PRC 1987 02 10
CHANHASSEN PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
".... FEBRUARY 113, 1987
2-
The Park and Recreation Commission meeting was called to order by Lori
Sietsema.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Jim Mady, Curt RObinson, Ed Hasek, Carol Watson, Gloria
Corpian, and Larry Schroers.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Mike Lynch
Election of Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson.
Curt Robinson moved, Ed Hasek seconded to nominated Mike Lynch for
Chairperson of the Park and Recreation Commission. All voted in favor and
motion carried.
Curt Robinson moved, Carol Watson seconded to nominate Jim Mady for Vice-
Chairperson of the Park and Recreation Commission. All voted in favor and
moti.on carried.
Approval of Minutes:
Curt Robinson moved, Jim Mady seconded to approve the Minutes of the Park
and Recreation Commission meetings dated January 6, 1987 and January 213,
1987. All voted in favor except the new Commission members who abstained
".... and motion carried.
Carol Watson: There were comments made about specific parks, you and I
talked briefly about it, about Greenwood Shores Park which is just about a
block down the road from me I guess and the no parking signs and whether
they deny access and whether park money should be predica~ed on access.
I've lived there for 15 years and this is the first time we have been on
the park budget.
Jim Mady: Clark raised the point whether we should be putting any money
into the park.
Carol Watson: Clark and I have waltzed this one around several times.
Jim Mady: We, pretty much as a commission, felt that if we have a park that
means we fix it up.
Councilman Johnson: Lori, you maybe ought to address what happened last
night on this same issue.
Lori Sietsema: What are you talking about?
Councilman Johnson: On the capital improvements budget. That's what
you're discussing right? The no parking signs and the amendment to the
capital improvements budget that was approved last night was only areas
with free access will be allowed to spend their budget. In other words, if
,~the no parking signs stay up in Greenwood Shores and Carver Beach, then
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 2
that money won't be spent at Greenwood Shores and Carver Beach. That
passed last night.
""""'"
Jim Mady: I think we've recommended tonight that the no parking signs will
be taken down. The Commission feels, at least that's my general feeling
from our past meetings, that our job is to make sure that the parks are
adequately maintained and the facilities are there. The Council's position
as to whether or not the funds get spent, we just make sure that the park
facilities are available and then the City as a Council has to decide what
funds we can spend. .
Carol Watson: Then does the neighborhood have the option of deciding
whether they want those funds or their no parking signs?
Jim Mady: I don't think the neighborhood really has a voice in it.
Carol Watson: We asked for the no parking signs though. The no parking
signs were a neighborhood decision. They came to the Council and they were
granted the no parking signs. The debate over those no parking signs
occurred again within the last two months and it was decided that they be
left up. A poll was taken and I kind of suspect if you poll those people,
you might find that they would tell you to keep your money because they've
never had any before anyway.
Jim Mady: As a commission we want to see the park open.
private parks.
We shouldn't hav
....",
Carol Watson: It isn't a private park.
Jim Mady: But nobody can use it.
Carol Watson: Why?
Jim Mady: Nobody can park. Nobody can get there.
Carol Watson: You're not a block away from this park. You're not as far
as from here to the street on that side of the building from that park
where you can park. At Carver Beach Park that's true. You can't park for
a long distance but at Greenwood Shores Park, you're not a block away. You
go downstairs to that homeowners association, you find out who uses it.
They do. They walk over and they use it and the City paved the trail that
runs from Lake Ann Park over to it so we get everybody that doesn't want to
put up with the lifeguard so it's not that the access, that people don't
use it. There are people there all the time. You don't have to walk any
distance because of the no parking signs.
Jim Mady: I know my personal feeling is if you have to walk more than a
block or even a block to get to a public park, it is no longer a public
park. You should be able to drive right up to it. That's my feeling. My
feeling is the same thing happened with the fence issue. If your fencing
public parks then they are no longer are public parks. You're denying
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Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 3
"
access to other people and this is a very spread out community. That's
what Clark was getting at.
Larry Schroers: Unless I read that wrong, wasn't there something in there
about the signs were going to be removed in the parking area only at Carver
Beach but remain along the road?
Lori Sietsema: That's right at Carver Beach.
Larry Schroers: Then at Greenwood Shores, there is going to be enough
signs removed so there are going to be 4 or 5 parking spots only. Isn't
that the way it read?
Lori Sietsema: That's what I recommended.
Larry Schroers: That seems sensible. I use Greenwood Shores Park myself
and there is a little red rock or fresh limestone parking area right there
right now. Is there a problem with using that and leaving the no parking
signs up on the street?
Lori Sietsema: No, I don't think so. Leaving the no parking signs along
the street and then just making sure that the gate is open during the day
so that people can drive in and park there.
~ Larry Schroers: During the summertime in the past, that chain has been
across there and there's been a padlock on there.
Lori Sietsema: That's right. Because the lift station is down there.
Carol Watson: They were always real senstive to anything happening to it
but it gets mugged periodically anyway.
Larry Schroers: Maybe there would be a way just to fence that to give it a
little more protection.
Ed Hasek:
together?
Where is the park that we're talking about? Is there a map put
A color map of the City? A zoning map or something?
Jim Mady:
at.
You'll be getting that with your Comp Plan that we'll be looking
Councilman Johnson: It's right here on the northeast corner of Lake Ann.
Lori Sietsema: As I said earlier, the new people will be getting that Comp
Plan too.
Ed Hasek: Are the maps pretty well updated?
Lori Sietsema: They will be soon. We just went through the updating
process and the planning area sections are all updated. We're just waiting
~to complete the updating of the recreation section and then we'll have a
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 4
whole new Comp Plan and those maps will be updated.
......"
Curt Robinson: Regarding the Minutes, I was given credit in there for
making some comments that I shouldn't have been. There's nothing wrong
with that.
Jim Mady: I thought a lot of times you were saying things that I thought I
had said.
Lori Sietsema: It could be because Nann has never met either one of you
and all she did was listen to these tapes.
Curt Robinson: I was going to say Jim, I don't feel offended by that...
Jim Mady: There was one comment I made in here and I remember I made it
and I wished somebody else had gotten credit for it. It was right after
Dale Geving had said something. I don't remember what it was now.
Lori Sietsema: Until Nann gets to know all of our voices, that may happen
and that can be changed.
Carol Watson: Are we going to pursue, for instance the donation of money
in land and naming the parks after various people or organizations who want
to do it? It was mentioned in the Minutes here, is that something?
Jim Mady: It was something Tom threw out just as a comment and that's alL_"
it was. I don't know who would pursue it any further than that.
Lori Sietsema: If we want to pursue it, we can put it on the agenda for
the next meeting.
Carol Watson: I just thought it was an interesting concept because I think
it could happen.
Ed Hasek: I think it will just be a matter of setting up a policy and as
far as setting up a policy, just passing the word around and if someone is
interested, they can come to us with it.
Jim Mady: Get the word out to the proper people. There's about a dozen
people in town you could hit and that's probably about it.
Carol Watson: Or organizations or something like that.
Park Needs Survey = Pat Pfahl.
Lori Sietsema: That's who I met with up in Excelsior. Pat had another
meeting to go to tonight and he wasn't able to get out of it so he was not
able to be here. Basically, what's in the packet is his proposal. He has
some good ideas. He's been talking to the Met Council and a guy named
Grant who works with the Met Council, he's a park planner and he has a lot
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Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 5
,....
of access to a lot of existing surveys that have been done in the early
80's before funds were cut. They did survey after survey of the whole
metropolitan area so he can get some ideas from that and use some of their
methods. He's going to take our rough draft and rework it so it's
worded properly. After he's done his research, he's going to come
up with a recommendation as far as how to proceed with selection of sample
size and distribution method. If it's going to be a telephone survey. We
talked about that quite a bit or a mailed out surveyor whatever. We can
probably get our results quicker if we do a telephone survey and with the
ice being non-existant, I have rink attendants that are screaming for work
and they would probably assist us in the telephone survey too. Our
tentative time line on that would be, the next Park and Recreation
Commission meeting, he will bring back the final form of the survey for
your approval with all of his supporting information and a recommendation
on the sample size and method of distribution. Your recommendation will
then go to the City Council for their approval of that survey and he will
be all in place to just go ahead at that time and hopefully have it done by
the first part of April.
Jim Mady: Has the City Council allowed us to hire this guy?
Lori Sietsema: Yes, they did move last night that that was fine.
Jim Mady: Okay, the concern that I had when I read through his proposal
~ was mainly with the wording of questions. I didn't see anything really in
his resume that told me that he was really experienced.
Lori Sietsema: He's not himself but he has access to people who are and as
far as I was concerned, as long as I don't have to do the legwork to go and
find those people, he's already got contact with them and a report with
them and he can find that out much easier than I can.
Larry Schroers: That's basically the same question that came to my mind.
It sounded like he had experience in regards to surveying but not
specifically to parks and I just wondered how knowledgable he was on parks
and their operations.
Lori Sietsema: Like I said, he probably doesn't have a real good back-
ground in parks specifically but again, he does have access to people that
do. He has professors who are willing to help him out and that kind of
thing too.
Ed Hasek: How would we put the survey out?
Lori Sietsema: That's what he's going to come back with, a recommendation.
Ed Hasek: It could go in the Post.
Jim Mady: The only problem is we need to do this.
.~Lori Sietsema: The Post comes out about once a month or month and a half.
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 6
Gloria Corpian: Those surveys never come back though.
-'
Lori Sietsema: Unless you mail them with a returned, stamped envelope,
they don't come back very good.
Ed Hasek: But he's going to give us everything we ever wanted to know
about getting a survey out and back?
Lori Sietsema: Right, and that will be at the March meeting. Again, our
recommendation will then be taken to the City Council at their second
meeting in March and at that point, he will be able to just take off with
it and have it back. We maybe will push our April meeting back a week so
he has the time to have it all back to us by the second week in April.
