Parks & Recreation Board - Regular Meeting

Okay. We're

good? Oh, okay. Ready.

And we'll go ahead and call the 08/21/2025 meeting to order.

Yes. Benjamin Heck?

Here.

John. Here. Peter Sherhart? Here. Dan Alden? Here. Jordan Lane?

Here.

Garrett Griblin?

Here.

Charles Nickman?

Here.

John Lee So to. I think that's There

she is.

And Amanda Fox is gonna join us virtually.

Okay. Oh, wait. Hold on. She might be there. Hold on.

She's in the attends, maybe in the tippies. No. That's Jessica.

Alright.

Jessica, I'm gonna move you over just in case I need you.

Chair, uniform.

Okay. Great. Our first item is our citizen comment period. Looks like we have two speakers signed up to speak. You have three minutes, and our first is Shannon Mattingly.

So do you want a stick number on our

It's up to you.

We can wait till our agenda item if you that's whatever y'all prefer. Yeah.

Yeah. If you wanna wait instead of the citizen, I'll have to

Okay. Yeah. That'd be great. Thank you.

We'll try it in.

Consider approval by motion of the 06/18/2025 regular meeting minutes.

That's all. Second.

Second. Aye. Alright. Aye. Derek Griblin. Aye. Benjamin Pack. Aye. Jordan Lane.

Aye. Charles Siegman.

Aye. And Alden.

Aye.

Senator Shea heard?

Aye.

Alright. And Angeli So to?

Aye.

Motion passed.

So our next item is item number two has received a staff presentation on behalf of the Arts Commission regarding the Dunbar history law project. Would you like to take away and execute yourself?

Sure. I'm Scott Watney. I'm the creative and marketing manager for destination services. I also supervise the arts program there. What was brought this is the project that was brought to us I'm gonna flip to the slide.

A Dunbar history walk to tell the story of the Dunbar heritage, Dunbar neighborhood. So it's mainly to capture the important cultural stories of the community and before they're lost. So it'd be like maybe there was a a store or a person there that was very important that is no longer physically part of the community. And so what this would be would be markers installed along the Dunbar Park sidewalk loop. You would recognize and acknowledge people and places that have shaped the Dunbar community.

So it'd be community business, business owners, advocates, or widely acclaimed people of note like Eddie Durham and that sort of thing. The submissions would come from the communities. And no. That's fine. And it would be a multiyear project with annual installations.

Tell me next slide when you're ready.

Oh, sorry. Next slide. So this is a little screenshot of the sidewalk that goes around. And so it would be spread out. So let's say the first year, maybe there'd be about 10 installations that this, of course, all would be decided by a committee that we have in place.

And then every year, we would add more to it. So it would be an ongoing project that would that people would be able to walk and and see these and get a little history of the community. There'd also be probably a QR code of some kind. It would all go to our website, and we would try to capture a little bit more in-depth information about whoever's on that marker or whatever's on that marker and getting some oral histories, that sort of stuff, and it would live in on the Visit San Marcos website. So to plan this project, we would have three eighty committees.

So the project planning committee representation, we would have someone from Dunbar Heritage Association, Calgary's African American Museum, Dunbar Sisters, current neighborhood residents, city arts and heritage staff, and community resource engagement staff. And they'll be the ones that are planning the project, figuring out what kind of reasons are in place to include somebody and and get the the the word out to the community. Nobody would be turned down. It would just all come in throughout the year. And then when it's time to do the first installation, we would have a review committee that is also made of Dunbar Heritage, Calgary's African American Museum, Dunbar Sisters staff, and also the local library history staff.

And so the review committee then would look at them all and kind of rank them in which ones would go on first, which would maybe go the next year. And so every year, we would still we would open up submissions. So it's not it's not like a stagnant program that if, you know, grandma remembers something, we it could still come to us. So that's kind of it. Oh, next next slide.

Timeline we have. After this presentation, if if we receive a consensus to move forward, then we would present to council and start the community outreach, get get the designs and everything done, and, hopefully, be able to install and unveil it in '26. So we're giving us enough time to be able to really do some outreach and get, all the information we need and and make sure nobody's voice is left unheard. And that concludes my presentation.

Go ahead, Anthony. How long is this funded?

It it'll be funded through the arts public art fund.

Okay. So if this would be the time if any of the board members have a question for Charlotte about the program or any details.

Go ahead. I love this.

Oh, it's good.

It seems like a great idea. What form are the markers taking?

They are going to be they're not gonna be real big. They'll be like the one about the trees where where it's raised.

Okay.

So then then there'll be, like, the the name, the year, and that sort of thing. But on it, we'll also have we haven't decided we want input from the committee, but thinking maybe some kind of, like, a tile that has a a design that that would resonate with the community so that we could get all those made at once and then just as we so there's an art component to it. So it's not just a we don't want it to look like a headstone or a little more. You know?

Right. Right.

My other question, maybe this is a question for Jamie, but I remember Jessica was working on the room names. Is this related to that, or is this It's different.

Okay. I just

know there's lot of pushback on that.

The rooms naming turned to be a little more Yes. Okay. Yeah. There there was some problems that we were so we're kind of pivoting on on that.

So is this the pivot? Or this

This is a good way to pivot. Yes. Kind of what our in in lieu of naming specific rooms, we're actually just going to we're working with some of the previous students of the Denver school to actually memorialize the names of the teachers and staff, and we're able to place the plaque.

K. Okay.

So memorializing all the teachers and staff that were there versus, like, individual.

But this is this is a separate project. Yes. Okay.

It's a separate.

That's all.

And so I don't know. Like like, when we did miss Ollie's mural there on our website then, the it was great. They collected a a lot of oral histories and stuff. So you can listen to people from the neighborhood on how they remembered her. And so this we see this as something like a living website that, you know, if we have somebody that's then installed and then two years later, we find more pictures or whatever, it's easy then to update that and and update the information.

