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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 04-14-1988Minutes of the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission Meeting April 14, 1988 Page 16 Present: Chair Edwards, Commissioners Hanson, Reed, _Anderson,, LaTour and, Beach; staff Blank,. Patterson and Pederson; and George. Watson of Brauer and Associates Absent: Commissioner Rosen 1, CALL TO ORDER Chair Edwards called the April meeting, to order at 1:40 p.m. in the Council Chambers. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made by Commissioner Reed and seconded' by Commissioner LaTour to approve the minutes of the March meeting as presented. The motion carried with all ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. None were present at this meeting. b. ,Staff. Mary Patterson discussed the success of Plymouth's first out of state trip to Florida during spring break. to see the Twins at Spring Training Camp. A formal evaluation will be done by sending a questionnaire to the participants. She informed the Commission that 200 adult softball teams had registered: for our spring/summer softball season and that: play begins on Friday, April 22. She indicated that she continues to work on the Arta Advisory Council with members from the Art Center of Minnesota, Wayzata Community Education,, staff from Wayzata: Senior Nigh and interested. residents. The purpose of the Arts Council is to determine what direction to go with cultural events. in this community.. Mary discussed how busy staff is gearing up for summer recreation programs. The May/,rune Plymouth on: Parade is at the printers now and will be in homes by May I. She stated that it is the largest issue ever published and has many new programs..: Some of these classes are: Sunday evening t -ball for children with both parents working during the day, ball skills class for 4 b: S year olds too young to take t -ball, Friday afternoon special events for toddlers, etc; Mary stated that many vendors have contacted us wanting to sell concessions at Parkers Lake: this summer as well as at the playf`ields. She indicated that we are currently having the City attorney review, an agreement that would be signed by both a vendor and the City regarding the individual responsibilities of each.. PRAC Minutes/April 14 198$ Page 17 She also mentioned that Plymouth will be sponsoring a. Volksmarch in October which could be part of the Parkers Lake Pavilion grand opening if the timing is right. 4. REPORT ON PAST COUNCIL, ACTION a. P_ly=urh Creek SoccerField. Council approved the construction of a second. soccer field at. Plymouth Creek which will be constructed in 1988, but will not be ready for use until the spring of 1989. b. ,S,tMarv's Neighborhood Park Plans and Suecifications. Council approved the final plans and specifications for St. Mary's park. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. PlXMouth Creek Site Planning- Update. George Watson presented a preliminary master plan to the commissioners and staff and reviewed with them how it combined aspects of plans 2 and 3, which were studied, at the March meeting. This plan shows 10 tennis courts, two banks of four courts each, and one bank of two, which would be for spectator, tennis, with seating, surrounding it. One of the banks of four could be domed at a later time for indoor soccer, by placing a turf cover over the court's surface. Discussion also covered the theme park area, and an explanation of the sculptured garden and civic _plaza area. George, pointed out the proposed location of the handicapped accessible tot lot, and commissioners had some questions about this. They were concerned that it would be only for children with handicaps, but were informed by Director Blank and George that. it would .be an integrated playground for use by children of all ability levels, it would simply have ramps to allow wheelchair access to much of the equipment., Commissioner Hanson questioned whether or not the trees could rea.>lly be saved once construction begina on the expansion of the parking lot and the community center, Director Blank responded that it would be difficult. if the community center is moved farther north, onto the land that we do not own at the present time, more trees will be saved. Commissioners asked. George to amend the plan by adding an overlay showing the community center pushed farther north, and changing some of the descriptive titles for example, the title "civic, plaza/sculpture garden" was, confusing to the Commission,because of the many ways this could be interpreted. Following the Commission's review of the amended plan at their May meeting, the plan. would then be shared with the Council. bi Park Usage/Cost Study Report Discussion. Chair Edwards. sta,te t that this item does not have to be decided on at this meeting, but that some decision needs to be reached no later than next month, so that a recommendation can be forwarded to the Council in time for budget. preparation She suggested three possible recommendations to the Council. It was the general consensus of the commissioners that they are not comfortable at this time making a decision on charging user fees, until more information is available from other communities. Staff is still waiting on the. results of a survey being done by Edina on user fees, and this information should be ready by the May PRAC meeting FRAC !minutes/April 14, 1988 Page l8 C packers Lake_Ugdate• Belair Builders, is making great progress on the: pavilion and hopes to have it completed by July 1, although their contract specifies a September 7 completion date. They've agreed to have the picnic shelters finished as soon as possible. d.. Sti Mary's Ngighborh02d Park Update. The advertisement for bids has, been published in the, newspaper, with bid opening scheduled for April 27 at 2:00. The award of contract should go to the City Council on May 2, with construction, beginning sometime in mid or late May. e. Public Hearing to Amend-CoMgrehensiye Plan. This has been tentatively scheduled for the May PRAC meeting.. f i2ns Park Playground Update, Crews are now erecting this playground and should have it 90% completed by Friday, April 22. 