D-4. Approve Manchester Park Master Plan l Y
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. Chanhassen is a Community for Life-Providing for Today and Planning for Tomorrow
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MEMORANDUM
TO: Todd Gerhardt, City Manager
FROM: Todd Hoffman, Park &Recreation Director
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DATE: June 26, 2017 C!4X
SUBJ: Recommendation to Approve Park Master Plan and Name for Manchester Park
PROPOSED MOTION:
The City Council approves the proposed master plan for a new neighborhood park to be located
adjacent to the city's West Water Treatment Plant Facility and approves the name Manchester
Park, reflecting the park's location on Manchester Drive.
City Council approval of this item requires a majority vote of the council.
BACKGROUND
The Park and Recreation Commission tabled this item on April 25 to take the opportunity to tour
the proposed park site. Staff presented additional information to the commission concerning the
history of the Manchester Park property acquisition and associated planning efforts on May 23.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The property for Manchester Park was purchased in 2005 to accommodate both a municipal
water treatment facility and a small neighborhood park. The plan has been to wait until the water
treatment facility was constructed and build the associated neighborhood park at the same time.
The water treatment facility project includes some portions of the work needed to complete the
park. These items include grading, construction of the cul-de-sac and parking area, a trail
connection, and retaining walls. A future construction project currently scheduled for 2018 will
purchase and install a playground structure, playground border, wood resilient surfacing,
concrete surfacing, and a picnic shelter.
Residents in the area of the proposed Manchester Park received a mailed notification of the Park
and Recreation Commission review and discussion. Additionally,residents can access review
documents online at www.ci.chanhassen.mn.us/agendas
PH 952.227.1100• www.ci.chanhassen.ntn.us • FX 952.227.1110
7700 MARKET BOULEVARD • PO BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN • MINNESOTA 55317
Todd Hoffman
June 26, 2017
Manchester Park
Page 2
PARK AND RECEATION COMMISSION RECOMMEDNATION
On May 23, 2017, the Park and Recreation Commission reviewed the proposed park master plan
for Manchester Park. The verbatim minutes documenting both the April and May discussion and
citizen input are attached. Upon conclusion of the commission's review on the 23rd, the
following motion was made.
Echternacht moved, Kelly seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission
recommends that the City Council approve the proposed park master plan for a new
neighborhood park to be constructed adjacent to the West Water Treatment Facility and
approve the park name of"Manchester Park". All voted in favor and the motion carried
unanimously with a vote of 9 to 0.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council approves the proposed master plan for a new
neighborhood park to be located adjacent to the Cities West Water Treatment Plant Facility and
approves the name Manchester Park reflecting the park's location on Manchester Drive.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Manchester Park Preliminary Master Plan
2. Resident Mailing
3. Mailing Map
4. Manchester Park 2018 CIP sheet
5. April 25 and May 23 Park and Recreation Commission Minutes
c. Bailey Krause, WSB and Associates Landscape Architect
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Dear Resident:
The City of Chanhassen is pleased to invite you to attend the
April 25,2017 Park and Recreation Commission meeting in
the event you would like to learn about and discuss upcoming
plans for a new neighborhood park. Property for Manchester
Park was acquired in 2005 as a component of the city's West
Water Treatment Facility project.Ultimately,this small but
picturesque park site will serve as a gathering spot for several
neighborhoods in the area.
At the meeting,Park and Recreation Department staff and a
landscape architect will provide an overview of the site and
the proposed park master plan. Citizens are invited to listen to
the presentations and provide comments. Ultimately,the
commission's responsibility is to make a recommendation to
the City Council to approve the park plan. Construction of the
park, its playground,picnic shelter, and associated
improvements is currently scheduled for 2018.
The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the City Council
Chambers in the lower level of Chanhassen City Hall.Again,
please accept our invitation to join us on April 25th. Questions
may be directed to Todd Hoffman,Park&Recreation Name
Director, at thoffman@ci.chanhassen.mn.us or 925-227-1129. Address Line 1
Sincerely, Address Line 2
oglet
Cole Kelly,Park and Recreation Commission Chair
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Capital Improvement Program 2017 IhrU 2021
Department Park&Trail Improvements
City of Chanhassen, MN Contact Todd Hoffman
Project# PK&T-135 Type Improvement
Useful Life 25 years
Project Name Manchester Park Playground and Picnic Shelter Category Park
Account#1 410-0000-4706 Account#3 Priority n/a
Account#2 Account#4
Description Total Project Cost: S125,000
Purchase and installation of the parks first playground stntctures,playground border and wood fiber resilient surfacing and a picnic shelter.
Justification
the property for Manchester Park was purchased in 2005 to accommodate both a municipal water treatment plant and small neighborhood park.
The plan has always been to wait until the water treatment plant was needed in the community and build the park concurrent with the plant.
Expenditures 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Total
Construction 125,000 125,000
Total 125,000 125,000
Funding Sources 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Total
Park Dedication Fund 125,000 125,000
Total 125,000 125,000
Budget Impact/Other
Additional park maintenance duties will be added to the weekly park maintenance department schedule.
I
74
Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
RECOGNIZE CITY COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS AND RE-APPOINTMENTS TO THE
COMMISSION.
Kelly: Todd I think you want to recognize the new commissioners.
Hoffman: Thank you Chair Kelly. I know both Meredith and Karl and Grant were involved in a
few interviews so you interviewed with both the commission and then the City Council and just
want to welcome you here this evening to your first meeting and encourage you to continue to
ask questions as you move along in your time. We meet monthly but during the summer we
have some tours that we go on as well. You'll find those very informational, educational and I
just really encourage you when you go home and you see your packet, you know talk to your
friends and neighbors about what's coming up in the agenda because the public's going to be
here and they're going to be asking you some questions as well so you want to be prepared.
Study your packet and basically you're making a recommendation to the City Council on what
you feel is best moving forward on each particular item in the community so congratulations on
your appointment and we look forward to your involvement.
Kelly: Yeah on behalf of the rest of the board we would like to welcome Meredith, Karl and
Grant to the board and we also want to congratulate Steve and Lauren for being re-appointed to
the board.
RECOMMENDATION TO CITY COUNCIL TO ACCEPT AND APPROVE PARK
MASTER PLAN FOR MANCHESTER PARK(NEIGHBORHOOD PARK
COMPONENT OF WEST WATER TREATMENT FACILITY).
Hoffman: Thank you Chair Kelly,members of the commission. This evening I'll give a very
brief introduction on what the recommendation is to the City Council and then we'll have Jeff
Deitner from WSB come up and he'll give a presentation on the park master plan itself. We'll
allow time for citizen comment and then review by the Park and Recreation Commission. So
Manchester Park is named after a street which is just, we're connecting into the street. This cul-
de-sac that you see is not currently present and so thus the name Manchester Park. It's a
component of the west water treatment plant facility and so we have two water treatment plants
when it's all said and done in the city. The downtown water treatment facility and then this west
water treatment facility. Just a real short course on why this facility. The western half of
Chanhassen is much higher and so we have this high pressure zone. We can't pump water that's
clean here at this water treatment facility downtown all the way out there and up that elevation so
this plant will allow for that water. All citizens to have the same quality of water throughout the
community and so it was always planned. This land was purchased in '05, both for the park and
the water treatment facility and the park was just never to be built until you built a much larger
portion of the site which is the water treatment so they needed to go hand in hand at some time in
the future and that time is now. And so tonight the Park and Recreation Commission would
recommend that the City Council approve the proposed park master plan for the new
3
Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
neighborhood park to be constructed adjacent to the west water treatment plant facility and
approve the name of Manchester Park. And obviously that would be if you accept and approve
the plan or if you make any amendments or changes or you ask staff and the consultant to go
back and make any changes following your determination this evening so with that Jeff
Jeff Deitner: Good evening Chair Kelly and commissioners. Todd mentioned I'm Jeff Deitner
with WSB and Associates and I'm going to run through quickly the design process that we've
taken so far to get to the preliminary master plan of Manchester Park and then run through the
actual master plan and describe some of the features and site elements that are included in that.
