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PRC 2004 12 14 CHANHASSEN PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING DECEMBER 14, 2004 Acting Chair Kelly called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.. MEMBERS PRESENT: Tom Kelly, Jack Spizale, Paula Atkins, Kevin Dillon, and Ann Murphy. MEMBERS ABSENT: Glenn Stolar and Steve Scharfenberg STAFF PRESENT: Jerry Ruegemer, Recreation Superintendent; Corey Hoen, Recreation Supervisor; Susan Bill, Senior Center Coordinator; Dale Gregory, Park Superintendent; and Susan Marek, Rec Center Director APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Acting Chair Kelly asked to move the Senior Center report to before new business. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: None. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS: None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Spizale moved, Murphy seconded to approve the summary and verbatim minutes of the Park and Recreation Commission meeting dated November 23, 2004 as presented. SENIOR CENTER UPDATE. Bill: We’ve been pretty busy the past 6 months in the senior center. I guess the highlight has been the openings, the grand opening of the new center which officially took place th September 18. We had about 175 people there. By having the new space we’ve been able to, I guess I’ve been able to increase activities and numbers of the programs. The number of the programs and even double book. Some days we have activities going on in the new spaces as well as the old space. We had a Christmas party this year, instead of at the Rec Center. Not that we didn’t like it at the Rec Center, but that was really well attended. We had a catered meal with 75 people and they really enjoyed having it here. And I heard very, very, very, very many positive comments and people are so thankful for the new space they have. And if you haven’t been there, it really is a lovely facility. Just some other things. Every other month we have big activities. A meal and activities. We’ve been averaging 50 to 70 people per activity for a lunch and entertainment which is really wonderful. The old space didn’t allow that but now the new space does. I guess another highlight, we were one of the fortunate people to have a flu shot clinic. We gave 160 flu shots, which was wonderful and by having that there was a whole group of new people that haven’t been to the senior center and they were able to see the new space. And lastly I guess another thing I mentioned it briefly, I think in June or July, was the Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 weekly column and the coverage we’ve been getting in the Chanhassen Villager. That has just been tremendous. It’s just done a tremendous job to heighten the awareness and bring new people. When we have various events, I’m always amazed. You know it doesn’t sound like much but we can get anywhere from 5 to 10 new people coming to activities and that in a large part is due to reading it in the paper. So that’s kind of, everything’s going great. The programs have been going great. We’re thankful for our new space. It’s almost done. The last of the furniture will be delivered this week and that basically is the reception area right when you walk in and my office furniture. I’m not in my office yet because the furniture has been back ordered. So anyway, we’ll be anxious hopefully by the new year to be completely in our new space. Kelly: Great. Any questions from the commission? Dillon: Where did you get the flu shots and did you have any trouble getting all that you needed? Bill: We were fortunate. I booked the flu shots in last June with MVNA, Minnesota Visiting Nurses Association and I booked it for I think the third week in October and we were one of four out of 200 centers that got flu shots. We were just lucky. But I bet I turned away well over 100 people, that called but they only had a certain amount…we had people sign up. It was just a matter of you know getting it on the books early and they were able to deliver so we were fortunate. Kelly: Thanks. Bill: Thank you. I’m sorry, I have another commitment so I have to go so thank you. Happy Holidays. Kelly: You too. YOBERRY FARM, REZONING OF PROPERTY FROM RURAL RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT TO RESIDENTIAL SINGLE FAMILY DISTRICT. Jerry Ruegemer presented the staff report on this item, showing the service area for parks in this area. Kelly: Any questions from the commission? Spizale: I’ve got one. How many homes are they planning on putting in in that area? Ruegemer: You know Jack, I wish I had that answer for you. My guessing it’s going to be, you know relatively large. The topography certainly puts some limitations on the number of houses. I don’t have a number for you but, I don’t know a guesstimate would be probably 30 to 40. Rough numbers. Dillon: Who’s the developer? 2 Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 Ruegemer: That is also a good question. It’s not Lundgren Brothers. The name is escaping me right now. Kelly: Houses in that same price area as Longacres? Ruegemer: Yeah, their projection right now is to be in that probably $500,000 plus range. If not more. There’s actually some very nice views on top of that, kind of that knoll area. If you stand on top of that hill, you can look back to the east and see Paisley Park. So there’s very beautiful views I imagine up on top of the hill. Those houses will probably be worth a little bit more than 5. Kelly: Are there sidewalks or trails that take you from Lundgren all the way to Sugarbush? Ruegemer: There’s a sidewalk that runs along Longacres Drive, kind of on the, kind of the northern side. You can kind of see that outline right here. That will connect well both east and west, and you can go over to Galpin Boulevard and then head south into Sugarbush Park. Kind of through here. Kelly: How about to Minnetonka West? Can you get to Minnetonka West via sidewalk or path from that parcel? Assuming that they connect up to the existing neighborhood. Ruegemer: Yes I believe you can. I think that goes up to the Highover, is that correct Dale? Gregory: A trail to Highover? Ruegemer: Is