BOND ADVISORY COMMITTEE

PARKS & RECREATION SUB-COMMITTEE

MINUTES

MEETING

February 1, 2007

Natural Resources, Parks & Recreation Department

3500 West River Road, Tucson, Arizona

A. CALL TO ORDER – ROLL CALL

Quorum having been established, the Chair called the meeting to order at 8:10 a.m.

Sub-committee members present: Gary Davidson (Chair), Thomas Six, John Neis, Tom Warne, Byron Howard, Carolyn Campbell

Guest: Supervisor Ann Day, District 1

Staff present: Rafael Payan, Carlo DiPilato, Lauren Harvey, George Kuck, Nicole Fyffe, Susanne Shields, Loy Neff, Don Spiece and Ann Khambholja

B. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Those present recited the pledge of allegiance.

C. COMMISSION DISCUSSION/ACTION REQUEST

1. Chairman Davidson welcomed the committee and had the members introduce themselves. He also thanked Supervisor Day for her support of the Parks and Recreation Bond election program. Supervisor Day commended the members of the committee for their service, hard work, diligence and dedication to a healthy Pima County. She spoke of the fact that the commissioners job would be to prioritize the bond list while trying to meet all the needs of the county and community. The list at present contains the needs of all the districts and would have to be pared down to something the county could afford. Supervisor Day also spoke of the pressing need for more parks for the community in the county as well. She also informed the committee that the county had received a triple ‘A’ bond rating.

2. Agenda items 2 and 3, - the sub-committee’s role and responsibilities and the development of criteria for prioritizing projects were combined. Mr. Payan thanked the committee and gave an overview of NRPR’s role and the great opportunity the county has in providing incredible services to the community. Mr. Payan also emphasized the importance of parks and libraries as being indicative of a community’s economic, physical and social health. The last bond focused on open space acquisition but this bond will focus on developed parks for organized sports with play fields, sports fields, ramadas, community centers, picnics, landscaped areas. The national average for parks is presently 10 acres per 1000 residents, the City of Tucson presently has an average of 6 acres/1000 and the county lags behind at 2 acres/1000 residents, emphasizing the need for more parks. Mr. Payan also explained how parks and open space provides form for the community and also preserves theses spaces for the use of the whole community. Tucson, Catalina, Tortolita Mountain Parks, is examples of this need. Mr. Payan also mentioned signature parks like Golden Gate Park, Central Park that preserved natural and open space for the whole community. Another reason highlighting the importance of parks is that statistics show they reduce crime and teenage pregnancies as they provide opportunity for physical activity, club sports, organized activity and even senior sports. Previously these opportunities were available in school, at recess and at breaks, but now most schools provide little or physical education any more. So, parks are extremely important not only for the children and youth in the community, but for seniors as well. Also, environmental education opportunities are possible for protecting the natural habitat and species of the area, even in urban parks. Other types of parks needed are dog parks as well as equestrian staging areas and trails for horsepersons. Pima County is working with lots of local communities as well as local and regional governments as well as tribal nations for this purpose. Mr. Payan also spoke about the trail system in the Tucson Basin as well as in urban areas like Reid Park. He also spoke of the environmental education programs that reached over 20,000 children in Tucson last year. Mr. Payan also spoke of the counties involvement in research together with agencies like Native Seeds/SEARCH and the opportunity to develop seed banks for rare and endangered plants of this region, as well as demonstration gardens. The county is also partnering with the University of Arizona to identify nutritional elements in local crops that would help the community. Another area is invasive species control. Mr. Payan explained how invasive buffelgrass that was originally planted by ranchers for fodder is in danger of changing the ecosystem of the Sonoran desert completely if left unchecked, and the control measures the county is taking, along with other agencies. Mr. Payan also spoke of trying to develop tournament sites that would attract not only revenue, but business opportunities to the area.

Mr. Payan presented a slide show of several concept plans that are being developed by the county. These are not the usual small neighborhood-type parks, but instead would be large tournament sites for sports like soccer, baseball and softball which the community lacks. These large ‘aircraft carrier’ type plans could have up to 24 play fields. The areas selected were chosen for their proximity to malls, hotels, restaurants and transportation. This would mean the remastering and redesigning of older parks. The concept plan for Mehl Foothills Park would add several more baseball diamonds. The concept plan for the Rillito Regional Park calls for converting the race track into an 18 field soccer complex. It will also have a community center which would be operated by the City of Tucson. At the county’s latest signature park ‘Brandi Fenton Memorial Park’ the focus would be on historic preservation including preserving working landscapes like farm and ranch land, as well as environmental education buildings, demonstration gardens and a seedbank in collaboration with Native Seeds. The concept plan for Dan Felix Park also calls for the addition of several more soccer fields. At Curtis Park – which was a former borrow pit, the plan calls for baseball fields and a skate park, and an off leash dog run as well. The county is also exploring the possible of developing a sports complex at the Roger Road sewage site. Since the sewage plant is almost obsolete, the upgrades would not be financially feasible. This would also provide uses for reclaimed water. For this reason the county together with the city is looking into developing a sports complex consisting of 18 soccer, 12 baseball and 12 softball fields, expanded riparian habitat, cultural resource area, a City of Tucson environmental education center, adaptive reuse of water and passive recreation areas. This would probably lead to more development along the frontage road, which is presently undeveloped due to the location of the sewage treatment plant. This would result in increased revenues to the city as well as making the area very attractive. The Marana Sports Complex envisions 18 soccer fields, 12 baseball and 12 softball fields. Due to the proximity of the Marana Airport, there are limited uses. The racetrack may also be relocated here and a viewing area for the 4^th of July celebrations is planned. Mr. Payan explained that planning these large parks would not only look to increasing the revenue and businesses in the area, but also serve the local population as well. Mr. Payan also said that the county was looking at feasible sites in all areas of the county since the city was growing rapidly. Mr. Howard asked about the O&M costs of these complexes. Mr. Payan explained that O&M costs are less comparatively for a large park rather than many smaller ones. He is also looking into opportunities for creative methods to reduce these.