Do they have that on their screen?
Hoffman: They will and we'll get it here shortly.
Jeff Deitner: Okay perfect. So we kicked the project off with Todd and city staff back in late
2016 and that was after the completion of the water treatment plan construction which we were
also very involved in so it was taking the park to the next step. We had the chance to tour a few
of the existing city parks with Todd and get a feel for what we would be looking forward to
putting into the park and also how some of the circulation and elements work at other parks. We
then met in February and took a look at a couple concepts and narrowed it down to the master
plan that you see here tonight with a couple modifications. From here upon your approval we
will take it into construction documents where we further develop the design into a package
where we can have contractors bid and propose on the project. And then ultimately build the
park out in, upon the completion of the water treatment plant in the spring and summer of 2018.
Just real quickly, when we met with city staff in February we presented 3 concepts to kind of get
a couple of different options that we had looked at and we ultimately decided upon Concept 1
that we chose and that involved a play area that has approximately 3,300 square feet and it would
have a shelter associated with that. A picnic area. Interpretative panels. Portable, a location for
a portable restroom and then also an internal pedestrian circulation. The play area itself will be
further developed during the construction document plans so this is just an outline for the play
equipment. The play equipment has yet to be selected here but it is similar in size to Chanhassen
Estates which is 2,500 square feet and then also South Lotus Lake which is a little bit larger at
4,000 square feet just to give you a sense of scale. We've provided ADA access into the play
container and that would be directly adjacent to the shelter and that is right on the southeast or
sorry. Yeah southeast edge there. Southwest edge. The age range for the play equipment
ultimately be about 5 to 12 years of age but that is not limiting it to those age groups. When we
look at play equipment it's divided up into 3 different categories and the 5 to 12 is the middle
age group.
Scharfenberg: So Jeff if I could. With respect to the amount of square footage of that play area,
I would envision that you would have something like a swing set. Kind of a main play area and
maybe something else. Is that kind of what you would be able to put in something in that size
area?
4
Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
Jeff Deitner: Correct. Every manufacturer of play equipment is going to be slightly different
and that's part of the fun in going into construction documents is you get to present the, you
present the play container to the manufacturer and they bring back some ideas. We can
specifically call out a swing set or another piece of equipment if that is, if that is suggested but
yes it would be the swing set and a few other pieces.
Scharfenberg: Okay.
Kelly: Jeff excuse me. I'm assuming that the extra equipment,the playground equipment which
is going to come later is part of the $125,000 we have set aside in the CIP?
Jeff Deitner: Correct.
Kelly: So that falls under that number. Okay, thank you.
Jeff Deitner: Looking a little bit further into some more of the site features and specifics that are
going to come along with the play equipment. We have slotted a shelter that is approximately 14
by 24 feet and that would give us room for approximately 3 picnic tables to be underneath the
roof. Also with that there would be a grill there for local neighborhood residents to use and take
full use of the area. We've also added some interpretative panels that are on the south edge there
of the park and those have yet to be designed but the intent with those is to display facts of what
the water treatment plant is doing or how water is brought to our homes in everyday use. We'd
also include a spot for a portable restroom that would be directly adjacent to the parking for ease
of maintenance. And then also another key is the internal pedestrian circulation which would
surround the container on all four sides.
Echternacht: Jeff on the play area of the 3,360 that's just that kind of tan area in the middle?
Jeff Deitner: Correct.
Echternacht: So the shelter is not included in that?
Jeff Deitner: No that is.
Echternacht: ...going all the way around.
Jeff Deitner: Yep the 3,300 is strictly just the play container. And with that I would like to open
it up for any further questions or comments that you may have.
Kelly: I think this is more a question for Todd. I know we have limited parking space there but
we're expecting mostly that the neighbors are going to be walking over. It's mostly a
neighborhood park but in the cul-de-sac they're going to be able to park anywhere without any
issues. On the other parts of the cul-de-sac could there be more cars than the 4 there?
5
Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
Hoffman: Cul-de-sac parking is not generally permitted. They would want to park up on the
street.
Kelly: Okay.
Hoffman: And so street parking is allowed but generally we don't see a lot of parking on cul-de-
sacs. It depends on how this place, how it operates. The cul-de-sac is to be left for circulation.
Kelly: Okay.
Scharfenberg: Jeff could you speak to the retaining wall and kind of what the size of that is?
Jeff Deitner: Yeah certainly. So the retaining wall is there to expand and maximize the space
that we have available coming from the water treatment plant so kind of going from the edge of
the black building there up higher to the wall. It actually slopes down at a 3 to 1 slope and that
wall's there to provide 2 reasons. One to maximize the area and two to provide a seating option.
The wall would be approximately 18 inches high so it would be a good use for parents or other
users of the park to sit there and view the play container.
Scharfenberg: Both Jeff and Todd, either one of you can answer this. I know at one time there
was discussion putting in the treatment plant that it would be kind of maybe embedded into the
hill a little bit and I know that with the design that we've seen in the past it's supposed to be kind
of like a prairie style type home on the outside but there isn't any way that somebody could come
off that park, off the wall and jump onto that roof. I mean that roof isn't going to be down low
enough is it?
Hoffman: The black portion in this area, there's a retaining wall here so you could climb on the
top of this facility if you intended to do so. So if that's a, you know you'd have to climb a
significantly high retaining wall at that location. This is built into the ground at this location and
then this is a grass type of roof at this location and then the backwash tanks are over here and
they're completely buried and so they're at ground level.
Hougham: What kind of signage is in place? To kind of designate what that area is.
Hoffman: So this shows the, this area is underground and this is the part that's going to be you
know exposed but it's buried but it's also coming out of the ground and there's a retaining wall
going around the facility right here.
Scharfenberg: A retaining wall around the facility?
Hoffman: Yeah there's a retaining wall right here to retain this portion that is exposed.
6
Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
Scharfenberg: Okay.
Hoffman: Yeah right here. That's what you'll see right there is a retaining wall that is coming
up to retain that portion of the facility that's coming out.
Echternacht: And that's basically on the north end of the treatment plant.
Hoffman: Correct.
Echternacht: And that would go up to the play area.
Scharfenberg: Has there been any discussion that they're going to fence in around the treatment
facility at all? If there's going to be any sort of fence.
Hoffman: There's been a variety of discussions about whether fencing would need to go here.
Currently there's no plans for fencing.
Scharfenberg: With respect to the trail that's on the east side, is that going to lead directly clown
to the sidewalk?
Hoffman: Yes.
Scharfenberg: When you come onto, what is that Harrison?
