HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 05-09-2013Adopted Minutes
Park &t Recreation Advisory Commission
Thursday, May 9, 2013
MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Ned Carroll, Vice Chair Greg Anderson, Commissioners: Merrillee Riley, Aaron
Vanderwall, John Vecere, Kipp Wyze, Tricia DeBleeckere
MEMBERS ABSENT: None
STAFF PRESENT: Park and Recreation Director Diane Evans, Deputy Director of Park and Recreation
Barb Northway, Office Support Specialist Sarah Josephs
COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES: Councilmember Ginny Black, Planning Commissioner Dick Klobussen
GUESTS PRESENT: Rose Ryan, Carlos Gutierrez
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chair Carroll called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Motion bV Commissioner Anderson, seconded bV Commissioner WVse, recommending
approval of the February 14, 2013, Park and Recreation Advisory Commission meetin
minutes as written. With all members voting in favor, the motion carried.
3. OPEN FORUM:
Chair Carroll welcomed Carlos Guetierrez.
Mr Guetierrez, of 1725 Garland Lane N, is a Squash player who is here to seek support
over imminent closure of Lifetime Squash Courts. Carlos hopes to work with Lifetime
to keep courts and move the location of children's programming elsewhere in the
building. He issued several points:
1. The LifeTime Fitness Courts are not "dead" space. The courts are used for
racquetball or squash for adults and children.
2. Offering the courts plays a part in creating the diversity of Plymouth.
Taking the courts away removes unique options for being active, especially
in winter months.
3. Squash is an international game that helps bring in international residents
to play a shared sport together.
4. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS (NON -ACTION ITEMS):
4a. Staff presentations - Rose Ryan "Hennepin County Pedestrian Plan Et Hennepin
County Bike Plan"
A handout was provided by Rose Ryan.
Rose's focus with Hennepin County is to work on expanding bike trails and sidewalks.
There is a large focus and concern to construct paths, sidewalks and bike paths along
County Roads. Hennepin County plans to achieve this by widening shoulders or paving a
new bike lane. Hennepin County received a federal grant through the Department of
Public Health to expand walking and biking paths to combat the current health concerns
facing our country. The hope is to add the daily activity of walking or biking into our
resident's daily lives. Nearly 50% of county roads currently have a sidewalk or trail on
them. Hennepin Top concerns of residents wanting to use trails are; traffic safety,
personal safety, sidewalk gaps, difficult crossings, and poor winter sidewalk maintenance.
PMinutes
May 9, 2013
Three goals were developed from the studies of Hennepin County; to improve pedestrian
safety, increasing walking for transportation, and improve health of residents.
Hennepin County is anticipating that their current bike plan will be completed in Summer
2014. The funding options for City improvements include the Sidewalk Participation
Program, Bikeway Participation Program and Bike Gap Fund. Plymouth did receive a Bike
Grant Fund for 2014 trail improvements for $100,000 to complete the Xenium/County Road
6 trail and then completing the Soo Line bridge trail over Xenium.
Discussion was had with Rose and Commissioners regarding whose responsibility it is to
mark the trails. The County is working on making trail crossings more consistent with the
help of municipalities and the Three Rivers Park District. The County is looking into
additional measures to increase the safety of all drivers and pedestrians. Such measures
would include adding flashing lights and more permanent markings on the streets.
Discussion was also held regarding more education needed for bikers and drivers regarding
bicyclists trying to cross roads. Officially, bikers crossing on their bikes must abide by
biker right-of-way and bikers walking their bikes across must abide by pedestrian right-of-
way.
The issue of improving paths near schools was addressed. The County is currently looking
at school boundary lines and areas that need better paths and crosswalks to ensure the
safety of students.
5. NEW BUSINESS (NON -ACTION ITEMS):
5a. Receive 2012 Annual Report
Diane Evans handed out a hard copy of the 2012 Annual Report.
5b. 2012 Trail Project Status
The Parks Department completed the sidewalk segment on CR 9/Vicksburg in 2012. There
was a delay with the trail on Northwest Blvd from Heritage Park to Campus Drive as the
City had been working through some easement agreements. The easements have now been
secured. The trail project will be completed in 2013.
5c. 2014 Trail Project Update
In 2014, Northwest Blvd will have full trail connection up to the Luce Line. This year the
City will focus on the many easement issues with the companies along this trail in order to
have it ready for completion in 2014.
5d. Trail Usage Data
Barb Northway provided a presentation on trail usage within Plymouth Parks. In 2012
Plymouth purchased Trafx Trail Counter system. These are much smaller and easier to
collect data with. Tracking trail usage helps the Parks department determine usage from
year to year, safety issues along the trail and needed maintenance areas. Trafx comes
highly recommended and is currently used by the DNR of Minnesota. Factors that need to
be considered when compiling data are the location of the tracking device, weather issues,
and the time of year tracking takes place.
Data is gathered by individuals who walk or bike past Trafx. The Parks Department plans to
change the location of their 3 trackers to different trails every two weeks.
5e. Trail Gap Presentation Et Prioritization
Handout included in board packets.
2 Adopted Minutes
May 9, 2013
Diane Evans presented to City Council last year to determine and prioritize trails to be
worked on in the coming years. Staff would like to determine how the Commission wishes
to proceed with future projects. The City currently has 90 trail gaps, 30 of which have
been marked with higher priority.
Commissioners went through each of the 9 areas of the City and identified gaps that are of
priority and those which have obstacles outside of their control. Many of the trail gaps
have been identified to be completed with future road construction projects. Such
restrictions to completion include not having enough space on a bridge, roads or
underpasses, and steep grading along the roads.
All sidewalks within the city are mapped, but only public trails are identified on official
trail maps. The City does not include neighborhood sidewalks as part of the trail systems.
Going forward, the Commission will need to look at the next steps on the Capital
Improvement Plan and determine priority projects. Priorities will be directed to
Engineering to determine cost and feasibility. Diane directed commissioners to come to
the next meeting prepared to discuss trail priorities for 2016-2020.
Projects that were of interest to Commissioners as of this evening were Gaps 61, 104, 108
and 111.
Commissioners were informed to keep in mind that the Begin property is up for sale and
the City Council had a special meeting on Tuesday, May 7 to determine the bid options. If
given the opportunity to purchase that land, it will affect how much money is available to
use from Park Dedication fund.
6. COMMISSIONER/STAFF UPDATE
Upcoming Community/Special Events
o Plymouth's City Manager has announced her retirement.
o This year marks the 20th Anniversary of Volunteers in Plymouth. A
recognition event for the top 20 outstanding volunteers will be on June 22.
Over 40 applications were submitted.
o The retaining wall along West Medicine Lake is severely failing. The City
Council has tentatively approved plans to move ahead with repairs.
o First day of Summer registrations saw 2,829 registrations come in (79%
online) with $188,578.00 in revenue.
o The Yard Et Garden Expo on April 12-13 hosted 125 exhibitors and raised
over $10,000 for the Millennium Garden.
o The Dome on the Field House has been taken down for the summer.
o Primavera was held April 11-15 with 63 youth exhibitors and 75 adult
exhibitors.
o Donna Sankey retired from the Park and Recreation Department after 28 1/2
years. Sarah Josephs will be her replacement.
7. ADJOURNMENT
Motion bV Commissioner RileV, seconded bV Commissioner DeBleeckere, recommending
adjournment of the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission meeting. With no
objection, Chair Carroll adjourned the meeting at 9:09pm.
Adopted Minutes
May 9, 2013