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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks and Recreation - 06/06/2011 APPROVED MINUTES PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MONDAY,JUNE 6, 2011 7:00 P.M., CITY CENTER Council Chambers 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Geri Napuck, Chair; Larry Link, Derek Gunderson, and Dave Rosa COMMISSION MEMBERS ABSENT: Tom Bierman, Hutch Coburn and Joan Oko COMMISSION STAFF PRESENT: Jay Lotthammer, Parks and Recreation Director Laurie Obiazor, Recreation Services Manager Stu Fox, Parks Natural Resources Director Wendy Sevenich, Community Center Manager Lindsey Danhauser, Art Center Coordinator Carol Pelzel, Recording Secretary GUEST: Steve McComas, Blue Water Science I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Napuck called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Lotthammer asked that Item C. 1, Art Center Update be moved to VIII. New Business and also under New Business an Update on Birch Island Woods Parking Lot Status be added. Motion: Rosa moved, seconded by Gunderson, to approve the agenda as amended. The motion carried 4-0. III. APPROVAL OF PRNR MINUTES Motion: Motion was made by Gunderson, seconded by Rosa, to approve the May 2, 2011, minutes as published. The motion carried 4-0. IV. REPORT OF CITY COUNCIL ACTION Lotthammer reported the City Council took the following action at their May 17 Council meeting: • Approved a cost-sharing agreement with Nine Mile Creek Watershed District for a driveway and parking lot for Birch Island Woods Conservation Area. Approximately 50 percent of this project will be funded from the Watershed District and the remaining funds coming from the City's Storm Water Utility Fund. The parking lot will be constructed with percoa pervious concrete. The Watershed District was interested in PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MINUTES June 6, 2011 Page 2 partnering with the City to potentially use this site as a test and show product. With this product, the water will percolate down and back in through the soil and into the ground resulting in less impact to the site. • Accepted $250 from the US Pickle Ball Association for the purchase of nets at the Senior Center for the Pickle Ball Program. • Accepted a grant award from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council for$1,500 for strategic planning services for the Eden Prairie Players. They will be working with a consultant to help direct them into the future. V. REPORT OF PLANNING COMMISSION Fox stated there was no Planning Commission action to report at this time. However, two projects will be considered by the Planning Commission in the near future. GE Capital is looking at a campus design and United Health is looking at the ADC Campus for possible redevelopment. Fox further reported Suburban Chevrolet and Metropolitan Ford are looking at a shared campus and there is a housing project being considered on the Kingdom Glory church property. That project would generate cash park fees and would provide an additional entrance into the Edenbrook Conservation area. VI. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS VII. OLD BUSINESS A. ROUND LAKE WATER QUALITY Lotthammer introduced Steve McComas of Blue Water Science explaining City staff and McComas have been discussing Round Lake for some time. Over the past several years they have experienced changes with the water level and water quality of Round Lake. The lake has been closed for the last couple of years because of the water level. Lotthammer said McComas has a good perspective on the ebbing and flowing of the lake and can answer many of their questions. He further explained the information being presented this evening will be about the lake and when the Commission takes their park tour next month they will tour Round Lake. Lotthammer distributed a map displaying the various activity areas at Round Lake and if the Commission determines they want to look at the lake as a master plan concept this information will provide them with more information about the lake and will assist them in making suggestions. McComas said he would like to put Round Lake in perspective with other City lakes. He presented comparisons of Birch Island, Neill Lake, Red Rock Lake and Smetana and reviewed the transparency and total phosphorous of the lakes. The transparency for Round Lake is pretty good at five feet for a summer average. Clarity is lost by August and the phosphorous levels are fairly low. Typically they would like the phosphorous level at 40 parts but in 2010 Round Lake was at 47. Algae for Round Lake is 29 average parts per billion and they would like that to be around 20. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MINUTES June 6, 2011 Page 3 McComas presented an overview of the various lakes explaining when water quality is good and shallow, algae comes to the surface. He explained the biggest driver for Round Lake is its water table. In 2010 the water level started to come back up and over the years they have been looking at aquatic plants that will help sustain the water quality. Round Lake Pond was dredged and enlarged and filled with water in July 2010. That project helped settle nutrients. They have been trying to understand what the drivers are for Round Lake and to address those drivers and tweak them where necessary to maintain overall good water quality. For 2011 they had a cool April and cloudy days which has slowed aquatic plant growth in general. Mother Nature has a way of balancing things out. Link asked where Round Lake Pond is located in relationship to Round Lake. Fox responded it is on the west side of Round Lake. McComas explained their monitoring indicated this is a key pond where a lot of the watershed flows through. Rosa asked if the water table rising in the drainage pond is a way to get the water level up in the lakes. McComas said they need above average rainfall to take the water level up one to two feet a year. If there are continued wet conditions the water level will inch up. The water table rises slowly while spring fed lakes rise much faster. Napuck asked in looking at the lake comparisons,how the other lakes compare to Round Lake as swimming lakes. McComas said a main concern with swimming lakes is public health. They want to make sure they are safe for swimming. They have done some bacterial testing in the other lakes and they found Staring Lake has some significant algae. They would not expect high fecal coliform levels in the other lakes so they would assume they do not have high bacteria levels. Napuck said Round Lake has been notorious for being open and then there would be a high fecal count and they would have to close the lake. People are concerned about swimming there. She said the comparison of clarity with the other lakes was interesting in that she does not think of Round Lake as being a clear lake. She said this is something they should consider when promoting Round Lake. McComas said sometimes a bad looking system isn't an unsafe system. Napuck said they need to overcome the perception that Round Lake is unsafe and to promote its use. McComas said they should also promote Round Lake as an overall experience including other activities like boating as well as a passive recreation area with walking paths, etc. Link asked if they have done any sampling with Lake Riley. McComas said it has been some time since they did sampling there. In terms of clarity, Round Lake would typically have a better average than Lake Riley. Overall, Round Lake's water quality is also better than Lake Riley. Lotthammer stated Commissioner Bierman questioned placing a number of spray fountains around the lake and asked if this would be a good idea. McComas said it would be somewhat neutral. The water quality is pretty good and they need to decide if they want this to be an urban type setting. Spray fountains are not natural features in natural lakes. They would have no adverse impact on the water quality and might be a benefit by moving stagnant water. There would be some potential benefits to manage filament algae. Lotthammer said fountains PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MINUTES June 6, 2011 Page 4 work very well in a pool but when they are in a natural environment motors in the fountains often have to be replaced. McComas explained they are looking at things today that will influence Round Lake's water level as well as the public health aspect and water quality clarity. From a public health standpoint they don't want algae blooms. They are working with the Watershed District to reduce nutrients coming into the lakes. This year they put barley straw into Bren Lake to reduce the phosphorous in that system making it easier for Round Lake Pond to continue to reduce phosphorous. They will also do a fish survey to determine the fish population and this may be a potential project area to reduce fish to improve water quality. In response to a question from Napuck, McComas said using barley straw in a lake is not a very good conventional technique because of the amount of barley straw required. VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. ART CENTER UPDATE Lotthammer explained this is the second full year of operation for the Art Center and Lindsey Danhauser, Art Center Coordinator, is here this evening to give the Commission a brief update on its operation. Danhauser said the Art Center celebrated its two-year anniversary in May. She presented an update to the Commission and explained some of their projects. In 2009 their revenue from programs was $33,700 compared to $48,640 for 2010. Total revenue was at$36,101 for 2009 and $63,158 for 2010. The reason for the large increase was because they had all of their programs up and running in 2010. The Sampson family donated $35,000 in 2009 for building improvements and $3,000 in 2010 for a gas kiln. Danhauser further reported the Eden Prairie Foundation gave $8,500 for a pottery studio in 2009 and $1,060 for easels in 2010. The Friends of the Eden Prairie Art Center have indicated they will no longer assist with fund raising events now that the Art Center is up and running. Total Art Center expenditures for 2009 was $133,259 and $178,281 for 2010. Danhauser