HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 05-13-2004MINUTES OF THE PARK AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING
May 13, 2004
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PRESENT: Commissioners Aamoth, Davis, Fiemann, Krahulec, Rezabek, Ritchie,
Singer, staff Blank, Michaud, and Pederson
ABSENT: Meyer, Rodriguez
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chair Fiemann called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Singer moved and Aamoth seconded a motion to approve the minutes from the
April 8 meeting. Motion carried with all ayes.
3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS
a. Athletic Associations. No athletic association representatives were present at
the meeting.
b. Staff — Regina Michaud — report on youth and teen programs. Michaud said she
was honored to be working for Plymouth and is very thankful for the strong
support from the City Council and the Park and Recreation Advisory
Commission. She has a bachelors and a masters in recreation services. She
started in January of 2000 as a recreation intern, and following her internship,
she was hired as a coordinator working with aquatics, special events and
eventually teen programs. Her full time status began in August 2001. Her areas
of responsibility include preschool education, recreation and fitness programs,
summer playground and concessions, teen programs, skate park programs,
adult health and fitness, martial arts and self defense, and special events. One
of her new programs is Play and Learn in Russian. This class is taught by a
certified teacher from Russia who immigrated to the U.S. as an adult. Other
communities have come to observe the class, because they want to start a
similar program. We are now looking into developing a Play and Learn in Indian
and Spanish for preschoolers.
The summer playground program for ages 5-10 is offered at eight
neighborhood parks and five playfields. Last summer 400 children participated,
and for this summer's program, we currently have 345 registrations, with a few
weeks to go before the program begins. Ten to 12 part-time employees are
needed to run the playground program. It is tax and fee supported but we are
moving more toward being totally fee supported. The Fantastic Friday
adventures will all be at the newly renovated Plymouth Creek Center in the
Black Box Theater. As part of the summer playground program, we work with
Conect to provide opportunities for at -risk children. Conect is part of Interfaith
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Outreach. Blank explained the Conect Collaborative. Low income single parent
families are their main clients, Blank said. We interface with them to provide
financial assistance and get them involved in our programs. We have helped
train their staff as well.
Concessions is another area Michaud oversees. This is a community service
program rather than one that generates revenue. Historically, the concession
stand has lost money each summer, but in the last two summers we have cut
the deficit by 50% by making changes to hours, staffing, product pricing, and
more events being held at Parkers Lake, like the teen and kid concerts.
Michaud also runs programs at the Skate Park — skate jams, skateboard
camps, etc. These events have been co -hosted by 3rd Lair and Sport Hut.
Participants pay a fee to enter the competition, but spectators get in free. Our
skate jams have been very well received. The skate jam is open to both inline
skaters and skateboarders, but the skateboard camp is just for skateboarders.
The teen programs cover ages 11-18. This is a year round program. There is a
wide variety of activities for this age group, but it's very challenging to promote,
because they are divided into middle school and high school, and the two do
not want to intermingle in social or recreational settings. The teen program will
have a more "permanent" home once the lower level of the Plymouth Creek
Activity Center is done, Michaud explained. We now have some core programs
that are successful and bringing in revenue. "The Stage" is a teen music venue
run on the Parkers Lake Stage. This year we have 15 bands that have signed
up to perform on seven different nights. Attendance at their concerts has
ranged from 40 to 200. This group may expand over to use the Black Box
Theatre stage. Michaud is considering having a Battle of the Bands there. New
programs for teens include ProKart Skool and Camp, Mountain Biking, Fly
Fishing, Step Up & Lead, Boundary Waters Canoe Trip, LAN parties (video
game parties), and Friday Nights at the Black Box Theater. Michaud works with
the Youth Advisory Council, supervising the special events they offer — the
Youth Town Forum, Plymouth Youth Service Awards which recognizes youth
that volunteer, and "Bridging the Gap," an intergenerational program between
teens and seniors. They discuss current events or topics of interest. Five have
been done so far with participation between 25 and 50. We have garnered
three awards from this program so far. Michaud's adult programs cover ages 16
and up and fall mostly in the health and fitness area. Most popular now are
yoga and pilates. We began morning pilates classes last fall. This has been so
well received that we now offer an evening class. Future programs for adults
may include fencing and ultimate Frisbee. Our jujitsu demonstration, held once
a year, brings in an audience of 130+. Michaud runs several special events that
are for all ages including New Years Around the World held at LifeTime and the
Ice Center and the Summer Carnival held at Parkers Lake Park in late July for
families. A new program this year is Mad Hatters Tea Party, scheduled for this
Sunday. It includes crafts, movie, games & snack. A Fall Festival co -hosted by
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area churches is an alternative Halloween event to be held on October 31.
Michaud is now focusing on future issues/challenges — cultural diversity, fitness
fighting obesity, Working Smarter and of course teens. Programs that have
failed include Happy Hour at the library for teens. We tried Thursday night
socials at the Plymouth Creek Center for teens so they could watch Friends
and enjoy ice cream treats. This also bombed.
