Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks and Recreation - 06/27/2005 APPROVED MINUTES PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MONDAY,JUNE 27, 2005 7:00 P.M., CITY CENTER Heritage Rooms 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Rob Barrett, Tom Bierman, John Brill, Jeffrey Gerst, Randy Jacobus, Ian Mackay, Michael Moriarity and Geri Napuck COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Tom Crain COMMISSION STAFF PRESENT: Bob Lambert, Director of Parks and Recreation Services; Stu Fox, Manager of Natural Resources; Bob Lanzi, Recreation Coordinator and Carol Pelzel, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order by Chair Barrett at 7:00 p.m. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion: Moriarity moved, seconded by Gerst, to approve the agenda as presented. The motion carried, 7-0 (Napuck was out of the room). III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES —June 6, 2005 Jacobus asked that the minutes be corrected to read 90 percent rather than 30 percent in the first line and the fourth line of the second paragraph of Page 8. Brill asked that the following sentence be added to the end of the second paragraph on Page 7 of the minutes: "If you are at 49 percent, there is not much room for two groups to be together." Motion: Motion was made by Brill, seconded by Bierman, to approve the minutes as corrected. The motion carried, 7-0, (Napuck was out of the room). IV. REPORT OF CITY COUNCIL ACTION—June 7 and June 21, 2005 Lambert reported that the City Council awarded a contract for construction of the TH 212/Charlson Road intersection improvement. The Council also approved the specifications for the construction of the Anderson Parkway Trail. Lambert further reported that at the June 21 Council meeting the Council approved the Sports Facilities Commission proposed revisions to the Priority Use Policy as well as the recommended revisions by the Parks Commission and the City Attorney. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION June 27, 2005 Page 2 V. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATION A. REQUEST FROM EPHA FOR PRACTICE AREA AT COMMUNITY CENTER Bob Lanzi explained that the City has received a request from the Hockey Association for a practice shooting area for hockey groups at the Community Center. It is very common for youths to do some type of stick handling inside the arena or even in the lobby and staff continually has to ask them to stop. This proposal would give the youths an option for shooting practice and would be primarily used for instructional purposes during the hockey season. During the hockey season the Hockey Association and High School would have priority use of the shooting area. When not in use by these groups and during the rest of the year, the shooting area would be available to reserve on an hourly basis or on a first come- first serve basis to various user groups and individuals. Lanzi further explained that this proposal would require the removal of two bleacher sections. This reduction of bleachers would still leave three 20-foot sections of bleachers, which would be adequate for typical games, practices and youth lessons that occur in the Olympic rink. In response to a question from Moriarity, Lanzi responded that the initial request was to move a set of bleachers down but the Fire Code requires additional space in that area. Jacobus said he has rarely seen the bleachers full and he feels this is a great idea. The trend is for these shooting areas and they are well used at other facilities. Brill asked who would be responsible for the safety piece of this facility. Lanzi said it would be the City's responsibility and it really is not a concern. This is a good spot for the practice area. Lanzi explained that the cost for this practice area is approximately $3,000 and will be paid for by the Hockey Association. Motion: Motion was made by Jacobus, seconded by Gerst, and all members voting aye to approve authorization to replace two 20-foot bleacher sections with a practice shooting area in the northwest corner of the Olympic rink (Rink II) at the Eden Prairie Community Center. The motion carried, 8-0. B. REQUEST FROM JOHN MALLOW FOR A VETERANS MEMORIAL Lambert explained that at the City Council's open forum, John Mallow, an Eden Prairie resident, suggested that the City develop a veteran's memorial in one of the City's parks. The City Council agreed that a veteran's memorial would be a nice addition to the park system and requested City staff to recommend a process for evaluating the feasibility of the request. Staff is forwarding this request to the Parks Commission and recommending that the Commission approve a process to utilize a citizen's task force to assist the City in considering the feasibility of a veteran's memorial. This task force would do site evaluation, site selection, and site design and determine the cost. This task force would be a citizens ad hoc committee and would report to this Commission. Staff is asking this Commission to recommend to the City Council the formation of a task force to consider the feasibility of a veteran's memorial and approval of the charter statement which outlines the process. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION June 27, 2005 Page 3 Jacobus said he was under the impression that it was the City's policy to not place memorials in City parks. Lambert explained that that applies to individual memorials. A veteran memorial would not be memorializing any one individual. Motion: Motion was made by Gerst, seconded by Mackay, to recommend the approval of the staff recommendation for a process to utilize a citizen's task force to assist the City in considering the feasibility of a veteran's memorial within the Eden Prairie City park system, and furthermore to approve the charter statement which outlines the responsibility of the citizen's task force and City staff for this process. The motion carried, 8-0. Bierman recommended that the staff person working with this ad hoc committee be someone who has served in the military. VI. OLD BUSINESS A. PARK REFERENDUM RECOMMENDATION Lambert said he felt they had a good town meeting regarding the proposed referendum. There was good feedback and good comments made and no one seemed to be opposed to any of the projects listed on the proposed referendum. In response to a question from Bierman, Lambert explained that the City Attorney would draft the language for the questions to be placed on the ballot. This Commission will only decide how the questions will be ordered. He also pointed out that the Community Center addition has to pass in order for the swimming pool addition to be completed. Lambert asked for a recommendation from this Commission to the City Council on the number of questions to be placed on the referendum. Napuck pointed out that the School Board had done a study and found that when there are more than three questions on a referendum, the voters tend to decide that one question would be voted against. She suggested that rather than have four questions; they combine the park and trail questions into one question. Brill and Gerst said they would prefer to go with three questions rather than four. Mackay suggested that they include in the motion something about the City Council supporting this referendum and stating their positions on the referendum in order to move it forward. Lambert said he feels such a motion may be inappropriate for this Commission. Their task is to make a recommendation to the City Council. Bierman said he does not feel that the differences of Questions 3 and 4 are adequately explained. Brill pointed out that most of the park development and improvements are being done in the older part of the City and they may not get full support for those projects. He said he personally was in favor of three questions rather than four. Jacobus pointed out that at the town meeting the people indicated that they wanted to know exactly what they are voting for. The four questions clearly define what the voters are being asked. Brill said he feels that Questions 3 and 4 are closely related and that the trails are part of the park system. Gerst said he does not feel the questions really tell the residents what they PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION June 27, 2005 Page 4 are voting for whether it is three or four questions. This information will be provided to the voters prior to the election in information that will be mailed out. Bierman said he feels they should not base their decision on the number of questions placed on the ballot on a psychological study that was done. He said they should stay with the lowest common denominator and let the people speak and make a decision. Four questions is the lowest common denominator. Bierman said he is in favor of Option 2, which includes four questions. They should give the residents a chance to speak and the more choices they have the better. Barrett said it is this Commission's responsibility to get these questions passed and information presented indicates that if you have four questions on a ballot, one will not pass and this Commission needs to weigh that. Brill said he feels they are being redundant if they split up the park and trail questions. Parks and trails should be one question. Bierman said he disagrees and feels they should keep those two items separate. This gives the residents the opportunity to vote for a $4.6 million project and a$2 million project. Jacobus said he agrees with Bierman. They should give the voters four choices. Mackay said he too feels the four questions would be redundant. Parks and trails should be included as one question and the Community Center and Swimming Pool should be separate questions. Brill said there are reasons to look at both options. Moriarity questioned why they were not asking for more money for trail acquisition. The City's survey indicated that 72 percent of the residents were in favor of that. Lambert responded that some of the residents were opposed to the total referendum amount. Staff felt that they should keep the total significantly under$22 million. It will probably take two or three years to complete the trail projects even if the $2 million is approved. Napuck said it is important that the residents are informed as to what the money is going to be used for but should also understand that these expenditures are not cast in stone. She asked how the information is presented to the community on what the money will be used for. Lambert explained that the City is responsible for getting the information out to the residents and a flyer will be developed and mailed to all Eden Prairie residents. Napuck said she feels information regarding the annual cost to the taxpayer should this referendum pass is extremely important. They should also be told that should the referendum pass, their property values might increase because of the proposed improvements. Lambert explained that the City cannot try to convince the taxpayers to vote yes. Their responsibility is to provide them with factual information. Bierman said that people might be confused when referring to the Flying Cloud ball fields. He suggested that they call them the soccer,baseball and softball fields. Bierman said it is important that they get as many people as possible to support this referendum including the football and soccer associations. Jacobus suggested that they change the third question in Option 2 to include park development and improvements for $3.7 million with the fourth question including trail development and improvements for$2 million and add a fifth question for park land PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION June 27, 2005 Page 5 acquisition for$1 million. He