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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks and Recreation - 03/04/2013 APPROVED MINUTES PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2013 7:00 P.M., Council Chamber City Center COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Hutch Coburn, Vice Chair; Tom Bierman, Derek Gunderson, Matthew Kraft, Larry Link, Leonard Pesheck COMMISSION MEMBERS ABSENT: Geri Napuck, Chair STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Yasmin Atef-Vahid, Natalie Townsend STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES ABSENT: Vy Nguyen COMMISSION STAFF PRESENT: Jay Lotthammer, Parks and Recreation Director Stu Fox, Parks Natural Resources Director Laurie Obiazor, Recreation Services Manager Wendy Sevenich, Community Center Manager Jan Curielli, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Vice Chair Coburn called the meeting to order at 7:02 P.M. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion: Kraft moved, seconded by Bierman, to approve the agenda as published. The motion carried 6-0. III. APPROVAL OF PRNR MINUTES - January 7, 2013 Motion: Link moved, seconded by Pesheck, to approve the January 7, 2013 meeting minutes as presented. The motion carried 6-0. VI. REPORT OF CITY COUNCIL ACTION A. AQUATIC UPDATE Lotthammer reported a town hall meeting on the proposed aquatic improvements will be held this Wednesday evening at the Cambria Room in the Community Center. The Council asked that we hold the town hall meeting. Minutes will be taken at the meeting, and staff will report back to the City Council at their next meeting. The meeting is open to the entire community, and he encouraged Commission members to attend. PARKS,RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MINUTES March 4, 2013 Page 2 B. FARMERS MARKET Lotthammer reported the City Council asked the Parks Commission to talk with local growers and farmers in Eden Prairie about the proposed Farmers Market. Staff talked with five local growers and told them our intent was to summarize their suggestions and concerns and bring them back to the Council. The growers suggested there already are a lot of farmers markets, and they believe there is a lot of growth opportunity for roadside stands. They thought it would help to be part of other events in Eden Prairie as a way to integrate the locally grown products into the community. They were concerned about having a once-a- week farmers market and did not feel it would be beneficial to them to participate. Bierman asked if there is any perspective on the location of the market. Lotthammer said they would want it as far away from their individual locations as possible and would probably not agree on one location. Their best recommendation would be to have none at all. C. DONATION FROM STATE FARM Lotthammer reported Gordon Williams is an active member at the Senior Center and donates his time there. His former employer, State Farm Insurance, matched his time donation for 2012 with dollars. D. DONATION OF FLYING RED HORSE SIGN Lotthammer reported the City Council accepted the Flying Red Horse sign as a gift. Staff is working with a company that has the sign in storage and will do the restoration work on the sign. Bierman asked if the Council had any suggestions for location of the sign. Lotthammer replied the Council heard a presentation from the daughter of the Schwarz family. She mentioned her grandfather and father were baseball fans, and she thought it would be good to incorporate the sign into a baseball/softball scenario. E. TWINS COMMUNITY FUND GRANT AWARD Lotthammer reported a Twins Community Fund grant was awarded to provide protective covers and fencing for the baseball fields at Franlo and Cummins Grill. F. TAX FORFEITED LAND Lotthammer reported we received a small piece of tax-forfeited land from the County that was added onto the park land. Bierman asked where it is located. Fox replied said it is a sliver of wetland on Mitchell Road south of City Hall and is under 1/10 of an acre in size. Lotthammer noted most tax-forfeited land comes to us as slivers. PARKS,RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MINUTES March 4, 2013 Page 3 G. RICE MARSH LAKE TRAIL EXTENSION PROJECT Lotthammer reported we have a contract with a firm to do the design work for the trail that will connect over to Chanhassen. We should see the design work a few meetings from now. H. UPDATED GUIDELINES OF COMMUNITY USE OF P&R RENTAL FACILITIES Lotthammer noted the City Council approved the updated guidelines for community use of rental facilities after the Parks Commission reviewed the update and recommended approval. I. RILEY LAKE PARK IMPROVEMENTS Lotthammer reported we have a contract for the design of the Riley Lake Park ball field extension and lighting project. We will see some drawings and sketches of those in the next few months. Link