Parks & Recreation Committee Meeting
Tuesday, November 20
6oopm – 800pm
Heritage Club
2020 S. Monroe St
Denver

All Denver residents are welcome to attend.

MINUTES OF OCTOBER MEETING

PARC– 10/16/12    –Diana Helper, PARC member 

The INC Parks and Recreation Committee (PARC) met October 16 at 6:00 p.m. at the Heritage Club. The Agenda included City Park Playground, Herron Park, and Hentzell Park Open Space/DPS proposal.

Present: Co-chairs Katie Fisher & Maggie Price. Regular members: Larry Ambrose, Kathleen and Jay Rust, Ronnie Crawford, Marlene Johnson, Cindy Johnstone, Diana Helper, and Dave Felice.  Guests included representatives from city
RNOs: Trent Thompson, Linda Dowlen, Drew Dutcher, Karan Nesbitt, Deborah Fard, and Laurel Raines;
Those regarding DPS: Benita Duran, Will Lee Ashby, Becky Williams, Andrew Robinson, Susan Ouellette, and James T. Allen, a member of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (PRAB) who is Sr. Director, Bond Program & Construction Services at DPS and has taken the lead in trading park land for office space; Keith Pryor, President of PRAB; and Denver Parks and Recreation (DPR): Scott Gilmore, Britta Herwig, and Angela Casias.

A Need for RNO Participation In brief, the discussions focused on the need for strong RNO (Registered Neighborhood Organization) participation to be included at the beginning of project planning and throughout, and on the importance of assurance that a precedent is not being set when there is a special case decision made.

City Park Playground Scott Gilmore advised that the City Park Playground plan is still in discussion, no commitments are yet made, and there will be much more public input over the next year or more.  Britta Herwig said all stakeholder meetings are open to all, and there will be workshops as well.  PARC requested that when the public is invited to comment, there be no pre-drawn plan presented, giving people an opportunity to express their wishes, opinions and ideas with a blank slate.  There is $270,000 budgeted for initial design, and a goal of $5 million from private donors is needed for the playground.  PARC pointed out that public funds are being spent for the DPR staff time. 

Heron Park  Drew Dutcher expressed a need for RNO inclusion in planning for Heron Park.  He explained this area is hard to reach and the water is contaminated.  Gilmore said the idea is to clean it up, and especially because it will receive storm water run-off.  He said contaminated water exists in many park lakes, and he hopes Public Works will help with improving the serious problems at Heron Pond by dredging to make a deeper lake.  He proposed it could be a place for recreation and watching wildlife.  Dutcher said the impression is that this is mainly a way to help development projects of NW Denver.  Gilmore responded the project is just in the beginning stages and there will be public outreach.

New DPR Communications Rep  Angela Casias reported that there is a new DPR Communications person, Jeff Green.  He will attend PARC’s November 20 meeting.  No INC rep attended the first meeting of the new communications group, so we must make sure INC in represented from now on. 

DPS/Hentzell Park-Recommendation  DPS wishes to build a new school in a portion of Hentzell Park’s which is now a dedicated Wildlife Open Space.  A hearing at PRAB is scheduled Thursday, November 8, 2012 at the Wellington Webb Municipal Building, 201 W. Colfax Ave, 4th Floor, Room 4.F.6 at 5:30 p.m.  The school is deemed as” much needed as population is booming there”, and no other location has been found for a new school.  If a bond issue passes on November. 6, funds for this construction will be available. 

In exchange for park land, DPS will give the city a building downtown which the Mayor very much wishes to have.  PARC does not condone giving up Park space unless similar park or open space is established elsewhere, and pointed out that a growing population also needs more open space, not less, and that this “trade” would set a very bad precedent.  PARC also requested all Denver residents be informed that this would be part of the bond issue vote; as it affects us all, and that should this trade go through, it must be clearly designated as for this particular case only.  INC’s PARC recommended if a school is built adjoining the remainder of the open space, learning about and using this natural area become an integral part of the curriculum, as well as fostering preservation of natural open space and wildlife territory.  CLICK HERE to read the proposal.

PARC thanks all those who attended and contributed to this very important PARC meeting. Next meeting will be Tuesday, Nov. 20, at the Heritage Club, 2020 S. Monroe St.