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Parks and Recreation - 04/03/2006 APPROVED MINUTES PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MONDAY,APRIL 3, 2006 7:00 P.M., CITY CENTER Council Chamber 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: John Brill, Chair; Geri Napuck(left at 8:55 p.m.), Vice Chair; Rob Barrett, Tom Bierman (left at 8:15 p.m.), Lee Elliott-S toering, Randy Jacobus (left at 9:05 p.m.), and Ian Mackay. COMMISSION MEMBERS ABSENT: Jeffrey Gerst and Michael Moriarity COMMISSION STAFF PRESENT: Bob Lambert, Director of Parks and Recreation; Stu Fox, Manager of Natural Resources; Laurie Obiazor, Recreation Manager; and Carol Pelzel, Recording Secretary STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Danny Crichton I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL A. INTRODUCTION OF NEW MEMBER—LEE ELLIOTT-STOERING The meeting was called to order by Chair Brill at 7:00 p.m. Brill thanked Rob Barrett and Jeffrey Gerst for their three years of service as Chair and Vice Chair of the Commission. Elliott-Stoering introduced herself and explained that she has been a resident of the City for 16 years and her family has grown up with the Parks and Recreation structured and non- structured programs. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion: Jacobus moved, seconded by Mackay, to approve the agenda as presented. The motion carried, 7-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES —March 6, 2006 Motion: Barrett moved, Napuck seconded, to approve the March 6, 2006, Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission minutes as published. The motion carried, 5-0-2 with Bierman and Elliott-S toering abstaining because of absence from that meeting. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION April 3, 2006 Page 2 IV. REPORT OF CITY COUNCIL ACTION—March 8 and March 21, 2006 Lambert reported at their March 8 meeting, the City Council took the following action: • Approved the renovation of Miller Field#11. • Approved a real estate exchange agreement between the City and School District. This land exchange allows the City to add the third ice rink to the Community Center. • Approved establishment of a Veterans' Memorial Committee. • Approved the Hockey Association's request for the third rink with conditions. • Approved the language in a letter to the Fish and Wildlife Services regarding trail connection to Riverview Road. Lambert further reported that at their March 21 meeting the City Council approved the Round Lake improvement projects as proposed. V. REPORT OF PLANNING COMMISSION—March 13 and March 27 Lambert explained that at one time the Parks Commission reviewed development proposals that would eventually go to the Planning Commission. It was felt that the Parks Commission's review was redundant with the Planning Commission in terms of reviewing and commenting on park dedication, trail locations, etc. For that reason, the Parks Commission no longer reviews these proposals. Lambert said staff felt it important that the Parks Commission be aware of what the Planning Commission is reviewing as it relates to decisions made by this Commission. Fox said it is his intention to provide information to this Commission on items reviewed by the Planning Commission on a monthly basis. The Planning Commission also reviews variance requests and at their March 27 meeting they approved a variance to permit a house addition to be built within the front yard setback as well as the side yard setback area. At their March 13 meeting they approved a proposal from ERS Development requesting the preliminary plat of 1.33 acres into two lots. The developer wished to subdivide the large lot into two lots that meet current zoning regulations for the R-1.22 zoning. VI. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATION VII. OLD BUSINESS A. REVIEW OF COMMUNITY CENTER EXPANSION PROGRAM Lambert introduced Del Erickson, architect for the Community Center expansion project. He said that an update would be provided to the Commission on a monthly basis as to where they are in the process. At this time, they are still in the program development stage and this evening they will review the program and some of the concepts based on that program. Lambert said they are asking the Commission to approve a scheme for the last concept and once both the Commission and City Council approve this scheme, the architect will begin to develop a plan. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION April 3, 2006 Page 3 Erickson explained that over the past three months they have been working with City staff, Community Center members and the School District to develop a preliminary program draft. The information being presented this evening is a compilation of the input received to date. Erickson pointed out that based on preliminary square footage numbers, it appears that they are over the bond referendum amount. The diagrams prepared show where activities will be located relative to one another. They have developed three schemes that they feel addresses the input received from the various participants. Bierman said when looking at the schemes, the meeting rooms located on the second floor share a common wall to the rinks where the stands are located. He questioned the noise factor and asked how that was going to be addressed. Erickson responded that the acoustics would be such that it would absorb sound in the lobby area to reduce the overall noise coming out of the rinks. The meeting rooms will have some kind of sound separation such as a masonry