Future Parks

On Wednesday, June 27th, the Dryden Town Board met for a special public meeting to review and accept change orders for the new town hall, to pass a resolution on the selection of a phone network installer and to review and decide on submitting an application to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Places (OPRHP) for a grant.

The town hall change orders were all accepted, save one and the total cost of change orders to date is $77,600. The contingency budget for the town hall was set at $75,000 or roughly 2.5% of the total $2.9 million project. The architect (and lead contractor), Egner Associates, had stated at the beginning of the project and stated again on Wednesday that the contingency budgets for their projects is between two and five percent. As I talked to other construction agencies in Tompkins County I found out that contingency budgets are usually set between five and ten percent. A line does need to be drawn – a line that we can afford – a line that makes sense fiscally. We have now gone over the budget for the building and it isn’t slated to open for two more months (on or around September 1st). I believe there will be more cost overruns based on the traditional experience of our resources here in Tompkins County. I believe we will land somewhere close to five percent. Where will the town come up with this extra money? The general fund? Our rainy day fund? The 2008 budget? I’m told not to worry, the town has the money.

I can’t be a responsible representative or legislator if I can’t tell my fellow taxpayers how we are going to pay for the things we are buying and building.

The Town of Dryden accepted the town’s Comprehensive Plan in December of 2005. Within that plan there was a call for 10 parks throughout the town. These parks would be made up of 9 small community parks “about one acre in size – nested within existing and future Hamlet or Suburban Residential areas.” The tenth park would be a larger community park with a minimum recommended size of 20 acres. This park was recommended to have the goal of being “a large facility designed to serve the entire town and feature areas for organized athletics as well as areas to accommodate a wide variety of informal recreation activities”. This park called for ball fields, basketball courts, tennis courts, picnic pavilions, picnic tables, charcoal grills, play structures, restrooms, drinking fountains, parking for 100 to 120 cars and “acreage on the perimeter of the park should be reserved as a buffer area between the park and nearby residential areas.”

Map: http://www.davidmakar.com/maps/comprehensive_plan_700.jpg

A location was chosen and added to the Comprehensive Plan, this location turns out to be unworkable, based on the current owner, but it did have five goals that were met:
1. It would be at the approximate center of population for the town
2. It would astride the future bicycle/pedestrian path between the two communities, and hence be easily accessible via that path and others (the two communities of the village of Freeville and the village of Dryden).
3. The riparian corridor along Virgil Creek would be an ideal natural area component for a community park.
4. The park would be easily accessible by automobile from both NYS Rte. 13 and NYS Rte. 38 via George Road.
5. There is very little residential development in the area that could be negatively impacted by noise and traffic from major athletic or other events at the park.

So now we have a strong definition from the comprehensive plan of what should be in the 10th community park – the larger park. We also have a definition of qualifiers primarily based on location and proximity to rt. 13 and rt. 38, the bike trail and the population of the town.

Wednesday night the town board passed a resolution to apply for a grant to develop land behind the new town hall into a community park that had a rough drawing of ball fields and parking on a map. The ball fields include a baseball diamond, a softball field, and a soccer/ lacrosse / football field. There was also notes for a BMX track with dirt jumps, a skate park, pavilions, a playground, parking, additional pavilions, a community center, a community garden, another playground area, and additional parking. This single map was all the town board had to go on to approve or reject as a proposal to go to the state of New York. We did not have a copy of the proposal or of the grant application that we hired Thoma Associates to write. We voted on the plan based on hand written notes in pen and pencil on a map. The motion carried 3-2. It was the first non-unanimous vote of consequence for the 2007 town board. I joined Mary Ann Sumner in rejecting this proposal. I would like to tell you why.

The map we were given to decide with: http://www.davidmakar.com/maps/new_park_plan_600.jpg

Close up of the property to be developed: http://www.davidmakar.com/maps/new_park_plan_zoom.jpg

Close up of the notes and the property to be developed: http://www.davidmakar.com/maps/new_park_plan_notes.jpg

This development plan is flawed because of the location, the lack of partnership with the village of Dryden, the poor amount of planning, and the fiscal irresponsibility.

