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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity and School Facility Use Advisory Committee - 03/15/2010 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MONDAY, MARCH 15, 2010 7:00 P.M., CITY CENTER Heritage Room#4 8080 Mitchell Road COMMITTEE MEMBERS: John Estall (Chair), Geri Napuck(Vice Chair), Jon Duckstad, Mary Bloomquist, Farida Kathawalla, John Bergstrand STAFF: Jeanne Zetah, Director of Community Ed Services Jay Lotthammer, Director of Parks and Recreation Laurie Obiazor, Manager of Recreation Services Mike Grant, High School Activities Director Lyndell Frey, Recreation Coordinator Wendy Sevenich, Community Center Manager Cheryl Bridge, Facilities Coordinator Ricardo Jones, High School Activities Coordinator Heidi Wojahn, Recorder I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Estall called the meeting to order at 7:15 pm. Committee member Mary Bloomquist was excused from this evening's meeting. Napuck, Duckstad, Obiazor, and Sevenich were absent. Introductions were made. Farida Kathawalla has replaced Steve Mosow as the Arts and Culture Commission (ACC)representative. Jill Johnson left for a job at St. Cloud Tech High School; Ricardo Jones has taken over her responsibilities of facility rental/use and serves as the link between the City and the student activities department at the high school. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA No action taken. III. MINUTES October 2009 minutes were tabled until the October 2010 meeting. IV. ITEMS OF BUSINESS A. 2009 FACILITY USE CHARGES 1. School District Spaces Used by the City Bridge reported a significant decrease in community theater fees at Central Middle School(CMS) due to rehearsals being moved to the gym at Prairie CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES March 15, 2010 Page 2 View. The City had been using the Education Center Computer Lab when the City computer lab was under construction. That was not the case for 2009 which explains the big reduction in tech training fees. Frey explained the big drop in Oak Point pool revenue is due to an increase in school usage resulting in less availability for the City. The depth of the Community Center pool is not cohesive for the high school team in terms of diving. Grant stated starting blocks cannot be used at the Community Center because of the depth, whereas they can at Oak Point. It is extremely costly to deepen a pool, and the National Federation of State High School Associations has changed its minimum depth requirements since the pool was built. There was no High School Activity Center usage by Adult Volleyball and Girls on the Run in 2009. There were slightly less community theatre fees at the auditorium, and Prairie Dome fly fishing fees went down due to a smaller class size (fees are charged per person as opposed to a facility fee). Frey added CMS and Oak Point are working well for adult athletics. 2. City Spaces Used by the School District - Frey The addition of a holiday hockey tournament justifies the $3,000 jump in girls hockey fees. There was a$2,000 increase in boys and girls hockey gate receipts which is split 50150 between the City and the school general fund. Hockey cheerleading also went up because there was more ice rental time available for practices. The high school swim and diving teams are using the Community Center less, thus explaining the decrease in pool revenue. Grant pointed out ice and pool figures will vary depending on the caliber of the hockey and swim teams—the better they are, the longer they compete and the higher the fees/revenue. 3. Changes in Future Charges - Grant The school raised its rates to the general public by ten percent last year, so rates will be flat for this upcoming year. Zetah B. ART CENTER UPDATE—Lotthammer April will be the one-year anniversary of the opening of the Art Center. Classes are going well and attendance continues to climb. New instructors have gained an immediate following with students who want to be taken to the next level. There is open studio time on Fridays and Saturdays for members and class participants. The Friends of the Art Center has been successful at fundraising. Most of the building has been outfitted,but it is still in need of another kiln and a couple pottery wheels. The use of the garage space has not yet been determined. Revenue projections for the first year were greatly exceeded. Kathawalla commented ACC had to meet in the foyer because every other room was taken; the building is busy. CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES March 15, 2010 Page 3 C. FIELD USAGE FOR UPCOMING SUMMER 1. Staring Lake Park/Grill Fields (includes Cummins-Grill Historical site, baseball fields, and dog park updates) —Frey/Lotthammer The Pioneer Trail construction impacted the Cummins-Grill House historic site and drastically changed the size and orientation of the two fields next to it. The site, listed on the National Historic Registry, is bound to some fairly restrictive covenants, so there were difficulties in mediating a replacement agreement. The new parking lot is not ideal, but it will work. Fencing/netting has been added due to the closeness of the road. One field had to be completely reconstructed, including seeding, and will not be ready for play because the turf needs more time to become established. The other one should be ok for play starting June 1. Part of the agreement involves site restoration which will take a few years to establish. More plantings (peonies, asparagus) and bare root size trees (butternuts, apples,burr oaks, shag bark hickories) will be planted. Grass will be allowed to grow and will be mowed far less often so it more closely resembles a farmstead of the late 1800s. Signage will explain it wasn't intentionally neglected. A fence will segment plantings from the baseball area. Concrete aprons surround the dog park area. The historical society just entered into a lease agreement with the City to use the house for programming. A donor of$50,000 has come forth for capital improvements to the house, so a renovation of the upstairs may be done. The house will likely be used for more meetings now by outside groups. The City will be lighting Miller Park fields 12 and 13 by