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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 11-10-1994Minutes of the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission Meeting November 10, 1994 Page 35 Present: Chair Anderson, Commissioners Willegalle, Wahl, Fiemann, Johnson, Priebe; staff Bisek, Blank and Pederson, Councilmember Edson; members of Classic Lake Aquatics (CLA), and Mona Domaas. Absent: Commissioner Bildsoe 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Anderson called the November meeting to order at 7 p.m. in the Public Safety Training Room. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made by Commissioner Willegalle and seconded by Commissioner Priebe to approve the minutes of the October meeting as presented. The motion carried with all ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. None were present. b. Staff Mary Bisek stated that staff is working on a number of projects including the recreation budget for 1995, Old Fashioned Christmas coming up on December 4, the Fire and Ice Festival scheduled for February 4, hours of operation for warming houses and ice rinks, the Plymouth Panthers Ski Club (a joint program with Plymouth Middle School for Plymouth Middle School students), and the December issue of Plymouth News. She announced that beginning in 1995, the recreation portion of the City newsletter will be taking on a new look. For the first time in many years, we will be adding photographs and line drawings to highlight the recreation programs. Staff member Nancy Pederson will be doing the typing and layout. c. Others. See item 5.a. 4. PAST COUNCIL ACTION a. Trail system update. Council has tabled this item until their November 21 meeting. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Proposal for private swimming pool. A group known as Classic Lake Aquatics (CLA) with the following members: Tom Franke, Terry Kent, Greg Ertz, Steve Schroeder, Brett Hanson, Stuart Zook and Teri Erhardt, appeared before the Commission to present a proposal for a private swimming pool to be located in Plymouth Creek Park. They want the City to consider donating seven acres of land for this purpose at the intersection of 37th Avenue and Plymouth Boulevard. The pool would serve the west metro area. PRAC Minutes/November 1994 Page 36 Tom Franke, 5040 Bryant Avenue N, Minneapolis, is the chairman of CLA, and has coached swimming for 16 years. He feels that there are swimming needs that are not being met in the west metro area, such as competitive swimming, recreational swimming and lessons. The pools that are located in the schools cannot accommodate everyone. In order to satisfy competitive swimmers, the temperature of the pool is kept relatively cool, which is not comfortable for recreational swimmers or for those who want to take lessons. The outdoor pools such as the ones located in New Hope and Crystal are more for recreational, family -type activities and cannot meet the needs of the serious competitors or those who like to lap swim for fitness purposes, not to mention that they are available only three months out of the year. Stuart Zook, 6170 Dallas Lane, Plymouth, then discussed the proposed design of the project. The CLA is proposing to build two pools under one roof that would accommodate all the swimming needs mentioned above. One would be a 50 meter, eight lane competitive pool, which, when necessary, could be divided into two 25 -yard pools, and the other would be a 25 yard recreational pool with a zero depth. The 50,000 square foot complex would also contain a concession area, meeting rooms, weight and fitness rooms, locker rooms, and parking for 250 plus cars. Teri Erhardt, 11505 48th Avenue, Plymouth, spoke about how CLA intends to raise the money needed to build the facility and the revenue necessary to operate. The proposed facility would cost approximately $4.5 million. CLA is projecting that 75% of their capital will come in the form of grants, corporate sponsorships, foundations, equipment donations and individual contributions, 18% would be the donation of the land by the City, and 7% would come from government agencies. They project that 33% of their income for operational funding would come from swimming lessons, 33% from recreational users, 10% from special interest groups, 10% miscellaneous, and 7% each from CLA members and other events. Commissioner Priebe asked CLA if they had any fiinding at this time. They responded that some large corporations, such as Carlson Companies, have indicated interest in their project. They also intend to seek fiinds from the Amateur Sports Commission (ASC), which has helped fiend several athletic facilities around the metro area, including a $3 million diving well at the University of Minnesota. The CLA is optimistic that corporations and groups like the ASC will help, because swimming is a sport where women and young girls like to compete, which gets into the gender equity issue. This is attracting a lot of attention lately and will continue to be an important influence on the corporations and government agencies being asked for donations. Commissioner Wahl stated that he would like to see more figures in reference