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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 04-08-2004MINUTES OF THE PARK AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING April 8, 2004 Page 11 PRESENT: Commissioners Aamoth, Davis, Fiemann, Meyer, Rezabek, Rodriguez, Singer, staff Blank, Busch, and Pederson ABSENT: Krahulec, Ritchie 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Fiemann called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Ali Rodriguez pointed out a spelling error on pg. 8 under Unfinished Business, Update on Ice Center, that should have read bid package, not big package. Rezabek moved and Meyer seconded to approve the February minutes with that correction. Motion carried, all ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. No athletic association representatives were present at the meeting. b. Staff. Evans was not present, but had written a memo to PRAC updating them on a few items, which Blank briefly discussed. PRAC names and phone numbers have been added to the Plymouth Leisure Times brochure. We doubled the number of vendors at Yard and Garden, but attendance by the public was about the same as last year. Primavera is coming up next weekend. The 2004 calendar of events was reviewed. The tobacco free policy was mentioned in the summer issue of Plymouth Leisure Times. Staff training is coming up on how to best inform the public about the tobacco free policy. Signs are going up soon. The Plymouth Creek Center construction is moving forward. Most of the furnishings have been ordered. Staff recently met with the electrician and sign contractor to review preliminary design plans. The facility will have two neon signs; one that identifies the Black Box Theater and one that identifies the Mega Byte Cafe. Singer attended the Yard and Garden Expo and said it was an excellent event. She suggested that we do more promoting of vendors and the diversity of vendors in order to attract more attendance. Davis asked about the Music in Plymouth date. Blank explained that it's always held the Wednesday before July 4, so this year it will be on June 30. c. Others. There were no other presentations. PRAC Minutes/April 2004 Page 12 4. REPORT ON PAST COUNCIL ACTION a. Blank explained that the Council rejected the first round of bids on the ice center expansion. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Update on Ice Center. Blank said bids were opened a second time, because the first time around, the project came in way over budget. The City looked at 601,000 in cuts to come within budget on this project and managed to cut out 571,000. All the new bids pretty much decreased in amount, except for a couple. Blank said we have gone as low as possible now in cost and still be able to construct a quality facility. Blank explained some of the bid results. We have a new project budget of $5,350,000. We will get $1,250,000 from Providence, $725,000 from Wayzata Hockey, $1.5 million loan against the rink, and $1,875,000 in park dedication. The Council will get these bids next Tuesday night. We plan to begin construction in May if the Council approves the bids. This would allow us to open by Thanksgiving, as long as we don't lose any more than 10 days to rain, which tends to be the norm. Davis asked about the original budget, which was $4,800,000. Blank said a meeting room and store room were taken out and one official's room. We also took out tile and lowered the roof three feet, which resulted in lowering the wall height three feet. The price of copper has skyrocketed, so electrical outlets were also taken out. This is okay, because the Ice Center runs everything on batteries. We can still add some things back in later. The expansion will look somewhat different than the original building due to the lower roof, Blank explained. People will probably notice it if they walk from rink to rink. We only received one bid on the walls from Spancrete when the project was bid the first time. This time around Fabcon had the low bid. Their product will be a little rougher looking on the outside than the way Spancrete does their walls. The Spancrete walls done on the first rink and the new walls that will be done by Fabcon will not meet anywhere, so the difference in the finish shouldn't be noticeable to anyone. b. Update on Plymouth Creek Center. Construction is moving along, but is now about 5-10 days behind schedule. They sound proofed the ceiling underneath the Plymouth Room, and window installation will soon follow. We don't have the bi—fold doors yet, but they are expected to arrive soon. Furniture has been ordered, along with two pianos, one regular, and one electronic. About a month from now the lower level should be ready for tours. Singer asked about the screen porch. Blank said the bid was awarded for that item, but city building officials want data on it which was recently supplied to them. She also asked about the need for a pool table. Blank said we already have one. Singer said she may want to donate a second one. Mayor Johnson donated the original pool table. Blank said the 800 feet of boardwalk is completed now at Lake Camelot. The second picnic shelter is also in place. We plan to have a grand opening in PRAC Minutes/April 2004 Page 13 conjunction with Arbor Day. The date will be forthcoming. The boardwalk was built using the Tree Trust agency at a substantial savings to the city. Fiemann asked if we had any more news on the Begin property. Blank said Mrs. Begin hasn't returned from Phoenix yet regarding the purchase of that farm for a 10th playfield. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Plymouth Creek Center proposed fees. Rick Busch introduced himself to the commission. He was in attendance to present proposed fees for 2005-06 on the Plymouth Creek Center and Millennium Garden. Busch explained that he likes to review rates annually by checking similar facilities in the surrounding suburbs. Our present rates are right in the market, so the proposed increases are modest. Our main source of revenue comes from weddings, he stated. Busch discussed a handout describing current rates, proposed rates, etc. It is necessary to establish rates now, because the Plymouth Creek Center can be rented 18 months in advance. He stated that we already have 15 events scheduled through September 2005, with more requests coming in weekly. Busch wants to keep the rates the same for two years, to help hold down the cost of redoing the rental brochure. New facilities will open soon downstairs and those fees need to be determined, too. The Black Box theater is similar in size to half the Plymouth Room and is priced accordingly. The multipurpose room downstairs is somewhat larger than the meeting rooms upstairs, but is priced the same as the upstairs meeting rooms. The lower level conference room will be kept open for City of Plymouth groups, thus allowing businesses to hold small group meetings in the upstairs meeting rooms. There are no rentals planned right now for the music rooms. These will be used primarily for city run music programs and classes. The food court area will not be rented either. The rates for the Millennium Garden are proposed to increase modestly also. All of these fees are below market for Plymouth residents, but right in line for non— residents. Meyer asked about the status of the half Plymouth Room on Friday and Saturday nights. Busch explained that the half Plymouth room is not rented on Friday and Saturday nights, thus allowing the full Plymouth Room to be available for large events such as weddings and banquets. Rick is anticipating a lot of use in the Black Box Theater for Park and Recreation sponsored events. These will be primarily week nights and weekends. We'll expand teen programming in this facility, Blank said, mostly on Friday nights. We are tentatively holding off booking the Black Box Theater on Saturday nights, because any event held there has the potential to conflict with a wedding up in the ballroom on Saturday night. There was some discussion on when the right time of year is to set fees for the Millennium Garden and the Plymouth Creek Center. The rates set tonight should last for approx. 24 months, Busch said. Blank reminded commissioners that all the rate increases for other facilities were set last November, but the Plymouth Creek Center component wasn't known at that time. Aamoth was wondering about the proposed fees for the Millennium Garden. Since that facility has only been open for less than a year, PRAC Minutes/April 2004 Page 14 how can a determination be made at this point to raise rates, he asked. Busch said we're finding things are a little more expensive than we anticipated. Blank said we probably set the rates a little too low to begin with. We need to look at the operating costs, plus we are hiring a part time individual who will work exclusively at the garden. We're also hearing that our garden will probably be one of the premier gardens in the metro area. The main reason for the increase is to keep up with the market and increased maintenance costs. Aamoth thought maybe we should raise the rates more for non—residents. Blank said we talked about that, but what Rick is finding out is that since residents can book 18 months out and non—residents only 12 months out, the garden is almost always booked by Plymouth residents. Aamoth thinks we really need to take a hard look at this before raising the rates. Meyer said it's hard to compare the Millennium Garden to anything, because there isn't anything out there to compare it to except Noerenberg Gardens in Minnetonka. Busch said he's never heard a complaint about our prices. Rezabek said he doesn't see a problem with our fees being raised, if it's always booked 18 months out. Blank mentioned a survey that was done of maybe three or four other gardens. Aamoth stated he isn't real comfortable with competing in the market, because we're a non—profit agency. We shouldn't be raising rates to keep up with the market, since we're not trying to make money. If it's to keep up with costs, that's a different matter. Singer thinks we also need to set