Great idea. I see 35 markers on there. How many are you expecting to do the first year? How long

is this

going could see easily being able to do 50 markers around there because,

I mean, if

you do one Right. It's even five, ten feet. Right. It's a pretty But those dots aren't representative of the size of the park. Yeah. K. It was this was brought to us over a year ago, and they talked, like, about putting something in front of the actual locations. And when we discussed it with them, we said, well, first of all, you know, we really don't wanna put some this in front of somebody's existing house now. And second of all, because it's a public art project, we want it to be something that we can send, you know, visitors to learn more about our our our community without having them standing in front of somebody's house going, oh, look. This is where, you know, the blacksmith shop used to be.

Anybody else have any questions for you?

Think the only thing I was thinking because you said they're they're gonna be markers. Right? Yeah. So, like, on the ground, are they gonna be They're

gonna be raised up, raised up one by the tree that are like it's kind of a slanted concrete thing. We talked to Bert, he and said it's better than flat because otherwise, it'd mow over and they'd be chipped.

Right. Okay.

I think the only thing that I'm thinking of is in the way that you place them is just how the park is used. If there's, like, maybe kids running around there or, like, it's being used for a recreational purpose, I would worry about those getting in the way of that. Along the outside, I'm sure is no big deal. Right? But I'm worried about on the inside if

We could we could keep them on the outside, and then it'd be butted up against

the So Yeah.

Okay. I think it's the only thing that I'm thinking of. Yeah. If if that's what you're thinking on the outside, then

Anybody else? Okay. I have a couple quick questions. And then specifically on the bullet points that you in your presentation. You have that one.

And our third one down community business business owners, community advocates, widely acclaimed. Just from a standpoint of being through this before and as I think you said, pushback was kind word for it. I I wanna I guess I would want to be sure that you know? And it says submissions come from the community. And and how are you gonna do that without alienating a group of people that have a very strong connection to Dunbar, to the school people we still have people that went to school there.

Yeah. Yeah.

How do you assure this board that, you know, that they're heard, that they're okay with it? Because you may think that they're okay with it, and they may not be. And and they don't tell you. They tell us.

Oh, I know. And,

you know, these are are very committed citizens to the city. Right. And they're, civil rights pioneers, and and they get listened to. So how how how are we gonna do this?

So we're going to rely on the community lot to get their word out. So we'll not only have online submission, but we'll have paper forms because, we know that's important too. We will reach out to the, you know, churches and then, like, and, you know, through their board, they're getting the word out. I know that they have a a reunion that comes up every summer, Dunbar Reunion, and so getting the word out through them. Think there was one recently, and so they did collect some email addresses for people that were interested. And so it didn't and I think the good thing about this is because it's multiyear. If somebody goes, oh, I didn't know about it, bring it on.

So there's input. What about from the decision making standpoint? Is there gonna be representation there that

Yes. That was the review committee. I I guess it wasn't clear. I apologize. So the review

You're you're proposing a review. We don't know who's on the review committee.

Right. So it'll be representatives from each of those organizations.

Are you gonna make sure I know you will, Charlotte. I'm just speculating on that process here. And I really feel like it's important that the representation of those committees is gonna be whatever you know, it has to be truly representative of the heritage of Dunbar. Yes. That's the key, I think. In order in order for it to continue more than a couple years.

Right. So the review, could it the review part is they're gonna go and look and and do so that's it'll take a little longer. Do some research on it. The person say, oh, you know, the because whoever's submitting it may just know, hey. This person Yeah. Had this story at this time. I don't know much more about it. So that's why we're including the local history from the library so we can get as much information as possible.

Y'all are gonna pick these representatives? Yes. I think that's the real key. Well, if Not just from the groups, but who serves in that slot.

Correct. Well, we sent out to, like, president of or things like that. So

I think we could even give you a list of people that would be wise to reach out to.

That'd be great. Especially, at least to help get the word out. So because we've been talking to the our sisters are the ones that brought this to us. So we've been talking to them and making, you know, making sure we're getting names of who who lives in the community right now. You know, we want representatives from the association, but we also want somebody that lives in the community now.

So it's not just about who goes on the signs. It's who helps pick who goes on us.

Correct. And but but no nobody will be declined. It may just I get If we get 50 submissions, then it can't all go on the same year.

Of course. And I'm sure it'll be great. And I just I would say that I'm offering my personal support based on the assurances that you made to the concerns that I've raised.

Yep. We have. And

I know you will. I know you will.

So what I'd like

to do is if we could just go down the list instead of taking the rosemary and just share your verbal support or opposition or indifference to this project.

Start with me?

Start with you.

No. I agree. I think it's

a good idea that that the point John brings up about community, you know, it goes beyond, I think, Dunbar folks when you talk about community and, you know, work at the university, we've been here probably as long as Dunbar has. So I don't know if that's part of that group that could be.

People that were important in the Dunbar neighborhood. If it's an advocate, so maybe it was somebody from what was a trailblazer that didn't live there but advocated for the community.

Not San Marcus

No. The Dunbar. Dunbar. Dunbar community. I

think it's

a it's great idea. Support it.

And, Charlie?

I'm supportive of just about every effort to preserve the history of the town, so I think it's a great project. I'm supportive.

I think it's great. I think the idea of, like, a living website, that's great. I love that idea. I think just yeah. Like I was talking about earlier, it's, like, making sure that the, like, integrity of the park and the usability of the park isn't changed or isn't affected. I think it's a great idea.

We'll work hand in hand with Bert and make sure that.

Breathe. And support.

Support, and I trust you all to find the right people for the committees.

I'm a 100% supportive. I'm with John, though, with this. You know, as long as right steps are made and right people are talked to and make sure that those decisions are the right ones, it could be fantastic.

Amanda's

Oh, I'm sorry. Amanda.

Sorry. They can't see you, Amanda. Only I can. I'm supportive, definitely.

Okay. Thank you, Amanda. Did you have any questions before we move on?

She's saying no.

Okay. Okay.

Alright. Well, I think you have your direction. Thank you so much.

Appreciate y'all support.

Yeah. Appreciate the. Okay. So our next item item, if we could bring back action, please.