to the projected revenue. The CLA said that they have hired a professor from St. Thomas to do an economic feasibility study, and those results should be available next April or May. Commissioner Fiemann questioned why CLA came to the City with their proposal before the economic feasibility study was completed. Mr. Franke stated they wanted to be able to show that they had support for the project from the community and a commitment for the PRAC Minutes/November 1994 Page 37 land from the City. Mr. Fiemann was also curious about the future expansion shown on their concept plan. Mr. Zook responded that the expansion is proposed as space the City could use in the future. Commissioner Wahl then asked Recreation Superintendent Mary Bisek about the City sponsored swimming lesson program. She indicated that the City nuns lessons at two pools in the summer and that we have been able to meet the majority of the residents' needs, although there is a very large demand for lessons for pre-schoolers, which are somewhat more difficult to accommodate, because of the pools' temperature. Mr. Zook remarked that he believed CLA and the City could work together to meet the needs of the community without affecting the City's swimming lesson revenue. Chair Anderson thanked the CLA for their presentation and praised the organization for its hard work and commitment to the project. He stated that the Commission would like to see more figures regarding the projected revenues and expenses. b. Study of unique open spaces update. A draft copy of an open space interim report was included in the PRAC packet and Director Blank stated that he would like this report to be forwarded to the City Council for their study session on November 14 or their regular meeting on November 21. Commissioner Johnson gave a brief update on the status of the project at this point. Open space sites have been reduced from 30 to 15, and those 15 have now been ranked in a priority order. No acquisition has been done at this time, however, negotiations are underway with the owners of sites 4 & 5, which are the Ponds at Bass Creek and the Mission Partnership property. The Open Space Committee has not yet considered how open space acquisition should be funded. They are seeking more guidance from PRAC and the City Council before moving in that direction. Director Blank commented that in other cities, bond referendums to acquire open space have successfully passed. He also stated that one of the next steps of the Open Space Committee will be to research the value of the sites. Some owners have already contacted the City indicating their willingness to sell. A MOTION WAS MADE BY COMMISSIONER WAHL AND SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER JOHNSON TO FORWARD THE OPEN SPACE INTERIM REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL FOR THEIR REVIEW. THE MOTION CARRIED WITH ALL AYES. c. Accessible playground update. The play stricture is finished and according to Director Blank, the kids are thrilled with it. A ribbon cutting ceremony will be planned for next spring. d. Seven Ponds neighborhood park update. The rock surface for the trails has been installed, and some asphalt may be laid before it gets too cold to do that. The play equipment is also being installed. Efforts to complete this park will continue until the weather gives out. The project will be finished next spring. e. West Medicine Lake City Park update. Director Blank said that surveyors are in the park doing their work now. The last of the houses on park property will be vacated in December. PRAC Minutes/November 1994 Page 38 f. Playfield/highschool update. Director Blank announced that the Wayzata School District referendum passed on November 8. The referendum extends for another ten years the District's operating levy. The passage of the referendum was crucial for the highschool/playfield project to continue. Director Blank then updated the Commission on the status of the project. He stated that the wetlands delineation has been completed. The architect is expected to have the schematic design of the building completed soon. If the project stays on schedule, the outside plans will also be finalized soon. Next, negotiations will take place on the number of acres the City will own and the number the School District will own. After that has been determined and a site plan has been agreed on, a joint powers agreement will be negotiated. g. PRAC work plan for 1995 update. The draft copy of the PRAC work plan for 1995 was discussed. Commissioner Wahl wondered about item 2, and the reference to "funding analysis of each and every site." Director Blank responded that the intent of that statement was that PRAC would only make suggestions for ways to fund selected sites. The work plan is still open for corrections and additions, but Director Blank would like to have a recommendation from PRAC at the December 8 Commission meeting. h. Neighborhood parks' playground replacement update. The final plans and specs are being written now and will soon go out for bid. The play equipment will be installed next spring and should be ready for use by May. i. Planning for northwest Plymouth. Director Blank reviewed his report on Neighborhood 417, indicating that this area has an estimated population of 1,180 when fully developed, according to the Comprehensive Park Plan. Based on current development and what remains to be developed, he doesn't feel that this number is going to be reached. He also explained that a concept plan submitted by Richard Blume, shows a development at the intersection of Schmidt Lake Road and Vicksburg Lane. In this concept plan, a water tower and possible park are shown in the northwest corner of that intersection, although the actual siting of the water tower has not been decided. He expalined that the City's trail plan does call for the trail on Vicksburg Lane to be extended to Schmidt Lake Road, which now dead ends at Old 9. Mona Domaas, 15910 46th Avenue, stated that she and her neighbors do not want to cross Schmidt Lake Road to get to a park, and asked if the water tower and park could be sited on the south side of the road. Director Blank said this may be a possibility, although siting it on the south side puts it inside the MUSA, whereas the north side of Schmidt Lake Road is outside the MUSA, and this may make a difference to Mr. Blume. Another option may be to ask Mr. Blume to dedicate some land for the installation of a park, although Mr. Blume isn't prepared to do this. The Comprehensive Park plan did not call for park in this area, so Mr. Blume wasn't asked to dedicate any land for that purpose when he had his development plan drafted. Director Blank suggested that maybe a compromise could be worked out with Mr. Blume, whereby he would give up some property on the south side for a small park, if the City would put the water tower on the north side of Schmidt Lake Road. This is all still dependent on the alignment of Schmidt Lake Road, which should be PRAC Minutes/November 1994 Page 39 decided by next month. Recent traffic studies now show that Schmidt Lake Road will need to be four lanes wide. Earlier studies suggested only two lanes. The Comprehensive Plan does show a park west of Holly Lane and south of the railroad tracks. Mrs. Domaas suggested that this park could be made accessible to the residents of Oxbow and the other developments in this area if trails were installed, but her preference would be to get a park in the development proposed by Mr. Blume. Mrs. Domaas stated that she will continue to show her support for a park for her neighborhood by attending fiiture PRAC meetings, and if necessary, will ask the 178 residents living in neighborhood no. 17 to attend with her. Chair Anderson commented that the residents' input was welcome, but no decision could be made until some other issues are resolved, such as the siting of the water tower and the alignment of Schmidt Lake Road. 6. NEW BUSINESS There was no new business to discuss. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION None. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION Director Blank continued the discussion on the private pool proposal with the Commission. He informed the Commission that the CLA is very optimistic about their proposal based on the overwhelming success of swimming pools in other areas. Director Blank stated that he had to remind the CLA that success in other cities may be due to the fact that there aren't as many pools or lakes available there, as there are here. He also indicated his concern over holding in limbo seven acres of land, valued at over $1 million, while waiting for CLA to raise fiinds. Then there's the question of are there too many indoor 25 yard pools? Perhaps some consideration should be given to an outdoor pool for this area. He also mentioned that the Wayzata School District has offered us an option to cooperate on a pool in the new high school or one in the old high school. Director Blank is concerned, too, about getting involved in a private/public venture should something go wrong and the pool's revenues drop off Who would be responsible? Another thought to consider is whether or not this is the best possible use for this land. Are there other recreational facilities that might be better suited to this location? Some commissioners then brought up the issue of a community center and how the very same facilities proposed for this private complex would likely be included in any community center design. The discussion concluded with the Commission stating they wouldn't feel comfortable making any decisions until they get more information from CLA on their financing and the results of the economic feasibility study. Director Blank informed PRAC that the Council had budgeted for another resident survey sometime next February. There will be a section in the survey on park and recreation facilities. Results of the survey should be available in April or May. Director Blank stated that he would like to take PRAC members on a tour of the facilities at Shoreview, Chanhassen and some of the other metro area community centers, for the benefit of the newest commissioners. He also stated that a hockey/ice arena interest group may attend the December PRAC meeting with a presentation of their own. PRAC Minutes/November 1994 Page 40 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m.