Loading...
PRC 2015 12 08 CHANHASSEN PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2015 Chairman Kelly called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Cole Kelly, Brent Carron, Jim Boettcher, Rick Echternacht, Steve Scharfenberg, and Jennifer Hougham MEMBERS ABSENT: Luke Thunberg, and Lauren Dale STAFF PRESENT: Todd Hoffman, Park and Rec Director; Jerry Ruegemer, Recreation Superintendent; Katie Favro, Recreation Supervisor; Jodi Sarles, Rec Center Manager; Susan Bill, Senior Center Coordinator; and Adam Beers, Park Superintendent APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Kelly: We’re going to have an addition to the agenda tonight and I think we’ll put that under Commission Member Committee Reports. We’re going to have a fitness trails report by Commissioner Hougham. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS. None. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS. None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Kelly: Anybody have any changes to the Minutes besides me? Guess not. I do. Let’s see page 7. The last Kelly. Fourth to last sentence down where it says with. That should have been will. Oh Scharfenberg is now in attendance. And then will you send us you know and it should have what you’re looking for. I don’t know how that got missed. And then we can look at it. So two things there and then one thing on page 18. The last Kelly just before the tree lighting ceremony. Second sentence is I worked all days. It should be I worked all day. No s. Those are my changes. Any other changes? Anybody have any other changes to make to the Minutes? Is there a motion? Boettcher moved, Carron seconded to approve the verbatim Minutes of the Park and Recreation Commission meeting dated November 24, 2015 with changes by Chairman Kelly on pages 7 and 18, and the summary Minutes of the Park and Recreation Commission meeting dated November 24, 2015 as presented. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0. Park and Recreation Commission – December 8, 2015 NEW BUSINESS. Kelly: Anything new Jerry going on in the world? I just had to ask. Ruegemer: Not off the top of my head Commissioner Kelly. Kelly: Okay let’s move. Hoffman: One thing we can let you know, looking forward to your January meeting. Staff is assembling the list of potential referendum projects and then we will have those items prepared with an approximate budget allocation and you’ll review those in January to sort that list out and make a recommendation of $6 to $7 million to the City Council so that will be a task in January that we’ll tackle. I would imagine we’ll be upwards of $15 million probably in project ideas or even beyond that depending on what all comes in on the list so you can look forward to that in January. Kelly: Thank you Todd. So am I the only one missing H-1 or does anybody have an H-1 in their packet? Hoffman: That’s verbal. Kelly: Verbal, okay. Oh it says verbal there. I missed it. RECREATION PROGRAM REPORTS: TREE LIGHTING CEREMONY EVALUATION. Kelly: Katie you’re on. Verbal. Favro: Thank you Chair Kelly. So the tree lighting ceremony was this past Saturday and there was about 500 to 700 people probably in attendance. The Mayor introduced the honorary tree lighter who was Karen Engelhardt and she is retiring this year after 34 years of working. Hoffman: 43. Favro: 43, oops. Hoffman: Seems like a long time. Favro: Yeah. Kelly: They both do. 2 Park and Recreation Commission – December 8, 2015 Favro: So the Mustard Seed was one of our sponsors and they brought Santa. Mark Halla was an elf and he brought a reindeer so it’s always fun to have them and this year Adam’s staff built a Santa’s workshop for Santa to come out of so that was exciting and new. Good thing we put a lock on it because a lot of kids were trying to break in and see Santa. Could have wrecked our Christmas real fast because he changed in there. The Southwest Metro Chamber of Commerce, they provided s’mores again this year. Buy Chanhassen provided cookies from Byerly’s, coffee from Caribou and hot cider from Cub. Living Christ Church, they brought their carolers there and so we had a speaker set up so everybody could hear them. And just want to say a big thank you to all who attended, especially Jerry and Rob and Gary and Adam because they were all a big help in setting everything up. And Todd for showing. Kelly: It was a great event. I was there and Commissioner Scharfenberg I saw there. If I missed anybody else sorry, I didn’t see you there. That Santa’s workshop was great. It was, because I was trying to figure out at the last meeting you said you know Santa’s coming a new way and I was trying to figure out the new way. Of course I knew it once I got there but that was great. The reindeer line was packed when I got there, which was early and then when I left it was still packed and I never got cider this year because that line was too long. I mean we had people everywhere. It was just, it was a great celebration and one flip the lights