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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 05-19-1999Minutes of the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission Meeting May 19, 1999 Page 20 Present: Chair Anderson, Commissioners Willegalle, Priebe, Musliner, Wahl, Fiemann, Thompson; Planning Commissioner Stein; Councilmember Black; staff Bisek, Blank and Sankey 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Anderson called the May meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Medicine Lake Room. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made by Commissioner Wahl and seconded by Commissioner Priebe to approve the minutes of the April meeting as presented. The motion carried with all ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. None b. Staff Mary Bisek spoke about the work being done on the 2000 budgets for the department and for the new Plymouth Creek Center. The Council has specified that it will be a flat budget with no new increases over last year. Mary said that Primavera went very well, and she congratulated Melissa Musliner on having two paintings in the show. On Monday, there was a joint concert with the senior choir and the community band. We will have a new staff person starting June 1: Dan Lauer will be taking over the former duties of Rick Busch as Rick moves on to Activity Center Manager. We will also have an intern with us who will be helping with research on facility rental policies and also with the aquatic program. The fall brochure articles need to be finished by mid June. Cindy Anderson is receiving an award from Hennepin Parks for outdoor education. 4. PAST COUNCIL ACTION a. The Council awarded the bids for the activity center, which came in at or under budget. b. Council approved the name "Plymouth Creek Center" for the new activity center. c. Council approved giving the city portion of the Luce Line Trail to Hennepin Parks. The County will be extending the trail to the east to connect up with their trail system. Since the county will have over 40 miles of trail to the east, and the state has over 60 miles of trail to the west, it made sense to turn over the City's one mile portion of trail to the county for more continuity and ease in maintenance. They have agreed to keep our trail interconnects and any future trail interconnects we may need. We will also keep our easements. The County must get the City's permission before they can use the land for any other purpose in the fiiture. d. Council approved the disc golf course at Plymouth Creek Park e. Council took no action on the proposed skate park. The individual who had made the presentation to the Council had no fiinding or equipment at this time. The mayor and other members of the community are discussing the possibility of using the Wayzata Central Middle School ice arena during the summer for this purpose. PRAC Minutes/May 1999 Page 21 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Comprehensive Plan. Barry Warner from SRF presented the trail plan work which they are working on. He said that if you poll the community you find that using the trails is the number one activity. Trails are the laminate which pulls the park system together. They provide recreation along with transportation. He spoke of the three types of users of trails. Type A is the good biker. Type B is the more passive biker. Type C includes children. A city's trail plan must plan for all of these types. The Type A individuals prefer to use on -road bike lanes because they travel faster. Commissioner Wahl agreed with this. He is a Type A, and he finds biking on off-road trails can be dangerous at times because of the slower pedestrian traffic. Warner showed the Commission the 1992 Trail Plan and discussed what had been completed. He then presented the Trail Plan Analysis. This shows what the needs of the city seem to be according to traffic patterns, recreational facilities, population location, road usage, and dangerous crossings. He said that highways pose particular problems because MNDOT focuses on cars. At -grade crossings are a real challenge. A good example is the Highway 55 and Vicksburg Lane crossing. It is very wide and not very "non - motorized" friendly. Because of heavy traffic and faster speeds, some roads need trails on both sides so that people don't have to cross the busy road so often in order to use the trail. Vicksburg Lane and Northwest Boulevard are good examples of these. Warner then presented the Typical Trail Cross Sections chart which shows types of trails and how they are or are not offset from the road. He said that trail designs must adhere to one of two guidelines: ASHTO or MNDOT. MNDOT is more conservative than the national ASHTO guideline. There is an "Ice Tea" funding source available for making trails crossing highways more "non -motorized" friendly. The pedestrian bridge over Highway 494 at County Road 9 will be partially funded by Ice Tea fiinds. Adam Arvinson from SRF presented the Proposed 1999 Trail Plan Update. He said that the plan will continue to evolve as suggestions are made. He urged the Commission to continue dialogue and suggestions. Director Blank noted that when the roadway comprehensive plan is completed, the trail plan will need to be cross referenced with it. Commissioners discussed the pros and cons of on -road trails and off-road trails and made suggestions for additional trail segments for the plan. Barry Warner noted that often the completion of the trails is opportunity driven according to when developers are working on projects and fiinds become available. 6. NEW BUSINESS PRAC Minutes/May 1999 Page 22 a. Commissioner Willegalle told the Commission that Carol Creelman, the woman who donated the money for the log cabin at Parkers Lake, passed away. Director Blank said that a service was held for her at Parkers Lake. b. Commissioner Thompson noted that even when the department closes the fields due to poor weather or field conditions, several coaches violate the closing and hold practices on both baseball and soccer fields. She suggested that if we are serious about protecting the fields, we should probably send letters to the associations asking them to cooperate. Director Blank agreed and made a note to do this. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION None. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION None. 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:56 p.m.