Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 04-14-1994Minutes of the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission Meeting April 14, 1994 Page 13 Present: Commissioners Fiemann, Wahl, Mikula, Willegalle and Johnson, staff Bisek, Blank, Buck, Pederson and Peterson Absent: Chair Anderson (Commissioner Watson resigned after the March meeting) 1. CALL TO ORDER Vice Chair Wahl called the April meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. in the Council Conference Room. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made by Commissioner Fiemann and seconded by Commissioner Willegalle to approve the minutes of the March meeting as presented. The motion carried with all ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. None were present. b. Staff Mary announced that the Recreation Division started summer registration a month earlier this year, because so many residents had requested it. Registrations are up in most classes. Adult softball registration is down by a couple of teams. Credit card registrations are now being accepted by the department on a limited basis. This is a new service the department has made available to the public. We've been trying it on a trial basis and plan to go public with it in the August brochure. Residents will be permitted to use their credit card with mail -in registration, in-person registration, and eventually over the telephone. Mary announced that the Fitness Challenge Kick -Off Walk was held Wednesday, April 13, and the weather cooperated for a change. She explained that the Fitness Challenge is friendly competion with other companies in Plymouth, whereby employees exercise for points, and the company with the most points each week is the winner. There are t -shirts, mugs and a traveling trophy as prizes and incentives to work out. Mary stated that the Recreation Division will hire someone this year to help with the integration of special needs individuals into our programs. The City also now has a policy for administering drugs to children in our programs who are required to take medication during the day. Mary has been receiving requests to offer youth golf and other youth programs in the evening for working parents who are unable to get their kids to these activities during the day. Commissioner Willegalle also commented that he hears from a number of residents that the parks department doesn't offer enough youth sports on summer evenings to accommodate working parents. Director Blank commented that the majority of the athletic fields are used in the evening by youth baseball, soccer and softball and that the PRAC Minutes/April 1994 Page 14 only fields used by adults are Zachary and Plymouth Creek. Mary added that we simply don't have enough facilities to accommodate a lot of evening programs and wondered if the residents Commissioner Willegalle had talked to would be willing to participate in programs if they were offered on Saturdays. He responded that he would check with them and get back to Mary. City Forester Paul Buck announced that Arbor Day is scheduled to be celebrated in Plymouth on Friday, April 29, at Wayzata East Junior High, at 1 p.m. Members of the youth group Y.E.S. (Youth Extended Services) have been doing some fundraising and have managed to purchase 14 trees which will be planted in one of the courtyards at Wayzata East. The fundraising consisted of selling t -shirts, which raised $500. The Y.E.S. group also succeeded in securing a grant for $750 to help with the purchase of the trees. Park commissioners were invited to attend the Arbor Day celebration. c. Others. None were present. 4. PAST COUNCIL ACTION Council approved the acquisition of properties on 18th Avenue, which are part of the proposed West Medicine Lake Park. One of the homeowners is already in the process of moving to another home in Plymouth. The second property is close to being settled, but an agreement has not been reached yet with the third property owner. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. West Medicine Lake Park update. At the last PRAC meeting, a master plan for West Medicine Lake Park was endorsed by the Commission and a recommendation was made to forward the plan to the Council. However, the Council has not had the opportunity to review the plan, because they are very involved right now in the process of reviewing the acquisition of the ninth playfield site. Director Blank also pointed out that the '94 capital improvements program has not been approved by the Council, because it hasn't yet been approved by the Planning Commission. Director Blank stated that he would keep PRAC, as well as the focus group, informed as to the status of the West Medicine Lake Park project. It will be important to have community support of this project at the Council meeting when it is finally placed on their agenda. b. Study of unique open spaces update. Mark Wahl stated that the Open Space Committee has met three times within the last few weeks and has now identified 34 sites which meet the criteria established earlier by the committee. Most of the sites are, at a minimum, at least 10 acres in size, which was one of the criteria. The sites range in size from 10 acres up to 78 acres. The next step is to hire a consultant to visit the sites and identify the types of trees, plants, etc., and rank the sites. Prior to the consultant being hired, though, the Open Space Committee will meet again to try to reduce the number of sites. There is a limited three week period when the consultant can visit the sites, which is prior to trees and shrubbery leafing out. Commissioners asked if the sites are mainly wetlands, and Parks Superintendent Mark Peterson responded that several of them have wetlands contained within them, but they are mostly heavily wooded sites. Mark went on to explain that there are other methods for conserving wetlands, such as ordinances, etc., therefore, PRAC Minutes/April 1994 Page 15 the Open Space Committee looked more for wooded areas. When asked if the committee tried to identify sites so that there would be an even distribution throughout Plymouth, Commissioner Wahl commented that it wasn't always possible, because most of southwest Plymouth is fully developed, and any open spaces that may once have existed there are now gone. They did attempt to identify sites in all four quadrants of the City, however. Commissioner Fiemann commented that he likes the idea of selecting sites so that there are some in each of the four wards of the City. Commissioner Mikula would prefer that