Yes, sir. Consider approval by motion of a request by Shannon Mattingly on behalf of San Marcos Land Buildings LLC for for a fee in lieu of Parkland dedication in the amount of $440,772 for a multifamily development located at 221 East McCarty Lane. And I will invite this and I will get out of the way.

One sec. Let me share my screen, Britney.

Still nice. They're doing all this long.

Okay.

And you have your laptop there? Okay.

I'm going I'm going to get up this way.

Oh my gosh, Emily. You're you're open. I'm

gonna

sit over here by Charlie. Any time?

I'll minimize this for the duration just so y'all can see the slides. Yeah. So my name is Britney Faulkner. I'm the senior planning technician with the planning department, and I'm here to walk y'all through this item today. Right.

So the subject property is about nine acres, and it is located west of the Stone Creek Crossing Shopping Center, which includes, like, the Target, the Ashley Furniture, the Holiday Inn, and then it's also located south of the intersection of Hunter Road and Center Point Road or McHartney Lane. I'm so sorry. The property is zoned character District 5 or C D 5, and the project proposes a senior multifamily housing development that consists of 222 units. This project is also associated with a low income housing tax credit request that was approved by city council back in May 2024, and this Lake T project was approved for a 55 plus community.

Okay. Sure. I want to go ahead and mention the presentation. Okay. Thank you.

So this property is part of

a larger subdivision called Sienna Point, and a fee in lieu of approximately $62,000 was approved for multifamily units that were located on Lot 1 and a portion of Lot 2 of this subdivision, and this fee in lieu was approved back in April 2013. Parkland dedication is required for the portion of Lot 2 that was not included in that original flat fee. So of the 222 units that are proposed for this current project, only a 105 of those units are subject to the Parkland dedication requirement and are included within this fee in lieu request. Those remaining units were included in that previous fee in lieu under the the plat itself. In 2023, city council approved changes to the Parkland fee in loop calculator.

And under the new methodology, the fee is calculated based on the appraised value of the land as opposed to a flat fee. The application and the parkland dedicated calculators provided to both the applicant and then included with in y'all's packet as well reflects this change. So approximately 1.25 acres of heartland are required for dedication as part of this project, and the applicant is proposing 100% fee in lieu in the amount of $440,772. And, again, I just wanna note that only a 105 units are subject to this parkland dedication requirement are included in that fee in lieu calculation. And kind of the methodology for the calculation is outlined in chapter three, article 10 of the current land development code.

K. So this property

is not located within a neighborhood for a community area. However, there are several on-site amenities that are being proposed for the residents, which are appropriate for the senior living facility and the group that the the development will be associated with. So additional amenities will be provided in their clubhouse area for that low income housing tax credit agreement. Several drainage features on the property inhibit the ability to provide adequate park space, and these are all outlined in red on the image that you see. A greenway will be provided along Eastwood Party Lane to serve the development.

However, it's not considered as part of parkland dedication because it's not an approved parkland. Staff recommends fee approval of the for $440,772, and I am here to answer any questions that y'all may have. That concludes my presentation.

K. Thank you for the presentation. Ask if any board members have any questions for our city staff member.

The ponds the here, those are currently here there. No future plans on building on top of it. Those are going to stay there.

Yeah. So this and hopefully, everyone can see my mouse. So this one, kind of over to the right of the property, that's an existing regional detention pond that serves the multifamily that's already built kind of on this lot one

up here.

So for this project, they will be providing kind of this detention and water quality pond, and then I believe making some improvements to the drainage channels.

On the outside of the So is that for the end of

the track? Along Yep. The railroad tracks next to the property line, and this will be kind of a culvert that runs along McCartney Lane.

Mister Cherry, do you wanna have this?

I know. I'm gonna I'm gonna allow the board to communicate directly with the staff first, and then if so if you if anybody has any questions for staff before we. But I have a couple of questions. Sure. You said he's getting a light c. Can you explain to the board again what that is?

Yeah. So it's it stands for low income housing tax credits, and it really just boils down to a portion of the units have to be, I think, at or below, like, the median household income. But, essentially, a percentage of the units are are used to, I guess, house folks who are below that low income threshold, which is set by the state.

What is what is that?

I don't know off the top of my head,

but I can look up another What is the

I know they can know. What is the purse Sure. What is the percentage of residents of this adult that that what percentage of this developed has to how how many units does that be?

Sure. Brittany, I can help you.

Oh, okay. She's got it. Hello.

I'm Andrea Villalobos. I'm the assistant director of planning. So we have this in our GIS system. So a 188 of the units are for folks who make who are between 5160% of area median income. To gather what area median income, I need to go look at the what that is at this current time.

So that's something that is set and sort of changes. And then 34 units are available to those who make below 30% of area median income. So those are the residents who have the most needs, kind of that lowest special. I think those are the specific questions that you asked. There's 20 222 units in the complex. And, again, it's elderly, so it's it's 55. That's the light supervision.

So you said 222 units total. And how many units will be dedicated to low income housing?

A 188, and we're about 51 to 60%, and then 34 were below 30%. And this is a special you know, this is something that's separate from just normal building of apartment complexes. It's a separate agreement made between the state that allows them to apply and have these at these units, and it's approved for city council through a resolution of no objection, which allows for the applicant to apply for credits through the state.

Answer your question? I have one more.

Okay. Could you just for the board's knowledge, could you let them know what it means in terms of the tax payment, property tax payment that a normal apartment complex would pay if this one won't.

Yes. I don't believe

those tax exempt projects. I don't think so.

I can look up that resolution, but not all licensees are partnering with a an entity. So this one

It's only when they partner with a subaccount.

They'd be paying a 100% taxes.

I think they provide for lower payers. Okay. Any other questions for Andrea or

I have a quick just quick question.

Sure, Amanda. Go ahead.

I was just looking at it, and it's if they're paying the full percentage, the 100%, they're not any discounts on the fee in lieu. Right?

Perfect. Yes. Okay. Cool. Thank you.