ourselves up for replacement costs. Singer agrees with establishing a two year cycle, so we're not behind the 8—ball. Blank said Aamoth has raised a very good issue. Property taxes pay salaries, replacement costs, utilities, etc. The garden is going to be open 7 days a week, except when it's rented out. The base cost of running the garden is paid for by the taxpayer. Blank said we are not paying for the operation of the garden in rental fees. There are about five gardens around that are unique that we researched. Aamoth agrees that with increased use, there will be increased maintenance needed. We have committed to having staff on hand on Saturday mornings to get the garden ready for any Saturday events, Blank said. Davis asked about the catering rebate and if every caterer has to do that. Busch explained that we have an exclusive contract with just one caterer, Suzanne's Catering. We only have to deal with one group using our kitchen with this type of arrangement. We've heard horror stories from communities that hire several caterers. We wanted to avoid those types of problems. Blank said they have become an extension of marketing for us. This has been very good economically for the City. Busch meets monthly with community center managers. Most of those other managers would like to establish the same kind of arrangement we have. SINGER MOVED TO ADOPT RECOMMENDATIONS BY BUSCH FOR INCREASES IN FEES FOR BOTH THE PLYMOUTH CREEK CENTER AND MILLENNIUM GARDEN. REZABEK SECONDED. Aamoth said he was pleased with discussion and is happy to have the Council make the final decision. MOTION CARRIED, ALL AYES. Blank said we will continue to have our July meeting at the Plymouth Creek Center where we will focus on that operation. More detailed reports on rentals, etc., will be available at that meeting. Davis asked when these rates would take PRAC Minutes/April 2004 Page 15 effect. Blank said in 2005. It's too late to write the report for the Council to review this at their next meeting. Busch said the fieldhouse dome will come down the last Wednesday in April, and that it will be necessary to look at those rates soon, too. Our rates for the fieldhouse are lower than most other communities. We start renting a year out toward the end of July. The fieldhouse is a true enterprise fund. When we crunch the numbers on that, it's 10-15 years out. We are also going to have to increase the rates at the Ice Center, Blank said. Rezabek asked if staff would provide information on the Central Middle School bubble. Blank said he would get some pictures of that facility for the next meeting. b. Select 2004 trail improvement projects. Blank walked the Commission through the possible trail improvement projects by showing slides of those trails. The Nathan Lane trail has been requested by several residents. This area has high traffic volume, with high density apartments on both sides of the road, plus retail shopping and a movie theater at the south end. County Road 24 is another location with high traffic volume, but in this case, there is an on—road bike lane that is available for residents to use. The Carlson Parkway trail is not in demand. Fiemann asked if there was enough money available to do all five segments discussed. Blank said $80,000 is all we have, and this would build % to 1 mile of trail. Staff is recommending the Nathan Lane trail because that's the one that has garnered the most interest. The request for a trail on Old Rockford started with someone asking us to look into it, but when other neighbors heard about that, they were not in favor of it. Singer supports the Nathan Lane trail. Meyer thinks County Road 24 has a lot of potential, but she supports Nathan Lane first. REZABEK MOVED TO IMPROVE THE TRAIL ON NATHAN LANE BASED ON STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS. SINGER SECONDED MOTION. MOTION CARRIED, ALL AYES. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION Rezabek has been hearing really good comments about the dog park and the expansion of the parking lot. He mentioned that we're losing half of our East Medicine Lake Park to a NURP (natural urban runoff) pond. It keeps the silt from filling in our lakes. Singer asked if it's two ponds or one pond. Singer said its definitely needed. The beach is getting larger due to the silt. We will lose much of the parking lot and the sand volleyball court. A task force that Rezabek is on is looking at other ponds, where they're needed, and how to pay for them. Rezabek asked if the City collects dock permit fees. Fiemann said he's never heard of dock permit fees. Blank said we have no dock fees. They've never been proposed. Blank is currently looking into a couple of illegal docks that have been installed on the west side of Medicine Lake. He explained that a certain number of residents are allowed to have docks on Medicine Lake, but that every year, one or two residents try to sneak a dock in. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION None. PRAC Minutes/April 2004 Page 16 ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.