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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 04-10-2003MINUTES OF THE PARK AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING April 10, 2003 Page 13 Present: Commissioners Anderson, Aamoth, Meyer, Rezabek, Krahulec, Singer; staff Blank, Pederson 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Anderson called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES It was moved by Krahulec and seconded by Rezabek to approve the minutes of the March meeting. Motion carried, all ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. None were present. b. Staff. Blank talked about the first day of summer registration. People started logging on and using rec-connect and touch tone registration at midnight. In our first 24 hours, we took in $111,000 in registrations. The web registration and TTR accounted for 78% of those registrations in the first 24 hours. Several classes filled the first day of registration. Primavera begins tonight at the Plymouth Creek Center and continues Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. The Yard & Garden Expo is Saturday, April 26th. The Ice Show is the weekend of May 10th, and the History Fest is also May l Oth. Blank stated that groups are anxious to get on the fields. Three Rivers Park District will not be guarding French Park beach this summer due to financial constraints. Only our West Beach will be guarded of the three beaches on Medicine Lake. 4. REPORT ON PAST COUNCIL ACTION a. Approved dog park. The City Council approved the dog park. Blank shared a copy of the brochure, which advertises the dog park. These will be made available at pet clinics and stores like Petsmart, and at the police department counter where people come in to get their dog licenses. b. Approved funding for garden. Blank stated that additional funding was needed for the Millennium Garden. He explained that we had raised 240,000 from brick sales and other donations, and had another $200,000- 250,000 of in-kind contributions. Expenditures are expected to slightly exceed donations, so the Council approved an additional $35,000 to be PRAC Minutes/April 2003 Page 14 taken from the park dedication account. Blank explained that the funds would be reimbursed eventually, as fund raising continues. Blank distributed a mock-up of the Millennium Garden invitation and dedication program. The dedication is Sunday, June 29th, beginning at 2 p.m. We hope to have members of the MN Orchestra performing, and we'll be serving refreshments. The program begins at 2:45. A special fanfare was written for the Music in Plymouth program, which may be performed at the dedication. The community band will be playing some jazz tunes during the latter part of the event. Former Mayor Tierney and Mayor Johnson will both speak during the ceremony. c. Awarded bid for Oakwood tennis court. Council awarded the bid for the improvements at the Oakwood tennis courts. It came in under budget. We're waiting for contracts to be signed and for load limits to be lifted from the roads. We're also waiting for asphalt plants to reopen. Four tennis courts and one basketball court are being redone as part of this project. d. Rolling Hillsplayground. This has a $100,000 budget. Low bid came in at 75,000. That bid was awarded last Tuesday. e. Pave Bass Lake hockey rink. This was approved to go out for bid, and we're taking quotes on it now, Blank stated. Six inches of soil will be removed from the hockey rink. Krahulec asked about the residents' checks that were collected. Blank said we would start depositing them soon. f. Ball field repair. Blank explained that crushed rock is now being spread in the first phase of this improvement. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. View video from 2002 Gold Medal Awards program. This is the highest award a parks department can receive. The video being shown is of Asheville, North Carolina, a community the same size as Plymouth. We have submitted an entry into this year's competition. b. Update on 3rd sheet of ice. There will be another study session on this issue on April 15. Blank expects the study session to begin around 8 p.m. We have a new update from Kraus Anderson. The project cost estimate went down to $5,000,000. Blank has a meeting Friday morning with Dave Sorensen of Wayzata Hockey. When the report he is preparing is finished, copies will be sent to PRAC. A traffic study on 37th Avenue completed by the engineering department, parking options, funding, etc., are all included in the report. We don't expect any action to be taken at next week's Council meeting. PRAC members are invited to the meeting. PRAC Minutes/April 2003 Page 15 c. Update on skate park/BMX course. Blank and Peterson went to Maple Plain to look at their BMX course. A Plymouth resident and his son called Blank recently and said they are BMX racers. They offered to provide input on this project. Blank said we would build a basic bare bones course. The League of MN Cities believes that they are going to change their standard on skate parks to allow platforms to be higher. By the end of April they should have made a decision. We will wait to hear what they decide before building the skate park. The church parish council has approved it, but a district council has to approve it. Singer mentioned that she thought the BMX course had been nixed by the Council, but Blank explained that they approved it on a 4-3 vote. d. Update on Lake Camelot Park. Blank had slides to show that depicted the progress being made on this park. e. Update on workhouse building use. Blank explained that staff is working with Interfaith Outreach and the school district to use the abandoned women's facility for a teen gathering place. Meyer asked for a recap of how this building would be used. Blank discussed a few of the options, including educational classes, retail such as Caribou Coffee, teen programming, training classes, etc. The key is getting the building free from the county. The school district would be the primary funding source for this project. Right now flowers are being grown in this facility that our parks department uses in our various parks, etc. Blank then showed a slide presentation on the dog park, explaining the different views as seen in the slides. He also showed some slides of the work being done at Lake Camelot Park, including the boardwalk and the trail on the west shore. This was followed by a few slides of the skate park/BMX course site. Blank explained that the evergreen trees would be transplanted to another area on the site. The site will not be fenced. It will be signed with the same rules and regulations as our skate park on 23rd Avenue. A slide was shown then of the site of the Plymouth Creek maintenance garage. Some sumac was cleared, and this is where the garage will go. The final two slides were a shot of the Millennium Garden and the trail leading to it from 34th Avenue. Blank described the progress on this project to date. There's a wedding already scheduled there for June 28th, the day before the official dedication. Singer wants this garden to be smoke free. She really wants staff to pursue this. Blank said it hasn't been discussed, but Singer is strongly encouraging a decision on this. Rezabek said he agrees with Singer, but wonders about the trail leading to the garden. Singer suggests a certain smoke-free zone where smoking would be prohibited, like within 50 feet of PRAC Minutes/April 2003 Page 16 the site. Singer also thinks we should have a policy on tobacco use at the skate parks. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. There was no new business. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION Singer attended the City Council study session and discussed the tobacco - free policy. The necessary votes were received by the Council, and this will go to another study session on May 27th. The Council may be interested in some type of policy but not as restrictive as Eden Prairie. They like Golden Valley's policy, which is smoke-free at all youth athletic events taking place in their parks. Anderson commented that there's a lot going on with smoking policies around the country. Meyer suggested that we add the tobacco policy to next month's agenda. Rezabek asked about the distance allowed between a private property and a city trail for the installation of a fence. The city fence ordinance says it can be six inches from the trail. The trail in question is on the south side of Schmidt Lake Road. It was suggested that Rezabek talk to someone in engineering. Blank said he would drive by and take a look at it. There's nothing new to report on the Begin property, or on the Hollydale Golf Course. Blank said we do not have any first right of refusal on any golf course property. Fiemann said Elm Creek has a new clubhouse. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION The next meeting will be held on May 8. 9. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m.