Okay. Well, now, Shannon, do you wanna come up and use your three minutes? Sure. You're gonna use.

And I'm gonna be really brief because staff did a great job on the presentation. But Shannon Mattingly, I'm with Grunner Group representing the developer of the project. And, you know, just as mentioned, the, you know, city council previously approved a resolution supporting the low income housing tax credit project. It is a senior housing. They do as part of a light sea project, the state requires, like, certain criteria that you have to meet.

And so, you know, there's certain amenities and certain things that you get points for, and then that's how they rank the projects as they're being approved. And so as mentioned, they do have private amenities that they're they get points for, and they're required to have on-site for the residents. And so the improvements that they are putting are private, not public improvements, but they are about a million $40,500 of improvements that will be private improvements. So it'll be just for the residents for the senior facility, but it includes bicycle parking, dog park, seating area. They have a resident garden.

They have a clubhouse with a fitness center, community kitchen, business center, activity room, and then they also have, like, lawn games and covered patio, a grill area, outdoor furniture, seating area, covered seating. And so there are some amenities that they are putting in recognizing that the reason that they are, you know, proposing to pay the fee in lieu of to the city instead of putting public parkland is because of those private requirements that they have for the Lightsee project. And just with the constraints of the overall project mentioned before is they originally paid their fee in lieu for one of the lots and half of the second lot, and then they rezoned that property later to include the rest of that lot too. And so as you can see, the fee was, like, 63,000 originally, and now it's 440,000. So that, you know, just kinda shows you the transition and the the fee schedule and the fee structure now.

And so they would pay that as well as do their private amenities on-site.

And I know if you have anything else I

Janet, I have it.

Yes, sir.

So just so I can clear in my mind. Uh-huh. Some Lightsee projects, apartment complex that applies for the Lightsee program and is granted, some of them don't don't pay essentially property taxes to the city.

Correct? Correct.

They pay a fee in lieu or a

pilot pay They pay a pilot payment in

Small payment?

Some of them pay small small payments. Usually, that's when they partner with a public finance corporation or a

So you're saying this one is different.

That's my understanding that they will not be partnering with that they will be paying the taxes.

The full amount?

And we actually have on line too the developer. Mister Clop is on line Don't ask him.

Just for

a 100%. Just for a 100%. Are you serious?

The the question is about property taxes.

Could you introduce yourself, please?

My name is Dylan Klop. I am representing the developer. I work for the company. The question was about property taxes. Correct?

The question is, if this is a Lightsee project, does the is this development a normal full property tax to the city of San Marcos that any other non Lightsee program development?

No. It will not. No. That is part of our resolution.

So what is it? What's the percentage, or what's the payment?

00%. It was a full property tax abatement, correct, in in the resolution that was approved.

Alright. Thank you, Dylan. Does anybody have any questions for Dylan? Okay. Any other questions? Many members. Yeah. I got a question.

How could we be so I mean, this has been going on for

how long? How long have you

guys been working on this project?

About that?

Yeah. It's about two years, I believe. About two years. And we just Two

or three years.

Yes. The main person just said 100% taxes. We're paying a 100% taxes. And then we got the guy working with the company that's, like, 0% taxes.

Yeah.

And once again, we're drastically off on these numbers. I mean, this is a 100 wrong on two people that are been working on the project for two years. Well, then you're coming with a project, a a presentation like this, and we're a 100% off on the two main players. Like, this is a little weird to me. But, I mean, if we if the numbers right, the numbers right. But, I mean, I don't know. I mean

I just wanna jump in real quick and say, I apologize for asking these questions because this is not what we're being asked to vote on. That's not our role is to we don't give, like, see. Right, Jamie?

Correct. It's a city council.

Purview. That's a city council decision. But we're not robots. We're not AI yet. And we can never make any decisions sense of all the details. So

I should have asked that guy.

And I apologize. That's

all. Resolution from council.

Javeliesco.

So does that mean in a sense that the parking fee leaves, like, that is all the money that this property will be paying for its city forever in a sense?

Okay. Yeah. Apart from any development fees also associated, there's Yeah. But it's okay. Permit fees and such. Gotcha. Okay.

Mean, based based on the last this presentation, are we even sure this number I At this point, like, 440,000?

Yes, sir. That that is the number that we use to calculate the in loop. That number is correct.

Infusative. No. We we We're Vastly

different on numbers every presentation. Do we know the total

amount of investment in this development?

Mr. Call probably can answer that better than I can.

The

total investment in the development total development cost would be about $67,000,000.

Okay. Probably Texas. Had a brain. Six and seven. Alright. Any other questions or any other positions that anybody wants to share?

Well, I just had a question about the multiuse path. Sure. How wide is it, and are there plans to connect it with other parts of the transportation master plan?

Yes. Yeah. So it actually comes from a requirement in the transportation master plan. It'll be a 12 foot greenway with, like, a seven foot landscape buffer that's between the road and the sidewalk to add a layer of protection.

Okay. It's too it's too bad there's nothing else in here right now. It's like a

And the idea is that kind of when the adjacent blocks also develop, the agreement requirement will be there as well. So, eventually, it will kinda connect the whole way down a Carty from Hunter Road to 35. Okay.

So real quick. Sorry to to harp on this just a little bit. If you can't answer it, my fault. But so is there an answer here? Is it just zero or a 100% on that tax? Is there a middle there, or is it just what it is? Zero hundred that you know of?

I think the city council already approved. Approved it.

Right. So there's there's nothing for us to do. Right.

What I'm just saying is that it's

I just wanna make a note.

One of those two things, but it's not like it's was it a 50%, or is it ever, like

oh, I think some of them were negotiated. Right? Yeah.

Yeah. So the the city council several years ago approved a low income housing tax credit, policy that has, you know, different criteria and different things that they like you to basically check off and meet as part of that process. And so they can be negotiated, and, you know, some of them pay a pilot, like you mentioned earlier, which is, you know, a fee up front. Some of them end up with being completely tax exempt. It really just depends on the negotiation from the site council on what gets approved.