reviewed the various programs offered at the Art Center including birthday party programming with 75 parties held in 2010 generating revenue of over$9,000. She also reviewed the various building improvements and registration numbers. Gunderson said there appears to be a large gap between revenues and expenditures. He asked if that gap is closing and how does it look moving forward. Danhauser responded the cost recovery is 120 percent, 100 percent of their cost and 20 percent for administrative costs and they continue to try to exceed the cost recovery policy. In order to offer the various programs they need to offer them at a reasonable cost and have not been able to go above the policy. Lotthammer explained when the building was first offered to the City staff did make sure the City Council understood what it meant to accept the building. Even though something like this doesn't make money for the City,people still place a high value on these types of activities for the community. Staff did present a sample budget to the Council to show them what potentially could happen. Gunderson said he brought this up because he is concerned PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MINUTES June 6, 2011 Page 5 the Budget Advisory Commission will look at this similar to what happened with the Senior Center. Link asked how many total people have registered for classes. Danhauser responded over 4,000 people went through the Art Center last year for classes, open studio and events. B. FEE RESOLUTION Lotthammer explained staff is proposing changes to the fees and charges for submission in the 2012 budget. Included with the Commission's agenda material was an overview of the proposed changes. Parks and Recreation is a revenue and marketing component of the City and when the City Council adopts the fee resolution in November and December they have already published the fees for Parks and Recreation activities. Lotthammer said staff wants this Commission to review the fees prior to Council review which will occur in August. Fox pointed out they are proposing a change to the grave markers setting and interment fees. Those fees will be increased based on direct contractor charges. They are also recommending an administrative fee of$75 for non-paid overdue tree/weed ordinance violations. This fee does not cover the full cost but it does demonstrate staff has gone the extra mile for the violations. Sevenich reported every year they recommend a 3 percent increase in membership dues for the Community Center. They also do a market survey on ice rinks and every other year they do a user fee increase and that will occur this year. Staff is recommending increases to room rentals and park building/pavilion rental fees and to meeting room rental rates to reflect room size and layout. Equipment rental fee options were added for the Senior Center room rentals. Sevenich said staff has introduced a non-prime time fee for racquetball court rental and a non-prime time fee for play structure use. Rosa asked if there were any increases for ball field rentals and questioned why they would not increase that rate because of the demand for those fields. Fox explained the only time they charge for fields is if they have a tournament. They pay for the weekend per field per day. For the youth leagues there is no charge for use of the fields and for adult leagues there is a direct cost through their registration fee. The ball field fees listed in the resolution are for special events such as camps or clinics. Rosa questioned the $10 fee for upgrades and downgrades. He said if anything, they want people to purchase more services and they should not be charged a fee to upgrade their services. There should be a bigger penalty if they terminate or reduce their services. Obiazor said the $10 fee is an administrative cost. Lotthammer said staff will review that proposed change. There may be a higher percentage of people reducing or going on hiatus than people upgrading their services. Lotthammer said staff will look into the item further and report back to the Commission. Motion: Link moved, seconded by Rosa, to recommend to the City Council to approve the 2012 Parks and Recreation Fee Resolution. The motion carried, 4-0. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MINUTES June 6, 2011 Page 6 C. BIRCH ISLAND WOODS PARKING LOT STATUS Lotthammer explained in 2002 a Task Force reviewed the Birch Island Woods Nature Area and the Friends of Birch Island Woods worked closely with that group on plantings and restoration. One of the ideas at that time was to develop a parking area to get more people to use the trails. Staff has been working with the Watershed District and a local company to use percoa pervious pavement for the parking lot allowing less impact to the site. This proposal was presented to the City Council in the fall of 2010 and recently a$25,000 cost share with the Watershed District for the project was presented to the City Council. Resident Jeff Strait appeared before the City Council with a plan for on-street parallel parking. He indicated this is a different and better way to take care of the