Hoffman: Correct.
Scharfenberg: Harrison Circle or whatever that street is.
Hoffman: Yep.
Scharfenberg: Okay so you'll be able to walk from the street up to the park?
Hoffman: Correct.
Scharfenberg: On the trail. Okay. And then from out of the cul-de-sac you can ride out to Lake
Lucy Road right?
Hoffman: Correct. Lake Lucy.
Scharfenberg: On the I think west side of the treatment facility that's all I think a hill going
down right down and then it goes on the street. Was there any thought of ever building any
additional walks so people can walk back up on that side?
7
Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
Hoffman: Yeah it's a pretty significant grade as you can see from the grading plan there so it's,
you would have to build, it'd be a very long stairway.
Scharfenberg: Yeah okay.
Hoffman: So I don't doubt that there'll be a foot path there but really it doesn't lend itself to a
formal type of an access.
Kelly: So Todd I meant to look up the CIP before I came tonight but we already have this in the
CIP for 2018? We're not adding it?
Hoffman: We do. It's in the 2018 CIP.
Kelly: Okay, thank you.
Hougham: Just another question on that open space to the north of where the building is to
where it's completely underground. Is that just like open area for people to play on? Or is it too
much of a hill for like people to really utilize that?
Jeff Deitner: There'd be some grade to that. It's not going to be as flat as a sports field but it
would be open lawn where people can.
Hougham: And that's safe for people to use?
Jeff Deitner: Yes.
Hougham: Okay.
Kelly: Other questions or thoughts? At this time if there's any visitors that would like to come
up and comment we'd welcome your comments at this time. If you do come up you have to give
us your name and your address and then you can address us.
Lisa Falkum: I'm Lisa Falkum. I live at 6869 Manchester Drive. I'm right on the other side of
the park.
Kelly: Do you want to pull this down, I can't hear you.
Lisa Falkum: I live right on the other side of the park.
Kelly: Did you say Lisa?
Lisa Falkum: Lisa Falkum.
8
Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
Kelly: Thank you.
Lisa Falkum: At 6869 Manchester. We have a lot of significant problems with this current plan.
One is that this is a very secluded area. We're worried about crime. People coming in. Parking
their car. Possibly causing problems. Drinking. Doing drugs at the end of this. It's not, it's on
a fairly significant hill so you have to know it's there to use it. The people in our neighborhood
that would be using this have everything that this park has. They have the playsets. The grills.
This isn't for our neighborhood. This is for I'm not sure who but it's certainly not for our
neighborhood. We don't even have young children in our neighborhood. Having a port-a-potty
30 feet from my house is not ideal. Having people walk a path and jump into my back yard is
not ideal. It seems like a dangerous spot to have a retaining wall and having people either jump
onto the water treatment plant or into my yard. It's just, and I'm not sure why there's 3 parking
spots there. Those are 30 feet from my house. It's just, we're just concerned. Property value,
what's it going to do to our house? What's it going to do to our neighbor's house? If you're
driving down the street the first thing you're going to see is a port-a-potty. That doesn't say curb
appeal. These are just some of our issues. I could go on all night but I'm sure you don't need
me to.
Kelly: We like hearing your concerns,thank you Lisa. Anybody else like to get up and address
the commission?
Judy Stretar: Judy Stretar, 6801 Manchester Drive and we're both on the association for
Woodridge Heights so I'm here as the Secretary of the association. We're very concerned. We
had a meeting at my house last week with 12 families and nobody there of the group is for this.
We think the money could be spent better. Putting the money towards Sugarbush or even Lake
Ann. We're all for putting a turn around at the end of our street. Having a dead end there is a
big problem we know for trucks and plows and everything. We're all for putting a turn around.
It's the park itself that we're objecting to that we think the money,taxpayers money for the city
could be better spent than this little park for our neighborhood. Not having a fence, like I said
Lisa's house is the one that's going to be right next to the pathway. Not having you guys put a
fence in there is just everyone just walking right into her yard seems insane. The port-a-potty is
a huge concern. I had 3 phone calls on the port-a-potty today. Mentioned the fact that they're
upset about a port-a-potty. We know, we live by Sugarbush. We know of the issues at
Sugarbush. I'm not everyone here knows all those issues at Sugarbush but at night, at midnight,
2:00 in the morning there's issues at Sugarbush and that's a much more open spot on Galpin and
this is very secluded so we are concerned with illicit activity in the evenings after hours and how
do we stop that. Both with cars and kids on you know walking. They could be parking down
below and going up to the park and then scattering if the police come so our neighborhood and
our association have great concerns about the location of the park and about the money being
spent that we think could be spent better somewhere else in the city.
Kelly: And I'm sorry I didn't catch your first name.
9
Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
Judy Stretar: Judy Stretar. It's S-t-r-e-t-a-r.
Kelly: Thank you Judy.
Hougham: Judy a question for you. Does your association have a park? Like a playground
within the association.
Judy Stretar: No. No we do not.
Hougham: Okay.
Judy Stretar: No there's 48 homes in the association on 3 streets and then along Lake Lucy but
no we don't.
Hougham: Okay.
Judy Stretar: But we're right behind West. I mean West is just up the hill. The kids do go up
there and play. The tennis courts are up there and there's Sugarbush. We have never had a
problem. Both Lisa and I are original owners. It will be 18 years this summer that we built our
house there and raised our children and we've never had a problem you know going down to
Sugarbush. You know you could expand that park. That would be wonderful to spend the
money there. It's a wide open area and I think it would service more people.
Kelly: So Todd besides the 48 homes in the association what other, are there other homes that
would have access to this new park? Manchester Park.
Hoffman: It's a public park. All homes in Chanhassen would have access. During the water
treatment plant we had people tell us that they've been, you know they moved in with the
expectation that the park would be there. They've been waiting for it so they're happy it's
coming so there's obviously varied opinions on whether or not people are going to appreciate the
park or not.
Scharfenberg: So you have I mean Cole you have Ashling Meadows which is directly across the
street from the entrance to the treatment facility. Longacres isn't that far.
Judy Stretar: Longacres and Ashling Meadows each have a private association park on their
property in the center of their properties.
Scharfenberg: But I'm just saying that there are other neighborhoods besides your neighborhood
that would have access to this area.
Judy Stretar: Yes.
10
Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
Scharfenberg: Yeah.
Judy Stretar: But they do each have their own parks.
Kelly: Thank you.
Judy Stretar: Thanks.
Bob Klein: Good evening Chair Kelly and commissioners. My name is Bob Klein. I live at
2175 and it's Lake Harrison Road is the road that you were trying to think of so it gets confused
with Lake Harrison Circle and some of the other ones but so just to give you a little bit of
reference point on the screen you're looking at is these two ladies are talking about their two
homes being literally right off the top of the screen kind of probably each side of very close to
each other. My home if you will is I'm down the rather large hill and in the other neighborhood
that hasn't been mentioned yet. So I'm not in Ashling Meadows. I'm not in Longacres. Our's is
called Pinehurst. Lakeview at Pinehurst and like these ladies I have the honor of being on the
HOA committee or board so I get a lot of information from neighbors and things like that and
you know it's, it's a real mixed bag in our neighborhood to be honest. A lot of people share the
frustrations that these two ladies shared that it's like it just doesn't seem like the best place to
spend money. It's a little bit, it's tight. People have concerns about the water treatment facility
itself just from a safety standpoint and then, and I'm not going to rehash all of those things.
