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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 01-12-2006MINUTES OF THE PARK AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING January 12, 2006 Page 1 PRESENT: Commissioners Aamoth, Fiemann, Griwac, Krahulec, Rezabek, Pederson, Singer; staff Blank, Evans, and Pederson ABSENT: Davis, Mohagen CALL TO ORDER Chair Fiemann called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Rezabek moved and Pederson seconded a motion to approve the December 2005 minutes. All ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. None were present at the meeting. b. Staff. Evans gave an update on the Fire & Ice Festival. Park maintenance was out on the ice last week and reported that we have four inches of good ice and two inches of frozen crusty ice. This isn't deep enough to support the event. We will continue to plan for it, and make a decision in a week or two about whether or not we have to cancel. Staff is gearing up for summer programs and trying to get things scheduled, so they will be ready for publication in the summer catalog. New Year's Eve Around the World had about 100 less participants than last year, Evans said. Things went well with Life Time Fitness co- sponsoring. They have a new manager, and the joint cooperation has been going well. Blank said we signed a new contract with Wayzata Schools to continue to run the aquatics program. Evans said we were approached 10 years ago by the school district proposing that the city run all the aquatic programs using East and West Middle School pools. We recently updated the old joint powers agreement. We spend $1,200 per year to lease the pools. Blank said prior to the joint powers agreement, both the city and the district each ran their own aquatic programs. We now run the program solely, and the school district does the maintenance on the pools. The agreement is ongoing with no end date. Either party can terminate it at any time. c. Others. There were no other presentations. 4. REPORT ON PAST COUNCIL ACTION a. Approved Plymouth/New Hope Little League Baseball request. Blank said the Council approved this unanimously. We met last week with our consultant, staff, maintenance, etc. The preliminary design work is underway. We will probably have to go through the Watershed District if we want to expand the parking lot. We're looking at three different options for parking. The first year we PRAC Minutes/January 2006 Page 2 may just do some re -striping to get a few more spaces. We'd like to bid the project in April or May, Blank said. We've had a couple of change orders on the PCC in the form of deducts, because the contractor did some poor painting, so we had to redo it ourselves. We're also trying to close out the contract on the Ice Center. We still have some issues with the rooftop unit. Rezabek asked about the tile floor. Blank is going to the Council with a tile proposal in February. He said it's going to cost about $38,000. Blank will put this on the February agenda. A 50 -inch plasma TV was installed in the lobby. A second TV will be downstairs. Fiemann asked about the possibility of changing the lights on the B rink. The A and C rinks do have better lighting, Blank said, but there are no plans to upgrade the lighting on the B rink at this time. Fiemann asked about parking at the ice center and if we've had any complaints. Blank said he hasn't had any comments about it. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Comp Plan update. A bike forum has been scheduled on February 22 as part of the process for updating the comprehensive plan. We're trying to find people who ride their bikes to work, who ride for leisure, and those who are bike racers, etc. We'll have maps at the forum for bikers to map out their bike routes, if they bike to work. We're going to try to get coverage by the Star Tribune. We've received some e-mail from bikers also. Fiemann talked about a group that gets together on Saturday and Sunday mornings to go bicycling. They meet at the Panera Bread store. He'd like us to reach out to the group by advertising there somehow. Rezabek mentioned a great trail system in the Lanesboro area, where they display very large colorful maps at each trailhead. Pederson said the bike forum is a good idea to help make us a bike -friendly community. Rezabek thinks our community definitely has a lot of bikers. Pederson suggested that we ask the people that come to the forum to become our bicycle task force. Blank agreed that this was a great idea. The council and planning commission are holding a joint meeting on March 9, at 7 p.m. That's the same night as the March PRAC meeting. We could start our meeting at 6:30 and meet in the Medicine Lake Room. That way, any commissioner who wants to attend the joint meeting could still get in on it. The City Council will then meet on March 21 alone to start work on the guide plan. Blank talked to the Wayzata School District. They have just hired a consultant to gather data on their student population and trends. Later on a meeting with the Robbinsdale School District will be scheduled. We're meeting with the athletic associations on February 8 to gather data from them and encourage them to attend meetings with us, the Council, etc. We need input from them as we start planning new facilities. Internally, the staff is reviewing things like expansion of the PCC, and what type of expansion. Other things like a gymnasium, theater, indoor tennis, and water playground are being reviewed. Artificial ice outdoors is another topic of interest. Rezabek asked about our outdoor ice rink locations. Evans said they are listed in the winter brochure. Plymouth is hosting the MRPA annual conference in 2006. Fiemann asked about a bike path connecting the Plymouth Station area with the Lowe's shopping area. Blank PRAC Minutes/January 2006 Page 3 said if there is a need we might do a boardwalk trail from the Lowe's property to the Fire Station 3 area. Fiemann asked about a park near the Carlson building on County Road 6. He was approached by a lacrosse group looking for playing space. Staff wasn't aware of anything in that immediate area. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Review draft of 2005 annual report. Blank explained that Evans and Pederson did most of the layout. Commissioners thought it was quite impressive. Evans is hoping for tentative approval this evening after changes are noted. A final copy would be distributed to everyone in February. The report must go to the Council in March. Fiemann said on pg. 3, drop the words "this year" when talking about new commissioners. Pederson suggested saying "our two newest members are Pederson and Mohagen" as an alternative. On pg. 5, item 6, strike the last sentence about Pederson. Be consistent about saying Parks and Recreation throughout the brochure, Singer said. Singer had a question about capital usage on pg. 12 in the small paragraph, and on pg. 16, in the last sentence about "collaborative program." Pederson said the document looks great. As many times as possible, we should display maps, particularly in reference to the last page. Aamoth thinks the last page is really important and should be moved closer to the front of the report. After further discussion commissioners agreed that the back page could stay in its current location. A park map will be added on the inside back cover. Fiemann mentioned that the paragraph on the back page referring to the Plymouth Creek Center, Fieldhouse, and the Ice Center seemed rather redundant, because lower on that same page those facilities are listed again. It was suggested that the mention of the facilities could be dropped from the paragraph, and then reverse the order of the photo, and the list of facilities. Krahulec asked about the order of the administration page. Should it be moved forward in the brochure? After discussing that the annual report is PRAC's publication and that PRAC has always been listed in the first few pages, it was decided to leave it the way it is now. Commissioners wanted to add some more things to the Work Plan — the bike friendly issue — the skate park on the east side of Plymouth — the trail connection between Lowe's and Rainbow Foods — trends in recreation, etc. Blank said these items could be mentioned as part of the comprehensive plan update. Commissioners suggested a new no. 8 talking about the major redevelopment of existing parks, beginning with Zachary Park. Aamoth asked about a bond referendum being mentioned in the report. That could be item 9 Blank said — long term financial planning. We'll bring the report back to the February meeting with these changes; seeking final approval at that time. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION Aamoth asked about pond clearing for skating. He was wondering if the parks department took care of that. A lot of the ponds are platted Blank said, or are association properties, so homeowners do their own clearing if they want a place to skate. A question arose then on liability in the case of someone falling through the ice. Blank said the laws in MN on liability immunity are fairly strong. Most of us PRAC Minutes/January 2006 Page 4 realize there's a possibility you could fall through the ice if you choose to skate on a frozen pond or lake. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION We'll start the March meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Medicine Lake room, so that commissioners can attend the joint City Council/Planning Commission meeting being held that night at 7. Blank stated that PRAC meetings should return to the Council Chambers in February, because construction at city hall is wrapping up. 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:18 pm.