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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 10-13-2011MINUTES OF THE PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING October 13, 2011 PRESENT: Commissioners: G. Anderson, N. Carroll, M. Riley, A. Vanderwall, J. Vecere Staff: D. Evans, D. Sankey, B. Abel Planning Commission Liaison: D. Kobusson City Council Liaison: Bob Stein ABSENT: K. Wyse, J. Zwack 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Carroll called the meeting to order at 7:09 p.m. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION was made by Commissioner Anderson and seconded by Commissioner Riley to approve the September minutes with corrections provided at the meeting. Vote: 4 Ayes. Motion approved. Note: Commissioner Vanderwall arrived after this vote. 3. OPEN FORUM 4. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS (NON -ACTION ITEMS): a. Staff Presentation: Bill Abel, Ice Arena Manager Bill Abel announced that he recently received an award for having 31 years of service in the ice arena industry. The Plymouth Ice Center has three ice sheets - one Olympic and two professional size. This is the home of Wayzata High School hockey, both boys and girls. They both play their games here and flip flop for practices. Armstrong High School boys and girls also have also played their games here and flip flopped with their practices. Providence Academy plays here as well. We more than doubled the size of tournaments with the addition of the third ice sheet. We hosted 22 tournaments last year. These bring in a little over $2 million annually to the surrounding community. We have 480,000 visitors each year. We have a 31/2 - person full time staff. The 70 part time staff includes: 12 staff in the skate school, 23 staff in the concession stand, 16 zamboni drivers, and 14 ticket takers, announcers, scoreboard workers, etc. Utilities cost is $245,000 for electricity, $145,000 for gas, and 126,000 for water and sewer. Removing one sheet of ice during summer months saves a lot of maintenance money, and that is the slower rental time of year. We recently added doors to the lower lobby. Coldness from the ice used to come into PRAC Minutes/October 13, 2011 Page 2 the lower lobby and up the steps. Adding the doors cost $40,000, which was paid by 26,000 in stimulus money, $13,000 in rebates from utility companies, and $1,000 out of our pocket. The doors have made a huge difference and paid for our part of the price in energy savings in the first three months. The bathroom counters' laminate is bubbling and falling off. We were planning to fix two bathrooms this year and two next year. We decided to do all four this year because the contractor came in with a good bid to do them all at once. Director Evans asked about a new kind of hand dryer for the bathrooms. Abel said they are trying out different models. People do not seem to like the Dysen dryers. They like paper towels. We will try them again. The desiccant dehumidifiers are controlled manually. We just installed desktop software to control them, and we now have much better control. We had purchased an evaporative coolant tower a while back and put it in storage to have on hand. It takes ten weeks to have one built and shipped. If it broke down, we would be going a long time without ice. The current one is starting to give some indication that it will soon need replacing, so it will be switched out next summer. We will need to replace the roof on Rink A and the lobby and office area in 2013 since it has been leaking when it rains. The cost is $600,000. Rink B will need replacing in the next couple of years, too. The zambonis have a 15-18 year lifespan. The Rink A zamboni is at 320,000 miles. Some facilities are having many problems with air quality issues. Our zambonies have always been all electric, so air quality is not an issue. Replacement cost for a zamboni is $117,000. Refurbishing is $15,000, so we will look into this. The scoreboard is out of date and uses a DOS system. We will need new carpet in meeting rooms, new speakers, new compressors, and other equipment. Olympic rinks are 200 feet long and 100 feet wide. Professional rinks are 200 feet long and 85 feet wide. Youth teams prefer the professional size. We are considering changing the size of Rink A. Doing so could possibly add a dry land training space in the additional 15 feet of space that opens up. The project would cost approximately 1 million. Chair Carroll asked about operational savings from making the rink smaller. Abel said there would be 27% less operating cost for that rink. It would also save on wear and tear on the systems. The Coca Cola contract ends in January, 2012. They gave us the scoreboard at the start of the contract. Perhaps we could get a new scoreboard or something at the start of a new contract. We will be talking to Coke and Pepsi. Abel said that Armstrong Hockey wants to pull out of renting here next year. We would lose about $30,000 in rentals. We will be talking to them to see how this develops. Director Evans asked him to elaborate on the reasons. Abel explained that Armstrong feels like they play a