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Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes Page 3 <br />February 12, 2025 <br />Commissioner Niziolek said that he is nervous to decide without having a commitment from the <br />school district. Mr. Stremcha said once the Commission makes their recommendation the City <br />Council and Independent School District 728 would discuss future options. <br />Commissioner Loidolt said he likes the ideas, but the Oak Knoll project has a lot of amenities in <br />the plans. He is concerned about foul balls and parking etc. in such a small space. He wants to <br />make sure that HKGI is doing their due diligence to make sure this would work. Mr. Clarke said <br />that the foul ball issues are factored into the plan. <br />Commissioner Loidolt said that he is placing his trust into the designers that they are making the <br />right choices to keep fans safe from foul balls. Otherwise, he is happy with the plan. He said that <br />they just need find the money and finalize the agreement with ISD 728. <br />Commissioner Niziolek asked if the Commission would see a financial plan of how the plan <br />would be achieved and if so, how soon. Mr. Stremcha said that the idea is to bring the plan to the <br />City Council to incorporate it into the CIP and budget plans followed by additional discussions <br />for ideas of how to fund the other larger portions of the project. <br />Chair Anderson said that the plan would be easier to support if they had a plan to pay as they go. <br />He is not in favor of borrowing money and cannot see this project happening with the current <br />budget in place. Mr. Stremcha confirmed that right now there is not currently a funding stream <br />through Parks and Recreation that is sufficient. <br />Mr. Stremcha said that they would not be able to bond for this project like the FT Center. These <br />are more like bite size bonds i.e.; an option would be doing a10-million-dollar referendum once <br />the FT Center is done. Another option would be to build up the parks fund and then pay for <br />portions as they go. He also said that a sales tax referendum around 2030 could be an option to <br />discuss. <br />Chair Anderson is concerned about the high amount of money being discussed. He is cautious <br />because he has seen the rise and fall of the park fund by building it up and then having regret for <br />spending so much so quickly. <br />Mr. Clarke shared that the prices in the slideshow are 2025 numbers. Mr. Stremcha reiterated to <br />the commission that this is more of a 20-year plan. <br />Commissioner Goodwin said that she is concerned about doing a referendum since the last one <br />has left a salty taste in people’s mouths. She said that she likes the plans, but she is not sure <br />about saying yes when they do not have a funding plan at this time. <br />Commissioner Stewart is concerned about how close together the fields and amenities are to <br />each other. He agrees with the other Commissioners that it is hard to recommend the plan <br />without having a funding source. <br />Commissioner Varty stated that she agrees with Commissioners Goodwin and Stewart. <br />Page 4 of 35