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Parks and Recreation - 09/11/2006 APPROVED MINUTES PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2006 7:00 P.M., CITY CENTER Heritage Rooms 1 & 2 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: John Brill, Chair; Geri Napuck, Vice Chair; Jeffrey Gerst, Randy Jacobus, Ian Mackay and Michael Moriarity COMMISSION MEMBERS ABSENT: Rob Barrett, Tom Bierman and Lee Elliott-Stoering STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Elise Garon and William Wahlers COMMISSION STAFF PRESENT: Bob Lambert, Director of Parks and Recreation Services; Stu Fox, Manager of Natural Resources; Laurie Obiazor, Recreation Manager; Bob Lanzi, Ice Arena and Concessions Coordinator; and Carol Pelzel, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Brill called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. A. INTRODUCTION OF STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES The student representatives introduced themselves explaining why they chose to serve as a student representative on the Parks Commission. Lambert explained that Student Representative Jennifer Dworak was unable to attend this meeting because of having to attend a mandatory college application meeting but plans to be at next month's meeting. Moriarity pointed out that the idea for a skate park and frisbee golf came from youths and it is important that this Commission receive their feedback. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion: Gerst moved, seconded by Mackay, to approve the agenda as published. The motion carried, 6-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES —August 7, 2006 Motion: Mackay moved, Jacobus seconded, to approve the August 7, 2006, Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission minutes as published. On behalf of Bierman, Brill asked if staff had brought to the Police Chief's attention the safety issues at Birch Island Park discussed last month. Lambert reported that at the August 9 staff meeting they did discuss this issue and the concerns addressed and the Police Chief was made aware of those concerns. Vote was called on the motion to approve the August 7 minutes and the motion carried, PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION September 11, 2006 Page 2 5-0-1 with Napuck abstaining because of absence from that meeting. IV. APPROVED MINUTES —June 5 and July 10, 2006 V. REPORT OF CITY COUNCIL ACTION—August 1,August 15 and September 5, 2006 Lambert reported that at the August 1 meeting there were no issues related to the Parks Commission considered by the Council. At the August 15 meeting, the Council took the following action: • Approved the bid from Trailsource LLC for construction of the Riley Creek Nature Trail; • Approved the bid from Quiring Construction for construction of the Edenbrook Trailhead and parking lot in Edenbrook Conservation Area; • Approved an off-leash dog park at Bryant Lake Regional Park; • Approved the Veterans Memorial concept plan; • Approved County Road 4 bike trail paths; • Approved the Baseball Association's request regarding park hours as recommended by the Parks Commission; • Approved the Purgatory Creek Recreation area boardwalk plans; • Approved the Senior Center Advisory Council request for irrigation of Pioneer Park Gardens; • Approved Birch Island Woods acquisition; and • Approved the third rink fundraising update. At the September 5 meeting, the Council took the following action: • Authorized submission of a permit application for 2006-2007 winter season use of the LRT Trail; • Awarded the bid for Carmel Park tennis court resurfacing to Dermco-Lavine construction; and • Approved the Birch Island Park Plan. Moriarity asked if there has been a formal offer made on the Picha property. Lambert responded that a purchase agreement has been sent to the Picha families for approval. It is anticipated that the agreement will be signed within a week or so and closing would occur within the next 30 days. Brill indicated that he has seen the Veterans' Memorial "infomercial" on local TV and complimented them on the great job they did in preparing this video. Lambert said copies of the video are available for viewing if the Commission wishes to do so. This video was developed for potential large donors to the memorial. VI. REPORT OF PLANNING COMMISSION—August 14 and August 28, 2006 PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION September 11, 2006 Page 3 Fox reported that at the August 14 Planning Commission meeting there was one public hearing that involved park issues. Mitchell Crossing located on Mitchell Road between Bucca Restaurant and the BP station project involves an outlot adjacent to Purgatory Creek that would be deeded to the City as part of their open space corridor along that waterway. The Planning Commission approved that project. At the August 28 Planning Commission, there was one public hearing for Prairie Estates 2na Addition and involved cash park fees generating at the time of building permit on each of the new lots. VII. PETITIONS, REQUESTS AND COMMUNICATION A. PETITION FOR FENCED PLAYGROUND Lambert reported that a letter from Deb Sweeney presenting a petition for a fenced playground as part of the Eden Prairie park system was included in the Commission's agenda material. Lambert explained that this request comes from several families with children with special needs. They indicated that it is difficult to take their children to a playground because they have to be with them constantly. They asked if it would be possible to fence one playground in the City where they could go and take their kids. Since they have started the petition process, they found parents with multiple young children and daycare providers that go to the playground and are very much in favor of fencing one park. Originally, they had recommended that Miller Park be fenced and that was also staff's recommendation. Once staff looked at the park they determined that it would be too difficult to fence without cutting off the trail and significant fencing would be required to do that playground. Staff is recommending that Riley Lake Park be fenced. It would be the most appropriate playground for this request as it is a community park with a relatively large playground and is easily fenced without disrupting other facilities. Staff is estimating that the cost for this fencing project would be approximately $5,000. Lambert said staff feels this is a reasonable request and is recommending approval. Gerst said he has two small children and thinks it would be nice to have a park like this. In response to a question from Brill as to the height of the fence, Lambert explained that it would be approximately 42 inches in height and would allow people to look over it very easily. Jacobus said he is concerned that people will want additional parks fenced. Lambert explained that they do not want to start fencing all of the playgrounds. Staff does not feel that it is appropriate in neighborhood parks. This is a community-wide need and will only be done in community parks. Fencing in the other community parks would not be appropriate and staff would not recommend fencing playgrounds in the City's parks. Jacobus said he can understand why people want the fence but is also concerned about the appearance of the fence. Lambert responded that the fence would be a black chain link fence with a top rail and would not be real conspicuous. Moriarity said he did look at Miller Park and did not see the issues discussed this evening. This park already has one fence and he did not think it would be difficult to fence off the playground. Lambert reviewed the site plan with the Commissioners indicating where the PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION September 11, 2006 Page 4 trail would be cut off and where circulation would also be eliminated for the kids who use this area for riding their bikes and scooters. Brill reported that Bierman supports the fencing request but wanted to target a completion date. Lambert explained that the project would probably be done some time next year. Motion: Motion was made by Gerst, seconded by Mackay, to recommend the approval of a petition request for fencing the playground at Riley Lake Park in 2007. The motion carried, 6-0. B. LETTER FROM FRIENDS OF BIRCH ISLAND WOODS Lambert reported that included with the Commission's agenda material was a letter from the Friends of Birch Island Woods expressing their appreciation to the City for their commitment to acquire land on Birch Island Road for inclusion into the Birch Island Woods Conservation area. This communication requires no formal action. VIII. OLD BUSINESS A. POLICY FOR COMMUNITY USE OF PARKS AND RECREATION RENTAL FACILITIES Lambert explained that they have received numerous requests from people who want to use the City's facilities for various reasons. The City's park system has a reputation for providing a wide variety of well-maintained recreation facilities. Many private groups and organizations from outside the City take advantage of this park system at no cost because they rely on the "first come, first serve" policy for use of public parks. Lambert asked Lanzi to discuss with the Commission some of the different issues they are faced with. The current policy has some gray areas that need to be addressed. Lanzi reported that whenever a walk or run is held, it most likely becomes a yearly event. One of the things they have started to see is many of the walks and runs involve national organizations including local chapters of those organizations. This summer there was an event that involved over 1,000 participants and this was the third year that it was held. The person on that Board was from Eden Prairie but has since left the Board but the information for the event had already been mailed out so they were unable to change its location. This event shut down Staring Lake Park for five hours. They utilized all of the park facilities and the Police had to become involved because of parking for that number of participants. This is one example of a group with good intentions but not located in Eden Prairie. They have requested to hold this event in Eden Prairie again next year. Lanzi pointed out that the City of Minneapolis has a participation fee in place. In addition to a basic fee, they charge a fee for each participant. Staring Lake, Round Lake and Purgatory Creek Recreation area are all great places to hold these events. Normally, they have 12 to 15 events a year at these locations. For each local event there are at least one or PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION September 11, 2006 Page 5 two events that are national. Once they hold an event in the City and without a policy, they seem to stay in the City and do not go to other communities. Lambert explained that the whole basis of their policy and philosophy is that these parks are paid for and subsidized by the taxpayers of Eden Prairie. It is a problem when non- resident, non-taxpayers come into the community for good purposes to make money for their organization on taxpayers' subsidized facilities and denying the people paying for these parks use of those facilities. If they do not put limitations on the use of these facilities,residents will not be able to use the parks during the weekend because of the outside groups filling up the park facilities. Lambert further explained that the policy could be that users have to be Eden Prairie based public service groups or Eden Prairie residents or businesses. The question then arises that if an Eden Prairie resident reserves the facility for a national organization based out of Minneapolis should they be allowed to reserve the facility. Lambert said staff is looking for some direction on how to handle the outside organizations using the facilities. If something isn't done, the park facilities could be booked every Saturday and Sunday. Lanzi said they are looking at a short time period because they are limited in the number of weekends that walks or runs can be