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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCSAC.2023.0424.MinutesCOMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2023 MEETING VERBATIM MINUTES TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2023 A Regular Meeting of the Community Services Advisory Commission was convened at 16705 E. Avenue of the Fountains in open and public session at 5:00 p.m. Members Present: Chair Natalie Varela; Commissioner Craig Rudolphy; Commissioner Ron Ruppert; Commissioner Rory Wilson Absent: Vice Chair Carey Reddick, Commissioner Stephen Barnes, Youth Commissioner Sruti Peddi Staff Present: Interim Community Services Director Kevin Snipes; Executive Assistant Patti Lopuszanski Audience: Commissioners from the Historic and Cultural Advisory Commission joined the meeting to listen to the presentation by Joe Bill, International Dark Sky Observatory. Transcribed by https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2023 MEETING VERBATIM MINUTES VARELA: We are ready to call our meeting to order at 5:01 PM and we'd like to welcome all the members of the Historic and Cultural Advisory Commission, who are in attendance to hear our presentation, by Mr. Joe Bill. Can I get a Roll Call, please? LOPUSZANSKI: Chair Varela? VARELA: Here. LOPUSZANSKI: Vice Chair Reddick is absent. Commissioner Barnes is absent. Commissioner Ruppert? RUPPERT: Here. LOPUSZANSKI: Commissioner Rudolphy? RUDOLPHY: Present. LOPUSZANSKI: Commissioner Wilson? WILSON: Here. LOPUSZANSKI: Youth Commissioner Peddi is absent. VARELA: Thank you. All right. Do we have a Call to the Public? LOPUSZANSKI: No CaII to the Public. VARELA: Okay. Thank you. So, we are ready to move on to our Presentation. Mr. Joe Bill, International Dark Sky Observatory. Thank you. BILL: All right. Thank you. I'm happy to be here. It's nice to see some familiar faces in this group, as well as this group back here. And Patti said, I should try to keep it to about 10 to 15 minutes, which is fine. I've got more slides than I need because I didn't know how long it was supposed to be. So, you'll see me going through some slides pretty fast. Might seem like a movie, if I go fast enough. Before I get started, there's one person in this room I won't say who was one of the very first board members eight years ago. Can you guess who that might be? Very good. Jackie Miles. And so, Jackie and Jerry joined us back in 2015. And the short story of that is that one of the first things we found out was that were going to have to change the outdoor lighting ordinance in town, which is always kind of a challenge, you know. And I said to my wife, I said, I'm not going to do this unless I get some people on this board that's going to help me and so we got Jerry and Jackie, we got Jay Schlum and away we went. But that's just a little piece of history and Jackie's been a key player in this whole effort. So, with that, I'm going to get started. And you can stop me along the way if you want. But I want to get through it also quickly, so there will be time for questions, which is always the best part. So, let's get rolling. I think most of you know that light pollution is getting worse. These are satellite photos from over the years and you can see that by 2025 that is coming up that there are very few dark areas left in the entire country. There are some in the West including Arizona, which is great, but this is what is happening. It started with LED lights because when they first came out they were only the bright white ones which are the worst because they have blue in the spectrum and those are the ones that bounce around in the atmosphere even if they are aimed downward. It is kind of why our sky is blue and it is the same thing with the sunlight because the blue light scatters in the atmosphere and creates these things over large cities called a sky dome or a sky glow but you can see what it looks like from a distance and when you are in the city you don't even realize that it is there. It's just that you can't see the stars because of that. Tray rbed by https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2023 MEETING VERBATIM MINUTES So, we formed the Fountain Hills Dark Skies Association to move toward getting the community designated as an international dark sky community. So, in the first three years, this is what we did. We learned about it; we learned about getting the designation. In 2016 we received a unanimous vote from the Town Council to update the lighting ordinance. In 2017 we fulfilled the requirements for education and 10 lighting projects and on January 8, 2018, we were designated as the 179' International Dark Sky Community in the world. So, we sometimes call ourselves the dark sky oasis in the valley of the sun and the reason for that is we have some open land around us with the tribal land to the South, Tonto National Forest to the East, the McDowell Mountain Regional Park to the North and the McDowell Mountains shield us somewhat. So, we have some much darker skies than most of the metropolitan area in Phoenix. We got a lot of publicity when this happened because this is so rare to happen near a major metropolitan area and you can see we got national coverage in major newspapers all over the country as well as international coverage as well. I won't go through these because I think most of you know about this. What is shielding? What are Lumens? What is CCT? What are nits? This is one project in town that didn't know about the lighting ordinance that is the top view, and when it was brought to their attention this is how it looks now. You can see what a difference that makes. Lumens is brightness not the power like watts we grew up with. Watts is not relevant anymore and you can see how much more efficient LED lights are, which are a great thing. Color temperature tells what the color of the lamp is, so you want something on the amber side of the spectrum that is ideal with 300K or less which is in the Fountain Hills ordinance. This is when they changed the lighting in all of the parking lots outside here. One night the worker changed the lamp on one side but not the other and took a picture of what they used to have and what they have now. The savings in energy paid off in just over two years. Then the American Medical Association weighed in in 2016. We knew about the problems earlier than that, but when the American Medical Association weighed in that was a big deal because they unanimously recommended outdoor lighting be 3000k or less for health reasons And I won't go into this explains how the body clocks work related to light. What are nits? Okay, nits are how you measure the brightness of an electronic message board or your TV screen, or your computer screen. And the ordinance in Fountain Hills is 100 nits or less. Because if you look at a bright, big message board like this, especially if you're a little