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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 12-14-1995Minutes of the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission Meeting December 14, 1995 Page 41 Present: Chair Anderson, Commissioners Bildsoe, Fiemann, Johnson, Wahl and Willegalle; Planning Commissioner Ribbe, staff Bisek, Blank and Pederson Absent: Commissioner Priebe 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Anderson called the December meeting to order at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made by Commissioner Willegalle and seconded by Commissioner Bildsoe to approve the minutes of the November meeting as presented. The motion carried with all ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. None were present. b. Staff. Mary discussed Old Fashioned Christmas which took place on December 10. The hayrides and roasting marshmallows activities ended up being cancelled due to the extremely cold temperatures. Attendance was down from the usual 800 to about 400, but despite the cold weather, Mary felt the event was an overall success. Staff recently attended the annual MRPA State Conference, held in early December. Three of our staff members were honored with awards. Karol received a grant for her work on MRPA committees. Rick was honored earlier in the year with a NYSCA Youth Sports Coaches award and Cindy was recognized for her work with aquatics. In addition, one of our seasonal employees, Kristen Schrader, who has been with us for a number of years, received a scholarship to continue her education. Mary announced that we are involved in two new projects. One is CONECT, a collaborative effort to serve lower income families in the Plymouth area. Our first program with them will be swimming lessons offered to the residents' children of Regency Pointe Apartments, located on Harbor Lane. The complex has its own pool, so the lessons will be offered on site. The second project is called "We Love Our Kids." This is a program that focuses on finding positive things for kids to do in their spare time in an effort to PRAC Minutes/December 1995 Page 42 keep them from getting into trouble. This year's Fire and Ice Festival will be dedicated to the theme, "We Love Our Kids." Mary indicated that she needed some help with the speed skating event at Fire and Ice. The Plymouth Speed Skating Club always ran the event in the past, but they have disbanded. She asked commissioners to provide her with the names of any speedskaters they might know personally who would be willing to volunteer. Mary announced a new event at this year's Festival would be a volleyball tournament in the vicinity of the new sand courts at Parkers Lake. Warming houses will open Saturday, December 16, and will be in operation until February 19, weather permitting. Rick held staff training for the warming house attendants Thursday. c. Others. There were no visitors. 4. PAST COUNCIL ACTION a. Approved Recreational Sports Facility Report. Council reviewed the Sports Facility Report at a special session and unanimously adopted it. b. Approved consultant for amphitheater study. Council approved hiring a consultant to search for a new location for the City amphitheater, since the current location is the proposed site for new recreational facilities. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Private pool/Wayzata School Dist. Pool study update. Director Blank announced that the private swim club, Classic Lake Aquatics, recently informed the City that they are no longer interested in a joint project, because they were unable to raise any funds. The Wayzata School District, however, is still interested and has sent a letter of intent to the City, indicating their willingness to contribute $1.5 million toward the cost of a 25 - meter lap pool, which they could use for swim meets, practices, synchronized swimming, etc. Director Blank said that the City has also had discussions with a couple of private health clubs, Lifetime Fitness and Flagship Athletic Club, regarding a joint project that could include facilities such as a recreational/leisure pool, gymnasiums, fitness equipment, meeting rooms, etc. Flagship Athletic Club has since decided they are not interested. The City had asked them if a daily admission fee could be arranged for residents of Plymouth who might not be interested in an annual membership, and after doing some numbers crunching, Flagship indicated they could not accommodate us. However, Lifetime Fitness is willing to work with the City on some type of daily admission fee for Plymouth residents, even though their normal mode of operation is an annual membership. PRAC Minutes/December 1995 Page 43 Commissioners then asked what the probability was for the City receiving a Mighty Ducks ice arena grant and if this had any effect on this other project. Director Blank explained that there was a good chance the City would be receiving a full $250,000 grant from the MASC, as well as additional pledges of approximately $550,000 from athletic associations, the Wayzata School District and the City of Wayzata. This leaves a balance of $4 million, which the City may spend from the Community Improvement Fund. However, this will require a citizen vote, which the City hopes to schedule for next February 6 or 13. According to Director Blank, this entire amount will be needed to build the two indoor ice rinks as proposed in our grant application. The Commission asked if it was feasible for the City to construct a pool with the School District and no outside involvement. Director Blank indicated that it probably would be possible from a financial aspect. Commissioner Johnson questioned where Lifetime Fitness would locate their facility. Director Blank said that it would be on City -owned land adjacent to the ice arenas, along Plymouth Boulevard between 37th and 36th Avenues, east of Cub Foods. Director Blank displayed a concept plan designed by Lifetime Fitness that showed the layout of a lap pool (which could be used by the School District free of charge whenever they wanted), a leisure pool, basketball courts/gyms, racquetball courts, fitness equipment, aerobics room, community rooms, etc. A senior center was also shown on the south end of the concept plan. Director Blank explained that if the City accepted Lifetime Fitness' offer, there would be no operating cost to the City whatsoever. Lifetime Fitness would bear the entire cost to construct the facility and would have all the responsibility for operating it. Director Blank added that if Lifetime Fitness later went bankrupt, the City would have first option to assume the payments or right of first refusal. Commissioner Johnson asked what the daily admission fee for Plymouth residents would be. Director Blank explained that the Lifetime Fitness owner started out asking $8 for an adult and $3 for children, but that the City wanted no more than $6 per adult to be charged. Lifetime countered with $7, but that cost is still being negotiated. Lifetime's regular fee is $29 per month for individuals. In a survey of surrounding cities that have community centers, the highest per day fee charged for an adult was $6 and that was at Dakota Community Fitness Center (in Prior Lake affiliated with Mystic Lake). Most city -run community centers have a daily admission fee of around $3 - $4 