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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.