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08/17/10
Manager drafts extensive recommendations for immediate future of Fort Williams Park
Town Manager Michael McGovern has drafted an extensive set of recommendations for future funding and management of Fort Williams Park, following the Town Council's June 2010 decision not to charge fees for parking.
The recommendations call for a new master plan, last updated in 2003, to incorporate suggested means of revenue generation such as food concessions; for more property tax appropriations for day-to-day maintenance; and, for removal of most of the Goddard Mansion and Parade Ground bleachers, with the remains of these sites "repurposed" for compatible park uses.
The citizen Fort Williams Advisory Commission is slated to review the memo at their next meeting Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010, 7 p.m. at the Public Works facility on Cooper Drive. Fort Williams is also topic of a Town Council workshop scheduled for Oct. 4.
McGovern used the bulk of the town manager's report portion of the Aug. 9, 2010 Town Council meeting to explain the recommendations, referring to a memo titled "
Looking Towards the 50th Anniversary of Municipal Ownership of Fort Williams Park".
The recommendations are meant to synthesize suggestions made over the last few years into a five-year implementation plan, the memo says. They look to tax sources for maintenance, and to donations and monies generated within the park for capital improvements, all of which will move the park forward toward the 50th anniversary of municipal ownership on Dec. 1, 2014.
Increase maintenance budget
The memo includes color photographs of some not-so-scenic areas of the park. "Some of us go into the park, we see the beautiful lawns and the view and the ocean, but there's other folks that go into the park and, say, 'what's this?' It's a bunch of buildings that are falling apart, in need of a little repair," McGovern told the council.
The memo calls for an increase of approximately $80,000 annually in the general fund budget for Fort Williams maintenance, from $160,808 to $247,000 per year. "This is 8/10th of 1 percent of the entire municipal and school budget," the memo says. The increase would be 5 cents per $1,000, or $15 to a taxpayer with a home valued at $300,000.
Funding capital needs
For capital needs, McGovern's memo focuses on six areas of revenue generation that have been suggested over the last several years:
- Increase the current $1 per person group-use fee;
- Actively solicit donations with more signage and collection points;
- Construct a small area for weddings and other gatherings;
- Experiment with pushcart food concessions, deferring any permanent concessions until after a master-plan update.
- Allow rental of Fort Williams buildings to for-profit tenants.
- Consider for 2012, pursuant to a recent Town Council vote, whether or not to have fees for vehicles with large numbers of passengers.
At their June 2010 meeting, following a citizen advisory referendum, the Town Council voted to rescind a previously enacting parking fee system for passenger cars, tour buses and trolleys. In a separate vote, councilors said they would reconsider tour-bus fees in an overall plan for generating revenue for Fort Williams Park. (See news article)
The five short-term recommendations for funding capital needs are projected at add $75,000 to what is already received through fees, giving the Town approximately $120,000 annually to address capital needs before any donations from the not-for-profit Fort Williams Charitable Foundation or any other donated funds.
Goddard Mansion, bleacher demolition
Of the $600,000 the Town could generate for capital uses over the next five years, the memo suggests $100,000 go toward demolition of the bleachers at the Parade Ground, and $100,000 toward demolition of the Goddard Mansion. "I know those will be controversial proposals," McGovern told members of the Town Council. However, he said, private fund-raising is currently focused on other projects such as the arboretum and Battery Blair improvement. "It's difficult to raise money for things like the Goddard Mansion. If it would have been easy it would have been done. Similarly with the bleachers," he said.
The memo further recommends that the advisory commission meet with leadership of the charitable foundation to determine priorities and realistic expectations for fund-raising.
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