older, your pupils don't dilate as quickly, and it's called temporary road blindness. And so, studies have shown that it should be 100 nits or less, which is what Fountain Hills has. Otherwise, you'd need a sign like this to remind you what not to do. Ok, so light pollution is any of those, sky glow, glare, and energy waves. I ra,ic<:rined by https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2023 MEETING VERBATIM MINUTES Some people say oh you're the reason we don't have streetlights because of the Dark Sky Association being against light. No, we are not. If you want streetlights and you are willing to pay for them or get the taxes for them go for it as long as they are aimed downward and the right color temperature. There was one neighborhood here that actually had their streetlights removed, they just hated them so out they went. So not all people like streetlights. We had a huge festival over 2 weeks ago and several thousand people there we had presenters, there was a ballroom with a solar walk and prizes. We have this every year with a student art contest that got awards. You can see Mayor Dickey on the left and part of presenting these awards. We had virtual reality stations, wildlife displays, auction displays, music, wine, and beer garden. That's the best part. And also, we have a number of people on our Board who go up to Adero Scottsdale every Friday evening, set up their telescopes for the guests. They're called the Star Dudes and some of you have heard me say this before, but they're star dudes because they have a big telescope, and they can read this guy. I helped set this up. But I can't do that. I can't read this guy. So, they call me to start done instead. And that's what it looks like. But Adero Scottsdale the Bortle Scale, you should know what that is. It's a measure of the sky's brightness. And so, what you want, of course, is something on the right Bortle Scale one Now that's if you're on top of a mountain, or out in the ocean, somewhere, we're on the left, now you're in downtown Las Vegas or Los Angeles, you don't see anything up in this guy. Fountain Hills falls about right in the middle, which is pretty amazing, given how close we are to Phoenix. And one of the things I've been able to observe is that you can still see the Milky Way here, but it has to be a really clear night, and the Milky Way has to be directly overhead, so we still get a glimpse of it. But cripes, 99D/D of the people in the world can't even see the Milky Way at all anymore. We're in the Thanksgiving Day Parade, we have signs at the entrance to our community, and we sell beer. We've sold a ton of these. And I think it's because of the statement on the backside, that people like we had a contest for this, and came up with Drink up serious is only 8.6 light beers away. And that's the brightest star in the sky, by the way. And wine glasses and so on now, that was part one. So that's the Fountain Hills Dark Sky Association. Now we're going to shift over to the International Dark Sky Discovery Center. After we achieved that designation, there are a number of us that say well, gee, all that national coverage, international coverage. What else can we do? So, we gathered a number of stakeholders, the mayor and council members Chamber of Commerce, the school district, and so on, had a series of meetings ended up deciding in the end that will have four major components an observatory exhibit hall, planetarium, and theater. So, we went ahead and got started. Step one was to form a nonprofit corporation and then put together a Board of Directors. These are our current directors. I would guess you'd recognize some of these folks. We're very happy with the diverse skill sets on this board, it's pretty amazing. Then we had to come up with the name of what we're going to call it, you know, should it be called a whatever observatory, a Fountain Hills Observatory, or decided to kind of pattern it after International Dark Sky Association, which has given us the designation. So, we call it the International Dark Sky Discovery Center, the first of its kind in the world. And why international because TFJnk, bed i>y https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2023 MEETING VERBATIM MINUTES no other facility in the world focuses on how dark sky preservation relates not only to astronomy but to the well-being of humans, plants and animals. Here's our telescope, that's what it's going to look like. Its a 27 and a half inch planewave. Capable of public viewing, astrophotography. Research is handicap accessible. You can even broadcast the images live if you want to. A 65 seat, tilted dome planetarium, a 150-tiered seat inspiration theater, and highly interactive immersions on our exhibit hall and an Einstein Exploration Station. And that's going to be hands-on for teaching the physics of light. So then we thought we better have some if we're going to raise this kind of money, which is not a small amount, by the way, we thought we better get some support statements so that potential major donors can see that there's broad support. So, we started with our Mayor. And then from there, you can see the list of many leaders in the state both our US senators, Congressman Schwiekert, Doug Ducey, the former Governor. And so on down the list, Dr. Michael Crowe. And so we're very pleased with the kinds of support same, it's an important thing to share. If someone who's thinking of really getting involved with this project, you really want to be able to show that it's just not, you know, Joe Bill coming up with some goofy idea that others see the merit that this has for the state of Arizona. That's our website where you can find all those support statements by all those individuals I listed. Our key partners in this are Swaeback Architecture based in Scottsdale, PGAV Destinations is based in St. Louis, they do exhibit halls, and they've done work for NASA and Disney etc. McCarthy Building company will be our builder. And they've done things like Odyssey Aquarium, the ASU Biodesign Institute, etc. So we're very pleased with them as well. So then the first thing is to come up with a floor plan, how's this thing going to look. And you can see this planetarium in the upper left, the observatory is kind of a smaller circle in the upper right, but we then have a private viewing terrace outside to set up a number of good size telescopes for people to do viewing as well. And then, of course, the rest of the emergence zone, the lobby, the theater, etc. And oh, yeah, the Pluto snack station, and you have to have a gift shop, of course. After we had the floor plan is like, okay, where do we put this and we did look at a lot of different sites around town, and town doesn't have a whole lot of options. But in the end, it was decided that you know, we really need to be close to the downtown, this is something that could really help the downtown development in