PRC 2018 12 11
CHANHASSEN PARK AND
RECREATION COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
DECEMBER 11, 2018
Chairman Scharfenberg called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Steve Scharfenberg, Cole Kelly, Rick Echternacht, Jim Boettcher,
Meredith Petouvis, Joe Scanlon, and Grant Schaeferle. Karl Tsuchiya arrived late to the
meeting.
STAFF PRESENT: Todd Hoffman, Park and Rec Director; Jerry Ruegemer, Recreation
Superintendent; Adam Beer, Park Superintendent; and Jodi Sarles, Rec Center Manager
APPROVAL OF AGENDA:
Scharfenberg: Do we have any changes or revisions to the agenda for tonight?
Hoffman: Chair Scharfenberg we would like to move item 3, the year end review power point to
the final item.
Scharfenberg: Okay. With that any additional changes?
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Scharfenberg: Any public announcements?
Hoffman: Rinks?
Ruegemer: Rinks are scheduled to open Friday night this week so we’re ahead of schedule here
with Adam and crew. Been scheduling overnight so we’re tentatively scheduled right now to
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open up this coming Friday the 15 at 4:00 so we should be hopefully all set to go. We’re going
to kind of keep an eye on the weather with the sun and a little bit of warm coming here so
hopefully it won’t affect it too much but that is our scheduled at this point.
Scharfenberg: And Jerry have we or will we be posting that on the website?
Ruegemer: Yes we will be.
Scharfenberg: Okay, alright.
Hoffman: And we can satisfy the 20 people that call every day.
Park and Recreation Commission – December 11, 2018
Echternacht: I did see people skating out there already.
Ruegemer: Oh yeah.
Hoffman: Yep.
Ruegemer: People are anxious.
VISITOR PRESENTATIONS. None.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Echternacht moved, Petouvis seconded to approve the verbatim
and summary minutes of the Park and Recreation Commission meeting dated October 23, 2018
as presented.
ESTABLISH 2019 PICNIC RESERVATION FEES.
Scharfenberg: Next up is new business and first on the agenda is establish 2019 picnic
reservation fees. Jerry.
Ruegemer: Thank you Chair Scharfenberg. Tonight we’ll take a look at the annual fee structure
for the 2019 picnic reservation fees with last month’s cancellation of the agenda or the Park and
Rec Commission we will take that action item up at tonight’s meeting. So annually the Park and
Rec Commission does take a look at the reservation fees. We did look at the evaluations again in
October I guess that probably was so I think the commissioners are aware of kind of what
numbers and stuff we had and population numbers. Revenue. That sort of thing so right now
what we’re trying to do is take a look to 2019 and with a picnic fees that we establish here for the
upcoming season. The picnic fees are attached with the attachment with the document. Staff is
recommending that we establish the 2019 rates at the same level as 2018. Staff did look at other
surrounding areas with Eden Prairie, Chaska, Three Rivers, Carver Parks, and we’re all kind of
in that same area. Some of the groups such as Eden Prairie kind of break that down, or Chaska
breaks that down into 6 hour blocks so if you do a full day of that timeframe we’re kind of right
in that ballpark of Chaska, Eden Prairie. A lot of the locations don’t have the capacity that we
do at the Klingelhutz Pavilion so we do get larger groups out there as well so it’s really, I think
we’re about in the same area as they are for picnic fees and that sort of thing. I want to try to
keep it competitive that we can accommodate our requests for that so it is recommended that the
Park and Rec Commission recommend to the City Council that we establish a 2019 group picnic
reservation fees at the same level as 2018. The Park and Recreation Commission
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recommendation will be forwarded to the City Council for approval at their January 14
meeting.
Scharfenberg: Thank you Jerry. Any discussion? Jerry when was the last time that we did
anything in terms of any revisions or changes to the fee structure?
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Park and Recreation Commission – December 11, 2018
Ruegemer: Most recent change was adding the large group fee and we did that 2 years ago with
that and that’s been helpful to help offset costs with larger groups. We kind of were seen to be
the landing kind of pad for you know some of the bigger corporations around Eden Prairie and if
we can accommodate even 1,000 people sometimes you would have even more but when we get
to those kind of 400 or 500 person picnics parking becomes kind of an issue with other park user
amenities and that sort of thing here too so, so the large group was probably about a couple years
ago for the fee structure but by and large the fees have stayed the same for probably at least 5
years.
Scharfenberg: Anybody else have any other questions? If not can I, we’ll entertain a motion.
Kelly: I’ll make a motion the Park and Rec Commission recommends that the City Council
approve the 2019 picnic reservation fees for group picnics.
Scharfenberg: We have a motion from Commissioner Kelly. Do we have a second?
Echternacht: I’ll second it.
Scharfenberg: We have a second from Commissioner Echternacht.
Kelly moved, Echternacht seconded that the Park and Recreation Commission
recommends that the City Council approve the 2019 picnic reservation fees at the same
level as 2018. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 7 to 0.
REPORTS:
2018 HALLOWEEN PARTY EVALUATION.
Scharfenberg: First of all is the 2018 Halloween Party evaluation and I’m assuming Jerry you’re
going to take that.
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Ruegemer: I will, thanks again Chair Scharfenberg. We did go through our 34 annual
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Halloween Party Saturday, October 27. It does seem like a while ago so I won’t go through
everything specifically item by item so you know just some of the highlights. You know we had
a pretty nice night again out there. It certainly is nice to have the hayrides outside and I think
people enjoyed the events that are there with the different carnival games inside the gyms and the
entertainment, that sort of thing here too so looked like we had a decent amount of people that
were there and I think really a fun time was had by all thanks to commissioners that attended
and/or helped work with the event so we appreciate everybody being there and supporting our
event so. Anybody have any questions?
Scharfenberg: Jerry are the number of participants, the 321 is that a pretty steady figure from
what we’ve had in the past?
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Park and Recreation Commission – December 11, 2018
Ruegemer: It is. It’s probably give or take 50 probably in that range so yeah it’s pretty
consistent with that number. There is a lot of other Halloween parties. Even Market Square
does their event that day up there so we seem to be kind of settling in on that number.
Hoffman: That’s paid children and then there are additional adults there.
Ruegemer: So that number is probably closer with everybody probably 600 to 700 people with
grandparents and parents.
Scharfenberg: Alright.
PARK MAINTENANCE QUARTERLY UPDATE.
Scharfenberg: Next up on the agenda, park maintenance quarterly report. Adam.
Beer: Thank you Chair Scharfenberg and commissioners. So we’ve officially transitioned into
the winter mode. We’ve had favorable conditions the last week and a half to make ice so staff
has been working throughout the days. Some afternoons if we get cloudy days and overnights
for the last week. Since last Monday we started so we’ve got pretty good base down which is
going to allow us to open up this Friday which is a little earlier than a few years past so it’s
mainly what we’ve been working on kind of around the clock so we’ve, like I said officially kind
of transitioned into a different season. All of our paddleboats are in for maintenance. Our
irrigation systems have been shut down. All of our small equipment is now moved in so we’re
kind of trying to tackle some maintenance when we can. So the name of the game right now is
just kind of clearing snow and making ice so we’ll be doing that for at least the next few weeks
and trying to establish a good base to kind of carry us through the season so. A couple staffing
updates. I’d just like to let you guys know we’ve hired 2 new staff members. Jason Koehnen
and JJ Wall. Jason comes from a 20 year background in construction so he’s kind of been filling
a void in that area. It’s kind of his expertise and he’s fit into the group quite well. JJ Wall is a
local Chan guy who, he’s maybe 2 years out of college so he’s pretty familiar with the area. He
was a former seasonal employee so just want you guys to be aware of that and they’re doing
great and we welcome them aboard so I think maybe in the next couple meetings I might invite a
couple of the guys to come and introduce themselves to you as a commission so that’s basically
it for us. We’re just making ice and keeping things clear so.
Scharfenberg: Any questions for Adam?
Hoffman: Why don’t you touch on the retirements and the promotions. I’m not sure if they’ve
been tracking your retirements and promotions as well.
Beer: Yep so Jim Theis was our most recent retiree and Dean Schmeig our Park Foreman of 35
years. I think I might have touched on it a little bit but we officially offered the position of Park
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Park and Recreation Commission – December 11, 2018
Foreman to Gary Berg. He’s been with us for about 4 years so he’s transitioned into that role for
probably the last month and he’s kind of hit the ground running and he’s already streamlined a
few operations and just daily scheduling things and he’s doing a great job. Staff responded well
to the transition and I think he fits in well with the rest of the administration staff and working
with Jodi’s group and senior center so it’s a familiar face and he knows the operation quite well
so it’s been a seamless transition for himself.
Hoffman: Gary and his wife and Marshal transplants. She works with the Minnesota Twins.
They have two young daughters and they recently moved to get closer to town so he could be
closer to the operations. They moved from.
Beer: Plymouth.
Hoffman: Plymouth to Waconia yeah.
Scharfenberg: Adam with respect to Manchester Park, did everything get finished there at the
end of the year and is there anything that needs to be done up there in the spring?
Beer: No it all, it all, we finished perfectly. Trees have been planted. Sod’s on the ground so I
mean we’re going to have to kind of be mindful of turf conditions in the spring so we’ll kind of
baby things along a little bit more than we would anywhere else but no everything’s in. It’s
open. It was open for use for a few weeks. Checked in a few times and saw you know a number
of different residents rave reviews. Everybody seems very happy and it’s a great addition so far
so. Kind of caught the tail end of the season but we wrapped, we were able to wrap everything
up.
Scharfenberg: Okay. And any issues with the three shelters that went up this year? Everything,
cement, everything’s fine?
Beer: Perfect.
Scharfenberg: Okay.
Beer: So we were able to, so the two of the sites that we put the shelters in this last year are
going to be two of the sites that we move forward with with the park replacement plan in 2019 so
we’re going to be able to kind of close the gap and put in a new play structure and playground
border and so everything will be brand new at the end of 2019 so looking forward to that.
Scharfenberg: So we are going forward with those park replacements?
Hoffman: Yep just approved park replacement program was approved as a part of last evening’s
budget approval by the City Council.
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Park and Recreation Commission – December 11, 2018
Scharfenberg: Okay. So that’s Sunset Ridge and what was the other one?
Hoffman: Prairie Knoll and then Herman Field. Yep Herman Field, three of them next year.
Beer: So Herman Field we in 2018, 17 excuse me we put in the shelter and the new border so at
this point we’re just going to be installing the structure there where the other two sites we’re
going to have more of the full reconstruct so I’ll be coming back to this group probably we’re
going to get together maybe at the Rec Center and try to involve some of the residents to do
some playground design and then keep you guys involved in that as well so.
Hoffman: Adam will invite you to all those neighborhood meetings where the neighbors come
in and take a look at the plans and select one but then they’ll come here for your approval and
recommendation to the City Council. Neighbors could come in at that time as well so if you
want to preview those plans and we’re going to start that process early in the quarter of 2019.
We want, those playgrounds are the oldest ones. We want those out and refreshed. The sites are
pretty well established with the new shelters ready to go and boy they’re going to look great for
the rest of the summer if we can get them removed and replaced so he’s already been in contact
with our landscape architects that we need to get engaged in playground. People already know
that these bids are coming so that will be a competitive process where neighbors will meet and
gather. Review the plans we get. Three or four playground plans. Select one. Make that
recommendation to the park board. You’ll review that and make that recommendation to the
City Council. And that really just gets the neighbors, you know these neighbors have turned
over. There’s probably some new people there that weren’t involved the first time around. It
gets them involved and really builds that again that ownership back in their neighborhood park.
Scharfenberg: Okay, thank you Adam.
Beer: Yeah.
SENIOR CENTER QUARTERLY UPDATE.
Scharfenberg: Next we’re at senior center quarterly update. Todd do you want to handle that?
