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Home My WebLink AboutA015 - Presentation to Ames City Council on May 22, 2007 by Erica Fuchs 1 Presentation to Ames City Council on May 22', 2007, by Erica Fuchs, 4014 Marigold Dr. s, I encourage you to choose the Middle School site for the proposed Outdoor Aquatic Center instead of accepting the Parks and Recreation Commission's recommendation. I have six reasons for supporting the Middle School site. 1) A door-to-door poll found that the Middle School site is preferred by 79%{which of 286 adults`�in three Ames neighborhood areas(one near the Middle School,one near the 13`h Street site, and one near Carr's Pool). In all three neighborhoods, more people wanted the Outdoor Aquatic Center to be located at the Middle School rather than at the 13' Street site in a floodway fringe. In the Middle School neighborhood, 92%(or 174 adults)wanted the Middle School site and only 1%(2-adu4s)wanted the 13`h Street site. In the 13`h Street site neighborhood, between 6`' Street and 20' Street, 58%(or 46 adults) wanted the Middle School Site, and only 18% �14 adults) wanted the 131h Street site. In the Carr's Pool neighborhood, 28%(or 5 adults)wanted the Middle School site, and 5%(1 adult)wanted the 13' Street site. I present to you a petition, signed by 249 which states: "We, the undersigned adults, want the Ames City Council to select the Middle School as the site for the proposed Outdoor Aquatic Center." The number of adults who have signed the petition in favor of the Middle School site is greater than the 133 people who voted in favor of the 131h Street site at the Parks and Recreation Commission's public hearings, which were attended by 225 people. 2) The Ames Parks and Recreation Commission appears to have overlooked the t its h ,L recommendation of the 13d'Street site was based in part on the results of AW unlemocratic straw poll.pre"49 at public hearings that had several potential sources of bias,including the fact that people could vote more than once by attending multiple meetings,three of which were held nearer to the 13' Street site than to the Middle School. The choice of the site for an expensive public facility such as an Outdoor Aquatic Center should not be based on a voting process where the basic principle of a democracy, one person equals one vote, was not followed. Even George W_ Bush's White House political director Sara Taylor said in the Des Moines Register yesterday that, "You certainly couldn't use a straw poll as a scientific survey of support." 3) Although representatives of the Ames School District have said they support the 13`h Street site in part because they saw no direct benefit of a Middle School Outdoor Aquatic Center twthe-&hoel-B trict, there are two benefits that may have been overlooked by the School District: a direct monetary benefit to the District,and an educational benefit to Middle School(and other) children. Page 1 According to the City Manager, if the Outdoor Aquatic Center is built at the Middle School then the City would pay an undetermined amount of money that is under negotiation(but at least $500,000)to the School District to compensate it for use of the infrastructure already in place at the Middle School site. Yet Vice President of the School Board, Gail Johnston, while speaking at the May 8'City Council meeting, said, "It's hard to see a direct benefit to the school district from the Mortensen site." If, indeed,the City does not have to pay the School District anythipg to build at the Middle School,then the Middle School Outdoor Aquatic Center woulrc s I,000,000 less than an identical facility` e 13`' Street silt,which is yet another reason to select the Middle School site. If,on the other hand,the School Board had known there would be a direct monetary benefit associated with the Middle School site,then some board members might well have voted differently,sin ec —at Teast some of them might think, as I do,that having additional overflow -)i parking for High School football games is of lower priority than having more money to maintain 1 T and improve aging school buildings. - - - - � . A Middle School Outdoor Aquatic Center would also be a terrific asset to the School District because of the educational fun factor that can be built inexpensively into such a Center, extending Middle School children's classroom learning experiences into their summer playtime in an interactive, exhilarating way.&e could use chil-dren's love of water parks to h-eTp them earn Lbackgrounds ubject matter and retain the knowledge they gained during the school year, which would ly benefit the School District. Zipping down slides along with other kids of many different into water surrounded by nature is the perfect opportunity to give n rituitive-understanding of-physics-,--biology,astronomy, math language_skills, and more. -- -- - Q 4) Building an Outdoor Aquatic Center in Southwest Ames would be in accord with the City goals of minimizing infrastructure costs by encouraging growth toward the Southwest,and of supporting neighborhood development so that activity areas and shops are within walking and biking distance for residents. Selecting the Middle School site for another public pool would give many more Ames residents a neighborhood pool that they can easily reach by walking or biking. Northeast Ames residents already have the High School indoor Municipal Pool and a Brookside Park summer wading area nearby and do not need a second public pool less than 1/4th mile away on 13" Street. 5) Building the pool at the Middle School site would be a more efficient use of resources, which promotes sustainability, because much of the infrastructure for the pool is already in lace, including a parking lot, bicycle paths, water and sanitary lines, and storm sewer. T ere is no need-for-major sife improvements to deal with drainage water, and no need to build a new traffic light and widen a street, which would be necessary at the 13'' Street site. Page 2 b)The 13'Street site, which is in the fringe of a low-lying floodway where the creation of wetlands has been added to the project,is a poor choice for an Outdoor Aquatic Center because flood-prone,shady areas spawn mosquitoes during the summer, particularly in temporary puddles that form in wetlands. Public recreation inloodway will also encourage the City to broaden its controversial use of the toxic organophosphate pesticide, chlorpyrifos,when fogging City parks to kill adult mosquitoese�_ ��s,�'�� According to Kevin Anderson,the Ames City Sanitarian, insecticide fogging occurs weekly from ' June Ist through Labor Day in eight City parks, including Brookside Park. Chlorpyrifos,the organophosphate I was told is used, is highly toxic to fish,birds,bees, and wildlife(which includes humans). Chlorpyrifos poses a risk to children because of its potential effects on the nervous system and possibly brain development(www.aerias.org). The Middle School site, which is on higher, ground in an open area, is much less likely to harbor mosquitoes and inspire anti-mosquito insecticide use. In conclusion,you are in the unique position of being able to make your decision of the pool site based on the overall picture,taking all the separate issues and perspectives into consideration as you decide what is best for the City of Ames, and its people,as a whole. I have done this same internal calculation, and arrive again and again at the Middle School site as the best of the two sites available. I hope you will agree with me and the other 248 people I represent. I also personally hope that you will c oose to c erish and reserve Carr s Pool so that � c +wo Ames could benefit from having-ode entra indoor o�Please vote in favor of a Middle School site for the Outdoor Aquatic en er. Page 3