Those were covered last year significantly but you know I don't think they're, they're not going
to go away those concerns and so I think you know I've had many, many people of parents of
young children say I'm never going to bring my young child there. It's a chlorine gas facility. I
just probably am not going to bring my kids there you know and I, you know I have mixed
feelings about that because I think parks are awesome you know and you know why wouldn't
you want to have a park but hearing some of the things that these ladies shared just kind of, it
piggybacks on some of the concerns that our, a lot of our residents have had. We have 38 homes
in our association and that is just, is it going to be safe? Is it really the wise use of money?
People would I think love to see the money spent maybe in another location and just let this area
be more natural. It's you know we all got used to it. These ladies have lived there for 18 years.
They're more than used to it. I've lived in my home for 8 years of it just being a real natural
area. The building itself is going to be, I mean it's a well designed building from an appearance
standpoint. From an aesthetic standpoint but it's going to be, it's going to be, it's an elephant
sitting on the hill. I mean it's going to be, it's going to have it's presence and I don't think that
the park is just, is going to be that beneficial to anybody. Nobody from my neighborhood is
going to walk to this park. They're just not going to do it. They may drive to it but I seriously
doubt it.
Scharfenberg: Can I stop you there for a minute Bob? Why do you think that? I mean you've
got a lot of homes in your.
Bob Klein: Yeah.
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Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
Scharfenberg: So how many homes do you have in your association?
Bob Klein: We have 38.
Scharfenberg: Okay. And it's in fairly close proximity to the park. Why would you say that
nobody would.
Bob Klein: They're not going to walk up the hill. It's a steep hill. It's a steep hill.
Scharfenberg: Yeah.
Bob Klein: They're not going to walk up it. They're not going to go all the way out of our
neighborhood, which you would follow down Lake Harrison Road to Galpin and then basically
pick up the trail and walk all the way back around the parking. Or I'm sorry around the water
treatment plant. Up along the trail that shows up on the top of the slide there. I just don't think
people are going to do it. Most people have playground equipment in their back yard and again I
don't want to come across as I'm anti-park. I think parks are awesome. I love parks. You know
I don't even have young children anymore but you know I just, I think it's just, it's questionable
as to how much use this is really going to get and the two other things that I just want to mention
before I stop talking is, and what I started to say is the natural. The natural site here that's been
there for a long time, what this drawing doesn't show is that there is a row of, there's two rows
actually of huge mature evergreen trees. My best understanding is that a lot of them along the
left side if you will where that one tree is in the upper left corner are more than likely going to11
stay but the entire row that comes across essentially where those light kind of yellow green trees
are, I mean they're getting wiped out and you know you understand you know cul-de-sacs got to
get put in and trees have to be removed and things like that. But I think the cul-de-sac could get
put in and those big mature trees essentially where those light kind of yellow green trees could
be left in place. And I don't know about these ladies but if I lived in her house I would want
those trees to stay there for the rest of her life and probably her kids life. I mean it's one of those
situations where I think we just, we have to be wise about this. Does it really make sense?
Who's really going to use this and couldn't we, couldn't it maybe be developed better as just
more of a natural area and not an area where you're actually encouraging people to necessarily
come to for a park. Put that money in another location and then just the last thing I'll say is, and
I hadn't even thought of this until I heard one of the ladies say this tonight and that is, I would be
very concerned about people parking on that cul-de-sac and drinking alcohol. Taking drugs. All
that kind of stuff. I pick up the street from my house out to Galpin on a weekly basis and I can
tell you, I pick up more liquor bottles, alcohol and beer bottles. I've picked up a couple of
needles and so to think that someone won't use that cul-de-sac for potentially that, it's pretty
darn secluded up there. I can only imagine would be really naive. It's going to be utilized for
that and that just again encourages. You know I mean if the cul-de-sac's going in I guess that's
kind of going to be a little bit of a battle so, so I guess just in summary I just think maybe we
should just rethink whether this is really the best location for a park. Could the money be spent
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Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
better in another location to kind of actually not encourage people to come there because it could
be a detriment. And then just try and leave more of the mature trees and just let it be screened
better. This building is going to be, it's going to be very, it's going to have a big presence when
it's all said and done and the City's done, and staff, other staff have done a lot of, have done a
really good job to try and screen it and make it look residential and all those things. They really
have and I'd be the first to admit that and I kind of have tried to, that was one of my battles last
year was to kind of champion that that'd be the case but I just think trying to keep more of those
mature trees and maybe just revisiting that may be more appropriate of a solution. So do you
have any questions of me?
Hougham: I do have a question for you Bob about the trail.
Bob Klein: Yeah.
Hougham: So if the cul-de-sac got built would people from your neighborhood use the trail if
say the park wasn't built but the trail connected around?
Bob Klein: You know I think people are going to use the trail. I really do. We have a lot of dog
walkers and our neighborhood's a favorite one because it kind of cuts through and it used to be
owned by one person and it was all 70 acres and it was kind of almost like an arboretum and a lot
of people walked their dogs through there and the homeowner didn't care so it's a well used area
so yeah I think the trail will get used. I really do. I just don't think people from our
neighborhood are going to use it to go to the park. I just the sense is that people from our
neighborhood are not going to use this park even though we have very young families.
Hougham: Thank you.
Bob Klein: So yeah thank you for the question.
Kelly: Thank you Bob.
Bob Klein: Yeah thanks.
Kelly: So Todd what if we tabled this and have a neighborhood meeting out there?
Hoffman: It's certainly one option. The park plan, this site has been identified as a park for 12
years and so you know there are folks that come here and testify that they don't want the park.
There are folks at home that want the park and they're just not here this evening so how you as a
board want to handle that is, you know that's up to your decision. During the entire water
treatment plant process I had multiple families that said they would, have been anticipating this
park going in. Are upset that it took so long and so you're hearing two sides to the story and
each park development that we have in our city is different and this one obviously you know had
some folks that would prefer not to see these improvements go in but there are other people out
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Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
there that are not here this evening that would like to see the park built so you're in a more
difficult spot than normal in a park development process and so.
Hougham: So a question on what the action is here today, is today's action just to approve the
plan for the park and then the actual building of the park would be determined by where it's
placed in our CIP budget? Or.
Hoffman: This park is in the CIP and so it's been approved by this body and it's been approved
by the City Council so you know the construction is, the final construction or the final purchase
of the playground equipment. The installation,that's all yet to be approved so that's where
you're at now is okay so you have a budget. What's the park master plan? So you develop a
park master plan so everybody understands. You have an opportunity to come in and say okay is
this what you want in this park? Do you want something else? And then you make a
recommendation to the City Council about that's what we want to see. This is how we want the
park designed. This is what we want to go in the park. You know it's an approved process that
it fulfills our park, our 1 1/2 mile park. You know a park every half mile so it's fulfilling that so
there's a variety of things that are set in place all the way back to 2005 and so what I'm hearing
is it's just like the water treatment plant was set in force in 2005 and people testified they didn't
want it there. They didn't want it there. You're hearing tonight that some people don't want this
park here. You know does that mean the park is not going to go here? That would have to take
an action by this board and by the City Council to remove it from the parks plan. An entire
another public process to make that happen so.