said he is not suggesting that this is the best alternative but it would give the voters a choice. Jacobus said he feels they have learned a lesson from the last referendum. By having more questions with the dollar amounts being smaller people will be more likely to approve the questions because of the lesser amount of money being spent. Gerst said he is comfortable with presenting three questions and he feels that what they are putting forth is good for Eden Prairie and is the best option. Mackay said he feels strongly that whatever option this Commission forwards to the City Council should include a motion that the City Council support their option. Napuck suggested that if they go forward with four questions they separate park acquisition out and combine park and trail development and improvements. Mackay pointed out that they are not asking for a large sum of money for parkland acquisition. Napuck said as she considers these questions further, she is starting to feel strongly about going with three questions. Moriarity said he feels the best option is to go with three questions. Motion: Motion was made by Brill, seconded by Mackay, to recommend the City Council support Option#1; a three-question referendum including the following: 1. Community Center Addition for$6,650,000 2. Swimming Pool Addition for$3,330,000 3. Park and Trail acquisition, development and improvements for$6,695,000 All members voted aye except Jacobus and Bierman. The motion carried, 6-2. Jacobus said he is not opposed to the referendum but he feels that they learned from the last referendum that the voters want choices and the more choices they can give them the better. He said he prefers having four questions on the ballot rather than three. He is definitely in support of a referendum. Bierman explained that he prefers the lowest common denominator and to let the people speak as to what they want and what they don't want. He said he too supports a referendum but would prefer four questions on the ballot rather than three. VII. NEW BUSINESS A. RECOMMENDATION TO DEVELOP A MASTER PLAN FOR THE CARDINAL CREEK CONSERVATION AREA Lambert explained that a map of the proposed Cardinal Creek Conservation Area was included in the Commission's agenda. He explained that the Nine Mile Creek Conservation area includes the City-owned land west of I-494 and north of Gerard Drive and Gordon Drive and west to Baker Road. City staff is recommending development of a master plan for this conservation area to ensure that the water quality improvement project enhances the goals of the City in terms of providing public access to this conservation area and preserving and enhancing the natural habitat for wild life and the native plant communities. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION June 27, 2005 Page 6 Motion: Motion was made by Napuck, seconded by Bierman, to recommend the City Council authorize staff to contract for planning services to assist the City in developing a master plan for the Cardinal Creek Conservation Area, and to request the Nine Mile Creek Watershed District to assist the City in funding the development of this master plan and in the development of a management plan for this natural resource. The motion carried, 8-0. VIII. REPORTS OF STAFF A. DIRECTOR OF PARKS AND RECREATION SERVICES 1. Approved Priority Use Policy Lambert reported that the City Council did approve the Priority Use Policy as developed by the Sports Facilities Committee and amended by this Commission. The City Attorney also made some minor changes. However, these changes did not change the intent of the policy. Jacobus pointed out that on Page 6, under VI. 3. the percentage of the total number of Eden Prairie residents should be 40 percent rather than 49 percent. Lambert explained that this was a typographical error and that it does not require going back to the City Council for approval. Bierman referred the Commission to Page 4, No. 4 of the Policy. He was of the understanding that they had to meet a threshold of a certain percentage above the total number of kids using that field and that would be the percentage of time you would get. Fox explained that the Committee did discuss this but could not decide on what the threshold would be. This was the reason for adding the second paragraph to No. 4. Jacobus said they need to be careful about that and this is something they need to keep an eye on. Lambert said it will be the responsibility of the Sports Facilities Committee and this Commission to represent the participants that are not on the Committee. There had been discussion about this particular item but it never came to a vote. B. MANAGER OF RECREATION SERVICES C. MANAGER OF PARKS AND NATURAL RESOURCES VII. ADJOURNMENT Bierman asked the status of the off-leash dog park. Fox explained that they are waiting to get a legal description to the landowner for some easement area so that they can fence it off. Once that is approved, they will go ahead with getting the fences up. They anticipate the park being completed some time this year. Bierman suggested that a speed bump be put in at the Purgatory Creek Recreation Area to slow traffic. People are using this area as a cut through to avoid traffic. If a speed bump is not possible,he suggested they look at placing a pedestrian cone in the road to remind people to slow down. Lambert explained that this intersection will be changed later this year and that should help with the traffic situation. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION June 27, 2005 Page 7 Lambert reported that the next meeting of the Commission is scheduled for August 1. Since the September meeting falls on Labor Day, that meeting date will be changed to August 29. Motion: Mackay moved, Jacobus seconded, to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried 8-0 The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m.