Nuzum announced public meetings to be held on April 22 and April 23 regarding CPN-area trails, the new South Park, and the possible recreation center. The April 22 meeting is a focus group meeting for older kids, targeted at finding out what types of recreation amenities they would use. April 23 is an "adults" meeting for Castle Pines North residents. Ken Ballard, of Ballard*King consulting firm will discuss the findings to date on the first step of the feasibility study for the recreation center (an "initial assessment" of whether it could be possible for CPN to consider a rec center), and to take the adult's ideas on desired recreation amenities, to be used in the subsequent stages of the feasibility study.
Coyote Ridge Park is nearing completion; the baseball field, bridge, and sidewalk are expected to be done in June.
Planning work is underway for construction of the new "South Park." This park will be built whether or not the Recreation Center is approved; it is part of the commitment that CPN has made to implement our Recreation Master Plan. Land acquisition for the South Park area is in process: negotiations are under way to purchase the church lot, and the process has been started to transfer title to the parcels that are currently held by Douglas County, and the portions that will be donated by the King Soopers developer.
Nuzum presented a "concept plan" for the park, which identifies the boundaries of the park land, and some ideas of what might be in the park. Specific decisions on the park's content and design will come at a later date. Some initial public feedback on desired amenities will be obtained at the April 22 and 23 meetings, and people who are interested in participating in the planning the park will have a chance to sign up for a committee.
Nuzum presented a Parks Authority financial summary, which shows past income and expenses, and forecasts for the future. The forecast does NOT include any future expenses on the potential recreation center -- a separate financial analysis for that possible project is being prepared as part of the Feasibility Study.
From the inception of the Parks Authority through the end of 2002, Developer Fees have contributed about ¾ of the Parks Authority's funds, with Master HOA dues contributing about 20%, and the balance coming from fundraisers and interest income. These funds provided enough cash to build the Coyote Ridge Park, and to build a reserve for a portion of the South Park, but the forecast shows that the Authority will need additional funds to complete the South Park.
At this point, we have already received a high proportion of the developer fees that are expected. HOA dues were kept at a low level during the time that the developer fees were covering the cash requirements, but now the Authority will need to rely more heavily on HOA dues.
The discussion last Fall was that if CPN were to build a recreation center, the additional funds needed to complete the South Park could be included in the financing for the rec center. However, since there has not been a decision on the rec center, we must begin funding the park on a "cash" basis.
The financial forecast shows that while the Parks Authority may have the funds to begin a "phase one" on the South Park next year, they would not accumulate the cash needed to complete the park until 2007 if Master HOA dues are kept at the $115 level. The completion date could be moved up to 2005 by setting the dues at the amount discussed at last year's Annual meeting of $215 per year. This averages approximately $18 per month, with $12.60 of that being allocated to the Parks Authority. Increasing the dues to the maximum allowable dues ($224 per year) does not move the completion date up substantially.
There was discussion that the question is whether we want to pay the HOA dues over a shorter time period, or stretch it out over more years; and discussion of the value of completing the park more quickly, partially so that current residents would be able to enjoy the park sooner, and also that deferring construction to a later date would increase construction expenses and the total dues that homeowners would need to pay toward park construction.
There was also discussion of the possibility of obtaining grant money, and that perhaps it would be worthwhile for the Parks Authority to engage a professional grant-writer.
