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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 10-11-2001Minutes of the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission Meeting October 11, 2001 Page 52 Present: Chair Anderson, Commissioners Fiemann, Meyer, Musliner, Singer; staff Bisek, Blank, Pederson; Councilmember Hewitt; Planning Commissioner Neset 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Anderson called the October meeting to order at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Commissioner Musliner corrected the September minutes by noting that Meyer should have been listed as present, and Thompson's name should not have been included. Singer asked if Director Blank wanted his comments about the Greenwood contractor to appear in the minutes and Blank said his comments stand. A motion was made by Commissioner Singer and seconded by Commissioner Fiemann to approve the minutes of the meeting as corrected. The motion carried with all ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. None were present. b. Staff Mary Bisek said the parade went very well, although the weather was cool. People enjoyed the new activities such as the petting zoo. The Westside Players' fall production starts this weekend. One of our staff members, Mara Herman, is in the chorus. Bisek handed out a flyer advertising the Chocolate Sampler. No more volunteers are needed. We are still looking for additional door prizes. Work has begun on the Winter/Spring recreation booklet. We are talking about putting our mission statement in this next issue. Soccer season is almost over. Cindy Anderson had a baby girl on October 8. Her name is Jennifer Carol. Cindy will be on maternity leave until mid-January. Singer commented that she is officiating some soccer games for us. A soccer goal blew over at Cretin High School in St. Paul, so she wants staff to check our goals regularly to make sure they are fastened. Blank said we will double check them all. He said the high school sometimes loosens them in order to move them, and when they put them back, they don't refasten them. Fiemann said he went to the pancake breakfast the morning of the parade and was very impressed with it. They were running out of things when he was there, which was near the tail end. Bisek said about 400 people attended the breakfast. Fiemann asked when the dome is being installed. Blank said Wednesday, October 17. Musliner asked about Three Ponds Park. She said there is nothing there to stop kids from running right onto the railroad tracks. Blank said the issue of putting in a crossing here is on hold while we negotiate regarding the train whistle. Federal legislation on whistle blowing is being rewritten right now. The law currently states that wherever there is a railroad crossing without safety barriers in place, the train must blow the whistle. Musliner also asked about the boarded up slide at Maple Creek Park and when it would be fixed. Blank said it PRAC Minutes/October 2001 Page 53 will be replaced. Blank announced that Bisek is the new Director of Parks and Recreation for Inver Grove Heights beginning November 5th. c. Others. There were no others. 4. PAST COUNCIL ACTION a. Hilde Performance Center. See item 5b. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Millennium Garden update. This past week, all stone retaining walls were completed. This amounts to $5,000 to $7,000 worth of donated work. The fiber optic lines for cable, phones and computers ended up running right beneath one of the water fall lines, so the fiber optics had to be relocated. That work is also done now. We have bid the first water basin and hope that the contractors will begin in the next couple of weeks. Last Friday the Carlson Foundation notified us that they are giving us $75,000 for the garden. That will come in the form of three separate donations of $25,000 each. We have a very solid financial picture right now. The community has embraced the garden. Mayor Tierney worked long and hard to get the donation from Carlson. b. Hilde Performance Center update. The final plans and specs were approved two weeks ago. Last Tuesday the Council allocated another $95,000 to the project, so some items in jeopardy of being deleted from the project will now be allowed to remain. Blank says constriction should begin next week. c. Greenwood youth sports update. The 120—day contract expired on October 9. The contractor is currently putting in irrigation and fencing. They have given us a revised schedule saying the site will be sodded by October 22. They are now in a penalty phase of $500 a day. Anderson asked if there were guidelines regarding the rejection of low bids. Blank said it is extremely difficult to rile out a low bidder unless you have definite proof that the low bidder is inadequate. d. West Medicine Lake Park restrooms update. We had zero bidders. Two contractors had all the plans and specs out, but came back and said they were too busy to bid on the project. We have readvertised and will reopen bids next Friday. This time we may have four bidders submitting bids. They will be awarded on October 23. It is still our target to have bathrooms available by Memorial Weekend, 2002. e. Northwest Greenway report on open house held October 2. The open house went well. Over 800 invitations were sent, but not one phone call was received. There was a good turnout that evening. All comments were positive about the Northwest Greenway itself. Bisek said people come in to the city's planning department and ask specifically to see plans for the greenway. Singer said she observed that we have a lot of horseback riders in this area. One resident invited Blank to go horseback riding with her through this area. Musliner was amused that a resident wanted the living farm to have cable, gas and sewer service. We will be making an offer next week on a 10—acre parcel near the wetland. By October 23 we will likely recommend to the Council that we purchase this parcel. Blank will be meeting next week with consultants to try and narrow down trail alternatives to PRAC Minutes/October 2001 Page 54 just one. We will come back to the Commission with one more update, then have another public meeting. Blank's plan is to have the master plan adopted by the Council next March. Blank said now we start looking at the plan with a microscope parcel by parcel. This will take about four to six weeks. Fiemann asked about the site for the future sports complex. This site is owned by the Begin family. Blank said Mr. Begin is hospitalized right now, so we will wait to meet with him until after he has recuperated. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. BMX bike course referred by Council. This came about as a result of kids building a BMX course in Heritage Park, which resulted in the destruction of trees. The City Council asked that this be referred to PRAC. On raw land, BMX bikes chew up the soil and it's harmful to trees. For a BMX course, you need a big piece of property with dirt mounds on it. We don't have a quick fix on this Blank said. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION Singer moved and Fiemann seconded a motion to thank Mary for all her hard work and to wish her well in her new position. The motion carried with all ayes. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION Blank said the skate park continues to be busy. Kids are there after school and on weekends. We've heard that there has been one injury. Blank said he may have a conflict on the 8th and would like to reschedule the next meeting to November 15. Most commissioners were okay with this date. Meyer asked about the petition for a trail that was included in the PRAC packet. Blank said it's south of Highway 55 by the Farmers Market down to the movie theaters. The Luce Line trail is now open from Ferndale Road to 169, with a short 100 yard detour near the railroad tracks. This now gives us a complete off—road looping trail around Medicine Lake. The trail on Rockford Road from Dunkirk to Holly Lane is complete, as well as the trail on 36th from Vicksburg to County Road 9. The trail along Revere Lane south of 10th Avenue to Rainbow Foods was just paved, also. The parking lot at Parkers Lake has now been resurfaced. All the benches need to be repainted at Parkers. This will be done over the winter. The grading for the playground at the Environmental Park is done. The playground equipment will be shipped next week. 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m.