Bond 2: Art Dye Park
The purpose of Bond 2 is to fund improvements at Art Dye Park. Improvements fall into three categories. First would be more of the traditional recreational amenities that we associate with parks. Second would be completion of a trail that was partially funded by a federal grant. Third would be the widening of the Beehive Park road that is at present the only access into Art Dye Park.
American Fork's residents are well aware of my advocacy for parks and the children and families they serve. I can attest that the ball fields, tennis courts, scorekeeping facility, restrooms, and lighting provided by this bond would be put to good use. I can further attest that research into pricing is recent, and should hold firm through 2009 -- meaning we shouldn't run out of funds a third of the way through our list (as we did with the 2003 parks bond).
But parks amenities are just the milk of this bond. The meat is in the road and trail issues.
The Beehive Road has become a "clear and present" threat to public safety. Usage of the park is so heavy during ball season that cars must park along the Beehive Road. The City has restricted parking to the east side of the road so that public safety vehicles may pass when necessary, but passage is still iffy and the road is not safe for pedestrians. Widening the narrow road will require a few tricks of engineering to get over the MacArthur ditch, hence the $275,000 price tag for the widening.
The asphalt trail, with its comfortable ten-foot cross section, is planned to start in the heart of the park and proceed from there north to Highland, where users can connect to the Highland trail system and continue on to the American Fork canyon. This will be a widely-used recreational amenity, but this is not the chief reason for the bond.
The real problem is that the City has been unable to match a $400,000 CM/AQ grant for the trail. (CM/AQ is a federal program; the letters stand for Congestion Management and Air Quality.) If the City does not fund its match this year, it will have to give up the grant and also repay some $90,000 of engineering costs which were already expended. The long-term effect of this would be to stain the City's "credit rating" with the feds.
Were it not for this problem, I think the Council could have postponed this bond for another year, a year with a rosier economy.
From a financial standpoint, the Art Dye bond fits neatly into a viable long-term plan for parks funding. Prior to the year 2000, park dollars in American Fork went mostly into property purchases. In the late 1990s, the City began to assess park impact fees on new development. This created a dedicated revenue stream for capital improvements to parks. In 2003, the City passed the aforementioned parks bond and funded playgrounds, benches, irrigation, trees, picnic tables and paving at 27 parks. This bond obligated all park impact fees until the year 2012, but, as noted above, did not provide all amenities necessary to finish all parks.
Absent this bond, the City would have no funds to continue park improvements until 2012. With the bond, the City could finish Art Dye Park and make better use of a great regional attraction over the next four years.
As a private citizen, I would gladly pay my extra $33 in property taxes to accomplish this goal -- most years. This year, however, the uncertain economy has me thinking twice. Are parks amenities wants or needs? How badly does American Fork need federal grants? Would it be better to hold off until the economy rebounds?
Personally, I'll be watching the economy closely over the next three weeks while I decide how to vote on this one.
===============
If passed, Bond 2 would raise $3.86 million for Art Dye Park. The bond would be repaid through a corresponding increase in property taxes. The increase to a $240,000 home would be approximately $33 per year. The increase to a $240,000 business would be approximately $60 per year.
Disclaimer: Articles posted at my blog are personal opinion. In posting this series on the bonds, I do not claim to speak for the City or the City Council. This blog does not represent any official position of American Fork City, and no City resources have ever been used to finance this blog.
American Fork's residents are well aware of my advocacy for parks and the children and families they serve. I can attest that the ball fields, tennis courts, scorekeeping facility, restrooms, and lighting provided by this bond would be put to good use. I can further attest that research into pricing is recent, and should hold firm through 2009 -- meaning we shouldn't run out of funds a third of the way through our list (as we did with the 2003 parks bond).
But parks amenities are just the milk of this bond. The meat is in the road and trail issues.
The Beehive Road has become a "clear and present" threat to public safety. Usage of the park is so heavy during ball season that cars must park along the Beehive Road. The City has restricted parking to the east side of the road so that public safety vehicles may pass when necessary, but passage is still iffy and the road is not safe for pedestrians. Widening the narrow road will require a few tricks of engineering to get over the MacArthur ditch, hence the $275,000 price tag for the widening.
The asphalt trail, with its comfortable ten-foot cross section, is planned to start in the heart of the park and proceed from there north to Highland, where users can connect to the Highland trail system and continue on to the American Fork canyon. This will be a widely-used recreational amenity, but this is not the chief reason for the bond.
The real problem is that the City has been unable to match a $400,000 CM/AQ grant for the trail. (CM/AQ is a federal program; the letters stand for Congestion Management and Air Quality.) If the City does not fund its match this year, it will have to give up the grant and also repay some $90,000 of engineering costs which were already expended. The long-term effect of this would be to stain the City's "credit rating" with the feds.
Were it not for this problem, I think the Council could have postponed this bond for another year, a year with a rosier economy.
From a financial standpoint, the Art Dye bond fits neatly into a viable long-term plan for parks funding. Prior to the year 2000, park dollars in American Fork went mostly into property purchases. In the late 1990s, the City began to assess park impact fees on new development. This created a dedicated revenue stream for capital improvements to parks. In 2003, the City passed the aforementioned parks bond and funded playgrounds, benches, irrigation, trees, picnic tables and paving at 27 parks. This bond obligated all park impact fees until the year 2012, but, as noted above, did not provide all amenities necessary to finish all parks.
Absent this bond, the City would have no funds to continue park improvements until 2012. With the bond, the City could finish Art Dye Park and make better use of a great regional attraction over the next four years.
As a private citizen, I would gladly pay my extra $33 in property taxes to accomplish this goal -- most years. This year, however, the uncertain economy has me thinking twice. Are parks amenities wants or needs? How badly does American Fork need federal grants? Would it be better to hold off until the economy rebounds?
Personally, I'll be watching the economy closely over the next three weeks while I decide how to vote on this one.
===============
If passed, Bond 2 would raise $3.86 million for Art Dye Park. The bond would be repaid through a corresponding increase in property taxes. The increase to a $240,000 home would be approximately $33 per year. The increase to a $240,000 business would be approximately $60 per year.
Disclaimer: Articles posted at my blog are personal opinion. In posting this series on the bonds, I do not claim to speak for the City or the City Council. This blog does not represent any official position of American Fork City, and no City resources have ever been used to finance this blog.
posted by Heidi Rodeback at 10:45 PM
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