HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 08-14-1997Minutes of the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission Meeting
August 14, 1997
Page 21
Present: Chair Anderson, Commissioners Thompson, Willegalle, Fiemann, Johnson; Planning
Commissioner Berkowitz; Councilmember Wold; staff Bisek, Blank and Pederson
Absent: Commissioners Wahl and Priebe
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chair Anderson called the August 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 Thompson
to approve the minutes of the May meeting as presented. The motion carried with all ayes.
3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS
a. Athletic Associations. None were present.
b. Staff. Mary Bisek made some comments about the impact the weather has had on us this
summer. Several Tuesday evening concerts had to be canceled. Summer programs are
winding down, and fall program registration has begun. The City is taking over the
Wayzata Community Education school year swimming program beginning this fall. Soccer
is in fiill swing. Touch tone interactive phone registration will be demonstrated next
month. We have made arrangements with our software vendor to be a test site. The recre-
ation division will be meeting sometime in September to decide what programs we can
schedule this year in the new gyms at the Wayzata High School and Armstrong High
School. The History Fest was held August 9, as well as a large softball tournament at
Zachary Playfield. Mary stated that two wooden boats that were built entirely by teens, as
part of the Boat Project, were launched at Parkers Lake the night of the last summer con-
cert. The kids were very excited about it. Honeywell donated money for that project. They
are interested in doing it again. The boats were built in a double car garage, but we're not
sure if that space will be available again next year. Chair Anderson stated that he had
stopped in at the tournament at Zachary over the weekend and was very impressed with
how smoothly things were going and that Rick should be commended for his hard work.
c. Others. Karol Greupner, Recreation Supervisor, was present at the meeting to introduce
members of the Fine Arts Council. Karol supervises youth activities, pre-school programs,
music programs, the arts, etc. She stated that almost 60% of the concerts were canceled
this summer due to rain. Next Tuesday is the last concert of the summer at Parkers. There
has been good attendance at the concerts that we were able to hold. The University of
Minnesota water ski team show was last Tuesday and the rain held off until after the
show. The concert afterwards had to be canceled. Two groups have been rescheduled to
perform at the Arts Fair, Tricia and the Toons, and Beasley's Big Band. Concerts were
PRAC Minutes/August 1997
Page 22
sponsored by Cub Foods, Burnet Realty, Franklin National Bank and the City of Plym-
outh.
The newly formed Plymouth Fine Arts Council attended the meeting to make a presenta-
tion to the commissioners. Karol introduced Georgeann Bessler Wenisch, president of the
Fine Arts Council, Michele Combs, Vice President, Connie Fernholtz, and Lisa Molitor.
Ms. Bessler Wenisch stated that they came together as a group of citizens interested in
visual arts. They helped create new art classes, this year's concert schedule, an arts phone
line that is maintained by their group that gives out recorded messages regarding various
special arts events, etc., and sponsored the first juried art exhibit last spring. There were
over 130 works of art displayed, which was way beyond what they expected. They will be
doing the juried art exhibit again in the fall. The theme will be "focus on autumn." An
event coming up in September that they are very excited about is an "Evening with Joe
Dowling," at the Radisson Conference Center, September 23. He's the artistic director of
the Guthrie Theatre. On October 23, they will be working with the seniors doing a Minne-
sota landscape art display at Fire Station III. They have developed a newsletter/brochure,
which will be mailed out next week. The Fine Arts Council is a small organization hoping
to make their mark on the community. They would like to start a community
band/orchestra, theatre group, etc. They need a regular place to meet, so they asked the
Commission to be on the lookout for a location. Director Blank explained how pleased he
was with this branch of parks and recreation. Councilmember Tim Wold said that the Fine
Arts Council should contact the Council and Mayor and say they support the building of
an activity center. The group is hoping that they can use some space at the Wayzata Cen-
tral Middle School until they can find something more permanent.
4. PAST COUNCIL ACTION
There was nothing to report on this item.
5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
a. West Medicine Lake Park update. Phase 3 started Monday and should be done in three
weeks. Picnic shelter bids came in very high last time, and if they come in high again, we
may look in a catalog to find some standard picnic shelter strictures. The park will be
seeded and sodded this fall.
b. Ice Arena/Life Time Fitness. Reports indicate that the parking lot is very crowded most
of the time. Striping of the parking lot should help that, because right now people park an-
ywhere they can. Director Blank will have a counting project coming up next week, where
staff will be in the parking lot counting the cars that arrive every hour all day long. Com-
missioner Johnson asked about the City's leverage with Life Time. He is disgusted with
their policy of having a parent sign a notarized waiver for their child to attend with a
friend. Director Blank explained that the city presented Life Time with several policy
changes and they complied with six or seven of them. Planning Commissioner Berkowitz
asked what advice Director Blank would give Life Time members if they are not happy
with certain things. Director Blank said to have them call Life Time directly. Councilmem-
ber Wold said our relationship with them is that we bought pool time, ice arenas, access to
PRAC Minutes/August 1997
Page 23
pools by school district, and reduced initiation for Plymouth residents. Our contract with
them says that we meet quarterly to discuss issues. Calls coming into Director Blank have
diminished greatly. Membership at Life Time is at 5,000 now.
Elm Creek Playfield update. All the grass was killed when we had a late freeze last May.
The softball fields will be have to be sodded now, so that they will be ready by next spring.
Fencing will be taking place soon, too.
d. Golf course discussion. A three par golf course will be going in east of Vicksburg Lane,
south of the workhouse. Ron Fiemann asked what Director Blank's feelings were on the
issue of preserving one of the larger courses in Plymouth. Director Blank thinks the City
should hire a consultant to do a feasibility study.
e. East Medicine Lake Regional Trail. The Hennepin Park District is going to do a $5 mil-
lion bond to install the trail. If all goes well, this will take about two years to complete.
The trail will go down the east side of the lake and connect to Theodore Wirth trail.
Armstrong High School gym. The footings are in now, and they have started to work
above ground. The project is being administered by Robbinsdale School District. The gym
should be ready by the first of the year.
g. Skateboard park. See item 6a.
6. NEW BUSINESS
a. 1998-2002 CIP. Director Blank handed out a copy of the 1997-2001 CIP. The neighbor-
hood park in 1998 should be the one at Schmidt Lake Road and Vicksburg Lane (the park
requested by Mona Domaas). There should also be money available to do the site at 22nd
and Vicksburg, bleachers at the ice arena practice rink, a sculpture in front of the ice are-
na, flowers at the amphitheater, and a skateboard park/inline skate facility. Director Blank
attended a meeting in Golden Valley along with representatives from other cities and or-
ganizations about skateboard parks. Cheapskate in Minnetonka has offered to run a skate-
board park on their site. The downtown Minneapolis skateboard facility is probably going
to lose their space, and they are possibly interested in coming out here. Rollerblade may be
interested in something in the western suburbs, also. Director Blank says we need to put
something in the `98 CIP, but there are several questions that need to be researched first.
Do we want to have inline skating in Plymouth on a smaller scale at two or three loca-
tions, or would we be better off partnering with other communities on a larger scale? Do
we want an indoor or just an outdoor facility? Do we want only in-line skaters or skate-
boarders, too? Do we want a fenced facility, pay as you go, or open, non -fenced, and free?
Jim McWethy from Sports Hut stated that Roseville put an outdoor in-line skating area on
their bandee rink. He said in-line skating, skateboarding, and BMX biking are all events
that could work in a skateboard park. He believes it makes sense to build something that
would accommodate all of these activities. Commissioner Willegalle said he read that
Minnesota is the largest user of in-line skates. Councilmember Wold stated that he would
like to see a skateboard park in every ward in Plymouth and then one large one in the cen-
PRAC Minutes/August 1997
Page 24
ter of town. He suggested that Jim encourage the skateboarders to contact the Council re-
garding their desire to have a skateboard facility in Plymouth. Commissioner Willegalle
thinks this issue probably should go to a subcommittee. Councilmember Wold agreed with
this. The City Council is meeting with the school board next week, and one of the items
they will be discussing is a skateboard park. Councilmember Wold said the meeting be-
tween the school board and city council is an open meeting that anyone can attend. He
suggested that skateboard enthusiasts should come to that meeting. Commissioner
Thompson said she thinks the trails that were put in along Vicksburg Lane have satisfied
the neighborhood residents who wanted a park at Schmidt Lake Road and Vicksburg, and
perhaps the money set aside for that park should now go to a skateboard park. Director
Blank suggested $80,000 for seed money to start the skateboard park. Commissioner
Fiemann feels we should try to build one on both the east and west side of the city and get
support from school districts and churches, etc. Commissioner Johnson said if we do it
like Roseville did, we can start making money after four or five years. Director Blank stat-
ed the Commission needs to decide if they want the facility to be free or to charge admis-
sion to attend. Commissioner Johnson believes it will be a safer facility if we control it,
and that means charging a fee to use it. Councilmember Wold said he doesn't have a prob-
lem asking people to pay to use a skateboard park, but he wants it to be affordable. He
feels that $80,000 is too low an amount to start with. Chair Anderson said the Commis-
sion needs some direction. Commissioner Johnson feels that several people need to be in-
volved in this. Jim McWethy believes we need to have at least $60,000 to $70,000 to get
started. Director Blank's thought was that if the City contributed $80,000, maybe the
school district would kick in something, too. Other sponsors like Coke or Pepsi might
come forward, too. Director Blank said he would come up with some numbers by next
month's meeting. All were in agreement with $80,000 as a starting point. Commissioner
Johnson, Willegalle and Councilmember Wold volunteered to be on subcommittee on
skateboard park issue. Commissioner Johnson knows a teen in his neighborhood who
would like to be on committee, too. A new draft version of the CIP will be handed out at
the next meeting. Director Blank asked for other items to include. Commissioner Thomp-
son said we need more baseball fields.
Director Blank asked if the Commission could meet on Wednesday nights next month and
in October.
Commissioner Johnson brought up the issue of the peninsula on Medicine Lake. There is a
developer who wants to build a hotel at the intersection of Hwys. 55 and 169. He wants to
buy the peninsula and give it to the City. Three scenarios for mitigation have been present-
ed. The only acceptable scenario had minimal impact on the peninsula, according to Direc-
tor Blank. Like every other issue, there will be trade off s and compromises. This issue
will eventually come before PRAC and will likely be very controversial.
A request for an extension of the trail on Northwest Boulevard was discussed. Director
Blank said the Commission should consider it like any other request and decide if they
want to put money in the CIP for it.
PRAC Minutes/August 1997
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7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION
Commissioner Thompson wants the soccer fields at Parkers Lake clearly marked. She also
requested that we combine the Under 13 and Under 14 age groups in the fiiture, instead of
eliminating the program for that age because of low numbers.
8. STAFF COMM[_]NICATION
The next meeting will be Wednesday, Sept. 10. (Note: This was later changed to Sept. 15).
9. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m.