HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 07-19-2001Minutes of the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission Meeting
July 19, 2001
Page 39
Present: Chair Anderson; Commissioners Meyer, Musliner, and Singer; Planning
Commissioner Nest, staff Bisek, Blank, and Pederson
Absent: Commissioners Fiemann and Thompson
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chair Anderson called the July meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
A motion was made by Commissioner Meyer and seconded by Commissioner Musliner to
approve the minutes of the June meeting as presented. The motion carried with all ayes.
3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS
a. Athletic Associations.
b. Staff Mary shared the awards/plaques Park and Recreation received recently. The
Chocolate Sampler, the Plymouth Creek Center/Fieldhouse and Rec-Connect all received
awards. They were presented at the Council meeting on July 10. Our electronic sign is up
and operational part of the time. It has to be rebooted every morning. This problem will
be resolved as soon as possible. The summer concert series has been going well. There
has been only one cancellation due to rain this year. The Prior Lake Water Ski Team will
be performing at Parkers Lake next Tuesday night. The hot weather has cancelled some
of our afternoon programs due to the heat index. Mary met with representatives from the
Civic League and the MN Opera for the 30th anniversary of Music in Plymouth. Talking
about doing a youth opera project for that event. Looking for artists for the fall art fair
and units to participate in the parade. Planning is underway for the Chocolate Sampler,
also. The fall brochure is at the printers. Director Blank said the fireworks at Music in
Plymouth were the best in the Twin Cities as stated by some in attendance. There was a
lot of great press surrounding the announcement of the Hilde donation for the Hilde
Performance Center. Singer congratulated Mary and the staff on the awards. Mary said
this is the first time that any recreation department has gotten three awards in one year.
c. Others. None.
4. PAST COUNCIL ACTION
a. Award playground bid for Parkers Lake. The old playground was removed last week.
Manufacturer will be on the fast track, so photographs can be taken for publication in
their national sales catalog. This will be a great playground. Manufacturer is giving an
extra $50,000 toward the playground.
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b. Approved location of playground for Environmental Park. Two people spoke for it and
two spoke against it. It will take awhile before this playground will be installed, but it
will be ready by next summer. Singer asked about the skate park and losing the matching
grant. Director Blank said we got our matching grant back. The check arrived this past
week. The skate park will open next Wednesday. Contractor asked that we stay off the
asphalt for at least 10 days. Director Blank will send letters to the 40 kids on the advisory
group. We will go a few weeks before we open it officially. A ribbon cutting ceremony
will be sometime in August. The manufacturer is offering more equipment as a donation
than what we purchased. A mister is one of the items. We will install electricity, so the
kids can have a pop machine.
5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
a. Millennium Garden update. Director Blank talked to Dobyzynski and they commence
grading next week. Still getting donations for bricks, etc. Fundraising will continue.
b. Hilde Performance Center update. Contracts were signed. The site plan has been
approved. Architects are at work. It will be late August before anything begins on this.
c. Greenwood youth sports update. This is going well. Most of the utility lines are in. A
month from now it should be substantially completed. We are a little short on topsoil.
Director Blank has authorized Mark to bring in more topsoil for the soccer fields.
d. Discuss Teen Center tour and letters from Youth Council and Senior groups. Director
Blank discussed some of the literature in the PRAC packet from the teens, etc. Staff has
not made any decisions about this. Nothing can be done until a location is chosen.
Director Blank said the only thing available now is shared space in the lower level of the
PCC. The existing teen centers seem to cater to 8th & 9th graders. Before kids have cars,
they seem to run in groups. Once teens have access to autos, they travel in smaller groups
of two or three and they may or may not end up at a teen center. Meyer said the two they
visited were very successful. The Apple Valley one seemed to cater to even younger kids.
She isn't sure how our youth will feel about being in the lower level of the PCC. The
Youth Council seems to think that's an okay option. The minutes of the Youth Town
Form imply something else. They want to be off by themselves. Ninety attended the
Town Form. Anderson said maybe the Teen Center would have to begin at this location
and move later if something else develops. Singer asked if there's any money in the CIP
for a Teen Center. Director Blank said it's in the year 2002. The City Manager and the
Council want to keep the thought process going for a teen center to see if something
develops. Anderson says the lower level of the PCC will no doubt have to be shared
between the seniors and the teens. The seniors would use it during the day, and the teens
at night. Director Blank looked at the houses on 101, and he doesn't feel comfortable
with the logistics of using one of those houses. Director Blank thought about considering
en empty storefront, like the old Schiebe's Hardware store. The real purpose of the tour
was to get PRAC to think about this issue. We will have an August meeting to discuss the
CIP and the Northwest Greenway plans. By then, we might have some other ideas about
a teen center. Parking upgrades for the Ice Center will be available to look at then, too.
