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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHandouts_Regular_Tab 03_02/14/2019Recreation/Community Center Presentation to Council - 2-14-2019 Good Evening Mayor, Council & Acting Manager Weinand, Constitution Park and the recreation programs provided by our Parks and Recreation department are highly valued by Tequesta residents and are tremendous community assets. However, many of our residents have been asking for more. More includes, but is not limited to, expanded program offerings for children and adults, the capacity to accept more Tequesta children into our summer camps with a greater diversity of activities and a facility that enables activities for our residents young and old to occur simultaneously. Unfortunately, we are not able to provide the additional programs and services our residents have requested due to the limitations of our current recreation building. The Tequesta community's desire and need for a new and robust recreation/community center has been clearly communicated through resident communications with the Parks and Recreation staff and further confirmed through the 500 online surveys, numerous conversations at Tequestafest and the completion and submission of an additional 200 surveys. 96% of resident surveys have responded in favor of a new recreation/community center. At this time the Design Team is continuing the process of gathering community input and I will have more to say on this a bit later. As the Council is aware the North Seabrook property, otherwise known as Remembrance Park, was initially determined to be the best location for the new Recreation Center. This decision was made prior to and in advance of the work done by the evaluation committee, the negotiation committee and the current design team. While there was strong resident support for the new Recreation Center at Remembrance Park it became apparent in our conversations that given a choice most residents would prefer the Recreation Center to be located at Constitution Park. This led the Design Team to challenge the premises for the Remembrance Park location and to reevaluate locating the Recreation Center at Constitution Park. The Design Team has completed the reevaluation and is unanimous in recommending that the Recreation Center be built at Constitution Park thereby creating a Recreation Complex at a single location. The exterior renderings you are viewing this evening are essentially the same building design that was proposed for Remembrance Park. Modifications from prior renderings provided to you consist of a change in the exterior design from a Mediterranean Stucco to a West Indies style, which is more in keeping with Constitution Park's existing structures, and a reduction in the square footage from approximately 25,000 square feet to 22,000 square feet. Importantly, this reduction was accomplished while maintaining the needed flexibility and functionality of the Recreation Center necessary to deliver the programs and services our residents are asking for. As you can see from the site plan the building will run east to west beginning at the same location as the current building. It will extend into the park resulting in the relocation of the small children's playground to the playing field. The building set back from the north wall will be increased to 25 feet compared to the 15 feet for the current building. This will allow for a 3-foot landscape area along the wall, a 15 foot to 17-foot roadway and 5 to 7-foot pad to accommodate the AC compressors and a future generator. This location also works well for our Tequesta Gardens neighbors to the north. As you can see only the back end of two resident buildings are in proximity to Constitution Park and those buildings are separated by a service road which provides access to Tequesta Garden's garbage dumpsters and clubhouse. On January 29th Vince, Greg and I spoke with the residents of Tequesta Gardens at their homeowners meeting. Approximately 45 people were in attendance. During the presentation and conversations thereafter, the resident response was universally positive. The most commonly asked question was how soon could we get the new recreation center built. With respect to parking, in order to accommodate the 74 required spaces, the site plan as drawn proposes converting the skate park into 28 parking spaces and adding 20 grass spaces along North Dover. When combined with the existing 39 parking spaces total parking spaces would number 87. Additionally, we have commenced exploratory discussions with the first Baptist Church for a shared parking agreement. In my December presentation to Council I referred to developments that were in process but would be premature to disclose. I am delighted to be able to share this information with you now. Starting in early December we have been talking with the Lighthouse Center for the Arts about the possibility of acquiring the Lighthouse School property adjacent to Constitution Park. The catalyst for this was our learning that Lighthouse, if possible, would love to consolidate the school and gallery at one location. Upon my initial call to Nancy Politsch, Lighthouse's Executive Director, to arrange a meeting she shared that it might not be worth my time as I wasn't likely going to hear what I hoped to. However, we ultimately agreed a meeting was worthwhile as sometimes when people put their heads together something positive percolates. Since that initial call we have held multiple meetings. At this point Lighthouse is looking to consolidate the school and gallery at Gallery North. Toward this end Lighthouse is scheduled to meet with their consultant and architect on February 22"d. If Lighthouse can consolidate at Gallery North, and at this juncture it appears likely they will be able to do so, then Nancy has stated that the Village will have the first opportunity to purchase the property for the same purchase cost they recently acquired it for from Jupiter Medical Center. That price was $870,000 plus closing costs. There were 3 bids for the Lighthouse School property and while the Lighthouse Center had been granted right of first refusal Jupiter Medical was firm on its price. Once it was clear there was a real possibility for the Village to acquire the property the Design Team met post haste on February 5t" and made an immediate inquiry to Ryan Ruskey, the principal of RMPK Funding, to see if there was grant funding available for land acquisition. Ryan's firm is who Greg has used in the past to successfully obtain FURDAC grants for Constitution Park. Late the following day Ryan informed us of a grant program that would be a great fit for the Lighthouse School property. This program is funded by the federal government with the money allocated through the state. It is a matching program 50% state/50% municipality. In the past virtually all the applications received under this program have been for development projects. However, there is a proviso that if there are applications for land acquisition that