06:26.380 --> 01:06:33.640 issue in the future. So would you say that either the parks that 01:06:33.640 --> 01:06:43.620 you currently have, they don't have adequate enough parking now? Or do you -- or do the 01:06:43.620 --> 01:06:50.980 parks -- and I didn't get a chance to do the visit. Probably 95% of your parks. Or do they 01:06:50.980 --> 01:06:58.060 not have parking at the parks? So it's kind of a twofold -- two different things. There's 01:06:58.060 --> 01:07:04.780 not enough parking. And some of that may be by design. So typically your neighbor parks, 01:07:04.780 --> 01:07:10.020 people traditionally would walk there. And so I didn't notice several of that. And so 01:07:10.020 --> 01:07:16.140 whether there is parking, it is smaller. But the idea, you know, we talk about this 10 01:07:16.140 --> 01:07:21.140 minute walk, is to encourage people to get out and actually walk or bike to a park. 01:07:21.140 --> 01:07:24.260 So -- >> That is correct. The future parks seem 01:07:24.260 --> 01:07:32.860 to be larger parks. And destination parks. So that's where the parking comes in as an 01:07:32.860 --> 01:07:37.620 issue. >> Definitely at Quaker Town, when any type 01:07:37.620 --> 01:07:47.460 of events would happen at Quaker, I can see parking be an issue. And also a premium. So 01:07:47.460 --> 01:07:55.700 yeah. >> George? 01:07:55.700 --> 01:08:00.180 >> I also want to double down on the 10 minute park plan. I think that's -- when I first 01:08:00.180 --> 01:08:05.300 heard that, the first time I came out of Gary's mouth, I was like, this is it. You know, that's 01:08:05.300 --> 01:08:10.900 exactly what it is, Gary. That's 100% what equitable access looks like. That's so important 01:08:10.900 --> 01:08:17.220 and so vital. I think our future goal, because that's our current, our future goal needs 01:08:17.220 --> 01:08:29.300 to be along that path, thinking about more adaptive play, more accessible ADA, compliant 01:08:29.300 --> 01:08:36.300 or ADA, just being more open to alternative designs to ensure that everyone gets access 01:08:36.300 --> 01:08:43.620 to play at these playgrounds that are supposed to be, you know, near their homes. 01:08:43.620 --> 01:08:55.860 >> Ms. Taylor? You're still on mute. >> You would think since I've been on Zoom 01:08:55.860 --> 01:09:03.860 all day, I would have that down. Okay. So the current challenge I think we face is definitely 01:09:03.860 --> 01:09:09.260 funding, especially like short-term. We don't know what's going to happen with COVID and 01:09:09.260 --> 01:09:16.820 now all these other things. You know, new parks don't seem as important when people 01:09:16.820 --> 01:09:24.540 don't have clean water to drink. So I think that's currently one of our biggest challenges. 01:09:24.540 --> 01:09:31.580 In the future, I feel like extreme weather is going to be one of our biggest challenges 01:09:31.580 --> 01:09:41.060 as our summers keep getting hotter and we have less shade. I don't even hardly go outside 01:09:41.060 --> 01:09:50.140 during the day in the summertime because it just hurts. And the more we develop and the 01:09:50.140 --> 01:09:55.820 more we concrete everything, the hotter it keeps getting. So I think, you know, we have 01:09:55.820 --> 01:10:01.140 our tree program. That's good. But we also have to think of, you know, other ways to 01:10:01.140 --> 01:10:10.620 shade connectivity areas, trails, or they just don't get used for a large portion of 01:10:10.620 --> 01:10:21.620 the year. David. All right. I put down that the biggest challenge of today is trying to 01:10:21.620 --> 01:10:28.260 meet a very dynamic and quickly moving target. We're dealing with absolutely incomprehensible 01:10:28.260 --> 01:10:35.260 growth that the best planners 10 or 15 years ago didn't see. I mean, they knew there was 01:10:35.260 --> 01:10:39.780 going to be growth, but who would have ever anticipated what we're seeing today and what's 01:10:39.780 --> 01:10:48.320 on the map for the future. So I think trying to hit a moving target and not look like you 01:10:48.320 --> 01:10:55.900 had no plan is probably a pretty big challenge. I think for me, what I wrote down for biggest 01:10:55.900 --> 01:11:00.340 challenges from the future is, you know, I suspect we might not even know what those 01:11:00.340 --> 01:11:06.140 challenges are. They may be challenges that don't even exist today. But one of the challenges 01:11:06.140 --> 01:11:14.500 I think is from even from a maintenance side, trying to decide what to invest in, because 01:11:14.500 --> 01:11:21.780 technology is moving so quickly, trying to make the right decisions on maintaining our 01:11:21.780 --> 01:11:27.900 assets with both bringing in things of new technology, but not investing in the wrong 01:11:27.900 --> 01:11:31.780 ones or ones that are quickly outdated. And I think that's probably a pretty significant 01:11:31.780 --> 01:11:43.620 challenge in the future. Thank you, James. Thank you. Sure term. I also agree with the 01:11:43.620 --> 01:11:49.940 10 minute access. I think Gary summarized that extremely well. You know, that access 01:11:49.940 --> 01:11:56.940 be 10 minutes away for anybody in the city, which leads to my, you know, my big thing 01:11:56.940 --> 01:12:05.380 is I'm a real big planner on getting this much park land as you possibly can up front. 01:12:05.380 --> 01:12:12.900 And I know that money and all that good stuff. But I think that the city's doing now buying 01:12:12.900 --> 01:12:18.500 land and hopefully buying some more in the future is the way to go. Because, you know, 01:12:18.500 --> 01:12:26.500 you can't I know the we all know that the demand is going to be changed very dynamically 01:12:26.500 --> 01:12:32.020 if you say David, David, but if you don't have the land, it doesn't matter what you 01:12:32.020 --> 01:12:37.900 want, you know, your needs are you have no land to do it on. So to me, I'm just a fundamental 01:12:37.900 --> 01:12:44.180 kind of guy, get the land, get the land, and when in doubt, get the land. So that's where 01:12:44.180 --> 01:12:53.460 I stand. That's my future. That's where I'm at. And Jerry. Well, I'm going to piggyback 01:12:53.460 --> 01:12:58.580 on George that like, yeah, the bike trails to give access further access to it will alleviate 01:12:58.580 --> 01:13:05.580 a lot of the parking if the connectivity is there. The biggest challenge in the future 01:13:05.580 --> 01:13:11.180 is I see the growth. I mean, you can't you can't stop the growth. And I don't want to, 01:13:11.180 --> 01:13:16.700 but it's inhibiting the green spaces. Clear Creek is dear to my heart. I spent a lot of 01:13:16.700 --> 01:13:24.680 time out there. There's a lot of talk about development out there, which I mean, there's 01:13:24.680 --> 01:13:30.620 got to be a way to balance. And as one Elena was talking about the heat, if you had the 01:13:30.620 --> 01:13:37.740 trails through the protected green spaces, as well, let people get out more. So it's 01:13:37.740 --> 01:13:42.620 balancing the growth against retaining the green space. And like James said, yeah, by 01:13:42.620 --> 01:13:47.020 the land protected, however you can. So I'm just going to give a thumbs up to all the 01:13:47.020 --> 01:13:54.220 questions and answers before me and say it was my idea, too. Well, I will say something 01:13:54.220 --> 01:14:02.820 that, you know, again, when I first saw Clear Creek, it's a marvelous property that you guys 01:14:02.820 --> 01:14:09.620 have. And, you know, it's it's me thankful that you guys is now parks preview. And it's 01:14:09.620 --> 01:14:14.700 really is one of the largest green space areas in a Metroplex. The other one that that's 01:14:14.700 --> 01:14:19.660 kind of comparable to that is Lila. Yeah, Lila. Yeah. Lake Louisville environmental 01:14:19.660 --> 01:14:26.060 learning area. And you think about the footprint. And again, it's a core property core facility 01:14:26.060 --> 01:14:33.380 is leased by the city of Louisville. And, you know, if you look at some of those same 01:14:33.380 --> 01:14:39.780 principles there, they've got the core road access, they got designated parking areas. 01:14:39.780 --> 01:14:47.560 It is gated. So you start to limit the amount of traffic and, you know, that that happens 01:14:47.560 --> 01:14:54.700 in an internal property. But again, just knowing and understanding how the core works. It is 01:14:54.700 --> 01:15:01.560 a very light footprint that's there. And so keeping those that ideology in mind, you know, 01:15:01.560 --> 01:15:05.500 keeping those same principles there of, you know, treading light, land, preserving what's 01:15:05.500 --> 01:15:14.060 what's important. But, you know, how do we make it accessible to the public? Lenny, we 01:15:14.060 --> 01:15:22.300 have one more question. Yes, sir. All right. Last question. We pull that up real quick. 01:15:22.300 --> 01:15:26.240 And so we talked about, you know, and some of you guys have brought this up from your 01:15:26.240 --> 01:15:32.100 previous stays and living in other communities. But what park and recreation amenities have 01:15:32.100 --> 01:15:36.740 you seen in other communities that you think would be feasible or would like to see in 01:15:36.740 --> 01:15:41.940 Denton? Now, what park amenities and recreation amenities would you like to see within your 01:15:41.940 --> 01:15:51.060 community? So again, I'll give it a few minutes. You know, one of the things that I do is whenever 01:15:51.060 --> 01:15:54.760 I go on vacation, you know, I'll look and see, well, what parks can I go to? What trails 01:15:54.760 --> 01:16:00.100 are out that are out there? You know, how can I see what the city is about other than 01:16:00.100 --> 01:16:05.460 restaurants and shopping? You know, there's a lot of great nature and recreational areas 01:16:05.460 --> 01:16:11.340 in a lot of communities. But, you know, what is what is unique? What is what is it that 01:16:11.340 --> 01:16:22.900 you'd like and what would you like to see here within Denton? All right. We'll bring 01:16:22.900 --> 01:16:36.180 the screen back up. Francis? Amphitheaters. Amphitheaters. Now, is there one in particular 01:16:36.180 --> 01:16:45.340 that you like or have seen before? No. No. Okay. You just want an amphitheater in town. 01:16:45.340 --> 01:16:53.060 I mean, I've seen several, but yes, but none that I have to have here in Denton. I just 01:16:53.060 --> 01:16:59.940 think we would benefit from more amphitheaters to tie into the music that we do have access 01:16:59.940 --> 01:17:08.700 to. Great. Great. Alana? So I have a favorite amphitheater, but there's no way we're going 01:17:08.700 --> 01:17:19.460 to get one like it. And that's the Red Rock Amphitheater in Colorado. Okay. So for me, 01:17:19.460 --> 01:17:25.900 I said I would like to see more natural play things like big boulders to jump on and equipment 01:17:25.900 --> 01:17:35.420 that mimics trees and things that you would see in nature. I kind of sound like a broken 01:17:35.420 --> 01:17:51.180 record. We heard you. That's the next presentation. You're consistent, Alana. That's all. Danona? 01:17:51.180 --> 01:17:57.380 You know, going back to the whole having the parks, and parks has a great footprint right 01:17:57.380 --> 01:18:06.380 now along the rail. We've got some education signage along the rail. We've got trails along 01:18:06.380 --> 01:18:11.900 the rail, but even a larger footprint from parks and recreation along the rail. Maybe, 01:18:11.900 --> 01:18:22.340 you know, trees and tree canopy, something like that. But going back to Frances's amphitheater, 01:18:22.340 --> 01:18:29.260 even an amphitheater with, have you ever seen those amphitheaters, you know, where the stadium 01:18:29.260 --> 01:18:39.780 or the audience is layered and it's made from the ground? And you've got, I don't even know 01:18:39.780 --> 01:18:47.020 how to describe it. I'll have to draw a picture of it. But I'm sure you've seen those at, 01:18:47.020 --> 01:18:55.020 you know, the ground is not flat. You know, it goes up. It's at a diagonal at a 45 degree 01:18:55.020 --> 01:19:03.020 angle. And, you know, all of the seating is just grass. It's like a grassy area. So that 01:19:03.020 --> 01:19:14.100 would go in your amphitheater, Miss Punch. Like a coliseum? Yes, like a coliseum. I like 01:19:14.100 --> 01:19:26.140 to go out. James, you want to go ahead? Sure. Well, I'll just say that one of the things 01:19:26.140 --> 01:19:33.180 I really like as far as parks is, a lot of people don't realize it, but the river walk 01:19:33.180 --> 01:19:39.260 down there in San Antonio, it was started as a park trail. And it was a linear park 01:19:39.260 --> 01:19:44.660 trail and had, they started putting little playgrounds along the way so that parents 01:19:44.660 --> 01:19:50.340 could, you know, bring their families. So the businesses down there said, where's all 01:19:50.340 --> 01:19:58.060 the people? And he said, they're down there on the trail. And eventually hotels and restaurants 01:19:58.060 --> 01:20:03.100 and, you know, taverns and all sorts of things start showing up along the trail there. I 01:20:03.100 --> 01:20:08.340 wonder why? Because that's where all the people were going. So I'd like to make a destination 01:20:08.340 --> 01:20:15.900 trail. I just have a trail system that connects together, but also that has destination trails 01:20:15.900 --> 01:20:25.100 to go to that could be like a river walk. That's a great analogy there, James. And I 01:20:25.100 --> 01:20:30.580 think what you just, you know, having destination trails, I mean, that's not only trails act 01:20:30.580 --> 01:20:36.700 as a way of conveying people and pedestrian and bicycle traffic, but now these trails 01:20:36.700 --> 01:20:42.700 have become a destination. It's branded. You know, if you have the signage, the educational 01:20:42.700 --> 01:20:49.060 components of it, areas for interpretation, you know, to me, that is what makes that a 01:20:49.060 --> 01:20:55.340 trail unique. It's not just, you're actually stopping on the trail and enjoying it versus 01:20:55.340 --> 01:21:02.740 passing through. George. Yeah, so I lived in Brooklyn for a little while. And one of 01:21:02.740 --> 01:21:07.620 my favorite things to do would take the train and go to the West side to the Highline Park. 01:21:07.620 --> 01:21:11.740 If you've ever been in Manhattan and you've been to the Highline Park, you know, it's 01:21:11.740 --> 01:21:18.540 up, it's elevated. You walk, you get to see a bunch of plants and greenery along the way. 01:21:18.540 --> 01:21:22.740 You see art that's been graffiti on all these different buildings or art projects commissioned 01:21:22.740 --> 01:21:27.700 by the city. You know, you see industrial elements, industrial play elements, industrial 01:21:27.700 --> 01:21:32.340 elements that look like nature. You know, you, you get a whole mix. Plus you've got 01:21:32.340 --> 01:21:37.020 places to rest. You've got places you could exit and go eat. You know, it's a, it's along 01:21:37.020 --> 01:21:41.980 the line of a train. So like you've got your, your city feel to like that urban park kind 01:21:41.980 --> 01:21:45.640 of feel, you know, like to what, you know, what I was saying with like these urban parks 01:21:45.640 --> 01:21:49.700 near transit, like this would be a really great idea to kind of pair with that. And 01:21:49.700 --> 01:21:54.260 also with buildings that are being built around this park, encouraging them to take part of 01:21:54.260 --> 01:21:58.520 it, like how foliage growing outside of, you know, one side of their building that faces 01:21:58.520 --> 01:22:05.300 the sun, you know, helping produce more, you know, foliage to look at or art. 01:22:05.300 --> 01:22:08.460 Love it. David. 