Parks & Recreation Board Meeting
Highlights
- 🧾 Approved the June 9 minutes and forwarded the Q2 board summary to council, keeping the new quarterly-report cadence on track.
- 🏛️ Discussed whether the Urban Renewal Agency (URA) could fund a comprehensive Jessie Mays Community Hall renovation—kitchen, gym, historic facade—given $2.5M in remaining URA funds.
- 🗺️ Staff noted Jessie Mays currently sits outside the URA boundary, but a minor amendment (under 1 % of the area) could pull the parcel in; long term, council must decide whether to extend the URA’s 20-year sunset.
- 🧑💼 Parks staff flagged pending capital needs (pickleball resurfacing, storage, shade, future programming) and stressed the importance of syncing any URA request with the adopted Parks Master Plan.
Notes
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Consent Items
- June minutes approved unanimously.
- The Q2 report highlighting project updates/events will be included in the next council packet.
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URA Rules & Jessie Mays Discussion
- Board Member Don Weber summarized the URA plan: it’s a tax-increment district established roughly 20 years ago, now holding ~$2.5 M in capacity.
- URA dollars can cover parks, public facilities, and historic structures—Jessie Mays checks all boxes, and the Parks Master Plan already calls for major upgrades.
- Obstacles:
- Jessie Mays is outside the current URA boundary. Moving the line requires a minor plan amendment (if < 1 % of the total area) or a more involved major amendment.
- The URA sunset hits soon; without extending it, the agency can’t issue new debt after 2026/27, limiting project scope.
- Staff encouraged the board to prepare a clear scope (kitchen upgrades, gym restoration, HVAC, acoustic improvements, etc.) so council can weigh URA amendments versus other funding.
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Other Business
- Parks staff reiterated ongoing needs (pickleball cleanup, storage, future programming) and reminded members that any URA proposal should align with the Jessie Mays concept in the Parks Master Plan.
Follow-Ups
- Parks staff to draft a summary of desired Jessie Mays improvements (kitchen, gym, HVAC, AV, etc.) and cost bands so council can evaluate URA eligibility.
- City staff to brief council on the timeline for URA sunset decisions and whether a minor boundary amendment is feasible before the next URA extension.
- Board members to keep documenting capital priorities in the quarterly report so council sees how Jessie Mays upgrades tie into broader recreation goals.