Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity and School Facility Use Advisory Committee - 08/15/2001 APPROVED MINUTES CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE WEDNESDAY,AUGUST 15, 2001 7:00 P.M. Eden Prairie High School Activity Center COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Nancy Holden, David Larson, Susan Oswald (left at 8:00 p.m.), Phil Rose, Nancy Tyra-Lukens and Jane Wolfgram COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT: None COMMITTEE STAFF PRESENT: Jeanne Zetah, Director of Community Education Services; Laurie Obiazor, Manager of Recreation Services; Steve Schultz, High School Activities Director; Charlie Gross, High School Activities Coordinator; Cheryl Bridge, Facilities Scheduling Coordinator; and Carol Pelzel, Minutes Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL A. The meeting was called to order by Acting Chair Tyra-Lukens at 7:00 p.m. Tyra-Lukens agreed to act as facilitator of this meeting until a chairperson is appointed. The members introduced themselves stating which organization they represent. B. Updated Committee List Rose reported that his home telephone number is 952-942-0217 and his e-mail address is prose@ edenpr.Kl2.mn.us. Holden said her address is 8080 Mitchell Road not 8040. Oswald's e-mail address is oswa1019@umn.edu and Bridge's e-mail address is cbridge@edenpr.Kl2.nm.us. II. APPOINT CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR Motion: Oswald moved, Wolfgram seconded, to appoint David Larson as chair and Phil Rose as vice chair of the City and School Facility Use Advisory Committee. The motion carried, 6-0. III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion: Rose moved, Oswald seconded, to approve the agenda as presented. The motion carried, 6-0. CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE August 15, 2001 Page 2 IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. February 21, 2001 Rose indicated that his absence should also be an excused absence. Motion: Wolfgram moved, Oswald seconded, to approve the February 21, 2001, minutes as corrected. The motion carried, 6-0. V. ITEMS OF BUSINESS A. New District Facility Usage Update 1. Prairie Dome 2. Performing Arts Center 3. Activity Center Gross distributed the Athletics and Fine Arts Facilities Usage Facts from September 1, 2000 to August 31, 2001. He also distributed a sheet showing the facility usage rates to begin September 1, 2001 through August 31, 2002 and a sheet explaining the priority of use for High School activities facilities. Gross presented a summary of the uses of the facilities from an in-house perspective. He explained that there were 68 offerings that placed demands on the school facilities. There were 5,555 participants in facility demanding co-curricular activities. The Eden Prairie High School co-curricular events hosted included 22 concerts, 23 play productions and 284 athletic events. In response to a question from Rose, Gross explained that these events are only those hosted by school facilities and do not include any City facilities. Softball is held on City facilities. The school hosts 284 athletic events which does not include practices. Gross pointed out that 16,000 students paid an activity fee of some kind last year, for participation in a sport, or intramural team, or attending a dance (but not attending games). The average student at Eden Prairie High School participated in six different activities that required a fee. Schultz pointed out that in comparison to other schools Eden Prairie is the only school that sponsors all of the high school sports. In addition, they have independent provider programs. Gross stated that all of these activities do put a great strain on the facilities. After all of the school activities are accommodated, there is not a lot of time or space available for other organizations. Gross reviewed the Performing Arts Center/Auditorium Usage. He reviewed the priorities used for scheduling these facilities. Priority 1 is high school activities and is the first to be scheduled. Priority 2 is for district-wide users while Priority 3 includes Eden Prairie Athletic Association teams. The City of Eden Prairie programs fall under Priority 4. There are nine priorities that allow the school to develop a system to book the facilities. Gross explained that the usage rates are divided into Groups A through D and then the CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE August 15, 2001 Page 3 priorities are set under those groups. In the past year a new pricing category was developed. The school has in the past received a lot of requests from non-profit organizations based in Eden Prairie. This resulted in developing a new Category C to accommodate those requests. Larson asked if the school is competitive with their rates. Gross responded that they are below competitive value for the Group A rates which are for Eden Prairie residents. Group B starts to get closer to outside rates;however, this group still is Eden Prairie- based usage. They are in line with outside rates for Group D which are individuals and groups out of Eden Prairie. Gross explained that they are not trying to make it difficult for people to use their facilities but they do want to be fair and equitable. They want the facilities to be 100 percent occupied when room is available. Schultz explained that when they first began developing the facility usage