the business district as we bring people in. So the decision was made to have it on Centennial Circle. And for various reasons, it was important to have it on the south side of the centennial circle to face north, and it helped out where the telescope is going to be and keep it away from lights and blah, blah, blah. This is the location. And as some of you probably know, we are in the process of relocating the Community Garden as we speak. And they're all on board. I mean, it's going to, be great, it's going to be a brand-new garden, and they even get a free restroom out of the deal. So that's something they really wanted. Trarscrbcd by https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2023 MEETING VERBATIM MINUTES Then the architects said, Okay, we got the floorplan, let's see what this is going to look like. So, this is the elevation and the design that they came up with, which were very pleased with. This is going to be really a cool -looking facility for Fountain Hills. This takes Fountain Hills to the next level. We have signs up there now if you're over there, you'll see we put up a couple of signs showing where the future home of this facility will be. I wanted to share with you a few inside pictures. None of these are finalized, but it gives you an idea of what the hallway to the planetarium might look like. The hallway to the observatory with history of telescopes, etc. This is what it will look like when you walk into the immersion zone. And then around the corner you'll see some examples of overlit cities and what that really means. A way to kind of explain the mortal scale. Here's what you know where you learn about the effect of light on nocturnal animals. Physics of light sky stories, this is night sky discoveries. You know I can explain any one of these but this is a Knowledge Quest and this is at as you go through the exhibit hall, see how you do see how if you can get some questions answered, right. And we might set it up in such a way that the students when they come by the busload, there might be some prizes if they can get most of the answers, right. And so that's all TBD, to be determined, but the capability will be there. Some Archeoastronomy exhibits. This one is interesting because bird migration is really affected by too much light at night. And so just wanted to share with you this, as you'll see, this turns into a movie here very shortly very short movie. But what you're going to see here are birds that have been kind of disoriented by an over -lit building. And this is what happens, they are lost, they eventually crash into the building, or they drop from exhaustion. So, one day a birding group in Toronto went out and collected the birds in the downtown area the next morning, and here's what they picked up. So, this happens every night in cities around the world. And so the most conservative estimate I've read is that over 100 million birds are lost each year because of this. It's not just birds, a lot fewer fireflies than there used to be growing up. Monarch Butterflies are affected by nocturnal pollinators, which are important. And my best story, which always gets people's attention, is about the long nose bat That is a vulnerable population now actually, because of too much light at night. But they are a crucial pollinator of the blue Agave. So, when we run out of blue agave, what do we run out of? Tequila? Exactly. That's when the world was finally saved. Maybe we do have a problem here. A couple more things, as we do have a great relationship with ASU. And that continues to develop. Recently, we got connected with NASA, which is kind of interesting. This was six months ago, every year, NASA has an annual Observe the Moon Night. And there are locations around the world that participate in this. And so these locations, there's live interviews, and telescopes of different kinds are set up so that people can view the moon from different places, different telescopes, and then hear from the live interview what's going on in that area in the way of astronomy, or preserving the dark skies or whatever. So the locations this year, last October were Rome, the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, South Korea, and Fountain Hills. So, this was cool and a lot more people than this showed up after it got dark, we just only took one picture, unfortunately, this is Rick, he's the manager of community outreach for the School of Earth and Space Exploration at ASU. So he did the interviewing, he interviewed me. And also, Scott Adams from our board, he interviewed Scott Adams, Scott has become an awesome Astro photographer and so that was the interview about and Rick interviewed me about the Discovery Center, what's the status? What's it about, etcetera. So I never by https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2023 MEETING VERBATIM MINUTES thought I'd be live on a NASA website. But it was pretty cool. I think it's still there, actually. So we were excited about that. And one of the things about ASU and why they are interested is that several of their schools have a shared mission. And that is to preserve our night skies and for different reasons. So, on the left, you can see the School of Earth and Space Exploration. They want to open the window to the observable universe. They really like our effort to educate people about preserving our dark skies, but Souls the School of Life Sciences, they're interested because of how it relates to the well-being of humans, plants and animals. So, they're all in on this too. And that's why more recently, we kind of got the attention of a lot of senior. Well, we had a meeting just a couple of weeks ago with all the senior staff in Michael Crow's office, about how we're going to develop this relationship with ASU is going to be a game changer. Now, the Smithsonian and some of you probably saw this in the newspaper. But in any case, the situation there is the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History opened this new exhibit called Lights Out about a month ago and this is really important for us because it's the first time something major like this is doing something that has the same mission as we do. And it adds a lot of credibility to what we're trying, to achieve. And here are just some pictures of you go there, what you'd see. Now, here are International Dark Sky places. And you can see the growth over the years. And it's divided. It's color -coded So you can see that there dark sky communities, parks, reserve sanctuaries, etc. The blue or dark sky communities, that's where Fountain Hills fits in. And so out of the 200 Plus Dark Sky places, the Smithsonian chose 13 to include in the exhibit. So let me run through them as fast as I can, then we're done here. Okay, so they're all over the world. I'll stop at each one a little bit. One is in Flagstaff because it was the first International Dark Sky place of any