some of the sites be large in size. Commissioner Willegalle asked about getting advice from the City of Eden Prairie, since they have already been through this process. Find out what mistakes, if any, they might have made, or what they would do differently. A MOTION WAS MADE BY COMMISSIONER FIEMANN AND SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER MIKULA RECOMMENDING THAT COUNCIL HIRE A CONSULTANT TO VISIT AND RANK THE SITES IDENTIFIED BY THE OPEN SPACE COMMITTEE. THE MOTION CARRIED WITH ALL AYES. c. Review plans for accessible playground. Director Blank explained that the City currently has 26 playgrounds spread throughout the community, and the one at South Shore Park has one or two accessible components. With the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), we are now required to provide "like" experiences for children of all abilities. As our older playgrounds need refurbishing, approximately 20-30% will be made accessible when improvements are done. In addition, the City decided to create one, large, centrally located accessible playground in Plymouth Creek Park. Part of this planning process included forming an accessible playground committee to get input on the types of features to include in the playground. The committee was comprised of area residents with physical disabilities, professionals who work with the disabled, and park and recreation staff members. Five manufacturers of playgrounds were contacted and asked to submit an accessible playground design based on a specified dollar amount and based on standards developed by the Consumer Product Safety Bureau, the American Society for Testing and Measures and ADA. All the submitted designs were reviewed by the Accessible Playground Committee, and eventually a design was chosen that met with the approval of the playground committee. Director Blank shared with PRAC a drawing of that approved design and explained the features. The playground will be 100% accessible to wheelchair bound individuals. One of the more exciting features involves the use of water when the children are playing. They will be able to manipulate the water by turning on a faucet and creating a shower like effect. Commissioner Mikula commented that this is an excellent feature to have in the playground, but also wanted staff to be aware that although the kids enjoy being able to manipulate the water, they may not want to get wet. Commissioner Wahl also wondered if water might damage wheelchairs. Director Blank commented that the kids could operate the water in such a way that they would not get wet if they didn't want to. Commissioner Mikula also wondered if the overhead bars shown in one of the drawings were reachable by the kids, so they'd be able to do pull-ups from their chairs. Director Blank wasn't sure if it was designed for that purpose and said that he would check into it. As shown, the accessible playground will cost approximately $130,000. Part of this cost will be covered by PRAC Minutes/April 1994 Page 16 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. This is because projects designed using ADA standards are eligible for CDBG grants. A MOTION WAS MADE BY COMMISSIONER MIKULA AND SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER JOHNSON RECOMMENDING THAT COUNCIL APPROVE THE CONCEPT PLAN AS SHOWN FOR THE ACCESSIBLE PLAYGROUND AND ADVERTISE FOR BIDS. THE MOTION CARRIED WITH ALL AYES. d. Review 1994 trail constriction projects. Three segments of trail remain to be constricted that were part of the projects started in 1993. One segment goes around a wetlands and runs between Niagara and Vicksburg, another segment is to close a gap in a trail running north of city hall, and the third trail goes around the west side of Turtle Lake. There is 100, 000 in the 1994 budget to complete these projects. A MOTION WAS MADE BY COMMISSIONER FIEMANN AND SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER JOHNSON TO ACCEPT THE TRAIL PROJECTS PROPOSED FOR 1994 CONSTRUCTION. THE MOTION CARRIED WITH ALL AYES. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Review of city trail plan (referred by Planning Commission). Director Blank explained that due to the proposed development of a McDonald's restaurant and a 7-11 convenience store at the southeast intersection of County Road 6 and 494, the Planning Commission has asked that PRAC consider an extension of trail along County Road 6 that would provide access to these businesses. Director Blank fi rther stated that no trail is shown at this location in the city's master trail plan. Commissioner Fiemann asked how often PRAC reviews the master trail plan, and Director Blank said about every two years, even though by law it's only required every ten years. He further explained that in order to amend the trail plan, a public meeting must be held by PRAC, followed by a public hearing held by the Planning Commission. Parks Superintendent Peterson commented that the City can add trails without amending the plan, but they cannot remove a trail that shows in the plan without holding both the public meeting and public hearing. Commissioner Fiemann discussed the need for a trail along Medina Road allowing the residents in the Hans Hagen and Lundgren Bros. developments to have access to the new park located south of Medina Road and east of 101. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION Commissioner Willegalle announced that the East Parkers Lake Improvement Association is having a clean up day on Saturday, May 7, to clean along the shore of Parkers Lake. This discussion prompted other commissioners to ask if Plymouth had a city clean up day. Director Blank responded that several years ago, the City did sponsor a spring clean up, which included the placement of large dumpsters at locations throughout Plymouth's numerous neighborhoods. The program came to an end when residents began abusing the purpose, which was to clean up the neighborhood, by using the dumpsters to clean out their own personal basements, etc. Commissioner Mikula commented that a short paragraph in the Plymouth News might be helpful, encouraging residents to clean up their surroundings PRAC Minutes/April 1994 Page 17 when going out for a walls. She suggested that they take a plastic or paper bag with them and fill it with the paper and aluminum cans they find lying in the street or on the trail. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION Director Blank reminded commissioners that the park tour is set for May 25. 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m.