Vista will increase recreation fees

By: CRAIG TENBROECK - Staff Writer | Tuesday, January 23, 2007 10:51 PM PST ∞

VISTA ---- The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to increase several parks and recreation fees this summer.

That means participants in most of the city-sponsored recreation programs, from adult basketball to youth day camps, will pay more at registration, usually several dollars.

Some admission and usage fees at city-owned facilities, such as the Moonlight Amphitheatre, the artificial turf soccer field at Townsite Park and the Wave Waterpark, will also be adjusted.

The changes take effect July 1.

Cathy Brendel, the city's director of parks and community services, said Vista adjusts fees annually in an effort to recover at least 60 percent of its program costs. The city is currently recovering 62 percent, she said.

Brendel said she doesn't expect the fee increases to erode participation.

"We take into consideration whether we are going to price ourselves out of the market," she said before the meeting.

Visitors to the Wave Waterpark will see several scattered fee adjustments. The group rate for children, for example, will increase by $2, and registration for the Junior Lifeguard program will increase by $20. Rental of the Flow Rider attraction, which currently runs $100 or $150 per hour, depending on supervision, will climb to $200 per hour.

Admissions to the waterpark hit 127,000 last summer, according to Kenny Handler, the facility's managing director.

For simplification purposes, patrons the Moonlight Amphitheater will see the two price tiers for lawn tickets ---- one for weekend shows, the other for weekdays ---- replaced by a single ticket price in the middle, city officials said.

"Some people might arrive on a Saturday night with a ticket that's only good on a weekday," Brendel said. "It's kind of frustrating for them."

One exception will be "family" tickets in the lawn area, which currently sell for $48 and $53. The new price will be $56 ---- an increase that should generate an additional $20,000 for the city, Brendel said.

City officials estimate the higher fees for city-sponsored recreation programs will increase revenue by $43,000 a year, while the higher rental fees will pull in an additional $8,000. Adjustments at the waterpark should only produce a nominal increase, according to a city report.

In other business:

- The council unanimously approved plans for a 12-building medical office park on Via Centre Drive. The development is slated for a 10-acre site near the Oceanside border, just south of Highway 78.

Plans presented Tuesday were slightly different than those evaluated by the city's Planning Commission last month. At that time, commissioners recommended approval of the project, but included a condition that the developer spice up the architecture before taking it to council. Tuesday's version featured cornices, changes to some building entries and a variety of window shapes.

- The field of 18 architectural firms seeking a contract to design the city's new civic center has been narrowed to six, according to Deputy City Manager Patrick Johnson. The firms of Ferguson Pape Baldwin, LPA, Carrier Johnson, Gonzalez Goodale, Fentress Bradburn and WLC will interview with the city's internal "selection committee" next week.

The City Council is slated to award the design contract in late March. City officials have said they want to complete the civic center by spring 2010.

-- Contact staff writer Craig TenBroeck at (760) 631-6621 or ctenbroeck@nctimes.com.