there a sidewalk or trail going… Gregory: There’s a sidewalk, oh to Minnetonka? No. It’s not tied together to Minnetonka. Dillon: Well if you go actually up to Highover and then to Lake Lucy, then you go right, then you jog left and that, I can’t think of the name of that street, but you go to the top of that next cul-de-sac and there’s a little trail that cuts you right through. Ruegemer: I thought that there was a connector up that way. Gregory: Yep, if you go over, if you go north on Galpin and Murray Hill Road. There’s a trail that will go through from that Murray Hill area but there’s no sidewalks or trails getting over to that point from, you’d have to actually walk on the street at that point. Kelly: You’re saying what can, if someone, can they take a bike and either access Minnetonka West or Sugarbush without actually going on the road? Do you know where the proposed underpass is supposed to go? 3 Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 Ruegemer: I always heard it was you know, I thought south of the main entrance. Depending on kind of the lay of the land but there are some limiting, I think that was talked about when Jerome Carlson was in for that, was that Jerome Carlson’s piece, that Highover. I think he developed that and I know they had talked about it at one time and I thought it was somewhere in the Highover area so I’d imagine it’d be relatively close to the entrance of the park. Kelly: Just one more question, I apologize. What’s the parcel of land to the right? Looks like there’s a. Ruegemer: Right here? Kelly: Yeah. Is that Lake Lucy? Ruegemer: That’s Lake Harrison. Kelly: Lake Harrison, okay. Ruegemer: Jerome Carlson’s homestead is kind of right in, kind of in this area right here. Kelly: Questions? Dillon: So what would, if the platting of the property were to happen today, what’s the amount of money that would be obtained? Ruegemer: Well I believe the fees were just raised last night and I don’t have that dollar amount on that. I could probably e-mail that information probably tomorrow morning because I don’t have the number of acres. Spizale: I’ve got one question Jerry. That land that’s to the right of that. That open land. Is that something that will be developed some day that somebody owns or is that? Ruegemer: I would probably doubt it because it looks like there’s a. Gregory: It looks like the property lines go right there. Ruegemer: Yeah, as you can kind of see. Probably can’t see that maybe but here’s, for this neighborhood right here, it looks like, if you see these lines right here. Spizale: Oh I see. Ruegemer: That looks like that’s the property lines that go back into that particular area so if you look at Jerome Carlson’s piece, it looks like he still is the property owner in this location. This piece goes back into this area. These neighborhoods right here kind of go 4 Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 into, it kind of pie’s. A rectangle shape back into that, kind of that vegetation for Lake Harrison area so I would say probably not. Spizale: That area north of, that’s all owned by one person? Ruegemer: This? Spizale: Yeah. Ruegemer: I believe that’s Jerome Carlson. He used to own Instant Webb Company. This access is out to Galpin Boulevard right here. And I believe, now Dale you said that you guys are mowing that utility. Gregory: Correct. Ruegemer: That easement is kind of a pedestrian walkway going to the north and south. Gregory: Correct, yeah. We started that last year. Todd took us back there and we’re supposed to mow that. Ruegemer: Yeah, I think that’s a condition over there. I think outlot dedicated to the city for that area. Gregory: I believe so. Ruegemer: So that’s also kind of an unofficial connector, north and south. That’s kind of where those big power lines go through. Kelly: What are we going to do? There’s no motion or anything with this. It’s more kind of just a information. Ruegemer: Yeah, I think the, what we’re trying to do tonight is kind of gauge discussion. I think Todd did have a recommendation in there for the, accept the park fees. Kelly: Any discussion from the commission regarding. It seems like, based on what you had said, it seems like there really isn’t much you can do with the land. Sugarbush is what, maybe ¾ of a mile away? Roughly. Ruegemer: Approximately. Kelly: They’re going to be pretty close to Minnewashta, which is a phenomenal park once you get back there a little bit. Ruegemer: …getting across 41 but. Kelly: Yeah. 5 Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 Dillon: And if the sidewalk connects to Highover, I mean it’s really only a hop, skip and jump to the school. I mean it’s no, and you don’t have to go along the main road. I mean there’s an easy back way to get there. So it’s actually, I mean that’s kind of a busy road, 41. I wouldn’t be, I wouldn’t be crazy about living off of it for me but in a lot of other ways that’s a great location. We drive by there all the time so I’ll take a look at it just to see the hill you’re talking about. Also I know on Highover, the homes that are at the south end of that Highover Street, there are some beautiful views. I mean you can really see for miles. I mean, it’s so flat down there. You get a high spot like that and it really stands out so I don’t know. It doesn’t look like yeah, like there’s no good place to put a park there. There’s no real need for a park I don’t think either. Take the money and run. Kelly: Would this be the only development in Chanhassen that doesn’t meet the half a mile park criteria? Ruegemer: It’s one of them. I mean typically a lot of the developments that the commission typically reviews is within the half mile service area. You know obviously Longacres, there’s two parks to the south but those are on private association parks. Kelly: Yeah. Association pays for everything there, yeah. Okay. If there’s no more discussion I guess we can, I mean would you like us to make a motion it sounds like? Is there a motion? Dillon: I’ll make a motion to approve the, Todd’s recommendation that we get the fees in lieu of making them set aside land for a park. Spizale: Okay, I second it. Dillon moved, Spizale seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission recommend to accept park and trail dedication fees in lieu of parkland and trail construction. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. Kelly: Thank you Jerry. Ruegemer: Yep, thank you. CHANHASSEN DOG PARK DISCUSSION. Murphy: As Todd report says, Carver is still pursuing that through their commission and we know that they’re now looking at possibly Carver Park also for a dog park location, as well as Minnewashta. We don’t have an exact update of where they are because they didn’t attend the meeting that we asked but hopefully we’ll get an update from them soon. And then in our discussion, one of the suggestions was, and actually Todd made was Lake Ann. There’s that area just west of the entrance. Just south of the maintenance area that is kind of a wooded, very wooded area but a lot of people are using it now to run 6 Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 their dogs, although it’s not an official dog park so that is one option that we could pursue. And both Jack and I visited the location and the size is good. I think it’s what, 10 acres? Is that about right? Something like that and then, but it’s very wooded so for a dog park you really need a, you need some open area. I mean most of the woods could probably stay but we think we would need a clearing there to have a play area but, at any rate that’s one of our options. And the other thing we’re talking about is working with the organization called ROMP to meet with City Council at the next time we have a joint meeting with them to discuss the dog park. Because they’ve been through so many of these discussions with city council and over coming a lot of the objections that different city councils have had. They have a lot of good planning materials and things for handling those kind of objections and concerns that people might have about dog parks. So they’re a good resource and I’ve been in contact with them. I just have to nail down whenever our next joint meeting with City Council is, that we would discuss that. And they would be willing to come. And present with us so, that’s about it. Jack, did you have anything to add? Spizale: In our discussion too, I think there’s kind of a cross country ski trail that goes through there. Gregory: We have a trail that we don’t really maintain it a lot but it really came about when we cut a bunch of elm trees out of there. We actually made some roads through there and that and there is kind of a figure 8 through that whole area. Spizale: We also kind of felt that we’d just be taking a portion of that but we could erect a fence and still keep the trails for the dogs in the open area and kind of run that cross country ski trail around the outside part of the fence. So they could still keep their trail. We thought it was kind of great because it had good parking. I don’t think most people even know that the city owns that piece back in there. Gregory: I think most people know that that’s, like you say, there’s even a trail in there. Spizale: Right, right. So we didn’t feel there’d be a lot of opposition to it. Just the one thing we’d have to do is, we would have to take one spot into a clearing. Gregory: How big of a clearing would you need are you thinking? Murphy: I don’t know. We haven’t nailed that down yet but you do need an area where you can throw a Frisbee or that’s big enough to throw and like have them chase balls or Frisbee’s or toy, those kinds of things. I guess we’d have to nail that down. Spizale: Maybe that ROMP could give us kind of an idea. The part of having the trail in the woods would be great for the dogs also, but there would have to be some type of a clearing as you came in so you could interact. Murphy: Yeah, in looking at a lot of the dog parks around the Twin Cities, most of them do have a trail. Like a wood chip trail so that people can walk with their dogs and then 7 Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 there’s an open area where they can play, so it’s not, it’s pretty similar to a lot of the nicer dog parks in the area. But like he said, we probably want to nail down how big we want the opening to be and all that kind of stuff. Spizale: And that’s something the city could do pretty easy, couldn’t they? I mean as far as clearing it and. Gregory: Yeah. Dillon: What’s involved on clearing something? Obviously you’ve got to cut the trees down but then for the dogs you have to like yank the stumps out and. Gregory: Yeah, we’d have to really grub all the stumps and everything out and actually make it into a flat area, or it could be a rolling area but still it would have to get all the stumps and everything out of there. It’d be a little bit of work. But like I say, it all depends on the timing and everything else. If it falls in next summer when we’ve got all these other playgrounds that we’re talking about putting up and that, you know actually the 3 we did put up and that, the guys were kind of stretched in getting all that done. Spizale: And we did kind of feel too, because the parking was there. You’ve got the main cost would be a fence. And then working on that clearing. Murphy: And again it’s the one option. Lake Minnewashta option is still there. And then this other option that Carver is pursuing with, we don’t have control over that but. Spizale: And we talked at our meeting I think too also that I already see a lot of people walk their dogs by that park. You know up and down that sidewalk, especially the people from the townhouses and people from the other side of town. We kind of felt that was a good central location where people can, it’s a destination spot. You know they can walk from their house or their apartment to that area. Let their dogs go. Let them run and then walk back so it’s a good, kind of a good exercise thing too so. I don’t think we found another spot that was big enough, did we? Murphy: There wasn’t anything else really. Gregory: Even though it saying no dogs and everything else and that, we work out there. There’s people out there all the time running their dogs. Murphy: It’s become kind of the unofficial dog park. Dillon: You had