kind, back in 2001, when this whole movement got started. That's Lowell Observatory by ze Japan is the only Dark Sky community in Japan. And that's what that area looks like. Bon accord. Alberta is a small town north of Edmonton, but 1500 people, it's the only Dark Sky community in Canada. Ramon Crater in Israel is a National Park. And it's a national park because of a very unusual geologic formation. They look like impact craters, but it's a rare form of erosion. Actually, one mountain Taiwan, that whole range is protected now dark sky. And that's what this area kind of looks like. El Banya, Spain is just north of Barcelona and it's an International Dark Sky Park, and it's close to the French border. So you can see the Pyrenees in the background there. So it separates Spain from France. Snowdonia and Wales that's what this area looks like. And about 20% of Wales is preserved dark sky plays a large portion of their land, River marine Australia, it's a reserve, it's the longest river in Australia, they've preserved now a 50-mile stretch with a lot of land on both sides. It's going to It's a dark sky preserve And so that's Australia, and then Kalahari, South Africa, is one of two dark sky places in Africa. And if you go there, you'll see this, but don't get that close. And what's interesting about this one is it's one of only two dark -sky places that are managed by the indigenous people of that area. The other one is in Arizona, and it's the Kaibab Paiute Reservation in the Arizona strip. So that's a dark -sky place. And it's managed by the indigenous people in that area. This area in Chile is a dark sky sanctuary with those observatories, and this area is known for grapes for Sarraj wine. Nearby is a beautiful island in the South Pacific. And it's both a community and a reserved, so they are actually trying to become the first International Dark Sky nation. Tr onsci -d by https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2023 MEETING VERBATIM MINUTES And then in New Mexico, it's an urban night sky place. It's a designation for things that are not communities. But they don't qualify to be a Park Reserve or sanctuary, because you have to have very dark skies to qualify for that. But they qualify under this category. And is because they want to preserve it as best, they can. But those are the lights from Albuquerque, so their sky is too bright to get any other designation. And lastly, in the Smithsonian is this one. And so, this is the picture that's in the Smithsonian. And we think that's pretty cool. So, this is Fountain Hills. So now, I can switch to questions here or I can show that how many of you seen the like one of our movies that's on our homepage that is two to two and a half minutes three? Yes. No. Should we do two -and -a -half -minute movie or move on? What's your timing? It's up to you guys. All right. Here we go. MOVIE TRANSCRIPTION: This future is ours to create. The sciences are ours to teach. The next generation is ours to inspire. And human health, nocturnal animals, and dark skies are ours to protect. The mission starts here in the world's 17th International Dark Sky Community, Fountain Hills, Arizona with an educational attraction that will benefit the entire state of Arizona and beyond. Priests presenting the International Dark Sky Discovery Center imagine with us a dark sky observatory and looking deep into the cosmos through the largest telescope in the greater Phoenix area. Imagine further a 150-seat inspiration theater using the latest audio-visual technology to spark the imaginations of future scientists envision an immersion zone that captivates the minds of all in an interactive educational experience. And finally, imagine taking young and old on journeys across the universe under the dome of the hyperspace planetarium. The 22,000-square-foot facility will be a unique international centerpiece of science -based education. Visitors will learn not only the importance of dark skies for opening the window to the observable universe but also for the well-being of humans, plants, and animals. The journey begins in the lobby, as you are introduced to the many experiential opportunities that await each experience will cultivate a greater understanding of dark skies, our planet, and the universe. The journey continues as night sets in, and the magic begins in the dark sky observatory. As you view the universe like you never have before. It is a magical experience you will never forget. Help us bring that magic to life with your donations, the future is ours to create. BILL: NASA under sunlight, you see the world under dark skies, you see the universe. So with that, I'm happy to answer or try to answer questions that you might have. RUPPERT: Well, first of all, I want to thank you personally, for what you've done over these past few years. From afar, it's just been phenomenal. And wish you all the success in the world. I have just wonderful visions of how this is going to come to fruition. And I see kids in school buses pulling up during the weekdays and having a tour. Is that something that has been thought about? BILL: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. RUPPERT: Have the committee's thought about going to the different school districts around the state and doing a presentation just like this, not only to drum up interest, but possibly some funding BILL: that will get started as soon as we get under construction underway. And or at least partway through the construction. It's premature to do that now, but absolutely. That's important to do. And we will.. RUPPERT: Your you know, you and your group are obviously wonderful cheerleaders. And hopefully by passing it along to all of us. We can help along, too. And thank you very much. <ra�sari hcd ba https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2023 MEETING VERBATIM MINUTES BILL: You're welcome. I appreciate any help. VARELA: Yeah, I mean, I second everything that Ron just said, I mean, this is the most I've heard of it, obviously. But this is, yeah, the presentation was amazing. So where are you time line wise? BILL: Sure. Okay, so is a $25 million project, we're at eight and a half million. And so. But the way fundraising works is you can't always predict exactly when you're going to reach your goal because you don't want to put a shovel in the ground. Until you know, you can finish the job doesn't work out so well to build it, and then No, no money for a roof just doesn't work. So what I can say is that we're optimistic. I'm getting to meet some really interesting people I have to tell you. And so it's just that you can't meet them once and they write out a check right then and there. It's a dance. And we're in contact with a number of, of key people, let's put it that way. So you never know when that's going to happen. But there's interest, let's put it that way. And there's interest from foundations and