01:22:08.460 --> 01:22:16.400 Yeah, I'm going to piggyback on, on a little bit of all of that. I think the, the one asset 01:22:16.400 --> 01:22:21.260 that I was thinking about that, that I wish we had something like is, and that, that I 01:22:21.260 --> 01:22:26.340 would actually go travel to today, if it was still open, is the greenbelt trail that's, 01:22:26.340 --> 01:22:33.900 you know, just down 380. There's something really fantastic about that trail. It's so 01:22:33.900 --> 01:22:40.380 well maintained. Well, not now, but it was, and you know, 75% of the time you're under 01:22:40.380 --> 01:22:46.980 huge tree coverage and you only had to go about a quarter mile in before you felt like 01:22:46.980 --> 01:22:52.780 you were in the wilderness and you lost the sound of 380 and suddenly you had a river 01:22:52.780 --> 01:22:58.180 next to you. That is an amazing asset. And if we could have something like that, it would 01:22:58.180 --> 01:23:06.100 be that, that would be ideal for me. Great. And Jerry, you know, the only thing I can 01:23:06.100 --> 01:23:12.220 add to that, uh, the amphitheater ideas are great because we're just stupidly blessed 01:23:12.220 --> 01:23:18.900 with music and theater where we are, you know, and I, and I flashed back on how many people 01:23:18.900 --> 01:23:24.580 I know would just go play one afternoon, just had a space to go play. And then at some of 01:23:24.580 --> 01:23:30.340 my age now, I remember my parents taking us to drive in movies and there was a playground 01:23:30.340 --> 01:23:35.980 under the screen where my parents could watch the movie and they were watching us play and 01:23:35.980 --> 01:23:40.300 we were occupied. Not, we didn't care about Elvis Presley. So we wanted to go play right 01:23:40.300 --> 01:23:44.660 while they watched the Elvis Presley movies. So it's just a thought, you know, I mean, 01:23:44.660 --> 01:23:49.100 we, we should take advantage of the stupid amount of talent that we have here and just 01:23:49.100 --> 01:23:53.820 give people a chance to play. And, you know, it's one of those, if you build it, they will 01:23:53.820 --> 01:24:03.780 come things. I think. Okay. Lenny, that's everybody. Again, there's a lot of good comments 01:24:03.780 --> 01:24:14.480 and I really, I enjoy the energy that everyone has. Everyone is engaged, creative, imaginative, 01:24:14.480 --> 01:24:21.780 but also you guys are really grounded with, you know, the happenings and occurings here 01:24:21.780 --> 01:24:28.620 within the didn't park system. So again, I applaud you all for, for one being on a board 01:24:28.620 --> 01:24:35.040 and participating, but I mean, to me, this is what makes a good, healthy quality park 01:24:35.040 --> 01:24:43.280 system. And so if there are any other questions or comments or thoughts that you may have, 01:24:43.280 --> 01:24:50.780 please share those with us. Share those with Gary and Drew and his, and his team. And again, 01:24:50.780 --> 01:24:57.100 thank you all for today. And Kennedy, do you want to add anything to this? Oh, I'll just 01:24:57.100 --> 01:25:03.940 echo the, the thank you. Got a lot of good input. So thanks for your time. Absolutely. 01:25:03.940 --> 01:25:09.260 Thank you. Okay. Thank you so much for the information and all of your hard work. No, 01:25:09.260 --> 01:25:16.740 thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. Shall we go to the next item, Gary? Yes. We were going 01:25:16.740 --> 01:25:22.260 to skip item C and come back to that. That is correct. Yeah. We're going to move to item 01:25:22.260 --> 01:25:27.740 D and receive a report, hold a discussion and give staff input regarding the Southwest 01:25:27.740 --> 01:25:33.540 park master plan for the city of Denton park system. So two, two major discussions here 01:25:33.540 --> 01:25:38.620 today. One is the park system master plan. The second is, you know, potentially another 01:25:38.620 --> 01:25:45.180 one of those future destination parks, depending on how it's designed. So we hired TMP along 01:25:45.180 --> 01:25:52.100 with some of their consultant team to help us start to outline based on our needs assessment. 01:25:52.100 --> 01:25:57.420 Some of the items we just talked about and start incorporating those ideas into a park 01:25:57.420 --> 01:26:04.440 plan for the 195 plus acres down in South Denton. So I'm going to turn it over to Bill 01:26:04.440 --> 01:26:10.140 Smith. He's our lead consultant on the project. We worked with Bill on a couple other projects 01:26:10.140 --> 01:26:14.780 throughout the year. The TMP does a lot of work with the city. So Bill, I'll go ahead 01:26:14.780 --> 01:26:18.820 and let you drive the presentation and we'll go from there. Hi, everyone. Can everyone 01:26:18.820 --> 01:26:25.060 see the map on the screen? Yes. Okay. So I just wanted to go back in time a little bit 01:26:25.060 --> 01:26:30.020 to our last meeting and some of the things we've discussed and give a little context. 01:26:30.020 --> 01:26:37.540 This is the site here and this is I-35. This is 377. We're on the southwest side of town. 01:26:37.540 --> 01:26:41.500 These green blobs I'll zoom in in a moment. These are protected forest areas. There's 01:26:41.500 --> 01:26:47.060 pilot knob there. So we've got over 200 acres of that around the site. Fortunately, we don't 01:26:47.060 --> 01:26:52.700 have a developed forest on our site, but we're going to work on that. And you can see the 01:26:52.700 --> 01:26:57.820 protected forest areas, which I think is important. I just read an article today that somebody 01:26:57.820 --> 01:27:02.540 was proposing that kids should have three to five hours of outside time every single 01:27:02.540 --> 01:27:09.520 day and that's really healthy for them. So with this, in addition to the protected forest, 01:27:09.520 --> 01:27:14.480 that will help you move towards that. So we met with you all and met with the focus group 01:27:14.480 --> 01:27:19.700 and met with the public and solicited input and came up with a list of priorities for 01:27:19.700 --> 01:27:27.700 the park. And then from that, we developed a plan. You can see the, I just heard the 01:27:27.700 --> 01:27:32.180 last presentation, they did a really good job, but they were talking about the growth 01:27:32.180 --> 01:27:36.420 that's happening. And already these two on the south side of our site and on the north 01:27:36.420 --> 01:27:40.180 side of the site are two subdivisions that are one of them is already platted, the others 01:27:40.180 --> 01:27:45.820 in the process of being platted. So over here, Hunter Ranch on the west side, that is probably 01:27:45.820 --> 01:27:50.540 also getting ready to plow. We don't know what yet, but you know, probably eventually 01:27:50.540 --> 01:27:54.260 this will have to be developed all the way around on the site, even though right now 01:27:54.260 --> 01:28:01.420 it's kind of on the edge of town. So this also, just to give you, remember this road 01:28:01.420 --> 01:28:06.220 here, Rush Creek Road is going to come in, merge into Allred and this will connect to 01:28:06.220 --> 01:28:11.500 35, which it does not do today. But eventually this will be a connection to 35 and this will 01:28:11.500 --> 01:28:15.980 be the main road coming in and out of the park from the interstate. So for any historic 01:28:15.980 --> 01:28:20.380 regional event, if someone drives in, they'll come down Allred here and then they'll turn 01:28:20.380 --> 01:28:25.980 into the site. Perhaps we suggested this dash lines are all future roads and you might have 01:28:25.980 --> 01:28:29.500 a future road that comes through the Hunter Coal Ranch, Hunter Ranch property into our 01:28:29.500 --> 01:28:35.860 site here. It's about 200 acres. Here's of course, Bonnie Bray and these purple dots are 01:28:35.860 --> 01:28:41.860 pedestrian paths, which will tie into your trail system master plan, which you're working 01:28:41.860 --> 01:28:49.620 on now. Of course, all these streams are extremely good places to put a path because you're in 01:28:49.620 --> 01:28:55.740 the forest and it's also the right away acquisition is easier. So from that, we've developed a 01:28:55.740 --> 01:29:01.780 series of bubble plans, we call them. And there's three, we developed an A, a B and 01:29:01.780 --> 01:29:05.940 a C and let me just kind of go back over that real quickly. The rec center here, the red, 01:29:05.940 --> 01:29:11.340 you see that's buildings, okay. The bright green, that's like a baseball complex, maybe 01:29:11.340 --> 01:29:17.440 synthetic turf or something. And these other, the other green you see is open space or forest. 01:29:17.440 --> 01:29:22.300 So when concept A, we had a baseball complex up here on the north side and the rec center 01:29:22.300 --> 01:29:27.220 on the south side. On all of the concept, we kept the rec center because it's a high 01:29:27.220 --> 01:29:31.540 traffic. You'll get a lot of cars come and going. We kept it on the south side so that 01:29:31.540 --> 01:29:36.300 it would have easier access to all red and also to the interstate. And that doesn't gum 01:29:36.300 --> 01:29:42.300 up your streets with traffic on other sides of the park. So concept B then flips the rec 01:29:42.300 --> 01:29:46.780 center over here on the south side and has the baseball complex in the middle. And concept 01:29:46.780 --> 01:29:51.620 C has a rec center back here on the southwest corner. So it's the closest to the interstate, 01:29:51.620 --> 01:29:57.500 easiest access and has the baseball, softball complex here on the southeast corner. Ultimately 01:29:57.500 --> 01:30:02.180 in talking to you all in the focus group and the public, we realized the concept C was 01:30:02.180 --> 01:30:06.860 really the one that you all were asking for because it allowed us to create a big natural 01:30:06.860 --> 01:30:14.060 area up here on the north side. And then this baseball softball complex, it sort of shields 01:30:14.060 --> 01:30:19.820 the park X as a buffer for the neighborhood and allowed us to do the purplest parking. 01:30:19.820 --> 01:30:23.420 So by putting parking here in the middle, it allows it to serve not only the baseball 01:30:23.420 --> 01:30:29.300 softball complex, which isn't used all the time, but also serve the open space here. 01:30:29.300 --> 01:30:33.660 And so that also allowed us to create a big great lawn between this rec center and what 01:30:33.660 --> 01:30:38.260 we might do a pavilion. And then you can see this dark green space here. There's an existing 01:30:38.260 --> 01:30:42.900 drainage canal and an ephemeral stream. It's only wet part of the year, but there's a couple 01:30:42.900 --> 01:30:48.460 natural ponds here. So I'm sorry. There we go. Here's concept C. There's a couple of 01:30:48.460 --> 01:30:53.900 natural ponds here and the stream. And so that allowed us to preserve that and then 01:30:53.900 --> 01:31:00.620 start to think about this as being more preservation and open space. So from that, then I'm going 01:31:00.620 --> 01:31:04.460 to show you the master plan. So we concept C was the one that made the most sense for 01:31:04.460 --> 01:31:18.340 y'all. It's a big image. And so here's, here's concept C fleshed out in more detail. So again, 01:31:18.340 --> 01:31:22.180 you see the recreation center here on the Southwest corner. This is all red connecting 01:31:22.180 --> 01:31:28.300 to I-35 to our left. And this is the sage brush development that's being planned for 01:31:28.300 --> 01:31:32.660 the South side. And there's a development on the North side also being planned and entrances 01:31:32.660 --> 01:31:37.260 there. And you'll notice we lined up our ends is good traffic playing one-on-one. You want 01:31:37.260 --> 01:31:40.540 to, you don't want offsetting intersections. That's dangerous because you have people turning 01:31:40.540 --> 01:31:44.980 into each other. So that's why the entrance is where it is there. It's a sort of connect 01:31:44.980 --> 01:31:48.900 to make a safer intersection. But then you come in, we have a rec center. There's a big 01:31:48.900 --> 01:31:53.380 great lawn for events here, cause I heard you all talking about how, and this was also 01:31:53.380 --> 01:32:00.140 what we found in our, in our polling data, that concerts and outdoor movies and theater, 01:32:00.140 --> 01:32:05.140 all of that was really important to the cities and city of Denton. So this plan is what we 01:32:05.140 --> 01:32:11.580 call a balance plan. It has about 60% of the land up here is what we call the natural phase 01:32:11.580 --> 01:32:19.340 or in the natural area, about a 35% or so is this active use here. And about 15% is 01:32:19.340 --> 01:32:24.380 the indoor use. And I'll show you what that looks like here. And before I get into the, 01:32:24.380 --> 01:32:34.020 let me show you a big picture of what that looks like. Sorry, it's just taking a second 01:32:34.020 --> 01:32:38.620 to load here. I don't know why it's just a lot of, a lot going on in this image. Okay. 01:32:38.620 --> 01:32:43.000 You see the natural area here, the green is out blinding green, the active area outlined 01:32:43.000 --> 01:32:48.220 in yellow and the indoor area outlined in red. And this may or may not be decide how 01:32:48.220 --> 01:32:53.440 you decide to phase the park. In other words, you can decide, well, we've got funds available 01:32:53.440 --> 01:32:58.060 now to do the natural area first. Or that's not, we didn't necessarily do it. Or you might 01:32:58.060 --> 01:33:01.580 have, you know, we want to have, we have a bond for the, for the recreation center cause 01:33:01.580 --> 01:33:05.340 that's most important. Or we want to do a bond for the active area, you know, cause we 01:33:05.340 --> 01:33:08.860 have that, but those are generally how it's divided up. And I just kind of wanted to show 01:33:08.860 --> 01:33:17.620 you this so you can understand it conceptually. So in the, in the active area here, let's 01:33:17.620 --> 01:33:27.180 go over that. Sorry, this is the, the indoor area, the recreation center. Zoom in a little 01:33:27.180 --> 01:33:32.500 bit. So again, sorry, it's a little laggy. There's the rec center and this is not a design 01:33:32.500 --> 01:33:36.720 zone. Okay. So let me, let me, you're going to see some images here in a little bit. Nothing 01:33:36.720 --> 01:33:42.460 on this plan is designed other than the things that are going in the park and about how big 01:33:42.460 --> 01:33:46.220 they are. Okay. So if you see the shape of buildings, I don't like that. Don't worry 01:33:46.220 --> 01:33:50.460 cause that that's it. That is a decision for future that you all in the future is just 01:33:50.460 --> 01:33:57.140 saying we have a building here and we think it'll be about, um, 85,000 square feet. I 01:33:57.140 --> 01:34:01.820 believe it was something 138,000, sorry, 138. So we have a field house at a rec center 100, 01:34:01.820 --> 01:34:07.740 you know, about three and a half acres, um, and an outdoor rec and we know that we want 01:34:07.740 --> 01:34:12.300 it to look out over a lawn that can be used by the public and there'll be some parking 01:34:12.300 --> 01:34:16.940 here and we think that there might be a playground here, an inclusive playground here off to 01:34:16.940 --> 01:34:22.020 the side. Uh, so that is, that is what you should infer from this plan. Don't, don't 01:34:22.020 --> 01:34:27.500 read too much into the details is what I'm trying to advise you on. Okay. So then, um, 01:34:27.500 --> 01:34:30.940 so that's, that's that phase. This will probably be the most expensive part of the whole park 01:34:30.940 --> 01:34:35.420 here, right? This, in this building and everything that goes with it, that'll be the most expensive 01:34:35.420 --> 01:34:40.740 part of the park, even though it's the smallest phase, right? It'll be the most expensive 01:34:40.740 --> 01:34:44.660 and we'll, we'll be working on some cost estimates. Not yet. We want to hear your input and we'll 01:34:44.660 --> 01:34:48.820 start working on those cost estimates soon. Right? So here's the active phase here. Going 01:34:48.820 --> 01:34:56.420 to look at that and talk about some of that. And then we'll look at the overall, um, this 01:34:56.420 --> 01:35:01.180 is the, uh, baseball softball complex. So this is one of the, the, we talked about the 01:35:01.180 --> 01:35:05.460 bigger, putting rocks in a jar. I'm going to pick the big jars, the big rocks in first. 