Kelly: So Todd to move forward with the park on the plan date what's our drop dead date to
approve it?
Hoffman: Well we have, you know you have plenty of time. You have time the spring of 2018
and so the plant's being constructed. There are elements of this plan, the cul-de-sac's being built
with the plant. You know the trail grading so some of those things, so it's just this portion of the
site that, this portion of the site that's being left for 2018.
Kelly: Okay.
Hoffman: Everything else is going in with,the trail. The cul-de-sac. That's all being built with
the water treatment plant project. It's already been bid and approved.
Hougham: Todd I have a question.
Hoffman: Sure.
Hougham: Regarding two of the items. One, what is the possibility of maintaining those mature
trees along the trail line and one, the other question is just for my education what is, how does
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Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
the City handle safety issues or safety concerns in the park? During the times when the 5 to 12
year olds aren't awake.
Hoffman: So our entire city is a public place and we have many parks. Over 30 parks. Some
are you know tucked into neighborhoods. Some are more community parks and so there's folks
there and any activity that is either after 10:00 or you know after 10:00 til 6:00 a.m., if there's a
problem people are going to call 911 and Carver County law enforcement is going to drive up
there and if you're doing something wrong in that cul-de-sac there's not going to be a lot of ways
to get out so you're pretty much going to be caught and so, and people do that routinely in our
community and you know by and large living in Chanhassen a pretty safe community. The
people that you'll find are probably either some teenagers from around the area and so those are
our kids and so often times that's a parenting thing too where we take it upon ourselves to do that
so that's how law enforcement. You know there's a routine patrol so people do a routine patrol.
If there's a problem site and the Carver County deputies will be notified of that. They'll be put
on their duty roster for that night. You should do routine patrol at Manchester Park. We've had
some issues. They'll drive through or people call 911 and they respond. The trees that can be
saved are being saved. The trees that have to go because of construction are being removed.
Kelly: So everything's in place except the park right now?
Hoffman: Everything's planned for construction with the water treatment plant. The cul-de-sac
will go in and the trail will go in. Much of this grading will occur and then the $125,000 is
building this footprint and the playground. In the spring of 2018 when the water treatment plant
will be wrapping up at that time as well and so this site would be largely intact and ready for
activity in the fall of 2018.
Scharfenberg: You know I think just to speak to some of the concerns that were raised here
tonight by Lisa and Judy and by Bob, you know as a commission just so that you're aware, you
know we don't necessarily, I mean we look at the short term but also we're looking at long term
and so what are the needs of our community in our parks on a long term basis and you know at
some point you're going to sell your homes and no longer be living there and there are going to
be young families that move into that neighborhood that will have kids and so when we look
long term in terms of our park planning those are the things that we look at and as Todd had
indicated one of our goals, one of the city goals is to have parks like this within a half a mile so
that people can come, even if they have private parks within their own neighborhood that those
are available to people so when Manchester was chosen as a site several years ago that was one
of the reasons. Not only that there was going to be a treatment facility that was going to be there
but you know the use of that to put a park there, you know that was all stuff that was considered
in terms of putting that land and the plan together.
Kelly: Thank you Steve. Any other comments or thoughts from the commission? Somebody
else want to get up and talk? Please.
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Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
David Peters: I'm David Peters at 6845 Briarwood and I'll admit I'm a little directionally
challenged so if you can maybe help me. So Briarwood Court, is it? On the other side?
Audience: You're on the top up there.
David Peters: Up there, okay.
Audience: That's Manchester going straight.
David Peters: Okay. And so this cul-de-sac...
(There was discussion on the location of David Peters house on the map.)
David Peters: Well that's very helpful. So the one comment that my wife wanted me to make
sure that I pointed out was the port-a-potty, I actually, we don't have.
Kelly: Could you come back so you can speak into the microphone so we can all hear you?
Thank you David.
David Peters: Yeah we don't have a real problem with the park but we are somewhat concerned
about the port-a-potty and with the shelter, any noise that might be coming out of it from parties
at night and so on, so I just wanted to state what our main concerns were. I understand our
neighbors concerns and I can sympathize. Yeah so anyway thank you.
Kelly: Thank you David.
Scharfenberg: I'd like to make a motion, if there isn't any more comment or.
Kelly: Let me just ask Todd one more thing and then go to your motion.
Scharfenberg: Sure. Absolutely.
Kelly: So Todd is there a way to camouflage the port-a-potty?
Hoffman: We have 50 or so that go out and we do not provide surrounds because it's just simply
not something that we could maintain. First purchase, install and maintain long term so the port-
a-potties are there seasonally. They're installed. Utilized during the summer months. The warm
months and then removed for the winter.
Kelly: Thank you Todd. Steve.
Scharfenberg: Well Meredith I think has one.
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Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
Kelly: Oh I'm sorry.
Scharfenberg: That's okay.
Petouvis: A very important port-a-potty question. What specifically is the neighborhood
concern about the port-a-potties? Is it a visual concern? Is it, I mean what are the concerns?
Audience: It's visual and smell. Have you ever been by a port-a-potty? They don't smell great.
Hougham: I do actually have a comment about the port-a-potties. I am not personally a fan but I
use my neighborhood park quite a bit and we also have a port-a-potty and I have had to use it and
they are very well maintained so I'm not sure the City, the whatever group the City works with
but they are very well maintained. It is always clean. It is always stocked. I have never gone in
there once with either me or my children and it's been dirty or smelled from the outside.
Tsuchiya: I'd like to echo what Jennifer just said just because a father of young kids if I go out
there and I have a young child who's not in diapers, you don't want my child going into the
bushes so there needs to be an option that's sanitary and so I'd say you know port-a-potties are
usually a pretty essential part of a playground meant for children.
Audience: Does the port-a-potty have to be in that location? Can it be hidden from the street?
Like put on the other side of the shelter so that everybody driving by didn't se it or everybody
that's standing in my house doesn't have to look at it?
Jeff Deitner: I assume that would be an issue regarding the truck access to the port-a-potty for
cleaning purposes.
Echternacht: I also think it'd be an issue going from the playground down the hill to a port-a-
potty if it was down on the other.
Audience: But isn't the shelter going to be level?
Hoffman: This is a typical access point for a portable restroom. You drive into most of our
parks,that's where you're going to find it is right in the parking area and it's for access and then
also for the truck that's going to clean it.
Judy Stretar: How mature are the trees? The trees along here, how mature are they going to be?
Because we talked about this with the water treatment plant. They were very concerned about
how big the trees were going in and they were going to be 4 to 6 foot trees going in around the
water treatment plant so right away they would have some camouflage so I guess that's our
question. If you're taking out the pine trees that are now 25 feet tall, 20-25, and there's a whole
wall of them right now at Lisa's property line, are you going to put in little bushes I mean or are
we going to put in some good size?
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Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
Jeff Deitner: Are you talking north of the trail?
Judy Stretar: Yeah right where the tree, yeah just north of the trail there. I mean to help,there's
3 trees and then 3 trees or bushes. I'm not quite sure what they are. Above the yellow ones. Are
they going to be mature like?
Hoffman: They're going to be young trees. Likely most of them will be balled and burlapped.
The challenge when you try to plant too big a tree is then they just stunt out and they don't.
Judy Stretar: And we talked about this with them.
Hoffman: And so you're better off going with a standard sized transplantable tree and then
they're much healthier when they go in and they grow faster.
Judy Stretar: So you're talking about trees and not pine trees or evergreens?
Hoffman: It's a variety of.
Judy Stretar: Because evergreens would camouflage more than trees.
Hoffman: There's a variety. I don't know if Jeff...
Judy Stretar: Just something to look into. Something to look into.
Jeff Deitner: Yeah we can certainly look into specific varieties.
Judy Stretar: We're trying to screen for those two, because the two houses are literally right
where that black line is or there are two houses, one on each side.
Jeff Deitner: Yes.
Judy Stretar: Literally right up there so anything we could do would help the association would
be to put in a screen. Not replace a screen.
Jeff Deitner: Okay. And we can look at planting options for that side that will buffer that.
Hoffman: And this plan is showing that. This plan is showing.
Judy Stretar: Have you considered putting a fence so that it's not part of our yards?
Hoffman: The fence that's currently there is going to stay.
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Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
Judy Stretar: Yes. Could you put like something that we could, like a wooden fence so we
wouldn't see it? Is that an opportunity?
Hoffman: No. The City doesn't fence. You could fence your property but the City doesn't
fence off parks.
Judy Stretar: What would happen if we fenced our property and it was vandalized on the park
side? Is that my responsibility or is that the City's responsibility?
Hoffman: It's your property. That's your responsibility to make a police report.
Bob Klein: I'm going to jump up one more time just to hit, hit the tree and the screening
standpoint. You're a landscape architect right?
Jeff Deitner: Correct.
Bob Klein: Awesome. So is there any way to get creative, because I think that's what these
ladies are saying, where we can try and put a park in. Keep some pretty significant trees that are
running about, I mean it's a little hard to tell. They're running about, I want to say they're about
where that, where the 5 I'm going to call them light green yellowish trees are. If there was any
way to keep those mature trees. These are not 25 feet. These are like 50 feet tall. Spruces.
Pines and they're really screening. If there was a way to keep those trees. Take out what you
need to for the cul-de-sac. That's a no brainer and that's a given but keep some of those trees. It
just doesn't make sense to take out trees that are screening a tremendous amount of what these
people's concerns are and replace them with a mix of deciduous trees. 4 to 6 foot tall spruce
trees. I mean we've got the screening there now and so I guess I'm asking for you know for the
landscape architect who, you know this is his deal. I mean this is his expertise. If we could
come up with a plan that just looks to see if there's a way to keep those trees in place I think it
would, I don't know. I don't want to speak for these ladies but you know I know on my side
there's another row of pines that I believe are mostly being kept and I can only tell you how
thankful I am for that. I'm going to babysit that one because I want to make sure that they do get
cut. When the guys with the chainsaws come.out you can guarantee I'm going to be up there
because if they start cutting down trees that I've been told aren't supposed to be cut down I'm
going to be calling the City. I mean it's like, it's like we want to have, we want to be good
residents. We want to be good neighbors and we want to work with the City but we've got some
really nice, natural features here that I would hate to just see get bulldozed out of the way to then
be replaced with something that's like well you know, 20 or 30 years from now you'll have back
what you had right away and it's like well couldn't we have designed that into that so I don't
know. I probably have said enough but.
Jeff Deitner: I can speak to his comment there. The planting on the north side of the park I'm
going to say south of the trail can be creatively designed to provide screening to a certain extent.
Part of that is going to happen because of the grade differential. The proposed trail alignment
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Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
does go, it does kind of dive down into the hillside a little bit to provide ADA access on that trail
from the east side to the new cul-de-sac so I think further exploration could be completed during
the construction document phase.
Bob Klein: Jeff what's the elevation difference on the stairs down to the trail?
Jeff Deitner: We're looking at about 4 1/2 feet.
Bob Klein: Thank you. And would there be concerns if you're going to keep the trees regarding
keeping the trees alive during the entire process? I'm assuming that you know their dripline is
pretty far out there so are they going to be able to survive the addition of all the pavement in that
area? Is that a likelihood? If you make all the effort to try to save them or they're just going to
die off is my point.
Jeff Deitner: The 5 trees that you see there in yellow, or more of a yellowish color, those are
proposed trees. They're not currently existing. I'm not familiar off the top of my head what
trees are existing along the property line north of the trail. I'm looking at the survey that I have
from the site plan of the water treatment plant and I did not see any trees there. That's all the
information I have at this time but I can, we can review that.
Bob Klein: That's a real concern. I'm sorry but to not know where there's, how many trees did
you say are there?
Audience: There's about 10.
Bob Klein: There's probably 10 trees that are 50 feet tall. Pine trees and to not know where
those trees are, that in itself should be cause of, I would think would cause some pause to just say
let's go back and revisit this and I'm not trying to put, I'm not trying to make Jeff out as a bad
guy here. I'm just saying that seems like we've raised an issue that needs to be addressed and we
need to really figure out where those trees are before we just say they're not there.
Hoffman: Commissioner Kelly I'd like to address that. We know exactly where those trees are
and to try to keep those is not going to happen with this type of construction and so you can't
take that row of trees and build this facility. Build this trail. Build this cul-de-sac and pretend
that those trees are going to stay there. It's not feasible. We know where they are at. We've
studied that. You cannot keep those trees. They've been growing. They're matured. They
need, if you want to keep them you need to keep 30 feet on either side so if you want to keep a
60 foot swath through this park that's where you need to start. It's not possible to keep them in
their current location and their current growth size.
Bob Klein: What...if the park wasn't put in?
Hoffman: Then the trees could stay.
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Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
Audience: Aren't the trees kind of right about where that turn around is?
Hoffman: Some of them are.
Audience: Yeah.
Hoffman: Some of them are in the cul-de-sac, correct.
Bob Klein: And that cul-de-sac's going in regardless?
Hoffman: Correct.
Audience: And we're for the cul-de-sac. We're for a turn around at the end of the street.
Audience: Is the cul-de-sac going to have the parking spots regardless or is the cul-de-sac
starting with a cul-de-sac and then you're adding on the parking spots once the park comes
through?
Hoffman: The cul-de-sac will have the parking spots when installed with the anticipation that
the park will be going in.
Audience: Once the cul-de-sac...what's the timing on that?
Hoffman: I'm not exactly sure. Likely later this fall and then finishing up next year.
Scharfenberg: Todd what is the timing too on the treatment facility? The start of building of
that.
Hoffman: It's well underway.
Scharfenberg: Oh, okay.
Tsuchiya: If the cul-de-sac is there and touching on the concerns about after dark activities by
teenagers and stuff, regardless if the park is there the cul-de-sac is there and the cul-de-sac seems
to be the magnet for that kind of activity. Wouldn't that be the case? I mean it's a secluded spot
even without the park there so the cul-de-sac's going to be there so even without a park you're
still going to have an issue of a dead end street, probably not very well lit and with trees there
maybe the neighbors wouldn't see what's going on unless they're being very observant up there,
which they may be but it still seems like it's going to be a magnet for possible illicit activity with
or without the park there. Or am I missing something there?
Audience: It would be more so with the picnic tables there for them to you know...
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Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
Tsuchiya: Sure yeah but I don't think they're not looking to sit down at a picnic table. I think
they're just looking for a secluded spot to do whatever.
