Loading...
PRC 2015 11 24 CHANHASSEN PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 24, 2015 Chairman Kelly called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Cole Kelly, Steve Scharfenberg, Brent Carron, Luke Thunberg, Rick Echternacht, and Jennifer Hougham. Jim Boettcher arrived during discussion of the 2015 Park and Trail Acquisition and Development Capital Improvement Projects. MEMBERS ABSENT: Lauren Dale STAFF PRESENT: Todd Hoffman, Park and Rec Director; Jerry Ruegemer, Recreation Superintendent, and Katie Favro, Recreation Supervisor PUBLIC PRESENT: Justin Mangold Shorewood Debbie Siakel Shorewood Brad Nielsen Shorewood Lynda Hartmann Shorewood Paul Stelmachers Shorewood Walter Treat Chanhassen APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Kelly: I think we’ll add under I, I’ll just talk a little bit about our meeting with the City Council last night at their work session. Any other additions or subtractions? PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hoffman: Chairman Kelly and members of the commission. Really just pleased today to announce that the grand opening ceremony for the 101 River Bridge was held today in Shakopee and Chanhassen as well depending on which side of the bridge you started on. It was kind of the Sharks and the Jets. The Carver County people started on our side. The Shakopee people started on the other side. Scott County people and then we met in the middle and cut the ribbon. A ceremony was held at Turtles. They had Ames Construction hosted a nice lunch. There were speakers. Carver County Commissioners. Scott County Commissioners. Senator Klobuchar was there. The Mayors of both communities spoke. It was just a very nice ceremony. Lots of excitement in the room. People really enthused about the economic driver that that bridge is going to be. Simply the views off of that new bridge are just spectacular. When people drive across that bridge, 22,000 a day, they’re going to be reminded of what a beautiful area they live Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 in the southwest metropolitan region so just a nice day. Look forward to getting out on the bridge and you know over a million dollars in pedestrian improvements on that bridge corridor so within the bridge in Shakopee and now the new pedestrian corridor on the west side of that bridge, it’s absolutely spectacular. You’ll see a lot of biking activity. A lot of running and regional traffic connections on a pedestrian level between Scott and Carver County so an exciting day and it’s on the news so look for it and then let’s hear from you once drive it and either in a car or by bike or by foot. Thank you. Kelly: Thank you Todd. I’m looking forward to biking across that bridge. Much better than the old one. Hoffman: Yes. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS: SHOREWOOD PARK COMMISSION, JOINT AGREEMENT CATHCART PARK. Kelly: Okay it looks like we have a visitor presentation tonight from the Shorewood Park Commission to talk about Cathcart Park. Alright, good evening. My name is Justin Mangold and I’m here tonight with Councilmember Debbie Siakel, Planning Director Brad Nielsen, and then also from our Parks commission Lynda Hartmann, and Paul Stelmachers. Sorry. What we’re looking to talk about is what we have nd going on with the park that is actually within your city so West 62 is a road that we share and this park was donated to us, I’m not exactly sure how long ago but quite a while and we have maintained basically in unison with you guys and I think kind of not really formal, we have a formal agreement but as far as hands off and not much of a conversation piece back and forth. As I understand it your staff is holding up your end of the maintenance fine and we’ve been doing our end of the maintenance part of it. As we come about we’ve kind of gone through the process here of coming up with what our formal master plan would be for all of our parks. This was done relatively a while ago. It was more than 5 years ago for he did the EA originally did this drawing for us. Generally speaking these are the elements that are there. It was put together a little bit better in this drawing than what is currently in the park as of today. What we’re looking at is a number of the items within that park are reaching the end of their life and trying to make decisions on what our goals are as we move forward as the CIP and where we want to go with it as a park as a whole and so that conversation piece keeps going up as well what elements are important to Chanhassen and we at this point are looking to try and figure out how to make more of an ongoing conversation about this park and what elements you guys are interested in seeing us continue to develop and work on and what may be some of other elements that you know are going to be things that we don’t need necessarily in the park. We have currently a big discussion on our end of whether or not hockey has been worth the money as we look at these hockey board systems and updating that. That’s one of the larger items in that park that’s coming of age and the big question is are we getting enough use to continue that and we’re looking at that amongst all our parks, not just Cathcart but that seems to be our big hot button 2 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 issue for us right now as to elements to stay or go. Currently the tennis court seems well used. The play equipment also well used and I think that’s a lot of spillover to the Little League field is being so well used that we’re seeing an overflow of parking issues. There is a church across the street that people are allowed to park but there are no formal agreements as to parking there or nd not so we’ve run into major traffic issues along West 62 with the fact that there isn’t a sidewalk there and people start parking all over the lawns. It’s a relatively narrow, no curb and gutter type of street. So at this point you know we’re really trying to get some input from you guys and see what your thoughts are on the park and where we should be going together as we move forward with it. Anything you want me to add? Brad Nielsen: No the only thing I would add is that this park as Justin has the plan done a number a years ago and there are…about dating it and some of this, a new tennis court I think shows a double tennis court. There’s a single there now. In all our parks we’re trying to get some kind of perimeter trail around the park and so again as we’re formalizing the changes to that plan that’s where we’re… Justin Mangold: I think the biggest thing that is out of proportion on this drawing now is the parking. Even when this was done we knew that parking was an issue. It continues to become more of an issue but we do not have a nice flowing lot like that now. It’s more of a T type system in that park where you come in the middle of that parking area and I do not know if it’s up to 50 cars in that lot. That sounds like more than I think actually fits there currently. Scharfenberg: Now I believe that Cathcart the hockey rink does have existing boards correct? Justin Mangold: (Yes). Scharfenberg: So one of your question is do you replace those or just leave it as a regular skating area for people I guess correct? Justin Mangold: Correct. Because it’s, you know once again we have a trailer that we would use for a warming house in the winter but there is no formal warming house there and it’s kind of one of those things where trying to figure out the use and the resources to that. I would see you know free skate as an option definitely in the middle but we’re trying to you know weigh those out right now. Scharfenberg: You guys get very, how would you characterize the use of the hockey rink and the free skate area during your winter? Justin Mangold: That’s a loaded question in general. We seem to have quite a bit of hockey still being played as a pick up in Shorewood but we are not seeing any formal use anymore so based on the weather conditions what we get for feedback can really vary year to year as to what we’re getting out there. 3 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 Scharfenberg: Okay. Echternacht: You mentioned there’s only one tennis court. Are you looking at putting a second one in or just, you said that it is getting used. Justin Mangold: Yes it’s definitely getting used. We would say that this park probably doesn’t need a second tennis court. You know this was kind of the landscape architect’s full plan. We don’t you know plan on having a…into the trees at this point. It’s one of those that this is more conceptual than it is, this is what we’re looking to implement in the future. One element that isn’t there now that we’ve been talking about quite a bit with this park is the perimeter trail that they have coming down and around the baseball field. We’re working on trails that are actually going to get this park and the sidewalk that’s going to be coming for those familiar Strawberry nd Lane here from Minnewashta School comes down and turns onto West 62 and there’s been a lot of discussion about having some sort of loop within the park that would continue that and do something along those lines. Kelly: So Justin specifically what are you looking to the City of Chanhassen for? Justin Mangold: I guess specifically we’re looking to say this is a park that’s within your boundaries that we have a general agreement as to taking care of together. We’re wondering if there’s any items that you have of interest in it that you’d like to see, whether it be you elements that are already there or elements that you’d like to see added or if we’re looking to just kind of status quo it. You know is there something that you’d be interested in participating with us on as we look at the CIP of just maintaining what’s already existing. Kelly: So you said you’re kind of redoing, you’re looking at all your parks right now so have you done surveys and that type of thing to see what your constituents are looking for in these parks? Justin Mangold: We’ve done a number of different surveys. We haven’t done anything that’s specifically tied to this park but we do residential surveys based on the activity base more than we’ve done. Kelly: Okay, but what’s the general feeling on what did people feel like they need over there? Justin Mangold: I mean so definitely we get high use in the Little League and tennis, both of those. We’ve had quite a bit of positive feedback. The one that we get very little feedback on would be the hockey. The other element that just passively seems like it is being used well I will say, this doesn’t show currently there is a basketball court so with that lack of parking hockey’s actually a little bit farther over and there’s a basketball court behind that. Kelly: So you’re looking for our, if I’m hearing you right you’re looking for ideas that we might have in the park and possibly partnering dollars. 4 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 Justin Mangold: Absolutely. I mean basically we’re looking at elements of you know how does this fit in with your park system and what you guys have going. Is there anything in this kind of conceptual level that you would like to see us be working towards and then from there also there’s the maintaining of the elements we have and adding to the park and what interests you would have on partnering with us in that regard. Kelly: So what, do you have any specific thoughts right now on Cathcart on what you’re, you know you said certain things need to be done. What specifically needs to be done? Justin Mangold: So we’re trying to figure out how to start a conversation with you to try and figure out we would want it to be moving forward. We’re looking at items that are coming up in the next let’s call it 5 years or so of our CIP of being the end of their life. The big ones being the hockey boards and then the tennis. And then we know we have an issue with parking which is a shared issue with that road that we share and whether or not we should be, if we’re going to you know say update the hockey boards do we need to address the parking at that time type of thing. Kind of that conversation piece. Kelly: So I bike by there every so often so I’m familiar with the park but I haven’t gone by there during any Little League games or anything so I don’t know, I don’t see the cars on the street or that type of thing so how does it work when there’s a Little League game going on there? Do they use both streets? One street or. Justin Mangold: Depends upon the night. It’s a little bit of all of the above. What we have right now is the trying to coordinate schedules to eliminate overlap. We’re trying gap which is always hard with the leagues. What we seem to have is the influx of that time when one game’s ending and another game’s starting. You get real bad traffic jam through there because again it’s a T lot with bad flow and then also on top of that the road is narrow with no curb so we have people half on the street, half on the road parking and kind of working their way around. Carron: You said TKDA put this together for you about 4 years ago. Justin Mangold: I believe it’s been over 5 now. Carron: It has been? Justin Mangold: Yes. Carron: Did they provide a just, I mean I know it’s 5 years old but did they provide an estimate of this compared to what is there now? This plan. An estimate of dollars. Justin Mangold: This whole plan did have an estimate that I believe we forwarded onto you guys. 5 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 Brad Nielsen: We didn’t forward it. Justin Mangold: Okay. Brad Nielsen: They did an estimate. It was like $1.3 million dollars and that just isn’t going to happen. The City just doesn’t have that kind of budget. Carron: Sure. Brad Nielsen: $1.1, thank you. The, and so it’s being pared down. Like I say the single tennis court which is a double. Whether or not the hockey boards get replaced, all that is all part of that whole discussion so. Carron: Sure. Brad Nielsen: And then the perimeter trail that’s been a part, we’re looking then at all the parks nd and particularly this one as Justin mentioned. We’re looking at running a trail across West 62 and Strawberry up to the elementary school and then that would serve that new neighborhood that you guys just put in, the Boulder Cove project. There’s I think what, 39 new homes in there that put some additional pressure on this park. Debbie Siakel: And I think that’s a good point because I think when Cathcart what we’re seeing is there’s been a lot of development around it and as Brad mentioned Boulder Cove just went in so there’s a number of residents that you know cross 7 now and Cathcart is getting used more now than it has in the past so the infrastructure is a little old. As a City we’re looking at Strawberry Lane as kind of a major priority and putting a sidewalk down there so we hear a lot of demand from people you know coming in and existing residents about you know a walk from the City of Chanhassen. You guys have done a really nice job of trails and we’re trying to kind of pick up and make Shorewood a walkable city as well so…so it’s getting to the park and just the increased demand for use of the park. Brad Nielsen: Have you folks heard anything from your constituents because there may be some confusion since it’s in your city area? Have you heard any feedback? Kelly: Not specifically on Cathcart Park, no I have not. I don’t know if anybody else has. Do we get any phone calls? Hoffman: The history’s pretty well known that the church across to the north gave the property to the City of Shorewood, although it’s in the city of Chanhassen. This conversation took place in the late 80’s, early 90’s and that was the