01:35:05.460 --> 01:35:08.540 So the indoor area, the rec center is a big rock. This is the other, probably the biggest 01:35:08.540 --> 01:35:16.220 rock in the whole park. And so this is a complex of 11 fields and, uh, we've shown, uh, baseball 01:35:16.220 --> 01:35:20.980 softball fields here of different sizes. You have different age groups and different abilities. 01:35:20.980 --> 01:35:27.300 Youth fields over here with parking lots, uh, be able to access those here and here. 01:35:27.300 --> 01:35:30.700 And then, uh, I made, this is a very important building here and maintenance building was 01:35:30.700 --> 01:35:34.180 something that was important in polling. And that would be here so you can access these 01:35:34.180 --> 01:35:41.220 fields easily. It's kind of hidden. So you've got your storage area behind it. Um, and then, 01:35:41.220 --> 01:35:44.580 uh, parking, this was one of the things that we really liked. The parking here serves both 01:35:44.580 --> 01:35:51.120 the great lawn and the soft baseball softball complex. So you can see there's a large pavilion 01:35:51.120 --> 01:35:55.940 here and I'll show you some images on that in a minute, but then you have this large 01:35:55.940 --> 01:36:00.860 axis that goes through this, through the park here that sort of helps organize the site 01:36:00.860 --> 01:36:05.540 visually. And as you go through it, it helps you make sense and kind of determine where 01:36:05.540 --> 01:36:09.860 you're going to go. And then also as part of the active part, we have these multi-use 01:36:09.860 --> 01:36:14.860 fields here. You can have up to three soccer fields or it could be overflow parking for 01:36:14.860 --> 01:36:20.620 a large event. Um, or, you know, if you've got these large tournaments, this, this type 01:36:20.620 --> 01:36:24.540 of facility, you could have very large tournaments here that can bring people in from out of 01:36:24.540 --> 01:36:32.660 town and provide revenue for the city. Um, so that would be, um, that would be, you know, 01:36:32.660 --> 01:36:38.220 something that is very popular. Um, but if it's not being used, you still can use the 01:36:38.220 --> 01:36:42.700 parking for this great lawn here. And this is about a quarter mile. Okay. This is about, 01:36:42.700 --> 01:36:49.020 I think about 1300, 1400 feet from end to end here. So give you an idea. It's very large. 01:36:49.020 --> 01:36:54.540 These are full size baseball softball field. So it's, it's very large. A quarter mile is 01:36:54.540 --> 01:36:59.520 about, you know, size of a long golf hole, for instance, it's, it's, it's long. And then 01:36:59.520 --> 01:37:05.260 behind that there's a place for a little, we want a different size spaces. So you don't 01:37:05.260 --> 01:37:08.780 have every space to be a big space. So we have a little special event garden here. You 01:37:08.780 --> 01:37:13.300 could have weddings or smaller events back here. City, again, could use this as a revenue 01:37:13.300 --> 01:37:21.040 generator to rent this space out. Um, so that, that can be very popular also. And then I'm 01:37:21.040 --> 01:37:25.180 just hitting the highlights here. Then let's go to the natural area and let's look at some 01:37:25.180 --> 01:37:33.860 images here. The biggest part of the park is the natural area. 01:37:33.860 --> 01:37:39.300 And so this is, we left this as forest. Now some of that will be restored for us. You 01:37:39.300 --> 01:37:44.100 restore that over a period of years and even decades to what it was before. But that's 01:37:44.100 --> 01:37:48.780 a process and that's kind of fun to see things change and see the rewilding that we're envisioning. 01:37:48.780 --> 01:37:52.700 That will take some time, but you can see and see this axis that runs through the site. 01:37:52.700 --> 01:37:56.860 There's a, there's a, there's the stream that's there. There's a fountain and pond here with 01:37:56.860 --> 01:38:01.900 a couple of docks with very natural soft edges, pavilion on that side, which will reflect 01:38:01.900 --> 01:38:06.940 into the pond, which will be really nice. And then going beyond that, we have restored 01:38:06.940 --> 01:38:11.420 Blackland Prairie, which is what, you know, if you went back 150 years ago, Blackland 01:38:11.420 --> 01:38:17.420 Prairie was what was, you know, 60 or 70% of this area. In addition to that, you had 01:38:17.420 --> 01:38:22.260 post oak savanna. So we're, we're, we're proposing for storing post oak savanna up 01:38:22.260 --> 01:38:27.100 here on the upland part of the highest part of the site, a restored Blackland Prairie 01:38:27.100 --> 01:38:36.580 here and then forest play here. And so we might have some very wild places here at the 01:38:36.580 --> 01:38:41.500 play. So I'm going to go just to the whole overall plan here and we'll look at some images 01:38:41.500 --> 01:38:48.900 here. So a big part of this northern part is educational. We've got a lot of places 01:38:48.900 --> 01:38:53.220 to where you can have natural learnings, outdoor learning pavilions. We've got two of them 01:38:53.220 --> 01:38:58.540 here on either side. And, um, let me just go through some of the images we've got here 01:38:58.540 --> 01:39:03.740 on the side. Again, I think, I don't know, I think I'm going to blame Zoom. I didn't 01:39:03.740 --> 01:39:08.260 have quite this much lagginess when I was just looking at the PDF, I apologize. So there's 01:39:08.260 --> 01:39:12.060 some ideas, but they, and again, stylistically, don't worry, we put one modern and one more 01:39:12.060 --> 01:39:16.660 traditional in here. The idea is it's something large and it's a focal point at the far end 01:39:16.660 --> 01:39:25.060 of the lawn for you to look at when you're, when you're looking here. That is the, what 01:39:25.060 --> 01:39:29.720 we, you know, that's that large. So it's a large, it's a large building, but it can provide 01:39:29.720 --> 01:39:34.260 like a band, it can be like a band shell. And then you can have this very large lawn 01:39:34.260 --> 01:39:40.220 out here to look at. And this is again, about a quarter of a mile. So you can get several 01:39:40.220 --> 01:39:45.340 thousand people out there, which would be great. All right. So let me go back here. 01:39:45.340 --> 01:39:49.460 The pond, this little small pond, we envision a little, this is about the size with a lighted 01:39:49.460 --> 01:39:53.460 fountain in the middle right here. So with a pavilion on the other side, I don't have 01:39:53.460 --> 01:39:59.260 a picture of that, but you know, a smaller version of this over here on this other side. 01:39:59.260 --> 01:40:04.740 Nature play, we envision that in the forest where you might have some natural playgrounds 01:40:04.740 --> 01:40:09.940 and Gary was alluding that earlier. And that would be a great place for kids to, you know, 01:40:09.940 --> 01:40:13.500 in Germany, they allow kids to play outside for several hours and they give them hammers 01:40:13.500 --> 01:40:17.540 and nails and saws and all kinds of things that we wouldn't do here. But these let them 01:40:17.540 --> 01:40:22.420 kind of go do what they want and let them, they don't program it at all. These give them 01:40:22.420 --> 01:40:29.620 a bunch of stuff and let them play. Let them use their imagination. Outdoor learning area. 01:40:29.620 --> 01:40:33.780 We just had a couple of ideas for that. You know, you could have, it could be indoor, 01:40:33.780 --> 01:40:40.900 outdoor, it could be completely outdoor. The small, special event garden, this was set 01:40:40.900 --> 01:40:44.060 up for a wedding or you could have outdoor education there. But again, it's the idea 01:40:44.060 --> 01:40:49.340 of a smaller space. Again, we want a balanced park. You have active and passive, small and 01:40:49.340 --> 01:40:55.060 large, natural and refined. So there's something for everyone all the time. And that helps 01:40:55.060 --> 01:41:00.340 just like a healthy ecosystem. Healthy park has a diversity of uses. Dog park, this is 01:41:00.340 --> 01:41:06.900 a grapevine and this little dog park here has synthetic turf. It is extremely popular there. 01:41:06.900 --> 01:41:14.140 The bark park and grapevine is extremely popular and it gets a lot, a lot of use. And the one, 01:41:14.140 --> 01:41:18.780 they have one with natural grass, one synthetic, the synthetic grass gets a lot more use. It's 01:41:18.780 --> 01:41:23.180 got a splash path, the dogs and everything. So it's very, very popular. So let me go here 01:41:23.180 --> 01:41:31.020 to this side. We'll go, don't worry. We'll go back to the plan here a little more. The 01:41:31.020 --> 01:41:35.660 soft baseball, softball complex, including an inclusive field is something we were thinking 01:41:35.660 --> 01:41:41.580 about. Trails, both paved and unpaved is important, I think, to have, again, a variety of trails. 01:41:41.580 --> 01:41:46.180 Some that'd be accessible for regular bikes and pedestrians. And our trails, this orange 01:41:46.180 --> 01:41:49.580 line going around is 12 feet wide is what we have, which it looks like it's about eight 01:41:49.580 --> 01:41:55.100 to be wider than this. And that main trail that goes around the park, that big loop is 01:41:55.100 --> 01:42:03.500 two miles. It's almost exactly two miles. Accessible playground as well as regular playgrounds, 01:42:03.500 --> 01:42:10.340 outdoor activities of all kinds. Outdoor exercise, some programmed and some unprogrammed. This 01:42:10.340 --> 01:42:14.580 could be, we have some outdoor exercise areas outside the rec center and those can be programmed 01:42:14.580 --> 01:42:18.980 with all sorts of HIIT exercise or whatever. And then Blackland Prairie. And of course, 01:42:18.980 --> 01:42:23.220 if you don't know, this is what Blackland, this is what Texas looked like in spring for 01:42:23.220 --> 01:42:29.420 millions of years. And then we proposed a large part of the site being restored to that. 01:42:29.420 --> 01:42:35.820 And that's always very popular with the public too. And it can be an educational system. 01:42:35.820 --> 01:42:38.620 Hopefully minus the mesquite trees, is that true? 01:42:38.620 --> 01:42:45.620 Yes, yes. And so you've got a lot of mesquite, you've got a lot of thorny trees, honey locusts 01:42:45.620 --> 01:42:49.260 and things. They're there now. And that's a sign of a site that's been disturbed. And 01:42:49.260 --> 01:42:54.340 by that we mean it was farmed. It was cattle, it was ranch land for a while. And so soil 01:42:54.340 --> 01:42:57.900 gets disturbed and things get out of balance. And so you get mesquite trees and you get 01:42:57.900 --> 01:43:04.300 honey locusts and other things. And those sage orange or boat arcs. So the restoration, 01:43:04.300 --> 01:43:08.300 the rewilding, that's a process. You can't do it overnight, but that's something that, 01:43:08.300 --> 01:43:12.780 you know, once the public buys into and they understand, they really get behind it. And 01:43:12.780 --> 01:43:16.220 that's something that will happen over a period of years and decades. You know, you can't 01:43:16.220 --> 01:43:21.980 create a forest overnight. But so again, you see this Blackland Prairie here with the wild 01:43:21.980 --> 01:43:27.860 flowers coming all the way through here. And so that is something. And one of the features 01:43:27.860 --> 01:43:33.940 of a Blackland Prairie is it is a fire dependent ecosystem, right? So you can try to mimic 01:43:33.940 --> 01:43:38.100 fire by mowing down and cultivating, but if you can burn it, you know, and the fire department 01:43:38.100 --> 01:43:41.900 is right there and do that, you can have an annual event every year or every other year 01:43:41.900 --> 01:43:46.580 where you do a, because that's really a low intensity, frequent low intensity fires are 01:43:46.580 --> 01:43:50.580 what is healthy for it. If you wait too long, you get a large catastrophic fire, it kills 01:43:50.580 --> 01:43:53.180 the soil and kills everything. That's what you don't want, right? And that's what we 01:43:53.180 --> 01:43:57.820 saw in California where they had did fire suppression for 80 years and you get these 01:43:57.820 --> 01:44:03.220 huge catastrophic fires. If you do the low, the frequent low intensity burning, that's 01:44:03.220 --> 01:44:07.780 very healthy for the, for the prairie. So we have a little parking lot here so you can 01:44:07.780 --> 01:44:14.220 come in and to get this outdoor learning pavilion in the middle of the post oak savanna. Again, 01:44:14.220 --> 01:44:18.140 I apologize for the blur as it just takes it a while when I'm painting around for some 01:44:18.140 --> 01:44:22.300 reason, but in a post oak savanna, which is, you know, it was not a lot of that left, but 01:44:22.300 --> 01:44:26.580 it's beautiful and those post oaks live for hundreds of years and we can restore that 01:44:26.580 --> 01:44:33.140 there. All right. So from that, let's see, uh, nature play area, another one, and we 01:44:33.140 --> 01:44:37.780 have one here and we've got another one over here, forest play and prairie play here next 01:44:37.780 --> 01:44:45.140 to this outdoor learning pavilion. Um, let's see what else we've got a big drop off area 01:44:45.140 --> 01:44:51.060 for this active play here. So you can come in, you can drop off and go, you can go park. 01:44:51.060 --> 01:44:57.620 And then this kind of, it also has a big sort of entry plaza coming in here. So it signals 01:44:57.620 --> 01:45:01.940 and this is where you drop off. This is a center of the large concession stand here. 01:45:01.940 --> 01:45:06.740 So you know, when you, when people, families that do these softball tournaments, they'll 01:45:06.740 --> 01:45:11.520 tell you, you know, often you have a child that's too young to play baseball or softball. 01:45:11.520 --> 01:45:14.980 So you want a place for them to play. And so that's why we have these playgrounds located 01:45:14.980 --> 01:45:18.480 here centrally where the parents can keep an eye on the younger ones. The young ones 01:45:18.480 --> 01:45:22.900 have something to do. And you have warm up areas between the fields. So this is envisioned 01:45:22.900 --> 01:45:29.860 as a, a top flight competition, athletic complex, smaller parking areas over here with drop 01:45:29.860 --> 01:45:37.220 off. So you can sneak into the youth fields. Um, and then we also have a, we put a buffer 01:45:37.220 --> 01:45:42.020 here on Bonnie Bray and all red. It's about a 75 foot forested buffer to soften from the 01:45:42.020 --> 01:45:48.380 future and existing neighborhoods. Excuse me, Bill, we have a question. Yes, ma'am. 01:45:48.380 --> 01:45:54.100 Yeah, thank you. Just real quick. Why not? If, if you're a mother and you've got a lot 01:45:54.100 --> 01:45:58.420 of kids, right. I'm just thinking out loud here, wouldn't it be better to have the playground 01:45:58.420 --> 01:46:05.980 up towards the concession stand? We can, yeah. A multiple kids play on different fields on 01:46:05.980 --> 01:46:11.380 some complexes they can. And we discussed doing that. We, we, and this is very large, 01:46:11.380 --> 01:46:15.420 we could put some smaller ones up here or we could spread those apart. If y'all want 01:46:15.420 --> 01:46:18.780 to put the playground there, we certainly in there. And then that is a popular option 01:46:18.780 --> 01:46:24.020 too, is to have the playground here. Sometimes they'll even put nets over it. So foul balls 01:46:24.020 --> 01:46:31.340 won't hit the heads and kids in the head, right? So yes, if you guys, that's all. Yeah, 01:46:31.340 --> 01:46:37.020 right. Shade nets. So you got to hate too, right. Which is very important in the summer. 