HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB Study Session 2015-07-14
Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado July 14, 2015
Minutes of a Study Session meeting of the TOWN BOARD of the Town of
Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Meeting held at Town Hall in
Rooms 202/203 in said Town of Estes Park on the 14th day of July, 2015.
Board: Mayor Pinkham, Mayor Pro Tem Koenig, Trustees Ericson,
Holcomb, Nelson, Norris and Phipps
Attending: All
Also Attending: Town Administrator Lancaster, Assistant Town Administrator
Machalek, Town Attorney White and Town Clerk Williamson
Absent: None
Mayor Pinkham called the meeting to order at 4:30 p.m.
TRUSTEE & ADMINISTRATOR COMMENTS & QUESTIONS.
Trustee Norris commented on the success of the Rooftop Rodeo. Hs stated the Public
Safety, Utilities and Public Utilities Committee was provided a briefing on the design
issues related to the new parking structure. Concerns have been raised by the Estes
Valley Recreation and Park District on how close the garage is to one of the greens;
therefore, the Committee advised staff to look for solutions that would not involve the
removal of parking spaces.
Administrator Lancaster stated the current IGA with the Local Marketing District calls for
two members of the Board to serve on a Destination Leadership group. This group has
not met on a regular basis; however, he questioned who besides the liaison should
serve on the group. Discussion followed and the consensus was to eliminate the group
as it would not be needed moving forward because the group has developed and
matured, and regular updates from the LMD would be sufficient. A new service
agreement would be developed to outline the Town’s obligations related to the Visitor
Center and Fairgrounds and the LMDs obligations. The IGA would be amended to
remove the group.
Mayor Pinkham stated the LMD has requested the Board appoint a new Board liaison in
an effort to expose additional Trustees to the LMD and a working knowledge of the
group. Trustee Holcomb expressed an interest in serving on the committee.
Town Administrator questioned the original Audit Committee make up and inclusion of
the Finance Officer, Administrator and Assistant Town Administrator, stating the
auditors work for the Town Board and staff representation would not be appropriate. He
suggested the Committee be amended to include Trustees and perhaps an outside
individual. Staff would be a resource for the Committee. A proposed amendment to the
Audit Committee would be presented to the Board for consideration at an upcoming
Board meeting.
Mayor Pinkham stated the Parks Advisory Board has a vacancy and an interview team
would be needed. Trustees Holcomb and Ericson expressed interest in being on the
interview team.
FUTURE STUDY SESSION AGENDA ITEMS.
The Board agreed to schedule the items under consideration as listed.
Town Board Study Session – July 14, 2015 – Page 2
Trustee Ericson questioned when the NEPA study draft report for the Loop would be
finalized for the Board’s review. Staff stated the item has been delayed due to
hydrology concerns, and therefore, the timeframe has been delayed.
Items to be scheduled:
Noise Ordinance discussion in November.
Storm drainage to be brought forward as soon as possible.
Status report on the Event Center revenues and expenses to be discussed at the
end of August or first of September.
EVRPD UPDATE ON COMMUNITY CENTER.
Kathy Asche/EVRPD Board President stated Sklyer Rorabaugh/Executive Director has
accepted a position with the University of Colorado as the Director of Campus
Recreation. His last day with the district would be July 31, 2015. Mary Davis would act
as the Interim Director as the district begins the search for a new director and
anticipated having a new director by October. The district has four primary areas of
focus: flood recovery, Stanley Park Master Plan, Trails, and the Community Center. In
an effort to continue to move the center forward a project manager would be pursued.
The EVRPD requested funding support from the Town to move the capital campaign
forward in the spring. The District was committed to seeking all possible funding
options to construct the center and has spent 18 months reviewing over 40 potential
private and public funding sources, raising approximately $210,000 to date. The
foundations dollars and grants are being awarded to fund reconstruction of flood
damaged infrastructure. Grant application pools have been diluted to include a wider
range of applicants and deadlines extended to allow additional applications to be
submitted. The District has not competed favorably for the center; however, the grants
have been excited to see the multi-agency support for the center as it is unusual.
