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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_Workshop_6/8/2019MINUTES WORKSHOP MEETING VILLAGE OF TEQUESTA, FL JUNE 8, 2019 9:00 AM COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order by Mayor Abby Brennan at 9:00 a.m. A roll call was taken by Village Clerk McWilliams. Present were: Mayor Abby Brennan, Mayor, Council Member Vince Arena, Council Member Laurie Brandon, Council Member, Vice -Mayor Kristi Johnson, Vice -Mayor, and Council Member Kyle Stone, Council Member. The order of agenda items was reversed and Item 2 was handled first during the meeting. COMMUNICATIONS FROM CITIZENS None OLD BUSINESS 1. Discussion Regarding the Proposed Recreation/Community Center Location, Design, Cost and Program Needs Mayor Brennan advised Council had authorized $200,000 for engineering and architecture and Acting Manager Weinand had advised her it could be close to $400,000 at this point. The Mayor recollected the Community Center Advisory Committee (CCAC) had been tasked with obtaining additional feedback from the community as an information gathering committee and not a committee who would make recommendations or address costs. Vice -Mayor Johnson agreed and felt they were to serve as a liaison and attend Homeowner Association (HOA) meetings and talk to neighbors and gather input. Mayor Brennan felt the cart had been put before the horse being born and felt Council needed to take the issue back into their hands and to approve the location and go back to the architect to obtain more concept. She felt there were additional factors that needed to be considered by Council such as whether the building, if built, would have a basketball court and could it be placed in the same location as the current building. She mentioned Mr. Weinand had inquired with REG to see if the building could be turned to include the current basketball court and they advised "no". Council Member Stone felt the survey was a good way to get the information out to residents and acquire their input. Mayor Brennan agreed, however felt the committee needed clear direction. Council Member Arena stated the initial price was a quote pulled out of the clouds by the previous manager and that no one had dictated any amounts. He addressed the architect fees, permitting fees, and infrastructure costs being lower due to the new relocation to Constitution Park. He noted the initial committee (design team) spent hours gathering input from residents and staff and making changes as requested. Council Member Stone noted this meeting was for Council to provide clarity and decide the location and potential costs. Council Member Arena explained the architect had said the Constitution Park site was the best design and location for the building. CCAC Chair Frank D'Ambra, noted the process to -date had taken over a year and that he had reported to Council. each month. He emphasized the design was based on input from the community, discussed various surveys done, HOA meetings attended and open houses held. He stated the only place the Remembrance Park concepts were presented were at the Shay Place HOA meeting and Tequesta Fest, then residents voiced why they wanted the building at Constitution Park. He noted the building started at 33,000 square feet and has gone down to 22,000 square feet. It was designed for ebb and flow with flexible and movable walls. The rooms would not be limited to what the design said and stated a basketball court was an integral part of the building as it offered a range of available activities and was included based on resident input. He addressed the tot park and stated less than five people were against its relocation and losing green space. The design allowed for a 50% increase in summer camp programs and noted that age factors recycle over the years and that it needs to meet the needs of the community into the future. He advised the $5.5 million was based on architect costs and was all inclusive including retrofitting inside. Mr. D'Ambra addressed the contents of the cover letter as beings elements based on inputs from all the various public meetings. He believed the renderings as part of the packet was important as residents would want to see what was being proposed and that if Council decided on a smaller building or no basketball courts, then it was important to explain to residents what was being given up in the design. He stated if the Council does not move forward with building a new building, there would be significant costs to remediate the current building. In regards to the survey, he explained the committee did not want to spend extra money on a consultant and based the questions on the one done by the Town of Palm Beach and noted that while the committee was not unanimous, there wa's a strong majority. Council Member Arena discussed the use of the gym for summer camps and additional recreation activities - not just basketball, allowing simultaneous activities to take place - with the potential for and additional $30,000 in revenues. Council Member Stone felt Council should move forward with the letter and survey and did not believe a secondary drawing was necessary. Mr. D'Ambra felt the decisions needed to be made sooner than later as costs were increasing. Council Member Brandon felt the survey was bland and that Council had one opportunity to meaningfully reach out to residents for input. She believed the CCAC wanted validation that the previous surveys collected were from residents and the same could be validated with this survey. Chair D'Ambra advised the survey needed to go to every household to ensure every resident had an opportunity to provide input. Council Member Brandon asked that an open ended question area be included after each question. CCAC Member Tracy Kerwin noted she was the dissenting vote and was not comfortable with the quality of the information going out. She suggested taking a step back