01:46:37.020 --> 01:46:43.140 Can I jump in here? Yeah. Okay. Mr. Dooley, I will tell you that I've been to these tournaments 01:46:43.140 --> 01:46:50.620 like for baseball and especially soccer. And a thing that bothers parents is if you have 01:46:50.620 --> 01:46:55.700 it up too close to concession stands, I mean, it's a, it's a win lose. I mean, pick your 01:46:55.700 --> 01:46:59.540 poison, right? There's a lot of people floating in and out of there that you don't know near 01:46:59.540 --> 01:47:06.700 the kids. So some parents feel like it's better to have it kind of away where there's, I mean, 01:47:06.700 --> 01:47:13.460 I'm not saying where this will happen, but it's 2021. So they like having the kids kind 01:47:13.460 --> 01:47:18.540 of separated so they know who's coming in and out. You know what I mean? It's just another 01:47:18.540 --> 01:47:23.700 thought that I've heard parents expressed in the past. Can I call on Drew Huffman who 01:47:23.700 --> 01:47:29.660 does this, lives this every spring and summer? And he's also on staff, of course. Drew, you 01:47:29.660 --> 01:47:35.740 live this, what, just, Jesse was a citizen now. What's your opinion about that? It, it's 01:47:35.740 --> 01:47:41.780 really, it works out how it's planned. So if you've been to Oak Grove, Oak Grove, the playground 01:47:41.780 --> 01:47:48.180 is close to the concession stands, but it's reset into the ground. So therefore the kids 01:47:48.180 --> 01:47:52.620 are playing, if you walk next to that playground up to the concession stands, you know, you're 01:47:52.620 --> 01:47:58.460 six to eight foot over the playground and it works out really, it works out really well. 01:47:58.460 --> 01:48:02.940 You have another like where Nikki, you know, came from over in Mesquite, the playground 01:48:02.940 --> 01:48:10.580 is away from the ball fields. That works really well too. You know, typically, you know, there's 01:48:10.580 --> 01:48:15.900 times between games where parents will take the younger children over, play on the playground, 01:48:15.900 --> 01:48:21.780 let some energy get loose and then you're back to coloring and playing UNO and whatever 01:48:21.780 --> 01:48:27.740 else. Cause most of the time little ones don't, they, their attention span doesn't last an 01:48:27.740 --> 01:48:32.860 entire baseball game. So it's all going to have to work out exactly how it's planned 01:48:32.860 --> 01:48:37.260 and laid out the way it's laid out. Now they can, the playgrounds, you know, especially 01:48:37.260 --> 01:48:41.900 that larger playground would probably work to where people in with smaller children are 01:48:41.900 --> 01:48:47.820 going to migrate either between games or even, you know, in the middle of a game, you know, 01:48:47.820 --> 01:48:53.060 if their child is maybe resting, you know, and not, not in the game at the moment or 01:48:53.060 --> 01:48:58.740 whatever the case is, or, you know, mom or dad may get up and take the little ones. Okay. 01:48:58.740 --> 01:49:03.460 It, you know, I may miss the inning or two. It's okay. We'll go play for, you know, 15, 01:49:03.460 --> 01:49:09.280 20 minutes. So it, it's really going to have to work out what, what we see fit in the end 01:49:09.280 --> 01:49:16.980 on where this goes. So Bill, do you mind taking the PowerPoint down? Sure. You mean to stop 01:49:16.980 --> 01:49:28.460 sharing? Yes. So that, that's the plan. So the, the, obviously if we had all the money 01:49:28.460 --> 01:49:32.020 in the world, we could, you know, build that at one time, but the thought process is how 01:49:32.020 --> 01:49:38.340 could we face this? So it was, we unintentionally had it come out in the three separate areas 01:49:38.340 --> 01:49:41.860 in each one of those areas could be faced. I mean, if you wanted to do phase one and 01:49:41.860 --> 01:49:46.980 two for the building itself, you could do that. You could build four fields every five 01:49:46.980 --> 01:49:53.060 years as the demand in South Denton continues to grow. Or you could say, Hey, we're going 01:49:53.060 --> 01:49:57.500 to start off with a natural area. It's probably the most affordable. We could start cutting 01:49:57.500 --> 01:50:02.140 and pass, you know, sooner than later. And then build this parking a lot, build this 01:50:02.140 --> 01:50:07.140 parking a lot, you know, a little bit of a time. So we haven't gotten to the detailed 01:50:07.140 --> 01:50:12.700 phasing part of it yet. And once TMP gets some of our budget ideas together, that'll 01:50:12.700 --> 01:50:17.740 probably help that process as well. But ultimately we need to make sure that we're on the right 01:50:17.740 --> 01:50:23.020 path. So we're going to be having another focus group meeting soon to talk to the focus 01:50:23.020 --> 01:50:28.660 group about it. And then obviously park board. What are your thoughts in regards to what 01:50:28.660 --> 01:50:33.300 you saw from that concept? Is there something that we've totally missed or are we on, on 01:50:33.300 --> 01:50:39.380 the right track? Where, where do you feel we are? Bill, I have a quick question. You 01:50:39.380 --> 01:50:49.020 can't, you said you fall down to exhibit C and that was based on the survey, the information 01:50:49.020 --> 01:50:55.140 you received from surveys, correct? It was the one that accommodated the request for 01:50:55.140 --> 01:51:02.100 all the uses the best. Thank you. May I share the screen one more time, Gary, just to show 01:51:02.100 --> 01:51:08.380 these? Sure. So I want to share, we're working on some three dimensional perspectives and 01:51:08.380 --> 01:51:15.580 can y'all see that? What are y'all? Yep, I can see that. Okay. So this is to give you 01:51:15.580 --> 01:51:19.860 an idea of the scale of the Great Lawn. This is that in the pavilion here and that's about 01:51:19.860 --> 01:51:24.980 a quarter mile back up to the rec center. There's the pond to the right. So parking 01:51:24.980 --> 01:51:29.300 for the softball complex to the left, but you can get a sense of the scale of that space 01:51:29.300 --> 01:51:36.020 is really large. And I'll show you one more. And this is the looking northwesterly down 01:51:36.020 --> 01:51:41.740 that axis. This is the baseball softball complex. There is the Great Lawn in the back. There's 01:51:41.740 --> 01:51:48.140 the rec center, the pond, the Blackland Prairie back here. We're not fully rendered that yet, 01:51:48.140 --> 01:51:53.020 but those are the soccer field or overflow parking, but you get a sense of the scale 01:51:53.020 --> 01:51:57.500 of the park. It's really grand and large. There's a lot going on. The maintenance building 01:51:57.500 --> 01:52:04.540 would be over here to the left and I-35 would be way back there in the background. So that's 01:52:04.540 --> 01:52:10.740 the last thing I have, Gary, on the images. Okay. I think we have still a couple of questions. 01:52:10.740 --> 01:52:25.300 So if you could un-share. Yes, sir. Okay. Who had a question? Atlanta. Hi. So first 01:52:25.300 --> 01:52:34.100 of all, I love seeing those ideas have images to go with them. That's awesome. But I feel 01:52:34.100 --> 01:52:39.660 like one of the big rocks is missing and I'm surprised we haven't talked about it yet, 01:52:39.660 --> 01:52:45.980 but I feel like a water feature is missing for people to play in. I'm thinking like at 01:52:45.980 --> 01:52:53.140 Highland Village where they have the Amplitheater, there's like this little creek looking splash 01:52:53.140 --> 01:52:58.440 pad kind of thing. And it's great for kids. It's great for parents. And I can just see 01:52:58.440 --> 01:53:02.660 something like that being really beneficial at that park because like we were talking 01:53:02.660 --> 01:53:07.860 about earlier, it's really hot. And when you're waiting for a concert, you and your kids can 01:53:07.860 --> 01:53:13.300 go play in the water or in between baseball games or after the baseball game. It's just 01:53:13.300 --> 01:53:19.080 a great place for people to cool off. And when you were showing us the different areas 01:53:19.080 --> 01:53:24.460 of the park, I was thinking it would be like awesome if it was near the inclusive park 01:53:24.460 --> 01:53:32.020 and nature play area towards the pond. It could be like a pond or a creek that they 01:53:32.020 --> 01:53:35.620 could walk in. Just an idea I feel like we've missed out. 01:53:35.620 --> 01:53:41.460 Do you mean north of the rec center there with an inclusive gas? Okay. 01:53:41.460 --> 01:53:48.780 So there was a space we could bring back up that was on the outside of the rec center 01:53:48.780 --> 01:53:54.020 that was kind of outdoor structured play. Give me a second to get to that. 01:53:54.020 --> 01:53:59.940 I think part of that was kind of a placeholder for a water feature. It could be an outdoor 01:53:59.940 --> 01:54:06.100 pool if you wanted to go that far and that area. No, the hashed area down the bottom 01:54:06.100 --> 01:54:11.480 right. Oh, yeah, here. Outdoor rec. Yeah. Yeah. So that was that's kind of like flex 01:54:11.480 --> 01:54:20.860 space, whether we wanted to put a large splash pad or an outdoor pool, per se, or a pool 01:54:20.860 --> 01:54:27.180 and fitness space. So I think that was what the intention for that was. But we could definitely 01:54:27.180 --> 01:54:35.100 go back and look at a nature related splash pad, maybe on that north side. 01:54:35.100 --> 01:54:42.220 Is that what you meant, Alana, splash pad? Yeah. So have you ever seen the amphitheater 01:54:42.220 --> 01:54:49.580 in Highland Village? You know, they have kind of like, it actually goes along the amphitheater. 01:54:49.580 --> 01:54:56.060 I don't know if that would work here, but that's kind of what I was thinking. Like around 01:54:56.060 --> 01:55:01.460 where the inclusive playground is towards the pond. I don't know how, like, it's hard 01:55:01.460 --> 01:55:05.940 for me to understand the scale or how that would work. That's just kind of like a vision 01:55:05.940 --> 01:55:14.740 I saw whenever you were talking about it because we my family loves going to that splash pad 01:55:14.740 --> 01:55:26.740 amphitheater back when we used to go listen to live music. Great. Great idea. Thank you. 01:55:26.740 --> 01:55:35.820 Questions? Yes, I have a question, Madam Chair. Maybe I'm asking a silly question and maybe 01:55:35.820 --> 01:55:42.380 I'm asking it way too early. So please, Bill, be like, too soon and I'll help you. That's 01:55:42.380 --> 01:55:48.460 okay. No bad questions. This is massive, right? This is like 190 acres, right? This is huge. 01:55:48.460 --> 01:55:53.500 So those open spaces, those green spaces, which are great. I also like, I'm going to 01:55:53.500 --> 01:55:56.940 say something that Atlanta brings up a lot. Like, can we talk about shade and like these 01:55:56.940 --> 01:56:01.900 seeded areas? Are there going to be more places to sit, you know, along the way? Because it's 01:56:01.900 --> 01:56:05.860 so massive, like walking around all those spaces, especially during the day, it's so 01:56:05.860 --> 01:56:13.660 hot. Just putting that out there. And then also another silly question. I would assume 01:56:13.660 --> 01:56:17.700 there would be restrooms on the baseball side because you've got a concession stand, you've 01:56:17.700 --> 01:56:22.980 got, you know, a bunch of fields, people need to use the restroom somewhere. Could that 01:56:22.980 --> 01:56:29.400 also be said for the other side of this 190 acre? Every red building you see could be 01:56:29.400 --> 01:56:34.420 a restroom because you've got, you know, we've got two on the north side. We've got a million 01:56:34.420 --> 01:56:38.980 here in the dog park. I think we definitely would want one. Okay. Good. Yeah. We'd love 01:56:38.980 --> 01:56:44.100 to hear it, Bill. So yes, very important. Yes, absolutely. Cool. Okay, great. So you've 01:56:44.100 --> 01:56:47.460 thought about that in all the red areas. I love that. Thank you. Every red dot can be 01:56:47.460 --> 01:56:52.900 a can be a restroom. Cool. Thank you. Those are my questions. I appreciate it. Oh, yeah. 01:56:52.900 --> 01:56:59.340 Thank you. I have a quick question. And I know there was some talk about having food 01:56:59.340 --> 01:57:04.700 trucks having accessibility to parks and looking at that parking lot. Do you suspect that there 01:57:04.700 --> 01:57:09.300 is an area specific to food trucks? Yeah. Good question. We didn't mention that. Yes. 01:57:09.300 --> 01:57:16.100 So yeah, this here for the baseball, softball and sorry, just loading here, the Texas food 01:57:16.100 --> 01:57:25.660 truck parking here and also here as well as along here that we have parallel parking along 01:57:25.660 --> 01:57:31.900 this road here. So if you have a big thing in this, this big great lawn, you've got an 01:57:31.900 --> 01:57:35.700 event, you can have food trucks lined up all along here. So you come right to the edge 01:57:35.700 --> 01:57:40.700 of the lawn there. So yeah. And we also part of that was planning for teams that are going 01:57:40.700 --> 01:57:44.980 to be staying all day. If they have breaks, they could pull over and tailgate and kind 01:57:44.980 --> 01:57:50.020 of set up their tents and have their cookout going and go get food from the food truck. 01:57:50.020 --> 01:57:58.540 All that kind of excitement. Yes. So we tried to, we tried to be, whenever you're trying 01:57:58.540 --> 01:58:01.860 to do a part, we tried to be as flexed, tried to design space. It'll be as flexible as possible 01:58:01.860 --> 01:58:08.860 as you get as many users as you can. Right. So that way you can program more things. We 01:58:08.860 --> 01:58:15.140 did, we did have some green, some previous pavement in here too. There's a couple areas 01:58:15.140 --> 01:58:22.940 that we've just shaded green. So that, that could be increased as we go as well down here 01:58:22.940 --> 01:58:27.460 overflow parking, you know, so you might just, it might be all grass or it might be paved 01:58:27.460 --> 01:58:35.340 aisles and grass parking that reduces runoff. Also, also overflow parking over here. So 01:58:35.340 --> 01:58:39.340 you can have more or less, you know, if it's, if it's five years before you do, you can, 01:58:39.340 --> 01:58:43.820 again, when you design this, you can actually go to construction documents ready to build 01:58:43.820 --> 01:58:47.500 and you can, you know, you can add more grass or take it away as you need, as your needs 01:58:47.500 --> 01:58:55.780 change. Okay. Bill, if you don't mind taking that down again before. Yes, sir. Yep. Concern 01:58:55.780 --> 01:59:04.020 about the food trucks. Is that in not indirect competition? I like the food trucks. Is that 01:59:04.020 --> 01:59:12.980 not indirect competition with the concession stand? It is. That's a happy medium. You know, 01:59:12.980 --> 01:59:16.820 we're not sure what the business plan is for the concession stand. If we are going to run 01:59:16.820 --> 01:59:23.020 that ourselves or farm it out to a third party that would operate it for us. Typically they're 01:59:23.020 --> 01:59:28.020 not providing full service amenities. It's more like more of the basics, but if we have 01:59:28.020 --> 01:59:33.780 a larger event, we could definitely have a couple food trucks supplement that, especially 01:59:33.780 --> 01:59:37.180 for the concerts. If there's something going on in the great lawn, people aren't going 01:59:37.180 --> 01:59:41.540 to walk all the way to the concession stand in the ball field. The convenience of having 01:59:41.540 --> 01:59:47.220 those trucks mobile is you can move them around as you need them and still generate some revenue 01:59:47.220 --> 01:59:53.180 from them as well. Okay. David, thank you for waiting. Yeah. It looked like there was 01:59:53.180 --> 01:59:57.020 a perimeter trail that went all the way around the park. And I'm just curious. We're talking 01:59:57.020 --> 02:00:01.180 about scale. Does anybody have any idea what the distance of that is? Yes. It's two miles 02:00:01.180 --> 02:00:06.940 almost exactly. Okay. Thanks. Bill, could you tell them what the total mileage of all 02:00:06.940 --> 02:00:11.140 the trails in the park is? Yeah, I think we have about three miles of paved trails and 02:00:11.140 --> 02:00:15.300 another mile or mile and a half of unpaved and paved. You know, it depends on how many 02:00:15.300 --> 02:00:20.060 someone could create while just creating a footpath, but two mile perimeter, another 02:00:20.060 --> 02:00:27.140 mile of trails within paved and then about a mile, a mile and a half of unpaved trails. 