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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 02-13-1997Minutes of the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission Meeting February 13, 1997 Page 7 Present: Chair Anderson, Commissioners Fiemann, Johnson, Priebe, Thompson, Wahl, Willegalle; staff Blank and Pederson, Councilmember Wold 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Anderson called the February meeting to order at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers. 2. APPOINT CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR Commissioner Fiemann moved to reappoint Don Anderson as chair. Commissioner Wahl seconded. All ayes. Commissioner Priebe moved to appoint Wahl as Vice Chair. Commissioner Johnson seconded. All ayes. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made by Commissioner Thompson and seconded by Commissioner Johnson to approve the minutes of the January meeting as presented. The motion carried with all ayes. 4. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. None were present. b. Staff. There was no report from staff. c. Others. See item 5a. 5. PAST COUNCIL ACTION a. The dasher board rental program and the Zamboni rental program were approved. The ice center behavior policies and zero tolerance policies were approved. The Activity Center subcommittee was appointed. Councilmember Wold is Chair of that subcommittee. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. West Medicine Lake park update. Director Blank briefly explained the history of the West Medicine Lake Park project and the work that has been completed to date. He stated that we are now at the phase 3 planning stage. Letters were recently sent out on this subject to approximately 1,200 residents. Included with the letter was a proposed master plan of phase 3. A consultant from the design firm of Barton Aschman was present at the meeting to explain the various components of phase 3, which include a parking lot off West Medicine Lake Drive, a future community building, swimming beach, skating area, picnic shelters, a possible warming house, tot lot/play area, fishing dock, seasonal boat PRAC Minutes/February 1997 Page 8 rental, and pathways. Phase 3 includes the more active recreation areas. Concept A shows a 92 space parking lot, relocated lake access for seasonal access of boats, future lake pavilion building, parking lot connected to beach by bituminous path, picnic shelters, open space for informal recreation, play structure, a pathway to connect to pedestrian bridge, and fishing dock. Another path would go down and connect to boat slips and continue on. Also part of this concept is a boardwalk which would connect parking lot to wetland. Concept B is different in that it has tennis courts. The play area has been shifted and sand volleyball was added, and the picnic area was moved to the north. The preferred concept incorporated what the Commission wanted: parking lot, picnic shelters adjacent to the parking lot, sand volleyball, the pathways stayed the same, the tennis court was replaced by a hardcourt area, and open area for informal activities like throwing a Frisbee, etc. This concept is a hybrid of the other ones. Louis Lavoie, 2675 Larch Lane. Excited about concept and process used. Visits site often. He feels there are too few picnic shelters. Original plan showed seven. Number of parking spaces concerns him. He thinks there are too many. There used to be only 40 spaces, and those were never full. He suggested that staff defer the one parking lot that's shown on the prime land and put more picnic areas there. He would also like staff to think about ways to reduce the speed of traffic in certain areas. Remembers a lot of support at earlier meetings to ban motor boats. Thinks hard court is good idea but maybe not where it is proposed. Thinks lake area should be preserved for picnic areas. Tim Flugaur, 12023 23rd Avenue. Objects to seasonal boat access. Believes that people will take their bicycles right through beach/swimming area. Thinks people will prefer to ride along the lake instead of on the path. Concerned about landscaping. Pointed out where full grown trees are. Doesn't want trees cut down that are in the location of the boat launch. Wants trees planted to obscure his view of headlights. Paula Pursley, 2790 Evergreen Lane. She was concerned about the seasonal boat access and wanted an explanation of what it was and who could use it. Director Blank said it is a boat access with a locked gate across it. It would be open two weekends in the spring and two weekends in the fall and will primarily be used by deep hulled sailboats. It is not meant to be a daily operation. No parking has been designed for cars with boat trailers. The shallowness of this launch area is going to be the issue. It may have to be dredged some more, and we will need to get a permit from the DNR for that. Director Blank says people will call him when they need to use it. The launch will also be used in the winter by ice fishermen. Erica Urban, 1541 West Medicine Lake Drive. Ms. Urban was concerned that at some point in the future, the City would rent boats, etc. She asked for clarification on seasonal use. Director Blank explained rental would be canoes, PRAC Minutes/February 1997 Page 9 paddleboats, etc. not motorboats. She also was concerned about silt run off into lake. Director Blank said construction is following regulations as established by the DNR. She also commented on how rough the new road is. Director Blank stated that the road only has a base course down right now. All the potholes will be fixed and final paving will be done later this spring. Director Blank said picnic shelters are a matter of budget. One large shelter is planned with three or four smaller shelters (satellite shelters). When funds are available, we will build the large shelter. Commissioner Wahl said several picnic tables will be scattered around the park without shelters over them. Director Blank said the parking capacity is being downsized. There are 125 stalls at Parkers Lake on the lake side that are always full. His concern is that the way the road is designed, there is no other place to park, and staff doesn't want people to park in surrounding neighborhoods. The City's Forestry department is looking at landscaping the northwest curve. They will be planting evergreens there and will preserve trees as much as possible. Walking/biking path will wind through there. Commission agreed that biking along the beach could be a problem. Need