Hoffman: I’d be glad to yeah.
Scharfenberg: Okay.
Hoffman: So some of you, have all of you met Mary? She was here I think one time. Gave a
nice report and here’s what I can tell you, when Mary had her 6 month probationary review and
her first 2018 review and you know Sue’s presence was just so dominant for so long and I think
Mary always really a challenged to understand. You were there for Sue’s retirement party. All
these accolades landed on this person and then you have to come in and take over but when I
spoke in my review, what I can you is just in 6 months it’s almost Mary’s senior center now.
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Park and Recreation Commission – December 11, 2018
She has done such a fabulous job picking up where Sue left off and being so gracious to the
customers and our visitors to the senior center. They really appreciate what she does. How she
brings the senior center along. And then if you’ve noticed she’s reinitiated this article in the
Villager and so they’re posting her article in the Villager often with her picture I think each time
with her picture so people can get to know who Mary Blazanin is. And then also they’re posting
that online and so that continues to capture new people. Younger senior citizens. Newly arrived
senior citizens to our community that are engaged in the senior center. So really pleased to
announce that she has just taken over where Sue left off and interestingly enough there was a
program this week, the Ladies Tea Luncheon which is very popular. There was an apron
collector and model that was there to model all these aprons that the ladies modeled and who
came because she just needs more things to do? Sue Bill signed up for the program so we were
happy to have Sue back at the senior center. I encourage all of you, anytime you see, we’ll try to
get you the copy of the senior newsletter. If you want to come and participate, visit, they’re
really fun people to be, participate with and spend some time with. Sue’s, or excuse me Mary’s
always looking for just volunteers to help serve coffee or even just to mix and mingle. Seniors
are often you know a little more sheltered at home socially and so when they come to the senior
center to see other people in their community they’d be interested in meeting park board
members as well so we can’t send Jerry. He’s very popular with the seniors but we can’t send
him to every program. So again for those of you that didn’t hear Mary was called away for a
funeral in South Dakota. She’ll be back with us in the next quarter. Thank you.
Scharfenberg: Thanks Todd.
RECREATION CENTER QUARTERLY UPDATE.
Scharfenberg: Jodi.
Sarles: Thank you Chair Scharfenberg, greetings from the Rec Center. Busy night over there. I
cover the desk a little bit longer on Tuesday nights for my regular front desk employee on
Tuesdays as helping out as we’ve got a dance instructor that’s been ill for a while so, so a little
bit of time management here tonight. Thank you for letting me coming in a little bit late. Our
winter session of dance has begun. So far we have 80 students registered to date. We’re offering
about 24 classes. We’ve got a lot of late registrations you can probably see from the numbers
being a little low there so still working on getting them all in for the winter session. They’re
working their way to the winter showcase will happen in February so it’s actually the same day
as Feb Fest so kind of dual duty that day. Let’s see Rec Center Sports, that’s another popular
program. We’re offering all sorts of different sessions for the little ones. Tonight they’re
finishing their Super Heroes in Training so all these little guys and girls running around with
masks and capes on and having a good time going through obstacle courses and tumbling and all
of that. So far this fall since we’ve last seen each other 166 kids have taken part of various
sessions of the Small Fry’s Sports program. That has actually been more popular right now than
our Lil Star Sports which is for the little bit older kids. That’s 5 and 6 year olds. We’re just
finishing up tonight they do track and field for the last night and before the winter break and so
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Park and Recreation Commission – December 11, 2018
for the fall, early winter we’re at about 98 kids that have participated in Lil Star programs. I
always have a couple fun events in the fall and that’s the Artisan Fair and the Holiday Boutique.