Gloria Corpian: We can't go wrong for $400.00 can we?
Lori Sietsema: No, that's why with a graduate student we can get by a lot
cheaper than if we were to hire a firm, it would cost us about $2,000.00
easily.
Councilman Johnson: Does he get credit for this at school?
Lori Sietsema: I don't know that.
Carol Watson: He just graduated in December of 1986 so it's all very
recent too. He isn't going back to anybody that he hasn't been with. He-,
just got his Masters in Decembe~ of 1986.
Curt Robinson moved, Larry Schroers seconded to authorize the employment of
Pat pfahl to assist with the Park Needs Survey. All voted in favor and
motion carried.
Lake Ann Park Entrance Fees.
Lori Sietsema: I have been in the past, year after year, in favor of
lowering the fee at Lake Ann, the daily entrance fee at Lake Ann and the
Commission has always asked to raise it. Last year I finally got the
Council to lower it $1.00. No, two years ago and last year it remained the
same. My recommendation is to leave it the same. It's finally getting in
there so that it's comparable to what other cities are charging for a
similar park. $3.00 per day is getting into the regional park fee range.
I feel that $3.00 is still somewhat high but I would be happy with it
remaining the same.
Jim Mady: I looked at this and thought it looked awful high.
Lori Sietsema: We used to be $4.00 per day so what I'm recommending is the
$3.00 daily entrance fee with a $5.00 season pass for people who live or
work in the City and a non-resident fee of $10.00.
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Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 7
,....
Jim Mady: Approximately how much do we pay a gate attendant to be down
there all year to collect this fee?
Lori Sietsema: They get about $4.00 per hour and they are out there 9
hours per day, 7 days a week for 3 months.
Gloria Corpian: Has the attendance dropped or changed since it was raised
or lowered?
Lori Sietsema: The money that we've taxen in has been pretty constant.
From 1984 to 1985 it was almost exactly $500.00 difference and then last
year it was up again so I think last year, use of the park has increased.
Jim Mady: Last year we required softball teams to buy tickets.
Lori Sietsema: For the first time.
Jim Mady: That might explain the increase. We're netting about $10,000.00
on the deal so I don't see any reason to increase it myself as long as it's
covering. I'm not sure what the thing is supposed to be doing.
Lori Sietsema: It just goes back into the General Fund.
Jim Mady: But it's not really giving a whole lot of money. It must be
.~ doing something other than that.
Larry Schroers: How much emphasis do we put on generating revenue from
parks? It's probably very little.
Lori Sietsema: Very little. This is the only park we charge to get into.
Larry Schroers: Okay. I was wondering why you can't buy your season park
at the gate. It seems to me like you would sell a lot more passes if they
were right there and available.
Ed Hasek: Especially the softball players. Last year was the first year
that we had to pay and unfortunately, the first couple of nights we were
out there, the lady was very strict. I don't think she knew about the
seniors being free either because I had a father-in-law that's a senior
that got turned away twice. He just refused to pay to get into that park
but she never even offered him a senior option.
Lori Sietsema: She should have known that. She's on the Senior Citizens
Group.
Ed Hasek: But it seems to me, maybe we've got the softball players
involved and if we left it the way that it was this year to next year, that
would give us an indication if the usage goes up. If we don't change
anything and we'll still have that constant indicator.
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Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 8
Lori Sietsema: What I've proposed to do with the softball players is just-'
ask the managers right up front if they want to buy tickets for their teams
and have them pay for it when they pay their regular fee or have them on
sale at the organizational meeting too. That would be another way.
Ed Hasek: How do you charge for events out there?
to pay a one time parking fee?
Do those people have
Lori Sietsema: What kind of events?
Ed Hasek: For example, you have an invitational softball tournament. You
.are inviting people to come out to the park and participate in an event.
Lori Sietsema: We usually waive the fee.
Jim Mady: It comes before us and we recommend that they get waived.
Lor i Sietsema: The reason is tha t the one tournamen t tha t we have tha t has
been invitational from year to year, is the Fireman's and they charge a fee
to get into the tournament. They're out there to make money to better the
Fire Department and to help them out, we usually waive the fee. That's the
way it's always been and nobody has ever questioned it. This year, for the
first time, we've had a request to have a MRPA Regional Tournament out
there and because we send OUr teams to other cities year after year to
tournaments. Generally, there is no charge to get into those parks. It i
our turn to have a tournament and I don't feel we should charge either. -'
It's kind of our turn.
Ed Hasek: It seems to me that that park actually belongs to the City and
the people in the City are paying for the park. It's really our park so we
shouldn't have to expect people from outside, that we invite to our park,
to have to pay no matter what the event. If the Chamber of Commerce wants
to have a tournament out there or somebody within the City, an organization
uses the park and helps pay for the park wants to have somebody there, you
shouldn't be charging your guests. To me, it's you're inviting them to
your home and why charge them at the door to come in.
Jim Mady: Just a little information on funding of a park. Typically,
historically, the money that goes to purchase land or get land and buy the
facilities and different things has come out of the various park dedication
fees that is charged to the developers whereas the maintenance of all the
parks comes out of the General Fund.
Lori Sietsema: Lake Ann was also acquired with LAWCON Funds which is Federal
Funds and LCMR money has gone into developing that park and that is State
Funds so everybody has put in toward that particular park anyway. As far
as the 4th of July, I think we charge everybody, whether they have a
sticker or not to get,in on the 4th of July because we have the fireworks
to pay for and the band and all the different activities that are going on
out there and that's just a one day deal where we just charge everybody thp
da i 1y fee.
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Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 9
I"""
Gloria Corpian: When you moved it last year up here, it wasn't even in the
park last year was it?
Lori Sietsema: Just the band was up here. The softball tournaments and
family games and during the day activities were still out at the park.
Jim Mady: I don't think you charged though. Your sticker got you in
anyway because I think I remember playing.
Ed Hasek: That was the day my father-tn-law tried to get in there and he
couldn't.
Lori Sietsema: The deal is that senior citizens get a free pass but they
have to have the pass and they can get the free pass up here. I guess I
don't know why we do it that way. It was done that way before I got here
and we've never changed it.
Ed Hasek: That would be another nice thing because that park really draws
from a lot of places. Especially seniors I think. The seniors need to
have a break and I can see where giving those people in town a pass so
there isn't a question but it seems to me if there is a question with
anybody that goes out there when they're old. I mean a senior is a senior
is a senior. I don't care where they come from. It seems to me like we
ought to let them in for nothing. I think a little bit of good will is
~just going to help to improve this park too.
Carol Watson: I think if the seasonal thing is offered out there at the
park, then the first time mom brings the kids for their swimming lessons,
she just buys that ticket and that's the end of it.
Larry Schroers: What's happening with that is the families bring their
people ou t dur i ng the weekend and on the weekend they can't come up here
and purchase their pass and they're busy and they're working during the
week and they're not free until after business hours so they'll go a couple
of time and they'll pay their $3.00 and they'll say, it's too big of a
deal. If they could buy that sticker right there, then we would have the
desirable people using the parks too.
Gloria Corpian: If they do it then they should advertise in the newspaper
too and let them know it. A lot of people I know don't go because they
can't get in over here when they want to use it. Being new here, there's a
park over on Minnewashta, is that part of?
Jim Mady: That's a County park.
Lori Sietsema: It's regional.
Gloria Corpian: We have nothing to do with that?
Lori Sietsema: We have no jurisdiction over that.
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Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 10
Gloria Corpian: Oh, because I thought they had a little house to collect --'
money too.
Lori Sietsema: They do but it goes to the County.
Jim Mady: They do have to come in front of the City Council from time to
time.
Carol Watson: Yes, their permits and all their rules and regulations came
from us. How they operate, what they can do over there, what the
restrictions were but they are actually part of the metropolitan regional
park system.
Larry Schroers: Are they operated by Carver County?
Carol Watson: Yes.
Larry Schroers: And is that in Chanhassen's boundaries.
Lori Sietsema: The park is within Chanhassen. Their offices are out of
Carver County Courthouse in Chaska.
Larry Schroers moved, Jim Mady seconded recommended to make season and
daily passes available for purchase at the gate of Lake Ann Park; to leave
the daily and season fees the same as the last year; and to permit senior
citizens free admittance without a special pass from City Hall. All vote6~
in favor and motion carried.
Recommendation of a Park and Recreation Commissioner to serve on the
Communi ty CenterTaskF"'Orce:- - -
Jim Mady: I've already indicated my interest in doing that, is there
anybody else?
Lori Sietsema: Does everybody know what we're talking about on this
community center task force?
Curt Robinson: I told Lori last night that I don't want to. I just thought
that if we have to limit to one I would rather that it be you than me and I
thought somebody should be on it. To tell you the truth, my interest was
two fold. One, that I think I've got some background in that type of
thing. Secondly, I wanted to make sure that we didn't end up with three
hockey rinks in a community center. What's it going to be made up of
Lori? Just one person from each commission or as many outsiders as is
warranted?
Lori Sietsema: It will be one from each commission and one from the
Council and there will be members at-large. What we're trying to do is get
someone from the CAA. Someone from different areas and different community
organizations. We would like to limit so it isn't a monstrous group. The
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Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 11
,....
ideal number of course would be 7 but it sounded like at the City Council
meeting last night that it may get larger than that because there has been
a lot of response. I have gotten a lot of calls. We've got about 5 or 6
if not more applications for the people at-large. I don't know how big
it's going to end up being at the end.
Councilman Johnson: We want to get representation from the Senior Citizens
and various groups.
Larry Schroers: This is a task force just to study.
plans or anything?
There are no formal
Lori Sietsema: There is nothing in contract. CHADDA has proposed a
facility and feels that there is a need and the City Council has more or
less said, you're right, there may be a need but they don't want to be
locked into their idea alone because it includes a regulation size hockey
rink, a swimming pool, racket ball courts, a gym, parking ramp, farmers
market, and community rooms, which all are nice but it's a 2 1/2 million
dollar project.