mentioned that the Carver County’s expanding their options to include the Carver Park Reserve too, is that? So does this mean they’re getting more serious about the idea or they? Murphy: Well like I said, we didn’t get an update from them so they didn’t, they’re sort of in the middle of it and they didn’t want to meet with us quite yet so. 8 Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 Ruegemer: I think what they’re trying to do with the County is kind of take a look at all their options before they make a concrete decision. Whether it’s going to be at Minnewashta or other park locations within their park system. What makes the most sense from a financial standpoint, comprehensive plan standpoint. They’re kind of weighing all the options right now before they go ahead and go forward. Kelly: Have any other cities stepped up with money? Ruegemer: I believe that there was. Actually I think Shorewood I think was $5,000. I think Victoria also came in with I believe $5,000 as well. (There was a tape change at this point in the discussion.) Murphy: Yeah, and they’ve been around for about 7 years and they’re responsible for most of the dog parks in the Twin Cities area. Sponsoring most of them. A lot of it is them working with government to get them funding and some of them they’ve just opened, they’ve done fund raisers and taken a couple years and done a lot of fund raisers and come up with their own money. So people donate to them too. They’re a non-profit so they take donation so they do have, sometimes they have some financial ability to help. I don’t know how much and I wouldn’t want to guess but sometimes they’re willing to help fund some of these dog parks too so they’re good people to stay in contact with. Kelly: Is that something you think if we get more serious about this, have them come in during a meeting and kind of give us some ideas about what they… Murphy: Yeah, that’s one of the things we were going to do. They did agree, the person in charge is Barb Heidamen and she did agree to come to our next joint City Council meeting and work with City Council on over coming some of their concerns and discussing what she’s been through in the past with all the dog parks that they’ve been involved with so. Spizale: I’m just noticing there too, that property that’s just south of that parking lot. Dale, is that used for storage right now or is that, I’m trying to remember what that is. No, further north. That open area. Into the, yeah to the right of that a little bit. That square. Gregory: Well that’s just the green space there. That’s part of the park. As you drive in. Spizale: Yeah, that’s a little bit of open area. I guess I didn’t really notice as far as flat open area. Is that level? Gregory: It’s not too bad. It’s pretty level. 9 Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 Spizale: You know if you could work with that and then go a little bit to the left with that, you might have a good start on a piece of open area and then go into the trail system possibly. Gregory: Directly to the left of where you were pointing there, where you see that brown, that is, that’s the road that comes in from our shed. Goes down and that is a storage area down there. Where we’ve got black dirt and a lot of things down in that area. Ruegemer: That’s going to drop off in that point too. Gregory: Right. Ruegemer: Right along here. Atkins: I know down by the beach, to the west of the beach. West of the volleyball court even there’s a large flat open space that I think isn’t used very often. Gregory: It’s not used very much at all and that, and there is a definite water problem down there. Atkins: Yeah, it’s soggy I know that. And I figure that’s why people don’t picnic in that area but it’s sure a big, flat open space. Gregory: It’s too far for people to walk too to go to a picnic area over there. Atkins: Yeah, but it’s kind of adjacent to the woods, so that would be bear looking at too. It’s kind of soggy when it rains. Spizale: Can you point it out on that. Ruegemer: …roughly about in this area. Atkins: You can’t really see it but it is a big open space. Ruegemer: Closer to Mike Gorra’s property. Kind of on the west side. Yeah, we used to shoot the fireworks down in that area. We were probably within that. I believe I thought that he said that we were within 400 feet of his, probably of his house when we used to shoot the fireworks. His dog used to get quite… Atkins: I used to meet up with his dog. Ruegemer: And it is wet. Very wet. Atkins: But I don’t know, can that sort of thing be fixed easier than pulling out part of the woods? 10 Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 Gregory: Not real easily. The best way to fix that is to raise that ground somehow because we got, we can’t, even when it rains and everything else, it doesn’t run to the lake and that. It’s just, it’s a real problem. We do have some tile down there and that. We can’t get enough of a fall on it to get into the lake. Ruegemer: Point again somewhat, kind of far away from the parking as well, if you’re kind of down in that area. Atkins: Yeah, you’d have to take the trail. Maybe something to look at next time you’re down there. Kelly: Great, thanks for that update. Yeah. RECREATION PROGRAM REPORTS: 2004 TREE LIGHTING CEREMONY . th Ruegemer: Okay, we had our tree lighting ceremony December 4 on Saturday from roughly around 5:00 to about 6:00. It actually wasn’t too bad of a night. It was, we had the Chamber involved and that again this year, along with other organizations. Chapel Hill Academy did provide the carolers for that. We also had sponsors from Byerly’s, County Market, Culver’s, Bethel Fellowship, and Community Bank of Chanhassen, so a nice little event there. Did have a nice fire down in our new park down here at City Center Park. It was a very nice, kind of focal point for a community gathering. That’s the second year now we’ve had the tree lighting ceremony in this location, and had roughly about 200 people attend, which was a nice event. Quick event. Mayor Furlong did light the tree around, about 5:20 in the evening, and then Santa Claus did arrive on the aerial fire truck and distributed candy