meet the minimum requirements then up to 25% of the total funds available, which for this year is $4,000,000, must be allocated for acquisition. Last year there was only a single acquisition grant submitted and that was by Ryan's firm. The grant was awarded. Ryan was confident that if the Village applied, we would be successful. The challenge was the application needed to be submitted by day's end, Monday February 11t". On the morning of Thursday, February 7t" we met with Jim Weinand and he concurred with moving the grant application forward. As part of the process we needed to secure one or more letters of support from organizations within the Village. I reached out to Nancy at Lighthouse and Heather Vaughn at Good Shepard who were very happy to voice support for the Recreation Center on behalf of their organizations. Copies of those letters are on the dais. Additionally, we needed to notice a public meeting to be held no later than the due date of the grant submission where interested residents could obtain information about the grant program. Council received a copy of the notice and the meeting was held the morning of Monday, February 11t" at Parks and Recreation. The grant submission was timely made, and we expect to receive a decision July of this year. As Jim shared in the email to you the Village is under no obligation unless and until we accept the grant money. On a separate note we also learned of a second grant program. Under this program each municipality can apply for up to $5MM of grant funding. This program is completely funded by the state and is a 75% state/25% municipal match. Competition for these funds can be intense. However, depending on how the negotiations with Mr. Zucarelli proceed this program could provide a source of funds to facilitate an outright purchase of the Paradise Park property. The application deadline for this program is August of 2019 though preparation and planning would need to commence in April. Returning to the Lighthouse property. If the Village is successful in acquiring the Lighthouse property it can comfortably accommodate 62 parking spaces. This would provide for a total of 101 parking spaces immediately adjacent to the park and the new Recreation Center thereby eliminating the need for the conversion of the skate park and the addition of parking on North Dover. While acquisition of the Lighthouse property is desirable, the building of the new Recreation Center is not dependent upon its acquisition. I would like to add that Nancy has been a pleasure to work with and she has not only expressed her excitement at the opportunity of consolidating the Lighthouse Art Center's operations but also for the prospect of Lighthouse to play a role in enhancing the facilities at Constitution Park to the benefit of the Village and its residents. As I mentioned earlier the Design Team is actively pursuing additional community outreach. We will be presenting the proposed plans for the Recreation Center to the residents of Whitehall on Tuesday, February 26tn. Additionally, community wide meetings are being planned for Village Hall for the week of March 24t" after families return from their spring breaks. One will be an evening meeting during the week and the other a daytime meeting on Saturday. The boards of the nine HOA's who traditionally hold their meeting at Parks & Rec will receive individual letters inviting their residents to attend. Additionally, updated renderings and information on the Recreation Center and notices for the March meeting will be posted on the Village's website and Facebook pages and meeting dates will also be included on our resident's March water bills. Please let us know if you have suggestions or additional actions you would like to see us take regarding public communication. One last item of note before I conclude. We are currently reaching out to the banking institutions residing within Tequesta. Each understands that funding will be subject to an RFP. To date two banks have already responded that they have departments that specialize in government funding and should we proceed with the project are looking forward to receiving and responding to the RFP. We expect to provide Council with a further update on this item at the March Council meeting. On the basis that everything proceeds to the Councils' and residents' satisfaction the Design team hopes and expects to be able to ask Council for its approval of the final design concept and to move forward with the negotiation of phase 2 of the REG Agreement at the April Council meeting. At this time, I and the other members of the Design Team will be happy to address your questions. (iOOI) 'Slil:.11111,,it1) I'll, 11I' \1 I I � � 1111 February 8, 2019 Mr. Greg Corbitt Director of Parks and Recreation Village of Tequesta 345 Tequesta Drive Tequesta, FL 33469 Dear Mr. Corbitt: Thank you for presenting the Village of Tequesta's plans for the potential expansion of Constitution Park. Good Shepherd Episcopal Church and School whole-heartedly support your efforts to secure federal grant funding for this project. With child obesity at record levels, we need more options for children to engage in physical activity. In addition, the threat of heat exhaustion in Florida is high, and the opportunity to present indoor options would be ideal! The proposed increase in both indoor and outdoor recreation areas will be a fantastic asset to our community. Thank you again for keeping us apprised of this exciting endeavor. Mrs. Heather Vaughn Director of Admissions and Development Good Shepherd Episcopal School `(4`1q Y,kw% --163 )qr 402 Seabrook Road, Tequesta, Florida 33469 • Phone 561-746-5507 • Fax 561-746-2870 • www.goodshepschoot.com 5 LIGHTHOUSE ARTCENTER 1964-2019 scNooi aT APT EVER LOOKED BETTER! BOARD OF DIRECTORS President Patricia DeAloia Vice President Peter Gloggner Treasurer Tricia Trimble Secretary Jane O'Neill Board Members Susan S. Bardin Laurel Brower Amelia Crain Jim Johnson Barbara Foley McInerney Colette Meyer, Esq * Anne Palumbo, Ph.D. Frederick B. Putney, Ph.D.— Martie Sachs Jennifer Schorr Susan Namm Spencer* DianeTohn Robert Trevisani Roseanne Williams **Immediate Past President *Past Presidents Executive Director Nancy Politsch Lighthouse ArtCenter Gallery Gallery Square North 373 Tequesta Drive Tequesta, FL 33469 (561) 746-3101 www.LighthouseArts.org Lighthouse ArtCenter School of Art 395 Seabrook Road Tequesta, FL 33469 (561) 748-8737 February S, 2019 Mr. Greg Corbitt Village of Tequesta 345 Tequesta Drive Tequesta, FL 33469-0273 Dear Mr. Corbitt, Thank you for presenting the Village's plans for the potential expansion of Constitution Park. Our organization supports your efforts to secure a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant funding in the amount of $400,000. The increase in outdoor recreation land will be a great benefit to our community. Should I be able to assist you in anyway, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, Nancy Politsch Executive Director Lighthouse ArtCenter nancy@lighthousearts.org 561-746-3101