precursor of the agreement in 1993 agreement and then there’s a similar discussion of this in 1995 where there was I believe a playground project that they came, Shorewood came and asked for dollars. Capital dollars for and the City declined 6 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 on that and just said that the agreement where we maintain the park and then the City of Shorewood does the capital…in 1995 but that’s been 20 years. Scharfenberg: Well I would share that you know just in terms of feedback with respect to the tennis court, we’ve had meetings recently with residents out at Lake Minnewashta at Roundhouse and we have on our CIP to put in a Sport Court, tennis court within the next, was it next year? Hoffman: Next year. Scharfenberg: Next year out there so we have a plan to put some additional tennis courts out in that area. Kelly: Other questions for Justin or anybody else at this time? From our viewpoint right now we’re, we’ve actually met with the City Council at some of their meetings before their big meeting because we’re trying to figure out how to come up with more money just to finish out some of our parks right now and so I think everybody’s under similar types of pressure is where do we come up with the dollars. You know who do we partner with? Are we going to partner with some sporting groups? Are we going to go to the constituents and say we need more money? I mean we’re looking at a whole range of things and you know this is something we can throw in the mix but I don’t know what the appetite will be right now because we’re not, we’ve got our plum park is Lake Ann and then we’ve got Bandimere which is right there and we need to put probably a million and a half to two million into Bandimere and we’re trying to figure out how to come up with that right now and so that’s, so it’s tough all over you know. Justin Mangold: Oh absolutely. Kelly: So I don’t know what type of appetite the City Council has. We can talk about this at our next meeting internally here and see if we think there’s, you know if you’ve got something to forward to us to show you know here’s what we’re thinking about. Here’s what we need. Here’s what we’re looking for because you know right now we’ve got a nice picture and we know it’s, you know you need $1.3 million which you can’t afford and we can’t afford and so you’re paring it down and you’re looking at your whole park system just as we are right now also and so what’s something that you’re going to do reasonable that possibly we could partner with you. Wi11 you to send to us you know what you’re looking for and then we can look at it and see if we think it’s something we think is reasonable and something we will forward to the City Council or not and then of course if we decide not to you can always go to a City Council meeting over our head. That’s the next step. Paul Stelmachers: As you see the plans then is there anything that you folks would wish to add or delete because obviously we were looking for your input so when we come back to present to you we’d like to include your thoughts… 7 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 Scharfenberg: Is the shelter there now? Justin Mangold: It is not. We have a temporary trailer, warming house whatever you want to call it that comes in for the winter but it’s not there in the summer. Scharfenberg: Okay. That’s the warming shelter. What about the picnic shelter? Justin Mangold: The picnic shelter is not. Scharfenberg: Okay. Justin Mangold: This currently is a tree line with existing playground equipment, single tennis court. We have a hockey rink that’s probably a little bit up into the parking and then there’s a basketball behind it. Scharfenberg: Okay. Justin Mangold: And the Little League, I mean this is a youth field. It’s probably over exaggerated on this drawing right now as to the scale of what it is but the Little League field is being heavily used by youth, both casually and formally. We have quite a bit of use in this park of the field itself. Brad Nielsen: What is Chanhassen’s experience with hockey? Are you getting a lot of use out of your hockey rinks? Kelly: We have, Jerry why don’t you speak to that a little bit. Ruegemer: Annually we have probably between 8,000-9,000 participants at all of our sites that we have warming houses at that when attendants are on duty. That’s kind of our counts. Currently we have the Chanhassen/Chaska Hockey Association and Minnetonka Youth Hockey that we reserve time for at North Lotus, the Rec Center and City Center Park so on a daily basis they do have outdoor hockey practices there. Hoffman: That’s one hockey at North Lotus, one hockey at City Center and two at Bluff Creek. Brad Nielsen: And then for outdoor rinks do you guys, are you going to or do you have the new plastic board system versus the old pine boards? Hoffman: All wood. Ruegemer: All wood yeah. Brad Nielsen: And you’re staying with that? 8 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 Hoffman: When we build a new rink at Bandimere we may go to the new section of boards. New style. Carron: Just for a reference what’s your next nearest park? Justin Mangold: Freeman. Brad Nielsen: Freeman to the north there and that’s kind of our community park. The largest that we have. Carron: Okay. Justin Mangold: Well thank you for your time tonight. Kelly: Thank you. Hoffman: And the trail you’re talking about will be very popular. It’s something we’ve been incorporating into just about every park when you can remodel it and even though it’s a, you know unless the park is very large they’re fairly short but they’re just well used. North Lotus Park has a nice interior trail loop. Many of our neighborhood parks do and it just gives people another opportunity. The destination is the park. Then they have an opportunity to walk around. Meet their neighbors. Have a discussion and then head back home so they’re very popular. You’ll like that. You can’t fit anything more into that park plan so they’d only be taking away. Justin Mangold: Thank you. Carron: Thanks. Kelly: Happy Thanksgiving. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Kelly: Approval of the Minutes, anybody have any changes from the Minutes of last month? I have one minor change. Page 7. After the second Kelly, it says Yeah Terry and I. Teri. That’s the only change I have. Anybody else change or do we want to approve the Minutes with the changes made. Carron moved, Scharfenberg seconded to approve the verbatim Minutes of the Park and Recreation Commission meeting dated October 27, 2015 with a change on page 7, changing Terry to Teri and approval of the summary Minutes dated October 27, 2015 as presented. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 6 to 0. 9 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 STATUS OF 2015 PARK AND TRAIL ACQUISITION AND DEVELOPMENT CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS. Hoffman: Thank you Chair Kelly and members of the commission. Just polling the folks, since we have an item here that was a joint project or is a joint project with the City of Shorewood I asked them to come back and maybe speak to that when we get to that point so if we can we’ll start with the, this is a description of what we had last year for capital improvement programs and the Galpin Boulevard trail extension I’ll read what it says. So that was $150,000 that we had in our CIP for 2015 and currently we say the City of Shorewood elected to reject all bids for that project. That Galpin Boulevard project. Trail extension. Shorewood has the longest section of trail and was the lead agency in the project. Unfortunately we do not foresee that that work will proceed in the near future. The dollars allocated for this work currently remain in the park dedication funds so thank you for stopping back. Debbie Siakel: Sure I can I guess give you a little bit of history and a little bit of update with that trail. It is a priority. Certainly the residents that are along Galpin Lake Road have been very vocal. They’ve come in and they would very much like to have trail, sidewalk, whatever, however you want to refer to it. I guess probably about 5 years ago Shorewood convened a committee to look at making Shorewood a walkable city so basically we prioritized trails throughout the city. Galpin Lake Road was at one of the top because it’s a school, or it’s a trail that would feed to Excelsior Elementary. It was really at the top of our list. We sent it out for bid and it kind of, that bid came back almost triple you know based on, triple the amount that we had budgeted and we thought it would be so it’s kind of been sitting in our trail plan. Kind of the top priority list. We’ve asked that we go back out and rebid it and we’re I guess just, it’s kind of there and I’m not exactly sure what the next step will be. I don’t think it’s something that we’re going to accomplish or get done next year. I think one of the other things that’s happened in Shorewood and I don’t know if many of you have paid or have been paying attention to the Minnetonka Country Club and that’s really a 100 year old icon that sat in the city of Shorewood and back last December the family sold it to a developer so that’s also kind of thrown a wrench into kind of our priorities and this year we will have completed, we’ve approved and we’ve completed the trail along Smithtown Road and I guess just to step back. We picked up where on the City of Victoria left off on Smithtown Road. Took the trail from Victoria to where the LRT trail is on Smithtown and Eureka so along with Galpin Lake Road Smithtown Road was another priority so we did get that through. Just because of timing this year I don’t think the sidewalk on Smithtown to County Road 19 will be completed until next spring so I guess that’s kind of what’s happening with Shorewood. It’s our intention I think that the majority of council, I can’t speak for all of them but I think that just the general consensus is that we’d like to get Galpin Lake Road done. It’s just a matter of priorities now so, and if we can get it bid where it’s a little bit more feasible, you know it’s on, it’s an A priority for that trail plan so are there any questions or anything you’d like, any additional information I can provide. Scharfenberg: So would you, I mean just kind of giving it your best guess would you say within the next 5 years that you think that that’s something that will be done? 10 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 Debbie Siakel: Yeah. Scharfenberg: Okay. Debbie Siakel: I would say in the next probably 2 or 3. We have 3 trail, there are 3 trail priorities. One is Smithtown, from Eureka to, on Smithtown so it’d be Eureka to County Road 19, the Galpin Lake Road and then the other is Strawberry Lane right and we’ve had the Boulder Cove go in and there’s just a lot of pressure to improve Strawberry Lane and that’s another one where there are a lot of, there’s a lot of traffic. A lot of kids wanting to walk to school and they really need a sidewalk on that road as well but the priority was Smithtown, Galpin Lake and then Strawberry Lane so that’s kind of where we’re at. But no I’m very confident it will get done in the next few years. It’s just a matter of getting a bid that’s reasonable. Kelly: Great, thank you for addressing us. Debbie Siakel: You bet. Hoffman: Good conversation to go home with a bird in the hand because if that $150,000 can stay in their CIP for that project then, you know that’s improving the Chanhassen side but it’s still a joint project that benefits both communities at that particular location. Debbie Siakel: You know that’s very helpful so at our next council meeting we just met Monday th but we’ll have our next one on, I guess we’ll be together on the 7 for our Truth in Taxation but, I mean that’s good for me to feed that back to our council and maybe just kind of keep things you know kind of at the forefront so. Hoffman: Great. Debbie Siakel: And there are a couple councilmembers that want to see that done sooner than later so. Hoffman: And then your name for the record please. Debbie Siakel: Yeah Debbie Siakel and I’m a council member for the City of Shorewood. Hoffman: Thank you. Scharfenberg: And Debbie we have people too from Chan who want to have access you know not on Powers but to be able to get into Excelsior and that will allow that so. Debbie Siakel: Yeah agreed. And we’re dealing with the city with some dated infrastructure and like everybody we’re seeing a lot of growth. A lot of neighborhoods going in so there’s kind 11 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 of a demand so it’s just a matter of priorities but I think our residents did a pretty good job in prioritizing our trail plan. The other piece that is getting some attention, we actually have a traffic committee tonight, I just came from there but there is, where there’s a section kind of by the middle school and down by the shopping center on 41 and, well anyway that would connect that up to Yellowstone Trail and so that’s also a segment that we’d like to get done. It seems kind of like a short segment and it should be easy but it’s a little more complicated so anyway I think that that’s something else that we’ll look at in the future because I think anything we can do to improve the safety around the middle school and Highway 7 oh boy, I think regardless if you’re in Chan or Shorewood that would be welcomed so yeah. Kelly: Yeah. Debbie Siakel: But I do appreciate you hearing us and hearing a little bit about our parks. I think there are some ways that we can collaborate so maybe it’s not necessarily just direct, you know directly receiving funds but maybe there’s something in maintenance. Maybe there’s something with the trail but anything that we can do to make our cities collaboratively. You know work collaboratively and I think just making, the safety and the walkability would be huge so we’ll all put something together. Shoot it back to you and if we can just keep the conversation open I think that’d be very much appreciated by not only the park commission but the council of Shorewood as well so thank you very much for your time this evening and I wish all of you a safe and happy holiday. Kelly: Thank you. We wish you all the same. Hoffman: Continuing on. So annually you have a park and trail acquisition and development CIP and then it’s our responsibility as staff to insure that that work is completed on a timely basis and within budget so specifically annually trees, we’re always planting trees and this $15,000 is just part of the trees that go in on an annual basis. An even larger allocation is coming out of natural resources, primarily Jill Sinclair’s budget and what she has going on with our Arbor Day plantings and so we did a significant planting at Lake Ann if you happened to see the area just inside our maintenance shop so we have a storage area there that we wanted to do some significant screening. That was completed this last fall and then just all over the city, we’re always removing trees and we need to replace additional trees so we, we always run out of cash before we run out of projects so we really appreciate that you keep those dollars in there. Picnic tables and park benches. We’ve been purchasing some of the picnic tables for the new shelters out of the shelter budgets but when we run out of cash there we’re using this case as a supplement and we also do a variety of Boy Scout benches, girl scout benches projects. Those type of things out of here. All of our memorial benches if those go in on an annual basis, if somebody purchases those. The Lions purchased a memorial bench for their members at Lake Ann Park this year. That’s $1,000 that comes out of this