Larry Schroers: And where do they plan on putting it?
Lori Sietsema: Adjacent to the bowling center. On the other side of that
existing building.
~ Councilman Johnson: CHADDA wants to generate trips downtown. Whatever
they can do to get somebody to drive into downtown to stop and leave their
money there. That's what they want but that's not necessarily the
objective of the community center.
Carol Watson: It's not necessarily where it should be. Maybe someone
feels it should be out at Lake Ann Park or anywhere in the community.
There's nothing sacred about where they've decided because this is the
second time that there has been a task force.
Larry Schroers: Who is CHADDA?
Lori Sietsema: It's the Chanhassen Downtown Development Association which
is composed of Bloomberg Companies and a private developer who is a
resident.
Jim Mady: So they have some private interest.
Lori Sietsema: But again, we're not locked into their ideas. We want to
look at all the different options. If indeed the committee were to decide
that we do need a community center, at that point then they will look at
different options and what other community centers have and if they are
solvent. If they are in the red or in the black. Those kinds of things
and then they would make any recommendations as far as what the facility
should include and how much it should be to the City Council.
,....,
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - page 12
Larry Schroers: I think it's wise to look into all the aspects of it.
I've heard very favorable comments from the Eden prairie community center.
....."
Lori Sietsema: They are one of the most successful and they are adding a
new rink on. They are doing some heavy duty expansion.
Carol Watson: They made money the first year and they didn't expect to.
They thought they would lose for a while.
Gloria Corpian: Was it on the tax roll"to begin with though?
Lori Sietsema: Yes.
Carol Watson: Oh yeah, they went to the people of Eden prairie and they
sa id do you wan t th i s bad enough to pay for it and the consensus was yes,
they did and that it probably would lose money for a while and be a
financial burden but in fact, it earned money the first year and has been
far less of a burden than anticipated but the presentation originally was
this thing could be an albatross if it doesn't go and people don't use it
and we don't get the community involvement expected but they got far more
than they expected. It isn't large enough.
Lori Sietsema: The reason why they are so successful, one of the big
reasons is because all of the high school hockey is run out of it. They
are subsidized by a hockey association that is so strong. They are really
gung-ho. In fact they are now going to build a recreational rink so they -'
will have the free skating out of the hockey rink so they can put more
hockey in.
Gloria Corpian: That's what the Minnetonka High School did.
Councilman Johnson: Didn't you say we're almost totally booked up on
hockey down at the Bloomberg arena now?
Lori Sietsema: Yes.
Jim Mady: That may change now that Eden prairie is putting a second rink
in. Minnetonka is putting another one in.
Curt Robinson: Are we making any money on that ice arena?
Lori Sietsema: This year we may break even. Last year we lost about
$1,000.00 which wasn't really too bad considering we didn't know what we
were do i ng. It was just kind of feel your way through it and it has gone a
lot better this year.
Larry Schroers: You may want to use Pat for a Need Survey.
Jim Mady: Yes, definitely we're going to have to look at more than just
the 9 or whatever people it ends up being voicing their opinions. I'm
afraid we won't get enough community input just by having a meeting. That-,
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 13
.1"'"
was one of the thoughts when we originally drew up the survey was getting a
question on it. I don't remember if it's still on there or not.
Lor i Sietsema: Yes, it's sti 11 in the rough draft.
going to keep the dollar figures.
I don't know if we're
Councilman Johnson: When I was out campaigning last year, city wide, rather
than taking neighborhood issues out, the community center was probably the
second most often brought up issue right behind taxes.
Carol Watson: I think the question is everybody wants it. It's how are
they going to pay for it. People look at it and say I'm not going to go
down there. I don't play racquetball. I don't have any kids who are
going to use the facilities. I don't want that on my taxes.
Gloria Corpian: Remember that everything isn't centered right around
Chanhassen. I happened to live in Lake Minnewashta. I'm just saying that.
I don't know if they would support it like maybe the people who live in
Greenwood Shores.
Carol Watson: The whole thing though that it would draw the community
together. That because it was yours to use that you might come and that it
would pull the community more together by having a place where we do come
together and share a facility and activities.
~
Councilman Johnson: We may not want it downtown. We would want to get
someone from Minnewashta.
Jim Mady: No matter where you put it you're going to have the problem that
somebody is going to have to drive an extra 5 miles to get there.
Lori Sietsema: It's the same with the people up in Fox Hollow. Are they
going to want to drive all the way around Lotus Lake to get down there?
Councilman Johnson: They go to Minnetonka schools.
Lori Sietsema: And Eden Prairie is closer.
Ed Hasek: I take my kids over to Eden prairie a lot.
Lori Sietsema: I'm a member at Eden Prairie.
Carol Watson: We do too.
Gloria Corpian: I work in Waconia and I know people there that drive to
Eden prairie so maybe we would get people that would drive here.
Jim Mady: I have a feeling that people tend to drive 10 miles into town
versus driving 2 miles out.
,....
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 14
Carol Watson: They can do other things at the same time. They can drop
the kids off and I can do something else.
......"
Larry Schroers: It can almost act like a daycare.
Carol Watson: Right, or they figure that at least when we're through here
we can go shopping or we can do something else and it does help.
Larry Schroers: What I see in the new developments is a lot of younger
people with kids that are of the age that they are going to want to start
doing some of those things and I would have to believe that there is going
to be a lot of favorable response for it.
Curt Robinson moved, Larry Schroers seconded to recommend that Jim Mady
serve as the Park and Recreation Commission's representative on the
Community Center Task Force. All voted in favor except Jim Mady who
abstained and motion carried.
Consider Abandoning No Parking Zone at Carver Beach and Greenwood Shores
Park.
Carver Beach:
Jim Mady: I think we should probably look at them as separate items. Let'
take Carver Beach first. At the joint meeting we held 2 to 3 weeks ago, ~
the question was raised whether we should be spending park funds on a
facility that realistically did not have access to a majority of the
community. It only had access to those who could walk to the park. As the
discussion proceeded we started getting into things that happened
previously at Carver Beach and to a lesser extent at Greenwood Shores
approximately 5 years ago. It was felt that possibly now is the time to
open up those facilities to allow cars near them again in order that the
general community can possibly use the park if they so desire. Also, to
find out if those problems are going to come back to us. We decided to put
it on this agenda opening up the parking spaces at Carver Beach. I believe
there are five spots there or something like that. That has currently been
chained off. What happened five years ago, there were noisy and
potentially dangerous parties taking place at night down there and the
participates typically were from outside the community. By putting up
the no parking signs they were able to alleviate the problem. The previous
park commission felt that it would be wise to open up the park to the
general community so that's what we're looking at now.
Larry Schroers: Can we do it for a one season trial basis?
Jim Mady: That's exactly what we were asking for.
Larry Schroers: How hard is it to reinstate the parking ban if we want to?
Jim Mady: Not hard at all.
.....",
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 15
JII""
Carol Watson: What you're suggesting is to leave the no parking signs on
the streets but open up the parking spaces in an existing lot?
Jim Mady: Right.
Lori Sietsema: I think with the CSO's that we have on staff now and with
Carver County Deputy on duty 24 hours a day, we have more coverage than we
did five years ago.
Curt Robinson: What's a CSO?
Lori Sietsema: Community Service Officer. He's not quite a cop. They
don't carry a gun I don't think.
Jim Mady: They can't arrest.
Lori Sietsema: One of them is licensed to, Frank is. They are college
graduates. They wear the blue uniforms. They're not deputies.
Gloria Corpian: You're saying there is an existing parking lot there right
now?
Lori Sietsema: That has no parking signs.
,.... Gloria Corpian: Who uses that then?
Lori Sietsema: The people within walking distance.
Gloria Corpian: So all you have to do is take down those signs without
telling anybody and people may start to use them or they may not.
Jim Mady: One of the things that we had also discussed at the meeting was
making some information known to the community as to what's available in
the community parks and that would be part of something that we would want
to do.
GLoria Corpian: You want to advertise?
Jim Mady: We want the community to know that there are some parks
available. It is our feeling that most of the community doesn't know
what's around. Unless the park is within a couple blocks of your home,
they don't even know it's there.
Larry Schroers: You just want to add that in with other information. You
don't want to specify and single it out and say the party spot is open
again.
Lori Sietsema: Generally, each spring in the spring addition when the
summer programs are advertised, we say the parks are open and list the
hours. Here's where they are and here's what they have in them and
.~parking is in the grid and checked off and we would then check off parking
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 16
in Carver Beach. It wouldn't be exactly the party spot is open again but ~
it outlines the hours and park rules that apply to all the parks. No pets
and no booze and no littering.
Gloria Corpian: I agree with that. I wouldn't want something in the paper
where we have now opened our parking.
Ed Hasek: Is the parking area at Carver Beach really defined?
Lori Sietsema: Yes. It's gravel.
Ed Hasek: You can't drive off of it?
Lori Sietsema: No. It's a wide spot in the road and then it's a cliff and
there are steps going down the cliff to the park below.
Ed Hasek: Parallel parking?
Lor i Sietsema: No, it's per pend icular parki ng but it's only park ing in the
parking lot. They couldn't park on the grass.
Gloria Corpian: And these are the only parks you have restricted parking
on?
Lori Sietsema: Yes, right now. We used to have Bandimere Heights which
had no parking too because Prince lived down there but now that has been
removed since he moved. There were so many groupies that were parking
outside his house, it was really creating a nuisance.
......,;
Jim Mady: He's been a good neighbor, that was one of the things we do.
Carol Watson: He really has.
Ed Hasek moved, Jim Mady seconded to recommend that the City open the
parking at Carver Beach for the 1987 season. All voted in favor and motion
carried.
