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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 09-13-1990Minutes of the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission Meeting September 13, 1990 Page 37 Present: Chairman Freels, Commissioners Anderson, Edwards, Hanson, Rosen and Waage; staff Blank, Busch and Pederson Absent: Commissioner Beach 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Freels called the September meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes of the July meeting were not made available to PRAC at their September meeting, so they will be approved at the October meeting. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. This item will be covered under 5.a. b. Staff. Rick Busch presented the Employee of the Month award to Kurt Pauly for the month of September. He stated that Kurt has been working for us as a warming house attendant and field attendant for the past five years and has also worked full time in the park maintenance department. Rick praised Kurt for his reliability, his willingness to work whenever he is needed, and his ability to work with the public in sometimes trying situations. He represents the department very well. Since there was no August PRAC meeting, Rick mentioned that the August Employee of the Month was Tamara Jergenson, who works under Cindy's supervision as a playground leader. Rick announced that our fall soccer program has been playing since the first week in September, and registration is up from last year. Our adult fall softball leagues will be wrapping up the week of September 17. Indoor fall sports will begin next week. Rick also mentioned that the Upper Midwest Regional Softball Tournament was held in Plymouth over the Labor Day weekend, with 85 teams participating. The MRPA sponsored this event. C. Others. None were present at this meeting. 4. REPORT ON PAST COUNCIL ACTION a. Playfields. The City Council reviewed the preliminary plans for the Bass Lake and Parkers Lake Playfields. They added an additional tot lot at Parkers Lake Playfield, and they added fencing along County Road 6, in an effort to keep pedestrians from crossing at points other than designated crossings. b. 46th Avenue trail. Council awarded the bid on this trail, which has already been installed and is now in the final stages of completion, including seeding/sodding along the path itself. Commissioner Edwards asked if crews had started building the tunnel under County Road 6. Director Blank indicated that he learned at a construction meeting last week that the tunnel will be started in about two weeks. September 1990 PRAC Minutes Page 38 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Discussion of non-resident use of playfields. Director Blank explained to the commissioners and the representatives of the athletic associations, that PRAC commissioner Carol Beach had suggested the City consider implementing non-resident fees starting in 1991. This suggestion came after rumors that Plymouth kids were being denied participation on some teams, because non-residents got placed on the teams instead. Dennis Netland, Chairman of the New Hope -Plymouth Baseball program, distributed a report to the commissioners outlining this past season's participation. He stated that 693 kids, ages 9-18, played in the program, with 393 of those kids living in Plymouth, which had the largest participation. Mr. Netland stated that no Plymouth kids were denied the opportunity to play (unless they were under age, or had tried to register after teams were already full). He explained that Plymouth kids pay more than New Hope, because of an officials' fee, which is covered by the City of New Hope for New Hope children. Gail Dieleman, Secretary of the New Hope -Plymouth Athletic Association, and current chair of the summer traveling soccer program, stated that their association is somewhat unique in that it offers five different sports all under one "umbrella," rather than separate associations for basketball, football, hockey, soccer, etc. They currently restrict membership to kids from Plymouth and New Hope living in District 281, although they will occasionally allow children from Crystal, Golden Valley and other suburbs to play. Their largest participation is from kids living in Plymouth, however. He feels charging non-resident fees to New Hope kids would be difficult and somewhat unfair, considering that fields are evenly provided by both the cities of Plymouth and New Hope. He stated that Plymouth children do pay $14.25 more than New Hope kids, because of the officials' fee, and that kids from other suburbs pay that fee, plus an additional $3 to help offset the fact that Plymouth and New Hope provides the fields. He indicated that as far as he knew, no Plymouth children were denied the opportunity to play. Ed Cunnington, Plymouth -Wayzata Baseball, stated that 1,150 boys (76 teams) participated this summer, with the largest percentage being from Plymouth. He did not have exact numbers available. No Plymouth children were denied membership. He was concerned that if non- resident fees were charged to kids from Wayzata, that the Wayzata businesses that help sponsor the teams, might withdraw some of that sponsorship. Greg Baufield, representing Plymouth -Wayzata Youth Football, stated that there are 335 participants this fall from District 284, with most of these kids being from Plymouth. He explained that they belong to the Lake Minnetonka Football Association, which includes leagues from Hopkins, Minnetonka, Orono, Plymouth -Wayzata and Plymouth -New Hope. Their costs escalated this year because of a problem with the helmets, requiring them to purchase all new ones. Football registration fees are currently running $60 for a single and $80 for a family. Last September 1990 PRAC Minutes Page 39 year, those fees were $40 and $55. They play their games at Oakwood, and this year one third of their games at Plymouth Middle School, because there aren't enough fields available to accommodate them. He commented that there are about 500 Minnetonka children playing football, but Minnetonka is not providing any of the fields. Commissioners were surprised to hear this and wanted to know why. Mr. Baufield replied that Minnetonka Park and Recreation has decided to make its fields available only to adult groups willing to pay rent. He's been putting some pressure on the Wayzata School District to provide a field and on the City of Wayzata. He also intends to contact Minnetonka about their lack of cooperation. ' Following the presentations made by the athletic association representatives, Chair Freels asked the commissioners for their comments on charging non-resident user fees. Commissioner Anderson questioned how many non-residents are actually involved in these youth sports and would charging them $3 or $5 be worth the possible negative reaction it would generate. Rick Busch commented that it was somewhere between 200 and 300 kids, excluding New Hope children, and reminded PRAC that New Hope does provide about half the fields for their Association's use. Commissioner Rosen stated that charging non --resident fees would be a very negative thing to do and would cause lots of ill will between cities. He also