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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 06-17-1999MINUTES OF THE PARK AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING June 17, 1999 Page 23 Present: Chair Anderson, Commissioners Willegalle, Thompson, Musliner; Councilmember Black; staff Bisek, Blank, Busch, Pederson; intern Jensen; and Barry Warner from SRF Absent: Commissioners Fiemann, Priebe and Wahl 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:15 p.m. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made by Commissioner Thompson, seconded by Commissioner Musliner to approve the minutes of the May meeting. Motion carried with all ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. None were present. b. Staff. Mary Bisek introduced Matt Jenson, a student at the University of Minnesota, who is doing his internship with us this summer for 11 weeks. Matt will be working with recreation programs, gathering information, doing research, working with maintenance crews, etc. Mary distributed the summer concert schedule and encouraged commissioners to attend the concerts. The concert this past week was rained out. Occasionally, the concerts are rescheduled. Mary stated that our communications coordinator has put a message on cable about the city cutting back on beach hours, due to a shortage of staff. Commissioner Willegalle asked how this would be accomplished. Mary said the hours the beach would be guarded would be reduced. Mary explained that you have to have an 18 year old guard on duty at all times when guards younger than 18 are working. Director Blank said that eight beach staff have quit in the last couple of weeks due to finding higher paying jobs. Rick Busch will be joining the meeting around 8:30 to discuss the fieldhouse. Councilmember Black asked how we get the bands for our concerts. Mary said that Karol Greupner finds them, or some of them will even call us. Karol occasionally calls a booking agent, or finds out about them through other communities. Councilmember Black talked about a couple of good jazz bands she had recently heard perform in Rochester. She stated they were from the Twin Cities. 4. PAST COUNCIL ACTION Director Blank had nothing to report on this item. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Comprehensive Plan Study Session - Barry Warner. Barry talked about the two draft chapters to be discussed, Needs Analysis and Trail Plan. They're working on solidifying the trails chapter based on comments from last month. Tonight's major focus will be on the needs analysis chapter. Barry said it's not necessary to arrive upon recommendations tonight, but flush out issues and figure out needs. This can be approached from a number PRAC Minutes/June 1999 Page 24 of different perspectives: national standards, passive vs. active service areas, participation rates, special facilities, such as archery, and what residents have said in surveys. A citizen survey is being done this summer focusing on the comprehensive plan. Plymouth has a deficit in total park acreage. But we are fortunate to have regional parks within our city limits and open space. Taking those parcels into consideration, we meet the national standards. Plymouth has tried to keep its park acreage as natural as possible. As the city has evolved we have relied on park service areas or walking neighborhoods to determine if residents were being provided with adequate parks. Each park service area was reviewed to determine where it's lacking. Population projections have also been studied. Northern Plymouth will see growth. There are 50 park service areas in Plymouth. All have been looked at to determine if parks are meeting the needs of the residents. All the park service areas have been scored by SRF. Some areas will need a neighborhood park. Councilmember Black asked if we count golf courses as usable park areas. It counts as open space but Barry wonders to what extent it provides adequate value to the neighborhood. Director Blank said park service areas can be modified if PRAC so chooses. How did the lines get drawn between service areas? Mr. Warner said land use determined some of it (residential vs. commercial). A principal roadway becomes a boundary and so do physical features, such as Medicine Lake. Director Blank explained that when the park system plan was first developed, Plymouth's population was 30,000. Our City Council said build a good quality park system but leave land on the tax rolls. One of the principals our system was built on was private parks. We also have open space built into the plan. Director Blank says French Park acts as one of our large community facilities. Our typical neighborhood park is something like Three Ponds Park, a large park site, where we mow or maintain 10% or 15% of the area, letting the rest remain natural. We also have 90% of our athletic complexes finished. Mary explained how we get land from developers for park purposes. The standard for park dedication is if you have two units per ace or less, then 10% of the land must be dedicated. If you have more units than two per acre, park dedication increases. Barry said the most difficult piece of a park plan to put together is the one dealing with activity. Most of the recommendations in this section were based on the 1995 sport facility plan that was put together at that time by the staff, the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission and the Youth Sports Task Force. This section highlights the athletic activities that residents participate in and projects fiiture participation rates. Director Blank wanted an explanation of how the numbers were arrived at. Barry said the population changes were developed by Community Development staff. Three things were taken into consideration. 1) areas that will continue to see ongoing development, 2) opportunities for redevelopment and 3) decreasing household sizes. State demographics say 2.6 is the number of people per household now. The average household size is dropping. The population of Plymouth is at 62,000 and is projected to go to 64,000. Back in 1982, the population forecast for Plymouth was 108,000 at total build out, but now it's been adjusted to 64,000. The highest population ever projected for Plymouth was 125,000. As the Plymouth park system continues to evolve, demographics change and different sports become popular, new types of recreational facilities are likely to be developed. Special facilities to consider in the fiiture include: bark parks, disc golf, fishing piers, in- PRAC Minutes/June 1999 Page 25 line hockey, miniature golf, water park, and skateboard park. As the community develops, residents may look forward to these kinds of facilities. Eagan is opening a water park, as well as Apple Valley. The outdoor pool at LifeTime is probably not large enough for a community the size of Plymouth. A city owned outdoor pool may become an issue, according to Director Blank. Sooner or later this community will ask for an outdoor pool. Barry asked if there were any other special facilities that should be added to this list. Commissioner Willegalle asked if paddleboats were ever considered. Commissioner Musliner asked about a large indoor play stricture. Mary Bisek mentioned an art park. Commissioner Thompson asked how a multi -soccer complex would differ from what we have at Parkers Lake. Director Blank said that it differs in total number of fields. Commissioner Willegalle pointed out that there is a fishing pier at Parkers and also one at Bass Lake. Based on various types of needs analysis, several major issues should be considered high priority: southeast Plymouth, because it is currently underserved by park land and trails and the population is projected to increase; the northwest quadrant, which is open to fiiture development; more soccer facilities; more school parks; and the following park service areas need attention: 1, 27, 46, 47, 48, 49 and 50. The next meeting will be July 8. A second meeting may be necessary in July in order to keep pace with the overall schedule. Commissioner Willegalle brought up the issue of a park tour. Director Blank said one hasn't been scheduled for this year, but if there's interest, it can be done. Councilmember Black asked about the open space chapter and wondered if PRAC reviews that also. Director Blank said yes. Barry said a draft comprehensive plan must be ready by sometime in August. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Review proposed fieldhouse rental rates. Director Blank said the site is substantially graded. By Monday they will start pouring concrete on the site. Astroturf and Astroplay need six weeks to put the turf in place. Dome manufacturer needs about five days to erect the dome. We're hoping for around 15'11 of October for dome to go up. Rick will start booking time beginning October 30'11 We need to start marketing these facilities. Director Blank explained that we have a letter ready to go to the soccer associations including literature on Astroplay. Director Blank went over the proposed budget for the fieldhouse. He talked also about the survey results of other community's fieldhouse rates. Our competiton is Eden Prairie, Blaine and Holy Angels. We're recommending a fee of 210 per hour for primetime which would drop to $180 at night after 10 p.m. The majority of these renters will be Plymouth residents. We don't want to gouge them. COMMISSIONER THOMPSON MOVED TO ACCEPT STAFF'S RECOM- MENDATION OF $210 PER HOUR FOR PRIMETIME AND $180 AFTER 10 P.M. AND ALSO TO RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF THE PRIORITY USAGE LIST AS PRESENTED. CHAIR ANDERSON SECONDED. MOTION CARRIED WITH ALL PRAC Minutes/June 1999 Page 26 AYES. Rick then talked briefly about the user priority list. The first priority will go to programs sponsored by Plymouth Park and Recreation, second priority will be youth groups serving Plymouth residents, including athletic associations(at least 50% of the participants must be Plymouth residents); third priority will be Plymouth adult groups, i.e., civic organizations, churches, businesses (and they also must meet the 50% Plymouth resident rile); and fourth priority will be non -Plymouth groups. Commissioner Willegalle asked if the activity center will have a lights out by 10 p.m. policy like the other facilities in Plymouth. Director Blank doesn't anticipate having a lights out policy at the activity center. There will be a number of functions going on there, like wedding receptions, which can go past midnight. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION None. 8. STAFF COMM[_]NICATION Director Blank said that the Mayor added a millennium project for the City to the last study session. Director Blank suggested a garden project at the activity center. We are going to try to solicit community support for this garden. Businesses, community organizations, and individual residents will all be invited to participate. Director Blank pointed to a diagram and said the orange area will be wetland buffer plantings. The green area will be the formal gardens. Director Blank talked to the seniors about it, and they are excited about it, too. This will be a huge campaign. Matt Jenson, our summer intern, will help write up the campaign. The CIP has $75,000 in it for seed money. Another thought is the city will match dollar for dollar what a participant donates. The grand opening of the activity center will likely be in June 2000, which would coincide with the groundbreaking for the garden. Commissioner Willegalle said the City may be able to get a grant from the DNR if project has an environmental benefit. He has information on the grant program and will forward it to Matt. 9. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 9:25 p.m.