02:00:27.140 --> 02:00:31.980 So I'll give you an idea. I think we have seven and a half acres of trails in Clear 02:00:31.980 --> 02:00:37.500 Creek, if I remember correctly. So that's about half of that. And there's 3000 acres 02:00:37.500 --> 02:00:45.700 over there and we have 200 here. So there's a good amount of trails based on this plan 02:00:45.700 --> 02:00:58.060 as we see it. I do have one more comment. It's okay. So 02:00:58.060 --> 02:01:03.660 given the options of the, of the three sort of general layouts that, that were given and 02:01:03.660 --> 02:01:07.540 the feedback that was taken, I think you guys did a really good job capturing that and coming 02:01:07.540 --> 02:01:13.420 up with this plan. I think that it definitely encompasses much of what was brought up. And 02:01:13.420 --> 02:01:21.220 I think it's, it's a good picture of what was discussed. So thank you. 02:01:21.220 --> 02:01:27.180 So I guess our next steps moving forward would be to take this back to the focus group, have 02:01:27.180 --> 02:01:33.860 a similar discussion with them on this, provide some feedback that you've provided as well. 02:01:33.860 --> 02:01:38.100 And if we need to make some changes, we could, you know, talk about the splash pad and making 02:01:38.100 --> 02:01:42.620 sure that's identified there. There's still some small rocks that aren't necessarily on 02:01:42.620 --> 02:01:49.580 here that we can add. And then from that point, go back to city, go to city council and get 02:01:49.580 --> 02:01:56.620 their ideas. And if they approve it, then, then we're kind of at a holding pattern at 02:01:56.620 --> 02:02:01.260 that point in time until we identify a funding source. Once we have funding, then we would 02:02:01.260 --> 02:02:06.020 move forward with construction drawings of whatever that phasing plan is. So that's something 02:02:06.020 --> 02:02:11.180 we'll come back and talk to you about at that point in time. But we'll, we'll go through 02:02:11.180 --> 02:02:15.300 that before it's adopted. So we could go back to everybody and say, okay, here's how, here's 02:02:15.300 --> 02:02:20.700 the plan to build this. What do you think? The natural areas could be done sooner than 02:02:20.700 --> 02:02:25.340 later. Obviously, if we wanted to get people out there and the property open, get out there 02:02:25.340 --> 02:02:30.700 and see the space we could put, you know, you are here type of signs out there so they 02:02:30.700 --> 02:02:36.220 can understand what this park might look like down the road. And we'd have to find a funding 02:02:36.220 --> 02:02:41.620 source longterm for that, whether it's phase one, or, you know, multiple phases at one 02:02:41.620 --> 02:02:51.740 time. Can I ask one quick question? Okay, Mr. Dooley. I noticed I'm a soccer guy, and 02:02:51.740 --> 02:02:56.540 I'm not like going to preach at you about the beautiful game or anything, right. But 02:02:56.540 --> 02:03:02.100 I noticed like we're baseball heavy here with just a little area for the soccer. Is that 02:03:02.100 --> 02:03:10.620 on purpose? Or do we have numbers to back that design up? Yeah, we talked about that 02:03:10.620 --> 02:03:14.880 specifically and there's some other locations that we may look to put some of those other 02:03:14.880 --> 02:03:22.140 square rectangle fields in. The challenge there is while it's still 195 acres, we didn't 02:03:22.140 --> 02:03:28.100 want to, you know, end up stuffing the box too much. There's a little bit of a balance 02:03:28.100 --> 02:03:33.060 there that we're trying to provide. And Drew, did you want to add anything? No, no, I totally 02:03:33.060 --> 02:03:38.940 understand. Like I said, I'm catching up. So sorry if I'm wasting your time. Great question. 02:03:38.940 --> 02:03:45.540 No, it's a good question. So just to add to what Gary says, Gary's always looking at it 02:03:45.540 --> 02:03:53.860 from a park system. So the soccer is very important, and it is a growing sport. So not 02:03:53.860 --> 02:03:59.460 all the soccer may be at Southwest Park. There'll be other places too. We'll have two city parks 02:03:59.460 --> 02:04:04.220 over in Hunter Cole Ranch. And then we do have some city property just north of this off 02:04:04.220 --> 02:04:09.660 vintage that we thought, well, maybe if that's not going to be used for all municipal purposes, 02:04:09.660 --> 02:04:13.740 we might be able to put, you know, four or five fields back there at some point in time, 02:04:13.740 --> 02:04:17.740 which would just be in the south side of vintage. Yeah, well, that's great. I'm just catching 02:04:17.740 --> 02:04:22.300 up on your guys discussion. So if I waste your time, I'm sorry. Not at all. And one 02:04:22.300 --> 02:04:28.300 more quick question. Are we, you do consider like ADA compliance about these trails? And 02:04:28.300 --> 02:04:33.620 I mean, yes. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Not so much at this phase, Jerry, because this is master 02:04:33.620 --> 02:04:40.900 planning. However, in design, yeah, 100%. You have to, the site's relatively flat. It's 02:04:40.900 --> 02:04:47.260 not going to be that difficult to have accessible trails. But yes, they will have to be accessible. 02:04:47.260 --> 02:04:55.940 Excellent. Thank you. Any additional questions or concern? Oh, see, George has one. I apologize. 02:04:55.940 --> 02:05:00.300 I wrote my notes down. I read through this all yesterday, so I might've missed it. I 02:05:00.300 --> 02:05:07.180 thought funding was coming from the bond package. Am I incorrect? No, we did have bond funding. 02:05:07.180 --> 02:05:11.140 That was for the master planning process. Understood. Okay. I was like, did I write 02:05:11.140 --> 02:05:19.540 that down wrong? And we do have, there's $800,000 in that account as of right now. It's more 02:05:19.540 --> 02:05:24.000 than we need now, but it's not enough if we're going to do construction drawings at that 02:05:24.000 --> 02:05:28.700 point in time. So we, right now we moved it over to the tennis center just in case we 02:05:28.700 --> 02:05:32.980 need it for the tennis center to make sure we complete that. We took that to the bond 02:05:32.980 --> 02:05:38.100 oversight committee and it's there as a holding pattern. And if it's not used, we'll bring 02:05:38.100 --> 02:05:43.460 it back and use it for either this project or recommend for something else. Wonderful. 02:05:43.460 --> 02:05:52.780 Thank you for that clarification. Very good. Any other questions, concerns? All right. 02:05:52.780 --> 02:06:01.300 Mr. Smith, I want to thank you for that presentation. Thank you very much. And are we ready to move 02:06:01.300 --> 02:06:09.980 on to our next item, Gary? Yes, ma'am. All right. The next item is we back up to C. Receive 02:06:09.980 --> 02:06:14.740 a report, hold a discussion and give staff input regarding nominations for membership 02:06:14.740 --> 02:06:21.860 on the Parks, Recreation and Trail System Master Plan focus group. Gary Pack and Parks 02:06:21.860 --> 02:06:29.500 and Recreation. When we were working and kicking off the Southwest Park Plan, we put together 02:06:29.500 --> 02:06:34.460 a group of residents, tried to get everybody that was involved in different aspects of 02:06:34.460 --> 02:06:40.460 our park system and not involved in our park system on that group. I think John, we have 02:06:40.460 --> 02:06:49.780 about 25 or so people on that group. And for ease of sake and time and effort, we thought 02:06:49.780 --> 02:06:54.300 we could try to flip that group to see if they were interested in the Park System Master 02:06:54.300 --> 02:06:59.700 Plan. So we sent an email out to everybody. And I think we got maybe half or a third of 02:06:59.700 --> 02:07:04.180 the people that were interested in doing the next step. And in that time frame, I had a 02:07:04.180 --> 02:07:07.820 discussion with Frances. She expressed some concern that this didn't come back to the 02:07:07.820 --> 02:07:12.540 board. So I told her that we definitely put it on the board for an agenda to see if there's 02:07:12.540 --> 02:07:19.380 anybody that the board would like to recommend to make sure that we had a good cross section 02:07:19.380 --> 02:07:26.180 of the community. So this is here for that discussion to get a general sense of kind 02:07:26.180 --> 02:07:30.980 of where you feel we need to go, if there's people that we need to recommend or organizations 02:07:30.980 --> 02:07:38.300 that we should reach out to to get some people to participate. 02:07:38.300 --> 02:07:42.700 Are you looking for nominations at this point or are you looking for us to follow up with 02:07:42.700 --> 02:07:50.100 nominations after maybe talking to someone? Frances, did you want to say something real 02:07:50.100 --> 02:07:57.100 quick? I was getting ready to call on George. I'm sorry. No, no, Dave. Dave asked a question. 02:07:57.100 --> 02:08:01.860 Please. Yeah, absolutely. We're all good. If you have somebody that you think would be 02:08:01.860 --> 02:08:07.380 a good fit and a good ad for that process that would provide good input on whether it's 02:08:07.380 --> 02:08:14.340 a specific topic, item, need, interest, or it's just someone that has, you know, vast 02:08:14.340 --> 02:08:19.140 knowledge of just generalities that you feel would provide some some really good input 02:08:19.140 --> 02:08:25.140 and envisioned for the city. That would be great either way. 02:08:25.140 --> 02:08:34.860 Okay, George. Yeah, I absolutely feel like after this meeting, I might put out something 02:08:34.860 --> 02:08:38.820 on like all my channels, right? To be like, hey, calling on those that really wish to 02:08:38.820 --> 02:08:43.500 like be more involved. Here's an opportunity to serve. And I also, this also brings up 02:08:43.500 --> 02:08:49.060 it within this same vein, like anytime, you know, there's like a, once these meetings 02:08:49.060 --> 02:08:53.180 are decided, like, hey, there's an interest meeting about Southwest Park. I know I've 02:08:53.180 --> 02:08:57.300 seen it before, but if we could get maybe an email saying, hey, parks board members, 02:08:57.300 --> 02:09:01.260 there's an interest meeting about Southwest Park that the city's holding next week. Y'all 02:09:01.260 --> 02:09:04.940 need to blast this, help us get people come to this, like help get interest out, help 02:09:04.940 --> 02:09:09.900 get the word out. I'd be happy to like keep hounding folk to show to these things. So 02:09:09.900 --> 02:09:15.640 I know that I also need the push sometimes too. But yeah, with that, I will start reaching 02:09:15.640 --> 02:09:20.180 out to some people because I know I've heard people want to be more involved. 02:09:20.180 --> 02:09:25.620 That was actually something I wanted to bring up is at the end of the meeting is exactly 02:09:25.620 --> 02:09:34.020 what George just said. Thanks, George. I have a question. Do we have anybody who is under 02:09:34.020 --> 02:09:43.660 the age of like 20 on that group? Cause I think we need more input from the children. 02:09:43.660 --> 02:09:49.460 I think that's funny you say that. Gary, you can answer this, but that was brought up in 02:09:49.460 --> 02:09:55.900 our annual meeting for the parks board. And one of our board members suggested making 02:09:55.900 --> 02:10:02.780 a second kind of faux parks board, but for kids so that we could kind of take their input 02:10:02.780 --> 02:10:08.340 and then share it back with you all and other folks. But just something along those lines, 02:10:08.340 --> 02:10:16.380 I totally am down with that one. We definitely could add a children's group 02:10:16.380 --> 02:10:20.220 as part of that, or maybe it's just a separate focus group that we could bring in and pull 02:10:20.220 --> 02:10:25.260 information from them. That would be fairly easy, especially in the summertime when we 02:10:25.260 --> 02:10:31.100 have some of our camps going, we could sit down with them and have those, you know, Hey, 02:10:31.100 --> 02:10:34.220 here's some cookies, but you have to answer some questions first. 02:10:34.220 --> 02:10:48.140 And it's civic engagement. I'm curious. Have you had any response from parks board members? 02:10:48.140 --> 02:10:55.580 You mean the foundation board members? Yes. No, I have not. Okay. Let me back up. Yes. 02:10:55.580 --> 02:11:03.740 There is the finance. Okay. Yeah. He's on there. Perfect. I can't remember. Am I on 02:11:03.740 --> 02:11:10.340 that one? You are on this. Yes. You're on the South. You're on the South. Did I flip? 02:11:10.340 --> 02:11:18.180 I thought I flipped. I don't know. I don't remember a lot. I've got you down for both. 02:11:18.180 --> 02:11:29.420 For what? Okay. We can't hear you. We can't hear you, John. Okay. Is it too light or I 02:11:29.420 --> 02:11:33.980 have to yell at it. Okay. You can hear me now. All right. Good. I have you down for both of those 02:11:33.980 --> 02:11:40.860 focus groups. Okay. Thanks. I thought so. I just want to make sure. Okay. Mr. Dooley, 02:11:40.860 --> 02:11:45.500 did you have a hand up earlier? No, I was just like agreeing with what Eleni was talking about. 02:11:45.500 --> 02:11:53.660 I'm all in for cookies. I'll send my boys, my grandkids. So, okay, George, you have a question. 02:11:53.660 --> 02:11:58.940 Yes. One I should probably should ask first was when are you looking to secure these folk 02:11:58.940 --> 02:12:06.140 to help you, Gary? That would be a deadline would be good for me to give up. From a timeline 02:12:06.140 --> 02:12:11.900 perspective, we'd like to start having a meeting in March if we can. So we do have, I think, 02:12:11.900 --> 02:12:19.820 Eddie, we have another park board meeting in two weeks. So maybe if we could put it back on the 02:12:19.820 --> 02:12:28.700 agenda or if you could have that to us within two weeks. Yeah. So by the eighth. Yes, sir. Thank you. 02:12:28.700 --> 02:12:35.900 That's a great deadline. Thank you, Gary. And we can send that in a follow up email. 02:12:35.900 --> 02:12:44.140 Okay. That's that was my question. Do you want us to just send information to you via email for 02:12:44.140 --> 02:12:49.020 nominations? Yeah, that would be great. If you know who the person is and their email and phone 02:12:49.020 --> 02:12:53.260 number, that would be fantastic. So that way it's easy for us to pick up the phone and call them. 02:12:53.260 --> 02:12:58.380 We definitely want to get a little bit extra people on the group and have a little bit 02:12:58.380 --> 02:13:03.500 larger because everyone's schedules, it's tough to get everyone to show up all the time. So we 02:13:03.500 --> 02:13:09.180 understand that. So, you know, we could have a little bit extra, you know, 20, 25 people is 02:13:09.180 --> 02:13:15.020 probably a good number. If you think not everyone's going to show up to get some good feedback and 02:13:15.020 --> 02:13:20.860 we'll continue to do our focus group meetings and pull information from those groups as well. 02:13:22.620 --> 02:13:28.620 Okay. And you will review this again and next month. Yes, we'll put it back on the agenda. 02:13:28.620 --> 02:13:32.700 Okay. Any additional questions or concerns? 02:13:32.700 --> 02:13:42.860 Okay. Next item. I'm sorry, I have a question. So someone who's a teenager. 02:13:42.860 --> 02:13:51.580 I'm sorry. Could you repeat that? Can I nominate someone who is a teenager? 02:13:51.580 --> 02:13:53.340 Sure. Yep. 02:13:53.340 --> 02:14:02.620 Danona, did you have a question of concern? 02:14:02.620 --> 02:14:08.060 No. Is there a specific age range for the nominees or 02:14:08.060 --> 02:14:12.060 no, I mean, we're two teenagers. 02:14:12.060 --> 02:14:16.940 Yeah. Yeah, I think that's good. I mean, we'll definitely try to pull the younger kids from some 02:14:16.940 --> 02:14:23.020 of our programming and maybe some from the library programs once things get started back 02:14:23.020 --> 02:14:28.140 up hopefully in the summer, but we definitely need to have people of all ages and abilities. 02:14:28.140 --> 02:14:39.420 Okay. Any other questions or concerns? 