mid-summer. This doesn't automatically ensure double usage because the turf is still young and tender and needs a good 2-3 years to become fully established. The football association is agreeable to using fields 9, 10, and 11 this fall as long as they have lights. Sixty percent of their field use has been rerouted to the turf fields at the high school. The capital cost to light the two fields is approximately $220,000. The fields were made large enough so there is latitude to move the goal mouths up to 30 feet on each field. Similar turf issues plague Round Lake Park baseball stadium. The grass has only had a year of good growth; it looks nice on top,but the roots are not ready. The City spent a lot of money at the end of the year repairing the field. Grant said this will have a negative impact resulting in a reduction in the levels and teams offered for school baseball. With only one field on site they just don't have the space, and the current transportation model is too cost-prohibitive to shuttle students to other fields after school. CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES March 15, 2010 Page 4 2. School Field Update— Grant/Jones The demand for turf fields continues to grow. They could potentially be busy all day, every day, the entire summer with leagues and camps. A great portion of usage comes from soccer and lacrosse. Rain and cold temperatures don't negatively affect these fields, and the benefit has been that the upper grass fields have improved dramatically. Phy-ed classes no longer use the grass fields. Lacrosse was using the turf fields today—the grass fields would not be able to handle play at this point in the year due to the current wet condition of natural turf fields. The bubble will come down May 3. D. OUTDOOR CENTER OBSERVATORY—Lotthammer Construction on the observatory to house the deep space telescope is underway and expected to be completed by early May. There is a huge concrete base in place with helical anchors, some of which have gone 60 feet down into the ground. It will be very stable for holding the 1000-lb. telescope; once it's in place, it cannot shift. The cost of the building is about$135,000 and is being covered by generous gifts from two donors. It will be interactively wired so people in the Outdoor Center can see what is being seen through the telescope. A company who does a lot of the astronomy text for high schools has donated GPS-specific software to assist with this. There will be a couple other large telescopes set up on tripods for use on the deck of the observatory. A high school physics teacher from the Minnesota Astronomy Society will be working with those who use the facility. Light interference from the airport is not a concern. The hope is to line up the grand opening with a worthy celestial event. E. DISTRICT FACILITIES PLAN—Zetah All the K-4 elementary schools will become K-6 models. Oak Point will be converted to two K-6 schools, one of which will be Spanish Immersion. It is undecided whether the second K-6 school at Oak Point will be another neighborhood school or a choice specialty school. CMS will house 7t' and 8 h grades, and the high school grades 9-12. Some of the early childhood programs at the Education Center will be transferred to the lower campus at Eagle Heights in order to accommodate the Spanish preschool and to expand other preschool offerings. SHAPE adult ESL classes, currently meeting at Rasmussen College and Hennepin Technical College, will eventually be moved to the high school when space permits. F. HENNEPIN COUNTY GRANT APPLICATION - Lotthammer Covered players benches and scoreboards at Miller Park were not selected to be funded in the first round of the Hennepin County grant application process. The matching funds percentage of the grant will be tweaked a bit and resubmitted for the second round. The softball association may add batting cages and pitching and CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES March 15, 2010 Page 5 hitting stations to the application which, if accepted, would allow the City to work out some ongoing drainage issues while hopefully gaining the project some environmental points. Including cages and stations, the amount requested from the County would be roughly $115,000 (baseball and softball associations would match this amount). Twenty projects have already been awarded funding, so Eden Prairie's chances of getting picked in the next round should increase with less competition. There is also a grant application for a$200,000 Round Lake Skate Park project, half of which would be funded by the City. The skate park is close to becoming unusable so plans would include resurfacing, making it larger, and adding new equipment. The quality of materials available now is much better than when the park was built, and the use of the park has changed to include bikes. Grant commented this would save wear and tear on the steps and railings at the high school. A task force has determined users would like shade and water added, too. Applications are due March 29; applicants should know by June if they've been accepted. G. YOUTH ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION GUIDEBOOK—Frey In an effort to better provide services to the youth athletic associations in the community, the City has come up with an informational guidebook. The book contains information about policies, services, promotion, fundraising, scheduling, and contacts and will be made available electronically, as well. This was prompted, in part, by a number of similar requests from different groups and due to the high turnover rate of association board members. The distributed books have been well received. Thanks to Brenda Uting who did a wonderful job with this project. Community service volunteers assisted in assembling close to 170 books. V. NEXT MEETING A. MEETING DATE The next CSFAC meeting will be Monday, October 13, 2010, 7 p.m. at the Outdoor Center, if possible. B. DISCUSSION ITEMS Elect Officers Approve October 2009 Minutes Flying Cloud Expansion Update Summer Field Usage Hennepin County Grant Application Budgets and Fees/Charges CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES March 15, 2010 Page 6 VI. OTHER None VII. ADJOURNMENT Chair Estall adjourned the meeting at 8:30 pm.