6. NEV BUSINESS a,. Request for Matching funds -,Greenwood/Oakwood PTIJ, Director Blank reviewed the written request from the Greenwood/Oakwood PTA for matching funds from the City to build new playgrounds at these two school 'sites. Maps with circles showing the, walking radius to all neighborhood parka in the general vicinity of Greenwood and Oakwood were, also reviewed and discussed. Commissioners then reviewed the guidelines for requesting contributioxns to see if these two groups met the guidelines. It was decided that the Greenwood neighborhood did not meet the guideline for being 50% developed, although the school's attendance is estimated at between 600 and 700 children,_ and these children all use the playground. Commissioners then discussed that the majority of these children are bussed in from other parts of Plymouth. The Commission decided that the Greenwood request would be postponed until staff finds out how many children attending there actually live chose enough to walk to the school,. Bill Richardson, representing the Oakwood PTO, was present at the meeting to request assistance for their playground and to answer any questions. PRAC again reviewed the guidelines and discussed the fact that Oakwood is not designated as a neighborhood park, but rather as a community playfield, and that. Oakwood had received a new parking lot two years ago, which is considered: as an improvement and falls under guideline #8 Mr. Richardson felt that the new parking lot was not as much an improvement to the playground as it was to the community playfield, and therefore, should not be considered when reviewing this request. Commissioners asked Director Blank how funding these projects would affect the construction of other neighborhood parks in 1989. He stated that funds for the school playgrounds would come from the some budget as neighborhood parks and would have to be budgeted for accordingly. He felt, however, that no new neighborhood parks would be built in 1989, but, that two could be possible in 1990,,one of which might be Swan Lake. Kilmer Park needs minor construction and. would probably be the next park _scheduled for any redevelopment funds. PRAC Minutes/April 14, 1988 Page 19 Commissioners decided that neither of these requests for matching funds can be approved at this time, because both need further study, and the Commission would like an opportunity to look at the UP for 1989-94 Mr. Richardson Was asked to provide the Commission with a site plan and a. list of what equipment they would like added and, which Pieces: they will be removing prior to the May meeting. b unity Center General Discussion, Director Blank stated that the City Manager has requested that PRAC have a report prepared by Judy regarding the needs analysis for the community center. In consideration of this. request, he feels. that PRAC will need to meet twice. a month between now and then in order to accomplish this. Because so many interest. groups need to be heard from, it was suggested that, several could speak at one meeting and be given some guidelines in order to make their presentat,ons more effective and timely.. Groups would be limited to 30 minutes each and -should provide as much written information as possible to PRAC prior to making their presentation. Groups that need to be 'heard from include: both District 281 & 284 community education departments, youth hockey, swimming groups and senior citizens, as well as other smaller groups that will want to hold meetings in the community center. Meeting space is a. very important consideration, and in talking with other cities that have built community centers, Director Blank has learned that they did. not plan for enough meeting rooms.. Commissioner Hanson asked if the original plan for the community center included room layout, and Director Blank responded that it did. Chair Edwards stated that FRAC should review that plan to see if it's still appropriate now and that PRAC should also review the task force report prepared in 1984 prior to the May meeting. She suggested that commissioners start a separate folder on community center issues, Director Blank and Chair Edwards will work out a calendar of ineeting dates to discus's the community center and will inform everyone of those dates. c. Parkers Luke Peace Gardens. Unites Properties and Laukka:, the developers of Parkers Lake North, will cc.,tribute $5,000 toward the development of the peace gardens, and have had their landscape architect, Gene Ernst, prepare the concept plans. Director Blank shared, those plans with the Commission and discussed the various components of the plan. It consisted of several nodes, with each node priced separately. The peace gardens could be constructed in phasem, and it is anticipated that some of the gardens would be planted this year. A MOTION WAS MADE BY COMMISSIONER REED AND SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER HANSON TO APPROVE ACCEPTING THE $5,000 DONATION BY UNITED PROPERTIES AND LAUKKA FOR THE PEACE` GARDENS AT PARKERS LAKE CITY PARK. THE MOTION CARRIED WITH ALL AYES. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION None