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1d Bandimere Playground Equip ~d. - MEMORANDUM CITY OF CHANHASSEN TO: Todd Gerhardt, City Manager DATE: May 16, 2005 /I 6~ 7700 Market 60ulevard PO 60x147 Chanhassen, MN55317 FROM: Todd Hoffman, Park & Recreation Administration Phone: 952.227.1100 Fax: 952,227.1110 SUBJ: Approve Recommendation to Remove and Dispose of Wooden Playground Structure, Bandimere Heights Park Building Inspections Phone 952.227.1160 Fax:952.2271190 Pari< & Recreation Phone: 952.227.1120 Fax 952.227.1110 As a part of the 2005 playground project, the existing Bandimere Heights Park wooden playground structure is scheduled for removal and disposal. The structure is over 20 years old and does not meet current safety guidelines. Two new playgrounds have been installed in Bandimere Community Park, just next door to Bandimere Heights Park. The new structures are located 900 feet up the trail from the site of the existing wooden playground. Residents in the vicinity of the park were mailed a notification of our intent to remove and dispose of the old playground. On March 22, 2005, the Park and Recreation Commission held a public meeting where residents were invited to attend. No residents attended the meeting, but I did receive one call from a gentleman who thought it would be better just to leave the structure in place. Engineering Phone: 952.227.1160 Fax 952.227.1170 Finance Phone 952,227.1140 Fax: 952.227.1110 Recreation Cen!er 2310 Coulter 60ulevard Phone: 952.227,1400 Fax:952.2271404 RECOMMENDATION Planning & Natural Resources Phone 952.227.1130 Fax 952.227.1110 "Kelly moved, Atkins seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission recommend the City Council approve removal and disposal of the Bandimere Heights Park wooden playground structure. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 7 to 0." Public Works 1591 Park Road Phone: 952.227,1300 Fax: 952.227.1310 ATTACHMENTS SeniorCentor Phone: 952.227.1125 Fax 952.227.1110 1. Memo to the Park & Recreation Commission dated March 14,2005. 2. Meeting Notice to Residents. 3. Park & Recreation Commission Minutes dated March 22, 2005. Web Site www.ci.chanhassen.mn.us G:\PARK\TH\Bandimere\bandimere cc report.doc The City of Chanhassen' A growing community with clean iakes, quality schools, a charming downtown, thriving businesses, winding trails, and beautilul parks. A g_at place to live, work, and play CITY OF CHANHASSEN MEMORANDUM TO: Park and Recreation Commission 7700 Market Boulevard PO Box 147 Chanhassen, MN55317 FROM: Todd Hoffman, Park & Recreation Director DATE: March 14,2005 Administration Phone 952.227.1100 Fax: 952.227.1110 SUBJ: Recommendation to Remove and Dispose of Wood Playground Structure, Bandimere Heights Park Building Inspections Phone 952,227.11BO Fax: 952.227.1190 Engineering Phone: 952.227.1160 Fax: 952.227.1170 In January of 2004, the Department completed a safety assessment of the ten wood playground structures located at various parks within the city. For the purpose of this assessment, the following fifteen hazard categories were identified: Finance Phone 952.227.1140 Fax: 952.227.1110 · Non-designated flat play surface larger than 2 square inches. Park & Recreation Phone 952.227.1120 Fax: 952.227.1110 · Head, neck and torso entrapment. Recreation Center 2310 Coulter Boulevard Phone: 952.227.1400 Fax: 952.227.1404 · Entanglement Hazard: User's clothing or items around user's neck can become caught on play component. Planning & Naturai Resources Phone: 952.227.1130 Fax 952.227.1110 · Pinch, crush, shear point: User could suffer contusion, laceration, abrasion, or amputation. · Protrusion Hazard: A projection, when tested against requirement standards, is found to have the potential to cause bodily injury. Public Works 1591 Park Road Phone: 952.227.1300 Fax: 952.227.1310 Senior Center Phone 952.227.1125 Fax 952.227.1110 · Partially Bound Opening: An opening in a piece of play equipment that is not totally enclosed by boundaries on all sides, so that the perimeter of the opening is not continuous. Web Site www.ci.chanhassen.mn.us · Completely Bound Opening: Any opening in play equipment that is totally enclosed by boundaries on all sides. · Stainless Steel Slide: User could suffer bums on hot, sunny days. · Worn, weathered, cracked, splintered, rotted redwood. · Rotted, decayed and cracked playground border. The Cify of Chanhassen . A growing commuOIty with clean lakes, quality schools, a charming downtown, thriving businesses, winding trails, and beaulllui parks A goat place to live, work, and piay Park & Recreation Commission March 14, 2005 Page 2 · No accessible path or transfer station. · Exit height is too high in proportion to the overall height of the slide. · Worn or damaged play equipment. · Head and/or body impact hazard. · Frost is moving the footing, causing unleveled post and decks on structure. The Bandimere Heights play structure exhibits 16 areas of concern with multiple head, neck and torso entrapments and partially bound openings. This structure, along with the other nine wood playgrounds located within the city's park system; need to be removed to ensure the safety of park users. With two new play structures located in Bandimere Community Park, just up the hill from Bandimere Heights Park, it does not make sense to replace the playground at Bandimere Heights Park. The two parks are physically joined on three sides and the new playgrounds reside 900 feet from the old wood structure. To ensure that neighborhood residents were aware of the city's plan to remove and not replace the playground, staff completed a neighborhood mailing on March 2, 2005. Since the mailing, I have received two inquires: . One resident wanted to know what would remain after the structure