Greenwood Shores:
Carol Watson: It's a relatively flat park and you come in and go down and
the parking would have to be very well defined and it would have to be
sectioned off because you could drive right down to the lake. There would
be nothing to restrict parking. It's not like we have a cliff. We don't.
It would be very easy to drive anywhere within the park area. There is
nothing down there presently. There is a parking area that they are using
now.
Jim Mady: But it's been chained off.
Carol Watson: Yes, it's been chained off before but the sewer lift station
is over here and the lake is down here and right in this flat area up herE
....."
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 17
Ii""""
they've been parking and ice fishing on the lake. The road comes in like
this and if this were, some kind of a barrier were created. There's a
woods over here and this is privately owned and that has been part of our
problem. The kids would corne in. They would park up here on the street,
and they would go into that woods, which is private property and the police
cou Id not make them 1 ea ve. They cou Id sit ou t there and make them
uncomfortable. They could try to get the people as they left for minors
with alcohol and stuff. They could not really control the situation
because of the fact tha tit was pr i va te proper ty and they cou ld not go on
there.
Gloria Corpian: How far is that lot from the lake then?
Carol Watson: Like a yard, like a lawn. It's not that big a park.
Larry Schroers: It's 25 to 30 yards.
Carol Watson: It's just a very short walk down there.
Jim Mady: Could we ask Dale Gregory to look at it and determine if we
could put like four spots just out at the street and restrict it there?
Maybe we would have to move the chain they have.
Carol Watson: And if the police would corne at 10:00 and put that chain
~back up again so there wouldn't be the problem with the driving.
Jim Mady: Instead of having the parking way down here, have it right on
the street.
Carol Watson: There's no place there to do it.
Ed Hasek: It is right on the curve like it shows on the map there?
Carol Watson: Yes, it's right on the curve and you corne and then drop
down. It's not a steep slope but you drop down. The parking virtually has
to be where it is right now and it's not far.
Larry Schroers: There are trails there also. When you go down to the lake
from that parking area, there's a big trail that goes over to the main Lake
Ann beach and then there is just paths basically that go on that narrow
strip of land between Lake Lucy and Lake Ann, is that the private property?
Carol Watson: That's all private property.
Larry Schroers: If there is not a barrier there and people have access down
in there, I would think that 4-wheel drive people and all terrain people
and stuff would really like to get back in there and tear things up.
Lori Sietsema: That's the problem they did have.
~Jim Mady: We need to put signage in to restrict that.
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 18
Carol Watson: And to do something with the parking lot.
......,
Jim Mady: Like the Lotus Lake access would be. No trespassing signs would
be put up next to the private land.
Carol Watson: And something to restrict the parking so you couldn't simply
drive out of the parking area.
Ed Hasek: Does the City have some sort of design like a bo1lard and chain
or bo11ard and cable type of system that they use?
Carol Watson: No, not really. Even just those posts not spaced too far
apart so you could drive a vehicle.
Ed Hasek: I f you pu t a cha in or cable bet ween them then you are
restricting it, we don't allow motorcycles or 3-wheelers through it either
and for very little expense you can prevent both items.
Carol Watson: It's fairly open. Not that's a real cheap way to get to
Lake Ann Park is to walk in which a lot of people do. They come in our
park and they walk in.
Jim Mady: That will happen more with the trail system.
Carol Watson: And the kids fish along there. There are a couple of real
nice fishing docks along there where the kids catch a lot of fish.
.....,,#
Jim Mady: I don't have any problems with people walking into Lake Ann.
The drivers you have problems with.
Ed Hasek: It seems to me if we're going to restrict the parking to a
specific area and we're going to need bol1ards and cables to do that, it
doesn't make any sense to just open it up and say, what's the next thing to
do? Somebody has to take a look at it. Is there someone on the city staff
that's available to do that?
Lori Sietsema: Dale and I could do that.
Jim Mady: Dale Gregory is the Park Foreman.
Carol Watson: And he lives in Greenwood Shores so he's pretty familiar
with the park.
Ed Hasek: Can we say we would like it opened up but until some form of a
barrier is established along the signage that it's going to remain closed?
Larry Schroers: Maybe we could move that the parking spaces be opened
contingent on restrictive parking that restricts access beyond that point.
Gloria Corpian: But if we just say that we're opening up the parking and
not saying what else we're doing.
--'
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 19
,....
Ed Hasek: If you say it that way, the policy simply says, you just take
that and just open it up and nothing is formally done.
Carol Watson: Because there is a private residence right here by the park
entrance. He's right next to the lift station.
Gloria Corpian: But he chose to buy there though.
Lori Sietsema: How about if the Park and Recreation Commission meets at
7:00 at the next meeting out at Greenwood Shores and looks it over and then
we can make a formal motion with what you want to be done too.
Jim Mady: I think I'm comfortable to make a motion to open up parking at
Greenwood Shores and the existing facility with bollard and chain installed
to prevent access beyond the parking facility and that the City continue to
restrict parking on the street by the use of no parking signs.
Carol Watson: I think if people park carefully, you could get at least 6
cars down there and maybe more than that.
Jim Mady: I think we should limit. I don't think you want to have any
more than 4 to 6 cars. It's a small park.
Ed Hasek: If it gets posted maximum 4 car parking or something like that.
,.... Carol Watson: Then if the Sheriff would put the chain back up at 10:00.
Councilman Johnson: But if there's 5 down there, who do you ticket.
Larry Schroers: It seems kind of funny. It goes in straight for a little
bit and then it angles to the right sort of towards the lift station and
that would be another thing that Dale would have to consider would be that
we have parking far enough away that people have access to their lift
station.
Ed Hasek: A center car on post thing would be real easy too.
Larry Schroers: But you do need the chain or cable to prevent the
motorcycles and 3-wheelers from scooting through.
Gloria Corpian: Does Carver Beach close at 10:00 also?
Jim Mady: Yes, all parks close at 10:00.
Lori Sietsema: There's not a chain there though, no. Not all of the
neighborhood parks need chains.
Councilman Johnson: Doesn't the Carver Beach park have the wood arm that
comes up and down?
""'Lori Sietsema: You're talking about Carver Park. This is Carver Beach.
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 20
Ed Hasek: Doesn't City policy say that it closes at l0:00?
--'
I
Lori Sietsema: We have a Park Ordinance that states the hours.
Ed Hasek: Does the City have a specific design for bollards or signage or
anthing like that at this time?
Lori Sietsema: No, nothing uniform. Our park signs are all uniform. They
are all the wood, the park identification signs.
Ed Hasek: But everything else is the metal sign with raised letters on it?
Lori Sietsema: Right.
Ed Hasek: How about bollards or anything like that?
Lori Sietsema: I can't think where we have bol1ard and chains.
M. Koegler: We had proposed bollards down at South Lotus Lake and they were
omitted from the job early on.
Ed Hasek: Because of cost or what?
M. Koegler: Yes, and there was some dissention about whether they were
really needed to keep people within the travel portion of the roadway.
That's the only place I know they were going to put them. --'
Carol Watson: Maybe we should leave the bollard and chain deal up to Dale
in case that turns out to be kind of expensive and they can come up with
just as restrictive an alternative but the cost isn't as much.
Ed Hasek: Have you ever been asked to do that, to get some sort of
standard format? It sounds like you've got the signs but the bollards and
paths?
Mark Koegler: I think the comment that was mentioned a minute ago has been
probably the appropriate one that it has come up on an as needed basis.
The first time an installation goes in, that basically sets the tone and
standard. I think that would have occurred with the bo1lards. You were
going to provide a detail as part of the construction documents but again,
that was omitted so it didn't occur.
Jim Mady moved, Larry Schroers seconded to recommend that the City open
parking at Greenwood Shores with bo11ard and chain installed to restrict
the area, to keep the no parking zone along the street, that the Sheriff
will close the park at 10:00 p.m., and to install private property signs
along the property lines. All voted in favo~ and motion carried.
~
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - page 21
,...
Authorization to execute 4th of July Band Contract.
Lori Sietsema: Since I started here 3 years ago, I've planned a 4th of
July celebration out at Lake Ann Park and what that is is family garnes, a
softball tournament, duck soup tournament, which is a kitten ball game with
crazy rules. You have to dress up like Groucho Marx. There's fireworks
and we had clowns one year and we had a couple of characters corne in and
entertain the kids and put on little skits. Last year for the first year,
we had a street dance. It was more of a parking lot dance and it was held
up here beh i nd City Ha 11 and the fireworks were shot out over the
playground instead of over the lake at Lake Ann. Basically the street
dance went really well. The band was excellent. The people had a really
great time. What we did was snow fence in a dance area and a beer garden
area and charged $3.00 to get in. This year we worked it into the budget
so we won't have to charge to get into the band because there were people
who stood on the outside and didn't corne in and just listen to the band.
Jim Mady: It created a lot of hard feelings and problems last year.
Lori Sietsema: It will be just a lot nicer to have it open to everybody
and then all we'll have to do is snow fence in the beer gardens because
that definitely has to be a contained area. What this is is the contract
for the band. It's the same band as last year. They were great. They were
fun and I would like to see them corne back so that's my recommendation.
,...
Ed Hasek: The terms and conditions are the same as they were last year?
Lori Sietsema: Yes.
suggestions for us.
In fact, they are corning back with a lot more
They are going to be helping us out a little bit too.
Ed Hasek: Did you get any negative feedback about moving it from the park
up to here?
Lori Sietsema: No.
Jim Mady: Positive feedback.
Ed Hasek: The one thing I remember last year was the mosquitoes and
finally the wind started to pick up at the end. If we had been down at the
park, we wouldn't have had that advantage. At least up here they are going
to blow away.
Lori Sietsema: The nice thing here too is it's easier to get out after the
fireworks. It's such a mess on TH 5 after the fireworks are over and
everybody wants out. It's a lot easier to handle the traffic.
Councilman Johnson: On the fireworks as a part of this thing, I think we
have to look at, we had flaming fireworks landing on buildings over here.