rates, they found that the School District did have a unique situation because of the number of facilities. Their intent is to be consistent with what is done in both the School District and the City. They found that they have the same users using the City facilities and the School facilities. They did not want a different system or definition in place. As they began booking these facilities, they found some loop holes that they had not foreseen. They had to create a new category for non-Eden Prairie people. Pricing is also a huge issue. It was relatively easy to create pricing for the dome because there are similar facilities in the area on which to base their fees. However, establishing rates for the use of the school gyms was more difficult because most schools don't have rental space available. Eden Prairie and Hopkins are the only schools that have big facilities. It is difficult to find facilities that are comparable. They did use the same rate that Community Ed has used for school gyms which was based on basketball size gyms. Schultz pointed out that the rate they use for gyms is extremely reasonable. Gross briefly reviewed the priority use categories they have used for each booking over the past year. He explained that the facilities are not used for school activities from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. These facilities are 100% occupied during that time from November through March by Eden Prairie Youth Athletic Associations. For the weekend, the facilities are about 75% occupied with about 80% of that being youth associations. Holden asked if use of elementary school gyms has been affected by the new facilities. Bridge responded that it did open some space which allowed the associations to move upper class youth to the high school gyms and now the elementary gyms are not used after 9:00 p.m. They did get some space back on Friday and Wednesday evenings; however, the amount of space freed up was not what people had anticipated. They would like to have seen more space made available. Gross explained that when the Prairie Dome is up, it has a 54% occupancy rate November 1 through May 5 from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. During the months January through March, it is 100% occupied. Gross said they need to get more tenants in those months where it is not totally occupied. They have established a new rate CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE August 15, 2001 Page 4 for dome use. They have a non-peak dome rate and a peak dome rate which is from January through March. Gross said they are trying to be creative to get the occupancy rate up during non-peak times. Holden asked if individual students pay a fee to use the facilities. Gross responded that the students can show their ID cards and use the running and walking track at no charge. Holden said she thinks that people in the community are confused. She said some residents are using the track and do not pay while others use it and pay. Schultz said they realize this is a problem and they are working on it. Gross said it is difficult to monitor whether or not the participants have paid to use the track. When the charge is only $20 per person per year it is not cost effective to hire someone to monitor whether or not they have a pass. Rose said that an annual pass does make sense but a person should also be able to purchase a one-day pass. Gross stated that would require a facility supervisor to be there with a cash box. Obiazor said they need to determine what revenue they are losing to determine whether or not they should hire staff to monitor the walking track. Rose said there also appears to be a problem with some of the people that use the courts downstairs. Using the court does not give them the right to run on the track upstairs. Gross said that is correct and it all comes down to supervision. They need to determine how to supervise the facilities they have and there are some internal concerns. Zetah suggested that new passes be purchased for the new school year and that the passes need to be visible while using the track. Perhaps they should look at starting a new set of rules with the new season. Gross pointed out that there are three entrances to the track and this again brings up the problem of monitoring the track users. Schultz explained that they are using this first year to identify the problems. They need to determine if the income is worth the expense. They are also trying to supervise other facilities and it would be great to supervise both with one supervisor. Schultz said they are still working on this issue. Gross stated that over 200 passes were sold this past year. Wolfgram said that she has lived in Eden Prairie for 12 years and would not have thought she could come to the High School and use the facilities. She said she is overwhelmed by the amount of use these facilities get and she thinks it is wonderful that they are being used. However,because of the magnitude of use, the facilities will wear out very quickly. Wolfgram said she never imagined that there would be that many people using these facilities. Tyra-Lukens pointed out that this was part of the referendum. The facilities would be for community use and not just for school use. Zetah pointed out that when Community Ed was started in 1973 there were very few school resources available for the community. These new facilities should be used