Blank talked about the History Fest program held last Thursday, Friday and
Saturday.
Blank handed out statistics on summer registration — TTR, internet, walk-in and
mail -in. 69% of registrations are now being done either by touch tone phone or
on-line.
Blank then showed a few slides on the groundbreaking at the Ice Center,
construction of the lower level of the Plymouth Creek Center, the Reserve
Neighborhood Park and Lake Camelot Neighborhood Park.
c. Others. There were no other presentations.
4. REPORT ON PAST COUNCIL ACTION
a. Approved trail on Nathan Lane. Council unanimously approved the construction
of this trail.
b. Awarded bids for Ice Center. Council awarded all the ice center bids.
5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
a. Update on Plymouth Creek Center. A walk through is scheduled for next
Thursday, but staff is concerned that the lower level will not be finished by then.
All the workers are tripping over each other right now in order to get it done on
time. Furniture is on hold until May 24. An open house will be planned at a
future time.
b. Update on Ice Center. The third ice sheet will be in full construction phase next
week, beginning Monday.
c. Update on Reserve Neighborhood park. We are ahead of schedule on this. The
park could be substantially completed the third week of July, except for the
grass. Davis asked about the grass seed washing away, because of the steep
slopes. Blank said we have built berms to help prevent washing away of seed.
6. NEW BUSINESS
a. Choose official name for new neiahborhood nark in The Reserve development.
Blank said we're at the point where we need to order the identifying signs. It's
time to give this park an official name. The park is contained in one
development, called The Reserve, so staff is recommending that the park carry
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the development's name. SINGER MOVED TO RECOMMEND THE NAME
THE RESERVE NEIGHBORHOOD PARK. REZABEK SECONDED. MOTION
CARRIED ALL AYES.
b. Set fees for Ice Center. Blank explained that the City maintains a fiscal policy
that keeps the rink solvent. This is the first time the rink will have debt
associated with it in the form of a loan against its operation. The operating
revenues need to cover both the replacement reserves and the debt on the
arena, Blank said. Based on financial projections done by the city's financial
analyst, staff is recommending a $10 per hour increase, plus a $5 surcharge.
With this increase, we are still coming up just short of meeting both the debt
load and the replacement reserves necessary for the Ice Center. Currently our
winter rate is $145 per hour and our summer rate is $120 per hour, which is
slightly on the low side. The Wayzata and Armstrong High Schools will not
benefit from the third sheet, so there should not be a $5 surcharge imposed on
them. Staff's recommendation is to raise both our summer rate and winter rate
by $15. Staff would like to operate for one year to arrive at a base number of
hours that we are able to sell. Once we determine that base, we will be better
able to come up with the hourly rate necessary to meet both the debt service
and the replacement reserves. If, after the first year of operating three ice
sheets, we determine we are receiving more revenue than necessary to meet
our needs, we may recommend adjusting the rates accordingly. Davis wants to
know if we should bump up our summer rate, since we're below average on this
fee. Blank said we sell out every summer, so for now he'd prefer to keep it this
price. The winter rate would go into effect in September and the $135 summer
rate would go into effect in 2005. Blank informed the high schools of what the
new rate would likely be so they could budget for it next year. REZABEK
MOVED TO APPROVE THE RATES AS PROPOSED BY STAFF. KRAHULEC
SECONDED. When we close our books each year, our financial analyst always
looks at the fees. Blank explained that his goal is to keep skating affordable for
people. The more hours we sell, the lower we can keep our rates. We run $10-
15 lower than New Hope. Minnetonka is lower than we are. Fiemann asked if
we have a different rate later at night. Blank said no. The only time we discount
is for figure skaters who want to come in at 5 or 6 a.m. We have a lunch time
open hockey for $5 per player. Aamoth asked how our reserve funds are doing.
Blank said we are behind. We dipped into it to buy our dehumidification units.
Once the loan is paid off, the reserves should build up very quickly to $300,000
or more. Both Wayzata Hockey and Providence have said they will pay
whatever fee the Council sets. Providence has to buy 250 hours from us as part
of their agreement. Aamoth asked if we anticipate any problems while the third
rink is being built. Blank said we don't foresee any problems. MOTION
CARRIED, ALL AYES.
7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION
None.
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8. STAFF COMMUNICATION
The Wayzata School District dome and field were approved Tuesday night by the
City Council on a 6-1 vote, Blank said. It will be located at Wayzata Central Middle
School and will feature a plastic sheet of ice for hockey. The Baseball Association
will put in 12 batting cages. There will be an artificial turf field for soccer. They plan
to charge $100 for a half field. We charge $107 for our half field. The Planning
Commission did not approve the plan because of a number of different issues.
When the plan was presented to the Council, all of these issues had been resolved
to the Council's satisfaction.
Blank said we have been selected as a finalist once again for the National Gold
Medal award. We are up against two of the same three cities from last year, and
the new finalist in our category is Bend, Oregon. The tobacco free policy will be an
important part of our video this year.
9. ADJOURN
The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.