went on everywhere. It was just, it was a beautiful setting. Job well done to everybody. Thank you. Steve anything to add? Scharfenberg: No. I would just reiterate you know wonderful event that is put on that the whole city cooperates in and thankful to staff for everything that they did to get set up for that and we had great weather and just neat to see everybody out in the park and the park lit up. That’s kind of what that park was meant for so. Kelly: Thank you very much. Favro: Thank you. RECREATION CENTER REPORT. Kelly: Jodi, you’re on deck. Or you’re up I should say. Jodi Sarles microphone was not turned on. She provided an update on highlights from the Dance for Fun, Rec Center Sports, Artisan Fair, Holiday Boutique, and adult programs going on at the Recreation Center. Kelly: Questions for Jodi. Scharfenberg: Jodi, and or Todd, maybe you could speak to this as well. Have we heard anything regarding the construction that’s going on from the school that they’re going to be building an after care facility or after school facility. Is that going to conflict with any of, some 3 Park and Recreation Commission – December 8, 2015 of our after school programs? Are we seeing any competition potentially from that new daycare that you’re aware of and if so how are we going to… Hoffman: Yeah it’s interesting you bring that up. Jodi and I just talked about that about an hour ago so. There will be some crossover in services and so that’s a full day daycare. Morning, noon, in the evening I think through you know young teenage aged children and so we’re not sure if they’re going to have outdoor activities. I don’t think they have any outdoor space there. They apparently have other facilities where they have some outdoor programming so it may, you know it’s also going to increase traffic in the area and so we’re going to have new people that see our recreation center so I’m not sure what the overall impact will be but we’ll adjust accordingly and either modify our classes or modify our offerings. We see private businesses in our community as just another something, not necessarily as competition but just as another service provider and whatever they’re providing and if they do it well we’re going to let them do it and then we’re going to adjust accordingly so. Scharfenberg: I was thinking maybe there’s some opportunities there if stuff that maybe they don’t offer that we can say hey, we’re right across the street. Come on over. We’ve got football. Hoffman: Correct. Scharfenberg: And maybe that, there’s an opportunity for them to come over and use and tap into that. Hoffman: Absolutely. They’re going to have 300 students there so that’s a big group and it’s going to be a pretty inspiring building there sitting on the corner. You’re not going to be able to not to notice that thing. It’s going to be very large. Kelly: Other questions? Thoughts. Jodi as usual it looks like it’s kind of quiet over at the Rec and you’ve got a lot of time to breathe. Thanks for all the great work you’re doing over there. SENIOR CENTER REPORT. Kelly: Sue. Bill: Thank you Commissioner Kelly. As always things are…at the Senior Center. Fall has been busy. Busy, busy. Last Thursday we had the holiday party. There was 142 people. Thank you Jodi and staff. The Rec Center is a great venue to have it and it works out perfectly. The Mayor came. Showed his personal side. Greeted many people by name and they really enjoyed his presence so it was a wonderful event. And thank you Jerry also and Jodi for helping out there. Your support is really appreciated. Klein Bank once again will be sponsoring our Life th Long Learning series. I think it’s in the 11 year with a $500 sponsorship so we’re looking forward to that partnership continuing. Senior Advisory Board started conducting new participant evaluations. We are trying to mix things up and offer some programs to attract 4 Park and Recreation Commission – December 8, 2015 younger older adults. Some programs in the evenings and weekends and being geared towards what people that age might be interested in like planning for the future. An attorney, a financial planner and someone from the bank talking about reverse mortgages and I think there were like 18 people. Out of those 18, 10 were people that hadn’t been to anything at the senior center so I’ve got some are from the advisory board and fill out a form and every program that…phone call to evaluate it. Welcome them and invite them back and that’s really learned a lot of information. One thing primarily is our print publications. The Connection is, The Connection and following the newspaper is the way people hear about our events most of all so that’s been something really nice…in the future. And once again trips, programs are filling up to capacity and as mentioned we’ve got, our participants really love our health and education programs… and a variety of people so we’re trying to continue to continue to mix up topics and a variety of programs. Really what draws in people. So