private individuals. But one of the things about fundraising is that what we're doing is considered in front of Raising Professionals. It's a challenging undertaking. It's not like I'm trying to raise money from Mayo Clinic, or ASU or Lowell Observatory, you know, they have a track record a reputation, etc. Fundraisers call what we are doing, you're asking people to contribute to vapor. Okay, that's the way it's phrased, because it doesn't exist. There's no track record. There's just the idea. And so it takes a while to get them educated to the point where they're all in. Okay. So, we recognize the challenge, but we also recognize how happy we are with the progress we are making. So, the short answer to the question is we don't know when we can put a shovel in the ground. We hope to do that this year. Now will that happen? Not sure, are we going to try hard to make it happen? Yes, we are. So that's where we're at. RUDOLPHY: So, I believe you said that you're not going to start construction until you've raised the 25 million that you're estimating the project costs. BILL: Yeah or close to it otherwise, you're at risk. Because now it's like the show was in the ground, it's like, oh, my gosh, we need five more million, are we going to get it in time or not, and you don't want to get stuck in a situation where you can't finish it. So, what you have to do is wait till you're confident, you can finish it. And in our 25 million, we have three years of operating expenses included, because another thing you don't want to do as a nonprofit is open the doors with zero left in your bank account, you want to give the staff time to build up their membership program, their fundraising, and grant programs, and so on. And, you know, get the busloads coming. And that it takes time to develop that. So don't want to have the pressure of running out of money in the first six months. So that's the plan. VARELA: Well, you have we offer like any kind of naming rights if you if like somebody like you know, the Pluto snack station. BILL: We have already issued some of those, including for the planetarium. So, we have put naming rights still available for the other three major components as well as the entire facility. Sometimes, sometimes donors, really, they're not interested in everything, their name on the building, some are, some are not. And so it depends on who's going to be making the donation. Yeah. WILSON: I just wanted to say thank you, Joe, I was in the Leadership Academy. So that's when I first heard your presentation. But just seeing this, again, like a few months afterward, is really great to see the progress that you've made in the presentation. And just the ideas that you have are really incredible. I look forward to seeing it, especially as a younger person. I can't wait for students and kids and everyone in the community and those outside of our community to be a part of this. So, thank you. BILL: You're welcome. We can't wait either. Any other questions? https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2023 MEETING VERBATIM MINUTES LOPUSZANSKI: Sorry, did we have anyone from the audience that wanted to ask any questions? This is from our Historic and Cultural Commission. So, what was your initial inspiration to do? BILL: Yes, I'll talk into the microphone so that everybody can hear me? Good question. And actually, I get to thank my wife for this. So back in 2015, she was the one who started noticing the LED lights. And both of us grew up in a more rural area in Wisconsin, we had very dark skies and appreciated those. But she said we need to do something about this. And she kind of thought, what can we do? And she looked into it and found out about the International Dark Sky Association. And so that's how it got started. Because then she said, well, this is what we need to do. And so then that's when it led to finding out about the ordinance. I told you earlier, we were going to need help doing that. And so we did get some great people to join us. And that's kind of how it got started. RUDOLPHY: Yeah. I have another question or comment. Sure. I believe you're aware. Well, the Discovery Center is going around the centennial circle. I believe you're aware that the town is having a capital project for a shade structure over that Centennial Circle, right? What are your comments or thoughts about whether it will help hurt or just be indifferent to the Discovery Center? BILL: Neutral? I mean, it doesn't really affect us at all. I mean, it's not going to block our view of the sky. You know, as long as they don't have a whole bunch of bright white lights, lighting the whole area, which we've already talked to them about, the only stipulation we've requested is that be careful about the kind of lighting that's chosen for that. But were, we're fine with it. So, yeah, neutral, I think where we are. VARELA: Kind of a perfect place, maybe for some fundraisers once it's up and going because then people, right, you can do an event under there and see where your location is. BILL: If the weather cooperates. Otherwise, you know, we could do the event inside the facility after it's built. VARELA: Oh, no, I Yeah. No, I meant like prior to it. Oh, yeah. Like some fundraising for it. Yeah. BILL: Well, one of the things that's difficult is when you're talking to these people. It's one thing to get a meeting with them or a lunch. It's another thing to get them to actually come out to Fountain Hills. We've had one come out actually and take a look at the site. But that's there. I don't know, for some reason, they're extremely busy all the time. And so, but yeah, it's a good idea, though, if we could, if we could do it, it'd be great to have them all gather at once and say, Okay, let's make a deal right now. RUPPERT: Just to reiterate what we're talking about with this Centennial Circle canopy, it's kind of a near and dear CIP project for, the Community Services Department that we're, you know, kind of on the precipice of having it go one way or the other and when, you know, we're not asking for your endorsement, we're just asking if that would be an issue. But once again, I'll go back to my dream of seeing school kids lining up underneath the canopy, you know, on a warmer day in the fall or the spring, and before they line up to go into the dark star. And it kind of ties that whole area between this whole complex together, right, so we're pushing for it. BILL: Yeah, thanks. No. And sometimes you do these things, and you can't even anticipate all the ways that it will be used. You just don't know sometimes till you build it. So I hope you have good luck. So anything else? VARELA: Well, thank you so much. Thank you. Pleasure. My pleasure. Thank you so much for inviting me. And also, if you need to get ahold of me, I'm easily found. So if you ever have questions, just let me know. - 10 - . silled ''v https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2023 