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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996 03 13 Beautification of Winter Springs Board Regular Minutes ."'...-.... MINUTES BEAUTIFICATION OF WINTER SPRINGS BOARD MARCH 13, 1996 REGULAR MEETING 1. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. by Chairperson Brown in the conference room, city hall. 2. Roll Call: City Officials. present Tom Brown, Chairperson, present Marilyn Dickinson, present John Herbert, absent Dawna Ferguson, present Sarah Watson, absent Russ Robbins, absent Carol Morrison, present Ron McLemore, City Manager 3. Approval of the February 14. 1996 Minutes Chairperson Brown asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes. There were no additions or corrections stated. Chairperson Brown said the minutes will stand approved as read. 4. Discussion with the City Manager. Ron McLemore. Chairperson Brown welcomed the City Manager, Ron McLemore, to the meeting. Chairperson Brown told Manager McLemore that the board is looking for direction from him and the city, and that he wanted to explain what the board has been working on for the last year and a half Manager McLemore thanked the board for inviting him to the meeting. He (manager) said that he has reviewed the B.O.W.S. charter and the Master Plan, so he has a general sense (historically) of what has happened. He explained that he is now working with staff on developing a paper on beautification. There are a number of items going on that would fit under the beautification umbrella. The 434 Visioning Process is a major beautification effort. Design standards are being developed for the corridor. It will cost $160,000.00 for just the maintenance on the medians for a year. (The full length of the corridor) Tuscawilla Road is another beautification enhancement corridor. There is an Arbor program. A lot maintenance ordinance will soon be brought to the Commission. Two or three public sites (owned by the city) need landscape improvements. All of the public buildings need landscape improvements (this has previously been addressed by the B.O.W.S. Board). The parks need improvements. These are all pieces of the puzzle. Manager McLemore added, one of the keys in the design standards is what to do with the power lines. Negotiations between staff and the major property owners have been interesting and optimistic. Intersections need improvements such as: decorative light fixtures and no overhanging wires. - MINUTES BEAUTIFICATION OF WINTER SPRINGS BOARD MARCH 13, 1996 MEETING PAGE 2 He (manager) should be bringing a draft document to the next B.O.W.S. meeting so the members can continue to develop it. Hopefully, within two months, the document will be taken to the Commission in order to find out what path to take from there. Manager McLemore said that his feeling is that he may want to extend the visioning contract with the current firm because they will tackle a lot of the problems in the 434 visioning process. He is asking the Commission to adopt the conceptual plan at the next Commission meeting. The three elements to the plan are the town center, the rehabilitation area (west of city hall), and the development area (east of city hall). He will let the Commission know that he'll be back in May with a set of design development guidelines for the corridor. He will also be ready to give them (Commission) some recommendations on broadening out the visioning process by bringing the B.O.W.S. Board and Commerce/Industry Development Board into the process of refining the preliminary set of documents. Once the boards input is included in this document, then the document will begin to create some direction. Manager McLemore continued, there are three major land owners in the project, and their mind set is to do some pretty high quality stuff Relationships are beginning to develop again between staff, the developers, himself, and the consultants. Some consensus is beginning regarding what the corridor ought to be--from the land owners perspective. The Commission will: 1) Tell us to stop, 2) Give preliminary approval to the concept. Direct us to continue on along the path that has been outlined which is to come back to them in May with a preliminary set of documents. These documents will embrace what the guidelines ought to be for the corridor (landscape designs included), and the rules and regulations of the overlay district (a special district with it's own special rules). That will come back to them as a preliminary document for approval. Once he (manager) has got the Commission to approve that set of documents, then he has a preliminary approval for the concept plan and the design guidelines. He feels the plan will be on a stronger footing, and will have a clear direction. Once he gets the property owner comfortable with this process, then he will have opportunities to do other things. Dickinson said that she thought the state made the decisions about S.R. 434. Manager McLemore said the state will determine the design and configuration of the road, and they are willing to build a road with a median, but they are a minor player in terms of the beautification. She also asked about the rehabilitation area of the corridor. Manager McLemore answered, there may be a different set of standards and goals for that area. Getting new property owners to invest and getting those existing property owners to want to invest are two different challenges. Manager McLemore stated, This will not work unless the community is willing to put up some money to make it happen. It's not going to work unless the Commission is willing to put in some big bucks to make it happen. The City Commission is not going to put up big bucks unless they have a big support from the community. The manager can't get big support from the community until he gets groups like the B.O.W.S. Board to sell the community on something that is right for the community. Serious beautification cannot be done without a substantial budget. He (manager) is asking the Commission to tell him if they want to do a serious plan. If they don't want to MINUTES BEAUTIFICATION OF WINTER SPRINGS BOARD MARCH 13, 1996 MEETING PAGE 3 do a serious plan then the B.O.W.S. board will again look at little spots around buildings, or in the parks; like now. Chairperson Brown said that the board is looking for the manager's support in their trivial projects. He asked Manager McLemore if it would be to his advantage in the short term if the board were to take a look at the old section, put together some ideas, get ideas from the community, and get back to him with a vision. Manager McLemore said, "not yet". Chairperson Brown mentioned the September meeting when Tom Grimms, Community Development Coordinator, presented the 434 corridor project to the members. Chairperson Brown said he stated his concerns at that meeting about crossovers in the road, and another member had recommended types of trees. The board has not heard any feedback. Dickinson asked if the medians along S.R. 434 will be irrigated with waste water. Manager McLemore said, "yes, all of the medians". The city is required to provide the state with