Artisan Fair was down a little bit this year but we actually had a really, really nice set up and so
everybody, when you came in you had to visit every vendor and like it or not we had them
wandering through so you kind of were stuck in that maze but it did bring a lot of people into the
Rec Center. I’d say 350 people that day for a day of local shopping and then a couple weekends
ago we did the Holiday Boutique and so that one is a little more popular because you don’t have
to just be a home, you know somebody that makes crafts in their own home. You can also have
commercial items as well so we have a variety of things. We had a balloon sculpture maker. We
had plenty of jewelry. And the new thing is you know making things from repurposing wool so
we had a lot of mittens, scarves and those sorts of things so it’s kind of neat to see all the
different items that the people create for the events. As you move into some adult activities our
Fit for Life, in the 4 sessions this year we’ve had 48 registrants for all of those sessions. Each
session is 22 dates in it and so we also had then 472 drop in’s so a lot of them, the snow birds
don’t sign up for the whole session but they’ll come to most of the classes and just pay the drop
in fee. Super popular program. Very social. Even my mom is taking it now so I twisted her arm
to come in and start participating so very fun. Very good instructor and wide variety of abilities
that she works with and it’s great so. Another program sometimes people forget but we do offer
personal training. Trainers. We have 2 trainers that really are consistently training and they’ve
done about 163 one hour sessions for this year so a great program. A great value for people if
you’re looking for a different gift idea or anything like that, you know a 3 pack I believe is $130
so that’s pretty low compared to if you were to get training at Lifetime or other studios around
town so, excuse me. Just left and they were out, we had a gentle flow yoga class going on so for
each session we have a gentle flow and a Vinyasa flow. Gentle flow is a one hour class.
Vinyasa is 75 minutes. Little more aggressive. I wouldn’t say aggressive yoga but a little higher
level yoga. But they, there are 17 participating in those programs. Tuesday nights and it’s
always interesting to do yoga at the Rec Center. It’s not always the most peaceful location with
kids running in and out and dance classes down the hall and all those things but people really do
enjoy it and enjoy the instructor we have so. And then as we always talk about pickleball so
we’re back inside and trying to find daily times for people to come in and play. Balance that
with the people who want to come in and play basketball and anything else and the kids, the tot
times and everything like that so we always have at least one session of pickleball a day so it just
depends on if it fits your schedule. We have another, I think our third annual tri city pickleball
tournament coming up here in January so that’s with Chaska and Victoria. We host that at
Victoria because they have 6 indoor courts so people like that so we can get more, more people
out there and more, we can have it ranked a little bit more like they like so. And then just a few
things that are coming up. Promotional events so we’ve got our Cherry Yoga class starting with
Mary and we found an instructor and we’re going to offer a free trial class on Friday, December
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28. Kind of a different program to see if we’ve got enough interest to continue that on but it is
very popular in other communities so we thought we’d try to bring that here. Our punch card
sale is going on. You get a free 10 punch card when you get a 40 punch so it’s $27.50 to $32.50
value depending on which range you fit in our scale here so, and then finally we talked about it
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but the Dance for Fun showcase is February 2. Anybody have any questions?
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Park and Recreation Commission – December 11, 2018
Scharfenberg: Questions for Jodi? No, thank you Jodi.
Sarles: Thank you.
2018 TREE LIGHTING CEREMONY REVIEW.
Scharfenberg: Okay next up on the agenda 2018 tree lighting ceremony review. Jerry.
Ruegemer: Thanks again Chair Scharfenberg. This was, this annual event was held on Saturday,
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December 1 at 5:00 to 6:00 right outside our doors here at City Center Park. Mayor
Laufenburger and family members of the Chan Fire Department did flip the ceremonial switch
illuminating the park itself so Adam and crew did a great job. It does look beautiful out there
and I think everybody there had a great time that night. I know we had a little bit of weather that
afternoon and early evening and so like it hit all of a sudden but I think it really added to the kind
of the ambience and.
Hoffman: It was a Hallmark card moment. That’s what everybody said about it.
