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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 10-30-2000APPROVED MAY 1.2001 MINUTES ASSEMBLY OF GOVERNMENTS ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS CARRBORO BOARD OF ALDERMEN CHAPEL HILL TOWN COUNCIL HILLSBOROUGH TOWN COMMISSIONERS OCTOBER 30, 2000 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met on Monday, October 30, 2000 at 7:30 p.m. in the Boardroom of the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina as part of an Assembly of Governments meeting. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Moses Carey, Jr., and Commissioners Margaret W. Brown, Alice M. Gordon, Barry Jacobs and Stephen H. Halkiotis CARRBORO BOARD OF ALDERMEN PRESENT: Mayor Mike Nelson and Aldermen Allen Spalt, Mark Dorosin, Jacquelyn Gist, Diana McDuffee and Joal Hall Broun CARRBORO STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Robert Morgan CHAPEL HILL TOWN COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Rosemary Waldorf and Council Members Flicka Bateman, Joyce Brown, Pat Evans, Kevin Foy, Bill Strom, Jim Ward, and Edith Wiggins CHAPEL HILL STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager W. Calvin Horton HILLSBOROUGH TOWN COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Mayor Horace Johnson and Commissioner Mark Sheridan HILLSBOROUGH STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Eric Peterson MEBANE CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Glendel Stephenson MEBANE STAFF PRESENT: City Manager Robert Wilson COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Manager Rod Visser and Clerk to the Board Beverly A. Blythe (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. ALL RECORDINGS OF THE MEETING WILL BE KEPT FOR 5 YEARS. Introductions were made. POTENTIAL JOINT CAPITAL FUNDING FOR PARKS REPORT Environment and Resource Conservation Director David Stancil made the presentation. In summary he said that this report was the culmination of four years of work on parks and recreation in the County. The work includes three reports. All of the reports recommend exploring coordinated capital funding and note the potential for Orange County to take the lead in future joint park facilities that serve the population of the entire County. A memorandum of agreement for co-location of facilities, the towns, and both school systems has been developed by the Schools and Land Use Councils and has been agreed to by a number of parties. The agreement calls for exploring opportunities to co- locate whenever new public facilities are planned. The sum total of park projects is $63 million, with $47.5 million not funded at this time. 2 The sources of funding for park projects include Capital Investment Plan (CIP), bonds, installment financing, grants, school/park reserve fund, land development/payments-in-lieu, and impact fees. The 1999 report suggested the County's new Lands Legacy program as a vehicle for collaboration on parkland acquisitions. Three potential actions are suggested: 1) a memorandum of agreement on capital funding for parks; 2) an agreement on a conceptual future parks map; and 3) a bond to develop plans for parks and open space. The Inter-Governmental Parks Work Group begins meeting next month to explore collaborative opportunities. If a bond referendum is pursued, parks and recreation should be included in the planning. Finally, the staffs could begin preliminary work on a draft Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to address joint parks capital funding and development. Flicka Bateman asked for an explanation of how the County would take the lead and coordinate the necessary activities. David Stancil said that, as land becomes scarce in the city limits, properties outside of the city limits would be considered. This lead role could be spelled out in the MOA. Mayor Johnson said that he feels that it is appropriate for the County to take the lead. He said that the growth patterns indicate that the growth will continue to the north. He also feels that the County would be the appropriate agency to facilitate the plan to fund the parks and to acquire properties. Diana McDuffee said that she feels that the County would be the appropriate entity to take the lead. She said that during the last year there was a concentrated study done on soccer facilities and that the Board of County Commissioners would be discussing this report on Wednesday evening, November 1St Jackie Gist said that she has been impressed over the last five years with the intergovernmental cooperation in developing the three reports on parks and recreation. She feels that this is a model of cooperation for other things. She is concerned about the pool issue where the estimated cost has escalated. She would like to see an intergovernmental group formed including the towns, the County, the school systems and the YMCA to discuss the pool issue. Kevin Foy agrees with Jackie Gist and said that when the Town Council found out the cost for a pool for Chapel Hill, they found out that a lot of the demand for the pool was driven by the schools and they were trying to balance that with the SportsPlex. He said that the Town Council have asked that the Intergovernmental Parks Work Group address the pool issue in November at their first meeting. It was suggested that the YMCA should be asked to join the Intergovernmental Parks Work Group. Bill Strom said that he feels that part of the reason that the 1997 bond issue was so successful was that it had money for land banking and facility development. He feels it is important to land bank and have money earmarked for facility development. Pat Evans feels that the difficult issue will be equity because everyone pays Orange County taxes. The issue will be how money is raised and dispersed. Chair Carey said that the equity issue was something that could be addressed in the memorandum of agreement. John Link said that this could be addressed the next time the committee meets. Bob Morgan said that he does not feel that the jurisdictions will ever work out the equity issue but he feels they can focus on solutions. 