asked if the project involves redoing the parking. Lotthammer said the project is to extend the two ball fields and add lighting. The timing to reconfigure the parking would be in a few years as the pavement starts to fail. Coburn said the Council had questions about the proximity of benches and tables to parking, especially for handicapped parking. Lotthammer said that question came from a town hall meeting with seniors at Summit Place. The meeting attendees asked about having more benches in the area of Summit Place because a lot of seniors there take walks. The City does not have much property in that area,but we do plan to put a bench near the Applebee's. V. REPORT OF PLANNING COMMISSION Fox reported the Planning Commission recommended amending the sign ordinance to change some sign configurations. They also approved a subdivision at the intersection of Sunnybrook Road and Homeward Hills Road. There was a substandard house on the site. They purchased some park property along Homeward Hills Road and did a lot subdivision so there will be two houses built on the property. VI. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATIONS VII. OLD BUSINESS VIII. NEW BUSINESS IX. REPORTS OF STAFF A. RECREATION SERVICES MANAGER 1. July 4th Update PARKS,RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MINUTES March 4, 2013 Page 4 Obiazor gave an update of the 2013 July 4' event, noting this will be the 29th year for this large community event. There are a lot of people involved in the planning process. The budget for the event was reduced a couple of years ago due to city budget cuts. For the last two years we had a scaled-back event that started at 5:00 p.m. The City Council has indicated they miss having a longer event. The programming staff did a lot of brainstorming trying to make a significant improvement for this year's event. There will be a new event, Rocking at Round, on Wednesday, July 3, starting at 6:00 p.m. We are partnering with several community groups, and there will be a Baseball Association tournament, a pickleball tournament, and a 5K run at Purgatory Creek. In addition, several of the afternoon events that were eliminated with the budget cut will be reinstated, including the kiddie parade, the K-9 demonstration and stage entertainment. The City will also partner with the Lions Club to enhance events for Schooner Days in June and the Corn Feed in August. Coburn asked what the approximate attendance is at the July 4th event. Obiazor wasn't sure what the numbers are but attendance has dropped over the last few years. Pesheck asked what would be needed to do more events. Obiazor said we have assigned specific tasks, and soliciting contributions for the event is being taken care of by one individual whose goal is to double last year's amount of contributions. We plan to make it more cost effective by partnering with community groups. Gunderson asked if we would partner with the Farmers Market for the day. Obiazor said we might be able to showcase it,but it is a little too early in the season for a lot of produce. She noted the farmers thought the Corn Feed would work out the best for partnering. Link asked about adjusting the music during the fireworks. Obiazor said they coordinate with the fireworks and will evaluate it after the event. Gunderson suggested we could have a flyer for the Farmers Market at the event. Obiazor said staff plans to bring their conversations with the farmers to the City Council, and the Council may direct us to do that. There are other ways we can provide opportunities to promote healthy eating. We need to take incremental steps with our local growers who have a long tradition in our community. The growers said they would work with the City to get fresh produce into the schools and at City events. Coburn thought the idea of partnering was great. FYI:Senior Center St. Patrick's Day Lunch -- March 20 Obiazor said we are trying this event for the first time. We usually max out our attendance at such events in the Senior Center. Link asked the age limit for those who attend. Obiazor said the programming is for adults and seniors, so active adults usually participate as well as senior citizens. PARKS,RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MINUTES March 4, 2013 Page 5 B. PARKS AND NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGER 1. Trail and Park Lot Projects Fox said the City tries to maintain the infrastructure of our trails and parks in good condition. Staff expects to spend about$400,000 this year for preventive maintenance of several parks and trails. Each year the trails and pavement are evaluated and priorities for maintenance are set by assigning a Pavement Condition Index (PCI) to each facility. In addition there will be a trail extension project for the Rice Marsh Lake Trail from the Riley Creek Bridge to link with a Chanhassen trail at the border. The