So, clearly, this got the most that you can get Right. To zero. And So why did why was that? Because of the seniors?

I can't answer that. I mean, it's been several years since it's been approved. I'd have to go back and truthfully look. The the city for a while, as you

know Does the staff know, Andrea? What what is the policy? What is the policy thing?

Yeah. So we do have

a policy that the council reviews local housing tax credit projects for. I'd have to go watch that meeting to figure out their justification for approving, but, you know, council, it was 05/21/2024, approved a resolution objection project.

Andrea, they'll they'll say sometimes they will say, this is approved for 0%. But sometimes they'll also say, we're only gonna give you 50%. So that is a thing?

They can negotiate different pieces and do a pilot. Okay.

That that can be done. So I'd have to go and research that and find an answer for you.

Thank you. We're gonna go to Amanda who has her hand up.

Okay. So I just wanna, you know, reiterate what John said. You know, it's not our business. You know, it's not our

things are gonna get

if we start looking at what taxes that the developments, like, pay to the city and city council decisions to influence our decision on green space, we're always going to count that against the low income properties, and we're always gonna approve these big, nasty, toxic projects. So I don't think we should even, like, be worried about what taxes they pay because it kind of discriminates against the lower income, and that's not really our job.

Thank you. Okay. Is there anything else from so what we are what's our agenda say?

You are consider approval by motion. There's been a motion. Second.

I'd move we approve the p.

K. In lieu of. Yeah. Thank you for that. I probably should've had.

Sorry. I'm down here.

I'm I'm out of practice. Okay. So we have a motion to approve acceptance of the fee in lieu of we have a second. Second. From Charlie and a second. Sure. Mhmm. So I'll ask one more time if there's any further discussion. I know this is to my understanding, Shannon, this is all senior living?

Yes, sir.

I'm assuming I'm not saying this out of any knowledge, but the reason that they or, like, the tax credit was given was because it's percent. It's probably the highest you could get in terms of housing credit from, you know, the lowest amount. But you're right. I think it does play a role. Yes. We I kinda feel like we're in a little bit of an impossible position because we're always faced with these same the same question. You know, do you take the money? Yeah. We all want that. But I hate legacy programs. I hate legacy work complexes. I just did just my opinion.

I'll just say, you know, I I think I was the one that asked about the tax payments of the the one we'd considered last meeting, and that to me was because we were considering accepting a fee that was lower than what the code required. And that's why it was important for me to understand that. In this case, council's already made a decision that we can't alter, and the year they're paying the maximum fee, and I would much rather see this money go to a park that I'm gonna utilize as opposed to them having to build something on this site that I'm never gonna wanna go to. So it seems to me like a clear cut case of we should accept the fee in lieu of because it's the maximum payment that the code allows, and we're not being asked to deviate from it. So that's my position.

Jordan? Nothing else.

And I I would say that I completely agree. I wish because it was because it's a senior development, that it had better connectivity to parks that already exist. But, I mean, I didn't choose the location. It is what it is. I feel like the seniors are gonna be a little isolated, but this is not my

my area. They're not a developer.

I just have, like, a question so

I could just have that information.

How much do

we usually, like, get from in our budget from properties and things like that?

So our budget is generated off of property tax and sales tax. So our parks dependents. Yeah. I mean, so our we we get a portion of that pie.

Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah.

Jamie, there there was a time when we were going through these requests pretty regularly for a couple of years, and then we stopped.

Oh, for which request? We weren't receiving any. Correct. Yes, sir. We weren't receiving any requests. Right.

The the threshold for consideration also changed. Right?

Recently, it did. Yes.

Right. How did that change? Did you

Well, recently, it changed where before any value would come to y'all, I think but it was a there was a lower threshold, 50,000. So if it was below 50,000, it was administratively approved. And if it was above that, it would come to Parks Board. Now it's if it's below a 100,000, it's administratively considered. We don't get very many of those. The majority of the fee and lieu request that we do receive do come to Parks Ford. I think I've only seen maybe one, two. And the majority of the time, those are providing the amount of parkland that's required.

Oh. Alright. Well, I think we're at the point where we're gonna call the roll. We're gonna accept who goes first. Alright.

John and Liz Boco? Approved. Charles Hickman?

Approved.

Jordan Lane?

Approved.

Dan Alvin?

Approved.

Derek Griblin? Peter Sheerhart? Approved. John Tomeides? Aye. Amanda Fox?

Approved.

Benjamin Patten? Aye. Motion passed.

Thank you all very much.

Thank you very much.

Alright. Let's move to our next item, which is item. You're

I got it. Receive a staff update and whole discussion regarding the current Riverfront Design and Eastside Regional Park Design command process.

Yep. So just very quick update that's from the board. I did break this out separate from your other updates just so that it is on the record. So right now, we are getting really close to what I'm gonna call final draft. It is being reviewed by city manager's office.

They're not included in your packets right now because I just received them. So right now, city manager's office is reviewing them and engineering. So adding overlays of Atlas 14 flood modeling to both projects to ensure that everything that we're doing does, in fact, meet our flood ordinance and all of that. So you all will be seeing these next meeting. You will have them in plenty of advance so that you're able to check them out, review them, contact us, for any questions you may have, but looking forward to presenting those to you and having, a verbal conversation. K.

Can I ask one question? Of course. Would traffic improvements, both pedestrian or vehicular, be considered as part of these master plan?

We are talking with TxDOT because they are right now, underway for Highway 21 improvements. So our engineering team has been in contact with them correctly, letting them know of these upcoming plans. And so we're able to part of 21 has been talking about building an overpass over the railroad right there. So ensuring that are able to add pedestrian connectivity via bike and ped connections. And then that kind of similar to, like, Wonderworld and Ocarina where we're able to bring in traffic where we're not having that whole, you know, mess and really creating a dangerous situation.

As well as adding signals, traffic signals there at the entrance of Quail is also under consideration by textile as well. So we're continuing those up right now.

