by John Kiljan
At last night’s board meeting, the Apex Park & Recreation District kept a small Fitzmorris pool and rec center as a part of its bond-renewal package. Apex plans to bring the bond proposal to the voters in May of 2016. About 40 people sat in on the board meeting. Most attendees were tennis advocates who promised to campaign for the bond package and its six projects in the recreation district, but some were also advocates of the indoor warm-water therapy pool being added to a rebuilt Secrest Center. These types of pools are popular with senior citizens and those undergoing rehabilitation therapy when recovering from injuries.
Proposed Fitzmorris pool and rec center site
Based on discussions with the City of Arvada, the City will take the lead in getting community input from local residents about the center’s design and its impact on Fitzmorris Park. If the bond proposal is successful, the City will be funding most of the new pool with its own financial and in-kind contributions. The pool will be built in the City-owned park pictured here.
The City is also considering a review of the future of the entire park – again with public input and consideration for what the adjacent school’s needs are for the property. A recent similar review of the nearby, and somewhat underused, Independence Park resulted in new paved walkway for local handicapped residents.
Here are a few quotes from the meeting that relate to Fitzmorris.
Executive Director Mike Miles: “So, this evening is the last evening we’ll be taking the public input for this process. To make any changes we’ll do that by the next board meeting and ultimately by, hopefully, the end of this month or early October, we’re approving a final package that will be developed for the bond election which we anticipate holding in May of 2016 at this point in time.”
Mike Miles: “. . . and the City of Arvada, we had a conversation with them today, they are willing to step up and allocate $3.1 million for the Fitzmorris site pool. So that adds a significant use to that. So that only leaves us about $100,000 short of where we need to be.”
John Kiljan from the CLRC: [during public input] “I’ll be brief. I just wanted to say ‘thank you’ to the board for the package you put together. The concepts proposed sound pretty good and very balanced. Most of the people I’ve talked to were very pleased. We also talked with the City of Arvada about the Fitzmorris Center, and they plan a fair amount of public input because it’s a public park. And they are picking up, I guess, 65% of the construction costs, plus all the land as well that’s going along with it. Generally, people were pretty happy. My personal experience in talking with them in the seven years since the old Fisher Pool closed, people are really looking forward to this. We hope it will pass.”
Director Jim Whitfield: [during board member reports] “A few items here – one was, today, we had the coordinating committee meeting with the City of Arvada, and again, three important developments, one was the financial support for Fitzmorris that we talked about. Another one was that, with regard, I think, to kind of the lead or getting the community input with regard to Fitzmorris, I think the City has indicated that they would like to take a lead on that. So, we’ll support them as they need us to support them. And then there was a long, lengthy discussion regarding Meyers Pool. . . .”
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If the mill levy passes in May, there will be no increase in property tax rates for homeowners in the Apex parks and recreation district, and City taxes are also unaffected. The bond proposal is just an extension of an existing property tax levied by the recreation district.
WHERE TO FIND OUT MORE
For some recent background information on the meeting, have a look at this article:
Images for all six of the concept plans for the bond renewal can be seen at this link:
http://ralstoncommunity.org/2015/08/29/apex-announces-thursday-agenda-for-two-area-pools/
The Citizens for a Livable Ralston Community is an independent neighborhood association representing the neighborhoods adjacent to Ralston Road from the Wadsworth Bypass to the Kipling Parkway.
You can read all of our articles on our main website at http://www.RalstonCommunity.org or you can read even more posts on our Facebook page at “CLRC – Citizens for a Liveable Ralston Community”. You can write to us, call us or email us at
CLRC
c/o John Kiljan, Secretary
6185 Field Street
Arvada, CO 80004
303-423-9875
jpkiljan@yahoo.com
September 4, 2015
CLRC -- Arvada News and Commentary 