budget. The Camden Ridge Trail is in and done at $50,000 contribution to the developer of Camden Ridge and I encourage you to take a drive down there. Walk through that neighborhood. Wonderful segment. It’s currently really the second to the last segment before we reach Pioneer Trail and we have to get underneath the 12 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 bridge of Highway 212 at Bluff Creek and then continue on that last piece of property which is the Jeurissen property and we’ll be up to Pioneer Trail so that will be quite a celebration when that day comes. It’s a significant section of trail, both for our community but also for that entire Bluff Creek trail corridor. Scharfenberg: Todd, Todd speaking to the Jeurissen property, I know that he didn’t want to do anything or allow any use through there. Has there been any change in that over the last year or so? Hoffman: No. People walk it and he’s not stopping them but there’s no formal agreement to do anything on an interim basis. Scharfenberg: Okay. Hoffman: Real exciting the fenced dugouts. New backstops at Lake Ann Park. If you happen to see that project in place so Fields 4 and 6 have new fence and covered dugouts and then Fields 2, 4, 5 and 6 have new taller backstops with overhangs. This is a project that has been long in the making for safety improvements at Lake Ann and it was inspired in part by some contributions from our athletic associations for part of the improvements over the years and then this will finish all the fields, the baseball/softball fields 1 through 6 so they all now have covered dugouts and then the new and improved much taller backstops with overhangs and so I think the safety both for the players and the spectators will be much improved and just look for some comments or ask for some comments in the spring from the groups that are utilizing the park and see how they like the new improvements there. I think you’ll find that they probably appreciate them very much. The soccer fence at Bandimere. With the new improvements with 101 and the new park entrance that soccer field number 1 just became fairly tight to the park entrance road and then also to the wall and so we wanted to increase the containment of the balls so that fence went in and there was a temporary fence there during construction and really that’s what spawn the idea for this permanent fence. The teams really appreciated the fact that the fence was there and they thought it was a good idea for a permanent fence to go in. Galpin Boulevard trail extension. I thought it was you know gone forever. It sounds like the Shorewood Council may find a way to get it done so probably something to write down for next year’s discussion as a part of our CIP. Doesn’t sound like it’s going to happen in 2016 but it looks like it should go back in in 2017. And then part of the open house today, reconstruction County Road 61. There was a trail contribution of $150,000. That was some of the matching dollars and that came out of park dedication fund to do some of the bicycle trails along County Road 61. Chairman Kelly mentioned how beautiful they were and just how inspiring it is to see. It’s so much improved. It’s like a real you know urban corridor now with urban roads and improvements. Curb and gutter. Trails. Crosswalks. Lights. Roundabouts. The new regional trail connecting the two counties is really going to be an inspiring experience when you get over the top of that. The views are beautiful and just to be able to connect what Scott County has and then the regional trail in Minneapolis and in our area is really going to be nice. Nice addition so we contributed to that. And then in general fund surplus the neighborhood park picnic shelters, 3 were completed 13 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 this year. Pheasant Hill Park, Curry Farms Park and Lake Susan Hills Park and according to what I hear from Mayor Denny Laufenburger that program is going to continue on into the future until it’s finished and we’ll have a neighborhood park shelter in each one of our city parks so nice to see that going in as well. Next year we’ll be at Greenwood Shores and Carver Beach. There’s 2 going in next year. I’ll stand for any questions on the CIP from this year. Kelly: Any questions for Todd? I guess you just explained it way too well. Hoffman: Thank you. Great projects. And thanks for your leadership on that annually and just really satisfying to be here in the fall. Each November we take a look at this to see how we did. Sometimes you know there’s a hiccup. Sometimes a project trips up. Sometimes it doesn’t get the final support that it needs to go forward but it’s good to talk about that for an example the Galpin Boulevard trail. And then it’s just a good inspiration to think about and continue on until next spring. It’s just like anything in life. Without you know good planning and sound planning projects that make sense and are funded properly, without that you really can’t take that next step forward and then to be in a position to talk about completed projects like this so I applaud the work of the commission and your cooperation with the City Council in seeking their final approval of your annual CIP. That’s really what it takes to get things done in town. Kelly: Good thank you Todd and I’d like to mention that Commission Boettcher is now present. ESTABLISH 2016 PICNIC RESERVATION FEES. Kelly: Jerry, I think you’re next on the docket. Ruegemer: Thank you Chair Kelly, good evening commissioners. Just wanted to go through and review the picnic fees for 2016. The Park and Rec Commission did review the whole picnic th season evaluation at their October 27 meeting and we kind of looked at a number of different things from uses and trends to revenues, customer types and all other related items to the picnic operation. At this meeting I’d like to discuss with the commission and review the picnic fees for 2016. At this point staff is recommending that the fees remain the same as 2015 moving forward into 2016. The fees are attached to the back of the cover memo. The current fees for that broken down by type and by day of the week so it’s staff’s recommendation that the Park and Rec Commission recommend that the City Council establish the 2016 group picnic reservation fees at the same level as 2015. The commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to the City th Council as part of their annual review of all license fees on December 14. Kelly: Jerry when was the last time we raised fees? Ruegemer: It’s been a number of years Chair Kelly. Probably 5 to 8 roughly. Kelly: Okay. And are pretty much the cities next to us like Eden Prairie and Minnetonka keeping their fees the same at this time? 14 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 Ruegemer: Pardon the interruption. Yeah just kind of based on looking at Eden Prairie, a lot of their shelters look like they have about 125 person max capacity. They do things a little bit differently with block time. Block time, it’s broken down on a half day is 8:00 to 3:30 or 4:00 to 10:00 for $120 and a full day is $160 for that and they only rent to Eden Prairie residents so based on those residency rates we’re a little bit lower than that actually at this point. Chaska’s also block time. They go from 9:00 to 3:00 and then 4:00 to 10:00. Chaska resident is $75 for a block. If you want to do, and non-resident is $125. If you want it for the day you have to do 2 blocks so it’s $150 to $250. So we’re right in the ballpark of everybody else with that. Everybody has a $200 damage deposit that is refundable which is consistent with what we have as well. And in my opinion we have a larger capacity shelter with the Klingelhutz shelter and that’s been very appealing to company picnics. Larger company picnics outside of Chanhassen that have been drawing people in. So you