to look at alternative place. Will try to find one to preserve safety of beach users. It will be somewhat similar to what's at French Park. Commissioner Johnson agreed with comments by residents that the one parking lot is taking up one of the nicest pieces of land. This concerns him. Could it be scaled down somewhat and then use that vacated portion for another picnic shelter? Director Blank commented that if we don't build the permanent building right now, we could cut back on the parking lot up to 20%. But once that building goes in, we may need to expand parking lot to accommodate the people coming to use the building. Commissioner Johnson thinks the northern parking lots will end up being overflow lots like the ones across County Road 6 are for Parkers Lake. Commissioner Fiemann also thinks the lower lot will fill up the fastest, because of its location to the beach, etc. Commissioner Thompson asked when the permanent building might go in? Director Blank said probably not for at least three or four years. Chair Anderson asked where we would reroute bikers? Commissioner Johnson suggested we replace part of the path with a boardwalk and then sign the area to say that bikers have to walk their bikes across the boardwalk. This is what they do at East Beach, so they can do it in this location, too. Tim Flugaur wondered about the Indian burial mounds. Director Blank said after all research had been done, consultants said there were no traces of burial mounds. Mr. Flugaur was concerned about what new foot bridge would cost? PRAC Minutes/February 1997 Page 10 COMMISSIONER JOHNSON MOVED TO RECOMMEND PROCEEDING WITH PHASE 3, BUT SCALING DOWN PARKING LOT TO 62 SPACES, AND ADDING ONE PICNIC SHELTER IN THIS NEWLY VACATED AREA, LOCATED TOWARDS WOODS IN THE GRASSY AREA. COMMISSIONER WAHL SECONDED. ALL AYES. Director Blank asked the Commission to give staff and the consultant some leeway for where to put the picnic shelter, how to reroute the bike path to keep bikers away from the beach and to scale back the parking lot in the most economical way. b. Ice Arena/Life Time Fitness update. The ice arena building is now totally enclosed. The practice rink sub -floor heating system is being installed. We should be skating on one rink in May. We have been interviewing staff and will start off with two maintenance employees. One will start about two weeks prior to rink opening. An open house may be scheduled for the same night as Music in Plymouth, which is July 2. An official grand opening hasn't been scheduled yet. Life Time Fitness is about one month behind the ice arena schedule and may open in early June. c. Open spaces update. We are continuing to negotiate on the fourth site. Open space committee will reconvene soon. d. Elm Creek Playfield update. The high school is on track to open in the fall. The playfield is also on schedule. We'll be out for a re -bid on shelter building and fencing for softball fields, and are scheduled to open those bids on February 26. e. Golf course discussion. No new information. Owners are vacationing out of state. f. East Medicine Lake Regional trail. This item is scheduled for Council review February 19. The first phase will be the entire east shore of the lake. Recommending one way road going north. The Post Office was unhappy with one way southbound traffic for delivering mail. The owner/operator of this project is Hennepin Parks. The Upgrade of the road will also finally be completed from Medicine Ridge Road to 36th Avenue with construction of the trail. g. Approve 1996 annual report/1997 work plan. COMMISSIONER FIEMANN MADE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE ANNUAL REPORT AND THE 1997 WORK PLAN AND FORWARD THEM TO THE CITY COUNCIL. COMMISSIONER THOMPSON SECONDED. ALL AYES. 7. NEW BUSINESS PRAC Minutes/February 1997 Page 11 a. Review and approve 1997 rental fees and policies. No increase was recommended in 1997 for facilities such as fields, rinks, etc. For use of the Parkers Lake Pavilion, a slight increase in fees is being recommended to allow for attendant to arrive early to set up and stay after to clean up. Rick Busch is doing research on letting seniors reserve Parkers Lake tennis courts. Right now we don't reserve any tennis courts for anyone. Commissioner Willegalle reminded everyone that seniors only want to reserve these courts on Saturday mornings. COMMISSIONER WILLEGALLE MADE A MOTION RECOMMENDING APPROVING RENTAL FEES AS PROPOSED. SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER PRIEBE. ALL AYES. b. Indoor soccer/tennis facility. Staff has identified two locations, first choice is Elm Creek Playfield. The next step is to meet with the school district. We are a year ahead on this issue. Right now we are gathering information on operations and rentals etc. c. Skateboard park grant update. Director Blank attended meeting at Oakwood on this subject last week. Representatives from the YMCA, churches, schools, library, and City were in attendance. The school district has stumbled onto a grant that could be applied for, and it's due February 14. The City has indicated they would contribute $5,000, and the school district will contribute the same. It's a matching grant. Volunteer labor would be used. The preferred site for a skateboard park is Oakwood Elementary. A back up site is Parkers Lake Park. The major issue of insurance and liability has not been fully addressed yet. The YMCA has offered to secure the insurance, and they also offered to provide staffing. The area outside of baseball field is where it would go if installed at Parkers Lake Park. Director Blank thinks Oakwood is a better location. The skateboard park will be fenced off and locked when not staffed. If we end up with one at Oakwood, we may study a location in the northeast part of Plymouth for another skateboard park. 8. COMMISSION PRESENTATION None. 9. STAFF COMMUNICATION Eric thanked everyone who worked at Fire and Ice. The winning fish was a 1 1/2 Ib. Northern. Contest participation was at an all time high. We may try a curling demonstration next year based on a suggestion. S'mores were sold out. The letter sent by Mrs. Domaas requesting a park at the intersection of Vicksburg and Schmidt Lake Road was discussed. Director Blank said this park may not be built until 1998. He suggested that PRAC consider allocating funds for this project PRAC Minutes/February 1997 Page 12 when reviewing the 1998-2002 CIP. There are two other locations for new parks to consider as well. 10.ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.