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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 06-12-2003MINUTES OF THE PARK AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING June 12, 2003 Page 24 Present: Commissioners Anderson, Aamoth, Fiemann, Meyer, Rezabek, 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 Singer and seconded by Rezabek to approve the minutes of the May meeting. Motion carried, all ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. None were present. Staff. Blank stated that summer staff training was going on this evening at the Plymouth Creek Center, and that's why Evans wasn't in attendance. All summer programs will begin in earnest next week. The Hilde Performance Center now has a new sound system, Blank said. The Plymouth Rockers held a concert there last Thursday to kick off the season. On Sunday, the Minnesota Symphonic Winds performed there with 98 members. They were very impressed with the facility and want to return. They said it was the nicest facility they had ever used. This evening the Plymouth Concert Band is performing. Next Tuesday concerts begin at Parkers Lake, and the first water ski show of the season is Wednesday, June 18. Blank asked if PRAC had received their invitations to the Millennium Garden dedication. He discussed the work going on there to get things ready for the dedication on June 29. In response to a citizen's request, there will be a special area set aside for groups that want to grill near the garden and have events like pig roasts. Blank said the invitations were sent out to approximately 1,000 people, including all those who donated in-kind services, products, purchased bricks, benches, etc., as well as city council members, commission members, and other government officials. Blank discussed the schedule of events that will occur during the dedication ceremony. He stated that everyone in attendance will be given a rose. c. Others. There were no others present. 4. REPORT ON PAST COUNCIL ACTION There was no past Council action to report. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS PRAC Minutes/June 2003 Page 25 a. Millennium Garden update. See above. b. Tobacco free parks update. Blank stated that the tobacco free youth organization that made a presentation to PRAC last year made the same presentation to the Council at a special study session last week. Meyer was in attendance at the meeting. Blank distributed copies of a memo he had received from the City Manager following that study session which summarized the Council's feelings on the issue. They stated that current policies should be changed from "smoke free" to "tobacco free." Current and new policies should be consistent with school districts. New regulations should be aimed at youth activities and gathering spots, not all park land everywhere. There is some interest on the Council's part in solving the ice center entrance problem (people gather to smoke right outside the doors). They agree that the Millennium Garden should be tobacco free. Other items they brought up included whether or not smoking would be permitted in private cars in parks, at private rentals of city facilities, such as the Plymouth Creek Center, and during events like Music in Plymouth? Blank said the city attorney would draft the actual ordinance. It will be necessary to hold a public meeting, which has been scheduled for the August PRAC meeting. Approval of an ordinance by PRAC would not be needed until September. Singer's concern right now is for the Millennium Garden and that it's going to open with no policy in effect yet. Blank said at this time we will go ahead and sign it "tobacco free." Blank said the list of signs being installed are going in at a faster rate than the plants. We're having issues with kids on BMX bikes, kids playing in the fountain, etc. Blank said we are going to ban smoking on the deck of the Plymouth Creek Center and move the smoking area to the east side of the building on the plaza area. Meyer said she understands that people need to have an area where smoking is permitted in the case of private parties renting the Plymouth Creek Center. Blank assured PRAC that there would be multiple containers around for disposing of cigarette butts. Athletic Associations will be asked to post the information on the proposed tobacco free policy on their websites. Fiemann asked how we go about advertising the public meeting. Blank said it will be in the local paper, in the City newsletter, and on the city's website. Fiemann suggested that we put the Gold Medal video on cable TV. It would be great PR. Blank said he will talk to our communications department about that. Blank also showed the commissioners the award we received for being a finalist. Discussion continued then on the tobacco free issue. Meyer said it is illegal to smoke in cars on school grounds. But commissioners were wondering about people smoking in cars in our park parking lots. Anderson asked why private rentals of city facilities would be such an issue with the tobacco free policy. Music in Plymouth will also be