HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 03-11-1993Minutes of the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission Meeting
March 11, 1993
Page 14
Present: Chair Anderson, Commissioners Burk, Mikula, Wahl,
Watson; staff Bisek, Blank and Pederson; Council -
members Edson and Tierney
Absent: Commissioners Gutzke and Johnson
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chair Anderson called the March meeting to order at 7 p.m.
in the Council Conference Room.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Commissioner Watson questioned whether or not the City makes
any money when renting fields to the Wayzata soccer club for
tournaments. She had understood Director Blank to say that
the City made no profit, yet the minutes stated that "the
City did not make a large profit" from renting soccer
fields. Director Blank explained that the money received
from the soccer club shows up as revenue in our budget,
although we basically break even when figuring in what it
costs the City in maintenance. Therefore, he believed the
minutes could remain as written. A motion was made by
Commissioner Watson and seconded by Commissioner Wahl to
approve the minutes of the February meeting as presented.
The motion carried with all ayes.
3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS
a. Athletic Associations. None were present.
b. Staff. Mary stated that a new feature had been added to
the Employee of the Month award program, which was the
addition of a gift certificate from Bakers Square in the
amount of $20, with the City and Bakers Square each
contributing $10. The Commission agreed that that was a
great idea.
Mary announced that the dates for the grand openings of
Parkers and Bass Lake Playfields have been finalized.
May 12 was set for Parkers Lake and May 19 for Bass Lake.
A new safety camp program will be offered this summer for
3rd and 4th graders. It will be held on June 15 and 16
and will teach personal safety. Members of the Plymouth
Police and Fire Departments will be involved. Weather
personality Mike Fairbourne will teach the kids about
weather safety. The Art Fair has been rescheduled for
Sunday, September 26, because the original date,
Saturday, the 25th, is Yom Kippur.
A student intern, from St. Cloud State University, will
begin a ten week internship with Plymouth Park and
Recreation starting March 15. He will be very involved
in planning the grand opening events, as well as other
special projects.
PRAC Minutes/March 1993
Page 15
The volunteer coordinator position will be 20 hours a
week and will be located in the Park and Recreation
Department. This decision was based on the fact that the
Parks Department uses the most volunteers, however, the
coordinator will be seeking volunteers for other
departments as well.
C. Others.
REPORT ON PAST COUNCIL ACTION
a. Council approved the rental policy for the Parkers Lake
Picnic Shelter for seven days a week, with the exception
of national holidays, rather than just weekend use.
b. Council approved the installation of a handicapped
accessible playground in Plymouth Creek Park.
C. Council accepted the 1992 Park and Recreation Advisory
Commission Annual Report.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
a. 1993 CIP.
1) South Shore Drive landscaping project. Russell King,
10000 South Shore Drive, representing the residents
living along this street, was present and made some brief
comments about how landscaping this area would provide
enhancements not only for the residents living here, but
for people visiting the park, as so many of them walk
down South Shore Drive. He stated that their request for
this landscaping was initially made in 1990 and again in
1992. Mr. King believes that the residents feel so
strongly about this landscaping that they would be
willing to help with the actual planting. Director Blank
reviewed the information that had been provided the Park
Commission in their agenda packet, which included a
memorandum dated June 14, 1990, from then city forester,
Don Kissinger, which stated that it could cost anywhere
from $5,200 to $11,000 to do this landscaping, depending
on who did the actual labor, city crews or a private
contractor. Director Blank stated that the 1993 Parks
CIP allocated $7,500 for this project, and it is staff's
recommendation that this project be approved, with the
City Forester being directed to work with the residents
to come up with the most efficient and cost effective
planting plan. Some commissioners were concerned that
7,500 would not go very far in purcashing the plant
materials if labor also had to come out of that figure.
They agreed that if the residents would provide the
labor, then more planting materials might be able to be
purchased. Commissioner Burk asked if this landscaping
would be on private or park property, and he was somewhat
apprehensive that $7,500 equaled $750 per residence,
PRAC Minutes/March 1993
Page 16
which he was concerned might set some sort of precedent.