busy time. Good time. Lots of good things going on and that’s all I have to say. Just all good stuff at the senior center. Kelly: Well good. I want to thank you by the way for putting on that driving class. I’m saving about $35 bucks a month on my insurance so I appreciate that. And thanks for all the great work you’re doing over there. PARK AND TRAIL MAINTENANCE REPORT. Beers: Thank you Chair Kelly, commissioners. We’re in the midst of a rather slow transition to our winter season. It’s been good to save a little overtime…next year. It’s given us a good opportunity to get some projects done around the shop. …working on Santa’s workshop …before our tree lighting. Getting all the lights up and that whole process usually takes about a week so it’s nice to have a little extra time in 40 degree weather versus finishing… All of our outdoor facilities are now shut down. Docks and gears are all in… The buildings at Lake Ann and there are two that are shut down and winterized. We’re going to do a little painting in the concession area at Lake Ann in the next couple weeks. Irrigation systems are all closed down and blown out which is kind of a 3 week process. It’s good to kind of take our time and go…help us in the spring when we fire everything back up. We just started this week with a lot of our manual maintenance on…small equipment. It usually takes a couple of our guys about a month to go through so we’re taking advantage of the time not out plowing snow getting these things done before the weather… Obviously we haven’t gotten the skating rinks up and running so we’re at a stand still. We have everything…and the rinks been cleaned a few times and we’re just waiting on delivery of our warming houses once we get some frost in the ground. We’re supposed to get…save us some wear and tear on the turf. We’ve been taking advantage again of the warm weather to plow trails and…tree trimming on trails and cutting back the brush so we can get people safely through and vehicles through when it comes to plowing so trying to take advantage of the weather we do have and just kind of waiting for the snow. That’s about it for park maintenance. Kelly: And do we have any forecast for when it’s going to get cold. 5 Park and Recreation Commission – December 8, 2015 Beers: The next 2 weeks look pretty warm… th Kelly: So what’s like the date, is it like January 16 or something that’s the date where we don’t. th Ruegemer: I think it’s the 15. thth Kelly: 15. So if we don’t get it done by the 15 there’s no ice this year? Okay. Hoffman: The current temperature is historic in nature. 1939 was the last time it was this warm in December and if it continues I imagine we might break that record so it’s not out of the question that we won’t have ice until after the first of the year if at all. Kelly: Thank you. Other questions for Adam? Carron: Do we need to bring out the boats for Feb Fest then? Kelly: Again great job on Santa’s workshop and thanks for all the great work that you’re doing out there. Beers: Absolutely. I’ll let the guys know. Hoffman: Maybe we should put in an aerator and just keep it open and use boats instead. Make the news for El Nino planning. COMMISSION MEMBER COMMITTEE REPORTS. Kelly: Commissioner Hougham has got a report on fitness trails. Hougham: Is this on? Alright. So this came about on our visit to Roundhouse Park to meet with the locals around that park area. There was a fitness trail enthusiast who was there asking for a fitness trail to be added to the park. I thought I would look into fitness trails more to see what they entailed. Kind of look at some basic cost and things like that so that’s what I have to go over in the presentation today. So I’ve got types of trails. Different users. Safety. Some very like basic cost and then just some Chanhassen options looking at our parks and then a recommendation. So first there’s two basic kinds of fitness trails. One is like actual like a circuit so on around a park you have multiple different stations throughout the park or there’s another thing called an exersite where within a park you just have one section with all of the equipment. You could have one or two of those throughout a park too. This page just shows some of the different pictures out there. They vary quite a bit. There’s different things from weight machines like little outdoor ellipticals to like this one is more like, I wouldn’t say acrobatics but just like fitness and like stability. This one was for like older adults to work on stability and like movement and stretching, things like that. And then there’s just some examples here of some 6 Park and Recreation Commission – December 8, 2015 other standard equipment out there. So who would use fitness trails? Older adults. Fitness trail enthusiasts like the local person we met at Roundhouse Park. Fans of American Ninja Warrior, a popular television show currently on and mom stroller groups so there’s a group called like Stroller Strides that meets up for like new moms to come with