We had the Fire Department out to wash down roofs and we found live
explosives in the fields. Children can walk out in the fields and play
,..... with live explosives.
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 22
Lori Sietsema: They were live?
--'
Councilman Johnson: Live explosives, yes.
Jim Mady: Why don't we limit that to when we review the fireworks.
Councilman Johnson: I don't think that input ever got back to Lori.
Lori Sietsema: No, it sure didn't.
Gloria Corpian: Would they have the band if there were no fireworks?
Jim Mady: I believe the fireworks is already contracted.
Lori Sietsema: That will be on the next meeting. I just have to get
another bid.
Larry Schroers: You don't have much of a 4th of July celebration without
fireworks.
Gloria Corpian: I know that but I just want to see if we okay the band we
want to make sure...
Councilman Johnson: I just brought that up. It's not under consideration.
Jim Mady: We want to get the band going.
-'
Lori Sietsema:
available.
I'm afraid if we don't book the band they won't be
Carol Watson: And we will have fireworks.
Ed Hasek: If you don't have fireworks there will be fireworks.
Carol Watson moved, Ed Hasek seconded to recommend to accept the contract
for the band for the 4th of July celebration. All voted in favor and
motion carried.
Lori Sietsema: I just need to remind you that we're making
recommendations. When you see the motion in the Minutes it will be, Carol
recommended to do because the Council gets a little fiesty if we direct
without recommending.
Carol Watson:. This is a recommending body.
Lori Sietsema: We are a recommending body so all of the motions are
recommendations to the City Council. When I do the Minutes I do write them
up as recommendations.
....,/
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 23
,..,..
Councilman Johnson: The election of your chairperson and vice-chairperson
and that kind of stuff, that's your own direction. We already authorized
you to hire Pat without seeing his resume. We authorizeD you to spend the
money, you decide who you pick. I don't think we get it back.
Lori Sietsema: No, that won't go back to you again.
Review of the Comprehensive Plan Updating Process.
Mark Koegler: We kind of had an introduction a minute ago but I'll fill in
a couple gaps in the way of background since there are some new faces that
I haven't met before. My involvement with the City goes back to about
1978. I was the City Planner here from 1978 through 1981 and was involved
in the preparation of the Comprehensive Plan at that time. At the present
time the Council and Planning Commission are undergoing a process of
updating the Comprehensive Plan that was compiled around 198a and that's
being done for some very specific reasons that I'll get into perhaps a
little bit more thoroughly when we talk about the next item. What we
thought it might be beneficial to do would be to take a few minutes
tonight and kind of step back since you have some new people on board and
I think since Carol and Mike, if he were here, are the only ones who went
through some of this Comp Plan stuff the first time around, and talk a
little bit about, first of all, what a comprehensive plan is so you know
,..,.. what you're doing. Specifically, what the recreational plan elements
contain so you know how that fits into the overall structure. The
Comprehensive Plan, if you've ever seen it, is a document about that thick
which is really a document adopted by the City as an offica1 policy guide.
It assists the Council and Planning Commission in decisions that they have
to make on a weekly basis and really to look at what the physical
development of the community is to be. It sets goals. It sets objectives.
Policies on how you want to obtain what you ultimately want to achieve.
That plan is a flexible document. Planning is a process by definition and
typically there is flexibility there so whatever occurs, hopefully that
Plan can react to that. The Plan itself contains a number of components.
The one this group is obviously most interested in is the park section but
it also contains sections on land use, transportation, housing, capital
improvement programs and so forth and all of those are very much inter-
related. All of those additionally have to be prepared within the
framework that is provided to this City and to every other metropolitan
city by the Metropolitan Council. They have some very specific
requirements with regard to sewer capacity and roads and regional parks for
example, that are considered regional systems that this City then has to
basically fall in line with. The plan has to be prepared using that as a
framework. The Park Commission, obviously involved with the park element
of the Plan itself, is in the position to basically guide that now that we
go through and update, to establish policies that you would like to see the
City try to achieve over the next 5 to 10 year period and certainly to
provide direction to those of us who are putting material together for you
to review. We started the update process back in about October or November
,..... and the issue of this survey came up and kind of put the update of the rec
section on hold for the time being until there was some resolution of how
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 24
-..III'
you were going to conduct a survey. The survey being viewed as pretty
significant information in terms of viewing demands and wants and what the
pu b 1 i cwo u 1 d 1 i k e to see in the par k s y s tern. Now t hat hope full Y t hat. i s
going to get underway here shortly, we will be able to proceed on that
component but in the meantime there are still some other items that have
come up that we need to address. The park plan, if you've had a chance to
look at the old one, contains information. First of all an introduction to
what it's all about. There is information there on the existing park
system. There is information on the needs and demand. The population of
the City. The anticipated population of the City. Who the users are. Who
they are likely to be and then there is a plan section which contains
narratives and graphics which are aimed at providing future facilities
that meet the identified needs and hopefully correct the identified
deficiencies that you've come up with in the existing system. As we go
through this in the next 30-60 days, that will become more evident because
we'll be reviewing some of those components. I think the thing I would
stress is that the Plan maintains somewhat of a general framework. It will
not make every d'ecision for you but it is a guide in making the major
decisions that you face. In that regard, it is a flexible tool that is
intended to be used in that kind of a manner. That's really I guess enough
said about what the Plan is unless you've got specific questions, I would
certainly be glad to address those. Seeing none,. I would kind of like to
roll 10 and 11 to some degree together.
Adoption of Park Dedication Policy for Rural Developments.
......."
Mark Koegler: The next item on the agenda deals with an item that we
discussed at, I think, at the last meeting which is looking at a rural
policy for park dedication. The rural park dedication requirement issue is
a new one. When this City went through it's comprehensive plan effort back
in 1980, at that time there was an ordinance on the books and the number
escapes me at the moment but it basically prohibited development in the
unsewered area unless it was a lot of record which is defined as a lot
that's in existence at the time the Zoning Ordinance is put into effect.
That law was struck down approximately 3 or 4 years ago I believe. It kind
of opened the door, if you will, on the rural area for some additional
residential development. That really put the City in a position of having
to address an issue that it did not have to address previously. The Park
Dedication Ordinance that is in effect, although it may be somewhat
confusing, probably does do a fair job of targeting the urban type
development. I don't know that that necessarily is true for development
that is of a higher lot size or lower density as it appears in the rural
area. I referenced before that Metropolitan Council is very much involved
in the comprehensive planning process. This little snakey black line that
wanders through here is known as the MUSA line, which is the Metropolitan
Urban Service Area line. That line is a line that has been dictated
essentially by the Metropolitan Council and Metropolitan Control
Commission's input. What it says is all of this land up in this portion of
the community will be eligible for sewer service between now and the year
2000, if it's not already served and that sewer service and the extension
of that has to occur in an orderly fashion so a parcel down here is not ......"
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 25
,....
likely to be served until it basically begins to move that direction. What
that policy also says then is that this area, which is officially labled the
general rural use region will not receive sanitary sewer until at least the
year 2000 and most of those cases it is going to be well beyond that. The
areas that are shown in this kind of goldish yellow color are subdivisions
that have come in very recently that are being proposed and ultimatley
being reviewed by this body, the Planning Commission and the City Council.
All of those are rural lot subdivisions with presumably an average lot size
and minimum lot size of about 2 1/2 acr.es. The City entered into an
agreement with the Metropolitan Council and the Metropolitan Waste Control
Commission for the construction of the Lake Ann interceptor, which you are
probably generally familiar with. It's an interceptor sewer line that will
essentially come down through this portion of the community, over and into
Eden Prairie. That will provide future capacity not just for Chanhassen
but for the entire southwest area and particularly some of the communities
that are just northwest of the municipal boundaries of the City of
Chanhassen. That agreement carried some clout. It carried some
stipulations and in fact is the very reason why the Comprehensive Plan is
being updated right now. The Agreement called for the City to make some
changes to the land use element of the Comprehensive Plan. It specifically
required the City to make some changes to the Zoning Ordinance. The old
Zoning Ordinance allowed 2 1/2 acre lots throughout this area. The new
Ordinance, which is going into effect now or shortly will be, that is
boosted from 2 1/2 acres to a 10 acre minimum and that is consistent with
~ the requirements of this legal agreement. You can guess what impact that
has had. The application date deadline was January 15th so anybody that
wanted to fall under the old Ordinance had to have their plans in by then.
That's where you get all of these preliminary plats coming in. The
landowners, whether they're really serious about developing or not, perhaps
feel that it's in their best interest to maximize the potential economic
return on their properties. If they can put in 2 1/2 acre lots instead of
10 acre lots, that's more dollar signs in their eyes. So you've seen then a
rush for all these things to come in. That rush gets us back to what we're
talking about tonight in that there really has not been a park dedication
policy that very adequately addresses the rural area. We talked a little
bit the last time about comparisons between an urban subdivision and rural
subdivision and how a 2 1/2 acre lot size versus a lot size of 10,~00 or
12,000 or even 15,000 or more square feet, simply don't generate the same
amount of park demand. I think that's probably fairly obvious that if you
have one hous i ng un i t ver sus 9 hous i ng un i ts on the same amount of land,
there is different levels of demand generated. The charge, at least from
what I've been told that has come back to this group is to sort through
that and determine what policy you would like to put in place when it comes
to looking at these rural subdivisions and looking at the provision of
parks in the rural area. At the last meeting there was discussion of
taking a look within the southern stretch of the City and determining whether
there were reasonable parcels that could be acquired in some form or
fashion to satisfy at least a neighborhood park level of need. That was
defined to be approximately 15 acres, ballpark type of number. It was also
~defined to be a facility that would contain primarily active types of uses.