feels that $3 or $5 would not be worth it and would just be an annoyance. Commissioner Hanson said that she thinks cities that are not offering any kind of support in the way of fields or monetary contributions should be asked to help out, and pressure should be put on the City of Wayzata and the Wayzata School District to repair some of their fields or make them available to youth sports. Commissioner Edwards is not in favor of charging non-resident user fees. She feels that some families may have trouble affording the additional charge, especially if they have several children playing sports. Chair Freels commented that he doesn't want to charge non --resident fees either. He doesn't think it would be worthwhile, nor would the fees generated be enough to cover the costs associated with non- resident use. Based on the figures presented by the Athletic Association representatives, non-resident involvement is minimal. Because Carol Beach was absent, Chair Freels suggested that the Commission table any action on this item at this time. All commissioners agreed with this. Chair Freels thanked each representative for attending the meeting and voicing their concerns. The representatives in turn thanked the Commission for inviting them, and they indicated they are very appreciative of Plymouth's support of their programs. They also stated they would like to nominate Rick Busch "Employee of the Month," and commented on how grateful they are for his help and cooperation. September 1990 PRAC Minutes Page 40 b. Bass Lake Parkers Lake playfield u date. Director Blank stated that Council has approved .the preliminary plans with the addition of a second tot lot at Parkers Lake and a fence along County Road 6. The final plans and specs are scheduled to go to the City Council on September 24. c. Swan Lake neighborhood park. The playground equipment has been installed, some final grading needs to be completed, and seed and sod has to be planted. d. West Medicine trail update. This project is proceeding nicely. Director Blank will be meeting with residents this week who need an opening in the fence above the retaining wall for access to their docks. Property owners must rebuild their stairways themselves. All work should be completed by October 1. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Norma Lewis land - West Medicine Lake City Park update. Mrs. Lewis approached Director Blank in recent weeks indicating she was interested in selling her property, which is part of the proposed West Medicine Lake City park project. The City is now in the process of having the land appraised. b. Forster's land - Zachary Pla field update. The Forster family has contacted the City regarding selling their property. This is the land west of Zachary Playfield that the City is interested in acquiring as a buffer zone between the playfield and residential homes. C. U.S. Homes land - future playfield update. Two appraisals have been done on this property; one by the City's appraiser and one by U.S. Homes. Based on the large difference in the value, the City Council has stated that no purchase should be considered at this time. The Wayzata School District is also interested in some of this land for a future school site. d. Discussion of special facilities - comprehensive plan. Director Blank shared some statistics on golf courses and outdoor pools with the commissioners. According to national standards, there should be one 18 -hole golf course per 25,000 people in a community. Plymouth does meet this standard, based on its current population, with golf courses at Elm Creek, Hampton Hills and Hollydale. Although these courses are not City owned, they are open to the public. Commissioners are concerned that at some point in the future, these privately owned courses may be sold to developers who will build houses on this land, and that the City should consider the purchase of at least one of these courses in order to preserve it. The standard for pools is one outdoor pool per 20,000 people. With a projected population of 80,000 to 100,000 when Plymouth is completely developed, we would need approximately 5.5 outdoor pools if we are to meet the national standard. Director Blank discussed the costs to build and maintain outdoor pools and how they usually operate at a loss. He talked about the new $2.7 million 50 meter outdoor pool that Winona just built that includes a water slide, and the pool in Crystal that has two new water September 1990 PRAC Minutes Page 41 slides. Commissioner Rosen asked Director Blank if wave pools are still as popular as they once were. Director Blank will research that question and let PRAC know. He did say that this summer, while attending a soccer tournament in Blaine, he heard an announcement made over the public address system that the Anoka wave pool was closed due to being at capacity for that day. The commissioners discussed the possibility of an outdoor pool in Plymouth and suggested that a citizen survey should be done to see if this is what the public wants. Director Blank indicated that the financial task force appointed by the City Council may be doing a citizen survey in the future and that questions like that might be included. It was suggested that PRAC wait on making any recommendations for special facilities in the Comprehensive Plan until after a survey is completed. e, 1990-91 ice rink locations - committee report. The skating rink committee met to try and distribute more equally throughout Plymouth the locations of ice rinks. The committee suggested two new rinks; one in Turtle Lake Park and one in Swan Lake Park. They recommended closing the rink at Lions Park because of its proximity to Parkers Lake, and closing the one at 24th & Olive Lane, due to its proximity to Oakwood. Director Blank pointed out that there will also be two rinks in the new Bass Lake Playfield. A MOTION WAS MADE BY COMMISSIONER HANSON AND SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER EDWARDS TO ACCEPT THE RECOMMENDATION MADE BY THE SKATING RINK COMMITTEE. THE MOTION CARRIED WITH FIVE AYES. (Commissioner Beach was absent; Commissioner Anderson left prior to this item being discussed.) It was suggested that staff research a way to get onto Bass Lake to maintain a rink there, until the Bass Lake Playfield rinks are available. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION None. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION Meeting dates for October were discussed. Since staff and some commissioners have conflicts on the 11th and 18th, it was decided to meet on October 25. Director Blank made the announcement that after 22 years, Commissioner Edwards was resigning, because she and her husband will be moving out of Plymouth at the end of September. Commissioners offered their regrets that Barbara would be "retiring," and they all wished her well. A MOTION WAS MADE BY COMMISSIONER ROSEN AND SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER HANSON TO COMMEND BARBARA ON HER 22 YEARS OF DEDICATED SERVICE AND COMMITMENT TO THE PARK AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMISSION AND TO THE CITIZENS OF PLYMOUTH. THE MOTION CARRIED WITH ALL AYES. 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 10:15 p.m.