know our fees are right in the ballpark of everybody else. Kelly: Now are we turning people away from like the Klingelhutz Pavilion because more people want it than can use it? Ruegemer: We do. You know graduation parties are always really popular in June. Family reunions are popular as you, as we reviewed last month with the CAA tournaments that have been present in June and July we’ve been really hold back and not booking the Klingelhutz shelter just with the, just so to make parking more available to participants of the tournament so obviously we’ve lost a little revenue in those areas but we’ve gained parking spaces that are all too critical in those types of large tournament locations so. Kelly: And we’re bringing in a lot of people into town for other things too. Ruegemer: We are. Kelly: Okay. Other questions for Jerry? Hougham: Yeah Jerry question. Are our rates for full day? Ruegemer: Our’s are for the full day. Hougham: Have we looked at doing the block system before or do you think we would get more participants that way or? Ruegemer: Yeah you know it’s there’s, I don’t know if we would get any additional people that way. That certainly is a way of looking at it to get additional groups in per day. The trouble we have is you know certainly during the weekends is we probably would have to employ additional staff to come in you know kind of during that hour inbetween. Kind of that transition time and have an attendant on duty really probably for the weekends in particular and then we’d have to 15 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 coordinate with park maintenance to get garbage picked up and get the area generally kind of cleaned up again so that’s a little bit of a challenge and that’s the reason I guess for going for the most part one reservation per day. Hougham: Okay. Scharfenberg: Jerry when you have on your sheet here that the shelters are available May 1 thth through September 30. If somebody wants to rent that out after September 30, are they still charged a fee? Ruegemer: Absolutely. Scharfenberg: Okay. Ruegemer: And that’s, and those are kind of loose dates so to speak. You know obviously with th the fall that we’ve had, I think we did a picnic as late as the 10 of October this year so you know just kind of depending on where that weekend falls with that. That’s kind of basic guidelines that if it is kind of a cold fall then we have time as a staff to get the buildings kind of maintained and ready to go for wintertime so we had a great fall this year and I probably could have booked it all the way to Halloween this year. Echternacht: Jerry do you think the electrical problem at Klingelhutz will effect us down the line as far as rebooks? Ruegemer: No. I don’t believe that will effect us. Obviously long term the electrical problem should probably be addressed with that through additional circuitry in there to handle I guess a larger capacity so that certainly is something that can be discussed in the future. It’s always harder to do it after the fact but it certainly would be a beneficial conversation to have. Kelly: So do we need to just kind of agree with you or are you looking for a motion that we keep the rates the same? Ruegemer: Yep I would prefer that the commission would recommend to the City Council to approve the 2016 fees. Kelly: Okay. Any other questions for Jerry or does somebody want to put it to the question? Scharfenberg: Make a motion to adopt staff’s recommendation to keep park picnic reservation fees at the same level as 2015. Kelly: We have a motion. Is there a second? Boettcher: Second. 16 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 Scharfenberg moved, Boettcher seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission recommends that the City Council establish the 2016 group picnic reservation fees at the same level as 2015. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 7 to 0. Kelly: Thank you Jerry. Ruegemer: Thank you Chair Kelly. RECREATION PROGRAM REPORTS: 2015 HALLOWEEN PARTY EVALUATION. Kelly: Katie I think this was your first Halloween party right? Favro: Yep, this was my first Halloween party. Kelly: Oh good. We’re looking forward to hearing about it. Favro: Yeah well thank you. Thank you Chair Kelly and commissioners. So this was my first st Halloween Party for here but it was I think Chanhassen’s maybe 31 Halloween Party so it’s th been around a while and it was held on October 24 at the Chanhassen Rec Center. An estimated 33, or 330 children ages 12 and under registered for the event and there was a variety of things that they could do. Our entertainment this year was from a Touch of Magic. Captain Curley performed a 30 minute pirate show in the Chanhassen gym during this event. We also had conference rooms 1 and 2 turned into spooky rooms. We had a cemetery and Frankenstein’s lair. These rooms are kind of intended to be spooky but not really scare anybody too bad and we had volunteers and they’re passing out candy. Then we had the carnival games in the Bluff Creek elementary school gym and those were all run by Chanhassen Key Club members and Chaska Key Club members and a few other members. Lauren Dale was actually there. She ran the witches wheel so that was fun. Each year we provide refreshments for everybody. We had apple cider this year and assortment of cookies for everybody. Then hayrides are very popular, especially on a nice evening. It was really nice this year and we always contract through Ken Theis for these and it seems to be a very popular event. We hire face painters from Maund Entertainment. We’ve got 3 of them and that keeps the lines low and a lot of kids get to have their face painted for free. This year the volunteers and staff were a huge help. We had Jodi was there. Jerry was there. Sue was there and a bunch of rec staff. People were there helping man the door with registration and then we had the Key Clubs from Chanhassen and Chaska and some teen volunteers as well. And Chair Kelly was there with the Good Witch Teri passing out candy for all those trick or treaters. Kelly: And it was fun as usual. 17 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 Favro: Yes. I guess that pretty much sums up the Halloween party if anybody has any specific questions. Scharfenberg: Katie did you go back and, do you have the ability to compare the numbers where we were this year compared to other years and are we right in the ballpark or was it? Favro: I would say yeah we were right in the ballpark. I think last year was maybe 350 so we’re still right in the same area. I think it depends also on if it’s nice out. It was really nice this year so I don’t know if that drew people in or if it kind of pushed them away because they had other activities that they could do. Kelly: I think there were a lot of other things going on in town and surrounding towns. Some of them had their first parties. Favro: Yep. The City of Chaska had a party that was before our’s and then I think Victoria also had a Halloween party that the City put on. Kelly: Good. Any other questions? Nice job on your first Halloween party. Favro: Thanks, it was fun. Kelly: Anybody want to see a picture of Mr. Incredible and the Good Witch, I’ve got one here. I worked all day on those muscles. And moving right along, Katie I think we’re staying with you on the tree lighting ceremony that’s coming up. 2015 TREE LIGHTING CEREMONY REPORT. th Favro: Yep, this year’s annual tree lighting ceremony will be held on Saturday, December 5 at 5:00 p.m. on the City Center Park Plaza and the event will run for approximately an hour with the tree lighting, with the tree being lit around 5:15 p.m. Activities this year, we have reindeer, refreshments, bonfires, carolers, gingerbread house displays and a special visit from Santa and from those people who have been coming to this event. Santa will be arriving in a new way so it’s kind of a surprise so be prepared. Kelly: Not coming on the fire engine huh? Favro: Oh no, it’s different this year so we’ve got a lot of people working really hard to make it a surprise and something special so you’ll have to stop by and see what it is. Kelly: Well good. Well it’s always a fun event. I made it to last year’s. I think last year was pretty warm and I think the year before was extremely cold as I recall so but it’s always a great event. I think we’re looking forward to it. I know I am. 18 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 Favro: Yep and for this event we also partner up with Buy Chanhassen. They are the people who provide coffee, apple cider and some cookies and then Southwest Metro also helps out with this event. I know in the past they’ve done S’mores. I’m not exactly sure if they’re doing that this year and then also the Mustard Seed. They kind of donate their time and their reindeer and their Santa so it’s a huge, they have a huge influence on this event. Kelly: Good. It will be great fun. Thank you Katie. Favro: Yeah, thank you. COMMISSION MEMBER COMMITTEE REPORTS. Kelly: I’ll talk a little bit about the work session of the City Council meeting yesterday which was attended by Commissioners Scharfenberg, Echternacht, Boettcher and myself. We came down to, they gave us the directive, we had 3 councilors who are interested in having a referendum. One who is not interested and another one who’s kind of on the fence and the directive was given to us that if we did a referendum of 6 to 7 million dollars, what would we have in it and so I think we will probably be working on this in the January, our January session because it will take staff a little while because I think our next meeting’s only 2 weeks away. Hoffman: Correct. Kelly: Okay, and so we’ll be working on that in the January session and we’ll have information to get together and we really are going to have come up with a plan within that dollar range for what we want to show the City Council. It doesn’t mean we can’t show them another plan if we want to but that’s the plan they asked us for so I think we should deliver that plan and then maybe if we think it should be a little bigger, maybe a second plan but. Carron: So, just so I have this an understanding, they’re looking for what the Park and Rec Commission is thinking and then a task force would be formed if they agree with kind of what we’re looking at or? Hoffman: That’s up to the City Council. They have a couple of choices. I’ll, staff will bring more than the 6 to 7. We’ll bring all of your ideas you’ve been talking about with a reasonable price estimate on those ideas to your January meeting. Then your task is to prioritize that list and deliver back to the City Council that $6 to $7 million dollar project list of potential referendum projects. What they do at that point is their decision. One of the ideas they had was to conduct a survey even before a task force was formed to see what, gauge the interest level in the community. If there’s good interest then they would form some sort of a group that would forward that referendum to the voters. 19 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 Kelly: And the City Council seemed very interested in putting in 1 or 2 turf fields to make sure that we have the capacity needed going forward in the next 10-15 years so that has to be on the plan if it’s going to get through the City Council. And it could be, I know we talked a lot about the Holasek properties and that you know the thing with the Holasek properties is we don’t know when it’s going to happen. If it’s going to happen and it may not happen. If it does happen in a reasonable period of time I think there were some on the City Council that were interested in that but otherwise they were interested in saying let’s do a turf field or two and for them they liked the ideas of Lake Ann and the one soccer field at Bandimere that’s not on the north section so that’s, that’s what was talked about quite a bit and I don’t know anybody who was there like to add anything. Echternacht: Well they also were, as far as getting a referendum approved thought that we should have something to offer to everybody. Perhaps a splash pad and other things that other people would be interested in so, because if they’re not interested in soccer they’re not going to vote and as Todd said that’s a no vote if they don’t vote on it. Carron: Was there any discussion about timing? Are they, did it feel like council was still under the impression that this could still happen this year or was it going to be maybe not do it during an election year? Hoffman: Undecided. One to two years was the time table that was referenced. Scharfenberg: They were basically Brent given those 5 scenarios that were emailed out with that packet and kind of asked what one of those up there would be willing potentially to support. And I think as Chair Kelly indicated some of them were, or the majority of them were in support of potentially doing an artificial turf field somewhere. Both Ryan and, not I’m drawing. Hoffman: Campion. Scharfenberg: Campion were looking at scenario 5 which were the 2 lacrosse fields but that’s building 2 brand new ones potentially at Holasek and we don’t know again whether that’s something that’s going to come forward now or when that might be available but I didn’t think anybody ruled out that if that property comes available that that would be potentially an option but as Rick indicated, Chairman McDonald kind of said you know if you want everyone to kind of get behind this you kind of have to put together some sort of a plan that appeases everybody or you know a good amount of people that will get behind it and support that so basically I think what they’re looking for is, as Todd indicated was what are your 3 to 4 things, maybe 5 that you could do between 6 and 7 million and they’re looking for us to come forward with that proposal to them. Carron: Okay. 20 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 Boettcher: The other point that was brought up too was, I think it was option number 2 was $760,000 and they talked about you know what do we have in the bank so we could use our CIP surplus which we normally keep at a million and use that if nothing else flew. If the referendum didn’t go and whatever that at the very minimum we get started doing something. Maybe pick up some funding there from some of the construction that would be going on. So at the very minimum we would get option 2 and I think was that, do you have lists there Steve? Scharfenberg: Yep. Scenario 2 was lighting the 3 baseball fields and one lacrosse fields. Boettcher: At Bandimere, yeah. Scharfenberg: Or soccer fields, the one closest to 101. Kelly: So that will be on our docket for January. Scharfenberg: So with respect to that January meeting and staff’s work leading up to that, you know one of the things we talked about and everyone kind of seemed interested in when we had our initial work session was doing something at the Rec Center so Todd is that something that you’ll be putting together or having some numbers put together as to what that would cost? Hoffman: Everything that’s included in your list and then other things that we think would be a good idea. Playground replacements are one of those where we have probably at least a half a dozen that would be good candidates. There was some talk last night, you need to put things on this referendum that would peak people’s interest and get them to vote for it so we’ll put together that list of what we think would be beneficial projects that people would get behind and then in January you can start that priority basis…and continue that conversation in February. I think the important thing here is to really come up with significant projects that make a difference in our community for