Minutes - 20070413 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

involved, that scholarships would have to be available to County residents who could not afford the programming fees; and that the acquisition of land far soccer fields should be included in active recreation purchases. The recommendations of the soccer task force were adopted formally by the Board of County Commissioners. Budget Director Donna Coffey spoke about the recommendations and how the County would pay for implementation. She said that, based on the outcome of the Soccer Symposium, the 2001 bond program had $2 million identified as Soccer Superfund monies. She said that a lot of people have the perception that once all of the bond monies are approved by the voters that the very next day the money is in hand. This is not the case. All of the bonds are not issued atone time. All of the Soccer Superfund money has been issued now, and a portion of it is going to the West Ten Soccer Complex ($1.3 million}, and another portion {$650,000} is going to Twin Creeks. There will be additional debt of $2.4 million for soccer projects, specifically for West Ten. Patrick Sullivan said that Mike Strand and Pete Sadin were instrumental in getting the band passed by the voters. Mike Strand asked how much of the $2 million allocated had been spent and Donna Coffey said that there is $647,000 left of the $1.3 million allocated at West Ten. Recreation and Parks Director Lori Taft said that the Board of County Commissioners studied and developed guidelines for use of the $2 million that was appropriated, and any future potential Soccer Superfund bonds. The guidelines are subject to change if the BOCC so chooses. The funds are to be used for development of soccer fields and/or acquisition of land for development of soccer fields. She made reference to Attachment E, Section 3, which has criteria listed for priority funding. Patrick Sullivan made reference to the priorities and said that #6 is not met at West Ten, which is "Construct fields that have access to Public Transportation." Laura Blackmon said that this is in the process of being addressed -not specifically for the fields, but specifically far the northern part of the County. Dave Stancil said that part of what the County tried to do after the 2001 bond was to acquire sites that had been identified for a number of years for active recreation. He painted out the composite map of the parks and recreation plan for all of the County. He said that all of the parks that are being built (Twin Creeks, West Ten, Efland-Cheeks, Northern Park, and Southern Park} fit into the park master plan. He explained the background behind the Gravelly Hill Middle School and the West Ten Soccer Complex and the sharing of facilities, etc. Commissioner Nelson arrived at 2:32 PM. Dave Stancil said that with Twin Creeks the County joined forces with CHCCS to acquire the land, which is a 193-acre site and will be a co-located schools campus and park. The vision for the district park was to create economies of scale with co-location of fields. There are four full-size soccer fields an the master plan and other fields and associated amenities. He said that the County has been working with this site for 3-4 years. Laura Blackmon asked Dave Stancil to talk about access issues for Twin Creeks. Dave Stancil said that a couple of key things that are important now are that sewer lines are going to be extended to the school site, and there is a proposed development to the south that is pending approval in the Tawn of Carrboro. The County is working with developers of this subdivision to get the road into the park. Patrick Sullivan asked how much money would be saved if the developer pays for construction of the road and the schools pay for water and sewer and Dave Stancil said a significant amount. Deanne Venable asked when notification is expected of Carrboro's approval for the development to the south of Twin Creeks and Dave Stancil said that this has been in the process for about two years. It could be 2-6 months.