MEETING VERBATIM MINUTES VARELA: Okay, thank you. All right. Did everyone have a chance to review the minutes? And if so, can I get a Motion to Approve? WILSON: Move to approve. RUDOLPHY: Second. VARELA: All in favor? ALL: Aye. VARELA: Thank you. Okay. Discussion with Homelessness in Parks? SNIPES: Well, I think this is kind of a topic that's being brought to the forefront more so than I had in the past. We're not seeing a ton of issues with it. Thankfully, we have the rules written to where you can't spend the night in the parks. And so that is our best combat as far as keeping people from camping or staying in the parks overnight. And so that's, that's been our main way to help limit the number of homeless that are in our parks. We have had some issues in the past, where we've trespassed on people that have been acting inappropriately and or hitting our Code of Conduct threshold within the parks. But other than that, we really haven't had a lot of issues in the park. Thankfully, so. But that's the main things that we do is just when they when, and that goes for anybody that you know, is doing things outside of what the Code of Conduct is for the Community Services and or if they're not following the rules, and the ordinances within the Town, then that makes it easy to move people on from the parks when that happens. VARELA: Any comments? WILSON: So there is a short presentation in here. So, if you want to look, you can, you don't necessarily have to. But this, you know, homelessness is kind of one of those social issues that's near and dear to my heart. I'm passionate about alleviating it and whatnot in the conversation that Patti and I had a little bit about, you know, what can we do as commissioners to help this issue or you know, as community members, we also are interacting with other residents and or just other unsheltered people who are experiencing homelessness? How can we help? So, I just kind of wanted to finish the conversation that Kevin started of, you know, what can we actually do to address this issue? So, in Fountain Hills, first of all, I'm not an expert, you know, I'm 22, you should know that. These are a just few initiatives that the Town is doing that I am aware of to address homelessness. The first one is the Maricopa Association of Governments also known as MAG. The town is a part of that, and they contribute to a program called Pathways Home which is essentially an approach with just three major steps of how to address homelessness. The main idea is that cities and towns are encouraged to offer beds and housing to individuals experiencing homelessness and if a community does not have an organization that has beds or units to offer those people space then the idea is those towns and cities give money to nearby organizations that do address homelessness. So, for instance, I don't know the exact details on this but in Fountain Hills, we have Extended Hands Foodbank which is a foodbank and doesn't exactly address that issue just food insecurity. The town does have an agreement with a nearby organization called A New Leaf, particularly their East Valley Men's Center. And so, I think they have $40,000 that they give them, at least this last year or so, and in exchange for that they have to accept a certain number of people and give them shelter and a beds. The town also has a web page about homelessness, legal issues, and community organizations to donate to and they also have those panhandling signs to discourage people from giving to people in the medians and instead give to organizations who actually address that issue. - 11 - y https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2023 MEETING VERBATIM MINUTES And then the next thing I wanted to talk about was the housing first approach, and this is kind of contradicts the traditional way of providing shelter to people experiencing homelessness, which you know, you line up, you wait for a bed, see if you can get in, get a meal for a night, get kicked out, survive the day, do it again. And if you're lucky, you get a bed, if you're not, you go somewhere else and try to survive. And then so the housing first approach, the idea is that there aren't really any regulations or rules for organizations that allow certain people in so what I mean by that is that they address the most basic need first, which is food, housing, and shelter. So, they want to give those people housing, they want to give them a bed, they want to address the fact that they don't have any shelter. And then they address the most personal needs, which could be anywhere from mental health, physical health, financial needs, education, et cetera, et cetera, and so on. Some of the core characteristics are that individuals don't necessarily have to be sober, or they don't have to, if they're addicted to some sort of substance, they don't necessarily have to be sober in order to get a bed. And they also don't have to attend programs or maybe sober meetings to get better. So, if you don't want to partake in that program, you're not going to kick to get kicked out, either. And that also goes for some more basic things like cooking classes or financial classes, just because you don't want to attend a program or benefit from a service, that doesn't mean they're going to kick you out, because they understand that housing is what you need first, to address those personal needs, if you want to dress them great, is highly encouraged, but you know, etc. So, the main aim of Housing First is to actually help those people achieve long-term and permanent safe housing. So, the idea is, is that you stay at an organization for some time, sometimes a few months, sometimes a year or so. And then those programs that are offered help them to address those personal needs, whether it's maybe accessing medication, again, financial stuff, GED, whatnot. And then you move into whatever housing you can, and you live independently for the rest of your life just from that little help that you had during that time period. And then there are also two kinds of temporary housing styles, which is rapid rehousing and transitional housing. Those are for people who aren't quite ready to live independently, so they go from the shelters to maybe an apartment that has, it offers assistance for either a year or six months and then it's kind of like the intermediate point between a nonprofit organization and their permanent housing. So, going back to a New Leaf that's the organization that I know most about because I interned there for about 10 months or so now, I'm just kind of a volunteer. But this is like the only organization in the valley that actually uses the Housing First approach. And so, it'll also like I said before, they do have an agreement, Fountain Hills, they also work with different cities within mag to address these issues, which one of them is the West Valley Housing Assistance