Audience: I think if we had a cul-de-sac without the parking spots you've have less of that
because if it's just a quick turnaround there's not really anywhere to put your car to hide. To do
whatever you're going to do but since there's 3 spots there that's the concern of the turnaround
in the park. It's the parking spots becomes the problem. Because you have parking spots in a
secluded area.
Tsuchiya: But only if they're there to do something illicit.
Audience: ...if they're sitting if it was after dark...
Tsuchiya: Well then they shouldn't be there in the first place so any parked car there after dark
would be suspicious whether or not.
Hoffman: Well that's not true. Park hours are up until 10:00 p.m. which many times it's dark.
Tsuchiya: Yeah so if they're there after 10:00 p.m. it doesn't matter what they're there for.
Kelly: Thank you Lisa, Judy, Bob and David for your comments and Todd thank you for your
comments. Steve you're still wanting to talk?
Scharfenberg: I'd like to make a motion if nobody else has anything else to ask or?
Kelly: Okay. Anybody else have any questions before we go to a motion? Steve you're on
deck. You're on I mean.
Scharfenberg: Okay. Well given that we have not everybody on this commission has been able
to see this property and we have 3 new members of the commission here tonight and given that
we're not under a time deadline to do something with respect to this motion I would like to make
a motion that we table any approval of this and would recommend that we have a meeting of the
commission at 6:30 before our next May meeting out at this facility like we do with other things
so that Meredith and Ken and Grant can all see so they're voting members. They I think should
have the ability to see this land and kind of what people are talking about to be able to make a
good decision on what to do so my motion is to table this for a month and bring it up for next
month for May and in the meantime we would have our, have a meeting out there at 6:30 or
whatever to view the land.
Kelly: There's a motion that we table this for, until our next meeting. That we schedule a
meeting at the park before our next meeting, so 6:30 would be probably about the right time and
maybe 6:15. Somewhere in there. Is there a second?
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Chanhassen Park and Recreation Commission—April 25, 2017
Echternacht: I'll second it.
Kelly: And we have a second. Motion is that we table. Discussion for a month. We have a
meeting at the park and then we talk about it at the next meeting. It's been seconded. Todd.
Hoffman: So the meeting, do you want to invite the neighbors to the meeting or not invite the
neighbors?
Kelly: Steve it's your motion.
Scharfenberg: I kind of thought about that after that. My motion is not to invite the neighbors.
Kelly: Okay. The motion is not to invite the neighbors. So we have a motion that we, again to
go over the motion. That we table it for a month. That we have a commission meeting before
our meeting at Manchester Park and that we revisit it in a month and it's been seconded.
Scharfenberg moved, Echternacht seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission
table the proposed park master plan for a new neighborhood park to be constructed
adjacent to the West Water Treatment Plant until the next regular meeting and that the
Park and Recreation Commission members meet prior to that meeting at Manchester
Park. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 8 to 0.
Hougham: And Cole one just clarifying point for the people out in the audience. Everybody is
welcomed to come to attend our actual meeting. It would just be the meeting at the park.
Kelly: Yeah you're always welcomed wherever we're at.
Scharfenberg: Yeah.
RECREATION PROGRAM REPORTS: 2017 EASTER EGG CANDY HUNT
EVALUATION.
Kelly: Katie, I think you're up and we've got, talk about the Easter Egg Candy Hunt evaluation.
Favro: Yes, thank you Chair Kelly and commissioners. The 34th Annual Easter Egg Candy
Hunt was held on Saturday, April 15th at City Center Park. We had about 247 kids register
which is a little bit lower than the past few years due to the amount of rain that happened on
Saturday morning. We still had about 300 people attend this event which I thought was pretty
incredible actually because it was kind of down pouring but I think everybody had a good time.
It's definitely one that people are going to remember going to the Easter Egg hunt last year when
it was down pouring so it was 300 very dedicated Easter Egg hunters. All the participants
received a candy bag with some trinkets and a raffle ticket. We did the raffle at the end and they
23
MOW
Park and Recreation Commission—May 23, 2017
Scharfenberg: Okay, thank you.
RECOMMENDATION TO CITY COUNCIL TO ACCEPT AND APPROVE PARK
MASTER PLAN FOR MANCHESTER PARK.
Scharfenberg: We were all, all the commissioners were out and took a tour of the site earlier this
evening and were provided with information from staff regarding location of the park and the
cul-de-sac and I'll turn it over to Todd to present some additional information.
Hoffman: Thank you Chair Scharfenberg and members of the commission. This evening
following last month's staff report we put together a presentation which goes back to the history
starting in '05. Even back to 2003. Talk about the history of the site some of which I reflected
on when we were out there this evening so I won't belabor those details as we go through the
presentation. So this is the sign that was placed on the property. This was at the bottom of the
hill. We were standing behind the sign just up on top of the hill. City of Chanhassen future site
west water treatment plant and park and the sign was there for over 15 years. Background on the
water treatment plant. '03 there was the study that recommended the two filter plants. The east
field was recommended first because it contained the worst water on the east end of town so that
one was built downtown and then the construction started in '05. At the same time the City
purchased that property that we stood on this evening at the Lake Harrison development for the
future west water treatment plant and a small neighborhood park. It was really the price tag, $16
to $20 million dollars that took the City and the City Council a long time to find the ability, the
funds and the support to create that second water treatment plant. That obviously was recently
done in 2016 and the site back in '05 was paid for using a combination of park dedication funds
and water utility funds to help pay for that particular piece of property that we were standing on.
So here's the water plan schedule starting on May 9th with the City Council approving, May 9,
2016 when the City Council approved the preliminary design. Goes through all the
neighborhood meetings, the public meetings. As the Parks Director I was at the majority of
those public meetings for the water plants since it also involved a park and I had nobody during
those meetings come up and say they were in opposition to the park. I did have a good number
of people come in and say they were happy that the park was finally being built. They wish it
was builtfirst before waiting 16 years for the water treatment plant or 15 years for the water
treatment plant to go up. There was one family that had either 3 or 4 young boys that lived up in
Lake Harrison and she was like finally the boys, I can take the boys to the playground before
they're too old to even go and so I know there's people out there that support the park plan and
they did show up and express those opinions at least in those neighborhood meetings. Those
public meetings. Important date at the bottom is that the water treatment plant will start up in
April of 2018. The site will be largely completed by then. The water treatment plant site and the
cul-de-sac and then the park, we can come in and add our piece. We're the last, if approved
we're the last piece of the puzzle on the site. This was the first, 1 of 3 concepts that started in
June of 2005. So immediately following the acquisition of the property this was a concept from
'05. Concept 1. There's also Concept 2 and Concept 3. Just kind of twisted the building around
and did a little different things with the park but as you can see the water treatment plant
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Park and Recreation Commission—May 23, 2017
switched directions but the park is largely the same, at least in concept. A playground and a
shelter and the cul-de-sac with this parking stalls. Then following the approval started in 2013.
This was in 2014. Again preliminary water treatment plant layout and site layout for the park.
