Body
Department of Parks and Recreation
Reference: Approve a Resolution for the Donelson Park Parking Lot.
To: Mayor Richard N. McLean and Members of City Council
Through: Philip Rodriguez, City Manager
Chantel Trujillo, Assistant City Manager Operations
Prepared By: Gary Wardle, Director Parks and Recreation
Date Prepared: September 19, 2017
PURPOSE
Approve the Master Plan for the Donelson Park Parking Lot.
BACKGROUND
Donelson Park is the location for the City youth competitive Soccer program. This is the only site with a large enough turf area for soccer fields. The fields are heavily used March through June and end of August through early November each year. There are soccer games every Saturday and some Sundays during this time with 100 to 150 cars in the neighborhood. This many cars creates disruption for the neighbors of Donelson Park.
The solution to help solve the parking problem is the construct a parking lot at Donelson Park. A public meeting was held on July 13, 2017 to solicit input from the neighbors of Donelson Park on their desired location for the parking lot. There were approximately 40 neighbors in attendance. There were three options presented for the parking lot location. The first option was one large parking lot on the southwest corner of the Park accommodating 128 parking spaces. The second option was a large parking lot on the southeast corner of the Park accommodating 124 parking spaces. The third option was to construct two smaller parking lots, one on the southwest portion of the Park, accommodating 84 spaces and one on the southeast portion, accommodating 52 spaces. The construction of any parking lot on the southeast corner of the park will be necessarily delayed two years until the 45th Avenue extension is completed.
The discussion from the neighbors focused on the extension of 45th Avenue and the extension of Longs Peak on the east side of the Park. With the construction of 50th Avenue the neighbors felt that there would be an increase in traffic on both Longs Peak and 45th Avenue into their neighborhood. The neighbors on the west side of the Park are concerned that construction of a parking lot on the southwest side of the Park would have a negative impact on their neighborhood. After discussion, the consensus of the group was to support the construction of one parking lot on the southeast corner of the Park knowing that this will delay the parking lot construction for two years until 45th Avenue extension is designed and ultimately constructed. The City intends that the construction of 45th Avenue extension and the parking lot will be bid as one project. In addition, the City will need to acquire the property for the parking lot from the adjacent developer.
The neighbors were all given a comment card to provide their recommendation for the construction of the parking lot. 22 comment cards were returned to the City. 15 cards supported the one southeast parking lot, 5 supported two smaller lots, and 2 supported no parking lot at all.
After additional consideration, and in an effort to address parking concerns raised by the neighborhood, the City is recommending constructing one parking lot on the southeast of Donelson Park, with a reduction in the size to accommodate 99 spaces. This will reduce the cost from $436,692 for the larger lot to approximately $335,309.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is funding for the construction of the parking lot in the proposed 2018 Lottery budget.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends approval of the Master Plan for the Donelson Park Parking Lot for the smaller southeast lot including 99 Parking spots.
OPTIONS FOR COUNCIL CONSIDERATION
1. Approve the Master Plan
2. Approve a different Plan
3. Not approve the Master Plan
ATTACHMENTS
1. Resolution
2. Concept Plan
3. Cost Estimates