HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark and Recreation Advisory Commission Minutes 12-12-20131 Approved Minutes
December 12, 2013
Approved Minutes
Park & Recreation Advisory Commission
Thursday, December 12, 2013
MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Ned Carroll, Vice Chair Greg Anderson, Commissioners: Merrilee Riley, Tricia
DeBleeckere, Aaron Vanderwall, John Vecere
MEMBERS ABSENT: Kipp Wyse
STAFF PRESENT: Parks & Recreation Director Diane Evans, Deputy Director of Parks & Recreation Barb
Northway, Ice Center Manager Bill Abel, Recreation Supervisor Dan Lauer, Office Support Specialist
Sarah Josephs
COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES: Planning Commissioner Dick Kobussen
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chair Carroll called the meeting to order at 7:06 p.m.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Motion by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner Riley, recommending
approval of the October 10, 2013, Park and Recreation Advisory Commission meeting
minutes as written.With all members voting in favor, the motion carried.
3. OPEN FORUM:
4. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS (NON-ACTION ITEMS):
4a. Ice Center Manager Bill Abel
A handout was provided with notes on upcoming projects taking place at the Ice
Center.
Bill Abel and Steve Lewis, Ice Arena Operations Supervisor, gave the Commission a
tour of the three arenas, including the Zamboni room and the compressor room.
The arena makes nearly $1000 on High School Game nights from ticket admissions. A
sample of typical game night admission revenue is included.
In 2013, a new scoreboard and message center was installed and is located in the Eric
J Blank arena. This new scoreboard allows photos of players to display after
highlights (goals, assists).
Many large maintenance projects are expected in the coming years. In order to pay
for those projects, the PIC is requesting a $10/hour increase in ice cost during the
winter months. The request will be presented to the City Council on January 14,
2014. The Eric J Blank rink has several capital improvement projects planned in
2015. The rink will be switch from an Olympic size to Professional size rink. In past
years the trend was to have an Olympic sized rink, but now a large majority of teams
prefer the professional size. They will also be switching from a sand floor to
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December 12, 2013
concrete floor under the ice, and switch from Freon to ammonia to cool the ice.
Staff will begin working with the youth association leaders to help influence the State
Legislature to provide funding for the needed upgrades.
A new ice resurfacer has been purchased and will arrive in February of 2014. The
zamboni that it is replacing has acquired roughly 365,000 miles in the last 16.5 years.
Since the Ice Center runs with electric resurfacers, they do not need to take daily air
quality tests. In the case where a piece of non-electric equipment is used, an air
quality test kit is onsite.
The Ice Center is considering adding a dryland training facility. They have applied
for a grant from Hennepin County for assistance paying for the project. They
Wayzata Youth Hockey Association have already agreed that they will pay $400,000
toward the project costs if approved. Acceleration MN would contract with the City
and pay $65,000 a year to lease space and train athletes in the facility. Staff feel it
would be a good decision to add his training space as a added benefit to teams
already renting ice, as well as new teams looking for on ice and off ice features to
train their teams. Currently, Acceleration MN has a location on Hwy 55 east of 494
and would relocate to the new training facility. The city would be responsible for
building the shell of the facility and Acceleration MN would provide rubber matting,
batting cages, workout equipment, weights, skating treadmills and other sport
equipment. The Wayzata Youth Basketball Association is in the process of looking for
a training site and is considering being a possible partner in the development of this
center. The center would be open to all athletes from all sports.
The Ice Center currently advertises on their scoreboards, Zamboni’s and dasher
boards. Broadway Pizza currently has advertisements on all 3 Zambonis. That
agreement has expired and bids will be taken for new vendors to sponsor the
Zambonis. The new Sunshine Factory has just bought a sponsorship for the new
scoreboard. Staff are currently looking for additional companies to sponsor the
scoreboard.
5. COMMISSIONER/STAFF UPDATE (NON-ACTION ITEMS):
5a. Fairway Greens Neighborhood Park
Fairway Greens Park is almost fully developed. A playground, trails and plantings
have all been put in place. There will be a grand opening celebration for the park
scheduled for this coming spring. Staff are expecting that this will be a well used
area because of all the open space. To go along with the golf theme, a putting green
has been added to the park.