their children to exercise so a group like that could use that as well. So a call on safety, all of these sites that have fitness trail equipment for sale call this out. Todd you could probably speak to this on playground equipment safety, there are very strict safety standards. Everybody who does fitness equipment calls it out that this is not playground equipment so it would just be how we categorize it if and what safety standards you have to meet. So here are some costs. It varies widely on what you would want to do. Equipment itself would be between $6,000 and $20,000. I mean it can go higher if you want more and the bigger fancier things if you want. Wooden structures it would be a lot less. Shipping would be included in that and then Jerry, like installation and maintenance. So for us I think between like $30,000 and $50,000 is something we would budget for that. And then I just put a little chart here together of our major Chanhassen parks and then some other parks. So for example at Lake Ann, Lake Ann has an existing trail we would use. They have parking. They also have parking issues during high time with like baseball and the fields there. They do have bathrooms and they have a nice view of the lake. Lake Susan has an existing trail. They have a playground near the trail. They have parking. They have bathrooms and a nice view of the lake. Bandimere existing trail. Parking. Again parking issues with the high traffic sport fields. And they will, I guess they do have port-a-potties but they will have bathrooms hopefully in the future. The Rec Center has an existing trail and parking and bathrooms within the facility and there’s currently active adults there with pickleball and then people working out so you could have indoor/outdoor recreational use there. City Center, existing trail. Playground near the trail. Parking. Bathrooms. I didn’t know if the library or City Hall would count for that and I wasn’t sure what the senior center, what level those folks would be at or interested in. And Todd I think you said that City Center used to have an existing fitness trail that was taken out. Hoffman: Yean I think it was called a park course. Hougham: Yep and then Roundhouse, so this is where the idea came up so I wanted to include it here. They have an existing trail, a playground near the trail, parking, a nice view of the lake and the neighborhood request. So I just have some additional comments down below to consider for the different things. I think if we wanted to go forward with this we would ask some of like the local people like ask people at the Rec Center. Ask people at the Senior Center what they were interested in to see if there was interest out there. So then just the recommendation. Just review fitness trails and see if it is something that we would want to add to one of our parks. Kelly: Nice report. Very nice. Hougham: Thanks. 7 Park and Recreation Commission – December 8, 2015 Kelly: If we were to do something like this where would be the first place that we would consider putting one where we think that it would get the most use? And I see some of the groups you’re targeting kind of fits my age group. Hougham: Yeah so I think the top 3 for me just thinking about it. I thought Lake Susan was a good option. They have a really good trail system there. It’s a very nice view of the lake. The playground’s at the top so if anybody’s going with kids or grandkids like they can play there. There’s bathrooms there at the shelter and they’re not competing with a lot of other activities so that’s the plus to Lake Susan. Now the plus to both the Rec Center and City Center is that there’s already people there doing recreation so whether they’re there for pickleball or working out at the Rec Center or their kids are participating in a Small Fry sport and then they want to go workout so I think one of those 3 locations would be my top. Scharfenberg: Jennifer with respect to the Rec Center you say that it’s got an existing trail and I don’t know if you’re referring to the bike trail that kind of goes behind because I don’t know that the Rec Center in and of itself has a trail does it? Hoffman: It’s got a sidewalk down the center and a trail on the east side. Hougham: Does it have a sidewalk going out by the fields? Hoffman: Yeah. Scharfenberg: Behind, behind the building but per se I mean it doesn’t go like along the road or, I mean there isn’t I wouldn’t say per se a. Hougham: Like a path around it. Scharfenberg: A path that would be conducive to doing if you were thinking of doing a fitness trail and different stops. Hougham: I think at the rec center you would probably do the exersite because of the, I would say the limited trail there. Scharfenberg: Now the one site that I’ll just throw out there that I note that you don’t have listed and it’s not necessarily a Chanhassen city park but Minnewashta Regional Park given the fact that they’ve now paved that throughout the whole park would be a potential site to consider that again