by the entire community and not restricted to student use only. Schultz explained that they are not making money, however, it is helping to offset operating costs. CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE August 15, 2001 Page 5 B. Community Forum and City Survey Report, Re: Parks & Recreation Needs Assessment Tyra-Lukens shared copies of the report on the Community Forums and City Surveys. She explained that a community forum involving four three-hour sessions with about 25 participants each was conducted in October. Tyra-Lukens briefly explained the process for conducting the forum. The results were based on approximately 92 participants. The responses were not weighted for demographics of the community. They found the participants to be very well informed about Eden Prairie parks and recreation services. They felt the services were good to excellent. They found a high use of the more passive recreation facilities,parks and trails. Approximately two-thirds of the participants felt that there was a need for additional Community Center facilities. Holden asked why teenagers weren't interviewed. Obiazor responded that they did talk about developing a follow-up questionnaire specifically for teens and seniors as well. ' Obiazor explained that the purpose of this forum was brought about because the City had to update their parks open space plan, which is now being finalized. It includes an entire chapter that discusses future parks and recreation needs for the community. This survey helps City staff to determine what is needed in the next ten years. Obiazor stated that one of the items brought up was the need for a public golf course. Also, there was a strong desire for an outdoor water park. Tyra-Lukens explained that this forum gave them the opportunity to educate the residents and to let them know the benefits of sharing joint facilities by Eden Prairie and other communities. Eighty percent of the participants believe the City should develop its own special use recreation facilities such as a golf course, performing arts center, water park and indoor ice rinks even though they may be available in neighboring communities. Tyra-Lukens stated that in January a survey was sent to the community through the community newsletter. They did have a 16% response rate. The City survey did show a high interest in a municipal golf course. Obiazor pointed out that the Director of Parks and Recreation does not feel there is sufficient land available to build a regulation 18-hole course,however, they may be able to construct a nine-hole course with an instructional driving range. She reported that only 17% of the participants believe the City should preserve and restore the three current historical homes using tax dollars. Wolfgram said that in looking at all of the things the residents want, she asked how the Council decides what will be done. Tyra-Lukens responded that there are many factors that goes into the Council's decisions. They do look at whether or not the project will generate revenue. Obiazor explained that the Council does have guiding principles that they follow in considering a particular project. Tyra-Lukens pointed out that the City still has lots of park needs in the community as well as many capital needs. These items brought forth in the survey are additional items for consideration. Wolfgram said that as a resident she would like to see public restrooms at all of the parks. CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE August 15, 2001 Page 6 Schultz explained that much of the discussion held this evening is one of the reasons this group was formed. It is a way to solve each other's problems knowing what is available. They need to look at ways the School District can accommodate more City programs that benefit everyone. Zetah suggested that the school use a card similar to what is used at Camp Snoopy for admission tracking. This could include a standard card that could be swiped to allow admission. This would allow the resident access to restrooms or to use school facilities. Gross explained that they are applying that concept to their locker rooms. He indicated that they have the technology,however, it is very costly. Gross said they will continue to investigate alternatives that will allow them to provide services and to cover their costs. V. DISCUSSION ON ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING Rose asked if they need to consider community organizations that use faith based buildings for any reason. He asked if this is an issue with the City. Obiazor said they have found that churches are doing their own youth programs and are independent from the City. She indicated that the City primarily uses school facilities. Tyra-Lukens indicated that this issue does not appear to be a problem for the City. Schultz suggested that they discuss possible facility construction topics at the next meeting. They may want to discuss potential buildings or referendums. Zetah suggested that staff present an update on the community survey as to any action that may have taken place as a result of that survey. The next meeting of the City and School Facility Use Advisory Committee was scheduled for Wednesday, February 20, 2002, at 7:00 p.m. Location to be determined. VI. OTHER VII. ADJOURNMENT Motion: Tyra-Lukens moved, Rose seconded, to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m. The motion carried, 5-0.