Ruegemer: Yeah just looked like everybody there was having a great time. Sorry I apologize I
couldn’t attend that night but it’s like plenty of people did but so and had a great time. Heard
lots of positive comments both in person and also on our Facebook page that I think people
really enjoy just coming through downtown and seeing the lights and the park all lit up. It really
kind of gives it really a special feeling that Chanhassen is a really cool place to be so and you can
see from comments on our Facebook page from Florida or California I think people really miss
being here for that event so thanks to Adam and staff. Todd, Jodi, couldn’t have done it without
all of you so just a lot of hands making everything work here so we appreciate that and had a lot
of groups Buy Chanhassen. Vernelle Clayton does a great job assembling all the treats and all
the donations from Byerly’s and KleinBank/Old National Bank and Americana and Mark Halla
and Halla, and they do a great job with supplying our friend from up north, Mr. Santa Claus and
that so it’s really a great fun event. Really to kind of kick off the holiday season in Chan to make
it really a special place so kind of a breakdown of the revenue and expense of, there’s some
expense obviously to it but people do have a great time with that being part of that environment
and atmosphere.
Scharfenberg: Any comments for Jerry?
2018 YEAR END REVIEW POWER POINT.
Ruegemer: Thanks again Chair Scharfenberg, this really was an effort really between all staff
members. We really thought it’d be really a fun way to kind of take a snapshot of 2018 really
from kind of start to finish and of kind of what we’ve accomplished in really a fun format. We
hope that you enjoy it so thanks to all the staff members who, well basically all the staff
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Park and Recreation Commission – December 11, 2018
members here and beyond who participated in putting this together. Supplying pictures and all
that kind of stuff so we hope you enjoy it. We had fun putting it all together so I will get that all
set up.
Hoffman: About 25 minutes about right?
Ruegemer: Yeah exactly we tried to pare it down.
Kelly: Do we get popcorn?
Hoffman: I bet 5 or less.
Ruegemer: It will be about five ish.
A power point slide presentation was presented at this point in the meeting.
Scharfenberg: So Jerry seeing that I had a couple things, or at least one thing that popped up
with respect to KleinBank and the KleinBank music series. Have we, what’s going to be the
status of that going forward? Are we going to need to find a new sponsor or have we
approached, are we going to plan on approaching the new owners to see if they want to continue
that on?
Ruegemer: Chair Scharfenberg I’m pleased to announce that we have all that worked out at this
point.
Scharfenberg: Okay.
Ruegemer: I’ve been working with Gretchen Holmgren the branch manager over there for a
number of months and completed like a 7 page application within the last 2 weeks and we have
been approved for $3,000. $500 more than previous years for the 2019 season so it will be the
Old National Summer Concert Series now versus KleinBank but it is all set to go. We’ve been
approved and we’ll get that on a council agenda this spring to accept the donation but just letting
you know that we’re all locked and loaded.
Scharfenberg: Excellent, good job. Yeah that’s wonderful.
Hoffman: They really enjoy it and they just love the connection across the street from the bank
so it’s good advertising for Old National Bank. Old National…picked up their commercial
advertising since they arrived in town so it will be now on our TV sets showing us who they are
and seem to be very receptive to working with the City so that’s great.
Ruegemer: Yeah they were very thrilled with continuing that relationship so they were
completely on board from day one so it was an easy sell.
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Park and Recreation Commission – December 11, 2018
Hoffman: It’s going to be the same people.
Ruegemer: Yep. We’ll just have to change our advertising and logos. We’ve already got new
logos and stuff like that so we’re already getting started on that.
Scharfenberg: And Todd for our next meeting in January just kind of a heads up. Is there
anything you anticipate that will be on our agenda for January?
Hoffman: So you should anticipate seeing the Lennar preliminary plat for the Galpin property.