02:14:39.420 --> 02:14:45.420 All right. Thank you all. The next item is item E. 02:14:47.020 --> 02:14:53.500 Received nominations and elected chair and vice chair for the parks recreation and beautification 02:14:53.500 --> 02:15:05.820 board. And I have a question before we do that. And can somebody clarify why we are doing this? 02:15:05.820 --> 02:15:11.260 And since my term is not over until August. 02:15:11.900 --> 02:15:18.620 So we have a special guest, Rosa Rios from the city secretary's office to provide a little bit 02:15:18.620 --> 02:15:24.380 more insight on the process and the fact that we have been doing it incorrectly. 02:15:24.380 --> 02:15:34.300 Rosa, could you put your speaker down, your microphone down? There you go. 02:15:34.300 --> 02:15:37.500 You know, and as many of these as I've been on, I should know to do that. 02:15:38.700 --> 02:15:43.740 So this provision has actually been on the boards and commissions handbook 02:15:43.740 --> 02:15:52.140 since its original adoption back in like 2012. And the way that the records are stipulated, 02:15:52.140 --> 02:15:58.780 it stipulates that after the appointment process for boards and commissions, or annually as soon 02:15:58.780 --> 02:16:05.580 as possible, that the officers of a board and commission be elected. And so what that means, 02:16:05.580 --> 02:16:12.460 normally the election cycle kind of dictates like when the board appointments come into play, 02:16:12.460 --> 02:16:17.740 depending on whose terms come up in a given year. And that will normally happen around the 02:16:17.740 --> 02:16:24.620 appointments kind of come in about, you know, about September, October. And so the officers, 02:16:24.620 --> 02:16:30.220 meaning the chair and vice chair, because there is a secretary by each administrative department 02:16:30.220 --> 02:16:35.900 that kind of takes over that one specific position. And so the requirement is that the board 02:16:35.900 --> 02:16:43.420 officers be elected as soon as practical. So it is the appointment is not term related. It does not 02:16:43.420 --> 02:16:48.540 apply. It does. You have to kind of do it annually every year because some members do come on board 02:16:48.540 --> 02:16:54.940 each year because we have staggering terms for all our boards and commissions. So it comes into play 02:16:54.940 --> 02:17:02.540 every basically every year. It is not that a board member will be appointed when elected as chair or 02:17:02.540 --> 02:17:09.260 vice chair, that it is based on their term as far as the length of service and that as a board 02:17:09.260 --> 02:17:16.300 officer. So it's really that it has to be done, you know, at least annually. And I know that, 02:17:16.300 --> 02:17:21.980 you know, some boards, because it did come, this isn't the first time that it's come up about, 02:17:21.980 --> 02:17:29.100 you know, why are we electing, you know, officers now? But again, it is not based on the term 02:17:29.100 --> 02:17:34.940 of the officer, but rather that it be done as soon as practicable after the appointment process 02:17:34.940 --> 02:17:42.860 or annually. And as you know, last year for the 2020, what we call the 2018 through 2020 term, 02:17:42.860 --> 02:17:51.500 members remained in holdover due to the elections having been postponed due to COVID 02:17:51.500 --> 02:17:58.060 situation. And our runoff election was in December, and we immediately began the appointment process 02:17:58.060 --> 02:18:08.460 for what now became the 2020 to 2021 through the 2023 term. So I might be confusing it a little bit, 02:18:08.460 --> 02:18:17.580 but so now the need exists to go ahead and elect your officers for what remains of the 2021 term. 02:18:17.580 --> 02:18:21.820 And then as we enter, you know, the next appointment cycle, which is going to be around 02:18:21.820 --> 02:18:28.300 September, October, then again, at the first of the next year, then you'll have to do so again. 02:18:28.300 --> 02:18:35.340 Again, it's annually, it is not based on the term of the member who is elected 02:18:35.340 --> 02:18:41.340 as one of your officers. So going back, I think in parks and recreation, 02:18:42.300 --> 02:18:50.700 I think before I even got here, we were following terms. So Alana, I think you're probably the one 02:18:50.700 --> 02:18:57.580 that's been here the longest. And Francis, yeah, Francis and Alana, both of you, if you can remember 02:18:57.580 --> 02:19:04.380 the prior term, if you have any input on that, please chime in. But that was our mistake for 02:19:04.380 --> 02:19:13.260 not catching that. Yeah, I've been here the longest. And I, from prior to you, prior to 02:19:13.260 --> 02:19:25.340 everybody on the screen, actually, except for you, I don't know, John. And this has never come up, 02:19:25.340 --> 02:19:37.660 it has always been termed because, well, many things come to mind. If we're selecting someone 02:19:37.660 --> 02:19:44.780 every year, I think it interrupts the flow of the board. These are my personal opinions. And 02:19:47.180 --> 02:19:58.540 it just generates, I think prevents continuity. Not that I'm trying to remain the chair, 02:19:58.540 --> 02:20:13.980 I'm speaking from being on the board since 2015. And I see that it may, I see a lot of potential 02:20:14.780 --> 02:20:21.660 problems, really, with electing someone every year. After you've been a chair, 02:20:21.660 --> 02:20:25.420 they do, they just leave the board and you then you have to replace somebody. 02:20:25.420 --> 02:20:31.740 After being a chair, you go back to being a member. What happens? 02:20:31.740 --> 02:20:39.180 If I may, so I know that for city council, because the appointment process kind of is the same for 02:20:39.180 --> 02:20:45.100 the mayor pro tem. After every election cycle, after every election, we do elect a mayor pro tem 02:20:45.100 --> 02:20:52.940 and the process that we're going to use tonight is basically the same. So we elect our mayor pro tem, 02:20:52.940 --> 02:21:00.060 every year we will have a new mayor pro tem. It is not to say that that person could not continue, 02:21:00.060 --> 02:21:04.940 or even as a mayor pro tem, or be it chair or vice chair, you can also, of course, nominate yourself. 02:21:06.220 --> 02:21:11.740 And so it's kind of like the same process. And I think from the council standpoint, 02:21:11.740 --> 02:21:16.700 it affords everybody the opportunity to serve in that official capacity to kind of 02:21:16.700 --> 02:21:24.780 allow for that, you know, kind of each member, an understanding of what the role is. Again, 02:21:24.780 --> 02:21:30.620 I'm going for mayor pro tem. So it gives each member an equal opportunity to serve, you know, 02:21:30.620 --> 02:21:36.940 kind of in a full capacity, not just as a board member, but also possibly as a chair or vice chair. 02:21:36.940 --> 02:21:41.820 But that's not to say, again, that it couldn't be, you know, the same because again, you know, 02:21:41.820 --> 02:21:47.820 you can serve up to technically, you know, six years on a board. So it's not to say that 02:21:47.820 --> 02:21:52.700 the same person couldn't be elected time and again, every, you know, every time that this comes up. 02:21:52.700 --> 02:21:58.540 But there's the different viewpoint that it affords every member to gain that experience 02:21:59.180 --> 02:22:02.620 in the event, you know, for some reason, the chair or vice chair can't make it, 02:22:02.620 --> 02:22:07.740 then other board members would be able to step in, you know, as a presiding officer should the need arise. 02:22:07.740 --> 02:22:17.980 Yes, Mr. Schuch. I guess I've got two questions from the from chair's comments. It almost sounded 02:22:17.980 --> 02:22:22.700 like we're trying to debate whether or not we're going to do this, but there's no choice, right? 02:22:22.700 --> 02:22:28.540 I mean, this is this is rules as established with the city. If I understand right, we're not going 02:22:28.540 --> 02:22:34.300 to decide as a body whether we do this. That's my first question. I got another one. Sorry. 02:22:34.300 --> 02:22:43.660 The second is you mentioned that we would be doing this annually. And but we're doing one now in 02:22:43.660 --> 02:22:52.300 February, we'll do another one after September. And I guess the the intention is we would stay 02:22:52.300 --> 02:22:57.660 on that cycle of September, barring any weird election scheduling like we've had this past year. 02:22:59.260 --> 02:23:08.700 All right. So as far as and just so you know, so I can, you know, I can tell you this again, 02:23:08.700 --> 02:23:14.380 this provision has been there and it is adopted by the city council. So yes, it is you are required to, 02:23:14.380 --> 02:23:19.020 you know, remain in compliance with the requirements set forth in the handbook 02:23:19.020 --> 02:23:24.460 because it is council adopted. But again, kind of considering the issues that have come up. 02:23:25.980 --> 02:23:31.580 And you know, chair punch makes a lot of viable, you know, points to there's always, of course, 02:23:31.580 --> 02:23:39.020 you know, two sides. So to further clarify the term of, you know, that what does annually is, 02:23:39.020 --> 02:23:44.220 I will I am scheduled to present some proposed changes to the boards and commissions has 02:23:44.220 --> 02:23:50.460 had book. Most of those changes will be relating to, you know, we've added a couple of boards 02:23:51.740 --> 02:23:56.860 and named the, you know, renamed another board. So we have to, you know, kind of get the handbook 02:23:56.860 --> 02:24:02.060 caught up with some recent decisions by the city council. And one of the things that I'm going to 02:24:02.060 --> 02:24:07.420 seek is to really clarify, you know, what is annually rather than leave it kind of like as 02:24:07.420 --> 02:24:13.260 soon as practical after the appointment process is actually just go ahead and say that every year, 02:24:13.260 --> 02:24:18.380 no later than the end of January or, you know, some time period that actually will make it really 02:24:18.380 --> 02:24:25.020 clear in the event, a scenario like this comes up. So we are to address that. 02:24:25.020 --> 02:24:35.740 I'm sorry for interrupting. You mentioned the updates and the changes. And can you explain to 02:24:35.740 --> 02:24:43.420 us how these updates and changes are communicated to the board? Because frankly, I hadn't received 02:24:43.420 --> 02:24:52.460 this information until now. Yes. So I will. Okay. So after the the boards and commissions handbook 02:24:52.460 --> 02:24:57.820 requires that the city secretary's office send the boards and commissions handbook 02:24:57.820 --> 02:25:03.660 to all of the board members. I cannot speak for my predecessors. Okay. But I've been here 02:25:03.660 --> 02:25:10.460 about a year and a half. And, you know, there was the need to review the handbook to make sure it 02:25:10.460 --> 02:25:15.900 was consistent, you know, with state law and some of the the current practices and there was some 02:25:15.900 --> 02:25:22.380 changes that were made. And so this handbook after it was adopted, the most recent handbook, 02:25:22.380 --> 02:25:26.700 and again, keep in mind to this provision has been there for a while is have many other provisions 02:25:26.700 --> 02:25:33.980 have as well, is that I did send it out to all of the board members. We have, you know, mass email 02:25:33.980 --> 02:25:42.540 group for all of the board members. Everybody was blind copied on that. And what we also do is, 02:25:42.540 --> 02:25:49.900 as individuals are appointed and or reappointed, it has become part of a reappointment, you know, 02:25:49.900 --> 02:25:55.500 appointment packet that we sent to everybody all over again. So we would have sent that not I know 02:25:55.500 --> 02:26:00.620 that I, I did send it via, you know, via email, everybody was blind copied because of the, you 02:26:00.620 --> 02:26:06.380 know, the need to not disclose everybody's email to everybody else. So it was distributed. And I'm 02:26:06.380 --> 02:26:09.740 sorry, Chair Punch, if you know, maybe you didn't get it. But I know that, you know, 02:26:09.740 --> 02:26:16.380 we use the same email group that I've used, you know, for other notifications to board members. 02:26:16.380 --> 02:26:25.420 Now, I'm sorry, I did receive it, but I received it recently. Right. And my understanding that the 02:26:25.420 --> 02:26:36.300 updates happened last January. Yes, I read somewhere. So I, I, that's over a year ago. And, 02:26:36.300 --> 02:26:44.540 and I'm just now receiving it. All right. Update. Okay. Well, and again, you know, I can only say 02:26:44.540 --> 02:26:51.980 that I did send it out not long after the council, the city council sent it out. And it was sent out 02:26:51.980 --> 02:26:56.700 to the same distribution list that I've sent other notices to. But, you know, we'll certainly, you 02:26:56.700 --> 02:27:05.500 know, we've gone to an electronic board record keeping system. And that's what we'll be doing, 02:27:05.500 --> 02:27:11.100 doing now. Again, you know, so now it is a little bit more automated, but I'm not sure why you 02:27:11.100 --> 02:27:17.180 wouldn't have received it. I do know that it was provided to you recently, but again, not long after 02:27:18.060 --> 02:27:22.380 the city council adopted the newest version, it was sent out again to whoever would have been on 02:27:22.380 --> 02:27:26.700 that board. And I'm just sorry that if by chance, maybe you didn't get it. And if you didn't get it, 02:27:26.700 --> 02:27:35.020 it certainly was not intentional. Okay. And so you're saying that you, your plan now is to go 02:27:35.020 --> 02:27:42.380 before the city council with some, you said, can you repeat what you said earlier? 02:27:42.380 --> 02:27:47.340 Yeah. So, so every year, you know, we're going to be reviewing kind of just to see if we need 02:27:47.340 --> 02:27:52.780 to make any changes. So, you know, we've added a couple of boards. There's been a couple of boards 02:27:52.780 --> 02:27:57.580 and commissions that have been added and that we need to add into the boards and commissions, 02:27:57.580 --> 02:28:05.580 you know, manual. So, you know, there's a need to kind of update and then put that membership 02:28:05.580 --> 02:28:09.900 information in there, what the purpose of those boards are. So this is kind of just a routine. 02:28:09.900 --> 02:28:16.620 There's not anything major. However, you know, in discussions with Gary, you know, I do agree that 02:28:16.620 --> 02:28:21.500 the appointment process for officers for each board and commission kind of really does need to 02:28:21.500 --> 02:28:25.900 be a little bit more clear. So that is one of the changes that I'm going to recommend that wasn't 02:28:25.900 --> 02:28:31.820 initially on my list, but, you know, to make sure that, you know, we do clarify the timeframe 02:28:31.820 --> 02:28:38.860 that officers should be elected. Rosa, if a board member wanted to make a recommendation on, 02:28:38.860 --> 02:28:45.340 on an operational thing in a manual, do they talk to their council member that has appointed them 02:28:45.340 --> 02:28:51.820 or do they send a memo to city council? How do they communicate concerns, questions? I know we 02:28:51.820 --> 02:29:00.380 did that on the agenda item that's next in regards to absenteeism, where the board wrote a letter, 02:29:00.380 --> 02:29:05.420 but is that the same process if an individual board member would like to communicate a concern 02:29:05.420 --> 02:29:10.860 on a process? Yes, sir. As you know, everybody has a nominating council member, so you can certainly 02:29:10.860 --> 02:29:17.260 communicate with them on any changes that you as a board member kind of feel that maybe, you know, 02:29:17.260 --> 02:29:22.620 need to be addressed. The council members are very open to that receiving input from their 02:29:22.620 --> 02:29:28.780 representing appointee. You can also, of course, reach out to the mayor individually. We would, 02:29:28.780 --> 02:29:33.740 of course, ask that not as individual board members, you're not reach out to the full city council, 02:29:33.740 --> 02:29:37.980 because this is an item that will come up for, you know, their decision making as a quorum, and you 02:29:37.980 --> 02:29:42.940 could get into some legal concerns there. But certainly, we do encourage you to communicate 02:29:42.940 --> 02:29:49.580 directly with, you know, your nominating council member. And, you know, as you did with the 02:29:49.580 --> 02:29:54.220 attendance policy, you can certainly, you know, place an item on the agenda and decide if there's 02:29:54.220 --> 02:30:00.380 some, you know, recommendation that the board as a whole wants to take, in which case we would 02:30:00.380 --> 02:30:09.500 present it to them. So my concern is this, my nominating board member is no longer here. It was 02:30:09.500 --> 02:30:19.820 Mayor Chris Watts. Yes, and I'm sorry, yes. So by, just by practice, then your nominating 02:30:19.820 --> 02:30:26.460 council member would become our newly elected mayor, Hutzpeth. And so he would be, if, let's 02:30:26.460 --> 02:30:30.220 just say that if your term was up, and you were coming up for reappointment, he would be looking 02:30:30.220 --> 02:30:35.980 at those individuals that, you know, that Mayor Watts possibly had nominated and appointed before. 