and gathering information from residents as opposed to the survey. She stated she did not have good information provided to her from the beginning on the proposed budget, proposed location and was not given time to digest the current budgets when provided. She stated the meetings were not a friendly forum to ask questions and receive feedback. She supported a new community center and wanted it to be done right and the survey was being pushed out too fast. Vice -Mayor Johnson asked her what clarity and additional information she needed and Ms. Kerwin stated the needs assessment had blank fields and the project was 22,000 square feet on a site with no formal study completed and no numbers from vendors on how many kids were served within the last twelve months. Mayor Brennan stated it was not important to know all the different programs offered as was flexibility and stated she was concerned with the language that read "final drawings" and Council Member Brandon agreed the word final was her issue. CCAC Vice -Chair Liz Schauer, was unable to attend the last two meetings due to a family emergency, however believed the letter was too long and did not feel renderings should be included that were not approved by Council. Vice -Mayor Johnson agreed the letter was too long and residents would lose interest. She suggested a Q&A format and Ms. Schauer suggested placing additional information on the Village's website. Mayor Brennan agreed that Council had not voted on the $6 million building or even the revenue stream and indicated there were other things in the Village that needed'to be done. She stressed that Council needed to approve anything before it went to the residents with numbers. Council Member Arena stated Mr. D'Ambra had reported to Council at every meeting and felt Council did not do its due diligence at these meetings. Council Member Stone inquired. on the 5-Year Capital Plan and the Mayor advised it would be discussed at the budget workshops. Chair D'Ambra discussed financing options and Council Member Arena stated there were bond possibilities. CCAC Member Kerwin stated the Town of Palm Beach hired a consultant to help them understand the process, lay the foundation - they created a business plan and organized a PR campaign. She asked if there were grants available, would there be a tax increase and suggested Council hire an outside consultant. Council Member Arena stated he did not want to move forward any longer without knowing the financing options available. Council Member Stone would like to see a 10- year projection, wants to see in the budget the potential costs to fund a 6 million project in the 5 year plan, and discuss what will happen with Remembrance Park. . CCAC Member Schauer suggested the Village utilize the next Smoke Signals for the community center project complete with Q&A, survey, renderings, Mr. Corbitt's input on the future of the Parks and Recreation program, finances, etc. As far as financing, she stated that was why you had a Finance Department - put it in their hands to provide recommendations. Norm Sayer, Country Club resident, stated he was disturbed with the direction being taken -and felt the residents should be polled on what they wanted. He stated that finding donors to donate to fund the building was difficult work and questioned if the taxpayers wanted to pay for a new community center. He questioned what it would cost to gut and rebuild the current building. He stated he would not support the project as proposed and felt it would be under utilized. He stated pickle -ball was a fad and wanted to know how much his taxes would increase each year. Mr. Greg Corbitt, Parks and Recreation Director, stated parking needed to be considered and felt the renderings needed to show what the site would look like. He stated the splash pad area needed to be removed from the plans and discussed the location of the smaller tot area. Mayor Brennan explained the Gallery Square Reciprocal Parking Agreement was between Village Hall and Gallery Square and not the recreation center. Pat Watkins, former Mayor and Country Club resident, suggested doing a rendering with the gym and one without the gym. She stated if you including only one rendering, it would appear there was no option. Mayor Brennan agreed. Mr. Corbitt stated it was not as much a gym as an open space area to be used for multiple purposes by multiple groups. He stated REG needed to be creative and stressed the most important element of this project was to have an open space area. Mayor Brennan suggested allowing REG to work on this. Mr. Corbitt explained that fundraising and public relations as previously discussed would be a full-time job and that when requesting grants - nothing was guaranteed. Consensus of Council agreed on the following: • CCAC Member Kerwin would provide in writing to the Clerk a list of all her concerns and what she needed to be comfortable (Council Member Arena's request) • CCAC in coordination with the Clerk's Office would put together the next Smoke Signals •. Council to go through the budget and the 5 year plan • Finance to research potential financing options • REG to do a second site plan without the gym (so then there would be 2 site plans one rendering with the gym and one without the gym) 2. Presentation of the Community Center Proposed Cover Letter and Survey Discussion on this item was combined with the previous item on the agenda. ADJOURNMENT Vice -Mayor Johnson, Vice -Mayor made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 11:10 a.m. Council Member Stone, Council Member seconded the motion. Carried unanimously 5-0. Respectfully submitted, Lori McWilliams, MMC Village Clerk Note: These summary minutes are prepared in compliance with 286.011 F.S. and are not verbatim transcripts of the meeting. A verbatim audio record is available from the office of the Village Clerk. All referenced attachments are on file in the Village Clerk's office.