the people that live here and get people to vote for it so start talking to your friends and neighbors and your colleagues. People that live in town and ask them their opinion… Athletics is one thing but it’s not everything so, and there are some plans that aren’t totally vetted so the splash pad concept in City Center Park. We have a conversation on one currently but the property owner Doug Hansen…and he doesn’t know if he’s willing to sell additional property next to the 2 most northerly fields but we’re conducting an appraisal on that property and if he’s interested in selling you can include that land acquisition and again expand City Center Park. Utilize the north parking lot and school for another joint agreement with that school and then create some sort of a product facility there. That was a concept at least that came back and…started the conversation up again. Apparently folks didn’t like the Bandimere plan south of 5 but they thought something in our downtown area to bring people to the downtown would be perhaps a better plan so. Not sure if that’s going to make the list because…but we’ll bring it up. Scharfenberg: Todd would you include with that material just our, the CIP we passed this last year for the 5 years. 21 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 Hoffman: I will. Scharfenberg: So that we can kind of see what additional, what we had in there going out. Hoffman: Yep. Scharfenberg: Thank you. Kelly: Any other commission member reports or member presentations? COMMISSION MEMBER PRESENTATIONS. None. ADMINISTRATIVE PACKET. Kelly: Todd do you want to talk about it a little bit? Hoffman: These commissioners have probably seen the athletic facilities study in some form the past few months so this was the final report that was given to the City Council, not last night but 2 weeks prior so it has the full athletic field study. There’s lots of data. It’s over 50 pages in that full report and in general what it tells us is that Chanhassen is doing pretty well with athletic fields in our community. Is there opportunity to do more to add capacity? Absolutely. What came forward last night were those, the second take a look at the data was that again just as this commission talked about a couple years ago, the most efficient way to add additional time is to take a facility that you have and light it up and the cost came through… And when you’re talking providing athletics, youth athletics, adult athletics, if you can put a few teams on a field for $80 or $90 bucks per game, that’s pretty affordable in the realm of providing athletic fields as one of your main priority businesses in your community as a park and recreation commission, as a park department. And so then beyond that the artificial turf fields or the natural turf fields, the cost differential was about $40 bucks per game and that’s just a choice. You know when you have an opportunity to build new fields, do you want synthetic turf? It’s a slightly larger, higher cost but that again, the availability of that field is just guaranteed and so you know there’s payback for that cost that comes with that that I think is sufficient enough, is great enough that it justifies the additional cost. The one thing that did shine through is that if you remodel, just like any remodeling, if you remodel it you take artificial facilities that’s the expensive option so if you remodel Bandimere or Lake Ann and turn those grass fields into artificial turf, that’s where you have the highest cost because it’s not new construction. It’s remodeling and it’s got the greatest price tag to is. And the Holasek project we’ll continue to advance and likely what will happen if they come through with a plan, and you’ll see that here as a subdivision proposal with a recommendation to enter into an agreement to take down 2 soccer fields as part of a park concept of that development. You know where the financing comes for that doesn’t have to be decided at that time. It’s just a recommendation of your’s to City Council and then you know let the conversation continue at that point. It’s Ryan Companies Construction. This is not a mom and 22 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 pop operation. It’s a big significant commercial operator in the Twin Cities and the rest of the country and you’ve got to have plenty of will power to get the project done if they can make it happen. The seller is the Holasek property. You saw the greenhouses come down and so as we continue to move through that at least initial negotiation. Once it hits this room as a subdivision it’s not like any other subdivision that comes through where you’re talking about houses and do you want a park or you don’t want a park. This is going to be commercial buildings with an opportunity for soccer fields you know which are going to go on some soils which if they’re so bad that you can’t put a soccer field on it, we’re not going to have any interest either. It’s got to be at least able to withstand, especially if you’re looking at artificial turf, that has to go often engineered to build these fields and give the analysis, can you build these artificial drained fields on these soils that you know the developer does not want to put a building on and so. Because if you give full park dedication credit, you know the land has to be useable. If the land’s going to cost you money to be able to build on a soccer field then the price just continues to come down to help pay for those soil projects and they’re aware of that but they think with the City’s involvement and the soccer field…could be a good project for their company. What I would envision there, whether you select turf or artificial, natural turf or artificial turf is to really do a nice job of a park building with restrooms. Have some storage so you can have tournaments there. You can have a covered shelter so during rain delays people can get in and out of the rain and those would just be some real premium soccer/lacrosse fields in our community in a very nice location. Perfectly visible from Lyman Boulevard. Right adjacent to the high school. In a great location. You know not directly adjacent to a neighborhood and I think people like to see when there’s activity going on in your community and those fields are going to be at the front part of that property and when the community invests in that kind of facility they’re going to see that they’re being played on all the time and that’s going to build good will back to the city park commission and City Council in the investment that you make as you go forward with that so. I’m not sharing the current documents because they’re not officially submitted with the City but once they are you’ll be seeing those and so… Scharfenberg: Todd would it ever behoove us to, with that type of a facility given that it kind of sits right on the Chaska/Chanhassen border, although the property is in Chanhassen to have a conversation say with the City of Chaska about you know come and partner with us to do something with a facility like that? Hoffman: We could ask the question. I think we would be in a similar position to what Shorewood would say. Scharfenberg: Yeah but they’ve got to pay for that $6 million dollar curling center somehow. Carron: Six? It’s more than that isn’t it? Scharfenberg: Ten. Carron: I thought it was 20. 23 Park and Recreation Commission – November 24, 2015 Hoffman: Yeah 20. Carron: They might be a little broke. Hoffman: The school district would probably be a more likely. Scharfenberg: Right, yeah. Kelly: Any other questions for Todd on the administrative packet? Any other questions or thoughts on anything? Carron moved, Thunberg seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 7 to 0. The Park and Recreation Commission meeting was adjourned at 8:50 p.m. Submitted by Todd Hoffman Park and Rec Director Prepared by Nann Opheim 24