The meeting took a five minute break and reconvened at 9:10 a.m.

Chairman Davidson explained to the members of the committee that their job would be to look into the bond recommendations and cut it down by 75-80% to something that is feasible and within the bond package. Also, it would be the responsibility of the committee to keep in mind the needs of the community. Chairman Davidson presented the members with potential selection criteria considerations which he had thought about and which the committee members were free to add to. He also advised them that they could decide to establish the criteria today or by the next meeting. He also suggested dividing the list up by district and holding five meetings, one to discuss and prioritize each district’s projects. Mr. Six said that there should be presenters at each meeting as well. Mr. Howard wanted to know whether this information could be posted on a website. Ms. Fyffe answered that this could be posted on the county’s bond website. Mr. Six also asked how benefits could be defined. Chairman Davidson replied that economic benefits, the people served, attractiveness, could all be considered. Mr. Six thought it was too broad a definition. Mr. Warne felt that benefits should not be prioritized strictly by the dollar figure. Ms. Campbell felt that addressing an unmet need of the community would be important. Chairman Davidson felt that accessibility could also be a benefit. Ms. Campbell also felt that if the committee concentrated on parks, cultural resources would not fit the criteria set for parks. Ms. Fyffe suggested that Cultural Resources could also come up with a structured presentation and develop criteria for the committee to consider at the next meeting. Chairman Davidson suggested that at the next meeting projects in District 1, including the overlapping projects would be discussed and prioritized. Chairman Davidson reminded the committee that their responsibility is to the community as a whole and explained the need for criteria in the selection process. Mr. Howard wanted to know whether points would be awarded for criteria met. Chairman Davidson pointed out that 80% of the projects would have no funding. Mr. Neis asked about which jurisdictions had prioritized the projects listed and understood that certain criteria had been used to make that decision. Chairman Davidson also felt that priorities should be given to each project and then further refined. Ms. Campbell asked whether items that were dropped from earlier bond lists were ever given priority in the next round, and whether there was any procedure that would bring these projects up again. She felt that it would be good information to have. Mr. Six felt it would be better to wait until the next meeting and hear the criteria considerations from CR before adopting the proposed criteria. Chairman Davidson advised all the members that all comments were to be sent to Ms. Harvey who would be the contact for all the committee members. Ms. Campbell also asked about the criteria for the river parks. Chairman Davidson felt that this enhanced and emphasized the connectivity. Ms. Fields from Flood Control explained to the members about the reason for the river parks. The properties had been purchased by Flood Control for various reasons like being flood prone and converted into parks, thus no additional acquisition costs were incurred. Mr. Neis was of the opinion that the river parks did not fit the criteria of serving the underserved. Chairman Davidson explained that this committee’s goal was to come up with recommendations for the main bond committee by June or July 2007.

It was agreed that the priorities would be considered district-wise and that presentations would be made by different agencies involved as well. Also interest parties from all the districts could also comment on the process. The potential future meeting dates are March 1, 2007, March 29, 2007. May 3, 2007, May 31, 2007, June 7, 2007 and June 14, 2007. Chairman Davidson suggested the possibility of an additional meeting on June 21, 2007, if the committee had not completed their recommendations by then. A motion to accept the recommendations was proposed by Mr. Howard and seconded by Chairman Davidson. A three-tiered approach would be used in setting ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ priorities for each district. He also requested a spreadsheet that would list all projects in each district with the geographic population served and if it could be indicated if the project had the potential for other funding. Mr. DiPilato also explained that the priorities could be changed by re-scoping the projects to make them more feasible.

Ms. Campbell proposed accepting Chairman Davidson’s list of criteria as a working document with the addition of a criterion for unmet needs and underserved areas.

D. FUTURE MEETING DATES

The Commission will hold the next meeting on Thursday, March 1, 2007 at 8:00 a.m.

E. CALL TO THE PUBLIC: The following persons spoke:

Ms. Rosemary McCain representing Vail in District 4

Ms. Elizabeth Webb of the Vail Preservation Society in District 4

Mr. Richard Hill, District 1

Mr. Jim Stevens, District 2

Mr. Bill May, District 4

F. ADJOURNMENT: Motioned and seconded, the meeting adjourned at 10:50 a.m.