Great. Would that same apply to Rio Vista? Because I heard in both both meetings and the things I hear on the neighborhood are about, you know, having some especially on the Rio Vista side, some pedestrian safety improvements.

Yeah. We're looking at ways to obviously, that's more of an engineering traffic control folks looking at, you know, whether it's including some road dieting that we already have bike ped lanes over there. How are we oriented parking to not conflict with those patterns as well? So I definitely appreciate that.

Thank you. Yes. If there's nothing else, let's go to item five, please.

We see the stop update regarding the Parks and Recreation Department's role. Sure.

So this is a discussion item that was requested to the chair by Mr. Lang. So just real quickly, the parks department doesn't really we're more of a response role. We're not obviously in charge of emergency response or anything like that. You know, Mr. Lang, I don't know if he wanted to kinda tee up your any questions that you might have as far as our role in these.

I think I had more questions if the state had done more in the recent session that they are concluding. In regards to detection technology, I in let's in Kerr County, for example, they, they had recently denied implementing new flood early warning flood detection at the on the Guadalupe. And so my I think what I wanted to ask was that if we if the city of San Marcos wants to implement on, like, the city of San Marcos or the Blanco River, would do we if we do have it and if okay.

Yes, sir. Post so they were immediately well, they were wiped out in 2015, blood, but they have all all of the flood gauges are active. I mean, you can see them climb Okay. As well. Yes, sir. So we have flood gauges. We have warning sirens. Mhmm. And then so but just from a parks perspective, I mean, we're not immediately involved in emergency Sure. Sure. Management.

Sure. I think it was

just something I wanted to bring up just so everyone's aware. That's things we're talking about. What happened in Kerr County was absolutely devastating.

So

It might at least a question I wanna ask. I mean, y'all seem to already have something that I didn't even wasn't aware of that warms people when there's just, like, lightning or things in the area. I've been like I've made it home before a storm because of that before.

Yeah. We have thing there. Yeah. So we implemented the Periweather system. Jessica actually, learned of it a couple of years ago, and so, it was a low cost install for us to install near the baseball fields in Rio Vista specifically. That was our first one. And then we partnered with Lions Club to add the one at City Park. We also have one at 5 Mile Dam Soccer Complex as well.

Is that a?

It's an audible warning signal. So it's right now, it does only speak in English, but Ms. Ramos did speak to Periwether, I guess, probably about a couple months ago. And they're actually in the process of updating it to where it can actually speak both English and Spanish at the same time. Right now, the challenge is we can only select all English or all Spanish, And when you have it in all English, she does not blah blah very well.

So it's it's we're they are they recognize that that is something that is missing, and they're working on that. So we'll be able to have those audible alerts that are automatic. So, yeah, within if we have lightning within 10 miles of our location, then it'll send the the audible notice telling people to that lightning's been detected to please take shelter immediately.

Well, it's worked great for us twice, so thank you. Excellent.

So the question on the the siren system, that's all run by the emergency management office.

Yes, sir. That is correct. Yes.

Plus, are the are any of the actual poles with the sirens into ARC systems?

We do have some. One that is actually located in or adjacent to Prospect Park. There's a couple of others that the emergency management has I mean, I don't know all of the locations, full disclosure, because they're in multiple locations around the city. So they may not all be specifically in a park, but they're all on city property.

I'm just interested in just from the board member perspective. Has everybody here heard from sirens? No. I've heard them. You have.

Is anybody else not here? I've heard him faint.

And and that was something that I know emergency management, they I think that they identified that they need to cover all of the additional growth that's happened because they repaired the one since 2015. I think it was actually maybe Harvey. Kirk and Harvey got the bunch out through the wind. I think they they needed I don't I can't remember if it was sixteen or they need to get up to sixteen. I can't remember exactly, but there is a deficit. Because, like, Lasema, they can't hear them either. And the closest one to them is Prospect, for example. I don't know where the closest one to, like, Cottonwood and, you know, El Camino Realis. I don't know.

I didn't know if I was about to get hit by lightning or a tornado. Because I didn't know the difference. Right.

Right. And that's something that confusing.

It's Yeah.

They've gotten feedback on that because there's supposed to be various tones, and so they put it out on their website what each of these sirens means. Yeah. But and none of us are trained or, you know, educated in what a flash blood siren means versus a tornado siren. Exactly. So so that that's more Yeah. That's feedback that that emergency management has received, especially after the last one where they sent out the flash flood one, and then a little later, there was a tornado one. And it was it was very overwhelming for the community.

Do they do daytime tests?

They do. It's it's usually the first Saturday of the month. It's like but it's a really dull growl. So it's not a big loud I can hear I've heard the growl from my house because I think that there might be one

Maybe they could just put it on

the drain. Because

we can all Yeah.

No doubt. No doubt. Yeah. I've I've heard the growl, and I think that that was the I was hearing the wind at Prospect because I lived near purgatory. So That's all. I I will absolutely share the comment.

Gordon, this was your agenda item. Is there anything else that you should

I don't think so. I mean, this this this outline we have here is is good good to see. It's just making sure that, like, we're ready as a as a community, right, in the event anything, you know, disastrous happens.

I feel that our emergency management team is very much ready. We do tabletop exercises every quarter. And, basically, I'll meet up and just so that we know when it's go time, what everybody is responsible for doing. So that there's not this whole, like you know? Yeah.

We have five minutes. So we go to item six.

Nextiva staff update and whole discussion regarding paid parking implementation in City Park.

So I included our first month and a half of revenues for you all. So from going live on July 1, we we have brought in $61,099 since I've updated this. So in total from July until Monday, we've made $91,000 in parking revenue. That is without enforcement. This is all voluntary compliance.

We will begin enforcing here pretty soon. So we'll actually actively be issuing violations to violators.

One question. I heard something about issues with the license plate readers, and I don't know if It's the one from the parks, but, like, people are saying that pretty legal. And

I think that you're confusing flock cameras, which are also flock is a particular brand primarily utilized in law enforcement realm. Ours is license plate recognition. That's what our current parking enforcement uses. It doesn't it captures a brief snapshot of someone's license plate. For our purposes, it's held for thirty days and then wiped from the system. We own

back on parts.