canes to all the kids and parents, whoever would like one. So it was a nice event. Quick event and it’s kind of a fun, good feel event for the community to come out and kind of kick off the holiday season. It will be nice when our tree grows a little bit more so it’s a little bit bigger but we can always buy more lights as the tree grows and make it real nice area so just great event. Brian Beniek, who has played Santa Claus for us for a while, was there again this year. Has a great costume and does a great job. Knows a lot of the parents and kids alike at the event so he can call them by name and people are always amazed how Santa Claus knows them so, it’s kind of a fun event. Charlie Eiler from the parks maintenance staff did work that evening so thanks to Charlie and Dale and the rest of the crew for preparing prior to the event and just really a fun event. Kind of break down on the back the event roughly cost us about $261.00 so pretty cheap event for some good cheer. Kelly: Thanks. Ruegemer: Any questions on that? 11 Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 Spizale: I think your comment about keeping it short and simple is a good idea because of the cold and at a certain point I think yeah, it’s kind of hard to get the kids interested in after the tree lights up. They stand around the bonfire and it’s sort of like. Ruegemer: We’ve tried a number of different things through the years. We’ve tried sleigh rides and hay rides and different music and all kinds of different things since you know the late 80’s. We’ve just about tried everything and we kind of keep just kind of coming back to the keeping it simple theory so, and that’s kind of the road I think that we’re going to continue down. I think it was probably much better run this year, that I took over the event. Corey was out of town in Chicago so I drew the short straw on doing the event so. Spizale: Thank god the lights went on. Ruegemer: It’s a lot of pressure. WINTER PROGRAM UPDATE. Hoen: Thank you Vice Chair Kelly. Provided you a list with all the programs that we at the Park and Recreation Department are offering this winter. This list includes some new programs that we’re offering this winter, along with some old favorites. Some of those include a field trip that we’re taking to Minnesota Timberwolves game. It’s a great event. Great family event. You know parents take their kids. They get dropped off right in front of Target Center. Get picked up right in front of Target Center. They don’t have to worry about parking. Don’t have to worry about any traffic, anything like that. After the game the kids get to go down onto the court and shoot around on the Wolves court and stuff so the kids really have a blast with that. It’s a trip they do in cooperation with the City of Eden Prairie and we’ve had great turnout for it. We’ve had two bus loads full on the previous years we’ve done this trip so it’s a lot of fun. Kids have a great time. Some of the other popular programs we’ve got back again are all of our preschool sports we run through the YMCA. We have preschool soccer, basketball and floor hockey. Most programs, typically they fill up or are very close to filling up each time we offer those. Another real popular event that’s back in is our Daddy-Daughter Date Night. It’s a really fun event for girls ages 4 to 9. Come spend an evening with dad. They have dinner together. We have a dance. We have a face painter. So it’s just a lot of fun. We have some little games and stuff set up for them. That event runs two nights, on a Thursday and a Friday night and typically both nights fill up and we take 45 couples each night so, that’s definitely a lot of fun. Kids have a lot of fun with that. As do the dads. They’re out there dancing, it’s kind of fun to watch. A couple other programs that are back in is some of our hockey and ice skating clinics, so we’re just waiting and hoping that we can run those if we get some ice here so we’ll schedule to start over the Christmas break so. Right now it’s not looking real promising. Another kind of interesting program, Kid Smart Self Defense and Safety training. It’s really a neat event. Kids ages 5 to 12 can come and learn what to do if they’re attacked or a local bully’s picking on them or you know whatever, so they just kind of learn some basic moves to escape and not to fight back. Basically it’s a run is kind of the main focal point of that program. 12 Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 Another really popular program is our Little Shooters Basketball Clinic. That’s for kids ages 6 to 9. We have actually an ex-NBA basketball player that teaches that program, Kevin Lynch who is, he’s from Bloomington, Minnesota. He played for the Gophers and made it to the NBA, so we have a number of kids that sign up for that. The first time we offered it, actually we can take 50 kids and we had that program filled plus a waiting list of like 150 kids or something like that, so it’s been just a great program ever since. Another program that we actually have coming up here in the next week or so, the Non- School Day Adventures. Just started that with the City of Chaska and Eden Prairie. That’s worked out great. We’ve had some really good numbers for that. We take the kids out on field trips. We keep them busy all day on the days when they don’t have school. Some places that we’re going to take them tubing to Elm Creek Park. Take them to Maplewood Maze playground. Going to go see Christmas pageant. The best Christmas pageant ever. Production of Stepping Stone Theater. Go to lunch at Chucky Cheese. Take them to a movie. Go swimming, so that’s all in 2 days so it’s 2 jammed pack days of fun. The kids always seem to have a good time with that so. Other than that, does anybody have any questions for me? Spizale: Sounds like a lot of variety. Kelly: Is Chanhassen the only place where Kevin Lynch has his camps or does he have them all over the Twin Cities? Hoen: Originally it was and he’s kind of expanded now and it’s actually kind of hurt our numbers a little bit. He went into Chaska and is doing a camp I believe over there. He’s going through the school district doing at