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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 05-12-2005MINUTES OF THE PARK AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING May 12, 2005 Page 1 PRESENT: Commissioners Aamoth, Fiemann, Davis, Krahulec, Rodriguez, Singer; Planning Commissioner Weir; staff Blank, Evans, Greupner, and Pederson ABSENT: Commissioners Griwac, Pederson, Rezabek CALL TO ORDER Chair Fiemann called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Krahulec made a motion to approve the minutes of the March meeting. Davis seconded. Motion carried, all ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. None were present. b. Staff. Evans gave a brief review about the Yard and Garden Expo. She said that 1,200 people attended, and 80 volunteers assisted. There were also 80 vendors on site. By day's end the event had raised $13,000 for the garden. The Chocolate Sampler was cancelled due to low enrollment and lack of interest by restaurants. Staff is planning a new event as a garden fundraiser for some time next year. The PCC celebrated their 5th anniversary with a variety of activities during the first week of May. Approximately 300 people attended the Golden Strings performance, 70 took part in the wine tasting event, and 100 people attended the High Tea. A silent auction was held, which raised $900 for senior programs. They ran out of pork chops at the Pork Chop Dinner, which had its largest attendance ever at 430. Teen events have been wrapped up for the year. Every other Friday there's been some sort of teen activity, i.e., Plugged In events, mic night, etc. We will be making some changes to that program. We are in our busy season now. Over 900 programs were listed in our summer catalog. On the first day of registration from 12:01 a.m. to 9 a.m. on April 7, we had 2,400 registrations. As we continue to get more technical, more residents are registering online. Fifty-one percent of the registrations were done online, up 12% from last year. This weekend is the first weekend of weddings in the Millennium Garden. June, July and August are pretty much booked for weekend weddings. Music in Plymouth planning is underway. All entertainment is lined up. The City is celebrating its 50th birthday. Plymouth on Parade and the Autumn Arts Fair are combined this year on September 24. Evans introduced staff member Karol Greupner. Greupner said she's been a recreation supervisor for 16 years and a Plymouth resident for 20 years. Basically her position is two fold; she works with programs and special events. The Plymouth Fine Arts Council PFAC) was established eight years ago. This is the funding vehicle for the city to grant monetary support to arts organizations. The two primary recipients of the annual grant of $10,000 are the Plymouth concert band and the Plymouth community theater. PFAC's signature event is the Primavera spring arts show. PRAC Minutes/May 2005 Page 2 Each year it gets better and better, with higher quality of artwork. There were 108 artists this year; 51 were from Plymouth. The art ranges from novices to professionals. This year had 28% more artists than in the past. Over 1,000 people attended the four-day exhibit. Greupner also works with programming arts classes throughout the year. She stated that she recently got everything organized for the spring dance recital, which is tomorrow night. One hundred fifty-six participants, from age 3 through teens will be performing. Music for Everyone classes are group and private music lessons held in the lower level of the PCC. Piano, violin, and voice lessons are offered. The Funmobile will hit the streets this summer. Rogers Automotive renovated a vehicle for us. Puppet shows are performed in neighborhoods throughout the community. Entertainment in the Parks will be held at Parkers Lake and the Hilde. Two years ago, we started Kids Koncerts at Parkers Lake, which are very well received. Thee water ski shows throughout the summer are also planned. The Hilde offers nine evening concerts throughout the summer on Thursday nights. New this summer is our youth theater performance, Prairie Fire Theater. They will be performing at the Hilde. Fiemann asked when the dance performances will be held that are in conjunction with some of the concerts. The Minnetonka Youth Ballet Company will be performing and the other is a Tap Review. Greupner wasn't sure about those dates. The other part of her job is planning special events. She mentioned how successful Fire & Ice was. We are looking forward to the city celebration on September 24. The day's events consist of the pancake breakfast, a new firefighters 5k run/walk. The course will be in northeast Plymouth, beginning somewhere near Fire Station 1. The art fair will be occurring from 10-5. This is the 16th year for the art fair. The artists will be setting up their tents on Plymouth Boulevard across from LifeTime. Applications are already coming in. There will be food vendors as well. We have entertainment following the parade, including the Ducky Derby, free ice skating at the Ice Center, and activities at LifeTime include swimming, gym games, etc. Greupner mentioned that a public art policy needs to be developed for the city. She was part of a workshop on public art sponsored by MRPA at the Black Box Theater. There were two wonderful presentations by Mary Altman, a public arts