Boulder Town Park Committee

Meeting Notes, August 10, 2006

In Attendance: Scott Brody, Tom Jerome, Mark Nelson, Peg Smith

This meeting was called to review the current status of the Boulder Town Park project and to brainstorm about future directions.

History:

This spring with significant financial support from the Utah Department of Transportation a bid was let for the first phase of the Boulder Town Park development. This phase of development consisted primarily of a “visitor park center” consisting of a building housing toilets, parking and landscaping for this building. A requirement of this “center” would be a sign on HWY 12 directing traffic to the stop. There was only one bid received on this project. This bid was more than 20% above the amount of funding available. As a result the mayor and town council of Boulder was informed of 4 options by the Utah Department of Transportation. These options were:
1. Acceptance of the contractor’s bid and proceeding with the project. This would necessitate finding funding to meet the higher projected cost.
2. Acceptance of the bid with removal of items, at the town’s discretion, to bring the bid within budget.
3. Refusal to award the contract, while re-scoping the project and then re-advertising the bid.
4. Walking away from the project without continuing the project. Although the Federal Government could require the town to pay 100% of the design costs (approximately $76,000) the town could apply for hardship consideration and pay 20% of the design costs ($15,315).

At a town meeting the mayor and town council voted to exercise option #4 and apply for hardship; considering the limitations of the Boulder Town Budget. The $15,315 amount could be covered by grant money and would not result in “out of pocket costs” from the town budget. As of this meeting the town is awaiting a decision from UDOT.

The Boulder Town Park Committee called a meeting to discuss amended plans for the town park and to brainstorm future actions.

Current Business:

The meeting was opened with a review of the current status of the Boulder Town Park Development Plan. The committee members are in agreement with the mayor and town council in the rejection of the project as envisioned by UDOT. General comments received from community members indicates a resistance to having a highway “rest stop” in the middle of town, as this is not consistent with the original design plan.

All members in attendance agreed that we did not wish to abandon the Conceptual Design for the town park dated 11/21/2003 (EcoArch Design). With this understanding it is understood that with the limited remaining available funds (approx. $35,000) improvements to the existing town park area and the unimproved land to the south will have to be a phased project. The possibility of going into this project with UDOT involvement was discussed. It is believed that the Boulder Community has considerable human resources that would allow a significant amount of improvement.

The committee understands that our mayor (Bill Muse) is interested in finding financial support for a new or remodeled town hall. Any improvement of town grounds would need to be considered in conjunction with and an awareness of the architectural “footprint” of such a project.

The committee listed some priorities for use of any available funds, including:
1. A new information kiosk for local announcement, etc.
2. Landscaping around the town hall.
3. A renewed and refurbished “Play area” with recreational equipment.
4. A sprinkler system for the town grounds and “ball field” north of the present town hall.
5. Wiring for lighting around the town hall and for the “ball field”.
6. Obtaining a water tap for the present “unimproved land” in preparation for future park development.

Other projects that were considered included:
1. A public toilet.
2. Clearing and landscaping of an area along the present irrigation canal west of the town hall.
3. Modification of the unimproved BLM and town land.
4. Investigation of obtaining land (perhaps old town rodeo site) for a town horse use area; considering the site presently used would be designated a ball field and is not optimal for such activities.

There is a need to perform some clean up of the unimproved land designated for the town park. The committee agreed that sponsoring a clean up day with bonfire and pot luck dinner would be a good activity to increase awareness of the park project. September 30th was considered to be a good choice for such an event and this will be submitted to the mayor and town council at the next town meeting.