The community questioned the district’s ability to break ground by January 1, 2017 on
the center through a capital campaign only. The District Board realized the difficultly to
mount a capital campaign with limited resources and the need for concrete evidence of
community support in order to secure major donors, pledges and grants. The district
concluded the fundraising campaign should be postponed and questions should be
placed on the upcoming coordinated election for a mil levy for construction and a
separate mil levy for the operations of the center. The fundraising campaign would be
postponed until after the election. President Asche stated the intent of the fundraising
efforts was to address not only the construction but the operational subsidy, planned
fixture, furniture and equipment replacement, and planned facilities maintenance. It was
the intent of the district to request the Town’s support to fundraise for all aspects of the
center and not just for the construction of the center. A positive outcome from the
election would aid in the fundraising efforts for the other aspects of the center.
The design of the building has been simplified to reduce costs, be efficient, flexible use
of space, and meet the highest priority needs based on the feasibility study. The
building would not meet all the needs but would contain multi-use spaces and be multi-
generational. Scheduling of the building would be key and require additional staffing to
get the maximum use from the building. The new design would retain the beauty of the
original plan but would streamline the building.
The Friends of the Community Center has a steering committee with 10 subcommittees
including communications, community programs, economic impacts, testimonials,
Larimer county support, community engagement, child care, other community centers,
support letters, and speakers bureau. This group has been key in continuing to move
the center forward with over 100 individuals actively engaged. The Larimer County
Boys and Girls Club has also been actively involved and has a $15 million capital
campaign and the Estes Park community would receive approximately $2.5 million to
help fund programs such as camps, activities and after school care.
Town Board Study Session – July 14, 2015 – Page 3
The Board questioned how they could support the district in fundraising and provided
concrete support. President Asche stated the MOU with the Town and the District for
the construction of the center would be needed. The Board requested the District come
back to request support for the fundraising efforts after the election for the other
operational items.
RFP FOR DOWNTOWN NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN,
Director Chilcott provide a brief overview of the Request for Proposal (RFP)
development for the Downtown Plan and the grant received in the amount of $190,000
to complete the plan. The Town has worked with stakeholders in the development of
the RFP and incorporated comments received during the review process. Comments
received on the plan to date have been mainly positive with some commenting on the
need to address a transportation plan prior to moving forward with a neighborhood plan,
question the need for a consultant, questioned whether the plan should be conceptual
or detailed, and if one plan or a number of smaller plans would be the final product.
Staff requests feedback from the Board on whether key issues are being captured in the
draft RFP, are expectation being met with the scope of work, and what should the plan
boundary incorporate.
Board discussion followed with Trustee Norris acknowledging that staff has addressed
the main issues. Trustee Phipps would not include the area north of downtown as the
plan should only address the downtown business area. He stated the Planning
Commission should be involved in the discussion and a decision should be reserved
until such time. He stated the plan should be a vision and commented the scope has
grown considerably. Trustee Ericson stated the plan should have clear deliverable and
would request the RFP come forward in the next two weeks for Board approval. He also
supports the inclusion of the Stanley Village and Lot 4 to establish a district boundary
for a future URA or DDA. Trustee Nelson would request the RFP incorporate the issue
of an arts theme downtown (art overlay) and would eliminate the inclusion of the
northern residential area. Trustee Holcomb stated concern the Town may be limiting
itself if the additional area to the north of downtown are not included to grow the
downtown. Mayor Pro Tem Koenig questioned the need for a 20 year plan and would
recommend the plan be limited to 10 years with clear direction. She would recommend
the plan identify grant opportunities to aid in the completion of the changes outlined in
the plan. The Town would need to help property owners with funding mechanisms to
encourage change. The Board would continue the discussion at the Board meeting to
determine what areas should be included in the final plan.
There being no further business, Mayor Pinkham adjourned the meeting at 6:47 p.m.
Jackie Williamson, Town Clerk