No, sir. Not Right. PD. Right. Yeah. So it is different. It's on a closed system. It's not whereas Flop is a subscription service. Ours is a closed system where we own the data. That's the difference.

I had one question or just feedback for you all. I've been trying several times to sign up.

Yes. And I Okay.

Can't get through it. It it makes me it sends me to, hey. You have to enter in your pass name and password for your account for the Citi website

to do it.

It shouldn't be even

that. And I have an account for the sleep site, but when I hit, you know, send me the link or whatever, it never does. So I tried three times to sign up.

Okay. Victoria and I can help. John, have you tried posting.

Go ahead, Jessica.

Have you tried recently, like, in our new IPS system, or was that in forward? Is it was it early on?

Was about a month.

July. Okay. Yeah.

So

Yeah. There's a reason why we switch permit systems.

Okay.

You just you you just you dispatched them perfectly. I'll get both registered. Of We'll do that by tomorrow.

Thank you so much. Y'all. Just email me your License plate. License plate numbers and your ID. That's all I need. Okay. K. You just Me too.

I had a

question.

Yes. Me too.

Me too. Yes.

So I remember at some point in the summer, I got an email from the university saying, we're opening this whole parking lot for free parking or something like that, and people can go

was it

no. Not from us. It was from the university saying they were opening up one of the university lots. Do you remember this?

Yeah. The park one right where where is it? It's right behind, where Sewell's at.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm wondering if this had any impact on the numbers, but it's

paid parking.

Yeah. Seoul Park is paid parking. They have little parking.

The second that this implemented The university implemented.

Oh, maybe Okay.

Yeah. Okay. So it was paid.

Yeah. They put out little sandwich boards saying, hey. Parking coming.

I see.

And it was actually the university. Okay. And they did it along Charles Austin Drive as well. Okay. So they couldn't take up the four parking spots that they have to leave for the dog park, which are free. Right. But they've signed to go down.

I I got that email. I was like, darn.

They took our leaving it right.

Oh, yeah. It's just They took

the entire parking.

But what what's capacity like like in the lots when we're hitting something like 4,000 a day? Have

you had

any rotates. I haven't I mean, I've gone over there, you know, even just off of July 4 was a high day, but it was also raining. So but it was rotating most of the day. So folks are coming in, but on July 4, for example, it was a onetime fee of $25.

Right.

So because it was a holiday rate.

Yeah.

Whereas the the other days, it it just kind of depends. I mean, I haven't seen it at capacity.

Okay.

Like, I guess this past weekend, it was very busy. You know, that would be events at Pauline Espinosa and, you know, end of summer time as well. So, I mean, it was it was busy, and it was packed. But if there's it there is a pretty good amount of turnover that happens probably every three to four hours.

Yeah. And I'm I guess I'm also curious about the the whiteboard discussion.

I'm so

That we are

We hadn't thought of this one. Right?

We are this is a challenge that I've been working with the, new city marshal, our municipal court judge, our parking enforcement on. This was our brainstorm of what the sign needs to look like. So y'all are kind of seeing just our just kind of brain dump of things over here. So we have a meeting with city manager's office and all of us, I think, probably within the next week or so. So it's not officially set just yet, but I talked to the judge today.

I talked to Marshall today. So if this is a problem that we are trying to address because we don't want to say no Texas State event parking because we do want to capture the revenue from the graduations, the football games, the baseball games, the other events that are being held at Sewell that they're gonna park there anyway. So we wanna make sure that we're doing that, but also recognize that what's happening right now is because students are our residents, they do live here, they do get to park there for free, so we're trying to make sure that we don't have the lot filled with students that are getting taking advantage of parking for free and not utilizing the park. So that's after That that is the current issue that we're trying to manage.

I I I feel like I have on record that I think everyone should pay for parking. Yeah. But maybe we have to think about putting a time limit, like, on the rest of downtown, you know, a two hour two hours free for residents.

Yeah. Yeah. So we're we're just trying to but so parking enforcement rotate in and out of here.

No. No. Are They're bad. Three people.

Clear to open the

then leave the

parking lot. We still do have signage that's there that needs to be replaced, which is why you see kind of our brain our brain stream, if you will. So we current the current signs say no Texas State or Sewell parking as you're driving in, and that's what we need to replace because, obviously, with football games coming up and stuff, we don't wanna say no Texas State parking. So, anyway, right now, what the judge is having a challenge with is that there's people that are paying for parking and then going to Seoul Park, and then they're getting a citation for going to Seoul. So she's waiving those fees. But how are the citations?

They go

to Seoul.

Because parking enforcement is watching them leave. And So there's a human being there what?

Yes. Okay.

Yeah. So there's been a couple of citations issued that she has waived because they've paid for parking, and they walked to Sewell.

Oh, they paid.

Yeah. They paid to park. Right. They're a nonresident, paid to park, went to Sewell Park. So she's waived those citations, but now we're trying to figure out

Yeah. Because it doesn't

say But if a resident parks for free, then they would get a citation to go over to Sewell Park?

Yes. Because it's signed that way right now. It's been signed like that for years.

Oh, okay.

Yeah. I don't this is not new. It's not it's just another complexity that adding paid parking in. Technically People were already receiving signs

of They're not supposed

to be able to go there anyway. But

implemented paid parking. That was and we have lots of signs that say but there's a big sign as you're going and leaving City Park that says if your car is parked behind you, you may receive a citation. So

Why is

Mainly because we don't want the parking lot to be filled with students.

And because that's the whole reason I wanna park in that parking lot is to float from Sewell down to City Park right there and get out. That's the stretch of river that I like.

I I get it. But it's for City Park and Polly Espinosa, which is a rental facility. So if we didn't manage it, then it would be full, and there would be no capacity for any city park users or a rental facility. So that was that was established, like I said, years ago before I even got to the parks department.

I even know that was not permitted.