parking at this site. Strait also said that staff's proposal could result in an area for people to do unlawful activities. Having parking on the road would eliminate those types of activities. Lotthammer said staff did contact the Police Department and were informed that the frequency of crimes in nature areas is no more prevalent than in other parking areas and from a crime perspective the Police Department has no concerns about this location. Lotthammer said staff did tell Strait that they will continue with the parking lot as planned and that it is safe and it will accomplish what it was intended to accomplish. If they need to close and lock that area they can. Gunderson asked if using this permeable material will cause more drainage contamination. Lotthammer said the original concern for the contamination at this site was because there is a building foundation on the site. There was a dump site location from 1953 but not at the site of the building. Draining the water through ground water would take care of contamination and as far as they know, there are no pollutants in this ground. Fox explained the City does have to make sure they are not causing any issues so they will have to do some soil borings in this area. The parking lot will be 7,800 square feet of pervious surface and the Watershed District wants to demonstrate this project to show how it promotes runoff. Napuck said she is on the Board of the Friends of Birch Island Woods and they support the parking lot at this location. They would not want to do anything that would be harmful to an area they fought hard to protect. IX. REPORTS OF STAFF A. PARKS AND NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGER B. COMMUNITY CENTER MANAGER FYI: Birthday Parties Gunderson suggested staff consider doing follow-ups for these birthday parties a few weeks after the event. He suggested they contact the people who booked the party to get testimonials from them regarding the parties. It is difficult to get testimonials from the people the day of the event because it is so hectic. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MINUTES June 6, 2011 Page 7 C. RECREATION SERVICES MANAGER FYI: Sounds Around Town FYI: Staring Lake Concert Series FYI: MN Festival of Jazz on the Prairie FYI: Rocking at Riley FYI: Bye Bye Birdie FYI: KidStock FYI: Fishing Derby FYI: Senior Center Garden Party FYI: Baggo Tournament FYI: July 4h Celebration D. PARKS AND RECREATION DIRECTOR 1. 2011 PRNR Work Plan Lotthammer reported the Commission's annual bus tour will take place on July 11 at 6:30 p.m. They will tour Round Lake Park and Miller Park as well as Flying Cloud Fields. Link said he has noticed great progress is being made on the Flying Cloud fields. Lotthammer said they are impressed with the contractor and they have been there when they said they would be. Gunderson said he was at Edenvale Park and saw that the basketball court was full. He asked if staff has ever considered holding a three-on-three basketball tournament on weekends. Fox explained they have tried a summer program but found most of the time the youths prefer to play pickup games. Fox said he would mention this to Lyndell Frey, Recreation Coordinator. Gunderson pointed out that at Miller Park there is only one baby or bucket swing and there was a line up for the use of that swing. He asked if an additional swing could be added. Fox responded the way the guidelines are written, two swings make up a bay. They would have to put in two more bucket swings and there currently isn't room to do that. Unfortunately, they cannot mix and match swings because of safety standards. Rosa said with regard to basketball,he serves on the basketball board. One of the things they talked about was that a lot of the parents are disappointed that the Association in Eden Prairie did not do anything after traveling basketball. About three years ago they started a three-on-three indoor league at the High School Activity Center. For the first year they had 12 teams and the biggest complaint was that they never had any coaching and for the most part it was unsupervised. Because of that,parents were not in favor of continuing this. They were also surprised they were not able to get more people signed up. Napuck said this may be something they should look into and suggested they consider having a tournament at one of the City's celebrations. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MINUTES June 6, 2011 Page 8 Napuck asked when the Commission will be addressing Round Lake again. Lotthammer said they will tour Round Lake in July and at one of the next meetings staff will bring it back for further discussion. FYI: Independence Day: Monday, July 4—All buildings and offices closed. X. NEXT MEETING The next regular meeting of the Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission will be the tour of City facilities on Monday, July 11, at 6:30 p.m., Council Chambers. X. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Motion was made by Gunderson, seconded by Link, to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried 4-0 and the meeting was adjourned at 9:05 p.m.