Director Blank responded that the landscaping would
actually take place on park property. Commissioner Burk
then asked if a berm in this area might be considered as
a first step before planting any trees. Mr. King felt
the residents would be happy with a berm, because it
would provide even more privacy than just having trees
planted on a flat surface. Commissioner Burk suggested
that the City try to secure some dirt fill free of charge
this spring when the construction season begins and to
use this to construct the berm. Director Blank thought
that this might be arranged. A MOTION WAS MADE BY
COMMISSIONER WATSON AND SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER WAHL TO
APPROVE THE EXPENDITURE OF $7,500 AND TO RECOMMEND THAT
THE CITY FORESTER WORK WITH THE RESIDENTS IN DEVELOPING A
LANDSCAPING PLAN FOR THE 1993 SPRING PLANTING SEASON.
THE MOTION CARRIED WITH FIVE AYES.
2) Trails. Director Blank reviewed the six trail
segments that had been recommended for construction by
PRAC at the February meeting. Of those six, it was
decided to drop the Turtle Lake trail, because one of the
landowners affected is out of town until April. Other
factors complicating this trail are numerous trees, the
severe slope to the land, wetlands in the area which must
be addressed by the DNR, and the length of the trail
makes it very expensive. This leaves five trail segments
recommended for construction, which based on cost
estimates prepared by the City's Engineering Department,
would run approximately $106,000. Only $75,000 has been
allocated in the 1993 CIP for these trails. An
additional $100,000 has been set aside from Minnesota
State Aid (MSA) funds, but this money can be used only on
MSA trails, which are trails constructed at the same time
that MSA roads are built or improved. Director Blank
stated that a trail along Vicksburg Lane from Highway 55
to Old County Road 9 could be constructed this year at a
cost of about $50,000 and qualifies for MSA funding, as
well as the extension of trail from Dunkirk Lane to
Medina Road, at a cost of about $56,000 and also
available from MSA funds. This would be two more trails
that could be constructed in 1993 and would not affect
the monies budgeted for the other trail segments
recommended for construction this year. The Commission
reviewed the list of five remaining trails that they had
recommended at their February meeting and discussed that
they would need additional funds if they wanted to
construct all five, or they could drop one of the
segments and stay within the budget. Commissioner Burk
asked about the trail proposed in the Mission Hills area
and stated he believed there was some controversy here
between the Baton Corporation development and the
residents and perhaps this segment would have to be
dropped. Director Blank pointed out on a map that our
PRAC Minutes/March 1993
Page 17
trail segment is not in the same loation as the land
being disputed and, therefore, isn't affected.
Commissioner Wahl then questioned the trail segment
proposed to run from Vicksburg to Fernbrook, which didn't
appear to serve anyone. Director Blank pointed out that
anyone using the north -south trails on Fernbrook, Niagara
and Vicksburg, can use this trail to go east or west
between those three major streets, and that it would
serve the residents living north of County Road 6 between
Vicksburg and Niagara and between Niagara and Fernbrook,
as well as the businesses located in this same area. A
MOTION WAS MADE BY COMMISSIONER BURK AND SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER MIKULA TO RECOMMEND CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIVE
TRAIL SEGMENTS AS DISCUSSED AND TO RECOMMEND THAT COUNCIL
APPROVE THE ADDITIONAL FUNDING NECESSARY TO COMPLETE
THESE TRAIL SEGMENTS. THE MOTION CARRIED WITH ALL AYES.
A MOTION WAS MADE BY COMMISSIONER WAHL AND SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER WATSON TO RECOMMEND THAT COUNCIL AUTHORIZE
THE CONSTRUCTION OF MSA FUNDED TRAILS ALONG DUNKIRK LANE
TO MEDINA ROAD AND ALONG VICKSBURG LANE FROM HIGHWAY 55
TO OLD COUNTY ROAD 9 IN THE AMOUNT OF $106,000. THE
MOTION CARRIED WITH ALL AYES.
3) Handicapped playground update. See item 4 b.
b. Community survey review. Pamela Shomaker from the
Minnesota Center for Survey Research was present to go
over the survey with the Commission. She indicated that
the questions had been prepared with input from Plymouth
city staff and MCSR staff. Director Blank stated that a
joint meeting has been planned between the Park
Commission and City Council to review the questionnaire
on Monday, March 22, at 5:30 p.m., and any changes made
this evening would be ready for the joint meeting on the
22nd. Commissioners then went over the survey, question
by question, and made a few recommendations for changes.
One of their major concerns was pointing out that
Plymouth parks do not include French Park, and that
something should be stated in the survey about that,
because it might not be known by some residents. Pamela
indicated that a pre-test of the survey would go out
first and might help determine if some of the questions
should be eliminated altogether. Commissioners wanted to
know when the results of the survey could be expected,
and Director Blank said they hope to have the results
compiled by June 1.
6. NEW BUSINESS
a. Review fees charged by other communities for field use.
Based on discussions at last month's meeting regarding
the fees charged to the Wayzata Soccer Club for their
summer tournament, staff was asked to research what other
PRAC Minutes/March 1993
Page 18
communities charge and report back to PRAC. Eighteen
metropolitan cities were called and the results of the
phone survey indicated that seven cities charge some kind
of fee, while 11 do not. The 11 responding no indicated
that they would charge some sort of fee if extra ordinary
maintenance was required. Commissioners asked if
athletic associations are charged any other time for
their use of our fields. Mary responded that the only
time athletic associations pay fees is when they sponsor
tournaments, which tends to be once a year. The
tournament that this club sponsors gets teams coming in
from other states as well as locally, and every team is
charged $175 each to participate. After further
discussion, the Commission agreed that the Wayzata Soccer
Club should continue to pay field rental fees at the rate
established in the Field Rental Policy and Fee Schedule,
which was approved by PRAC in January and subsequently
adopted by the City Council. Director Blank stated that
he would send a letter to Mr. Gleason with PRAC's
decision. The Wayzata Soccer Club still has the option
to appeal to the City Council.
b. Review athletic association storage space issue. This
issue was also surveyed, and of the 10 communities
contacted, all of them allocate some type of space. In
most cases, the space is within a community center or
community building. Two communities allocated space in
their city hall or public works building, and one
community worked out a deal with the athletic
association, whereby the city provided the materials,
labor and the site, and the athletic association is
paying $5,000 a year until the cost of the materials is
paid off. At the request of PRAC, Director Blank
surveyed several City staff regarding available space at
the new police department, the public works building,
water towers, fire stations and city hall. At the
present time, there is no storage space available.
Commissioners asked if it was staff's opinion that the
athletic associations perhaps want the City to pay for
storage somewhere, or to build a special facility for
them. Director Blank said that may be a possibility, and
if so, it would have to be included in a future CIP.
Commissioners indicated they would like more direction
from the Council on what to do with this issue, and they
asked staff to contact the City of Wayzata to find out
what they might have in the way of space.
C. Time spent chart (park maintenance). Director Blank
distributed copies of a chart showing the hours spent by
park maintenance doing various types of work. For
example, during the year 1992, park maintenance spent 92
hours working at Imperial Hills neighborhood park and
2,987.5 hours working at Zachary Playfield. A second
chart showed how many hours were spent mowing (3,513.5),
PRAC Minutes/March 1993
Page 19
trail maintenance, repair & construction (2,724), snow
blowing rinks (49), etc.
7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION
None.
8. STAFF COMMUNICATION
Director Blank will be meeting with the Kids for Saving
Earth (KSE) organization regarding the new park along 494 &
County 9. A grant request for $100,000 has been submitted
by KSE to the American Foresters' Society. Director Blank
stated that they might expect to receive about $20,000 to
30,000 which could be used to put in wood chip trails this
summer.
The Mayor was contacted by a highschool student regarding a
place to skateboard and rollerblade in Plymouth. The
student may attend the April meeting to discuss the issue
with PRAC. A disk golf group may also attend the PRAC
meeting in April or May.
Discussions continue regarding land acquisition for a 9th
playfield.
9. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 10 p.m.