Ball diamonds, soccer fields, hockey rinks, whatever those might be. The
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 26
.."""
feeling being that the more informal type of play activities will likely
occur in yard situations, particularly where you have 2 1/2 acres
surrounding your home and that this would be a little bit more geared
towards perhaps the organized, not necessarily the league type of
activities. Since that meeting, Lori and I have taken a look and have
discussed that and are coming back this evening with four sites initially
for you to cons ider and to discuss the mer i ts of and then I would like to
take those and tie that to a discussion of how you would go about acquiring
that and what might be a reasonable pol.icy with regard to the rural issue.
The gray line that is on here is future alignment of TH 212. TH 212, 20
years ago people would have said it's going to be built tomorrow. We're
standing here, actually it's probably more like 25 years ago, it still is
not built but it is getting closer. They are officially mapping the right-
of-way in the Chaska. Eden prairie is going that and I think Chanhassen
will very soon begin the official mapping process for right-of-way which
will secure that corridor for future highway development.
Councilman Johnson: Not necessarily that corridor at this point.
Mark Koegler: Whichever. A corridor. This is the preferred alignment
right now. It is the one that is reflected on the majority of the plans.
The reason it's on this map, it does set up a physical barrier, obviously,
between certain portions of the community. Basically, the hashed areas
here are existing, just from a size perspective, more substantial
subdivisions. There are a number of other ones around but these are where~
there are kind of concentrations of existing housing units. What that sets
up to be is we've got a fair amount of population that is right down in
this area. These other ones are corning down the line now. Some of them
have regional proximity or good proximity to Lake Ann Park. Some of them
have good proximity obviously to the Arboretum and Minnewashta Regional
Park.
Ed Hasek: Can you show us about what a 15 acre park looks like on there?
Mark Koegler: Patience.
Ed Hasek: Just a size?
Mark Koegler: I've got that. We looked at thi s area and targeted four
areas, as I mentioned, which seem to be logical choices to locate a
facility at least initial facility that's closer to where the population
base is going to be and is, as a matter of fact. What we did then is took
a hypothetical look at what a 15 acre parcel would look like in those
areas. This is a 200 scale aerial. Here's Pioneer Trail. It continues
across. Here's TH 101. This is site #1. Lake Riley shoreline being right
up here. The configurations on these change and they may change depending
on the ultimate facilities that you would want to see. If it is going to
be primarily ball diamonds, it might be better to have more of a square
facility than a rectangular facility but just to get an idea of the amount
of land that is there and the terrain that is there and how well it will
fit, this represents about 15 acres on that particular piece of property s~
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 27
"""'"
that sits right in here. The total acreage of the Gagne property, as I
guess it is commonly known, is about 134 acres. That gives you a little
bit of a perspective.
Ed Hasek: Okay, so that's like that small green area north of Carver Park,
right? Up in Lake Minnewashta? That park on the larger map is kind of
like Hermann size.
Mark Koegler: Right, it's about that size. It literally would sit in here
about like this.
Ed Hasek: That 15 acres is based on projected population?
Mark Koegler: The 15 acres is based on somewhat of a judgment call that I
guess this group made a couple of months ago that basically said if we're
going to provide some kind of neighborhood facilities, we have to have a
minimum size threshold and that was defined to be about 15 acres.
Ed Hasek: That's the minimum threshold?
Mark Koegler: Minimum, correct.
Larry Schroers: Isn't there some formula that you have set up? So many
acres and so many units you need so much park space available?
,...
Mark Koegler: There is within the Comprehensive Plan, there are general
guides for neighborhood parks and the guide that has been used, I believe
is 5 acres per 1,000 for neighborhood park facilities. That number is also
in the City Dedication Ordinance which is a very cumbersome formula but
that's a component of one of the formulas in the dedications Ordinance
which hopefully you will see the wisdom to change one of these days.
Larry Schroers:
lots in there?
In the existing subdivisions, are those also 2 1/2 acre
Mark Koegler: No, in most cases they are larger than that. The Hesse
Farm, for instance has lots that are 5 and probably in some cases closer to
10 acres. They've got some of these bluff lots along here which are
extremely large and a lot of that is due to topography. A lot of it is
quite steep but many of the lots in there are more on the order of 5 acres.
96th Street probably is closer to the 2 1/2 that is useable because the
back portion of this gets very wet. These new ones here, just looking at
them, are probably in a 2 1/2 to 5 acre range so lot sizes do vary a little
bit.
Ed Has e k: Was any par k de d i cat ion eve r t a ken 0 r cas h in 1 i e u 0 f fro m He sse
Farm?
Mark Koegler: I can't answer that. Hesse Farm, the first phase of that
"""",was proposed probably about 1975 or 1976. The subsequent phases of that
that came in while I was with the City, I do not recall a park charge being
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 28
"""'"
collected at that time. That might mean that it was collected up front.
I'm not certain. That was kind of a grandfathered approval because again,
that fell just prior to the inaction of this Ordinance that I spoke of that
prohibited the development. That one got in basically the way these are
getting in now.
Councilman Johnson: Your park dedication fees are being collected with
building permits so if somebody builds a house in Hesse Farm today, they
pay $415.00, or they pay on 1,300 squar~ foot lot or whatever.
Mark Koegler: The Park Ordinance that is in effect right now and was
effective at that time, actually states that the park charge is to be
collected up front or, at the discretion of the Council, can be collected
at the time of building permit issuance. I don't know back then whether
they collected up front or whether they are collecting. I take it from Mr.
Johnson's comments that they are probably are collecting it as units are
bu i 1 t.
Councilman Johnson: That's what Don said today.
Mark Koegler: Okay, so they are still collecting fees from that particular
development. Those fees are subject to the curre~t rate schedule. If you
raise it to $450.00, they will be paying $450.00.
Ed Hasek: How did that system get set up? Is that $415.00 based on some -'
portion of the average cost of a standard sized lot in the City or how did
that get started. $415.00 is free.
Mark Koegler: Actually, it's not if you compare it to other cities, it's
not free at all. It's on the high end of the spectrum.
Lori Sietsema: It's on the high end of the spectrum, right.
Councilman Johnson: It's a complex formula which we spent longer than you
want to spend tonight on earlier in a meeting today in this room and it
really ends up back into...
Ed Hasek: Okay, then I'll let it slide. When I heard $415.00.
Lori Sietsema: We will be looking at redoing that. I'm just doing the
research on tha t now and see i ng wha t other ci ties are do i ng. Wha t the
going rate is and what kind of policies other cities are doing. What I
found so far is a lot of cities are redoing their park dedication
ordinances. Champlain is in the middle. Plymouth just did theirs. Eagan
is in the middle of doing theirs or just got done doing theirs so there are
a lot of changes going on. The one that we have on the books right now
came from Maplewood because that was where the City Manager was before he
was here.
Councilman Johnson: They don't do it on the price of the house or price 0
the lot, you have the same number of people maybe in this house or that ......"
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 29
ill""
house and the same park usage for both families so they both benefit the
same. It would be hard pressed, in some people's opinions, to charge this
guy $1,000.00 and this guy $400.00 when they are both going to have 3 kids
and use the park the same.
Ed Hasek: That's probaby true but if it's done with the idea that the land
is going to be further developed in the future, for example you've got a
guy who owns 10 acres and he pays $415.00, that stays in an estate for
the next 150 years, that's one thing but if he builds on that with the
intent that he's going to further subdivide, then the income continues to
come. Otherwise that land is locked up so there are two ways of looking at
it I guess. If you do it based on the value of the land, then there seems
to be an across the board equity there someplace for me. Do you actually
see it at that point?
Jim Mady: Why don't we look at that issue when we start...
Mark Koegler: To continue, these two parcels are shown here. Again,
Pioneer Trail as it goes on across and TH 101, both of these are on the
Halla Nursery property. I believe the development is known as Golf Park,
actually occurs on both sides of the road. Essentially, we have two
options within one development proposal. Those are both shown at about 15
acres and I think there are some pluses and minuses. Both of these sites
are extremely flat and as you can see, they also contain a wide range of
~plant materials that are very evenly and incrementally spaced for a
nursery, which can be an asset or liability depending on what you want to
do with the property but it appears that it might be an asset to the seller
that you may be asked to pay for.
Jim Mady: Do we know exactly where TH 101 is going to be realigned down
there?
Mark Koegler: The only proposal, which has been a proposal for some time,
to realign TH 101 will come righ through here. It basically just takes out
these curves.
Councilman Johnson: There is some strong talk to do much more than that.
Mark Koegler: Yes. Again, it gets back to my comment that all of this is
interrelated. The transportation section is being reviewed now by the
Planning Commission. In fact they will have another session tomorrow night
on that. There has been a long standing debate about the status of TH 101.
It's not resolved at this point in time. Presumably it will be a minor
arterial in the future. Jurisdiction is still a matter of debate. There
will undoubtedly be some improvements. That's the same rherotic though
that was occurring 8 or 9 years ago. It's not quite as bad as TH 212.
Carol Watson: I wouldn't hold my breath regardless of what they say.
'" Mark Koegler: The other site that we looked at was, what is listed over
here as item 4, that's a piece of property that is actually in private
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 30
--'
ownership. It's not part of any development proposal. It's a piece though
that's somewhat more gentle rolling and does have the potential for park
access. Coincidentally, one of the City's Planning Commissioner's
actually owns it right now. That piece is right here at the end of 96th
Street. 96th Street terminates right at this point so this area here, at
the present time, this is an aerial that is 4 or 5 years old, is now
platted. In fact the streets are in in this configuration so there is
existing development contiguous to this to the south. Before we go into
any definitive comments on which one of. those or which other ones might be
potentials for identification as park sites, I think it's probably
beneficial to talk a little about how you might acquire those. We went
through a number of scenarios. The first reaction that the Chanhassen Park
Commission had when it reviewed the Gagne property, was to require 10%
dedication. That ends up being about 13 1/2 acres on that particular
property which is probably questionably defensivable from a legal
standpoint. Does that development really generate the need for 10% of that
land area being parks? If not is there is a way to substantiate that,
that's one issue but if it's an arbitrary 10%, the Attorney tends to get
very, very nervous about that kind of position. As a result of that, we
talked a little bit more about that last time and there seemed to be
interest on the Commission that in a number of these...
* A tape break occured at this point in the meeting.
then collecting those monies would go out and actually acquire at what was
determined to be the most advantageous site, a 15 acre park parcel and the""""
to subsequently develop that. That rationale is one that has a lot of
merit but it probably also says that if you're preferred park site is
within one of these developments, why collect the money and give the money
back. Let's figure out a reasonable dedication for that development and if
we've got more and we need to buy additional land, enter into negotiations
at the time of the plat approval and hopefully acquire that land. In light
of that, I just put together some scenarios. The idea that kind of cropped
up was to take the $415.00 per unit and to collect that on each of the
units that are built within the rural area. Then if you hit the case that
I just described where you have a property, and let's just say
hypothetically it's the Gagne property, where you would like to acquire a
park, can you turn that around and say, Gagne's going to develop 42 lots.
That's going to be worth .so many dollars. Instead of collecting those
dollars, can we take an equivalent amount of land? State Statutes read
that for most enabling legislation for park ordinances, that you can accept
cash in lieu of land. The question I posed to the Attorney today was can
you accept land in lieu of cash? He thought that was probably something
that could be supported if it had a rationale behind it.
Ed Hasek: Demand the land?
Mark Koegler: You can demand the land. That's not a question but the
question is can you arrive at the amount of land by first saying we want
the cash and then working it backwards. Let me run through this and I
think that will make a little more sense. Site *1 is the Gagne piece, 134~
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 31
~
acres. 42 units at $415.00 per unit is a total cash collection potential
of $17,430.00. What I did then, based upon a land acquisition cost of
either $2,000, $3,000.00 or $4,000 per acre, turned that around and said,
okay how much land can we buy for a total of $17,430.00 at those various
prices per acre?
Ed Hasek: So you're taking the raw farm land at that point?
Mark Koegler: Correct. The Ordinance talks of it being raw land, not
improved land. Basically, the only improvements you see going down into
these areas are streets anyway. There are no utility improvements. Raw
land basis, on that particular one, if you can buy it for $2,000.00 per
acre, you can get 8.7 acres. If you can buy it for $3,000.00 it goes to
5.8 and at $4,000.00 it goes to 4.4 acres. Just as an item of interest,
I've also shown the percentage of the total development. We were talking
before about acquiring initially about acquiring 10% was the Park
Commission's recommendation. At the $2,000.00 per acre, you're actually
acquiring 6 1/2% and that drops progressively down to 3.3% at the $4,000.00
per acre pricerange. What I also did today was talk to a couple of
realtors that sell land within this area to get an idea of what current raw
land was going for. The indication was that in many cases, the $3,000.00
to $4,000.00 range is pretty accurate. It could be either way, it could be
in the middle. There are some exceptions and it is my understanding that
the Gagne tract is one of them. I don't know how long that property has
~been for sale but it currently has a price tag of $7,000.00 per acre. Now,
whether or not the market will support that and whether or not an appraisal
would ever come in at that value I think is very much suspect but nonethe-
less, that is the asking price.
Councilman Johnson: It's pretty much wooded isn't it?
Mark Koegler: Actually, quite a bit of it is open.
tilled and quite a bit of it to the south is tilled.
of woodland along the shoreline portion.
All of this area is
There is quite a bit
Ed Hasek: Does that parcel go down to the lake?
Mark Koegler: Yes, it does.
Ed Hasek: That's what he's selling. He's selling the woods and the lake
but that's still part of the total parcel. I'm sure you're right. If they
would just appraise what's up next to pioneer Trail there, irrespective of
the rest, it would be $2,000.00 to $3,000.00.
Mark Koegler: The overall ask i ng pr ice is $7,000.00 per acre on tha t.
Again, I think that is somewhat suspect. I've also been informed, not told
what the number was, but the Halla tracts, which are these pieces, carry
even a higher price than that does. I can't explain the rationale unless
they think the trees are extremely valuable.
~Ed Hasek: How long as Gagne had that piece? Do we know? Quite a while?
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 32
Mark Koegler: Yes, years and and years. At least 10 years that I know of~
He's a landowner in a number of municipalities.
Ed Hasek: He usually rolls his land. If the market doesn't look good,
he'll roll it. He's not going to hang onto a bad piece.
Mark Koegler: His aim undoubtedly is to sell the property. I don't know
if you've been following the issue of the new regional park that they're
trying to locate up in the Minnetrista area but there was an article in the
paper the other day that mentioned that' the only willing land seller so far
that had come forward with park plans was Vern Gagne so he does want to
divest his holdings apparently. At any rate, if you apply those kinds of
dollar figures and either the $3,000.00 or $4,000.00 seems to be kind of in
the range. Those are the amounts of land that you could acquire. I think
that says a number of things. One is that probably if you were to go back
and make a recommendation that we need to acquire 4 1/2 to almost 6 acres,
that seems to be a fairly defensivable position. Again, I asked that
specifically to the Attorney this morning, is that a way to come about
tryi ng to quan t i fy a number and he thought tha t perhaps it was. Let me run
through the rest of these quickly also. Sites 2 and 3 have been broken out
separately but they are really one so why don't I just focus on the
combination there with 2 and 3. The Halla piece ~s approximately 104
acres. I didn't have an exact acreage number of that. 37 units all
together. There is 18 on the one side of the road and 19 on the other. It
ends up being about $15,355.00. Again, you can see at the $2,000.00,
$3,000.00 and $4,000.00 per acre level, how much land could be acquired. -'
It ranges from 7.7 down to 3.8 acres. Site 4 is one that is a little bit
out of step with the rest of them in that there is presently no subdivision
plan that has been proposed for that nor is there likely to be in the
future so that would be an outright purchase. At the $2,000.00, $3,000.00
and $4,000.00 level, again, you're looking at a purchase cost between
$30,000.00 and $60,000.00. What I've shown on the bottom there is the
corresponding number of building permits that the City would have to issue,
presumably they might be rural permits, to collect enough revenue to
justify the purchase of the land and that ranges from 73 to 145 permits.
Ed Hasek: That's under the current 2 1/2 acre?
Mark Koegler: That's under the current $415.00 per unit. It's all based
on that unit charge. There is a real pitfall in looking at how you are
going to acquire land because the point the City doesn't know right now,
and I don't know that all landowners know either, is how many of these are
going to come to pass. I had a conversation with Mr. Halla after the last
meeting and he seemed to be indicating he certainly was in no hurry to
develop that property. Under the City's Ordinance I believe he has to
produce some development within the first 2 years but that can be a matter
of putting a short section of street through and creating minimal number of
platted lots and then trying to market those so some of these may sit
either vacant or with very minimal development on them for a number of
years. The reason obviously that is significant is that if you are
counting on the building permit revenue to acquire land, it may not be
""""'"
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 33
,....,
there and the Ordinance does have the option right now of requiring these
land developers to pay the park dedication up front but given the past
practice of collecting at building permit time, that probably politically
would be a difficult thing to do.
Ed Hasek: You're saying that it might be politically impossible to collect
it from the developer up front?
Mark Koegler: Yes. Bear in mind, these developers by and large might be
farmers, conservation minded landowners, or whatever that feel like they're
trying to protect their interest. You could make the argument that they
have to decide whether they are farmers or they are land developers.
That's something that could be argued but in the real world, given the fact
that the City has continually collected this money at the time of building
permit issuance, it's probably not going to be possible to go back and
force the small landowner, farmer, resident of Chanhassen, to ante up this
kind of money up-front. I'm sure that's in his proforma?
Gloria Corpian: Would we even be interested in developing a park system
somewhere where there were no buildings and maintain a parcel that wasn't
being used?
Mark Koegler: I would doubt it. That's a very good point.
.'" Councilman Johnson: If they don't develop, we don't want to develop but my
personal opinion is that we need to think of the future and have it set
aside, whatever and well into the future, these 2 1/2 acre lots in the year
2010, 2020 whatever it turns out that sewer does come to this area, these 2
1/2 acre lots will be further subdivided to 1/2 acre or whatever lots and
all of a sudden we no longer have 42 lots. We now have 120 lots or 200
lots and 200 families and so we have enough park for those 200 families in
the future?
Jim Mady: One of the things we were looking at maybe 4 or 5 months ago was
two concerns. One is that Lake Ann, even with this proposed expansion may
not be large enough to hand Ie the need s of the Ci ty when it comes to act i ve
sports. Then we need to acquire an additional piece of property that is
large enough to handle ball diamonds, more than two diamonds. The only
open land really that is available, that meets that need we felt was down
in the southeastern part of the City. What we're trying to do really is
identify parcels at this time that would possibly be available and see what
they are going to cost. We're not at this time proposing that we acquire
any land. We're looking at maybe obtaining an option to purchase possibly
or something of that nature, or if the land becomes available through the
use of a development going in, then getting it if the price is right but
we're definitely not proposing getting 15 acres of land right now.
Gloria Corpian: Because today's prices would differ from tomorrow's too
that we're looking at.
,......
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 34
Jim Mady: What we're concerned about and when this first came up, Dale
Geving came to one of meetings and voiced his concern that land down in
this part of the rural part of Chanhassen was developing rather quickly or
being sold off into smaller chunks and if we were going to find the 15+
acres of land, we would have to do it in the near future and that we should
be looking for that opportunity.
....."
Mark Koegler: In the process of putting the update for the Comprehensive
Plan together, this rural issue is going to be receiving attention where
it didn't before. It didn't need to before because these kind of issues
were not evident at that time but in doing so, we'll have to address these
kinds of concerns and I think your point is very valid. You don't want to
end up with a park facility that is serving no users. On the other hand,
you can't crystal ball all of that. If you determine that the most
appropriate site for a park is on either parcels 1, 2 or 3, you have
development proposed right now on 1, 2 and 3. You have leverage right now
to get a dedication from that developer to start that park off and then to
make arrangements or get options or whatever to purchase the balance of
that as needed so it is somewhat speclative on what will happen. There is
some demand in that area at the present time undoubtedly from the existing
households. It's not as though there is no population base there to begin
with. I think that adds credance to locating something in that area.
