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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 07-13-1995Minutes of the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission Meeting July 13, 1995 Page 25 Present: Chair Anderson, Commissioners Bildsoe, Fiemann, Johnson, Priebe, Wahl and Willegalle; staff Bisek, Blank and Pederson; Planning Commissioner Ribbe. 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Anderson called the July meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. in the Council Conference Room. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made by Commissioner Wahl and seconded by Commissioner Fiemann to approve the minutes of the June meeting as presented. The motion carried with all ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. None were present. b. Staff Mary informed the Commission that the Park and Recreation Department would be moving to its new office space on Monday, July 17. She stated that Rick Busch received an award from the National Youth Sports Coaches Association. He was one of only seven in the U.S. to receive the award. Mary announced that Shakespeare in the Streets has been added to our summer concert series as a special event on Thursday, July 20. The performance will be given at Parkers Lake Park. Future special events include the third annual Art Fair on September 16 and the second annual History Fest on September 23. Mary is in need of sponsors for the History Fest. Sponsors receive ad space in the History Fest program. Mary stated that the fall recreation booklet is at the printers and should be mailed to residents August 1. c. Others. There were no visitors. 4. PAST COUNCIL ACTION a. Approved the ballfield safety fencing. b. Approved feasibility report on Ess property. c. Approved sale of open space bonds. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Private swimming pool update/School District 284 pool study. Director Blank stated that the Wayzata School Board has 1.7$ million to spend on a swimming pool. The School District indicated that they may consider some type of jointly run facility on neutral ground, with perhaps the City and Classic Lake Aquatics being involved, too. b. West Medicine Lake Park update. Director Blank stated that the City hopes to receive confirmation of permit applications from four different agencies sometime the week of July 17. He also said that the City would like to enlarge the wetland behind Kimberly PRAC Minutes/July 1995 Page 26 Lane Elementary in connection with the West Medicine Park project, but there is no word yet on whether or not that will be permitted. He indicated that the road project may go out for bid in September and that the work on the park itself could begin by next July. c. Open spaces update. Director Blank announced that the City approved three purchase agreements for the first open space site on July 11 for $843,000. This is the site owned by the Hardenburg family. Mrs. Hardenburg will be allowed to live on the property for five more years. Director Blank also stated that the Olson family has agreed to terms on the sale of their property, which is 28 acres. The Olson home is located on three of those acres, and is located within the proposed alignment of Peony Lane. Because of that, this site may be paid for with Peony Lane road fiinds. The Mission property site, which is near Hennepin Parks, is also being finalized at this time. The City is working on a joint purchase agreement with Hennepin Parks for this site. Hennepin Parks has agreed to pay 100,000. The fourth open space site, located in southeast Plymouth, is 20 acres in size and mostly swamp. The site has been appraised at $500,000, but one of the three owners wants $1.5 million for it. Director Blank said the City can afford to hold off on purchasing this site for now, because there are no other buyers for the property. Apparently there is a real estate agent representing one of the owners, and he's been calling members of the Planning Commission and PRAC. d. Playfield/highschool update. Director Blank indicated that the contract for the earth work has been awarded, and the foundation and footings contract for Building A has also been awarded. He also stated that the joint powers agreement between the School District and the City has been settled. The City will receive use of a gymnasium in exchange for constricting the Peony Lane bridge. The final plat and plan for the highschool/playfield project is on the City Council agenda July 18. The next decisions to be made then are which facilities to build in connection with the playfield. There is fiinding available at this time to do earthwork, the irrigation of four softball fields and five soccer fields, softball backstop, softball fencing, softball lighting, and a softball building. These items, plus general contractor charges, total about $1,373,000. The reason for doing these facilities first is so the adult softball program can be moved from Zachary Playfield to the new playfield, a condition that was made by the City Council prior to the beginning of this project. Other facilities not fiinded at this time include concrete sidewalk, soccer field fencing and lighting, outdoor hockey rink, lighting and warming house, basketball court, asphalt walking path, stone on nature trails, sand at the play lots, tot lot fencing and playground equipment, tree landscaping, varsity baseball and tennis lighting. These items, plus general contractor charges, equal about $1,150,600. Director Blank stated that the special assessments on the property equal $265,000 which is the amount of the sewer and water charges. He commented that the City is debating whether