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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 10-14-1993Minutes of the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission Meeting October 14, 1993 Page 43 Present: Chair Anderson, Commissioners Gutzke, Johnson and Wahl; staff Blank and Pederson; City Manager Johnson Absent: Commissioners Burk, Mikula, and Watson CALL TO ORDER Chair Anderson called the October meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. in the Council Chambers. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made by Commissioner Gutzke and seconded by Commissioner Wahl to approve the minutes of the September meeting as presented. The motion carried with all ayes. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. None were present. b. Staff. None were present. C. Others. Save French Woodlands representatives. REPORT ON PAST COUNCIL ACTION None. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Accessible playground update. Director Blank indicated that he plans to have the accessible playground up and operational by June 1, 1994. Delays have been caused by new regulations and guidelines for accessible playgrounds and safety issues. Our Parks Superintendent, Mark Peterson, will be attending a conference the week of October 18 conducted by the American Society of Testing and Measures, which will explain the new guidelines. Commissioner Gutzke asked if any of the designs for the accessible playground included recycled plastic components. Director Blank responded that all of the submitted designs are of steel and metal construction. rem adjacent to French Park. Bob Donley, 11740 38th Avenue, representing the Save French Woodlands group, distributed copies to Commissioners of a handout on creating a nature preserve in Plymouth and then briefly reviewed some of the statements from that handout. The statements indicate that there is strong citizen support (2,000 signatures on a petition) for not developing this parcel; because the land is next to French Park it will have expert staff that will maintain and improve its potential; it will be available to a large number of visitors; based on the City's survey, at least 240 of the residents would be willing to pay for a nature preserve, PRAC Minutes/October 1993 Page 44 and the purchase of the site would be a cooperative effort. Mr. Donley suggested that the issue for the Park Commission is to "determine if this 26 acre parcel has some environmental significance and that the most responsible use of the property is to preserve it for public education and enjoyment." George Daniels, 1865 Black Oaks Lane, questioned if the purchase of the site would be cooperative. He reminded the Park Commission that the Save French Woodlands group has chosen not to reveal how much money they have raised to help purchase this property. He again questioned why Hennepin Parks did not make this part of their overall park plan years ago, when they had the opportunity. He also reminded the Park Commission that the City has an approved park system plan in place, which does not show this property as future park. He interpreted the survey results to say that if 240 of the residents are willing to pay more in taxes to have a nature preserve, then 760 are not willing to pay more. Marlin Sjarda, 11720 38th Ave N, stated that many residents of Plymouth have spoken in favor of not developing this site. He also commented that just because Hennepin Parks did not purchase this property for park years ago, doesn't mean that it's not a good idea now. He stated that the results of the survey show that a nature preserve is the second most wanted park facility, with trails being the first. Chair Anderson thanked the residents for their comments and closed the meeting to any further remarks from the visitors. He then asked Director Blank for any additional information that staff had on this proposal. Director Blank indicated that the .Baton Corporation had recently withdrawn its application to develop this property, so that it can make some revisions to the plan. They intend to resubmit it to the Planning Commission, which will then hold another public hearing. The proposal would then go before the Council sometime in December. Chair Anderson asked commissioners for their comments. Tom Johnson stated that he had walked the site recently and agreed that it is a beautiful piece of property, but he cannot decide at this time if this is the best piece of property to preserve. He prefers to reserve judgement until after the study has been done on unique open spaces. Mark Wahl stated that most of the decisions PRAC has made in the past involved active park areas and playgrounds. He commented that the Kids for Saving Earth Park site could be considered a nature preserve, and that it was a PRAC Minutes/October 1993 Page 45 lot cheaper to acquire. He was supportive of setting aside some funds in the CIP to acquire a nature preserve, but could not commit to a particular site at this time. Wyatt Cutzke commented that in the past, PRAC's decisions on aquiring or developing property have always been for playfields or neighborhood parks with active playgrounds. He doesn't feel comfortable at this time making any decisions on acquiring this property until after other sites have been studied. Director Blank explained that PRAC must act on the parks component of the CIP at their November 4 meeting. Funds can be identified for acquiring a nature preserve without specifying a certain site. He also pointed out that the information contained in the City Manager's memo implies that there may be other funds available for acquiring park land besides Park Dedication funds. Those funds include the Community Improvement fund, the Project Administration fund and the Permanent Improvement Revolving fund. Once the Park Commission has approved the parks CIP, it is then forwarded to the Planning Commission who is in charge of holding a public hearing on the entire city-wide CIP. After that, the CIP is forwarded to the City Council for final approval. C. West Medicine.Lake Park master plan update. The first public meeting was held on October 6 and was well attended with over 100 interested residents, according to Director Blank. The overwhelming message from the residents was no new boats are wanted on the lake. Based on input from the residents, the consultant will now prepare three different designs which will be presented at the November 9 meeting. The alignment of West Medicine Lake Drive is a major issue in the design of the park. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Study of unique open spaces - update. The consultant who did the Eden Prairie Parks and Recreation study suggested that Plymouth conduct such a study in the spring, which is the best time of year for this work. Director Blank indicated that the committee will get together soon to map out some areas to research. The preliminary work will be completed over the winter, so that a draft can be presented to the Council in the spring. Eden Prairie spent $10,000 on their study. Don Anderson volunteered to be on the open space committee along with Mark Wahl, Mary Kay Watson, Tom Johnson, Eric Blank, Paul Buck, and Councilman Edson. Bob Donley suggested that when the open space committee begins to consider sites, they should weigh the cost of the property, the availability of it to the general public, future amenities, trails, etc. PRAC Minutes/October 1993 Page 46 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION None. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION Many of the trails have been completed that were designated to be done as part of the 1993 CIP, Work is still being done on the Vicksburg trail from Highway 55 to County Road 9. A representative from the Engineering Department is meeting with the two property owners regarding the Turtle Lake trail construction. Due to the delay in meeting with these property owners, this trail will not be constructed in 1993. Chair Anderson asked if the personal safety of residents is a concern for the City when citizens use our trails. Director Blank responded that he would ask the Park Patrol to make a presentation at a future meeting regarding the kinds of problems they encountered this past summer when patrolling the parks and trails. Commissioner Gutzke said that he had contacted the Plymouth Police Department about firearm safety training classes and was told that the park commission had decided not to offer these classes anymore. Staff responded that it was not a park commission decision, but rather an inability to secure volunteer instructors. In the past, volunteers from the Plymouth Optimists have conducted these classes for the Park and Recreation Department, but this year, those instructors retired. Mary Bisek attempted to find new instructors but was unsuccessful. Staff suggested that Commissioner Gutzke contact the DNR, which keeps a list of where classes are being held. If the City can find a certified instructor, firearm safety classes will be offered again. 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.