is removed. We will clear the site and plant grass. . A second resident preferred that we leave the old structure in place. With the number of safety concerns present on the structure this is unfortunately not an option. RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the Park and Recreation Commission recommend that the City Council approve the removal and disposal of the Bandimere Heights wood playground structure. ATTACHMENT 1. Resident letter dated March 2, 2005 c: Dale Gregory, Park Superintendent G:\PARK\TH\Bandimere playground disposa1.doc ~ I ~ March 15, 2005 CITY OF CHANHASSEN Dear Resident: 7700 Market Boulevard POBox 147 Chanhassen,MN55317 Administration Phone: 952.227.1100 Fax 952.227.1110 In January of 2004, the City of Chanhassen Park and Recreation Department completed a wooden playground structure safety assessment. Ten separate structures, including the one located at Bandimere Heights Neighborhood Park, were evaluated. These structures were manufactured in the 1980's by Landscape Structures, a play equipment company headquartered in Delano, Minnesota. Building Inspections Phone 952.227.1180 Fax: 952.227.1190 Finance Phone 952.227.1140 Fax 952.227.1110 The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) began publishing a "Handbook for Public Playground Safety" in 1981. This manual is updated periodically. All of the wooden playground structures located within the city park system, including the playground situated at Bandimere Heights Neighborhood Park, does not meet the minimum CPSC guidelines for safety. The following areas of concern were identified on the Bandimere Heights Playground: Engineering Phone: 952.227.1160 Fax: 952.227.1170 Park & Recreation Phone: 952.227.1120 Fax: 952,227.1110 Planning & Naturai Resources Phone 952.227.1130 Fax 952.227.1110 );> Multiple Head, Neck and Torso Entrapments );> Multiple Partially Bound Openings );> Stainless Steel Slide (known to cause bums on hot, sunny days) );> Protrusions );> Multiple Areas of worn, weathered, splintered and rotted wood );> Multiple Non-Designated Flat Play Surfaces );> Multiple Completely Bound Openings );> No Accessible Path or Transfer Station RecrealionCenter 2310 Coulter Boulevard Phone: 952.227.1400 Fax: 952.2271404 Senior Center Phone: 952.2271125 Fax 952.227.1110 In response to the report, the city's Park and Recreation Commission recommended that all ten of the wooden playgrounds be removed. Two structures were removed in the summer of 2004 and the remaining eight are scheduled for removal this spring and summer. With the presence of two new playground structures in Bandimere Community Park, the city is not planning on re-building a playground at Bandimere Heights Park. The distance between the new and old playgrounds is 900 feet. However, prior to removing the wooden structure, the Commission would like to give the neighborhood an opportunity to comment on this plan. Public Works 1591 Park Road Phone: 952.227.1300 Fax: 952.2271310 Web Site www.ci.chanhassen.mn.us If you have specific comments or concerns concerning the city's intent to remove the wooden playground structure at Bandimere Heights Neighborhood Park, please attend the March 22, 2005, Park and Recreation Commission meeting. These meeting are held in the City The City 01 Chanhassen . A growing community with clean lakes, Quality schools, a charming downtown, thriving businesses, winding trails, and beauti!ul parks, A great place 10 live, work, and play ¡ t '< t , Council Chambers at City Hall starting at 7:30 p.m. If you are unable to attend the meeting, but would like to comment, please contact me directly at 952-227-1129 or bye-mail atthoffman@ci.chanhassen.mn.us Sincerely, Todd Hoffman Park & Recreation Director c: Todd Gerhardt, City Manager City Council Park and Recreation Commission Dale Gregory, Park Superintendent 1.. CHANHASSEN PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MARCH 22, 2005 Chairman Stolar called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Glenn Stolar, Tom Kelly, Jack Spizale, Steve Scharfenberg, Ann Murphy, Kevin Dillon and Paula Atkins STAFF PRESENT: Todd Hoffman, Park and Rec Director; Corey Hoen, Recreation Supervisor; and Dale Gregory, Park Superintendent APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Kelly moved, Atkins seconded to approve the agenda amended as follows: Under Administrative Presentations Todd Hoffman added voting for a recipient of the Rotary's 2005 Distinguished Service A ward and under Commission Member Reports Chairman Stolar asked to discuss a meeting he attended with the Met Council's Park and Regional Park Policy Plan 2030. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: None. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS: None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Murphy moved, Schañenberg seconded. to approve the verbatim and summary minutes of the Park and Recreation Commission meeting dated February 22, 2005 as presented. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 7 to O. RECOMMENDATION TO REMOVE AND DISPOSE OF WOOD PLAYGROUND STRUCTURES. BANDIMERE HEIGHTS PARK. Hoffman: Thank you Chair Stolar, members of the commission. As you are aware, in 2004 of last year the city park and recreation department completed a safety assessment of 10 wood playground structures currently residing in our park system. For the purpose of that assessment we identified 15 hazardous categories, all of which are listed on your report. Upon conclusion of that assessment it was found that all 10 of those structures were out of compliance with current Consumer Product Safety Commission guidelines and that they should be removed. Staff, with the help of the commission appealed that case to the City Council and with their approval and their support we are indeed removing all of those structures and replacing most of them. The one exception is the Bandimere Heights play structure. It had 16 areas of concern with multiplé head, neck, torso entrapments and partially bound... With the 2 new play structures located at Bandimere Community Park just up the trail, it didn't make sense to replace the existing playground at Bandimere neighborhood park. They're physically joined on 3 sides. Bandimere Community Park just wraps around the entire border of Bandimere Heights Park. The 2 structures, the old play structure, the one that currently exists in Bandimere Heights Park and · Park and Rec Commission - March 22, 2005 then 2 new structures up in Bandimere Community Park are about 900 feet apart. If you move over just slightly you could just look right up the trail and see the other 2 structures. Staff completed a neighborhood mailing to ensure that residents were aware of our plan to remove and not replace that structure. We completed that mailing on March 2nd. Since that time I received 2 inquiries. One resident wanted to know what would remain after the structure would be removed, and we plan to keep it as a clean, grass location once it's removed and cleaned up. The second resident preferred that we leave the old structure in place if all we were going to do is remove it and again with the number of safety concerns present, it's not an option for the city to do that. And he understood that I believe after a short conversation. Recommendation to the commission is recommend that the commission recommend the City Council approve the removal and disposal of the Bandimere Heights wood playground structure in the spring. Stolar: Okay, thank you. Paula, let's start with you. Any questions for Todd? Atkins: No. Sounds like it's pretty clear. Pretty detailed report. Stolar: Tom. Kelly: Is there anything we can do with that site besides just planting grass? Can we put like a sand volleyball court in there? Because I know it's relatively flat in there and there's a little bit of, there's some parking. It's not a lot. I'm just wondering if there's something we could do just besides just planting grass. Hoffman: You could take a look at sand volleyball or basketball court and it might be a conversation we would have with the neighborhood or at least appeal to them to get their ideas. We've had some sand volleyball courts in neighborhood parks that have not been very popular and they actually grow a lot of weeds over time and we've removed more than we've put in in the past half a dozen hears or so. But half court basketball has been very popular. Kelly: Because Bandimere doesn't have any basketball courts at all. I would be interested in looking at other options more than just planting grass but I'm all for getting that playground equipment out of there. Stolar: Kevin. Dillon: How wil1 the structure be disposed of? Hoffman: To a landfill. It's not safe so you can't re-use it. Stolar: Okay. Spizale: Todd, what about the other 8 structures? Hoffman: They're all coming out as a part of their replacements and so as we replace those structures, a month or so before the new ones are ready to come in, we'll be down there 2 \ Park and Rec Commission - March 22, 2005 removing the old structures. We'll be sanding anything that can be re-used but the majority of that equipment will be disposed of. Stolar: Just real quick. The motion in front of us is to remove the wood play structure, and I think that's fine. Going along with what Tom said, I think we ought to consider what CIP items we might want to put in in the 5 year plan. Doesn't mean today. Doesn't mean this summer but we ought to at least open that possibility up for the community there. Just talk to us about things we might put in the plan, longer term plans. Hoffman: Absolutely. Stolar: Half court basketball sounded like a great idea, sand volleyball court. And if they, over time if we put it as another new play structure for 5-6 years down the road in the CIP plan, whatever the process allows, but it'd be nice to have an option but there's no option to remove that structure now. Scharfenberg: Or at least some swings out there. I mean there's nothing at Bandimere. I mean other than that, the new structure that they have out there now and the tower. I mean other than down that hill, I mean it is like Tom said, it is flat. It'd be a good use of land down there to do something with that. Stolar: And so I think just that would be standard then within our CIP process to allow the community to come in and talk to one of our meetings as we're going through that and make recommendations to us. Hoffman: Good conversation. One neighbor that called about seeing if we could leave it did talk about the parking and I asked well, is it something that you're using or would you like to see that removed and they said oh no. The neighborhood's love it for their neighborhood parties so they use it for parking for other reasons than the park and they appreciate that it's there. We could bring the neighborhood in, have a conversation about the future of that site because it is a unique situation. It was a really important piece of ground before Bandimere was built. Now that we have the much larger park up above, how is the land best served because it is a very attractive piece of property. Stolar: Exactly. Okay, any other comments? Seeing none, is there a motion from the staff recommendation? Kelly moved, Atkins seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission recommend the City Council approve removal and disposal of the Bandimere Heights Park wood playground structure. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of7 to O. DEVELOPMENT PLAN REVIEW. LmERTY ON BLUFF CREEK. TOWN AND COUNTRY HOMES. 3