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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks and Recreation - 03/01/2004 APPROVED MINUTES PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2004 7:00 P.M., CITY CENTER Council Chamber 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Rob Barrett, Chair; Jeffrey Gerst, Vice Chair; John Brill, Tom Crain, Randy Jacobus, David Larson, Ian Mackay, Michael Moriarity and Bruce Schaepe COMMISSION STAFF PRESENT: Bob Lambert, Director of Parks and Recreation Services; Laurie Obiazor, Manager of Recreation Services; and Carol Pelzel, Recording Secretary STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Rachel Giertz and Cole Johnson I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Barrett called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Lambert asked that the item Replacement of David Larson on the City and School Facility Use Advisory Committee be added under VII. New Business C. Motion: Mackay moved, seconded by Brill, to approve the agenda as amended. The motion carried, 9-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES —February 2, 2004 Crain asked that the minutes reflect that he was absent from that meeting. Motion: Motion was made by Schaepe, seconded by Mackay, to approve the minutes as corrected. The motion carried, 7-0-2 with Brill and Crain abstaining because of absence from that meeting. IV. REPORT OF CITY COUNCIL ACTION—February 17, 2004 Lambert reported that the City Council did change the rules of the City cemetery to permit grave markers of 12" x 24" for single and 12" x 40" for double markers. The City has received requests from people who want larger grave markers and the new proposed sizes will be standard with other cemeteries in the City. Markers are still required to be flush markers. The City Council did approve the request from the Baseball Association for$27,000 field improvements with a 50 percent match. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION March 1, 2004 Page 2 Lambert reported that the City Council did discuss the proposed bond referendum and approved a $22.5 million referendum. Lambert explained that the Friends of Birch Island Woods did indicate to the City Council that they would make their best efforts to raise a $200,000 match to help acquire four acres of land in Birch Island Woods. V. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATION A. Request from Eden Prairie Girls Athletic Association - Softball Lambert explained that the City has received a request from the Eden Prairie Girls Athletic Association (EPGAA) asking the City to initiate planning for construction of a building to be located in the softball complex at Miller Park that would provide public restrooms, concession facilities, storage for softball equipment and field maintenance equipment. The EPGAA has indicated that they plan to raise $50,000 by the end of the year for this facility. It is proposed that the remaining funds necessary to complete this project would come from the referendum and from park dedication fees. Lambert stated that staff is supporting this request and is recommending that they begin working with an architect to design the building. Whether or not the referendum is passed, they will have to build this facility in the future. Lambert said staff feels it is important that they get started on the design while the EPGAA is raising funds, making it easier for them to raise the money when there is a specific plan. In response to a question from Mackay, Lambert explained at this point, they would be doing a concept plan and architect fees would probably run about$2,000. They would not develop a plan and specifications for bid until they have the necessary funds to complete the project. This proposal would allow them to develop concept plans and have everyone in agreement as to what is being proposed. Moriarity asked if it would be to their advantage to include the design of the proposed facility by the football and soccer fields. It may be more cost effective to design both buildings at one time. Lambert said that the proposed facility by the football and soccer fields is not far enough along. At the present time, the Soccer Club does not feel that the building is necessary. Staff will meet with both the Football Association and Soccer Club within the next couple of months to further discuss this proposal. Barrett asked if it would be best to wait on this project until after the May 11 referendum. He asked what the advantage is to doing this design now. Lambert responded that should the referendum pass, there would be lots of other projects to be worked on and it would be nice to have one of the projects conceptually completed. Concept approval will also get people excited about the project and will assist in their fund raising. Money will not be wasted on the design; it will eventually have to be done. Motion: Motion was made by Mackay, seconded by Gerst, to recommend to the City Council that they authorize staff to contract for architectural services to assist in design of the park building for the Miller Park Softball Complex. The motion carried, 9-0. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION March 1, 2004 Page 3 VI. OLD BUSINESS A. 2004 Referendum Lambert explained that it is the City's responsibility to make sure that all Eden Prairie residents know when the referendum is going to take place, what is on the referendum and what the proposed costs will be to the property owners. Lambert said it is City staff's intent to prepare flyers to be distributed to all residents and to also prepare a PowerPoint presentation to be shown to any organization that requests additional information on the referendum. Lambert asked that members of this Commission consider attending possible informational meetings with City staff to answer questions regarding the referendum. Lambert explained that it is best to have Commission members and Council members respond to resident's questions rather than City staff. Mackay asked if this referendum information would be included on the City's web site. Lambert explained that the City's Communications Coordinator intends to have all of the information placed on the Web as well as using other methods for informing the public. John Pollock, 16460 North Hillcrest Court, said he lives by the High School soccer and baseball fields along with 33 other families. He asked if there are any plans to meet with the Hillcrest Court neighborhood to discuss the proposed referendum since they are the closest neighborhood to be impacted by the referendum. He wanted to know if anyone has given any thought to asking the residents of this neighborhood what they thought about the proposed swimming pool being placed in the area right beside them. Pollock said they do have concerns with additional traffic. Lambert responded that they have not met with the neighborhood and the traffic would be less than what they have during the school year. Pollock asked that someone sit down with the neighborhood to discuss with them what is being proposed with this referendum. Pollock asked if alternate locations were considered for the proposed swimming pool. Lambert briefly explained the process for selecting the proposed site for the pool. Pollock asked where the proposed third sheet of ice would be located. Lambert said it is proposed to be constructed between the existing building and the High School on the west side of the Community Center. Lambert suggested that Pollock contact him to schedule a date and time for a possible presentation to the Hillcrest Court neighborhood. In response to a question from Jacobus, Pollock said their concerns are with traffic and noise. Lambert explained that once a more definitive schedule for meetings has been developed, he would contact the Commission members to determine which meetings they will be able to attend. VII. NEW BUSINESS A. Round Lake Water Ouality Report PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION March 1, 2004 Page 4 Lambert explained that the Watershed District has completed their water quality report for Round Lake. This report inidcates that the water clarity of Round Lake has not improved and did not meet level one conditions for the last two years. Lambert said City staff is recommending that the City Council authorize staff to close Round Lake Beach until the water quality conditions are well below the Trophic State Index of 53. Staff is also requesting authorization to meet with the Riley Purgatory Bluff Creek Watershed Distinct to develop a plan to meet those conditions. The City's experiment with the use of Clarify to improve water quality was a failure and they must now look at other alternatives. Lambert further explained that the Round Lake Use Attainability Analysis did include several steps the City should take to improve the water quality including upgrading existing runoff detention ponds, adding new runoff detention ponds, treating the runoff from the sub-watershed with alum to reduce its phosphorus content, treat the lake with alum, initiate a fisheries management program that would include supplemental feeding of blue gills, and an annual stocking of northern pike to restore the balance to the predator fish community, and initiate an aquatic weed management program using the herbicide "Reward". Lambert indicated that several of the recommended steps would be addressed with the addition of ponds and the cleaning out of existing ponds. They are also looking at adding a retaining pond at Round Lake in conjunction with the intersection improvement at Valley View Road and County Road 4. They will also be looking at dredging ponding areas to the west side of the lake and going into Hidden Ponds and dredging those ponds. Staff feels that the ponding improvements will help the water quality. Schaepe said the Clarify treatment that the City tried was experimental but was a low investment when no alternative treatment was available. They knew it was a long shot but was not as expensive as an alum treatment facility. Schaepe said he cares about these lakes and that he wishes they were putting the same effort and money into these lakes as they are putting into a water park. Schaepe said he hopes they can continue to do things that will bring these lakes around. Lambert said staff has talked to a number of people to try and find a solution but there doesn't seem to be any quick fix. Using alum is a quick fix but if the water running into the lake is not treated they will have the same problem as they currently have. In response to a question from Moriarity, Lambert explained that readings would be done until the ice is out of the lake. Mackay said that since the swimming season is so short, would it be feasible to treat the lake at the beginning of the season. Lambert responded that the DNR only allows treatment with alum once. They would not allow annual treatment of the lake and the treatment would not last the entire season. Lambert said it is also important to address the issue of geese at the lake. He reviewed with the Commission what has been done to try and eliminate the geese from the lakes. This is an on-going problem and unless the entire metro area does something about the goose population, it will continue to be a problem. Brill asked if the beach area is kept clean during the time the lake is closed. Lambert answered that they will continue to keep the beach clean on both the sand and water. They do harvest the weeds by the fishing pier and beach area. No swimming signs will be posted and the beach will be closed. Lambert said it might be five to ten years before they can open the lake for swimming. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION March 1, 2004 Page 5 Motion: Motion was made by Brill, seconded by Schaepe, to recommend that the City Council authorize staff to close Round Lake Beach until water quality conditions meet Level I requirements or full support of swimable use and to authorize staff to meet with the Riley Purgatory Bluff Creek Watershed District to develop a plan to meet those conditions. Mackay said he would like to amend the motion to include "with the expectation that this will take several years". Mackay said it is important to let people know that the beach may be closed for a longer period of time than one season. Moriarity said the motion talks about getting back to Level I requirements. He asked if Level II would support swimming. Lambert explained that if they were satisfied with Level II they would not close the beach. The lake was at Level 11 last year and the lifeguards outnumbered the patrons. John Pollock, 16460 North Hillcrest Court, said he lives by Round Lake and very few people feel the water quality of this lake is good enough to swim in. Brill asked if the water quality of this lake is never improved, should they change their thought process or do something different because this lake can't be used as a swimming facility. Lambert said that even if the lake never gets back to a swimable use, they still want it to be a recreational use. It is a fishing lake and people do canoe on it. It has the potential to be a swimable lake and their goal is to work with the Watershed District to get it back to that. Schaepe said he hoped they are serious about talking to the Watershed District. They do have money available for projects similar to this and they are willing to work with the City. Schaepe said he feels their best solution is to work with the Watershed District since they do know about water quality. Barrett suggested that they have someone from the Watershed District make a presentation to this Commission regarding the water quality of all of the lakes in Eden Prairie. Lambert recommended that they wait until City staff has met with them and they are in agreement with what should be done to improve the water quality. Vote was called on the amended motion: To recommend that the City Council authorize staff to close Round Lake Beach until water quality conditions meet Level I requirements or full support of swimmable use with the expectation that this will take several years and to authorize staff to meet with the Riley Purgatory Bluff Creek Watershed District to develop a plan to meet those conditions. The motion carried, 9-0. B. Richard T. Anderson Conservation Area Parking Lot Entry Bids Lambert reported that the City only received one bid for the Parking Lot Entry at the Richard T. Anderson Conservation Area from Midwest Asphalt Incorporation for a bid amount of $102,750. The consultant estimate for the project was $130,000. Motion: Motion was made by Moriarity, seconded by Crain, to recommend to the City Council that they approve the bid for the construction of the Richard T. Anderson parking lot to Midwest Asphalt Incorporation at a bid amount of$102,750. The motion carried, 9-0. C. Replacement of David Larson on the City and School Facility Use Advisory Committee PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION March 1, 2004 Page 6 Lambert explained that Larson has served as the Chairperson of the City and School Facility Use Advisory Committee and since he will not be serving another term on the Commission it will be necessary to replace him. Larson briefly reviewed with the Commission the tasks assigned to this Commission. Mackay said he would be willing to replace Larson on the City and School Facility Use Advisory Committee. VIII. REPORTS OF STAFF B. Zero Tolerance Policy Obiazor explained that staff is recommending a Zero Tolerance Policy be adopted with regard to unacceptable behavior while using City parks, recreation facilities and recreation programs. Staff is aware of a number of other communities that have implemented a similar policy. Mackay asked how other communities publicized this policy to make people aware of it. Obiazor responded that the policy would be placed on the City's Web site and would be included in their published calendar. The policy will also be distributed to participants and will be posted in City facilities. Jacobus suggested that it also be distributed to the various athletic associations. Larson recommended that they include zero use of cell phones that take pictures and video cameras in locker rooms. Moriarity asked if any thought was given to a due process hearing if the person feels their expulsion is not warranted. Obiazor said this would depend on the situation and the age of the person. They would allow parents to attend the interview process that would be used. Staff will be developing language for the actual steps to be taken when an incident occurs. They will also be developing the necessary forms for documentation giving the involved parties the opportunity for additional communication. Moriarity said he would recommend that they develop a process allowing the individuals an opportunity to challenge staff's decision. Schaepe asked if adult alcohol or tobacco use is allowed in City facilities. Lambert responded that they do allow alcohol but do not allow tobacco use. Schaepe pointed out that the proposed policy does not address those issues. He suggested that the policy clearly state what is allowed and what is not allowed. Lambert explained that the main reason for developing this policy is to basically have consistent enforcement. It directs staff on how to deal with certain issues and what is allowed and what is not allowed. Motion: Motion was made by Jacobus, seconded by Moriarity, to give concept approval to a Zero Tolerance Policy as outlined in staff's memorandum with details to follow. The motion carried, 9-0. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION March 1, 2004 Page 7 VII. ADJOURNMENT Motion: Schaepe moved, Larson seconded, to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried 9-0. The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m.