2011-04-09 Special Meeting of La Porte City Council

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c. Dog Park — Stephen Barr Stephen Barr gave a presentation regarding establishing a dog park. Council suggested placing this item in the upcoming budget. d. New Animal Shelter — Ken Adcox Chief Adcox gave a presentation on the need for a new animal shelter. If a 7,100- square -foot building is built, the cost is approximately $1.1 million. The Mayor suggested taking another look at it to see if costs can be reduced. Councilmember Moser liked the look of the proposed building. Councilmember Clausen cautioned against building too small, stating we need to go with a building that will carry us into the future. Council suggested putting this item ahead of the dog park in the budget process. e. Depot Parking & Bayshore Drive — Stephen Barr Stephen Barr presented this issue stating the La Porte -Bay Area Heritage Society operates the historic Sylvan Beach Depot as a museum, open to the public approximately 500 hours per year, through their agreement with the City of La Porte. The Society is primarily made up of La Porte, Shoreacres, and Morgan's Point citizens, many of whom are retired, and all whom have an interest in preserving the heritage of La Porte. There is no parking specifically provided for this facility, although there is substantial parking available in the Sylvan Beach Park across the street. With the increasing attendance at the Museum, coupled with the elevated median age of the Society members, staff was asked to explore the possibility of additional parking adjacent to the Depot to facilitate the use and utility for the end users, which are Museum visitors and Society members. Staff has explored some possible solutions. Council suggested staff get a cost on a parking lot on the north end. Mr. Barr stated he will get a cost. Councilmember Zemanek stated opening the gate would be helpful to facilitate entrance from the parking lot across the street. f. RFC Land Acquisition — Stephen Barr Stephen Barr stated the City began acquiring land behind the La Porte Recreation & Fitness Center in 1999 for future park expansion purposes. The majority of land was acquired through the delinquent tax process. Between 1999 and 2007, the Assistant City Attorney assisted in the acquisition of approximately 12 additional land purchases of individual lots or parcels. In October of 2005, the City Council passed a Takings Resolution for all the remaining properties at the time, except for the Cook property because it was occupied. Five parcels are remaining to be purchased. Council suggested leaving it as is and not move forward on purchasing these remaining parcels at this time. g. Klein Retreat & Happy Harbor Properties — Stephen Barr /Ron Bottoms Stephen Barr and Ron Bottoms both spoke on this issue. The Klein's Retreat Property and Happy Harbor Property were purchased for an undetermined future use. One possible use for a portion or all of the properties is for parkland, to connect the Seabreeze Park with Sylvan Beach to the southwest. The future land use has not been determined at this date. There is an issue of the properties becoming "de facto" parks, where the occasional recreational use becomes the primary activity and could be claimed as the intended use. While this is a possibility, in order to reserve the final determination of how the land will be used in the future, the City Attorney's office is recommending that a resolution be considered by the Council that establishes that the future use has not been determined and that although the property is available for recreational use, it is not dedicated parkland. The resolution would not preclude the future use as parkland, should the Council determine that should be its future use. It would eliminate the claim for "de facto" parkland based on previous use, should the Council decide some other future use for the land. Council stated they would consider the resolution on a future agenda as per the recommendation of staff. Page 4 of 5 April 9, 2011, City Council Special Meeting Minutes