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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 06-14-2001Minutes of the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission Meeting June 14, 2001 Page 35 Present: Chair Anderson, Commissioners Fiemann, Meyer, and Musliner; staff Bisek, Blank, and Pederson; Councilmember Hewitt; City Manager Johnson Absent: Commissioners Singer and Thompson 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Anderson called the June meeting to order at 7:20 p.m. in the Council Chambers. Prior to 7:20, there was no quorum. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made by Commissioner Meyer and seconded by Commissioner Fiemann to approve the minutes of the May meeting as presented. Musliner made a correction on pg. 31. She stated that her reason for supporting the skate park being at the Ice Center was the supervision available there with staff trained in first aid. She stated that she did not mention anything about the proximity to the Police station. Motion carried with all ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. b. Staff Mary mentioned that the Minnesota Monthly Magazine picked the 10 best sites for picnics in the metropolitan area. Parkers Lake was the number one site. Rec-Connect has received two awards of excellence. The MN League of Cities and the MRPA each gave us one. We also received awards of excellence for the Plymouth Creek Center and for the Chocolate Sampler. Someone from MRPA will be coming out to make a presentation at a future Council meeting regarding these awards. Regina Callies is starting fill time as a recreation coordinator August 1 st. The is the first full time position we've had in 11 years in the recreation division. The Council approved a reclassification for Dan Lauer. He is now a recreation supervisor. MRAC has approved a matching grant for the City of 4,500. We will be receiving that next year. It's a process grant to help arts communities in the suburban area grow. Staff is now working on 2002 budgets. The recreation brochure deadline for fall is August 15. Summer staff training was last night at the Plymouth Creek Center. Musliner asked about the formation of the art committee, the group that is to help make decisions about the type of art that may be displayed in Plymouth's public areas, such as parks, etc. Mary said that committee is still meeting and will be making a formal presentation to PRAC at some point. They may get tied into this arts grant, but Mary wasn't sure in what capacity. Meyer asked about Regina's position. Mary said it's a new position and that she will be taking over some of Mary's programs, along with teen programming and young adult classes. Councilmember Hewitt asked about the fall soccer early deadline and wondered if we would have a second round of registrations after that date. Mary confirmed that the date of June 30th is the deadline, because the entire month of July is needed to form the teams and get the schedules out. We may accept additional registrations after that date but only to fill out teams. PRAC Minutes/June 2001 Page 36 Dwight Johnson, City Manager, discussed the Youth Advisory Council's proposal to have a teen center/coffeehouse. One of the sites they are interested in is the lower level of the Plymouth Creek Center. Dwight stated that the City also owns some houses along County Road 101 that might be possible for such a facility. Another option is a building at West Medicine Lake Park, if one gets built there. Dwight believes the Youth Advisory Council just wants to get the concept presented at this point. Fiemann asked if any of the houses on 101 are isolated from other neighbors. Dwight said that is an issue that needs to be addressed. Dwight said there is a house right next to the watertower that might be appropriate. It is near another house, however. Fiemann asked if there will be older adults there supervising. Dwight said that something probably could be arranged. Meyer is in favor of this idea. She thinks it sounds like they prefer the Plymouth Creek Center as their first choice. Dwight said it's up in the air. The teens said they'd prefer to have a place of their own. Maybe the Plymouth Creek Center would work if they could have their own entrance. Anderson asked about a timeframe. Dwight said there really isn't one. Dwight thinks there may be grant money for this project from the Communities in Collaboration Council. They are favorable about this proposal. Director Blank said staff will start working on this, and it will likely be the number one item on the July agenda. If we tie it into the budgeting cycle, we need to narrow it down to one or two directions to go. Musliner suggested finding out more about the Maple Grove Teen Center and The Depot. c. Others. There were no other presentations. 4. PAST COUNCIL ACTION a. Approved skate park. Director Blank stated that the skate park has been moved to the public works site, following a spirited debate at the Council meeting. Bids on the asphalt surface are due June 15. If it stops raining, it should be operational by mid—July. We will try to get the kids involved in naming it. Dwight stated that this afternoon the Communities in Collaboration met about a grant. They debated today if their grant could be extended to the new location. They voted not to, because it was originally set to be given if the skate park was going to be at the Ice Center. It was a split vote, with quite a debate. The criteria for their grants is connecting youth to the community. They feel that by moving the skate park to another location that critiera will not be met. Meyer asked about the additional cost to move it. Director Blank said it will be about $30,000 more. It will be just east of the water treatment plant. This has a separate entrance. This area will be fenced off and will include a small parking lot for about 10 cars. We budgeted $50,000 for the skate park and that covers the initial cost. Musliner asked if we have established some criteria for grading the success of the skate park. Director Blank said there are advantages to locating the skate park at the Public Works facility. This site is expandable, the hours can be longer as well as the months it will be open, and we are working on ways to judge the park's success. b. Award of bid — Greenwood. The Council awarded the contract for the Greenwood fields. The performance bonds are in. A pre -constriction meeting has been held. We delayed starting the project until school was out, and now the weather has delayed us. Work should begin on Monday, June 18, if the rain stops. This site will open for use next spring. The entire site will be sodded. Fall soccer probably will not be played there this year. We did not constrict a parking lot or a drinking fountain. PRAC Minutes/June 2001 Page 37 c. Approved the wildflowerag rden. The Council approved the installation of the wildflower garden on 38th Avenue across from the Plymouth Creek Park. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Millennium Garden update. Work began today — a survey crew showed up to install the silt fence. The next thing is the mass grading. That is a completely donated item. We will wait until they can work us into their schedule. People continue to buy bricks. Our dedication/grand opening ceremony may be around July 20th, 2002. b. Hilde Performance Center. This project is moving along slowly. Mr. Hilde convened some meetings with the architect and staff They think the project can come in at the million dollar limit set by Mr. Hilde. The basement may have to come out of the project at this time. Mr. Hilde would like to announce it at the July 5 Music in Plymouth. There is concern about the ground water on this site in terms of putting in a basement. We are waiting for the architects to give us another set of drawings. The basement cost is estimated at $100,000. Councilmember Hewitt said it will cost considerably more to add a basement later. We are trying to stay within Mr. Hilde's limit and still maximize the project. The Council did approve the EAW at their last meeting. The community is embracing the project and is very supportive. d. Playground replacements. Swan Lake is very close to being done. Parkers Lake playground is going to be a catalog playground. We will probably get $60,000 worth of free" product. Director Blank explained what he meant by a catalog playground. The playground manufacturer publishes a catalog and plans to feature this playground in their next issue. Councilmember Hewitt asked about the playground program at Parkers Lake and whether or not it will be cancelled due to the playground replacement. Director Blank asked Mary to look into this. Because the Council agendas have been so fiill, the environmental park is scheduled for their July 10th meeting. That project may begin by late summer. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Discuss park tour — select date. Director Blank said that PRAC visited non -Plymouth parks last summer. Historically the park tour has been scheduled prior to beginning discussions on the CIP. Sometimes we use the July meeting to do that. We could do it later in July or early August. It was suggested that PRAC tour the teen centers. It was decided there wouldn't be enough time to visit teen centers prior to the meeting on July 12th, so Director Blank suggested visiting the centers on July 16 and then hold the regular July meeting on the 19th. We will plan to cancel the August meeting, unless pressing business requires a meeting. The Youth Advisory Council has toured the teen center in Maple Grove. A suggestion was made to invite them to attend the tour as well as the Council. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION Musliner asked if the Rotary Club ducks would be available at the Music in Plymouth event. Director Blank said the duck race will be held during the parade event on October 6. The Rotary Club has gathered $30,000 from their corporate sponsors. The goal is to sell 10,000 PRAC Minutes/June 2001 Page 38 ducks, which would raise $100,000. Director Blank will let PRAC know as soon as the ducks are available for purchase. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION The Ice Center has had a couple of projects completed recently. The B rink floor was repainted and the dehumidification system has been installed. Music in Plymouth is on July 5. The Fun Run is June 23rd. Lunds is fiinding the fireworks this year. The 30th anniversary of Music in Plymouth is 2002. The recent rains have been brutal on our programs. The Wayzata Soccer Tournament directors met and decided to cancel 2/3 of their weekend tournament due to the water—logged fields. Rumors spread on these things like wildfire. We did not cancel the tournament — they did. Some ages will still be allowed to play. Director Blank said staff met with all the turf groups over the winter months and with everyone's cooperation, a set of guidelines to save the fields was agreed upon. Everyone has bought into the idea of preserving the fields. The Wayzata Club should be commended for their decision to cancel their tournament. This will hurt them financially. Director Blank said we can't help them out this year, but maybe next year we can do something for them. Fiemann asked about the ice center sign. Mary said she called the company and they just visited the site yesterday. They said everything is ready but the electric box isn't hot. It's very close to being operational. The two trees that are blocking it will be moved as soon as the ground dries up a little. They will be moved back a few feet. Fiemann asked about the parking issue at LifeTime. Director Blank said this issue is still being researched. Fieman asked if the plans for a parking solution include the possibility of a third sheet of ice. Director Blank said yes. Director Blank said we're focusing on a parking study more so than a third sheet of ice. In order to effectively study parking, however, we have to know where a third sheet could go, but nothing has been adopted in the CIP. Director Blank cautioned everyone to not give the impression that we are going to add a third sheet of ice. Fiemann mentioned the difficulties encountered when trying to enter the soccer field at the Central Middle School. There has to be a solution. Director Blank said the entrance is designed this way to keep bikes off the field or things that could tear up the turf. Director Blank said the school district is not likely to change their minds about opening any other gates. Fiemann suggested that PSA should find someone to operate the gates, so they could be open only during the soccer games. He also commented that parking at this school is challenging. The lot is full and cars are parked on every surrounding side street. Mary commented that numerous activities are taking place at this school besides soccer, and this is contributing to the parking situation. 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m.