Somewhat similar. Siting the water treatment plant was the most difficult part. You know the
elevations were obviously a big deal so how far do you push it into the hill and so that piece of
the puzzle moved around quite a bit. This is another site layout on 5-9 of 2016. And all of these
documents were included in the water treatment plant public hearing process. Planning
Commission. Paul, if you recall Paul Oehme the City Engineer/Public Works Director came to
your meeting and presented the plan and the park plan. This is getting close to the end and so
this is a project rendering for the water treatment plant and the park on 6-22-2016. Just before
the approval of the water treatment plant project itself. The site continued to be refined. This is
a rendering of where we were standing so you can see the picnic shelter is shown in this. The
cul-de-sac with I think it's got some cars parked in there just on the left hand side and then the
water treatment plant as it cascades down the hill and the stormwater pond down in front. So we
were standing at the top of that building right between the shelter and the building site right
about at that location. These renderings were used in the public hearing process and the approval
process for the water treatment plant. The same company this is designing the water treatment
plant, WSB and Associates was retained by the City since it made for a seamless process. They
knew the grading plan. They knew the landscaping plan so we hired them to do this park plan
for the park and so that was Mr. Jeff Deitner who was here at your last meeting and Bailey
Krause at WSB presented this plan. We looked at a variety of options. Frankly there's just not a
lot of space there so there's not a lot of options to do a lot of different things with that park site.
There would be swings in this container. It's large enough which are very popular and then a
playground structure for 5 to 12 year olds. So that's the plan as presented at your last meeting.
These are the half mile park service areas. So you look at the top circle, that's Pheasant Hill
Park. The bottom is Sugarbush and the center is Manchester and there's quite a few homes in
the Lake Harrison area and then the Highover area which would be right in the bullseye of the
Manchester Park service area. And then obviously everybody on Manchester and north. The
parks,the Park and Recreation System Plan says that there'll be a park within a half mile of
everyone's front door. A neighborhood park in our Comprehensive Plan and it's really an
important distinction in Chanhassen. I was on the phone today with the Avienda developers and
we were talking about that plan. She was, expressed that she was very impressed that we were
seeking to do something on Avienda. She said many cities would just let commercial and
housing come in and they wouldn't even think about the park needs so we talked about the
history of that and really what you find is, if you study this down people love national parks.
They love county parks. They love state parks but the park they visit most often is the park just
down the street from their house so that's where they're going to spend most the time. They gain
a lot of value meeting their neighbors. Raising their children there and so that's why the City has
embraced that park within a half mile of everyone's front door. If you choose to use it you can
use it. It also provides value for your home because it's there for the next family to take
advantage of when they move in and purchase your home if you happen to move out. So those
are park service areas. This is not,the capital is not in this year. It's in next year and so the 2018
park fund capital improvement program includes $125,000 scheduled in 2018 to install the first
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Park and Recreation Commission—May 23, 2017
playground. The playground, wood fiber resilient surfacing and the picnic shelter. We will act
as the general contractor. If we were to bid this out they estimated that work would cost
somewhere between$220,000 and $240,000 and so it's a good value for the way we do these
parks. Pioneer Pass Park was the same thing. When we quoted out or designed Pioneer Pass
Park it was on the same process as this. A landscape architect was hired. They developed a
plan. They gave us a price and we did it internally just simply because your park fund can't be
stretched that far and we built that park for about half of what that contractor cost was. It's
similar here and so we think that $125,000 we'll be able to manage the presentation that you
have before you. The plan that you have before you. The park construction schedule would be,
occur in the spring and summer of 2018 so we would allow the grading and the cul-de-sac and
the trail to all go in this summer and fall as a part of the water treatment plant. First thing spring
of 2018 our crews would move in. Finish grade the site to prepare for the container. The
playground container and the shelter. Have that rocked and concreted. Order up the shelter.
That will come in and then order the playground. You can meet with a group of the neighbors
and select the playground. We would create that budget. Do an RFP for saying to a variety of
vendors we'll pick 3. We have, whatever the number will be. $40,000 for a playground. Give
us the best playground that you can in this age group. These swings and then we'll pick it with
the neighbors and then we'll install it so the estimated completion date then would be next July
of 2018. Mid July. That's the background we have. I'll be happy to answer questions of the
commission. So tonight we're back at the recommendation to the City Council to approve this
park master plan, if that's the direction you would like to take it and then once the council
approves it then we can go ahead and plan for the construction of the park site.
Scharfenberg: Do we have anybody here from, that wants to speak to this topic in the audience?
No? I would open it up then to the commission, any questions for Todd?
Kelly: Todd I think you mentioned it out at the site but out of the park and rec CIP we spent,
was it $400,000 on that property?
Hoffman: That's what I recall but I would have to double check. I recall the purchase price was
around a million and I believe the split was $600,000,there about's for the water fund and about
$400,000 for the park fund but those may be incorrect but I know they're close.
Kelly: Thank you.
Scharfenberg: Any other questions about the Manchester property? Any questions for Todd?
Echternacht: Steve I'd like to make a proposed motion then.
Scharfenberg: Okay.
8
Park and Recreation Commission—May 23, 2017
Echternacht: I propose that the Park and Recreation Commission recommends that the City
Council approve the proposed park master plan for a new neighborhood park to be constructed
adjacent to the west water treatment facility and approve the park name of Manchester Park.
Scharfenberg: We have a motion from Commissioner Echternacht. Do we have a second?
Kelly: Second.
Scharfenberg: Second from Commissioner Kelly. Any discussion?
Echternacht moved, Kelly seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission
recommends that the City Council approve the proposed park master plan for a new
neighborhood park to be constructed adjacent to the West Water Treatment Facility and
approve the park name of"Manchester Park". All voted in favor and the motion carried
unanimously with a vote of 9 to 0.
LRT UPDATE.
Scharfenberg: Next under old business, Todd can you give us an update on the LRT trail and the
process that's going on with FEMA?
Hoffman: Be glad to. Many of you are familiar with the two LRT trails that we have in town.
On the north side we have the Lake Minnetonka Regional LRT trail. Cuts the corner of
Chanhassen but then that leads to Victoria. Goes to Hopkins and then to downtown after that. If
you're in Hopkins and you decide to take the Lake, or the Minnesota River Bluffs trail you can
come right out of Hopkins and come right down into Chanhassen and the Minnesota River Bluffs
LRT trail. Very popular regional trails. Old railroad beds. The railroad ties and the tracks were
taken off some 25 years ago and then the aggregate surface was improved and those have been
used as regional trails ever since. On June 19th of 2014 we had the last of a series of rains. I
think the rain that night was about 6 inches but that followed about another 8 inches that we had
had the previous 30 days or so, so the soils were excessively saturated and there was a significant
slough just to the east of Highway 101. Inbetween Highway 101 and Pioneer Trail and so the
trail was closed and what happened at that time is people continued to use it because the closure
was just some signage and a few barricades and so if people wanted to continue to use it. Then
the land owner who was the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority and so it's owned by
the Railroad Authority of Hennepin County. They closed it off permanently and then they
sought federal funding, FEMA funding to improve that or to restore that slough. The project
budget was in the one million dollar range and that was not approved by FEMA and Hennepin
County Regional Railroad Authority appealed twice over the last 3 years. In that second appeal
now was extended and then denied so finally denied so FEMA is not going to finance the
restoration of that. Tomorrow afternoon Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority will be
in this building to hold a meeting between the local cities, some of the county agencies to start a
conversation about now what? Now what do we do? So at least it's staffs opinion that we're
9