Center, which is the only family shelter in the West Valley, it has seven units, it's not very big. But long story short, essentially, the city of Surprise just said, "Hey, we have these two buildings that are vacant, we want to use them to address homelessness" and then New Leaf kind of partnered with them. So New Leaf staff operates out of those buildings, one building is for those units and then the other one is for programs and services and whatnot. So, there are a lot of different ways that the Housing First approach can be utilized. But it is one of those things that is evidence -based, it works. But you do need all those resources in order to go from there and help people. - 12 - Tr,i nsr rni, 1 https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2023 MEETING VERBATIM MINUTES And so the next two slides are more just organizations that are around the valley that you can refer to people experiencing homelessness. And then I also have like these little resource cards that have hotlines, and just other organization resources So if you see someone who's experiencing homelessness, either at an intersection or maybe at Safeway, wherever, then you can give it to them. And they can use it to find somewhere to sleep or a bed or something. It is geared towards New Leaf, but they also have hotlines that are hubs for homelessness organizations across the valley. So might not necessarily get one at a new leaf just because they're so limited. But um, this is, yeah, that's pretty much it. So, any questions about resources whatnot? VARELA: Well, thank you, that was a great presentation. What do you think we as the town can do to, like, even get those out? I mean, would you want to see those little cards put somewhere or a presentation to other people that you can give them to, to pass out to people. WILSON: I did do a presentation the past couple of weeks that I gave some cards out to I think if you guys are willing to take some cards, great, I'd be more than happy to give you a deck or two. I don't know if the town would actually look into something like that. I know, you know, they do have that partnership with A New Leaf. It is just an agreement; they do just get more money and whatnot. This is one of those things where, you know, I don't want to be misrepresented or misinterpreted or anything. I'm not saying we should build a shelter. I don't think that's going to work for many reasons. But you know, it is one of those things that we do need to address. Again, we don't have an abundance of people experiencing homelessness here. But we do have a few and that shouldn't be a concern either way. But just working together to identify those resources and organizations that actually are effective in alleviating homelessness and whatnot. I think that's the best that we can do. VARELA: No, definitely. Because I did not know that we gave I mean I think we should and I talked to my mom about it like because she's very involved in the homelessness community also, but um, I didn't know that we give money. So, it's great. Yeah, thank you. Any other comments or questions? All right, well, thanks Rory. Okay, next Review and Discussion of the Environmental Plan. SNIPES: So, this is the new Environmental Plan that they've kind of been talking about with the council. I don't know if there are any specific questions on the plan or I don't think it seemed like it gained pretty good support through the council overall, I think there were a few things that they wanted to be removed. And the majority of it was unanimously approved. I think it's a good thing to keep us in that, you know, you know, we're going for dark skies. The last thing you want to do is also not be environmentally friendly. I don't think those two go together. And so, I know this has been in the making for a little while, to say the least. So, are there any questions, or comments? RUDOLPHY: So, was it actually adopted by Town Council? SNIPES: I believe this got voted on and was approved fully last month. LOPUSZANSKI: It was in February. RUDOLPHY: So what were seeing here is, in fact, the plan that was adopted by the council? SNIPES: Correct. WILSON: I believe in one of the past meetings, Rachel had asked us to just review it and kind of write down or identify some of the goals or little bullet points within the goals of where we think CSAC could, you know, help with certain things. I do have a list. I don't want to read the whole thing, because it's kind of long. But I was kind of wondering like, is this kind of an opportunity for CSAC to work with other Commission's on certain things, kind of like the McDowell Mountain Preserve and possible SPAC? - 13- https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2023 MEETING VERBATIM MINUTES SNIPES: I think it's definitely something where there could be some crossing over that that would occur. I don't think that would be completely off the mark, as far as the usage of this information along with this committee. I don't think that would be umm I think that would be a good way to, get some cross information. Because, frankly, a lot of other committees don't have any idea what the other committee committees do, and vice versa. So umm that may be a good way to approach it is through this VARELA: So could Rory email you the list, and then you can circulate it to all of us? LOPUSZANSKI: That's exactly what I was going to suggest. So well do that. And then you all can take a look. And from there, we can determine maybe there are certain highlights or something that you can kind of communicate back and forth. VARELA: with me and we can put it on the agenda then to talk about. Okay, well LOPUSZANSKI: Follow up for next month. VARELA: I mean, if we have it all on time, and everything absolutely worked for me. Okay, great. Thank you. All right. So next update on the Mayor's Youth Council. LOPUSZANSKI: Since Sruti, is not here, we don't have anything, she had not provided me any kind of input so we'll table that till next month if that's okay. VARELA: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Oh, well, let's discuss our Desert Vista Park tour that we all attended. SNIPES: I'm starting to see a trend. RUPPERT: It was last Thursday, and Kevin was nice enough to come and give us a tour of Desert Vista where we looked at the construction of 70% of the expansion of the skatepark. Future projects with a Fitness Center and modifications on the turf problems that may or may not exist. Once again, it was really informative. And you know, I can't stress the fact that I think everybody here knows that when we do these, you know, we can hear about history, we can hear about the future, we can see what is being talked about in these meetings. And I want to keep continuing to do this. And so, in you know, another two weeks. You know, I think it's time to you know, as Craig brought up last week, well have the Community Center as our next