a plan on how to get rid of waste water. Most communities are getting rid of it through irrigation. In some communities, it is sold. It doesn't have that value here, yet; it is still a liability to the city. At some point in time it will become an asset. Dickinson asked if homeowners will ever be provided with reclaimed water. Manager McLemore said he was not sure if the city will ever have that volume. Morrison said that they (the city) are working on it in her neighborhood. Chairperson Brown said his community was concerned about the water leaving rust stains on the walls of the houses. Chairperson Brown said that Tom Grimms, Community Development Coordinator, will return to the BOWS meeting next month to present an update on the visioning of S.R. 434. This will help the board prepare for input to the manager. The members were encouraged by the City Manager to continue with what they are working on. Chairperson Brown said that one of the board's goals this year is the parks brochure. He mentioned that it was amazing how many people called him up at work who knew people in the city that wanted to do the Commerce/Industry brochure. He (Brown) said the board and Don Wilson, ParkslRecreation Director, are both pleased with the brochure, but he doesn't see how the board will get the funds. Manager McLemore was shown the draft that the board produced for Wilson, and the draft that Wilson returned back to the board. Chairperson Brown said, there is not a major printing company in Winter Springs. Morrison said she was surprised that the board was asked to solicit donations for the printing and photography of the brochure. Chairperson Brown said that maybe a sincere mock up could be presented to the Commission, and have the brochure budgeted for next year. He said that the board is willing to get costs, but he felt the city could probably get better rates. Manager McLemore said in order to close on the project there needs to be an agreement on the version of the brochure. Morrison said that they are in agreement with using Wilson's brochure. Chairperson Brown said that the more he thought about it, he didn't believe the board should be the ones to get the prices. Manager McLemore said the city could get the prices. He also asked how the brochures were going to be distributed. Chairperson Brown said the board has discussed that. (Schools, Homeowners Associations) MINUTES BEAUTIFICATION OF WINTER SPRINGS BOARD MARCH 13, 1996 MEETING PAGE 4 Chairperson Brown said the gentleman from the Civic Association told him there was no problem including the brochure in the newsletter. Manager McLemore said that he would talk to Wilson, and he will work it up as an agenda item for the Commission. The Commission's options will be: 1) Say you're not interested 2) Fund it now to be developed, or 3) Put it in the budget for next year. He recommended the B.O.W.S. Board be present at the Commission Meeting for support. Dickinson asked what the city is doing in terms of beautification grants. Manager McLemore said that the city is working with the highway department on the corridor. There are grants (Ice Tea Funds) for beautification along corridors. Once he gets all of the information together, he will probably ask the board to let him work with the consultant through this board and come up with an overall beautification plan for the city. The consultants know where to locate funding. Chairperson Brown said that the Christmas Holiday is another challenge of the board. Morrison shared their ideas with the manager. A Christmas evening; city wide home decorating contest; school choruses; a floating tree; Christmas tree lighting by the mayor; Santa Claus visits; pictures; refreshments; street decorating contest; etc. Plaques or gift certificates could be awarded. Chairperson Brown said that Herbert has talked to the Lake Howell Choir about participating. It was also mentioned about tieing this in with the Art Festival somehow. Wilson previously brought up the idea of the schools making up large Christmas cards to be displayed in the park. Chairperson Brown asked Manager McLemore how the board gets their ideas to him. He answered by asking the members what relationship these items have with the master plan. Morrison said that at one time, the board was at a loss of what to do and there was even talk of dissolving the board. Certain people suggested some community involvement ideas. Manager McLemore asked how the lighting of the Christmas tree could coincide with the Holiday Parade. Morrison said the parade is a separate entity. Chairperson Brown said that this board goes to the City Manager, not the Commission. He said that he can't help until there is some commitment from the Commission. If their commitment is low, then maybe other things can be done through private organizations. Manager McLemore added, the idea of the Beautification committee trying to beautify a site for the annual lighting of a Christmas tree sounds pretty good to him. It would be a minor activity unless dog tailed with the community group involved with the parade, then maybe a kind of synergy could develop. Further discussion about donations and decorating ideas. Manager McLemore said that the board needs to present to him the plan, the cost, the date and time, and what they need from the city in order to accomplish a task. When there is enough information to develop a package, then it is taken to the board. He explained to the board that there is three different agendas. 1) regular, 2) consent, and 3) informational. The informational agenda is a series ofinformational items which if the Commission chooses, they pull off and discuss; or they just say thank you for the information. He said that he will put the Christmas deal on either the informational or consent agenda. Manager McLemore said that he needs to do two board items. He will attend the next BOWS meeting, and hopefully the position paper will be ready to massage. MINUTES BEAUTIFICATION OF WINTER SPRINGS BOARD MARCH 13, 1996 MEETING PAGE 5 Chairperson Brown told Manager McLemore that he (manager) has put a lot of significance into this board. People on the surface will not know that this board has much input in the process, but the city manager and the board members will. That is the satisfaction. 5. Unfinished Business Dickinson distributed and read a letter regarding Arbor Day. Chairperson asked that the letter be entered into the minutes. (which is attached hereto for the record) He said that the information is credible to the City of Winter Springs, and asked if the board is permitted to publish an article in the new Winter Springs Newspaper. Manager McLemore said that he thought the paper would be more than happy. He also suggested to hold until the position paper is ready; it describes everything being done. Brief discussion. 6. New Business There were not any New Business items. 7. Agenda Items for April Meeting Ron McLemore, City Manager--Discussion of Conceptual Plan Tom Grimms, Community Development Coordinator--Update of the 434 Corridor 8. Adjournment Chairperson Brown adjourned the meeting at 8:45 p.m. ~~~.J,~ Martha Jenkins, uty City Clerk