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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks and Recreation - 07/19/2004 APPROVED MINUTES PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MONDAY,JULY 19, 2004 5:30 P.M., CITY CENTER Council Chambers 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Rob Barrett, Chair; Tom Bierman, John Brill, Tom Crain(arrived at 5:45 p.m.), Jeffrey Gerst, Cari Grayson (arrived at 5:40 p.m.), Randy Jacobus, Ian Mackay and Michael Moriarity COMMISSION MEMBERS ABSENT: None COMMISSION STAFF PRESENT: Bob Lambert, Director of Parks and Recreation Services; Laurie Obiazor, Manager of Recreation Services; Stu Fox, Manager of Natural Resources; and Carol Pelzel, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order by Chair Barrett at 5:35 p.m. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Moriarity said he would like to add a report on a recent soccer tournament to the agenda under Reports of Staff. Motion: Mackay moved, seconded by Jacobus, to approve the agenda as amended. The motion carried, 7-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES —June 7, 2004 Motion: Motion was made by Brill, seconded by Bierman, to approve the minutes as presented. The motion carried, 6-0-1 with Gerst abstaining because of absence from that meeting. IV. REPORT OF CITY COUNCIL ACTION—June 15, 2004 Lambert reported that at the June 15 meeting five dates were set for park dedications. He indicated that the Commission members would receive invitations to those events. Also, during the Open Podium portion of the Council meeting, representatives from the Hockey Association proposed building two hockey rinks for less than the cost of constructing one PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION July 19, 2004 Page 2 rink. They are proposing that the two outdoor hockey rinks at Round Lake Park be covered with a metal building. Lambert said the Council asked that they meet with City staff and that the process for consideration of such a proposal be explained to the Association. City staff did meet with them and explained to the Association what needs to be done. Lambert said staff would keep the Commission apprised of any new information regarding this proposal. Jacobus asked if they would be down one rink this winter because of the issue with Freon leaking. Lambert responded that that rink should be up and running by October 15. Bierman asked if the proposed rinks would be year- round facilities. Lambert explained that City staff has not yet seen the Hockey Association's proposal. Brill asked if any action was taken at the Council's July 6 workshop regarding dogs at the Flying Cloud Fields. Lambert explained that the City Council wanted to find a compromise since they did not feel that it was a citywide problem but only a problem for the Soccer Association on soccer fields at Flying Cloud. If they have a reservation for that field, the Association has the authority to ask people to leave and they may not allow people with dogs. If the person does not leave, they may be charged with trespassing. Lambert said staff would review the reservation form and will make sure that the Soccer Association has that authority. If this doesn't work, then the Director of Parks and Recreation can post signs to restrict certain parts of the park for certain uses. This would only be done if the Soccer Association cannot enforce the rule. Bierman said at his last visit to Flying Cloud he found three dogs using the goal post and he feels that there is a safety and health issue. The Association should be proactive to try and keep the dogs away from where kids are at play and while soccer games are in progress. Bierman said he feels the Soccer Association can list some guidelines to come up with a better solution. Barrett suggested that non-permanent signs be used and put up during games. Moriarity pointed out that the Soccer Club also uses these fields and they need to be sure that the Soccer Club is aware of what the Soccer Association is doing. Moriarity said he feels educating the people would eliminate some of the problems. This information should be included in the registration materials. Lambert indicated that they will see how this goes and if it doesn't work they will go back to signage. V. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATION A. Request of Girls' Athletic Association—To fund storage/concession/restroom facility at Miller Park Softball Fields The Girls' Athletic Association had been working with City staff on the design of this building prior to the referendum. At that time, the design included a large shade structure. With the defeat of the referendum, the Association was asked to design a facility similar to what the Boy's Association had done. The plan before the Commission this evening is the new design and one which the Girls' Athletic Association Board has approved. Lambert further explained that the existing capital PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION July 19, 2004 Page 3 improvement plan includes $300,000 of park dedication funds, plus an additional $50,000 of funds from the Girls' Association to construct this facility at Miller Park Softball fields. The proposed project is estimated to cost approximately $420,000. Staff is recommending that the Commission recommend to the City Council approval of this proposal. Once the Council approves the project, construction will be done over the winter months allowing the facility to be ready next spring. If this project is delayed, construction will not begin until the fall of next year. Mackay asked where the additional $70,000 of funding would come from. Lambert responded that the money would be available from park dedication fees. Barrett asked if this would result in other projects not being done. Lambert explained that park dedication fees come from new development. The current balance in that fund is $5 million. They also have a 5-year Capital Improvement Plan that shows expenditures of$5 million. The revenue and expenditures are estimates and some projects may cost less and some may cost more while revenue received may be more than projected or less than projected. Lambert said he continues to be conservative in his revenue estimates because the amount received will eventually decrease. Lambert wanted to emphasize that the CIP amounts are estimates, not based on any plans,but serve to provide a guide as to approximate amounts the City could expect to pay for various projects. Grayson questioned the amount of matching funds. Lambert briefly explained how the use of matching funds was arrived at. He indicated that the amount of matching funds required is somewhat based on the type of project and the ability of an organization to raise funds. Moriarity said he feels they should move forward with this project because they need to do whatever they can to improve the City's park system. Motion: Motion was made by Moriarity, seconded by Mackay, to recommend the City Council approve the concept design and funds for construction of the storage/concession/restroom facility at Miller Park Softball Fields. Grayson asked if the School District uses this facility. Lambert said they do. During tournaments the Girls' Softball Association could open up the buildings and access to concessions would be up to the Girls' Association. Moriarity asked if the High School wants to use this building would they have to pay a fee. Lambert answered that they would not pay a fee if they reserved the fields. If it takes extra City staff to open up the restrooms and monitor the use of the facility, a fee is charged. If City staff is already on site, there is no charge to open the restrooms. Barrett questioned if the funds were now coming from the park dedication fees because the referendum failed. Lambert explained that the project requested in the referendum included a large sun shelter. There was $300,000 budgeted for this project from the park fees and the additional funding for the original project would have come from the referendum. Since the referendum failed, the project has been PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION July 19, 2004 Page 4 scaled down eliminate the portion of the building that would have been funded by the referendum. Barrett pointed out that there have been letters sent to the newspaper from residents indicating resistance to the City spending money. It is their impression that since the referendum failed, the City would not be spending money on parks. This project was included in the referendum and that referendum failed. It appears that the City is now proposing to do a project that the voters thought they voted down. Lambert stated that the project had park dedication money and girls' softball money and had the referendum passed there would have been referendum money. This project has been scaled back and the funds available allow them to proceed with the lesser project. Barrett said he has reservations with approving this request because they have not done a follow up study of the failed referendum. He said he would be more comfortable with approving the project if they had the results of the survey proposed to help determine why the referendum failed. Jacobus pointed out that the proposed buildings were part of the park plan ten years ago and that is why this money was originally put into the plan. Barrett said he understands but this project was on the referendum two months ago that was voted down. He said he feels it is a good project but politically this is probably not a good time to move forward with it. This Commission represents the people of Eden Prairie and he is hesitant to approve this project at this time. Gerst said he believes this Commission's charge is to do what they think is best for the parks system regardless of the referendum. They should not be hesitant to approve a project they feel is appropriate for the City's park system because a referendum failed. The question they have to ask is if they want to spend these funds on this project or on some other project and not be concerned about the results of the referendum. Moriarity said he feels that what they are voting on is whether or not they want to add $70,000 to the $300,000 that was estimated in the CIP for this project. The additional $70,000 will allow them to complete one of the proposed buildings this year. Lambert pointed out that this project has been part of the Capital Improvement Plan for