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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 06-10-2004MINUTES OF THE PARK AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING June 10, 2004 Page 22 PRESENT: Commissioners Davis, Fiemann, Meyer, Rodriguez, Singer; staff Blank, Pederson; Councilmember Slavik ABSENT: Aamoth, Krahulec, Rezabek, Ritchie 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Fiemann called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Singer moved and Davis seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the May meeting as presented. Motion carried, all ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. No athletic association representatives were present at the meeting. b. Staff. Blank announced that all staff were at the Plymouth Creek Center holding staff training for the summer seasonal staff. The first concert of the season, scheduled for this evening at the Hilde, was cancelled due to weather, Blank said. We have a new director of figure skating at the Ice Center. Summer is underway, beaches have opened, and some programs have started. We're mowing seven days a week due to rapid grass growth because of all the rain. The bulk of summer programs begins next week. Our next big event is the 5K fun run and Music in Plymouth. New this year is a laser light show between the end of the orchestra and before the fireworks. The police will be running a behind the scenes emergency operations center, carrying out a series of training sessions during Music in Plymouth. c. Others. There were no other presentations. 4. REPORT ON PAST COUNCIL ACTION a. Rental fees for the ice center were approved as recommended by PRAC, and the Council awarded bids on the Ridgemount tennis courts, as well as approving the name for the Reserve Neighborhood Park. Another youth member has been appointed to the park commission. She will start at the July meeting. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Update on Plymouth Creek Center. Inspections have been taking place. We hope to get a certificate of occupancy soon. All furniture has been delivered. PRAC Minutes/June 2004 Page 23 Blank said we should be operational within 10 days. We are planning an open house prior to a 7 p.m. Council meeting sometime in July. b. Update on Ice Center. Blank stated that excavating is taking place a foot at a time to keep side walls from caving in. This project is behind schedule about 5- 10 days due to rain. We are working with LifeTime to make sure things continue on an even keel. All new sewer lines and water lines are going in and a switch over from the old to the new needs to take place in a week or so. c. Update on other capital projects. Blank said that at the Reserve park crews have poured the concrete slab for the gazebo; they are starting to install the playground, and all grading has been done. Once the playground is in place, then crews can start paving and landscaping. All grading was done before the rains came. At Lions park, playground installation is about half done. Architects are tweaking the plan for the new warming house at Ridgemount. We are out for bid on the trail project. The contractor is moving forward with last year's trail project along 36th Avenue to New Hope near Plymouth Middle School. Singer asked about the NURP pond at Medicine Lake. Blank said there will be two ponds located there. They will move into the park area once the swimming season is over in late August. The park will then be shut down due to heavy construction. The Regional trail will remain open for the most part. Not quite half of the parking will be lost Blank said. Singer asked about Mrs. Begin. Blank said she wasn't feeling well the last time he visited, so he rescheduled for last week, but she later called and cancelled that meeting. He continues to try and reschedule with her. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Set fieldhouse rental rates for 2004-05. Blank explained that we need to publish our rental rates in the next recreation brochure so they need to be set now. The fieldhouse, like the ice center, is an enterprise fund. All operating expenses are paid through rentals, and we have to allow for maintenance, repair, and replacement. That margin is $85,000 a year. Based on the rates we have, we're comfortable that we're making that $85,000 margin. In our second year of operation, we added a propane standby system, which shaves 20% off the natural gas bills. The turf was also replaced last year. We reached into our reserves to purchase these items. Reserves are $100,000 behind where they should be, Blank said. It's appropriate at this time to do a rate increase. Busch, the PCC manager, proposed raising them $15 per hour. Blank thought that was too much, so he's proposing raising them $9 for primetime and $10 for non - primetime. The Wayzata Central bubble will only have a half field, and they will charge $100 per hour. Minnetonka hasn't let us know what their price point will be. We're substantially under what other communities charge, but Blank said we're comfortable with our rates. He thinks Minnetonka will be in the $200 range. Singer asked why Blank is proposing $244 instead of $245 per hour. Busch wants an even dollar amount that can be cut in half. Half of $244 is 122, while half of $245 is $122.50. Singer doesn't feel $9 is enough for a two PRAC Minutes/June 2004 Page 24 year rate plan. Blank said we'll come back with a report next year, so we don't have to lock it in for two years. Fiemann wants to see how the Wayzata and Minnetonka bubbles affect us, so he's concerned about raising fees too much. Davis said it's implied that we replaced the turf early. He wondered if we adjusted reserves to cover the next replacement. Blank said we replaced it early not due to a quality issue, but due to a color issue. The second turf has a 6 year warranty on it. Blank said he thinks it will have a 10 year life cycle. Blank also said the total cost is $400,000 to replace the turf, but we got it for $90,000. Blank also said the reserves are earning interest. We were $10,000 over our margin this year, so Blank thinks we'll go up about $20,000 over our margin by charging $9 more per hour. Singer thinks we should take the opportunity to build up our reserves. Singer hasn't heard much talking about the Wayzata bubble, but she has heard that people love the Plymouth fieldhouse turf. Rodriquez asked about the quality of the new Wayzata bubble turf. Blank said the product at the central facility is the same as the product at the high school. Our field is 60 yards wide, theirs is 50-53 yards wide. SINGER MOVED TO ACCEPT STAFF'S RECOMMENDATION OF RAISING FIELDHOUSE RATES TO $244 PER HOUR FOR PRIMETIME AND $210 PER HOUR FOR NON PRIMETIME FOR ONE YEAR. DAVIS SECONDED. MOTION CARRIED, ALL AYES. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION None. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION Blank shared some information regarding the city-wide survey done recently. He pointed out some of the statistics regarding the recreation portion of the survey. The last survey was done in 1999, so there are comparisons between this year's survey and that year's survey. The City started doing surveys in 1982 or 1983 and trails always came out as being the most wanted recreation amenity. But that has now changed. Now people are more interested in open space. They feel we finally have enough trails. Blank said we have ordinances now that indicate where sidewalks are required. Our staff and the planning staff monitor where trails and sidewalks need to go in any new development. Fiemann believes that a sidewalk or trail is needed over by Plymouth Station to get people to the shopping area from the residential neighborhood west of there. Blank said we are working on the videotape for the Gold Medal award. Singer has been working on that with Evans. Channel 9 has volunteered to fly a helicopter over the city for the purpose of taking some overhead shots for the video. They have cameras mounted underneath the helicopter. The video has to be in by June 25. The next Park Commission meeting is July 8, which falls during the holiday week. There was some discussion about moving the meeting. Blank will not be available on the 15t". If there is no urgent business, we may cancel the July meeting. 9. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m.