secondary role to Wayzata here. In addition, the girls like the professional size rink better. We just signed a $10,000 advertising contract with Totino's, which is shared 40% with Wayzata Youth Hockey. Commissioner Anderson asked if would we sell the old PRAC Minutes/October 13, 2011 Page 3 scoreboard if we get a new one. Abel said we would probably move it to Rink B. 5. NEW BUSINESS (ACTION ITEMS): a. Ice Center Fees Bill Abel said that we try to keep the cost of skating and playing hockey down. Every year, revenue has exceeded expenses. We have about $1 million set aside. The Finance Department would like us to put $50-60,000 away each year. We are still paying back construction costs on Rink C. Director Evans asked how much longer we have to pay on this loan. Abel said we have nine years left. Our prices are currently lower than most of the rinks in the area. If we go up to $190 per hour, we would still be in the middle. We also offer more services than other rinks. The $10 per hour increase would equate to about $60,000 per year. MOTION: Commissioner Anderson moved to approve a $10 per hour increase in the ice rental rates at the Plymouth Ice Center. Commissioner Vecere seconded. Vote: 5 Ayes. Motion approved. b. 2012-2016 CIP Director Evans presented the CIP. One item, the splash pad, was removed by Council in a draft review. We could re-examine this issue and bring it back before Council in the future. MOTION: Commissioner Riley moved to approve the 2012-2016 CIP. Commissioner Anderson seconded. 5 Ayes. Motion approved. c. Grant Applications Director Evans reported that we have submitted two grant applications. One was for the replacement of the turf at the Fieldhouse. The other was for Greenwood Playfield, where we would be adding improvements such as storage, a picnic pavilion and batting cages. The grant would be $70,000, and Wayzata Baseball would contribute 50-60,000. Council voted to support applying for this grant. We should hear by January. 6. COMMISSIONER/STAFF UPDATES Director Evans spoke on the following topics: o Plymouth Dog Park Update The Dog Park parking lot is open again, and the landscaping is done. People are happy with it. They will be drilling a well for the water. We are planting 30 trees and installing toys and play items for the dogs. o Skate Park Update PRAC Minutes/October 13, 2011 Page 4 The Skate Park is 70% done. A specialized company poured the ramps. It is really exciting and looking very good. There is a buzz in the community. By the end of next week, it should be complete. Commissioner Riley asked if there would be a ceremony for the opening. Evans replied that we will have a "soft opening" in November and a larger grand opening in the spring. o Playfield Lighting Project Update The lighting project is almost done. Evans has spent several nights walking the facilities and checking light levels. Muska needs to come back and do a few adjustments. It should be ready to go to Council with the final close out very soon. We had about $80,000 in change orders. We had a contingency of $150,000, so it went very well. We have had many positive comments from users and park neighbors. o Upcoming Community/Special Events Plymouth on Parade had 3,100 in attendance. It was a very nice event. A new feature was an acrobatic group that performed for the kids. The Fire Department 5K had 400 runners. Halloween at the Creek will be on October 31. The dome goes up tomorrow, weather permitting. We can't put it up if it is windy. Old Fashioned Christmas is December 4. Commissioner Riley asked how the Farmers Market season went. Evans said it went very well. Yesterday was to be the final day but there was too much wind and rain, so it was cancelled. 7. COMMISSION PRESENTATION Commissioner Riley said the refurbished dog park looks lovely. She suggested that the small dog area be made available to old and frail dogs. She goes frequently to the Crystal Dog Park because it is fenced. It is a non -used hockey rink, and it gets a lot of use as a dog park. Brooklyn Park used a sledding area, with a fence provided by Home Depot to make their dog park. These are "city dog parks" She would like to explore adding a second dog park in Plymouth that is less wild than our current one. Commissioner Anderson commented that the current park location is less accessible to many people, so this would be worth exploring. Director Evans said using hockey rinks might be a possibility. Riley said that the percentage of homes with pets is rising faster than homes with children. Evans said staff would do research and get back to PRAC. Commissioner Riley talked about an article in the StarTribune about "little free libraries". This is a neighborhood program where people put books in little buildings built for this purpose, and other people can borrow books from them. PRAC Minutes/October 13, 2011 Page 5 7. ADJOURNMENT Chair Carroll entertained the motion to adjourn. MOTION was made by Commissioner Riley and seconded by Commissioner Anderson. Vote: 5 Ayes. Motion approved. The meeting adjourned at 8:31 p.m. The next meeting will be on December 8 at Plymouth City Hall. Donna Sankey - PRAC recorder