Anderson thinks it will be worthwhile to pursue the option of the lower level of the PCC
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for a teen center. Once you get it established, you have to keep it going, he said. The City
funds everything for the Apple Valley teen center, but the Depot takes care of itself. In
the 30 years Mary and Director Blank have worked together, teen centers have
experienced an 80% failure rate. Mary said the two teen centers toured are open seven
days a week, and are both drop—in centers. Brooklyn Park has a teen center that is only
open when something special is scheduled there. Music at the Depot, the Garage, and
Apple Valley is performed for free. The Garage also gets bands that come there that do
auditions for some of the big clubs downtown, so it's not just teen bands, occasionally
it's name bands. The Garage gets lots of social service funding. Their focus is more
social service. Music is a key issue. Champlin has a private teen center. Eden Prairie
doesn't have a center, but they have special programs for teens. Our teen programs
haven't been very successful, although we've had some success with Teen Self Defense
and Jujitsu. At Edina they come and go. The Mosaic Youth Center is designed to service
the Robbinsdale School District, but it's not in Plymouth. That is being funded by a
capital campaign. This will not be a recreation drop—in center. Maple Grove has a
recreation focus and is funded by the City. It's internal to their community center. This
one has done fairly well, but their numbers have recently dropped. Their participation is
the younger teen, however. St. Louis Park is run by a church. Plymouth's Teen Council is
made up of kids who are juniors and seniors in high school. It was suggested that the
Youth Council survey the kids in the middle schools to see what they would like. Singer
thinks some teacher would probably enjoy doing this as a project. Our new staff person,
Regina Callies, is the one who will be in charge of programming for teens. She wouldn't
be available to supervise at the teen center, however. Location and fiinding are the
biggest issues right now. Director Blank said he and Mary will be doing more research
between now and the August meeting. Anderson asked about the houses on 101. Director
Blank said the City bought eight of the houses for constriction easements as road right of
way, for landscaping purposes, etc. Church groups think those houses should be turned
into low income housing. The Fire Dept. thinks they should be for fire fighters homes.
Timing is also an issue Anderson said. There are also empty storefronts at Four Seasons
Mall stated Singer.
6. NEW BUSINESS
a. Review update to CIP through 2006. PRAC adopted a CIP last December on schedule for
2001-2005. The rest of the City hasn't gotten anywhere with their CIP work. Director
Blank discussed the handout showing a modified 2002-2006 CIP. He discussed some of
the items proposed for 2002. We have been getting calls and letters from residents east of
Fire Station 2. They want the trail extended on Rockford Road between Goldenrod and
Zachary. The developer has already built two or three blocks of the trail in this location.
The East Beach building needs to be refiirbished. These are relatively inexpensive things
we can do. Singer thinks that East Beach is being used more now than it was in the past.
Mary stated that the buoys are being vandalized there. She asked that Singer report any
unusual activity she may notice when she's out walking in this area. Singer suggested
putting out a neighborhood watch. Heat is probably a factor in how busy this beach has
been. Over at West Beach, the bathrooms have not been built, because Director Blank
hasn't heard anything from the architect for some time. We may just skip the bathrooms
and go to the fiill building, which would include bathrooms. Director Blank said we need
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to revamp the way the food is distributed at Music In Plymouth. In order to do that we
will need electricity at the Hilde Performance Center. We are also planning to finish
about 2,000 square feet of the PCC lower level, and we are considering improvements to
the parking lot at LifeTime Fitness/Ice Center. The trail on Lancaster Lane, from 36th to
Pilgrim Lane, has been pushed back to 2003. 2006 lists the standard projects — art in the
park, playground replacement, new trails, parking lot repair and replacement, etc.
Director Blank said one other item that is not on paper is Providence Academy. They
want ice time at the Ice Center. Under current conditions, there is no ice time available
for them. The only way we could help them out is to build a third sheet of ice. They
would need to make a significant financial contribution toward this. They will probably
come back and make a formal request, or they may decide to build their own ice sheet.
They will open this fall with K -8th grade. Singer said she has had some talks with Paul
Erickson, MN Sports Commission. He thinks it is just as economical to put in four sheets
of ice as it is to put in three. We don't have the space for a 4th sheet, or the parking for it
said Director Blank. We would be the first community with four rinks if we added a third
sheet, because of the one at the old high school. Bill Abel is doing better with our two
sheets than Blaine is doing with their four. Plymouth Boulevard is another item for the
CIP. The Northwest Greenway, the Teen Center, and the CIP will be discussed at the
August meeting. There is no time line for the Teen Center. Planning Commissioner Neset
said that residents have approached him about the possibility of installing chain link
fence around some of the parks. We've stayed away from fencing the parks. We don't
want to close them off Neset says he doesn't think chain link is very aesthetically
pleasing. Director Blank said if someone has a specific concern about fencing, they
should come to the PRAC. Mary said sometimes we use bollards to show the boundaries
of the parks. Singer asked about the deer population in the City. Director Blank said
Hennepin Parks does a deer count every year and it's consistently high. Director Blank
said there are a lot of deer/car accidents in Plymouth. He said the City has a program of
live trapping deer and removing them from problem locations. Singer asked about the
letter from the resident wanting a basketball hoop in Shenandoah Park. Director Blank
said that park is new and is very close to Parkers Lake Playfield, so we probably will not
install a court in Shenandoah Park. Singer said this request is similar to the one from the
young man asking for a skating rink in Sunrise Park. This would be in very close
proximity to other parks with existing outdoor rinks. Director Blank said PRAC may also
be reviewing the list of outdoor skating rinks at the August meeting. Musliner said she
would not be at the August meeting.
7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION
None.
8. STAFF COMMUNICATION
None.
9. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.