trail extension will complete a three-mile loop trail around Rice Marsh Lake. He reviewed the list of transportation and park trails that will be seal coated this year and noted that adds 7-10 years onto the life span of those facilities. Seal coating of trails and parking lots is done in conjunction with street maintenance. They plan to overlay about 9/10 of a mile on two existing bike trails and will add three ADA ramps on those sections of trail. In addition, a total of one mile on three sections of the existing bike trails along Valley View Road will be reconstructed and 22 ADA ramps will be added. Parking lots at five facilities will be seal coated, and the parking lots at Franlo Park and Willow Park will be overlaid. Link asked how the condition of trails is tracked. Fox replied we hire a company to do a full inventory of the entire trail and sidewalk system and then assign a PCI value to each facility. Link asked if spending $300,000 to maintain the facilities and $100,000 to build the new trail is average. Fox said that is a fairly average amount. He noted we have a total of 125 miles of bituminous trail and another 100 miles of sidewalks in the City. 2. Geocachin2 Procedure Update Fox noted in December of 2011 the Parks Commission passed a motion to permit the State Reviewer for the Minnesota Geocaching Association to approve submittals for the placement of a geocache within Eden Prairie park property for a six month trial period. Staff worked with the City's IT Department to provide the State Reviewer with detailed electronic files defining where caches would and would not be permitted on our park property. Staff is recommending that we make the State Reviewer the gate keeper for placement of geocaches within City parkland. He reviewed the geocaching guidelines and the geocaching map of Eden Prairie,both of which are posted on the City website. Pesheck asked if that group runs the geocaching program. Fox replied they serve as the gatekeeper. We have adopted a set of criteria regarding where and how to geocache. They make sure the geocacher meets the criteria and is placing the cache in a location where we permit one. Coburn asked how long this has been going in the City. Fox replied since last March. We checked with them in August and everything from them has been positive. They have two reviewers who review all submissions for the entire State and are very knowledgeable about geocaching. PARKS,RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MINUTES March 4, 2013 Page 6 Gunderson asked if there is a way for the City to take back control if there is a problem. Fox said he believes we would always have that option. Lotthammer said we also have the ability to go on line, determine where every cache is, and see if any of them are in the red zones shown on the map. He said this started when we had several geocachers come to us and ask to do the caching in a standardized way. Mr. Fox brought them back as a task force to see what would be a good procedure to protect the City. The geocachers have a great interest in doing this responsibly, and they take a lot of trash out of our parks and open spaces as part of their activity. Staff feels comfortable we could work with them to tweak things if necessary. MOTION: Link moved, seconded by Kraft, to adopt geocaching guidelines that permit the State Reviewer for the Minnesota Geocaching Association to review and approve cache location submittals for the placement of a geocache within Eden Prairie park properties. The motion carried 6-0. Link asked how many caches are currently located in the City. Fox said there were about 180 on our park property when he last checked. C. COMMUNITY CENTER MANAGER 1. Community Center Rink 2 Improvements Sevenich reported in January the City Council approved a project to update Rink 2. The rink was due for some strong maintenance and, as an Olympic-size rink, was not as usable as one that is NHL size. The improvements will include bringing it down to an NHL size, converting from a Freon-based cooling system to an ammonia refrigerant system, and changing from a sand floor to concrete. There will be other energy enhancements included in the project such as a Low E ceiling placed in all three ice rinks. She showed a sample of the Low E ceiling material. Lotthammer said the material will be placed very close to the current ceiling where it works somewhat like insulation. Heat coming through the roof is deflected into the bleacher area rather than going onto the ice surface. It also keeps the cold air from going out through the ceiling. The Low E ceiling has a great pay back in energy savings, and the dollar return is very positive. In addition, we will get$40,000 in rebates from the energy companies for the energy enhancements. There will be long term benefits to the Community Center from reduced operating costs. 