And it's just that little part of the river. Right? Like, if you were to go to City Park and go by, like, Lions Club and launch off from, like, that area.

Yeah. That's City Park. Okay. Yes.

Well, it's just that little extra stretch.

Right. Okay. Right. That's correct. Yeah. Leaving from Texas State property versus City. Property.

The rest of it's all backed up by Rio Vista Dan and not fund the float.

Yeah. Partly why we paid so much to rehab that entire facility. Not just the building, but the entire parking area was moved back away. It used to be parking right up on the river. Mhmm. We tore all that out at great expense. Hooped it all back and added more room between the river and the in Perthes parking lot. Was for the use of that facility and that building, which we also paid for because we had a fire.

Correct. It was arson.

In that building, and we had to rebuild it.

It's

expensive. Anyway Alright.

That was the thing. I recall this great success.

You know what? We've already paid for our contracts.

So

everything else after this is great.

We have two other very easy places to implement this over on Hopkins, all along Hopkins or Centimeters Allen. Mhmm. And,

I mean, are we are

we on that?

We we have been talking about it. Yes, sir. So we need to get some breathing room on getting this implemented and up and running because if the city council says that residents are to be free down there, I'm gonna need a lot more staff because that took eight staff members basically an entire month of their time. This is basically all Jessica's been doing. It has taken a lot of time to just primarily implement this since June.

So we wanna make sure we get this done right so that it when council so if council says, hey. Residents are free, we're able to say, okay. Everybody that's registered already, you're good to go. Okay. Now we're gonna expect another 5,000 people, maybe, who knows, to come in and register and say, well, I go to because a lot of people go down there more often than they go to City Park, like, proper. So we would expect a lot more registration. So it it would be a big undertaking for this department to do. It took a lot of time.

But, theoretically, you might be able to hire another staff person to help. Right?

We could, but it'll take more than one person. It, I mean, it it literally took eight people.

Are you talking about on the registration side? That's the work?

Because every single one is done individually in many.

How many total people have residents have registered?

About 3,900. Really? Yeah. That's not And and it's growing. I mean, they're receive they're still receiving a pretty steady stream of applications. It's kinda like after the weekend. I mean, what, Jessica, you're seeing, like, anywhere from 10 to 30 come in over a weekend? Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. So it just kinda depends because people are still learning about it, which is also a big reason why we're we have not been actively enforcing violations because people are still learning about it. They're talking to their friends, their neighbors, and such. So it's and then, of course, now we just had move in. We've already received some from college students that are living on campus. So we are receiving yeah.

The word's getting out around the student population as well. They

are considered full time residents and able to register them.

Yes, sir. If they have an address here, yes, They can.

Pay taxes.

So so every year, we can pay, what, 10,000, you know, with the new or whatever percentage of the class to be doing that. What have you guys come up with as far as different ways, like, as far as we and we talked about it a long time ago that an AI registration or a sticker or something make it a lot easier.

And right now, you know, we've asked those same questions, and right now, it's just not an option. They're not automated. I agree. I I feel you. You know, now we're we've gone we've now utilized two permit systems, but everything is basically the same review process. It's very manual, so it's not automated. So we have to go in. We have to review, verify that the uploads that the folks have uploaded are their proof of residency and a proof of identification. We have received selfies as a proof of photo identification. So then we have to reach out to those people and say, hey.

Do you have a school ID? Do you have, you know, something ID with your So we have to engage with them to make sure that the right documents are Yeah. Exactly. Always like that.

That's There's no opportunity to outsource that part of the effort?

I mean, I think that we would have to hire, like, temp labor, and some of these funds could definitely be utilized to hire temp labor to do that.

Jamie, would do you mind refreshing my memory? This this and this this amount of money goes into the general fund, or does it go back back directly to Parks?

It comes in it goes into a special revenue account earmarked for Parks.

K.

Yes.

Viewed. Alright. I think we have a pretty good idea what's the deal with city park paperwork. So let's go to item seven.

Receive a staff update and hold discussion regarding current parks and recreation projects.

I have this one with one. The I

don't know

if this is a current parts and rec project, but if it isn't, I'd like to maybe talk about making it. Okay. I know you have a temporary fence that we're needing to be managed.

You have this That's already on my list.

Part? Okay.

Yes, sir. And I'm very interested in when that goes away to talking about a Okay.

Yes, doc.

If if the consensus is from the city council, I would like this discussion. Sure. Sure.

So right now, I'll be providing the city council with the end of summer season update on October 8. We have been directed by my assistant, city manager, that I direct report to, Rodney Gonzalez. What was originally proposed to us or told to us was a permanent structure, now it is kind of a semi permanent, where we're able to have permanent footings, but then we're able to remove the panels should we need to for flooding. So instead of them, obviously, Strauderman has been looking at lots of various options for us. So we can absolutely bring that back to you guys in September as well just so that y'all can kind of weigh in before we go to council.

I think that would be good because that's our role. Sure. Absolutely. I think so.

Can you refresh me on the timing? It will be done

with the current one?

It'll it'll be departing the park after Labor Day.

And then those fences are gone?

Yes. And the park ambassador's last day is September 7, so they will be the one to manage and access.

So I'm just gonna ask the board, is there any current park project that you have a quick question?

The children's park, do we have a TBD on that? I just heard from a friend who was like, oh my gosh. He's not happy taking his kids there.

The children's park?

Yeah. He said that there was something I thought that was the playground improvements. Is that is that

City Park

or Children's Park

as far as the missing Oh, okay. Maybe somewhere. He said there was horn stuff. I'm I don't know. I misread the documents. Maybe it's

not on

to Children's Yeah.

He took his seats there, and he said not in good shape. Yeah.

Well, I mean, Mr. Straumann, do you wanna give a quick update on Children's Park and getting parts and repairs?

Well, we have installed all the all our components that we have received so far. Okay. We have a few things that are still lacking. One of the zipline components, they sent us part of it, but not

I think it was actually the zip line. Okay. That's I'll I'll tell it.

Yeah. That's the biggest