Bluff Creek and stuff so, our numbers have definitely gone down recently but yeah, we’ve been running two camps. Each time we’ve been filling them both. 50 kids in each one but we offered it one in September and we didn’t fill those, so I think it was kid of related to him offering it in a few other locations as well. Murphy: What’s the age for that clinic? Hoen: The age is 6 to 9. Kelly; It’s a great camp. I mean I think it’s 2 hours on a Sunday, maybe 4 Sundays in a row. Thanks Corey. RECREATION CENTER REPORT. Marek: Commissioners, Happy Holidays from the Rec Center. What’s going on out at the Rec Center? Well it’s the month of December so it’s our annual punch card sale. Now’s your time to get out to the Rec Center and buy your punch card. Buy a 40 punch card and you get 10 free. It brings your per visit price down to $1.84. Best value in town. And usually our highest month of sales also. Many people buy multiple cards during this time, so it should be a good month for revenues for us. Still looking at about 11% online registrations across the board with our new software system. Doesn’t seem 13 Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 to be growing much. I think people are wise to the fact that they get tacked on another 6 ½ percent if they register on line and it’s a lot easier just to call us up or mail it in. So I’m not sure that that number is actually going to grow. We had hopes that it would but under our current fee structure I don’t think that it really will. But the software continues to work well and makes a lot of sense for us in running our recreation program business. We have a lot of teachers that are very advantageous to us. Other things going on at the Rec Center. Let’s see, we have a broken treadmill and a stair climber recently. Seems like every month with one or two pieces of cardio equipment that kind of break down. It’s all 10 years old. 11 years old coming up so, it’s hung in there for the long haul but a lot of it’s getting to the point where it can’t be fixed because the parts aren’t made anymore and there aren’t any machines out there to scavenge. So we are losing some machines and are looking at replacing two machines in the 2005 budget. I’ve also talked with Todd and had him add two machines in for each subsequent year going forward as well so that we can get some replacement going. Certainly our customers are interested in having us upgrade our cardio equipment and they like to throw in that Lifetime is coming so we’d better get on it. Our position is that we’re very happy to have a full service facility come into Chanhassen and we encourage people to look at all of their options and choose what’s right. So I think they’re kind of surprised to hear that we’re happy about Lifetime coming at the Rec Center, but we really are. We think it’s great. Murphy: What machines are they replacing, I’m sorry. Marek: I’m not sure which ones we’re going to be adding yet. We’re waiting for that budget to get approved, and then as we did 4 years ago when we bought new equipment, I just put a little survey questionnaire out and had our customers just check off which thing they’d like to see added. And then we collected that for a couple of weeks. Kelly: And you ended up with two Elliptics with that one right? Marek: The Elliptical trainers, yeah. It wouldn’t surprise me if we actually get a couple more. People like them. Murphy: So those aren’t 10 years old though. Marek: Those are 4. 3? 3 ½. But everything else in there is. Murphy: How about the weight equipment? Is that ever? Marek: That’s 10 ½ years old as well. Fortunately there aren’t a lot of moving parks. It’s very simple mechanic pulley and cable systems, and the cables can be easily replaced. And all of the upholstery on the machines was replaced last year, so they’re actually in very good shape and are easily repairable. So we’re real happy that that equipment is holding up as well as it is. Kelly: Is 10 years the usual life span for some of these cardio? That seems like a long time. 14 Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 Marek: Actually that’s about twice as long. Kelly: Okay. Marek: Yeah, we look forward to changing that equipment over in the coming years. Moving on to staffing. Fortunately I continue to be blessed with a stable staff out at the rec center, so I don’t have a lot of personnel issues. We like to say that Facility Supervisor Tom Knoll has been absent from work for the last 2 ½ weeks with a severe case of sinus infection and sinus surgery and some rare form of pneumonia. Tom did return to work today however and we’re glad to see him back at the rec center. He’s a veteran of what, 9 years. Out at the rec center so we’re real happy to have him back working. Also if anybody’s interested in becoming aerobic instructor, you know we’d love to help you out with that and put you on staff out there at the rec center to teach a few classes. Or if you know of someone. Jerry? Ruegemer: I don’t have any rhythm. Marek: And lastly I’d like to say you know, Corey’s got a lot of programs out there. Special event type programs seem to be doing really good. Some of the adult fitness programs, our enrollments are strong but I think a lot of the youth programs are, it seems like enrollments are slow. So we’re getting them filled but they’re not filling up as quickly as what we’ve seen before, and I think it’s just a matter of people have a lot of options out there now. Kelly: A lot of the youth programs still happen at the rec center. I know there’s basketball that happens. I know it’s not associated with the rec center but the rec center always seems to be pretty busy on the weekends. Marek: Yeah, we have a lot of foot traffic coming and going and some of that is due to the local athletic association programming and then some of it’s our own programming as well, so there’s a lot of traffic out there. A lot of people coming and going, and all of our programs are still running. It just seems like the enrollments are trickling in rather than you know, filling up and then having to cut it off. So I think people are shopping around a little more maybe taking a little longer to decide which