or not to assess itself for these special assessment charges. By doing that, the charges are spread out over a five year period. e. Study of youth sports facilities update. Two meetings have been held to date with the Mayor and the two community education departments. There are several facility issues that need to be prioritized, and then development solutions need to be considered. When the youth sports committee irons all this out, they will prepare a report and forward it to PRAC. PRAC Minutes/July 1995 Page 27 f. Update on new neighborhood park playgrounds, sand volleyball and roller hockey. Director Blank reported that the playgrounds at Mission Park and Timber Shores are finished, Schmidt Lake should be done by July 14. The roller hockey rink is finished at Plymouth Creek Park and the sand volleyball courts are in at Parkers. Both of these facilities are very popular and are seeing heavy use. Seven Ponds Park is also finished except for landscaping. g. Reviewrg adin study on Ess property. Director Blank distributed some handouts prepared by Brauer and Associates on the estimated development costs for the Ess property. The consultant believes that there is room there for 4 softball fields and a 150 - car parking lot, an outdoor environmental education site on the southeast end of the property, and nature trails. The total estimated cost to do the earthwork, utilities, parking lot and entrance drives, four softball fields with fencing and irrigation, security lighting of the parking lot, landscaping, seed/sod, and a few other miscellaneous items totals approximately $800,000. Director Blank stated that the purchase price of the 20 plus acres is $549,000. Tax increment financing funds could be used to buy the land. The softball fields are geared for 8-12 year olds, and would be designed for girls' fast -pitch softball and boys' baseball. Currently, there are 150 Plymouth girls playing fast pitch in a Golden Valley league. They have requested that Plymouth set aside some fields where girls can play. At the present time, all of our available fields are being used by boys. The site would not have sewer available, so satellites would be used for bathroom facilities. It is estimated that in about 20 years, the northern most softball field may be vacated for purposes of constricting the Schmidt Lake Road/494 diamond interchange. Director Blank then explained that the Council has two concerns regarding this property: should the City buy the land, and would the softball fields get built? He stated that the City's comprehensive plan shows the property as park and diamond interchange. He also explained that the Ess family is suing the City, because the comprehensive plan has labeled the land as diamond interchange, but up to this point, the City has made no attempt to buy the property. This is why the Council has directed PRAC to determine if there is a legitimate need for the land at this time. A MOTION WAS MADE BY COMMISSIONER PRIEBE AND SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER WAHL STATING THAT PRAC HAS DETERMINED THERE IS POTENTIAL PARK USAGE FOR ALL OF THIS PROPERTY. THE MOTION CARRIED WITH ALL AYES. h. 1996-2000 CIP. Director Blank reviewed the five year parks capital improvements program. Items for 1996 include trails, a boardwalk in Timber Shores park, development of Cardinal Ridge neighborhood park, development of West Medicine Lake park, and playground replacement at Greenwood Elementary. Items in 1997 include trails, neighborhood park development, park replacement work, and land acquisition for the tenth playfield. Items in 1998 include trails, neighborhood park development, development of the tenth playfield and park replacement work. Projections for 1999 and 2000 include only trails and park replacement work at this point. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Mighty Ducks ice arenarg ant application. Director Blank announced that the Mighty Ducks legislation passed, so now we need to decide if we want to submit a grant PRAC Minutes/July 1995 Page 28 application. Applications will be due in September or October, and awards could be as much as $250,000; although the cost to build an ice arena would run about $3,000,000. Director Blank said if we receive one of the awards, we could always turn it down. Director Blank explained that grants will be awarded only to communities willing to build two arenas. He also stated that we could not pursue such a venture without the joint cooperation of School Districts 281 and 284. A total of 10 grants will be awarded, but 50-75 applications may be received. The City of Plymouth is the largest city in the state without an ice arena. Commissioner Priebe recommended that staff should bring the grant application to PRAC at their August meeting. Director Blank then explained that it will soon be time to begin planning which facilities to build in the City, because we are reaching the end of the land acquisition process. By the end of 1995, there will be $12.5 million in the community improvement fiend, however, the City will want to maintain a balance of $5 million at all times in that fiend for future City Councils to use. That leaves a balance of about $7 million that could be used for the purposes of building an ice arena, a pool, two gymnasiums and a field house. Director Blank also commented that the issue of a golf course needs to be given consideration, because the sport continues to grow in popularity, and golf courses generally pay for themselves. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION None. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION None. 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.