And so they were in at a concept level with the City Council the first part of December and they,
since last meeting with the City Council they met with a variety of neighbors one on one and in
small groups. They also had a neighborhood meeting at the Recreation Center one evening just
at the end of November and so they’ve made a variety of changes which not only made some
things better for the adjoining neighbors but also made the parkland and the park dedication even
better than it was in the first edition. Primarily on the north side. On the north side there’s a cul-
de-sac now and then there’s a large ravine area that was going to be carved into a road to try to
make the corner to go back up to the north and that’s all been eliminated and that’s going to be
park dedication in addition to the other area. It will also facilitate some trail networks to both of
those roads. Now the neighborhoods on the north will be separated. One you’ll come in off of
Galpin. The other you’ll come in off of Lake Lucy and so now you’ll be cul-de-saced or dead
end and both those neighborhoods will have to get into the park system so there’ll be two trail
connections that will meet and then come down through that newly dedicated park space. That
was going to be a road area before so they’ve done that and they’ve taken some lots out. They’re
leaving trees that are on that north side. If you’re familiar with that area it’s heavily wooded and
instead of tearing all the trees down and building a retaining wall both on the north side and the
south side of that area they’re going to do just one retaining wall on the bottom side and they’ve
removed 5 or 6, 7 lots in that area and the 2 lots that will remain on the north side of the road are
going to be very large. There’s going to be a house on the east and west and then those lots are
going to run back probably for 1,000 or 1,500 feet each and then they’ll contain all the trees that
will then buffer the neighborhood. So that’s been the change to the north. I think the lot count is
down to 191 in the overall plan and so it will be quite a report that you’ll see in January. It will
include a preliminary plat. All the conditions of approval regarding parks and trails. Hi Karl.
Tsuchiya: Hello.
Hoffman: All the conditions of approval relating to parks, trails, parkland dedication, trail
construction on their plat and then the best way to kind of think about it in your head is, anything
that’s associated with their area where they’re going to put houses, they’re going to have to do
the other public improvements. Sidewalks. Trails. Streets and so but you have to describe those
as a park commission what do you want them to see. What do we want to see happen so
inbetween now and January staff has engaged Hoisington-Koegler Group, a consulting firm that
has a long history with the city and also has a long history with this particular project and they
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Park and Recreation Commission – December 11, 2018
will assist staff due to the complexities and the size and the importance of this project. We’re
going to be meeting with them to make sure we go over and we don’t miss anything as a part of
the conditions of approval for your January meeting. And obviously conditions of approval will
also include the park dedication which in total is about 50 acres of upland, 44 acres of wetland
and 7,000 feet of shoreline that would be preserved on both Lake Ann and Lake Lucy. And that
is at least in staff’s presentation and their initial agreement will be all in return for a density
transfer of taking the homes that you could put in the 50 acres and moving them to the west over
to the other property. So they have indicated that they will likely also be sending a letter to the
commission asking for some cash in addition to that density transfer. My response is that I
would not recommend that you accept that presentation but they may be sending that request as
well. So that will all be coming up in January. You can expect, you may have a handful of
people. You may have a full house for a meeting like that. It will be going to the Planning
Commission the week before and so staff’s recommendation on condition of approval will be
actually in the commission, the Planning Commission packet. It won’t be approved but it will be
in the packet before you see it the next week and then you will be acting on it at that time. And
then any changes or modifications you make to that conditions of approval would then be
finalized and put in the council’s packet when they see it probably in February or March.
Preliminary plat gives standing to what they’re planning on doing. Then they go back and
finalize all their engineering. They don’t do you know detailed engineering at the preliminary
plat level but once they get, if they receive preliminary plat then they’ll go back to do detailed
engineering. Wetland studies. All those type of conditions and work and then they’ll come back
for the final plat at some time later that spring. So that’s exciting. You know it happened, it
kind of rolled in last year. There was a lot of back and forth between council, commissions, the
public, the developer and so it’s good to see that they’re back in for city review. It’s without a
doubt the biggest opportunity in parks in the 50 year history of Chanhassen and if you study the
metro area, the State of Minnesota you’d be hard pressed to find a better deal I think on parkland
dedication for somebody to turn over 94 acres. It’s likely value is easily well north of $10
million dollars and so if that park dedication comes to the city of Chanhassen, you know the cash
value exceeds $10 million dollars. It could be even closer to 20 because of the shoreline
conditions that you’re taking a look at there so it’s a significant proposal and I think a really
important meeting will start your year in January.
Scharfenberg: Alright, thanks Todd. Anybody else have anything else that they want to cover?
Hoffman: Anymore questions on Lennar?
Scharfenberg: No.