programs their children should be participating in. Kelly: Any questions for Susan? Thanks a lot. PARK AND TRAIL MAINTENANCE REPORT. Gregory: Good evening. At the last meeting I was, at the end of September and that, I brought in, we were having little issues with some of our park installation. One was that we had to get everything installed so we could get the poured in place in, in time before we hit 50 degrees, and the problem we were having and that was mostly out at Lake Ann with our slides. Spiral slide. That slide was never installed on a play structure that high 15 Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 and they’ve never done it before so the only thing they had was on paper. When we tried to put it all together, parts didn’t fit at all right. So we worked with that for quite a while and thanks to the manufacturer, they came out and they had to do some special ordering and a lot of work themselves and that but they did get it done in time so at least we were able to get everything all done. We did get the poured in place in time. We got everything done. We did get our trails realigned along side of all our play structures that were put in. We did have enough time, we called in a guy to do the sodding and everything else so come spring and that, everything should really look in real good shape and that. So they all ended up in really looking nice. Kelly: I know we took our family to all three of them and they were outstanding. Especially the, not Lake Ann. Not Bandimere. Gregory: Meadow Green? Kelly: Yeah, oh yeah. And that place was just, it was a cold night and that place was just, a ton of people there. It was, it’s a great area. Gregory: That park was kind of like every day when the guys were working out there, there were people out there watching and waiting and when’s it going to be done and once we did get it to a point where we had the play structure and everything up and that, we didn’t have the fabric and everything in there and we can finish it up and we kept keeping calls like why isn’t it done and when it opened up and that, I mean they were there right there that day and they were, they enjoyed it. Kelly: Yeah, it looks great. Thanks. Gregory: Moving on to the skating rinks. Like Corey says and that, he’d like to do something and that but we’re kind of at a standstill right now. Weather is holding us back. We did have some cold weather the last couple of nights. We got a little bit of frost in the ground. Still not much there. I had the guys go out today with the trucks and we put some water down on the family rinks, just to get a little bit of moisture in. It will help bring the frost down when we get a little more cold weather. Rest of the week looks bad. I mean they’re talking 40 degrees tomorrow and 30’s for the rest of the week so, it’s not looking real well for that. We have been out at Roundhouse working on that. Fixing that up some more and that. Since we took it back over, we’re installing new doors in the front. The one that’s there has a lot of problems and that so we have to get a handicap door in there besides so it’s got to be 36 inches wide. So we’re addressing that. Working on that. Last year we had trouble with the heat in there. The two electric heaters. They had, lucky if they could keep it at 45 to 50 degrees in there, so we have a gas furnace that’s being installed this Monday to help take care of that problem. So we’re getting that up and running and ready to go. We also tapped into the Sentence to Serve people this fall and were able to get them from Carver County. They came up and took care of Pioneer Cemetery for us. They rake it. They groom it. They do a very good job for us out there every year they come up and really clean that thing up for us and so. We can be thankful for those guys. They do a lot of work for us through the whole summer and that. 16 Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 Whenever we can get them and that, we bring them up. They help us out. And the other thing we’ve been working on and that is, I had one of the fellows go out and we completely marked all of our trails this year. We did a lot more marking on the areas where we have residential, going through residential areas to eliminate any damage to residential sod and that type of stuff. Usually we’ll go back and fix it in the spring but we figure if we can take and eliminate the problem ahead of time, we’re going to try and do that this year and alleviate a little bit of our spring work too. So other than that, it’s just been pretty much clean up and get stuff ready for winter and that. We’ve got, the plows are ready and we’re ready to do trails. We’re roughly plowing. I think it’s a little over 30 some miles of trails during the winter time that we’re keeping open. Kelly: Or at least last year it seems like the trails were plowed faster than the roads some days which is incredible. Gregory: Well some of this is, some of them do get plowed. We actually go out about the same time the street guys go out. If they get a snow storm and they need help, then usually Mike calls me and a couple of our guys will go plow streets with them. In turn we still have to have the rec center and the school open. Some of that plowed off by 5:00 in the morning. They open up for different things at 5:00 so I have people out there doing plowing the parking lots and all that sort of stuff. They generally move into the trails around those areas when they’re done. We try to have the trails around the school, so far out opened up by the time school starts. We do the same thing for City Center up here and that. We make sure that those trails are open, so some of the main trails around certain areas, they do, they’re open fairly quick and actually like Kerber Boulevard there, we get, a lot of times we, we’re ready to plow it but we’re kind of waiting. We want to make sure the street goes through and that and gets their’s done first so they don’t wing it back right onto us and that but, we do, I’ve got a good crew and everybody, we’ve got a good system set up to try to get trails open and that, but on a regular snow and that, even starting like that, it will