wall. Bierman suggested that they flip flop the lobby area with the meeting rooms resulting in the meeting rooms being located further away from the rink. Erickson explained that current space is being converted to meeting rooms. Lambert pointed out that some of the challenges they are facing in this entire process is looking at the existing core of this building and trying not to gut the entire facility. They have had to look at what they can do with the core space. This Community Center will essentially be two different facilities and they have attempted to make the skating rinks a separate facility. Skating participants who have rented the ice will not have to show membership cards to enter, therefore, this is a separate operation. Everything else is located on the Community Center side and includes members or daily paying users. They have developed a scheme where skating participants will go one direction and everyone else will go the other way through the turn styles, a controlled access, although they will be able to control access to skating during open skate or paid events at the rinks. Lambert said the administrative area has been expanded. It made sense to move most of the Recreation Division into the Community Center allowing them to work as a team. They have also discussed the division of the swimming locker rooms. They considered using the existing space for swim team locker rooms and new locker rooms would be for everyone else using the gym, fitness center, etc. Input received from adults indicated that they do not use the current locker rooms because of the small, wet space and the noise in the locker rooms when taken over by the teenagers. Lambert said it has been a challenge for the architect to make use of the existing space while adding onto the facility. Barrett pointed out that earlier in the process, the gym had been located on the north side of the building. He asked why it has now been moved down. Lambert said it had been changed because everyone going to the locker rooms would have to go back through the lobby and through the access point to the skating area to use the gym. This did not make sense since it needed to be tied into the Community Center facilities. Barrett said it appears that they would be land locked should they find it necessary to expand the locker rooms in the future. He asked if the locker rooms for the swim team would be new. Lambert responded that they had talked about putting the lockers on the other side of the pool, if the School District wanted separate locker rooms. Barrett asked if the play area had been PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION April 3, 2006 Page 4 removed from the plans because of the financial liability. Lambert explained that as they looked into play structures, they found that building a large, separate play structure would not be financially feasible. They did determine that a child's play area where parents can drop off children and pay for their care while using the rest of the building is critical to making a fitness center work. Elliott-Stoering asked if there would be bleachers or a viewing area in the gym. Lambert answered that there would be no viewing area or bleachers. It would be unlikely that the Basketball Association would be using this gym for organized games and that this gym is more of a program recreation gym. Jacobus questioned if staff is asking for this Commission to suggest things to be added to the Community Center or to be cut. Lambert explained that at this point the Commission should be thinking in areas of spatial relationships, as well as where they might cut. They are asking for approval of a scheme and staff is recommending approval of Scheme G. Barrett asked if it is viable to convert the existing racquetball courts into meeting rooms and to build two new courts. Lambert said that is something they will have to look at to see whether or not this is something they can afford. Staff feels this is a good investment over the cost to build,but if something has to be cut this may be the area they want to cut. Erickson reviewed with the Commission the various schemes developed and how they changed throughout the process. Scheme G is the latest scheme developed. The biggest challenge they have had to address is to reduce the square footage of the building, which has an impact on the cost. The next step will be to develop this scheme into something that is more accurate in scale and size and to apply costs to the plan so that they know where they are. Napuck questioned the number of meeting rooms and asked if moving the childcare area in Scheme G creates more meeting room space. Erickson said it does because they are not using the racquetball courts on the upper level. One possibility would be to use this space for a fitness area instead of meeting rooms. This is something they can look at. Basically, the space is available and allowed them the ability to develop more meeting rooms. Napuck said they might want to consider using some of the meeting room space for something else if they have to cut something. Barrett asked how much they are over budget. Erickson said they would be doing more detailed work and hope to have more accurate numbers some time in June. Based on Scheme G, which has 100,000 square feet of renovated areas in the existing building they are looking at approximately $1,150,000 for renovation and for the new area based on national averages they are looking at roughly $6,493,000. With these numbers, they are roughly $1.2 million over the referendum amount. Barrett asked if they could go over the referendum number. Lambert explained that they could, but they would have to find other revenue sources. They have $6.6 million of referendum money and any other funds for the Community Center renovation could come from cash park fees which would mean cutting projected projects in that CIP. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION April 3, 2006 Page 5 Lambert said they have also done an initial grading plan for relocating the baseball field by the Community Center and found that it would not fit. In May staff will be presenting to this Commission a revised plan for the baseball field. He said they want to design it right and this may result in their losing one field. Once they have a plan they are comfortable with they will present it to the Baseball Association and then come back to this Commission with a final site plan. Mackay said he is concerned about approving something that is already $1.5 million over budget. Lambert suggested that they not get hung up on the numbers at this time. They will discuss the budget at a later date. Right now they are trying to get comfortable with the relationship of the access points to the gym, to the Community Center, etc. They have to have some direction from this group as to what scheme works. Erickson said they will present a master plan that might include alternates or items that don't have to be built. Mackay said he is also concerned that if they have to cut items, areas that were placed on the edge of the building will just be cut off without strategically thinking about the use of these things. To even think about removing the racquetball courts may not be the thing to do. He suggested they talk about what type of funding they anticipate they will have to add to accomplish this project. Lambert said they need to have patience. There is a process to follow which will provide them opportunities to address cutting the program. They will have to spend some park dedication fees for this project;however, they are not at the point of knowing how much more it will cost. They have some very schematic drawings that give them direction as to where things should be in this building. Barrett said that whatever they propose to do they have to do now and not in phases. When building the original Community Center it was talked about phasing things in but that never happened. Mackay said it is good to know that they will have to spend extra money to get this project done. Motion: Motion was made by Barrett, seconded by Napuck, to approve Scheme G as the preferred concept plan and authorize to continue developing this concept based on the scheme. The motion carried, 7-0. B. EDENVALE PARK CONCEPT PLAN Lambert explained that they held a neighborhood meeting with the Edenvale neighborhood to review the revised concept plan for Edenvale Park. All of the residents in attendance supported the revisions to the plan. Staff is recommending approval of the concept plan so that they can go forward with the final plans and specifications. Mackay asked if the soccer field and baseball field work together. Lambert answered that they will have to use one or the other,but not at the same time. They plan to depict the outfield of a softball field overlaid on the soccer field. This gives the City the flexibility to schedule this park for soccer, lacrosse, football or baseball;however, it will not be easy to have soccer one night and softball the next as the soccer goals will be in the middle of the outfield of the softball field. Lambert said it is likely that the City will designate the use of the field for softball,baseball or soccer for a season at a time,rather than alternating uses throughout the season. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION April 3, 2006 Page 6 Motion: Napuck moved, seconded by Brill, to approve the revised Edenvale concept plan and recommend the City Council authorize final plans and specifications based on the plan. The motion carried, 7-0. Bierman said he wanted to applaud City staff for the process they have gone through to get members of the community involved in developing these plans for the various parks. This is a very impressive process and City staff has done a wonderful job. C. FOREST HILLS PARK CONCEPT PLAN Lambert reported that City Staff met with the Forest Hills neighborhood and no one was opposed to the design. Staff is recommending approval of this plan. Mackay asked if referendum money is being used for this. Lambert said it is and they are estimating about $950,000 for this park and $650,000 for the Edenvale Park improvements. Once they get the final plans and specifications they will know more exact costs but they believe they are in the ballpark. Motion: Motion was made by Jacobus, seconded by Barrett, to approve the concept plan for Forest Hills Park and recommend the City Council authorize final plans and specifications for this park. The motion carried, 6-0. (Bierman had left the meeting.) D. UPDATED LAKE MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR ROUND LAKE Lambert explained that the City Council approved a proposal to provide Round Lake Improvement Projects for 2006 by Blue Water Science in the amount of$16,960. The proposal from Blue Water Science provides a list of suggested projects to enable City staff to monitor water quality,provide low-impact water treatment alternatives and evaluate goose management alternatives for the lake in anticipation of opening the beach to the public in 2007 or 2008. One of the main issues still remaining with Round Lake is the goose problem. They