02:30:35.980 --> 02:30:40.940 But you could certainly reach out to the mayor as a whole. He's available. Keep in mind, 02:30:40.940 --> 02:30:46.620 you know, he represents the whole city. And again, you know, if you choose to, you could 02:30:46.620 --> 02:30:51.740 certainly communicate, you know, with another member. But since he's representing technically 02:30:51.740 --> 02:31:04.300 place seven, you can certainly communicate with him. So what are we doing tonight to behalf, 02:31:04.300 --> 02:31:10.940 we have to move forward and are we going to wait for you to go to the council and come back to us? 02:31:10.940 --> 02:31:16.460 What are we doing? So in order to stay compliant with the requirements of the handbook, 02:31:16.460 --> 02:31:22.700 we do need for you to go ahead and elect a chair and vice chair. Again, there's no saying that it 02:31:22.700 --> 02:31:30.140 cannot be the same, the same people. And, and because we do, we have notified all of the boards 02:31:30.140 --> 02:31:34.460 and commissions as they've been submitting their agendas for their first upcoming meeting this year. 02:31:34.460 --> 02:31:38.780 We've asked all of them to put this item on the agenda. Council committees that comprise, 02:31:38.780 --> 02:31:43.500 you know, of at least three council members, they're also appointing, you know, putting this 02:31:43.500 --> 02:31:49.420 item on their agenda to make sure they remain in compliance. So, so yes, um, again, in order 02:31:49.420 --> 02:31:53.420 to stay compliant, you would need to take action on this item. Mr. Shook. 02:31:53.420 --> 02:32:03.100 You're on mute. David, you're on mute. 02:32:03.100 --> 02:32:12.940 I was speaking so elegantly too. Um, I, I moved to nominate Francis punches chair for the board. 02:32:14.300 --> 02:32:16.220 I think that's in order. I second. 02:32:16.220 --> 02:32:21.260 There's no motion. It's just by majority vote. 02:32:21.260 --> 02:32:31.820 So vote. Rosa, did you, do you want to, is there a rule or something you wanted to clarify? 02:32:31.820 --> 02:32:39.020 You don't even know how to do this. No, and it is, it's a little bit new to everybody. Um, so, 02:32:39.020 --> 02:32:43.820 um, what you can do again, you know, there's a process that the city council had established 02:32:43.820 --> 02:32:49.020 for election of the mayor pro tem. Some boards have opted to kind of follow that. Um, the key 02:32:49.020 --> 02:32:54.060 is for the chair, the under Robert's rules of order, the chair would, would open nominations 02:32:54.060 --> 02:33:01.020 and acknowledge, you know, whoever wants to make a nomination, um, one nomination per board member. 02:33:01.020 --> 02:33:08.140 It does not have to receive a second. Um, you would ask the, whoever is nominated, um, as chair, 02:33:08.140 --> 02:33:12.940 and then again, later as vice chair, uh, if they want to accept it, because obviously you want to 02:33:12.940 --> 02:33:17.740 consider somebody that does want to take that position. And once it's accepted, then you would, 02:33:17.740 --> 02:33:22.780 you would go ahead and ask for, are there any other nominations on the floor? Just in case somebody 02:33:22.780 --> 02:33:27.980 wants to come up and maybe nominate somebody else. If you hear nothing, uh, or you, maybe you 02:33:27.980 --> 02:33:33.420 might get some, uh, you know, other nominations and sometimes very rarely will you at the board level. 02:33:34.620 --> 02:33:39.820 Um, then if, if, you know, you clarify, are there any other nominations when the other nominations 02:33:39.820 --> 02:33:46.540 on the floor, the nomination process is closed. And, um, then you would go ahead and take for, 02:33:46.540 --> 02:33:52.300 uh, election the nominations as they were submitted. So for right now you have received 02:33:52.300 --> 02:33:58.220 a nomination for yourself, uh, chair punch and, um, and then, so you would be the first one that 02:33:58.220 --> 02:34:05.660 would presented would be presented to the board for appointment or election. So right now there 02:34:05.660 --> 02:34:10.700 is one nomination. So you would want to ask, are there any other nominations for the position of 02:34:10.700 --> 02:34:15.660 chair? And then if there's none, then you would go ahead and say, you know, kind of ask again, 02:34:15.660 --> 02:34:20.220 are there any nominations for chair? And if there's none forthcoming, you go ahead and close 02:34:20.220 --> 02:34:27.660 the nomination for chair. And then you would, you would present yourself for the board to vote. 02:34:27.660 --> 02:34:31.660 It's a given, obviously there's no other nominations come in and you only have one 02:34:31.660 --> 02:34:36.460 that that is, you know, the board is kind of in a consensus, but you would want all of them to vote 02:34:36.460 --> 02:34:41.500 and then you would go around, you know, and do voice vote for your reappointment as chair. 02:34:41.500 --> 02:34:46.300 And we would have to do this again in August or September, correct? 02:34:46.300 --> 02:34:52.220 No, it would likely be in January. Again, I'm, I'm going to be taking the boards and 02:34:52.220 --> 02:34:57.260 commissions handbook around, around April to city council. So you would likely have to do it again 02:34:57.260 --> 02:35:02.300 in January. But again, it's not to say that council will concur with my recommendation 02:35:02.300 --> 02:35:08.380 that we established January is kind of like the appointment month for officers, but you would need 02:35:08.380 --> 02:35:17.820 to do it again after all of the, the 20, we would have the 2020 2021 to 2023 terms that we would be 02:35:17.820 --> 02:35:23.980 doing in, you know, kind of like September, October timeframe. So yes, you would need to do it again. 02:35:27.980 --> 02:35:33.180 Josh, am I allowed to speak right now? Because we're in this voting pattern. 02:35:33.180 --> 02:35:42.540 All I want to say is I want to kind of uplift this confusion. And I also would like to like 02:35:42.540 --> 02:35:49.340 validate the chair chair punches feelings and also say like, if we're nominating now, 02:35:49.340 --> 02:35:55.900 because Mr. Dooley has joined, which welcome. Hi, you know, we have three members who are going 02:35:55.900 --> 02:36:01.340 up for reappointment in August, because their term ends in August. But because these new rules might 02:36:01.340 --> 02:36:08.380 change, it might always be January. It just, it just is a lot of confusion, I guess. And then also, 02:36:08.380 --> 02:36:15.500 I just checked the website and Mr. Shuck is listed as expired. But, you know, so it's like, I don't 02:36:15.500 --> 02:36:20.780 know, I just, there's a lot of confusion. I just want to validate that. And then I'm also confused. 02:36:22.060 --> 02:36:27.660 And I'm glad that we're seeking clarification now. And I, you know, I just, I also feel that confusion. 02:36:27.660 --> 02:36:37.740 Yes, I had a question earlier before we started the nomination process. Since we've already been 02:36:37.740 --> 02:36:45.420 doing it wrong, and we're off, who's to say, like, why can't we just extend this until August, 02:36:45.420 --> 02:36:51.820 and then we can just be back on track beginning in August? That's just my question. Why can't 02:36:51.820 --> 02:36:57.820 we do that? Well, there is no provision for the board to determine that they're not going to take 02:36:57.820 --> 02:37:04.460 action on the as soon as practicable the language in the handbook is specific that it should it reads 02:37:04.460 --> 02:37:10.460 election of officers shall be annually as soon as practicable after the annual appointment process. 02:37:10.460 --> 02:37:16.380 And we have just passed that recently, especially for the for the park board, because as you know, 02:37:16.380 --> 02:37:21.100 you you know, all of the the barring that you have a new member, and that's only because the 02:37:21.100 --> 02:37:26.860 other member did not want to continue, you know, that your board is now ready to to do that 02:37:26.860 --> 02:37:31.820 appointment. So there's no there's nothing in the handbook that says that, you know, the board 02:37:31.820 --> 02:37:43.180 itself has the authority to put aside that requirement at this time. And so if my 02:37:43.180 --> 02:37:51.100 reappointment in August, then we would have to nominate a new chair. Well, again, because 02:37:51.100 --> 02:37:57.020 you're doing it annually. And today is like right now we're in 2021. So the logic would say that 02:37:57.020 --> 02:38:04.700 you would go ahead and do it in like in any time in 2022. But by then, I'm hoping, you know, we 02:38:04.700 --> 02:38:09.260 would clarify with City Council, that, you know, they would do it and it would, you know, we would 02:38:09.260 --> 02:38:14.540 make sure that stipulates the language properly, that it would be like, you know, that it shall be 02:38:14.540 --> 02:38:19.980 in 20, like, hopefully the January, it might be the January, February timeline. So really, 02:38:19.980 --> 02:38:27.020 you would still do it not in 2021. Okay, my recommendation is you do it in 2022. And that 02:38:27.020 --> 02:38:32.860 would be my recommendation to counsel. So it's not to say that you would do it again in 2021. 02:38:34.540 --> 02:38:41.420 But my term, my term is up in January, in August. Yes, but you could possibly be reappointed. 02:38:41.420 --> 02:38:49.020 I think, I think she hits her six years. Oh, so you're termed. Yep. So she's termed up. Yeah. 02:38:49.020 --> 02:38:54.060 Right. Okay. So then what would happen is that the, if you would elect a vice chair, 02:38:54.060 --> 02:38:59.500 right. And then if, let's just say, you know, you're termed and then they would come in. So 02:38:59.500 --> 02:39:03.820 you would stay as a holdover. Let's just say that, you know, you stayed over as a holdover 02:39:03.820 --> 02:39:11.740 for however much longer. And then the vice chair, you would still remain chair again, 02:39:11.740 --> 02:39:15.100 because you're still holdover and you are the chair until such time as you come in and you 02:39:15.100 --> 02:39:21.100 elect a chair. So the vice or the vice chair could take over, but you would wait till 2022 to elect 02:39:21.100 --> 02:39:25.980 a new chair. Cause as you know, I mean, we've had, although, you know, members are really supposed 02:39:25.980 --> 02:39:31.980 to kind of like be reappointed. You know, some members are known to hold over for a year and a 02:39:31.980 --> 02:39:42.860 half, two years. So some members will hold, hold over. Yeah. I'm confused by that last series, 02:39:42.860 --> 02:39:49.660 because I think what you, I think she just said her term would end and at six years, 02:39:49.660 --> 02:39:56.380 which ultimately would result in another person being chosen from that member. So there would be 02:39:56.380 --> 02:40:01.260 another member coming in. How would a holdover work when there are two people in that position 02:40:01.260 --> 02:40:07.340 and she would still be the chair that that makes very little sense. Well, no, she, so, so if, if 02:40:07.340 --> 02:40:13.900 she, if she was a board, she would, it is not to say that she, she would be immediate a replacement 02:40:13.900 --> 02:40:20.300 for her seat would immediately happen come, you know, September, you know, August, September. 02:40:20.300 --> 02:40:26.300 It's not to say she could literally sit in that seat right now where she is at like for a year 02:40:26.300 --> 02:40:31.740 until let's just say, you know, Mayor, Mayor Hudspeth appointment it would be. So she would 02:40:31.740 --> 02:40:35.260 actually be there. It's not that somebody else would come in in her place. She would sit there 02:40:35.260 --> 02:40:40.620 until he finds somebody else to replace her. And that would be only because obviously she's termed. 02:40:40.620 --> 02:40:47.740 So she just could not be reappointed, but she could hold over. It's just the same as the members. I 02:40:47.740 --> 02:40:53.100 think what happened this time was not no member on the park board that come whose term ended this 02:40:53.100 --> 02:41:01.500 year. What, or last year in, in, in August 31st of 2020, nobody was termed. So the issue didn't 02:41:01.500 --> 02:41:08.300 come up, but you continue to hold over. You, you sit there until your replacement is appointed, 02:41:08.300 --> 02:41:14.940 or you choose to resign sooner than that. So, so, so if the mayor finds a replacement 02:41:14.940 --> 02:41:21.900 and council approves it in September, that person would start immediately. And the vice chair would 02:41:21.900 --> 02:41:28.380 be, would elevate to the chair until the, all the appointments are done in January. There'd be a 02:41:28.380 --> 02:41:34.780 vote. Is that correct? Okay. So, so the vice chair would then become what we call the presiding 02:41:34.780 --> 02:41:39.740 officer. So yes, they would, even though maybe not entitled and the board could make the decision to 02:41:39.740 --> 02:41:45.260 go ahead and appoint a chair, or you might choose to, because you've already done it annually, 02:41:45.260 --> 02:41:49.820 right? You could actually come in and you have the option of either going ahead and doing a new 02:41:49.820 --> 02:41:55.180 chair or waiting till maybe the rest of, you know, the, the rest of the members that are up for 02:41:55.180 --> 02:42:00.380 reappointment are either elected or, you know, or something. So it would be up to the board 02:42:00.380 --> 02:42:06.140 at that point, because you've already at least met the responsibility for 2021. But normally, 02:42:06.140 --> 02:42:16.460 yes, in the absence of a chair, the vice chair would take over that role. Okay. Sorry, Francis. 02:42:17.740 --> 02:42:26.380 Go ahead, Alana. I just feel like if we get on this year where we're voting every January, 02:42:26.380 --> 02:42:31.740 we're going to run into this over and over and over again. And I just, I really feel like we should, 02:42:31.740 --> 02:42:38.460 maybe we need to talk to city council and see if we can just get an extension this year and like 02:42:38.460 --> 02:42:44.540 get it on track so that August, September is when the year begins and ends annually. 02:42:47.740 --> 02:42:53.020 Okay. Yeah, I'm going to write a letter 02:42:53.020 --> 02:42:59.500 of this concern. This is weird. And this feels kind of icky to be like super honest. 02:42:59.500 --> 02:43:04.300 I just don't, I don't like it. So I'm going to talk to my council member about it. Thank you. 02:43:04.300 --> 02:43:07.900 Thank you, city secretary. I want to like first uplift the fact that like you're sharing this 02:43:07.900 --> 02:43:12.140 information because this is your job to share this information. And like, I want to respect that 02:43:12.140 --> 02:43:18.060 and uplift that, that this is, this is just weird. And I want to reach out. I'm going to, 02:43:18.060 --> 02:43:20.700 I'm going to do what you said. I'm going to reach out to my council member. Thank you. 02:43:20.700 --> 02:43:23.500 And thank you for your time. You're welcome. 