they have the facility. They have the land if we were putting in the money and maybe donating the labor or shared labor or something to that. It’s a beautiful facility and I don’t know if that’s something that they would potentially consider. Hougham: Do you think just the charge to get into that park would limit people’s access and use? 8 Park and Recreation Commission – December 8, 2015 Scharfenberg: Well people can walk into the park now without having to pay. I mean with Brent’s neighborhood they can cross over and enter the park on their own without having to pay so you know, but most people if they were going there for this activity probably would pay. Hougham: Yeah. Carron: Todd can you talk a little bit about what happened at City Center and why it was removed? Hoffman: Sure. It was a wood course. Probably had 8 to 10, maybe a dozen sites. Individual workout sites. It was removed 25 years ago primarily due to lack of use and then also mud holes that were around the facility so. So it ran the perimeter and the lack of use would have been associated with the condition of the course so it ran the perimeter of this athletic field out here and so they had every 100 or couple hundred feet they had another piece of equipment but it was just placed on the grass so there was like turf mud holes around most of the equipment so during any kind of wet weather it wasn’t a very pleasant experience to utilize it and so the park commission at that time just had it removed. Carron: Jen, so if you’re going to do a whole bunch of like stations what, is there like an average cost for each station? So when you say like the cost can go to like $20,000. Hougham: That would be for a whole kit. They sell them in kits. Carron: Oh they do? Hougham: Yeah you can buy like a 9 station trail or an 18 station trail. Carron: Oh okay. Hougham: And so yeah they come in packages. Carron: Gotch ya, alright. Hougham: So yeah you can pick and choose and kind of create your own. Kelly: Now why wouldn’t we consider a place like Roundhouse Park which has less amenities than the other parks we’re discussing? So it would be a way to give that park some more amenities that it doesn’t have. Hougham: Yeah and that’s why it’s definitely in the consideration. I wanted to highlight the other parks as they’re already more frequented. To go to Roundhouse Park it would be a destination. A special destination for it. I don’t think that’s a bad thing but it might not get as 9 Park and Recreation Commission – December 8, 2015 much use as if it’s at Lake Ann or Lake Susan and people are already there and they can do 2 things at once while they’re there. Kelly: So you think it probably makes sense if we’re going to put one in to see how it goes, put it into a higher traffic area to see if it takes off and people use it as opposed to if they don’t use it we obviously, if we decide to put one in and they don’t use we wouldn’t put a second one in. So okay. I understand that. Any other questions? Echternacht: When you were doing your research on these kits, anything on as far as maintenance and time period to have to replace different parts? Hougham: No I didn’t really see much on that. We would have to have you guys I think dig into that for us. Before we make a decision. Hoffman: It’d be similar to playground equipment. Kelly: Which is what, about 15-20 years? Hoffman: Yeah. 15 years and anything with moving parts it may need some maintenance from time to time depending on how many moving parts are involved in each piece of equipment. Like Commissioner Hougham said the surfacing is going to be the big deal so if you could put this in poured in place it would be very attractive. That would drive the cost up significantly but similar to Lake Susan one of the real attractions to those parks is they’re poured in place. Lake Ann as well. Bandimere and so if you could have a station or a site, an extra site and have that on poured in place, just that surfacing would be one of the big attractions to people utilizing that versus sand, pea gravel, woodchips. Hougham: Concrete yeah. Hoffman: I think that would be a consideration if you think you want to a site or individually. You could also do poured in place wherever that individual locations around the park site as well. Hougham: And that, the cost of that was not included in that. Hoffman: No. Hougham: That would be extra. Hoffman: That would add. Carron: Double it. 10 Park and Recreation Commission – December 8, 2015 Hougham: Just a couple of dollars. Hoffman: Yeah poured in place would add $75,000 to $100,000 to the program. Carron: I’d be interested in seeing more or hearing from what other cities that have built these and what kind of success they’ve had. Hoffman: Yeah let’s find out. Carron: And do a little bit more research on that and see if it. Scharfenberg: Especially the one place ones. The one big station, that would be because the reason what Todd said with the poured in place I think that would really lend itself to people maybe