need to research effective ways to harass the geese and to look at ways to improve the water quality even more. Lambert said they also need to attract residents back to this beach. Mackay said if he remembers correctly, two years ago it was felt that a lot of money and time would be required to bring this lake back to a swimming lake. Lambert responded that the Watershed District felt the only way to make sure this lake usable was to build a $960,000 alum treatment plant. At that time, staff did not support this. They felt that the new State law that prohibits phosphorus use in residential fertilizer would make the biggest impact on lakes. The ponds are also improving and have a big impact on this lake. City staff still support all of the recommendations of the latest Watershed District Report which does not include the alum treatment plant. Staff believe that it is only a `last resort', and hope that all of the other efforts being made to address water quality in this lake will gradually improve Round Lake each year. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION April 3, 2006 Page 7 E. BID AWARD FOR EDENVALE PLAY STRUCTURE Fox reported to the Commission that a neighborhood playground discussion meeting was held with fifteen neighbors of Edenvale Park. After reviewing the proposals by seven manufacture representatives, the majority of the neighbors voted to recommend the playground structure from Midwest Playscapes, Inc. The City Council awarded the contract to Midwest for$40,000 of playground equipment. Fox reviewed the process used in obtain these proposals and how they decide which manufacturer to go with. The Edenvale play structure will cost$40,000 and it is anticipated that all of the playgrounds will be installed mid to late June. City staff will be doing the prep work and the manufacturer will be installing the equipment. Brill said he did attend this discussion meeting and found it to be very interesting and feels the process works very well. F. BID AWARD FOR STERLING FIELD PLAY STRUCTURE Fox reported that a neighborhood playground discussion meeting was held with twenty- five neighbors of Sterling Field Park. The majority vote was to recommend the playground structure from Webber Recreation Design Inc. The Council did award the contract to Webber for$20,000 at their March 21 meeting. Fox explained that typically, these items would have come before this Commission prior to going to the City Council but since the Council will not be meeting until April 18 they wanted the Council to consider these items at their March 21 meeting. Waiting would have delayed the project. G. BID AWARD FOR TOPVIEW PARK PLAY STRUCTURE Fox explained that a neighborhood playground discussion meeting was held with thirty neighbors of Topview Park. The majority vote was to recommend the playground structure from St. Croix Recreation and the Council did award the contract to St. Croix for$20,000 at their March 21 meeting. In response to a question from Elliott-Steering, Fox stated that each park has a park bench, information sign and swings. The budget for the park is based on the size of the use area. H. BID AWARD FOR EDGEWOOD PARK PLAY STRUCTURE Fox stated that a neighborhood playground discussion meeting was held with fifteen neighbors of Edgewood Park. The majority vote was to recommend the playground structure form Clearwater Recreation, LLC. The City Council awarded the bid to Clearwater for$20,000 of playground equipment. Barrett said there appears to be a number of items that have gone directly to the City Council and have bypassed this Commission such as a third hockey rink. It was decided to build the third rink without any discussion by this Commission. It appears that the importance of this Commission has been diminished. Lambert responded that ordinarily, the park play structure items would have come before this Commission before going to the PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION April 3, 2006 Page 8 City Council. The Council only has one meeting in April so rather than delay these items up to 30 days, staff decided to forward these items directly to the City Council. The Commission has never turned down something that was approved by the neighborhood so staff thought it would be okay to go directly to the Council. In terms of the hockey rink, Lambert explained that the Hockey Association indicated to the City Council that if they had to go through the Parks Commission their fund raising efforts would have been delayed. With the season being almost over, the Hockey Association President stated that a one-month delay would have killed their fund raising efforts. This Commission and the City Council approved a third rink study that was done in 1998, which authorized a third rink without the use of tax dollars. The Hockey Association proposal is significantly different because they are now requesting up to $1 million of City money for this project. Barrett stated that approving one million dollars of park fees without the Commission recommendation concerns him, Barrett believes the Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission should have had the opportunity to review this request prior to it going directly to the City Council. Mackay pointed out that the Round Lake item was also considered by the City Council prior to this Commission. He said he understands the need for expedience but it would be appreciated if the Commission had received a heads up that these requests are going to the City Council. Lambert stated that he would try to avoid this happening in the