per adult. Director Blank believes that Lifetime's justification for charging $7 is due to the fact that their fitness equipment is the most state-of-the-art and most expensive anywhere around, plus daily admission PRAC Minutes/December 1995 Page 44 gives the user access to every amenity in the club, from the pool to the fitness equipment to the aerobics classes, etc. Commissioner Fiemann stated that he would like more time to consider some other options. He wondered what it would cost the City to build its own community center that would have facilities similar to Lifetime Fitness. Director Blank said that the community center proposed in 1989 was estimated at $12 million, and at today's prices, would probably run around 14.5 million. He stated that Lifetime Fitness' proposal is a good deal for the City, economically. Commissioner Johnson indicated that he was not comfortable with a private health club building on the City's most valuable piece of property, and he added that he didn't think it was appropriate that a resident of Plymouth be charged such a high daily use fee. He said that it would prevent many residents from being able to use the facilities. He also felt that a private health club would not meet the needs of the majority of Plymouth's residents, and in most cases, health clubs cater to adults, rather than to children and families. He also believes that private health clubs tend to have a somewhat negative attitude when it comes to teenagers hanging around. Several commissioners concurred with Johnson's opinion and stated they were not willing to endorse the idea of a private health club building on city - owned land. Their main concerns were that a privately run facility would not meet the needs of most of the residents, the daily use fee would be too high, and it probably would not meet the needs of the City's Parks and Recreation Department, since the City probably would not be able to schedule any programs there. Since it seemed to be the consensus of the Commission that a private health club was not a good idea, Chair Anderson suggested that commissioners contact the Council regarding their feelings and encouraged them to attend the next Council meeting and express their concerns. Chair Anderson also asked Director Blank to try and schedule a joint meeting with the Council as soon as possible, so that this issue could be discussed further. Director Blank replied that a motion would be in order for the joint meeting. A MOTION WAS MADE BY COMMISSIONER JOHNSON AND SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER WILLEGALLE REQUESTING THAT A JOINT MEETING BE SCHEDULED WITH THE CITY COUNCIL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THE MOTION CARRIED WITH ALL AYES. PRAC Minutes/December 1995 Page 45 b. West Medicine Lake Park update. All construction has ceased for the remainder of the year, but crews did manage to put in the road surcharge, base rock, water lines and sewer lines. c. Open spaces update. One site remains to be purchased, but there are some difficulties being encountered with a couple of the owners. It's beginning to look like this site may have to be given up for another site elsewhere in the City, according to Director Blank, although the City may still get a portion of this parcel. d. Playfield/high school update - review budget as part of CIP. Director Blank explained that Elm Creek Playfield is part of bid package no. 5, which is scheduled to go out for bid in January. The estimated cost to complete that portion of the playfield that would be ready for use in 1997 is $1.6 million. Director Blank was happy to report that of the 13 requests made by the Girls' Fastpitch Softball Association, the City was able to accommodate 12 1/2. The one-half they did not get was permanent fencing on the softball fields. Instead, they will get temporary fencing on game days. Director Blank said they were about to complain about that when they realized that the City had bent over backwards to satisfy their needs, while the School District has not made a single attempt to help them out. Director Blank went on to say that so far, all bid packages have been coming in under the estimates, which has been very good for the District. The next bid package, no. 4, is the high school building itself. If that comes in under budget, then the School District may go ahead and contribute $1.5 million toward the construction of a competitive pool. If the bid package comes in over the estimate, they may end up putting the money toward the high school instead. e. Approve 1996-2000 CIP. Director Blank briefly reviewed the CIP, and distributed copies of letters received from both Birchview and Sunset Elementary Schools asking for the City's help in funding playground improvements. Director Blank said that the City helped fund Sunset's playground several years ago, and this would be their second request for assistance. He told both parent groups that Greenwood Elementary is on the schedule for funding in 1996, and that their requests would probably not be considered until 1997. A MOTION WAS MADE BY COMMISSIONER BILDSOE AND SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER FIEMANN TO ADOPT THE 1996-2000 PARKS CIP. Commissioner Wahl asked for some clarification regarding the $440,000 for West Medicine Lake Park, which was down $100,000. Director Blank said that the lagoon and the beach, each estimated at $50,000, were withdrawn PRAC Minutes/December 1995 Page 46 for now, due to some permitting problems. He explained that a significant amount of construction could still be completed for $440,000. THE VOTE WAS THEN TAKEN AND THE MOTION CARRIED WITH ALL AYES. f. Senior citizen needs analysis update. Director Blank explained that the task force needed to hold another three or four meetings before a final report could be compiled. Commissioner Willegalle, who is a member of the task force, stated that some of the seniors' concerns regarding a senior center include having a place to play cards, dance, a stage for their own theater performances, a multi-purpose room, an arts and crafts room, and a room for preparing food, all on one level. g. Continue golf course discussion. Director Blank indicated that he will try to meet with the owner of Hollydale golf course before he leaves for Phoenix for the winter months. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Cardinal Ridge neighborhood park. Director Blank explained that Cardinal Ridge is on the schedule for development in 1996. This project is estimated to cost about $220,000. A MOTION WAS MADE BY COMMISSIONER WAHL AND SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER JOHNSON RECOMMENDING THAT A CONSULTANT BE HIRED TO BEGIN THE WORK OF DESIGNING CARDINAL RIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD PARK. THE MOTION CARRIED WITH ALL AYES. COMMISSION PRESENTATION Commissioner Willegalle stated that the East Parkers Lake Improvement Association is working with City Forester Paul Buck in his efforts to get a grant to help with the nurp ponds at the new high school/playfield. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION Director Blank stated that City staff will be meeting with the public and Hennepin Parks in January to study a way to get a trail down the east side of Medicine Lake. 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 9 p.m.