Hoffman: Jerry wanted to talk, I think most of you heard about Katie but he’ll give you a little
update that Katie has departed but we are hiring somebody new.
Ruegemer: So just to give the commission an update. Katie did submit her resignation effective
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November 28. We advertised her position. We received 53 applications for that. Chelsea
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Park and Recreation Commission – December 11, 2018
Petersen, Assistant City Manager and myself had narrowed that list from 53 down to 8. We
started interviews today so we had 3 interviews today and 5 on Thursday. Second rounds are
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scheduled for next Wednesday the 19 so we hope to have an offer on the table prior to the first
of the year and get somebody in working roughly about the second week in January is our ideal
plan, if that all works out so just want to give everybody an update as to kind of where we’re at
right now so staff is basically, we’re just trying to get rinks open and Feb Fest and sponsorships
secured so all that is moving forward and hopefully we won’t skip a beat and the new person will
be busy when they start the first couple weeks in January so just wanted to keep the commission
up to date as to kind of what’s going on with that and does anybody have any questions? Okay,
thank you.
nd
Scharfenberg: And Feb Fest is the 2?
Ruegemer: Yes. Yep. Of February yep. First Saturday in February.
Scharfenberg: Okay. And anything new or different this year for plans for Feb Fest?
Ruegemer: Yeah we’re trying to add some different, potentially some dog sled rides. I struck
out on somebody today but we’ll continue to look for a vendor for that so yep.
Scharfenberg: Is Chick-fil-A going to do something again this year Jerry?
Ruegemer: You know in talking with the Rotary I’m not sure that we need to kind of finalize the
plans on that. Chick-fil-A was involved with the field goal kick and that sort of thing last year
but no. I think they had some preliminary conversations with the Culver’s group again to
provide that service at Feb Fest.
Hoffman: And online registration. Going to beef up some pre-registration. We sell so many
tickets the day of that it becomes cumbersome. If we could sell at lest 25 percent online that
would take some of the pressure off the day of.
Ruegemer: Yeah so we’re going to come up with hopefully a fun program for that. We’re going
to try to give a little incentive for registering online with a nice significant prize for that so really
try to encourage people to go that direction and if you register online your name will be put into
kind of a special drawing for, you know we’re going to come up with a pretty nice prize for that
to really try to drive that towards that direction. As Todd said to kind of free up some of that on
the ice the day of. We’ll still have a fair amount of that as well but if we can increase that path a
little bit I think we’re hopefully going in the right direction on that.
Hoffman: The overall goal of the Feb Fest is to create more of a festival atmosphere so it’s
people just don’t think it’s a fishing contest. That you know it’s a festival. The fishing contest is
going on but we’ve seen more and more people just walk down and walk around and they’re
serious about what’s happening. Especially if it’s a nice day just to good to get out and see your
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Park and Recreation Commission – December 11, 2018
neighbors and other community members and so that’s the overall goal is to create more of a
festival atmosphere where there’s other activities. The ice skating is very popular. There’s some
other things going on over the years so, and we’ll continue to encourage that. You know the
fishing is about 800 to 1,000 tickets typically but then as long as you’re going to the effort you
might as well…if you could double that crowd it’d be great.
Scharfenberg: Excellent. Alright with that I just want to make a comment with respect to the
end of the year that I appreciate everybody’s efforts this year, both staff for all the wonderful
work that they’ve done and that they do on a daily basis for the city. I think we had some really
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wonderful events this year with Feb Fest and the 4 of July and some of the other things that Fox
Woods and the other things that went on this year so again thank you to staff and we’ve got some
new people on board and so that’s always fun and also thank you to the commission for all of
their hard work and dedication to the meetings that we have and assisting staff with the various
events so with that I’ll entertain a motion for adjournment.
Echternacht moved, Kelly seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the
motion carried unanimously with a vote of 8 to 0. The Park and Recreation Commission
meeting was adjourned at 7:15 p.m.
Submitted by Todd Hoffman
Park and Rec Director
Prepared by Nann Opheim
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