3 Mayor Waldorf does not feel there can be a solution unless the equity issue is somehow addressed. She made reference to page 2 of the agenda packet where the three recommendations are offered and said that she would hope they could move forward on the recommendations. However, she feels that the equity issue needs to be resolved before moving forward. She said that the report was very clear, but that there was no statement about the prior investment of each entity in parks and recreation. John Link said that he thinks discussions of equity can be pursued and that it may be well to define equity on capital and operational sides. Mayor Johnson said that the solution was to look at the population and prepare for the growth. He said that there would be complaints no matter where a facility was built. Joal Broun suggested that when developing facilities the work group think about the different groups that will be served. She said that there are different groups with different recreational needs. Chair Carey said that he sees the County taking the lead role in the acquisition and development of large regional facilities. As requested by Commissioner Brown, David Stancil gave some background information on the Lands Legacy Program and what that would mean to park development and acquisition of land. Pat Evans asked what the difference was between the school park reserve fund and lands legacy. David Stancil said that the school park reserve fund was set up several years ago to specifically acquire land for school or park use. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to soccer and said that he hopes the Intergovernmental Parks Work Group will also talk about site based management because in theory it is working, but in practice it is difficult. When talking about the lands legacy program, one objective is to preserve open space through keeping agriculture alive, which also includes purchase of conservation easements. Also, the green tract is a 160-acre tract that the towns and the County own and which could serve all jurisdictions. Mark Sheridan said that one thing he has noticed in the last several years is that there has been an energy and focus put on park development and it seems like there is some catch up work that needs to be done with park development. He said that it has been very exciting to see that and he thinks the citizens will respond positively to this focus. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the County taking the lead and said that she feels it is important that we all coordinate and cooperate. If the County tries for a bond referendum for the fall of 2001, she would advocate that a bond package be developed that would be equitable. She is very pleased that there has been this forward movement toward cooperation. Joal Broun asked when the work group would give a recommendation for the bond to go forward. John Link said that the initial request for inclusion in the bond would need to be formulated for the Board of County Commissioners to consider by the end of January. The final decision needs to be made in May. Mayor Waldorf said that she feels it is important for the municipalities to communicate specific recommendations to both the Intergovernmental Parks Work Group and the County Commissioners. Jim Ward said that he would like for some type of soccer facilities to be considered for a bond issue. He also mentioned economy of scale and said that there should be some cooperation on the items that are purchased (i.e., lawnmowers, etc.). 4 Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to the Innovation and Efficiency Committee and said that purchasing on an economy of scale is something the committee is discussing. He feels that the two School Boards should be invited to the County's Assembly of Government meetings. Chair Carey said that the schools boards were invited. Commissioner Halkiotis emphasized that, because of the turf protection issue, especially at the school levels, an agreement needs to be developed so that everyone understands who will use the recreational fields. He feels that all areas of the County are interested in soccer fields and that support will come from all. Jackie Gist suggested that there be a bond group made up of representatives from each board to look at how a bond would work and the equity issues. Commissioner Gordon said that there would be a Capital Needs Advisory Group put together for the bond with representatives from the different jurisdictions. She said that the reason for the tight timeframe for the bond has to do with the schools. Chair Carey pointed out that the bond issue does not have to include everything that everyone wants for parks and recreation. All of the park needs cannot be addressed within the next five years. John Link said that by the end of January or first of February there needs to be some specific functions outlined for inclusion in a bond referendum for November 2001. Also, having a separate work group for a recreation bond issue is an idea that could be pursued. Commissioner Jacobs said that the adoption of the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance will commit everyone to some kind of regular and ongoing appropriations that are sufficient to meet school needs. He made reference to an organization called the Conservation Trust for Public Land, which is located in North Carolina and which specializes in helping local and state governments formulate bond packages for these kinds of things. He is worried about not being ambitious enough and asking for too little from the voters. He hopes that we try to bring in citizens that are concerned about things like soccer. Jim Ward asked that the Intergovernmental Parks Work Group look at other funding sources such as the impact fee. Mayor Waldorf asked if there was permission in the State of North Carolina to have a district parks and recreation fee. She suggested looking into this -- maybe putting a very modest district tax to the voters. Allan Spalt said that another funding source that has fallen behind is the payment-in-lieu where the developers can choose to pay a fee instead of providing for recreation. There was consensus on each board proceeding with their discussions concerning the recommendations of the Potential Joint Funding for Parks as stated in the report and exploring the possibility of a specific bond committee to come back with a recommendation by the end of January Mayor Waldorf said that each Board needs to talk about this among themselves and then as soon as practical have the Managers schedule a meeting. Allen Spalt said that there are some other co-location of facilities to think about besides schools and parks. He urged that as land banking is considered that we look beyond the schools and parks. 5 Commissioner Gordon said that the memorandum of understanding contemplates co-locating other facilities besides schools and parks. With no further items to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 8:55 p.m. The next regular meeting will be held on November 1, 2000 at 7:30 p.m. in the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Moses Carey, Jr., Chair Beverly A. Blythe, CMC