going and just using it. Carron: I agree. You’ve got to make it attractive. Scharfenberg: Right. Carron: Yep. Hougham: Yeah there, and there’s a few different types. I was leaning more towards a type more like this one that works more on stability and flexibility and stretching than on like the actual outdoor machines. I just felt like this would get more use and the more very specific use than like an outdoor elliptical. I’ve seen those at different parks and I don’t think I’ve ever seen them in use so I was leaning more towards this but obviously we can talk about what kind of equipment we want. Kelly: Good place to take a survey would be at one of Sue Bill’s senior meetings to see what people would like. Hougham: Yeah. Boettcher: The part too about Lake Minnewashta. I’m on the Carver County Park Commission. We’re actually talking about replacing playground equipment because it’s about 20-22 years old probably so this might be the time to get in and ask Marty and some of the guys if they might include it. Do a joint thing and I agree, I think the 5 buck daily pass is going to stop some people but you know was it $40 for an annual. If you’re going to use it once a week for 10 weeks it paid for itself but it might be perfect timing now. I can bring it up tomorrow night we have a meeting if you’d like. Kelly: Any other questions? Great, thank you Jennifer. 11 Park and Recreation Commission – December 8, 2015 ADMINISTRATIVE PACKET. Kelly: I know reading through the administrative packet I know besides the work you do for reservations and everything Jerry, I notice you write such nice letters and I’ve decided you’re probably the most beloved person at Chanhassen. Todd anything you want to point out that I haven’t in the administrative section? Hoffman: I just want to recognize on record Tom Michel and his years of service. 11 years of service at the Chanhassen Recreation Center and he’s now retired from his second career. He was over 30 years as a, in the post office business and now 11 years at the Chanhassen Recreation Center and I really commend Jodi for maintaining longevity in her employees at this center and they have a good time with the customers there and we wish them well. Kelly: Great, thank you Todd. Before we sign off I think a few people have some fun news they might want to share with us with Adam being one of them. th Beers: Yeah we have a new baby boy. Born October 6…came 3 weeks early so we were not, went to the doctor visit and they said we’re doing this today. We made a couple quick phone calls…and away we went. Hoffman: The dog and the other son. Beers: It’s been a fun transition. Kelly: Congratulations Adam and I think Jennifer has some fun news to share with us. nd Hougham: Yeah I’m expecting and due June 2. Hoffman: Yeah. Kelly: Yeah, congratulations. Hougham: Thank you. Kelly: Now if anybody would like to put it to the question. Boettcher: Real quick Cole. Kelly: Oops sorry. Carron: Are you expecting? 12 Park and Recreation Commission – December 8, 2015 Boettcher: Yeah, it’s puppies actually. Two shelties. No on a serious note I live out by Dave and Cinda Jenson. Their daughter Adele is the one presumably murdered back about November th 18 and I stopped by. Brought them a gift card on Friday and I talked to Cinda and Dave both and just great people. Very strong faith. They wish no ill will on the person that did it. That’s just how their personality is. Their faith and all but if anyone can do anything, I mean if you can give them a gift card, they’re actually going to adopt their little granddaughter. Dave said he’s 58. When she graduates from high school he’s going to be 73 so he’s not looking forward to that. I said well you just sit with the grandparents instead of the parents but they’re really going through something right now in our neighborhood. You know we have people that are bringing them meals. Like a meal for 6 because Cinda’s mom is there and usually a couple of other people. You know keeping the fact that the little girl is 2 to 3 years old too so anything like I said, I just went to Target on Friday and picked up a gift card so they can get her some Christmas presents and stuff. I mean this is, they’re really going through something right now with the holidays so if any of you can keep it in mind and they would definitely appreciate any effort. Hoffman: Are they close to Galpin? Over in that direction. On that side. Boettcher: Just where the stop sign is on Galpin at Brinker. They’re 3 houses in on Brinker on the right so. Hoffman: Yeah. Cinda was involved in some of the trail discussions on Galpin. I remember the family. When I saw them on TV it was just like wow, yeah I know him from here. Know him from town. Thanks Jim. Kelly: Thank Jim. Carron moved, Scharfenberg seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 6 to 0. The Park and Recreation Commission meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m. Submitted by Todd Hoffman Park and Rec Director Prepared by Nann Opheim 13