commissioner for the city of Minneapolis, and by Jack Baker from Forecast, an arts business, which consults with businesses and communities on public art. We were told by one of the judges that attended Primavera how lucky we were to have a painting by Larry Kunz in the PCC lobby. There is a mural at the Ice Center. This was a gift from the Radisson to the Arts Council who then gifted it to the City. It supposedly has a value of $30,000. Greupner feels it is important to have a policy on dealing with gifts of art as well as future acquisitions. Greupner concluded her presentation by saying she loves her job, loves the arts, and community events. She is very grateful for the support of the staff, city and PRAC. 4. REPORT ON PAST COUNCIL ACTION PRAC Minutes/May 2005 Page 3 a. Ice Center final bills. We had 21 contractors turning in final bills, etc. Council has to authorize those payments. We've closed out 13 or 14 of those 21 contracts, so far. Fiemann asked if anything else needs to be done at the Ice Center. Council still wants tile in the lobby, Blank said, but he is waiting on that project for the time being. We are getting ready now to landscape. Now that frost is out of the ground, more paving is being done. Irrigation crew is expected to be there next week. We've ordered more furniture for the lobby. Three benches have been installed in the cafe. Blank said that people are taking advantage of the wireless Internet access that's available there. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Blank said he is waiting for attorneys to put together a purchase option on the 10th playfield. Davis wanted to know about the Hilde entranceway. The Plymouth Foundation withdrew their request for the city to finance the project, Blank said. They are now trying to raise the money themselves. Staff wasn't convinced that this gateway had to be done this year. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Review material from Twin Cities Curling Association. Blank talked about the Curling Association. He stated that the president is a resident of Plymouth. They are looking for a curling facility in the western suburbs. Blank gets many calls from people who want to build private facilities in Plymouth. They are usually looking for land. Blank informs them that we simply don't have any land that we can give up. b. Update Comprehensive Plan. The council set the goals for 2005, Blank announced. Their number one goal is to begin the comprehensive plan update, including northwest Plymouth. A week ago the Council did a study session on the comp plan. The Planning Commission postponed their discussion on the comp plan last Wednesday. Staff has started to put together a team of people — including staff from police, park maintenance, etc. The MUSA line currently ends at Vicksburg. First thing that has to be done is to develop a land use guide plan. All other portions of the plan play off that. We'll get a consultant on board. The first year will be spent on guiding that area. How large the parks get will be determined by density. As plan unfolds, there probably won't be a lot for the park commission to do until a year or so from now. The dog park has been a phenomenal success, but it was supposed to be a neighborhood park. During the park tour, commissioners will visit some of the sites that will be developed first for the Northwest Greenway. Blank laid out where various trails and neighborhood parks will be in the Greenway. We are going to have to build our case for the 10th playfield. Blank believes we need it. It will probably take 24 months to go through the entire process of updating the comp plan. The mayor is not seeking reelection but she'd like to have some consensus on what the density is going to be by December 2006. Singer expressed concern about the future of the Living Farm. She feels strongly about its representing Plymouth's history. Blank said there are currently buildings on the site, including a barn and a house and some other buildings. Davis asked about PRAC's role in this process. We get involved later, Blank said. The comp plan will also address PRAC Minutes/May 2005 Page 4 some redevelopment areas. Blank is pretty certain that the last of the three Plymouth golf courses will be sold eventually and developed. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION None. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION We were not a finalist this year for the Gold Medal award, Blank said. Foothills Park District, Colorado, was a new entry in our population category. Wheaton Park District, Illinois, also was named a finalist in our population category. We will retool and try again in 2006. The NRPA staff that had been running the program for the last 15 years retired, so they had all new staff that looked at the applications differently than previous staff. Blank asked if the commissioners had any particular place in mind they want to visit on the park tour. Hearing nothing, he said commissioners should contact him in the coming weeks if they come up with something. Ali recently won a nice award from the Youth Services Awards program. Mary Kay Williams who coordinates volunteers at the high school nominated Ali for the Special Recognition Award for her volunteer activities. Ali mentioned that she would be attending Yale in the fall. 9. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.