2. Northern Educate Request Sevenich reported a request from Northern Educate Sports Academy to purchase non- prime time ice and room rental at the Community Center on a consistent basis during the school season. The hours requested (8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.) are currently available and are not frequently requested by other patrons. The group is currently using the Eagan arena. Staff spoke with the Eagan arena manager and their Park& Recreation Director about their experience with the group. The rink manager had some points about control, and the director said it was a beneficial rental. Staff has had several meetings with the group, and we are currently negotiating pricing with them. Any agreement with the group would have to go through the City Council. PARKS,RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MINUTES March 4, 2013 Page 7 Coburn asked where the kids in the program come from. Sevenich said there are some Eden Prairie kids but also they come from all over the state. During the day they play hockey and attend an on-line charter school. Pesheck asked where the kids go to school. Lotthammer said they can select any on-line charter school, and the Academy enhances that learning and helps the students. The Academy enrolls students from K-12,but most of them are in the Junior High age group. Typically a group would start off the day with ice time and then go on to dry land training. After lunch they would go into the conference room where a group of adults would facilitate the kids on-line education. They have said they could arrange to be out of the facility for a day if we needed the facility for other purposes that day. Coburn asked if they would have wi-fi requirements. Sevenich said they would bring their own system. Lotthammer noted this is a concept for the future, and they also do lacrosse and some soccer. Pesheck asked if they would rent just during the school year. Sevenich said that was correct, and they go by the Minnesota State school plan for holidays. Link asked how long the agreement would be for. Sevenich said we would want an agreement for one year to start in order to give it a trial period. Lotthammer said we are pushing for a contract to make sure everything is in place. Sevenich noted they are also looking at other locations. Link asked if the program is for high-performing students. Sevenich said the kids are pretty focused on hockey. 3. Play Structure Update Sevenich reported the updating of the indoor play structure at the Community Center is complete and the kids are loving it. We are working with the Communications Department and City employees to come up with three names for the new structure. The public will then vote for their favorite name on the City's Facebook page. There will be a grand opening for the structure on May 11. FYI: Ice Show"The Lion King" -- March 22-24 FYI: Afternoon with the Bunny -- March 30 D. PARKS AND RECREATION DIRECTOR 1. Recyclins!Update Lotthammer reported that we have met with the Conservation Commission several times and discussed recycling in the parks. One of our initiatives this year is to place giant- sized pop bottles for recycling in many of the parks. We checked on the possibility of grant funding with Hennepin County. The County appreciated receiving the application, PARKS,RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MINUTES March 4, 2013 Page 8 but it didn't fit their criteria at this time. They encouraged us to reapply and suggested we consider a request that would include promoting programs with our youth associations, perhaps by using the funds to purchase reusable water bottles for the youth athletic associations. He noted we will continue to monitor the recycling collections this year and will report back on an annual basis. Link noted the teams often have snacks after a game and asked how we could reach out to a group about what snacks they bring. Lotthammer said we could include suggestions in the binder of best practices we give to the teams. 2. 2013 PRNR Work Plan Lotthammer noted it is helpful for the Commission to get out to other parts of the community, so we will have our April meeting at the Homeward Hills Park Barn. He asked Commission members to provide any suggestions for agenda topics. Lotthammer reported"The Dining Room" directed by Matthew Kraft wrapped up last weekend. He noted it was a really good show and congratulated Mr. Kraft on the good work. X. NEXT MEETING Council Presentation -- Tuesday, March 5, 5:30 p.m., Heritage Rooms, City Center Aquatic Public Meeting -- Wednesday, March 6, 6:30 p.m., Community Center Cambria Room Next PRNR Meeting -- Monday, April 1, 7:00 p.m., Homeward Hills Park Barn XI. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Gunderson moved, seconded by Pesheck, to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried 6-0. Vice Chair Coburn adjourned the meeting at 7:37 p.m.