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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 09-14-2006MINUTES OF THE PARK AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING September 14, 2006 PRESENT: Commissioners Aamoth, Davis, Fiemann, Griwac, Krahulec, Mohagen, Pederson, Rezabek, Singer; Councilmember Slavik, staff Blank, Evans, and Pederson ABSENT: CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:01 p.m. in the Council Chambers. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Rezabek moved and Singer seconded a motion to approve the July minutes. Motion carried, all ayes. 3. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS a. Athletic Associations. None were present at the meeting. b. Staff. Evans discussed Plymouth on Parade and the schedule for the day's events. Over 100 units have entered. Davis asked if there was a rain policy on the day of the parade. Evans said if the weather is threatening, it would be cancelled, but not for light rain. Other upcoming special events are the Little Costume Ball and Halloween at the Creek. Summer programs went well. Over 3,700 people attended the summer concerts held at the Hilde and at Parkers Lake. We brought in a bigger name band this year, the Mary Jane Alm band, and they drew a large crowd, helping to boost this year's concert attendance. This was our second summer of doing a children's theatre production. Over 800 spectators attended the performances. The water ski shows went well, although attendance was down a little. Over 700 attended the Kids Koncerts on Wednesday mornings. Playground program attendance was up 12%. We had 34 teens assist with 23 programs, putting in more than 1,000 hours. Our Little Shooters basketball program was a hit, coached by former Gopher Kevin Lynch. We have 930 kids registered in our fall soccer program. We're gearing up for winter now and making plans for the annual report. Staff is also working on the state conference, coming up in November. Evans displayed the conference brochure on the large TV screens for the commissioners to view. Blank said that Evans is chairing the state conference, and has been doing a tremendous amount of work for that. The dates of the conference are Nov 14-17. Fiemann asked if we ran a little tyke football program over at Plymouth Creek Center last Sunday. Staff confirmed that it was our flag football program. c. Others. There were no other presentations. PRAC Minutes/September 2006 Page 2 4. REPORT ON PAST COUNCIL ACTION There was no report on past council action. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Update on comp plan. Blank said the Council adopted a preliminary land use guide plan. The planning director resigned recently, so this has caused a slight delay in the process, but it is moving forward. b. Review Parks CIP financial plan. The Council adopted the preliminary budgets for 2007. All departments had to develop a CIP in conjunction with that. Blank provided a brief review of the parks department's capital improvement projects. c. Review Zachary Park upgrade. Blank said we ended up needing a watershed district permit, which caused a two week delay in the project. The outfields are graded, the infields are laid out; irrigation and fencing will be the next major components, and sodding is scheduled in early October. The contractor seems to be doing a very nice job, Blank said. Singer commented on several trees that appear to have been cut down as part of this project. Blank said this area will be re -landscaped and filled back in with new trees. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Request from Plymouth -Wayzata Baseball to build building at Greenwood Park/School. Blank explained that when this complex was designed, it was anticipated that there would be a future building for concessions, etc. Plymouth - Wayzata Baseball has now asked the City if they would construct a building to include bathrooms, concession stand, and an observation room. Bids for this came in at $230,000 - $240,000. The baseball association will donate the building to the city, and we will become the owner/operator of it. It will be part of our infrastructure. They're going to contribute $200,000 toward the cost. We've asked for a metal roof on the building and a concrete sidewalk around it, which will increase the cost. The school district must also give us their okay to proceed with this. Blank is recommending we amend our CIP to include a $30,000 contribution from the city. We'll be saving $40,000 on replacing a playground at Bass Lake, by doing that project over the winter. Singer asked why it's proposed as a two level building. It will have an observation area for the scorekeeper and announcer, Blank said. The observation area is not for the public's use. Rezabek asked if lighting came up. Blank said yes, but right now it will not be included. He doesn't see a need for it. Krahulec asked what kind of concessions this will include. Blank said it's all pre-packaged food like candy, pop, chips, etc. Davis asked if other people will be able to use the concession building at Greenwood. Blank said yes, because we will own it. SINGER MOVED TO ACCEPT STAFF'S RECOMMENDATION TO CONSTRUCT A BUILDING AT GREENWOOD PARK/SCHOOL. REZABEK SECONDED. Aamoth asked if the city would be putting money into the building at Zachary for the Plymouth -New Hope Little League. Blank said we probably would help them out in the same way. MOTION PRAC Minutes/September 2006 Page 3 CARRIED, ALL AYES. The concession stand will also serve the soccer fields at this complex as well, Fiemann pointed out. b. Review parks/open space bond referendum. Blank explained that the Council held two study sessions earlier in the year to review the future acquisition of the Northwest Greenway, a community playfield, parks, and trails in northwest Plymouth. The major components of the comprehensive plan include six more neighborhood parks, one more athletic complex in northwest Plymouth, and additional open space, Blank said. The Council then asked staff to prepare a citizen survey to determine the community's support for the acquisition and funding of open space and parks. The results of the survey determined that the community was wholeheartedly in favor of purchasing land. It was decided that this would be the best year to go out for a bond referendum to fund the acquisition of property for park purposes. Two school districts may go for bond referendums next year. The city will put out a 4 -page informational pamphlet on this referendum, explaining how much a homeowner's taxes would increase based on their home's value. It will also include the master plan for the Northwest Greenway. We need to work with the community now to share the information. We're going to ask the very largest user groups of the athletic complex to get behind this idea and support it. The first meeting with these groups is next Monday at 4 pm. Councilmember Black has volunteered to help with this group, but is looking for a volunteer to chair it. The Sierra Club is also very interested in this project. They have contacted the McKnight Foundation and it appears they are also in favor of it. We are hopeful that all athletic associations will be supportive of this and pass resolutions to that affect. We also hope to get the Audubon Society involved and other environmental groups. If we get the 9,000,000 through the bond referendum, we'll be that much farther ahead, Blank said. If we don't, projects will still get done using park dedication funds, but they will have to be spread out over a longer time frame. By the time we get the comp plan done, it will be at least 24 months before we see any type of housing growth. Thus, we won't see any increases in park dedication funds for about two years. Rezabek asked if the development on 47th & Vicksburg will help pay for this. Blank said yes. Rezabek then asked if we had heard anything from the Begins. Blank said no. Blank stated that Hollydale has sent a letter to the City Council indicating they'd like to be zoned for residential development. Fiemann thinks all the athletic associations will be in favor of this. Blank explained how the park dedication account is funded and how the fees we've been collecting lately haven't been keeping up with the cost of land. Blank said the property west of Vicksburg wasn't guided until recently. We haven't had many housing starts in the last couple of years. We raised the park dedication fee in July. It will be raised again in January. Blank encouraged commissioners to get in touch with councilmember Black if they'd like to help with the bond referendum process. PRAC Minutes/September 2006 Page 4 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION Fiemann asked about the vandalism at Timber Shores Park and if we've heard anything. Blank said the insurance company will be giving us about $40,000 to 50,000 to rebuild the playground. A large reward has been offered for information about the vandalism, but no one has come forward with anything. Blank said the archery range west of Fernbrook Lane is closed for now and will remain closed. We're working with the DNR on a redesign, and we hope to rebuild in that same location, maybe next year. 8. STAFF COMMUNICATION Blank stated that the national parks conference occurs during the October meeting, so he would like to reschedule for the 5t" of October. Blank distributed adoption papers for the Ducky Derby and encouraged everyone to attend the day's events. 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:05 pm.