the past five years. He also explained that the proposed cost for this project is an estimate and may be more or less. Just because the referendum failed, the City will not eliminate the Capital Improvement Plan. Barrett asked what would happen if they delayed action on this request until after they receive the results of the proposed survey. Lambert said the project would be delayed for one year. Vote was called on the motion with all members voting aye. The motion carried, 9-0. VI. OLD BUSINESS A. Review of draft Referendum Analysis Survey Lambert reported that the Commission is being asked to review the proposed referendum follow-up study questions prepared by Marketline Research. The City Council will also be reviewing this survey at their July 20 meeting. The survey will PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION July 19, 2004 Page 5 be started the last week of July and will be completed during the first couple of weeks in August. There will be a joint meeting with the City Council and Parks Commission to review the results of the survey in September or October. In response to a question from Jacobus, Lambert explained that the people contacted would be those people that voted on the referendum. They will be asked if they voted yes or no and they hope to have a 50150 split. Jacobus pointed out that one of the questions asked is if they lived in Eden Prairie. He said this is pretty much a given if they voted in the referendum. Lambert explained that some of the questions asked at the beginning of the survey are to make the people feel comfortable. Mackay said he felt it was too long for a survey and suggested that they eliminate the introductory questions. Morarity suggested that they also eliminate Questions 15b, 16b and 17b. He saw no reason for including those questions. Lambert said he disagreed with Morarity because he feels it is important to find out why the person voted against the referendum. Barrett said the survey should be much simpler. If the individual voted yes then thank them for their support and move on to the next person to be called. Barrett said he thinks Questions 6, 8 and 9 are too long and they will lose the interest of the people. It is important to have questions that are quantitative. He suggested that they eliminate everything up to Question 10. Bierman said he feels the survey has a poor introduction, is too long and the data asked for is irrelevant. Question 18 is irrelevant and too lengthy. Also, the survey asks for personal data which people will not give out to anybody on the telephone. Bierman said he also feels the question regarding an individual's education level is irrelevant and the questions regarding demographics are offensive. Lambert explained that in order for this survey to be statistically accurate within 3 to 4 percentage points, they have to be sure they have the same demographics answering the survey. If you want to compare the results of this survey of voters to the original survey of all community residents you need to know the difference in those who voted. Barrett stated that this proposed survey is so far off from what he wanted to see happen. Barrett suggested that several members of this Commission meet to try and streamline this survey prior to the City Council's Tuesday night meeting. Bierman asked if staff gave the company preparing the survey the objectives of the survey. Lambert said they had. Bierman said it would be helpful to see what those objectives are and he asked if this survey would be the foundation for a future referendum. Lambert said hopefully this survey will help them in having a successful referendum within the next year or so by eliminating some of the items and reducing the cost or they may find that there is nothing that would pass. Barrett suggested that members of this Commission meet to further review the survey to see if they can develop a survey they feel would be more effective. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION July 19, 2004 Page 6 Motion: Motion was made by Morarity, seconded by Barrett, to recommend that the City Council delay review of the survey questions for two weeks to allow Commission volunteers to get together and define the objectives and questions that they recommend be included in the survey. The motion carried, 9-0. Barrett, Bierman, Grayson and Jacobus volunteered to meet and redraft the survey. Lambert said the revisions could be forwarded to the City Council at their August 3 meeting, giving this Commission an opportunity to review it at their August 2 meeting. VII. NEW BUSINESS VIII. REPORT OF STAFF A. Director of Parks and Recreation Services 1. Soccer Tournament Moriarity reported that 292 teams participated in a soccer tournament in Eden Prairie this past weekend and he heard many compliments on the excellent shape of the fields and on this City's park system. City staff did a great job during this tournament. VII. ADJOURNMENT The Commission adjourned to a bus at 6:40 p.m. to tour various parks throughout the City. During the tour the Commission voted unanimously to recommend the City Council install ceiling fans to the Riley Jacques Barn. The tour ended and the meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.