take us starting at 4:00 in the morning. By the time we get the rec center and everything else all plowed, and all our trails open, and working on skating rinks, it will be after 4:00. We’re lucky to get the skating rinks and everything all plowed out yet so. I mean it’s a lot for 7 guys that I got working there. So that’s all I have. Kelly: Any questions? Spizale: I’ve got one. Dale, is the Pioneer Cemetery, is that the one on Galpin? Gregory: Yes. South of Highway 5. Spizale: Does the City have to maintain that? Gregory: Yes. That was given to the City several years ago and we maintain it, mow it. And we do basically everything with that cemetery. Karen sells the lots. Her or I will go out there with the people, if she’s not around, to show lots. Coordinate getting somebody out there to do the digging so. 17 Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 Dillon: People are dying to get in that place. Gregory: They are, yep. It’s actually a very nice little cemetery out there. Spizale: I’ve looked there. It’s pretty close to my house and we’ve walked through there a couple times…walk through there and look at some of the dates and stuff on the tomb stones and some of the stuff written on it, it’s really interesting. Gregory: There are some tombstones out there that are, and I don’t know what kind of metal they’re made out of, but they’re from the 1800’s and that and they are just like they’re brand new yet. They are the nicest. It’s a metal, kind of like…something sticking up and that and they are the nicest and that and I don’t know if it’s a pot metal or what it is but it doesn’t rust. It doesn’t do anything. They’re really cool looking stones. Spizale: I didn’t realize the City had anything to do with it. Interesting. Gregory: It used to be run privately and then they just kind of turned it over and asked the City to take it over. Which we did. Spizale: One more project. Gregory: Just keep passing them on. That’s okay. It’s a variety. That’s what our guys like to say. So we’re not doing the same thing every day. Dillon: So for getting the rinks going, I mean when you kind of, when you get a weather report that it’s going to get cold, will you start flooding them as quick as you can? Is that the plan? Gregory: Right. It’s just like the last two days, it was really cold and people think yeah, why aren’t you out there flooding and that. We still didn’t have the frost in the ground. Without the frost in the ground, any of the water we put on is just gone. So that’s why we put a little bit on today and hopefully that will soak in. We’ll start getting frost but as soon as the frost is in, that we can flood, we’ll be going 24 hours a day. We’ll run two trucks, 24 hours a day. And if we can stay at it, in 5 days we can have our rinks running. Up and running. So they can at least be used by Christmas so. Kelly: Thank you very much. ADMINISTRATIVE: 2005 PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION AND CITY COUNCIL MEETING SCHEDULES AND CHANHASSEN SNOWMOBILE TRAILS. Kelly: Todd gave us the schedule for 2005, and also a quick report on the snowmobile trails. 18 Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 Ruegemer: Todd did meet with the Snowmobile Club back in November. Kind of go through that. Kind of re-establish with the group again. It seems like the group is kind of holding kind of from year to year. With 212 going through, when that is completed that is pretty much going to be the nail in the coffin with snowmobiling here in town. As far as maintaining trails and that sort of thing. We still have committed people on, you know securing land for snowmobile trails, and marking those types of land properly. So there still is a relatively active group out there but they’re kind of just taking it year to year at this point and probably within 2 years, probably all snowmobiling will probably be done…snowmobilers going off trails, that sort of thing. They’ll do, go out there and either remark or educate people as to the right ways of staying on the trails and that sort of thing so they do a great job on kind of the promotion and making sure people are doing the right thing. Kelly: I can’t remember, is the LRT trail south of Pioneer, is that still going to be for snowmobiles this winter? Ruegemer: Yeah, that was approved as part of a process by you guys and by the City Council. And that will be again maintained in 2004-2005. Kelly: Okay. But north of Pioneer, that’s not, that’s Eden Prairie or wherever and they don’t. Ruegemer: Right. Kelly: Okay. Thanks. Okay, commission committee reports. Besides the dog park, any other committee reports or presentations? Ruegemer: can I go back real quick? Kelly: Oh sure, I’m sorry. Ruegemer: Is everybody okay with the schedule for City Council? Murphy: When is our next joint meeting with the City Council? Or do we know? Ruegemer: I want to say March sometime but I don’t have the specific date. Once we get closer to that, we’ll inform you at this meeting as to when that is so, but kind of broken down, and that is depending on if we have items on the City Council agenda then you’ll be required to attend. Your scheduled meeting. And you can also attend the work session meetings at 5:30 as well so. Murphy: I just want to set that up with the ROMP organization for the next time we discuss that. Also my e-mail on here, it’s just a correction if anybody wants to send me an e-mail. It’s ammurphy and then the number 1. I think you forgot the number 1. At St. Thomas. 19 Park and Rec Commission – December 14, 2004 Ruegemer: So ammurphy1@? Murphy: Yeah. Kelly: And I’m actually Thomas.kelly@target.com. Ruegemer: What are you tom? Kelly: Thomas.kelly@target.com. Ruegemer: Target.com? Kelly: Yep. I know Todd, I mean I get e-mails from Todd so. Ruegemer: Okay, anybody else have any other changes? Kelly: Any other comments? COMMISSION MEMBER COMMITTEE REPORTS. None. COMMISSION MEMBER PRESENTATIONS. None. ADMINISTRATIVE PACKET. None. Dillon moved, Murphy seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried. The Park and Recreation Commission meeting was adjourned. Submitted by Todd Hoffman Park and Rec Director Prepared by Nann Opheim 20