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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 06-08-2000MINUTES OF THE PARK AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING June 8, 2000 Page 26 Present: Chair Anderson, Commissioners Fiemann, Meyer, Musliner, Singer, Thompson and Wahl; Councilmember Slavik; staff Bisek, Blank and Pederson 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Anderson called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Commissioner Singer moved to accept the May minutes. Commissioner Meyer seconded. The motion carried with all ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. None were present. b. Staff Mary stated that Minnetonka Community Education would be providing lifeguards for the Wayzata Beach. Mary handed out the summer concert schedule. She stated that both the Senior Premiere and the grand opening at the Plymouth Creek Center went very well. The seniors are very excited about the new facility. The building is always busy. Mary discussed the Chocolate Sampler, which is a fiind raiser for the Millennium Garden. A woman who interned with us last year is coming back to help with the Chocolate Sampler. So far we've raised $23,000; sold 240 bricks and two benches. We also have a commitment from LifeTime Fitness for $15,000, which will be paid at $3,000 per year over five years. We are working on putting together the information for our fall/winter brochure. We'll be doing three issues now instead of four, April, August, and December. c. Others. There were no other presentations. 4. REPORT ON PAST COUNCIL ACTION a. Greenwood School. Council authorized staff to proceed with the preparation of plans and specifications for the youth sports improvements at Greenwood School. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Plymouth Creek Center update. Director Blank stated that crews finished paving the parking lot on Friday and it was striped on Saturday morning prior to the grand opening event. The landscaping is mostly in. Decorative outdoor lights were being installed today. The white lights are being removed and are being replaced by green lights. Accelerate Minnesota is busy getting the lower level ready for their training. They start next Monday. The soccer field has four games of soccer played on it every night. The air conditioning was on the fritz for awhile, but it was back in working order today. The fish in the fish tank keep dying, so we'll be working to remedy this situation. b. Millennium Garden update. We received a large check from Associated Bank in the amount of $2,500 that will be presented to the City Council Monday night. Director Blank stated he is very pleased with the Millennium Garden plan. Commissioners Meyer and Musliner will review the plan soon. It will be presented to PRAC at the July meeting. c. Comprehensive plan update. The plan is being reviewed by the Metropolitan Council. They have 60 days to do that. Staff is recommending that we not proceed with an open space referendum this November, and the Council, after some deliberation, agreed with that. We've laid out a strategy for acquiring additional open space with money we currently have in the budget. Director Blank felt that the timing wasn't good to go out for another bond referendum this year. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Review Fieldhouse rental fees for 2000-2001 season. Plymouth Creek Center Manager Busch stated in a report that the field house generated $195,530 in revenue this past winter/spring. For the upcoming season, the budget is calling for the field house to generate revenues of $246,000. Rick is confident that this can be done with increased marketing and programming, and also with increased public awareness. He is recommending that Fieldhouse rates remain at $210 per hour during prime time, but prime time will start a half hour sooner and go a half hour later. He is also proposing that the non prime time rate would drop slightly from $180 to $150 per hour. By reducing it 30 we may attract a few more daytime users. Director Blank distributed a chart showing numbers of walkers and the hours walked. Open walking generated $3,470. Rick is recommending that we continue with the same fees for walking. Director Blank concurs with Rick's recommendation, although he does think walking could be a free program. Commissioner Singer supports the fees for renting the field house, but asked if children walls with parents free. Director Blank said yes. Commissioner Singer doesn't think kids should be charged, and she thinks it should also be free for 55+ Plymouth residents. She also suggested that walking be free one day a week for everyone. This could be a good will gesture and help to build a feeling of community. Director Blank said we will have an expanded walking program this year with more hours. Walking will be available from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Some of the rationale for charging the walkers is the "pay as you go" philosophy, which we follow with other programs, as well as trying to recover some of the expenses. The most expensive feature of the dome is