02:43:23.500 --> 02:43:31.340 So part of the, part of the challenge is that this, the appointment, just the general appointment 02:43:31.340 --> 02:43:37.820 would have happened in September, like historically, but since COVID hit and they delayed the election, 02:43:38.460 --> 02:43:48.140 it got pushed and Jerry was appointed in January. So this is, you know, four or five months delayed 02:43:48.140 --> 02:43:55.100 from when it should have happened. So that's why now we have January and September coming 02:43:55.100 --> 02:44:01.980 potentially so close with new members. That's kind of caused the compression in that process. 02:44:04.220 --> 02:44:13.900 Yeah, because, yeah, because I'm good to go till what? September of next year. And then we have a, 02:44:13.900 --> 02:44:20.140 we're juggling dual appointments, which I'm not really, I'm not getting here. 02:44:20.140 --> 02:44:26.780 So maybe we get on the same page. But I don't know, like I said, I'm new, so I don't want to like 02:44:28.060 --> 02:44:36.220 cause any, any, any ripples, but you know, but your insight is valuable. Your insight is valuable. 02:44:36.220 --> 02:44:44.620 I mean, it's just odd if we're, if we're changing board members and then three months later, 02:44:44.620 --> 02:44:49.020 we're electing a new chair. Let me, I don't understand why we're juggling two different 02:44:49.020 --> 02:44:54.140 timelines. You know, I don't know, but I didn't realize we have 10 minutes. 02:44:55.020 --> 02:45:05.660 Yeah. Yes. Mr. Schick. If I could just make a recommendation. It sounds like we are at the, 02:45:05.660 --> 02:45:09.820 you know, we're subject to the rules that are citywide, right? And I think ultimately 02:45:09.820 --> 02:45:16.380 we are to determine a chair and a vice chair based on those rules as they exist today. 02:45:16.380 --> 02:45:20.780 I also don't think that we have a lot of political turmoil amongst this board. And I have a feeling 02:45:20.780 --> 02:45:25.100 that we're going to see a very similar set of chair and vice chair moving forward. And if I 02:45:25.100 --> 02:45:29.820 could just recommend that we just move forward with the appointment and let them hash out the 02:45:29.820 --> 02:45:34.300 rules with the city council, let's contact city council people, but let's just do the job tonight 02:45:34.300 --> 02:45:39.340 and appoint our chair and our vice chair. That's just my opinion. Can I, can I second that 02:45:39.340 --> 02:45:47.660 nomination really quick? Just wasn't necessary. It was just a, they said second. Yeah, we don't 02:45:47.660 --> 02:45:53.100 second, which is also weird because that's Robert's rules of order. Oh, well, silly me. Sorry, man. 02:45:53.100 --> 02:46:03.340 I thought we did. Yes. And again, we're following this. I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. 02:46:03.340 --> 02:46:15.180 I may throw another wrench in this equation because it just seems quite convoluted. And if we, 02:46:18.460 --> 02:46:27.180 elect someone other than myself as chair and vice chair, then we could start anew. 02:46:27.180 --> 02:46:32.540 Is this correct? Cause I will be gone in August. 02:46:32.540 --> 02:46:42.700 Well, again, you, you would hold over, you would hold over, you could possibly hold over until 02:46:42.700 --> 02:46:49.100 January, February, March, April, who knows, depending on, you know, what mayor Husbits decides to do 02:46:49.100 --> 02:46:55.660 on, on place a seat seven on the parks board. So you could continue to hold over, 02:46:55.660 --> 02:47:03.500 but it's certainly your purview, you know, to, to, you know, if, if you, again, you've been nominated 02:47:03.500 --> 02:47:09.900 as you've been nominated for reappointment as chair. So it's up to you to accept it or not accept it. 02:47:10.460 --> 02:47:15.500 And you would, you know, again, under the process, and we're following the same process that, 02:47:15.500 --> 02:47:19.900 you know, we were using for the mayor pro tem with at the council level and the attorney 02:47:19.900 --> 02:47:26.140 reported that there was no second for the nomination required. And of course we always 02:47:26.140 --> 02:47:32.700 defer to legal. And so you can accept the nomination or not accept it. And it looks like, 02:47:32.700 --> 02:47:37.660 you know, the board would love for you to accept it. And then you would just to clarify, you know, 02:47:37.660 --> 02:47:42.940 are there any other nominations on the floor? And then if there's none forthcoming, then, you know, 02:47:42.940 --> 02:47:48.860 I mean, that's great. If there are, that could be great too. And then if there's none, then you 02:47:48.860 --> 02:47:53.980 would go ahead and present yourself. Okay. You know, by acclamation, you know, all in favor, 02:47:53.980 --> 02:47:58.460 or you could go around and have everybody give their voice vote in support of your re-election 02:47:58.460 --> 02:48:03.340 as chair, but you wouldn't, it's very important that you accept, you indicate whether you accept 02:48:03.340 --> 02:48:14.300 or you do not accept the nomination. It's a lot to process in this moment. It really is. And I just, 02:48:14.300 --> 02:48:27.900 I really feel led to decline and pass my responsibilities on to the people who are very 02:48:27.900 --> 02:48:38.620 capable. So I decline my nomination and I nominate Alana Taylor as chair. 02:48:38.620 --> 02:48:52.220 So now, Ms. Member Taylor, you need to indicate whether you accept or you do not. 02:48:53.740 --> 02:49:00.540 And would the chair would continue? I accept the nomination and I do feel like 02:49:00.540 --> 02:49:14.460 we need to find out what is going to happen in council to get our terms more consistent with 02:49:14.460 --> 02:49:22.860 our back on track. Once we all recover from the weird cycle and just, I would like to figure out 02:49:22.860 --> 02:49:32.380 so that this never happens again to be in this situation because it does, I'm, I am excited. 02:49:32.380 --> 02:49:39.980 Thank you, Frances, for the nomination. I would love to be chair, but it feels kind of weird to be 02:49:39.980 --> 02:49:46.060 brought in, in this kind of way. So I just wanted to make that clear. 02:49:48.460 --> 02:49:54.060 And so now does she nominate a vice chair? No, so what you would do is you would go ahead 02:49:54.060 --> 02:49:58.460 and open the floor for any other nominations for chair. Any other nominations for chair? 02:49:58.460 --> 02:50:09.900 So the nominations close. Nominations are closed. All in favor? Anyone opposed? 02:50:13.260 --> 02:50:23.100 Okay. Motion passes. Okay. And now Member Taylor now becomes the chair and therefore takes over 02:50:23.100 --> 02:50:28.220 the proceedings for the meeting. And she will open the nominations process for vice chair 02:50:28.220 --> 02:50:33.260 and takes over for the rest of the meeting. Okay. Oh, my hands are all sweaty all of a sudden. 02:50:33.260 --> 02:50:45.260 Sorry. Is this effective immediately? Yes. Okay. So I open up the nominations for vice chair. 02:50:45.260 --> 02:50:51.340 Can I nominate? Yes, you can. And I would like to nominate George Ferry as vice chair. 02:50:58.220 --> 02:51:04.620 Yeah, I also I accept that nomination. And I also just want to like reiterate that I would really 02:51:04.620 --> 02:51:11.500 like to look at this language and like circle back to this conversation when it's decided 02:51:11.500 --> 02:51:17.340 by council so that we have some resolution to this and get some closure on this icky kind of feeling. 02:51:17.340 --> 02:51:25.900 And just for clarification, this is happening all across all of the city boards right now at 02:51:25.900 --> 02:51:31.580 this same time. This is not specific to the parks board. This is happening on the ethics board, 02:51:31.580 --> 02:51:38.780 on all of the other nominating boards. Yes, they're having the same conversation this month. 02:51:38.780 --> 02:51:44.140 Yes, they are. They have the same agenda item. Again, I don't know what their specific 02:51:44.140 --> 02:51:48.700 conversation is. And we're also doing this with council committees, which are comprised of council 02:51:48.700 --> 02:51:57.340 members. Because it applies to also this requirement also applies to council committees. So yes, 02:51:57.340 --> 02:52:04.300 well, just just just as a little like, again, an outsider, but my mama always said, you know, 02:52:04.300 --> 02:52:11.180 just because everybody else was doing it, don't make it right. Yeah. But yeah, let's get the 02:52:11.180 --> 02:52:23.260 language straight. Because I'm done. Go ahead. I guess I'm trigger happy. I don't know. Are there 02:52:23.260 --> 02:52:36.700 any other nominations for vice chair? Now, what do I say? Open for nomination. 02:52:42.140 --> 02:52:50.620 Um, I'm sorry, I did not do we vote. Right. So there's been no other nominations, correct? 02:52:50.620 --> 02:52:56.540 No. Yeah. So then go ahead. You officially close the nomination process and then ask the board to 02:52:56.540 --> 02:53:02.780 to cast their vote. Okay, I closed the nomination process and it is time to vote. 02:53:02.780 --> 02:53:07.900 If you're in favor of George as vice chair, say aye. 02:53:10.060 --> 02:53:13.020 Aye. Any opposed? 02:53:13.020 --> 02:53:17.740 Congratulations, George. 02:53:17.740 --> 02:53:24.220 Thank you. And I will report back on what the city council takes on this item. 02:53:24.220 --> 02:53:33.740 Thank you. Thank you. Take care. I'd like to thank Francis. Yes. Great. Thank you, Francis. 02:53:35.020 --> 02:53:43.180 You're very welcome. Before you leave. Did she? Did she leave? I have a question about the next 02:53:43.180 --> 02:54:05.820 agenda. Eddie, Eddie, could you get her back on, please? 02:54:13.420 --> 02:54:23.420 I also had this is a schedule, right? That's what we're about to go on to. 02:54:23.420 --> 02:54:31.900 Let's see. This one is about, yeah, the schedule. And we've, we've done this year. 02:54:31.900 --> 02:54:34.460 We've done this last year. We've done that. 02:54:34.460 --> 02:54:41.740 Yeah. Do you guys all want to just do that? Are you, you guys want to vote for that one? 02:54:41.740 --> 02:54:48.700 I'm sorry. It was item G, not F, but it's, it's, but I'm sorry for interrupting. 02:54:48.700 --> 02:54:59.660 Sure. Well, what do you want to do, Elena? You want to do item F? Chair Taylor? 02:54:59.660 --> 02:55:09.340 We can move to, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. G. What do I do when we get down to four 02:55:09.340 --> 02:55:15.580 minutes until the meeting is supposed to be over? Cause we don't have that much time to 02:55:15.580 --> 02:55:21.820 talk about anything. And I know we're like, we have to be finished at six. 02:55:21.820 --> 02:55:28.300 Your items would just continue. You, what you would do is you would say that items, 02:55:28.300 --> 02:55:30.860 these items will be postponed to the next meeting. 02:55:30.860 --> 02:55:39.020 Is everybody okay to postpone the rest of this agenda until the next meeting? 02:55:39.020 --> 02:55:42.620 So that we will have enough time to talk about it. 02:55:42.620 --> 02:55:49.900 Do we vote on that? Do we say aye? Okay. If you. 02:55:49.900 --> 02:55:57.100 I support the motion to, or I motion to table the rest of the items until the next meeting. 02:55:57.100 --> 02:56:01.100 That's it. Where we will also be bringing our 02:56:01.100 --> 02:56:09.100 nominations for the master plan. Okay. All in favor say aye. Okay. 02:56:09.100 --> 02:56:14.700 Opposed. Thanks. I'll get there. 02:56:14.700 --> 02:56:22.460 Okay. No opposed. So I guess that brings us to the end of this meeting. 02:56:22.460 --> 02:56:30.700 Do I ask if we want to bring anything else to the next meeting sites? What's tabled? 02:56:31.340 --> 02:56:34.540 I'm asking. I'm not asking if I asked that. 02:56:34.540 --> 02:56:40.540 Maybe I'll send it as an email to Gary in the meantime, but I had somebody bring something 02:56:40.540 --> 02:56:45.980 to me about signage at the Frisbee golf course that, that it's no longer accurate 02:56:45.980 --> 02:56:49.180 and it can be helped. And I just want to bring that up. 02:56:49.180 --> 02:56:56.940 And real quick, I know Rosa, you were supposed to go to the city council about ordinance and I, 02:56:58.220 --> 02:57:02.060 codes code of ordinance. Is that happening this week? 02:57:02.060 --> 02:57:08.940 Due to, there were a lot of board meetings and council meetings that were had to be canceled 02:57:08.940 --> 02:57:14.300 because of the, you know, the, the inclement weather. So it's going to be in April when I'm 02:57:14.300 --> 02:57:19.260 going to take the handbook as well as the attendance policy to them. And then we'll come back. 02:57:19.260 --> 02:57:26.140 Okay. I'll send an email. I'll send an email with my concerns. 02:57:26.140 --> 02:57:33.100 Thank you. Does anybody have any other items that would like to be addressed? 02:57:33.100 --> 02:57:42.300 Go ahead. Oh, I was just going to say something I was going to mention as part of my item is that 02:57:42.300 --> 02:57:47.900 the Denton parks foundation board is looking for additional board members. And we did nominate our 02:57:47.900 --> 02:57:54.300 board and we do not have representation from district one. And so we are looking for folks 02:57:54.300 --> 02:58:00.540 in district one to join our board, whether they are a business in the area or a resident, 02:58:00.540 --> 02:58:07.820 or even an employee who works within district one in Denton parks and rec. So just throwing that out. 02:58:07.820 --> 02:58:11.980 Thanks. Jerry. 02:58:11.980 --> 02:58:17.980 Yeah. So two things for nominations to the trail focus group, pretty much saying that 02:58:17.980 --> 02:58:19.660 because I know somebody that would be great. 02:58:22.380 --> 02:58:26.060 You could just email it to you. Yes. Yes, sir. 02:58:26.060 --> 02:58:31.980 Okay. And George, just for duck on the side, I miss wine squared, man. I just realized who you were. 02:58:31.980 --> 02:58:37.500 So see you again. Thank you, Jerry. I appreciate you. 02:58:37.500 --> 02:58:42.220 I miss you. I miss you, man. I miss it too. 02:58:42.220 --> 02:58:50.140 Gary. Just just a quick comment. I know we have an agenda item on this and we can get into detail 02:58:50.140 --> 02:58:55.180 next, I guess, in two weeks when we have our next meeting. But I wanted to introduce Nikki Sassenes. 02:58:55.180 --> 02:59:01.580 She's our new Laura Barron's, our new assistant director. She joined us last week and Monday was 02:59:01.580 --> 02:59:09.340 her first day. So she was a trial by error on dealing with emergency services that we provided 02:59:09.340 --> 02:59:16.940 pretty much all of last week. So she, she had an interesting first week, say the least baptism by 02:59:16.940 --> 02:59:23.420 ice and snow. Yeah, that's hilarious. Welcome. Thank you very much. I'm excited to be here and 02:59:23.420 --> 02:59:31.340 be with all of you and serve the city of thin. Welcome. Impressive. Very impressive. 02:59:31.340 --> 02:59:36.220 We'll have to spend time with you to do like a quick interview and introduction 02:59:36.220 --> 02:59:44.460 on the parks board or parks foundation website and Facebook since you're the new Leslie Knope of town. 02:59:46.220 --> 02:59:48.220 All right, sounds great. Happy to do it. 02:59:48.220 --> 02:59:57.500 Okay, I'd like to in the meeting again, Francis, thank you so much for all you have done as our 02:59:57.500 --> 03:00:08.220 chair and hope I can fill the big shoes that you've left. Does anybody have? My pleasure. 03:00:08.220 --> 03:00:10.700 Thank you. I move to adjourn. 03:00:13.820 --> 03:00:24.620 Second. All right. I think you have to vote. Who seconded? All in favor of ending our meeting. 03:00:24.620 --> 03:00:34.860 Who's second? George. I did. Eddie. Still waiting. Who? Motion. George Ferry. Dave. I made the motion. 03:00:34.860 --> 03:00:43.420 George did the second. We're all voting. All in favor voting. Great. I'm going to go home. 03:00:43.420 --> 03:00:49.580 I'm going to stay home and read up on my Roberts rules. Got you, girl. I love you, Francis. 03:00:49.580 --> 03:00:57.180 Bye, Francis. Hey, reach out to me if you want to be on the parks board.