held. These events usually occur in May and the first three weekends in June. They are talking about eight to ten weekends. The City also has City sponsored events taking place in the parks. Currently there are 12 to 15 events taking place in addition to the City sponsored events. Napuck asked how a per person fee would be monitored opposed to a flat fee. Fox explained that Minneapolis requires a copy of each person's registration and the participant fee is based on that. Lanzi said that currently the park attendant meets the groups and determines at that time the number of registrants participating. These groups do have local park permits. Fox pointed out that another reason for requiring verification of registration is they will then know how many participants to expect. Moriarity pointed out that earlier it was mentioned that information had been mailed out so they were unable to change an event. He asked if there was a policy in place that would require that before someone sends out materials it has to be reviewed for approval by City staff. Lanzi responded that basically the organization calls and reserves the facility over the telephone and it is determined at that time how large the event will be. At this time, they do not require that City staff review any mailings. Moriarity suggested that they include in the policy a requirement that before someone sends out a flyer advertising their event City park staff review that information prior to it being mailed out. Moriarity said they should also require that the City of Eden Prairie be included in the indemnity so there is no liability on the City's part. Lanzi mentioned that users do call him for the park permit and they are required to provide the City with a waiver. Moriarity said that since everyone can call to reserve a facility after the first of the year they might want to prioritize who can call when. Brill pointed out that Section I of the proposed policy does not mention athletic organizations. Lambert explained that athletic organizations would be in Group II, City organizations. Brill indicated that under IV. General Information, Group 1 has priority PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION September 11, 2006 Page 6 while Groups 2, 3 and 4 will be on a first-come, first-serve basis. He thinks that is very clear and as a Commission he asked if that makes sense. Lambert indicated that the athletic associations are basically covered under a different policy for rental of ball fields and athletic facilities. If they want to reserve a park shelter, they would come under Group 2. If this Commission wants to set up a time frame they could assign the first week of the reservation season to Group 1, the second week to Group 2 and the third week to Group 3 and after that it would be on a first-come, first-serve basis. Napuck said the potential conflict appears to be between Groups 2 and 3. Group 1 is City related activities. She suggested that they consider a phasing of the weekends. A certain percentage of the weekends would initially be available for reservations with Group 2 having the opportunity to book those weekends first and then Group 3 next. Phasing would allow some other weekends still being available for something that may come up at a later date. They would not book all of the weekends during the first three weeks of the year. Lambert explained that currently they are restricting walks and runs for Groups 2 and 3 to two per month per park area. They could limit it to one per month per park area until a certain date and then they could book more after that date. They would like to keep this policy as simple as possible. Jacobus asked what percentage of the walks and runs are non-Eden Prairie residents. Lanzi said it is about 50150. He asked what would be reasonable for Eden Prairie park users to share the park facilities with these walks and runs. Lanzi indicated that staff is recommending two per month per park. Mackay said he feels it is nice to have these activities in the parks. Jacobus pointed out that most of these events take place on Saturday mornings. Lambert explained that the use of the parks is something they need to address. The key question is do they let non-Eden Prairie based organizations use the park facilities. Lambert said staff feels the parks should be for Eden Prairie businesses and residents. He pointed out that Group 4 would only be able to rent at the Community Center. Moriarity said the restaurants and merchants around Purgatory Creek Recreation area might appreciate the runs that would bring people into that area and into their businesses. He asked if that is a factor they should consider. It was pointed out that these businesses could sponsor an event in the City's parks. Mackay asked if there was a way to prioritize the three groups. Lanzi explained that Group 1 has to have their requests in by January 1. The community events are placed on the calendar before they reserve any other facilities. Mackay said they might want to consider having Group 2 book from January 1 to the 15"' and Group 3 could reserve facilities after January 15. Gerst said he likes the idea of giving Group 2 the benefit of a couple weeks. Lanzi said the big issue is what they do with non-residential national groups. Not including these groups would make the scheduling more manageable. Brill asked if they should consider charging a per person fee for non-resident groups. Lambert explained that if their goal were to limit the number of uses to two groups per month per park then they would want to eliminate all non-Eden Prairie groups. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION September 11, 2006 Page 7 Napuck asked if a non-profit organization with a field office in Eden Prairie would currently fall into Group 2. She asked if that group takes priority over Group 3. They may want to consider changing the language for Group 2. They may want to consider allowing the use of City facilities twice during the year by a national organization with an Eden Prairie connection. Jacobus suggested that the words "mailing address or" under Group 2 be eliminated. The group would have to have its headquarters in Eden Prairie or at least 75 percent of its membership roster residing in Eden Prairie. Gerst asked that the words "Fist" on Page 4 of the policy be corrected to read "First". Motion: Motion was made by Brill, seconded by Gerst, to amend the policy to allow Group 2 to register beginning January 1 and Group 3 to register beginning January 15. The motion carried, 6-0. Motion: Motion was made by Brill, seconded by Napuck, to amend I. Rental Classifications, Group 2, by eliminating the words "mailing address or". The motion carried, 6-0. Motion: Motion was made by Moriarity, seconded by Jacobus, to add the following to Page 11, XV. Fundraising, 2. Walks and/or Runs, "No material advertising the walk or run be distributed without prior approval of Eden Prairie Park staff and their indemnity waiver include in its language specifically indemnifying the City of Eden Prairie". The motion carried, 6-0. Motion: Motion was made by Jacobus, seconded by Gerst, to recommend approval of the Policy titled "Guidelines for Community Use of Park and Recreation Rental Facilities" as amended. The motion carried, 6-0. Lambert reported that in the spring they have a large number of buses that come into the parks and drop off kids without permission from the City. Other groups may have reserved facilities but these buses drop off kids and the facilities are then no longer available to those groups that had reserved them. Lambert pointed out that there is no formal policy existing that states that this cannot be done. He said staff is asking this Commission for direction on what they should do to handle these situations. Fox explained that currently, if someone calls and asks if they can bring a specific group in their standard answer is that the parks are open and it's on a first come, first serve basis. He asked if it made sense to make a statement that if you are bringing a busload of kids in, there will be a fee. They need some type of guideline. Lambert suggested that they consider changing the City Code to regulate camps and groups without reservations. Gerst said he assumes this problem is not unique to Eden Prairie and he asked what other cities do. Lambert responded that other cities do have this problem but have not yet come up with a solution. Without some change to the City's ordinance. City staff has no authority to ask a group to leave the park if they have an organized clinic, camp or group. PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION September 11, 2006 Page 8 Fox pointed out that Staff does have three possible solutions including implementing a policy for school groups that bus in kids in that they have to at least request usage of the park and get a permit; charge a fee for any groups that bring in buses based on the number of buses and again thereby recovering some of their costs; or, add wording to the City Code regarding rules and regulations governing parks to include that private lessons or group sport camps are not permitted in parks without prior authorization. Lambert explained that they are charging athletic association's for the use of the parks but yet they are not charging these other organizations that have clinics and some of them are not even from Eden Prairie. Moriarity said he would be in favor of implementing a policy for school groups. If they issue permits they would avoid some of the double booking that occurs. Jacobus said they should not allow first come, first serve if the group is over 50 people. Lambert said they do not have any right to ask anyone to leave the parks right now. A change in the City Code would allow them to do that. Mackay said there is no control over overuse of the parks and staff's ability to maintain them. They need some mechanism to let City staff do their job. Jacobus said he feels this has to tie into the policy that was just adopted. Lambert said staff would bring this item back with some suggested language to be included in the City Code. IX. NEW BUSINESS A. CONSIDERATION OF RENAMING PURGATORY CREEK RECREATION AREA Lambert reported that at the August 7 meeting,representatives of the Veterans' Memorial Committee recommended the City consider changing the name of the Purgatory Creek Recreation Area to Memorial Park. Moriarity said he personally liked the idea of changing the name. The concept for the Recreation Area has changed since it was first considered. With the Jean Harris Bridge and the new veterans' memorial, he thinks Memorial Park would be a more appropriate name. Brill stated that Bierman suggested that this area be renamed to Purgatory Creek Memorial Park. Mackay said this area does not seem much like a creek but more like a lake. He suggested it be called the Eden Prairie Memorial Park. Moriarity said the name should be kept simple. Motion: Motion was made by Moriarity, seconded by Gerst, to recommend the City Council change the name of the Purgatory Creek Recreation Area to Memorial Park. The motion carried, 6-0. X. REPORTS OF STAFF A. DIRECTOR OF PARKS AND RECREATION SERVICES PARKS, RECREATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION September 11, 2006 Page 9 B. MANAGER OF RECREATION SERVICES 1. Service Area Report—Bob Lanzi—Ice Rinks and Park Rentals Lanzi presented an overview of the City's Ice Rinks and Park Rental program. The following items were included in the Commission's agenda material for informational purposes only. 2. eConnect Registration Increase 3. A Collection of One Acts— September 22— October 1 4. Theater 06-07 Season Brochure 5. Fall Frolic 5K Run/Walk—October 28 6. Prairie Jam— October 4 C. MANAGER OF PARKS AND NATURAL RESOURCES IX. NEXT MEETING The next meeting of the Commission is scheduled for Monday, October 2 at 7:00 p.m. X. ADJOURNMENT Motion: Gerst moved, Jacobus seconded, to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried 6-0. The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 p.m.