natural gas. Heating the bubble is costly. Commissioner Meyer supports free walking, and suggested that perhaps the dome doesn't have to be so warm for walking. She suggested we advertise that the temperature in the dome can fluctuate. Commissioner Wahl asked if there were any incidents when soccer was going on at the same time as walking. Director Blank said a few soccer balls were kicked into people's legs as they walked around the path. He said we started putting more nets up around the end zone nets to help with this and people are warned that they must be alert to flying soccer balls. Commissioner Fiemann has a concern about charging for walkers, but he feels we should continue with the fee and see how it goes this year. Chair Anderson likes the idea of a free day one day a week. Commissioner Wahl supports free walking for those over 55. Director Blank then stated what he understood the walking fees to be as suggested by PRAC: ages 19-54 would be the same as this past season, 18 & under and residents 55 & up would be free, and one free day a week for everyone, with Rick choosing the day of the week. CHAIR ANDERSON MOVED TO ACCEPT THE CHANGES IN THE HOURS AND FEES FOR THE FIELD HOUSE AND THE FEES FOR WALKING AS RECOMMENDED. COMMISSIONER SINGER SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION CARRIED WITH ALL AYES. b. Park Tour. Director Blank suggested visiting water parks in Eagan and St. Louis Park and skateboard parks in Shoreview and Roseville. Hours contemplated for the tour were 8:30- 2:30 on a Saturday in June or July. It's not necessary to see these places prior to the July meeting. He stated PRAC starts working on the CIP in September usually, and continues into October. August dates were also discussed for the tour. Commissioners were polled and August 5 would work for most people. Director Blank said we'd invite Council and other commissioners, too. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION None. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION Director Blank stated that Old Rockford Road was formerly a county road. In the past year, it was turned back over to the City. In the new comprehensive plan it's designated for trail, but there is no upgrade planned for that road in the foreseeable fiiture. The alternative is to pave the shoulder and have on—road bike lanes. Many bikers have contacted Director Blank about creating biking opportunities for those who want to drive much faster than what's allowed on off—road bike trails. Commissioner Wahl agrees with on road bike lanes for those who wish to go faster. Director Blank stated we put money for trails in the CIP every year. We just did a sidewalk on Vicksburg down by Central Middle School, and we will be doing a trail crossing into Three Ponds park. He said we're also looking at a segment of trail by the Holiday station on County Road 9. There's $75,000 showing in the CIP for next year's trails. One of these may be on 36th Avenue, on the other side of the Mann theaters, as well as one down by Rainbow Foods and Revere Lane. Mary mentioned that we need curb cuts along 18t1' Avenue and West Medicine Lake Drive as mentioned by Commissioner Thompson at last month's meeting. Kimberly Lane School wants the City to help fund their playground improvement project. Director Blank said this would be discussed with the new CIP. Commissioner Singer asked the approximate cost of a skate park. Director Blank said between $30,000 and $45,000 for the parking lot behind the ice center. It would be free admission to kids. He said that the League of MN Cities has come up with guidelines that if you build it under a certain height, you don't have to put fences around it. Commissioner Fiemann asked if there is interest in a water park in Plymouth. Director Blank said as far as he knows right now there really isn't any interest. Commissioner Fiemann hears complaints about LifeTime's pool. Apparently there's no room for really little children in the shallow end. Director Blank stated we're starting to move forward now with the Ferndale North management plan. He has received 15 responses from people who want to be on the committee to come up with a management plan for this open space. Director Blank wants a PRAC member to volunteer to be on that committee. When the Ferndale North issue left PRAC, it went to the Planning Commission and from there to the Council. The Council finally made a motion stating it should remain open space. They also said the three entrances to the property had to be enhanced. Right now the entrances are difficult to locate, because they are overgrown with tall weeds and brush. Director Blank thinks he has narrowed it down to four individuals from Ferndale that are in the middle on this issue. He reminded PRAC that this was the park issue that surfaced in 1999 dividing an entire neighborhood. Director Blank thinks this will involve about three meetings that will take place over the next eight weeks. Commissioner Singer said she will serve on the committee. Director Blank will recruit someone from the Open Space Task Force, also. 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m.