stop. You know, since we've been in there last time, nobody was on, you know, on this committee when we toured it the last time and a lot of things have been done in there as far as moisture control and windows and painting and I in fact, I haven't even been in there. I've been in the lobby, but I haven't been there. So, I'll send an email out to all I want to get an on record I want to reiterate to hopefully we'll have a, you know, an attendance, we can do it 5 o'clock or even later now that it's lighter and Patti, you're more than welcome. You know, so you know, you can join in and know that were talking about and so when we, you know, if you can give me the name of the who's running the Community Center, now, that would be the best as far as giving us the tour there. So, I can copy them also. Thank you again, Kevin, the skatepark looks wonderful. SNIPES: Appreciate it. So, Jennifer Lyons would be our main contact there. So, we'll send that over. Yep. Right. VARELA: Yeah, I thought that it was I thought that tour was wonderful. Like, I've talked about the skate park now, so much, since I went and saw it and walked it. So yeah, thank you very much. And thanks for organizing Ron. - 14 - T. s,.ru,eb by https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2023 MEETING VERBATIM MINUTES WILSON: I just wanted to say thank you again, Kevin. I always find your presentations informative. I know, I don't ask that many questions. That's because I don't know what I have questions on. This is why I think Craig and Ron are because they ask all the good questions. And I love your guys' commentary on things because it really does help me understand from someone who hasn't lived here that long. So, thank you all. SNIPES: Well, I appreciate you guys taking the time outside of just your normal commissions, you know, to come out and see it, I think as we kind of discussed there, I can tell you about it till I'm blue in the face. And I don't have any problem talking about our parks, I love what I do. And I and I know how hard the guys work towards themselves, showing them off to a group that stays concerned is and has as much to do with our parks is enjoyable for me to do. And I think getting out there and seeing it you can really you get a sense of just how steep the slopes are in the skate park hitting and you know, you can see the damage that gets caused in why it's important to do the things that we do and why we do what we do, frankly. So yeah, it's definitely a mutual appreciation. So, thank you, guys. VARELA: Okay, Update on Future Agenda Items. Well, definitely want to discuss like whatever Rory has on the Environmental Plan. We'll bring that back. And then we'll add our Community Center tour. SNIPES: And then you said that you wanted to do the Community Center Pavilion as well. RUPPERT: Well, yeah, the circle Yeah, I would assume that, and you know, the last time we did that we did the garden but it's kind of in disarray right now. So, I think it'd be enough just to do the seven - cent Centennial Circle plus the Community Center. VARELA: Patti, is this for us to talk about what we want for the Future Agenda? Okay. Do you guys have any future agenda? RUDOLPHY: How many more meetings do we have? Do we take a recess in the summer like Council? LOPUSZANSKI: That is correct. So, if you have a May meeting and one in June then well be off July and August. SNIPES: It's summer break just for you Craig. VARELA: And I'm going to be meeting with the SPAC gentleman, Craig? I'm not positive but I'm meeting with him because then he wants to do it sounded like what you're saying like he wants to present to us and then he wants me to present to their meeting. So I guess once I do that, I can email you if there's something that we need to update on the agenda. LOPUSZANSKI: We can add it to the agenda if you want to like a report or something like that. VARELA: Sure. Okay. Great. Okay Upcoming Events. SNIPES: So, there is a fabulous family summer flyer in front of you for all your fun -filled needs. We do a splash pad summer series. We're not the last couple. The years where we bring out some Food Trucks and make it to where you can go over and bring the family and hang out the new splash pad, Wacky Wednesdays are back again the fire department always helps us out with those which is a really cool event for the kids and the midweek spraying from the top of our ladder trucks. So, I think that's been a very well -received weekly activity, the Boys and Girls Club always comes over to it and hang out as well. The Party in the Park and the Stargazing is on June 17. And then we have the Family Fun Night at the Community Center, on July 21 st. So that's kind of our next round of events being put on by the Rec Department. VARELA: All right, thank you. And then our next meeting where we have is May 22. And we're going to have David Janover, the Town Engineer, and we're going to discuss the Sidewalk Infill Project which I appreciate. - 15 - , https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2023 MEETING VERBATIM MINUTES RUPPERT: I just have one more comment. Rachael sent out an email to all of us and if we could pass this along to those that are not here about some of the CIP projects that are coming up for a vote one way or the other. If, you know, an email from us to any or all of the council people may go a long layer, it may not go a long way. But any of these projects that you think, you know, as an individual on this committee or as a committee. Let's honor her request and see if we can get it pulled off. RUDOLPHY: I did send something to the mayor and council and two of the council members emailed back to me. WILSON: Do we have a timeline of when those emails need to be sent? What is it though? RUDOLPHY: Yeah, I think it's the next council meeting that they're adopting the preliminary budget LOPUSZANSKI: Which is May 2nd. VARELA: Okay, great now, thank you. Thanks for that, Ron, because definitely, I want to be on that too. Anything else? from anybody? Right, but can I get a Motion to Adjourn? WILSON: Move to Adjourn. RUDOLPHY: Seconded. VARELA: Good. All in favor? ALL: Aye VARELA: Thank you! Having no further business, Chair Natalie Varela adjourned the Regular Meeting of the Community Services Advisory Commission held on April 24, 2023, 6:00 PM - 16- i,rs:;eha1 ud https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION APRIL 24, 2023 MEETING VERBATIM MINUTES ATTEST AND PREPARED BY: c2intaiti Lopuszanant COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION Natalie Vaf'ela, Chair CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Regular Meeting held by the Community Services Advisory Commission in the Town Hall Council Chambers on the 24thrd day of April 2023. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present. DATED this 22nd Day of May 223. Patti Lopuszansk EkeCutive Assistant - 17 - TE https://otter.ai