future,but if it was necessary he could invite Commission members to the Council meeting. Napuck pointed out that several associations and organizations make the same claim that they need more time to make money. There may also be the belief that going directly to the City Council would be beneficial to them. I. BIDS FOR STARING LAKE TRAIL Fox reported that the City has been planning for the last few years to upgrade major loop trails. They are proposing that this year they reconstruct 2.4 miles around Staring Lake. They are proposing to replace the existing 8-foot wide loop trail with a 10-foot wide bituminous trail. In addition, all of the adjacent trail connections will either be reconstructed or receive a bituminous overlay. Fox said it is anticipated that there will be additional expenditures of$60,000 for supplies and materials since the Park Maintenance staff will be doing all of the restoration and seeding work to finish this project. Mackay asked if it would be advisable to spend a little more money so there would less of a burden on City staff. Fox responded that the installation work being done will impact how they maintain the trail in the future so it is best if City staff does that work. Mackay questioned if this trail would be closed this summer for reconstruction. Fox explained that the project would affect the people who walk around the lake. They will put up barriers and users will be impacted for approximately one month. Fox indicated that this project is in the City's capital improvement plan with money budgeted annually for various capital improvement projects. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION April 3, 2006 Page 9 Motion: Motion was made by Barrett, seconded by Jacobus, to recommend that the City Council award the bid for the reconstruction of the Staring Lake Park trails to Northwest Asphalt, Inc. in the amount of$170,865. The motion carried, 6-0. J. BIDS FOR HOMEWARD HILLS TRAIL RECONSTRUCTION Fox explained that staff is proposing to reconstruct an old trail that is currently 6-feet wide to an 8-foot wide bituminous trail along Homeward Hills Road from Pioneer Trail south to Riverview Road. Elliott-Stoering said she noticed that this project did not include an estimate of cost for City staff as there was in the previous trail reconstruction. Fox explained that the costs associated with this project would be very minor because a lot of the trail is up against an existing curb line. It would probably cost less than $10,000 for installation by City staff. Motion: Motion was made by Elliott-S toering, seconded by Napuck, to recommend that the City Council award the bid for the reconstruction of the Homeward Hills Park trail to Northwest Asphalt, Inc. in the amount of$145,160. The motion carried, 6-0. VIII. REPORTS OF STAFF A. DIRECTOR OF PARKS AND RECREATION SERVICES 1. Preserve Association Request Re: Tennis Net Lambert explained that this item is an informational item. The Commission's agenda material included correspondence that has occurred between the City and the Preserve Association. The City has used the Preserve's tennis courts for 25 years for tennis lessons at no cost. The Association Board is now looking at renovating those courts or removing them entirely. They are asking the City to pay for a couple tennis court nets for this year. They are not asking for anything additional at this time and may want to re-negotiate next year if they renovate the courts. 2. Letter from Jim Ramstad to Glenn Orcutt, FAA Program Manager Lambert reported that a copy of a letter to Glen Orcutt from Congressman Ramstad was included in their agenda material. This letter references the Final Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding relating to the proposed expansion of Flying Cloud Airport. 3. Schedule of Service Area Reports Lambert explained that he has asked different staff within the Parks and Recreation Department to schedule about 10 minutes with the Commission over the next year to PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION April 3, 2006 Page 10 give them additional information on what the Parks Department does. B. MANAGER OF RECREATION SERVICES 1. Fit City Desisnation Lambert reported that the City was designated as a "Governor's Fit City"by the Minnesota Department of Health and Governor Pawlenty. This program brings awareness to the residents as to how many things the City does to encourage people to be fit and what programs and opportunities are provided so residents stay fit. C. MANAGER OF PARKS AND NATURAL RESOURCES 1. Service Area Report— Stu Fox Fox presented an overview of the Park Maintenance Division, which includes Park Maintenance, Park Construction and Forestry. In response to a question from Barrett, Lambert responded that when the dog park is completed they would have a grand opening. 2. Shade Tree Advocate Flyer Lambert said a Shade Tree Advocate Flyer was given to the Commission. Staff felt this information is important to this Commission. The Commission also received a copy of the Parks Department annual report. Lambert said this item would be placed on the May agenda. He asked that the Commissioners review the report and bring any questions they may have regarding it to the May meeting. IX. NEXT MEETING The next meeting of the Commission is scheduled for Monday, May 1 at 7:00 p.m. X. ADJOURNMENT Motion: Mackay moved, Elliott-S toering seconded, to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried 4-0. (Jacobus and Napuck had left the meeting.)The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 p.m.