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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity and School Facility Use Advisory Committee - 11/14/2012 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE WED., NOVEMBER 14, 2012 7:00 PM, EDEN PRAIRIE HIGH SCHOOL PAC FOYER— 17185 Valley View Road COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Derek Gunderson (Chair), Suzanne Kutina (Vice Chair), Patrice Erickson, Lisa Lieberman, Sherry Butcher Wickstrom STAFF: Terri Johnson, Director of Community Education Jay Lotthammer, Parks and Recreation Director Laurie Obiazor, Recreation Services Manager Valerie Verley, Recreation Supervisor- Athletics Wendy Sevenich, Community Center Manager Mike Grant, High School Activities Director Cheryl Bridge, Facilities Coordinator Ricardo Jones, High School Activities Coordinator Jan Curielli, Recorder I. TOUR OF PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Adam Voreis, Auditorium Manager, gave the Committee members a tour of the High School Performing Arts Center. II. ROLL CALL & INTRODUCTIONS Vice Chair Kutina called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. Chair Gunderson and Committee Member Butcher Wickstrom were absent. Grant arrived at 7:35 pm. A. INTRODUCTIONS & UPDATED CONTACT LIST There were no corrections to the updated contact list. III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Erickson moved, seconded by Lieberman, to approve the agenda as published. Motion carried 3-0. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Erickson moved, seconded by Lieberman, to approve the March 28, 2012 minutes as published. Motion carried 3-0. CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES November 14, 2012 Page 2 V. ITEMS OF BUSINESS A. CLARIFY COMMITTEE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES —All Obiazor reviewed the purpose statement for the Committee. She noted the statement was developed 20 years ago when the Committee was put together to address a number of issues regarding duplicate programming and shared use of facilities and spaces. She said there are no by-laws for the Committee. Both the City Council and the School Board have a representative on the Committee. Lotthammer noted the City makes appointments in January, and it is likely that Council Member Butcher Wickstrom will stay on the Committee for the coming year. Johnson said she was not clear if the positions of Chair and Vice Chair continue for the terms of the individuals who serve in those positions. Obiazor said those positions are revisited every year. B. PUBLIC ART UPDATE —Lotthammer Lotthammer said for the last few years the City Council and the Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission have looked at how we can introduce public art into the community in the parks system and other public property. The United Health development will have some public art that can be seen from the road, and there is a metal sculpture at Windsor Plaza. The morning Rotary Club has raised funds for a sculpture in the middle of the traffic circle in front of the Community Center. That donation will go to the City Council next Tuesday night for approval. There is a community mural at the Community Center, and a canvas heritage piece will be displayed at various places throughout the community during 2013. He noted having the Art Center in place has helped some of our efforts. C. COMMUNITY CENTER POOL FEASIBILITY STUDY -- Lotthammer Lotthammer said we have been looking at what should be done with the pool at the Community Center for some time. The pool is 30 years old and has some deficiencies that have developed over time. The expansion of the Community Center caused a lot more people to use the facility, and we now have over 4000 members. More families are using the facility, and we have seen increased demand and use by our senior population. The City Council authorized a feasibility study to determine ways to help eliminate some of the issues surrounding the pool. The firm HGA Architects was selected to do the study. We have had workshops with them, and they brought in other experts as well. There will be a workshop with the Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission and the City Council on Tuesday night to show the Council what could be done and what the costs would be. Lotthammer said we would prefer to have two different bodies of water; one for competitive swimming with a cool temperature, and one with warm water and a zero- depth entry that would accommodate lessons and senior fitness swimming. CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES November 14, 2012 Page 3 Johnson asked if both bodies of water would be at the current Community Center. Lotthammer replied they would be. We would probably expand the current fitness area over the pool area. We are recommending we have separate wet locker rooms for the two pools and a dry-land training area adjacent to the pool. We would also be able to offer more meeting space with a couple of extra rooms. Grant asked about the diving well. Sevenich said our diving well does not meet the current criteria for diving, and a new one would have to be re-dug. Grant noted when the pool was first designed there was one state regulation for it but now the regulations have changed. He said the School District is working with the City to maintain the opportunity for our diving requirements. Lieberman said the city she moved from had a similar situation with a separate pool for competitive swimming. She noted she is a former board member of the Foxjets and she knows how much the University of Minnesota would like to offload some of their events. She said hosting swimming events would bring in revenue as people come from all over the area for those. Lotthammer said we would not be able to host the big competitions even after expansion. Lieberman said the smaller section meets could bring in a lot of revenue, and we could also lease out space to other teams. Kutina asked if there is a way to wrap the Oak Point pool into the big picture. Lotthammer said we have had conversations about that. From a logistical standpoint, Oak Point is unavailable during the school day. We have heard the Foxjets would still use that pool at night. He said some of the school facilities studies have been looking at that, and there