an issue. Smoking has been allowed in the past at Music in Plymouth. Due to the timing of this issue, we won't have anything in effect until next summer. It will take about eight weeks to do a good broad-based PRAC Minutes/June 2003 Page 26 campaign to get the word out on this proposed ordinance. Singer will not be at the August meeting. Meyer will not be in attendance either. Blank said we could postpone it until September, or change the date of the August meeting. It was the consensus that more people might be able to attend in September. c. Gold Medal award update - view video. Blank showed the video we submitted as part of our application for the gold medal award. Commissioners were very impressed with the video and thanked Ellie for her part of the production. d. Dog park update. The dog park will open on June 14. Everything is ready to go. We want to get Channel 12 to interview Mark Peterson at the dog park, Blank said. The park will be open from sunrise to sunset. Fiemann wanted to make sure that trash barrels would be available at the site. Aamoth asked if a place had been found for the woman who wants to continue to exercise her horses at this location or nearby. Blank said he has a meeting with her next week. e. Ice Center update. Blank stated that two weeks ago, staff thought the ice center project was dead, but last week both Providence and Wayzata hockey met with the mayor and Providence raised their offer to 1,250,000 and Wayzata raised their offer to $625,000. The Mayor has told them she thinks at that level of contribution the Council will look very seriously at this issue. Blank said we will now meet the city's wetland ordinance with a change in the parking area. We will still meet code for parking, even though we have scaled it back somewhat. We have reanalyzed the traffic issue and think we can make some improvements to this also. Blank said we don't want to commit to putting a police officer out there directing traffic every time there is an event. Blank said it looks like this item will go to the Council June 24. We've eliminated one of the parking bays for now to get the cost down. With the additional contributions from Providence and Wayzata hockey, and a $5 user fee surcharge, there will be a gap of about $1.3 million, which will come from park dedication. Blank said we would ask council to authorize hiring an architect to do a preliminary design on the project along with an upgraded cost estimate. We need to do written contracts with Wayzata Hockey and Providence. By September that should all be completed. Final design and bidding would be in December or January. We would hope to have the project complete by November 2004. We are in a good bidding economy right now. We have other money set aside for the Northwest Greenway and to buy the 10th playfield. Blank said we've already made our numbers for park dedication for this year. We will maybe have to be a little more conservative in our 2004 park projects, Blank said. When we revisit the CIP in November, we'll have a pretty good idea of where we are. Blank said he will write the report and make the PRAC Minutes/June 2003 Page 27 presentation to the Council. Rezabek talked about the hours being rented vs. the cost. If we sell 1,000 hours on a third rink, everything works. Blank thinks we will sell more than that. Rezabek encouraged Blank to make that part of his presentation to the Council. We will sell more time during the three summer months than we do during the winter months. Blank said Abel is turning people away right now who want summer ice hours. Blank thinks we'll be able to sell up to 2,000 hours. Singer asked about the BMX park. Blank said we haven't found a suitable site yet. Anderson asked about the Sports Illustrated award. Blank said they are expected to announce five states every month in their magazine. Minnesota would be announced later on in the year. Blank talked about the accident Abel's son was in. He will have a very long recovery due to extremely serious injuries. Meyer asked where else park dedication money would go if not to the ice sheet. Blank said there were a number of projects it could fund. The third sheet would make our ice center a world class facility. We would be eligible to host larger tournaments. 6. NEW BUSINESS There was no new business. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION Fiemann commented on all the graffiti at the high school. Rezabek said that lawns are being vandalized in his neighborhood by people burning words into people's lawns by using some type of chemicals, perhaps fertilizer. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION The next meeting will be July 10 at the Plymouth Creek Center. Blank will not be at that meeting. If there is no urgent business, the August meeting may be cancelled, or a park tour could be held instead. Anderson asked about the Jazz Festival poster. Blank explained that that event will be held the Wednesday before the Millennium Garden dedication, as a sort of "prelude" to the dedication. 9. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.