The location is exactly wrong for this type of development. It sits behind the new town hall on a parcel of land that is about 1.5 miles west of the Virgil / Dryden town line. That puts this property 9 miles east of Varna, 9 miles from Ellis Hollow, 4 miles from Freeville, 7 miles from West Dryden, 10 miles from Bethel Grove, and just 1.5 miles from the western border of the village of Dryden, 1.2 miles from the southern border of the village of Dryden, .7 miles from the northern border of the village of Dryden, 1.3 miles from Dryden High School, .6 miles from Dryden Elementary School, and .7 miles from the rt. 13 and rt. 392 intersection in the middle of the village of Dryden.

This is not the location of a Town of Dryden community park – this is the perfect location for the Village of Dryden community park. The Village of Dryden had a population of 1,832 as of the 2000 census; the town of Dryden had a population of 13,352 as of the same census. That puts approximately 14 percent of Dryden residents in the village. This park is wholly contained within the Village of Dryden. When I inquired about the Village’s participation in our planning for this park I was told they were ok with it. Of course they are! We’re going to take town-wide property tax to build a large multi-use community park that is primarily in walking distance of everyone that lives in the village. We haven’t asked them to be partners. We haven’t asked them to assist with funding. We haven’t offered to sell the land to them for use. We are taking it on our own to develop land that is far away from a majority of people that live in the Town of Dryden. This is a mistake and a disappointment.

The Town of Dryden Comprehensive Plan called for future parks. To realize this goal a concrete recreation plan for the entire town must be created. It must take into account all residents of the town of Dryden. It must make use of ideas from people from across the town of Dryden. As of today there is no defined recreation plan. There is however a series of events being set in motion to build a large community park that doesn’t even fit with the comprehensive plan’s idea of future parks.

Finally, the dollars, the amount that the town will have to contribute to making this park a reality. It is at this time almost completely unknown. The town board passed the resolution to submit this proposal without even having the hard figures for what we were asking for in total and what our share would be. The grant’s maximum allowance is $500,000 matching. We would have to provide $500,000 in dollars and in-kind services to get that amount matched. I don’t believe we asked for that entire amount. The word was somewhere between $200,000 and $250,000. That puts the project between $400,000 and $500,000 to develop this land. Half of that would be paid by the state. A majority of this amount will go to engineering the project, grading and leveling-off the slopes and working around the existing wetlands. This is a sizable investment. This is an investment that is being put in motion without any budget considerations.

When I asked how this would be paid for I was basically told the town “has money for this”. I’m not sure where, but I think it is from the same fund that will pay for the town hall construction overrun costs. If the town has a piggy bank stashed away (earning 4% I hope) then that amount should be made public. The town’s people should know how much is in there and how the town plans to use that money. If it is to pay for community park projects – let’s make sure they are equitable for all the residents of the Town of Dryden. We need a long term recreation plan. We need to make sure that a single large scale park is accessible to all of Dryden and that if we build within the village – that the village is a partner in the project.

Cl Mary Ann Sumner wrote about this issue at the Dryden Democrats blog here: http://drydendems.blogspot.com/2007/06/recreation-and-community-center.html

The complete Town of Dryden comprehensive plan is here: http://www.dryden.ny.us/compplan.html

Comments

[Patty Millard]

The amount of money in the unencumbered fund balance is the "pot of money" that is being referred to. This money is what is left over from previous years. (How we have money left over is an entire conversation.) The NY State Comptroller's Office suggests that this amount of money be equivalent to the average annual budget, although there is no hard and fast rule.

The 2006 Annual Report tells you how much money was in the various checking and savings accounts at the end of last year. The 2007 Budget tells you how much of this balance has been encumbered for use during the current year (in addition to how much will be raised by other revenue and taxes).

All of this information is available to the public upon request by submitting a FOIL request form. As a Board member, you receive a copy of the Annual Budget documents every year. (You didn't start until after this process was finished last year, so you might not have received that documentation.)

If, as a new Board member, you don't understand the financial process or some of the terminology used during meetings, you should make an appointment with the Bookkeeper and get an overview. As a former Village Treasurer, it's been my experience that until you've been through the entire budget process at least twice, it tends to befuddle the mind, as municipal budgeting and accounting is a very different animal than in any other business and uses terminology and methodologies that other businesses don’t.

Municipalities are not in business to make a profit. They are in business to provide services and enforce laws (codes, dogs, etc.) in the most efficient and cost-effective way necessary. Again, here’s another conversation topic.