may be some more conversation about the pool. Kutina noted the schools are going through a strategic planning process now. The Oak Point pool is currently located in two K-6 schools. Lotthammer said the Tuesday night workshop will be a time to get feedback and direction, and then staff will come back to the Council with plans. D. ROUND LAKE MASTER PLAN—Lotthammer Lotthammer said the skate park is up and running, and we are even seeing adults using it. The playground now includes two major play areas, one for younger kids and one for older ones, with a splash pad in the middle. He said people now want cleaner water for swimming than the lake provides. The shelter was redone with dormers to let in the light. The project is 98% complete. E. FLYING CLOUD BALLFIELD EXPANSION UPDATE—Lotthammer Lotthammer said the two baseball fields and two soccer/lacrosse fields are ready to go and the turf is very strong. He said staff is meeting with the soccer/lacrosse associations to talk about how we will split the fields. CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES November 14, 2012 Page 4 F. 2012 SUMMER FIELD USAGE —Verley/Jones Verley said the soccer fields at Homeward Hills and Rice Marsh Lake were reallocated to lacrosse very successfully. We will be looking at more reallocation with the addition of the new fields at Flying Cloud. We are using the class software system to monitor field usage and billing in order to avoid double bookings of the facilities. She said a new Customer Relations Lead position was developed to replace the previous park and lighting attendants. The CRLs were able to check the different parks to see who was actually using them and to monitor the timing for field lighting. She noted we are looking at even more possibilities for using those positions. Kutina asked how the new position is different from the old. Verley said previously the park attendants would open the facility for the group,return home, and then come back later to close up. Now they are monitoring what is going on throughout the evening. The new position enables us to give better service. We can also monitor for groups that are using a field without reserving it. Verley said there will be a couple of fee changes for 2013, including a lighting fee for unscheduled lighting and a field maintenance fee for tournaments. Jones said rugby is starting to disappear, but their traditional renters were back. The Relay for Life used the facility this year, and we have been very busy with turf usage. G. 2012 HENNEPIN YOUTH SPORTS GRANT UPDATE—Verley Verley said last spring the Eden Prairie Fastpitch Association submitted a grant request to Hennepin Youth Sports for a gator utility vehicle to be used to help get the fields up and running quicker. The Baseball Association also submitted a grant request for one and received it. She noted a gator is like a large golf cart that drags fields and cleans them up between games. Verley said the Baseball Association also applied for a field improvement grant to update the dugouts and fields at Franlo, Staring, Cummins-Grill and Miller Parks but did not receive a grant. They also put in for a Twins Fund grant for ball fields and are still in the running for that one. Obiazor asked when the next round of funding for the Hennepin Youth Sports grant will occur. Lotthammer said it will be in the fall of 2013. Obiazor noted the equipment grants are capped at$10,000, but there is also a capital improvement grant that can be used for larger projects. She suggested associations might want to build a file of larger projects in order to submit grant requests in a relatively short period of time. We may want to send emails to all the associations to brainstorm for both the capital improvement grants and the equipment grants. She noted lighting could be a capital improvement request. Grant said in the beginning we had people from all over the metropolitan area using the bubble,but as its popularity grew, it is now heavily booked by local users. That is also true for the turf fields. He said at the time of the referendum the question came CITY AND SCHOOL FACILITY USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES November 14, 2012 Page 5 up about lighting,but lighting did not make sense then because of the usage levels. However, as more people have seen the benefit of the turf fields, we see a benefit for lighting and will work towards that next year. Obiazor said we need to work on this before the season, and there are matching funds from time to time as well. Grant said the Football Association might do matching for the lighting project. H. OTHER Kutina said it looks probable that the School Board will run a referendum in 2013 as the operating capital and technical levies need to be extended. Grant asked what the usage of the new telescope at Staring Lake has been. Obiazor said the number of participants in the Star Watch program has doubled. We have a $30,000 grant to do live streaming from the telescope to the City web site and are hoping to get more coverage of celestial events. She said they collaborate with the School District on programming opportunities such as field trips to the Observatory and Art Center. Obiazor said we are trying to partner with Oak Point for an Edible Playground program similar to the one that was established at Prairie View last summer. VI. DISCUSSION OF ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING A. NEXT MEETING DATE -- Proposed Date: Wednesday, March 27, 2012 Bridge noted that date is the Wednesday before spring break. The consensus was the date was okay. The meeting will be held at the Community Center. B. DISCUSSION ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING Obiazor noted anyone on the Committee can contribute to the agenda and should contact Valerie or Cheryl with discussion items. Johnson said we usually look at costs at the March meeting. Kutina suggested updates on the school referendum and the School District's strategic planning process. Johnson suggested an update on the pool feasibility study. Obiazor said we will have met with the athletic associations about field allocation. VII. OTHER VIII. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Lieberman moved, seconded by Erickson, to adjourn. Motion carried 3-0. Vice Chair Kutina adjourned the meeting at 8:37 pm.