5b. Co. Rd 24 Trail
A grant was submitted to Hennepin County for assistance in completing the trail gaps
along County Road 24. The City has recently been notified that the grant was
denied, but that the County does have interest in completing the gap. The City may
partner with the County to complete it, outside of the grant. City engineers have
reviewed the gap and believe that it could be completed would be able to do so
without the need to completely remake that portion of the road.
5c. Medicine Lake Retaining Wall
Earlier this year, bids were received for the project to replace the retaining wall
along Medicine Lake Blvd. Those bids were rejected due to being approximately 20%
higher than projections. In 2014, bids will be placed again and opened in March with
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December 12, 2013
a planned construction start date in May. Originally there was plans for a soft road
closure, allowing southbound traffic to continue along Medicine Lake Blvd. The new
plans will include a full closer of both lanes of West Medicine Lake Blvd. This full
closer will be a benefit to the contractor as there are less safety issues when working
near moving cars, and will allow for more storage for supplies and more room to work
on the project.
5d. Training Facility at the Plymouth Ice Center
Staff should know by Monday or Tuesday whether or not their grant application was
approved. Staff and council members have been meeting with Hennepin County
Commissioners to explain and stress the benefits of this training facility. Youth
Hockey Association board members also made contact with the Commissioners to
share their support of this training facility.
5e. Upcoming Community/Special Events
The Pet Expo was held at the Plymouth Creek Center on October 26 with 550 in
attendance. Last year the event was held over two days and was reduced down to
just one day this year.
Halloween at the Creek had 560 in attendance on October 31.
The fall Kids Garage Sale had 575 in attendance on November 3.
A Veterans breakfast event was held at the Plymouth Creek Center. There were 138
in attendance, with 98 of them being current/former service members.
The Crosswords play was held over the weekend of November 14-17. This play was
run in partnership with the Plymouth Arts Council. They had a weekend attendance
of 350 people.
A two-day Art Fair was held over November 16-17. The event drew nearly 1,300
people.
Old Fashioned Christmas was held at the Plymouth Creek Playfield on December 8
and had nearly 750 in attendance.
The New Years Celebration will be held at the Plymouth Ice Center & LifeTime
Fitness. Families can attend and skate, swim, jump on inflatables, enjoy some
entertainment and have dinner.
The first day of Winter registrations were held for residents on December 10. There
were 1300 registrations taken in with a revenue of $85,000 on that first day.
Fire & Ice will celebrate its 25th anniversary this February. Staff are still in the
planning stages and looking into adding attractions this year. So far they have
secured a dance group, the Viking drumline group and have added more ice carvings.
Three food trucks will be present; Tot Boss, Potter’s Pasties, and I heart Coffee.
5f. Updates
Beginning February 1, PRAC will have a new City Council liaison. Greg Anderson was
reappointed for an additional term with the PRAC. John Vecere has stepped down from
the Commission and will be replaced by Michael Swanson. Mr Swanson will be invited
to attend the January meeting as a guest.
6. COMMISSIONER/STAFF UPDATE (ACTION ITEMS)
6a. Plymouth Ice Center Fees
Many arenas currently offer “fire sales” during the summer. In order to remain
competitive, arena staff are recommending there be no increase in ice rental costs
during the summer months. Mr Abel and Ms Evans met with the youth hockey
association and received positive feedback on their purposed fee increase during
winter months. Currently all room rentals are free to the associations. Instead of
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beginning to charge for rooms and other additional services, they agreed to an
increase in ice time fees.
Motion by Chair Riley, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, recommending to
approve the proposed fee recommendations for the Plymouth Ice Center.With no
objection, motion passed unanimously.
7. ADJOURNMENT
Motion by Commissioner Riley, seconded by Commissioner DeBleeckere, recommending
adjournment of the Park and Recreation Advisory Commission meeting.With no
objection, Chair Carroll adjourned the meeting at 8:30.