Ed Hasek: To what extent is Lake Ann going to be expanded? Is it the
three ball fields and half a cornfield like everybody has been talking
about for the past few years? ~
Lori Sietsema: We just acquired a 20 acre parcel right next to where the
ball fields are right now.
Ed Hasek: A long narrow piece?
Lori Sietsema: Yes, so what we're proposing to do is more or less a mirror
image of what's there.
Ed Hasek: Is there enough room on that for the ball fields?
Lori Sietsema: Yes.
Ed Hasek: So there is going to be three more ball fields?
Lori Sietsema: And a soccer field.
Jim Mady: A soccer field on the bottom half along TH 5.
Ed Hasek: Okay, so the ball fields are going to be more up towards the
beach then, coming back that way?
Lori Sietsema: They will be right next to where 3 is. It will be a mirror
image.
......",
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 35
'"
Ed Hasek: That then is the main central facility that you're looking at?
Lori Sietsema: Right.
Ed Hasek: We're going to have one 15 acre, plus or minus, facility in the
south, proposal it off for another and I guess the only way you would know
where the development is going would be based on that interceptor that is
being putting in. Is the contract being written to preclude hook-up to
that thing by the City?
Mark Koegler: Yes.
Ed Hasek: Is that why it's going to 10 acres?
Mark Koegler: Yes.
Ed Hasek: So Chanhassen gets zero on that interceptor?
Mark Koegler: Today.
Ed Hasek: And that's only to the year 2000? Is there any kind of
discussion beyond that? The one that's heading out to Blue Lake I'm
assuming.
"'Carol Watson: Supposedly after that point we will be able to begin to use
it but they didn't want us to prematurely develop the area along that
interceptor so in the agreement, when we didn't have to take the Lake
Virginia course main, we were forced to agree not to touch that interceptor.
Ed Hasek: That's the year 2000 so that's only really 10 years away. How
often do you have to update the Comp Plan? Every 10 years? Every 5 years?
Mark Koegler: It's done normally by most communities about every 5 years.
There are provisions in the law, that if I remember correctly, require it
to be updated every 10 years. There is an important distinction I think
you've got to make. The MUSA line that you see on there right now
essentially in it's present form, originally was the sewer line for 1990.
That has not gone to the year 2000 so don't assume that by the year 2000
magically that will be expanded. It mayor may not be.
Ed Hasek: I know, it's based on development around the city. In fact,
sometimes it's hard to develop inside that if somebody else is putting
pressure on for development where it's actually needed.
Mark Koegler: It's based on development but it also controls development.
Ed Hasek: Is there any public access within .our City on Lake Riley?
Lori Sietsema: No.
~
Ed Hasek: Was there any reason why the park wasn't targeted on the lake?
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 36
......",
Lori Sietsema: There is a public access on the Eden prairie side.
Ed Hasek: Is it just an access to the lake?
Mark Koegler: No, they have a park there.
Carol Watson: A real nice one for boat access. They maintain it. They
hire the people and it's beautifully done.
Ed Hasek: Is there any other, within the other communities around there,
is there another large park or facility like we're proposing to put into
this one? Sometimes you're looking in your own living room and failing to
realize that there is a whole house around you and there are other things
going on.
Jim Mady: Eden prairie is doing something to expand their parks into that
area. Our concern is that we've got to be able to have some parkland there
because there definitely is going to be a need in 10 years. We feel there
is going to be a need in 10 years down the road. We're not saying put a
park in in the next 5 years. We want to be able to have the option of
doing it and we're afraid if we don't go now to do that, it's not going to
be there 5 years from now.
Ed Hasek: Have you had any discussion with the park board in Eden prairie
as to what their plans are for that area? I'm wondering how big of a par~
they have targeted down there and exactly where it's at because if we've ~
got two of them targeted within a mile of each other, all of a sudden we've
got a very rural area of the city developed in 2 1/2 acres with two of the
biggest parks in town.
Mark Koegler: Portions of that area in Eden prairie are not sewered either.
They are outside of the MUSA line. The MUSA line does meander through Eden
prairie as well. They are not facing this Ordinance change situation that
Chanhassen is and correspondingly they do not have this as an issue right
now. They are at at least 10 acres and they may be larger for a minimum
and to my knowledge, I met with their Planner a week ago, don't have plans
for facilities. The closest facility they've got targeted I think is over
by about CR 4. Just west of CR 4 and where TH 212 comes in, they have
proposed a substantial neighborhood park there that is going to basically
be a soccer complex from the drawings that I saw of it. It is very heavy
into soccer with a couple of ball diamonds. It's probably a 20 plus acre
park facility but that is fairly removed from the area that we're talking
about.
Ed Hasek: Do we have an opportunity, and it doesn't look like there is,
are those three different owners right there or just two? 1, 2 and 3.
Mark Koegler: Two.
Ed Hasek: 2 and 3 are Halla and 1 is Gagne.
.....,,'
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 37
,....,
Mark Koegler: Gagne, two Halla's and the fourth one is owned by another
party.
Ed Hasek: So we don't have any place where we could assemble maybe the
acreage that we feel necessary by taking 10% from several landowners?
Mark Koegler: That was my first question when I was informed that all of
these were coming in is did we have a couple of them that were contiguous
that we could package them together. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
There are roads separating any place where we have abutting.
Ed Hasek: Just a general comment, is there any reason why we shouldn't be
taking the 10%? If we want it targeted at one, it seems to make the most
sense. If we're talking about ballparks, we're going to have to tear out
Halla's beautiful trees anyway so 1 seems to make the most sense right now.
It's right on a collector or at least a main road of some sort. TH 101 has
got to be a collector doesn't it? Of course, 3 is too I suppose. They all
are but at least we don't have the tree hassle there. 10% is what 13
acres which is a ballpark close to what we want.
Mark Koegler: Let me respond to that for a moment. The 10% number is one
that has only been tossed out as a guide. The Chanhassen Ordinance does
not say anything about 10%. It contains this cumbersome, complex formula to
,...., determine what the land demand is. In a lot of cases according to Don, and
I think Don is the only one who thoroughly understands it, it works out to
be an equivalent to be about 10% in the urban area.
Ed Hasek: Not in the rural?
Mark Koegler: Not in the rural.
Ed Hasek:
What does it work out to in the rural?
Mark Koegler: It is a very low equivalency.
Ed Hasek: That's why you were saying let's change it.
Jim Mady: We were talking around 2 to 2 1/2% in earlier meetings.
Ed Hasek: You were trying to get that?
Jim Mady: We've been talking about that.
Mark Koegler: I think a memorandum th'at I had put together for one of the
previous meetings talked about looking at general guides. The American
Planning Association's predecesor group puts out model ordinances and one
of the model ordinances that was developed had a sliding scale of park
dedication that was related to lot size and that is one of the only
references I've seen to that. That showed for example that a 15,000
~foot lot, their recommended model ordinance park dedication was 8%.
that jumped to 80,000 square feet, which is still slightly under the
square
When
2 1/2
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 38
acres, that jumped down to 1 1/2%. Again, reflecting the basic thinking
that as lot sizes get larger and you have much more open space, the need
for park is not nearly as critical.
.....,.,
Ed Hasek: The only pitfall with that though is that once you take 180
acres, divide it up into 18-10 acre lots and further divide that and
subdivide it and develop it, you get down to 1/2 acre lots or 1/3 acre lots
and at that point you've lost your opportunity to put a park in there
because you can't take 50% of a 10 acre. parcel.
Jim Mady: But we can't require the present developer to pay for what we
may want to do 20 years down the road when they further subdivide it. So
that's why we have to look at acquisition.
Ed Hasek: Am I right or wrong or don't a lot of cities, they'll just take
a straight percentage.
Mark Koegler:
written.
Some of them do. Depending on how their ordinances are
Ed Hasek: Have there been any real legal hassles with any of them?
Mark Koegler: There has only been one Supreme Court case that has tested
that issue and it was a case brought against the City of Bloomington. It
didn't focus specifically on the 10%. What it said is that it had to be
very well founded and if you just said we need 10%, that was likely to be ....",-
judged to be arbitrary and would not be upheld. Again, this comes from the
City Attorney as part of our conversation again today. There is a real
concern in just saying we need so many acres and therefore this guy should
give us that many acres. If that does not equate to the demand that he is
actually putting on the park system of the City of Chanhassen, he is brings
suit he is likely to prevail.
Councilman Johnson: Can't we consider future, ultimate demand?
Mark Koegler: Yes.
Councilman Johnson: How can you predict ultimate demand?
Mark Koegler: You can't totally.
Councilman Johnson: It may always stay 2 1/2 acre lots.
Mark Koegler: Or as you said, the likely scenario is 30 years from now,
they will be split. Many cities on rural plats will require the subdivider
to place housing pads such that you can corne back in and rep1at or
subdivide lots to get additional lots in there.
Ed Hasek: Unlike Hesse Farm.
....""
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 39
ifII"'"
Carol Watson: We found it difficult to say that. To try and plan
someone's house so that when they subdivide their land, the road will go
through correctly.
Ed Hasek: Orono is going through that right now. Exactly that issue. I
just got done putting together that type of thing for them out there.
Basically, we allowed this developer to go and put in 2 acre lots with the
intent that he would want sewer with the intent that in the future it is
going to be subdividable, we'll offer him the sewer but he has to show us a
plat that will subdivide those lots and the homes have to be built with the
proper setbacks for future subdivision.
Mark Koegler: Famous ghost plat.
Ed Hasek: All of these are ghost plats that we're talking about right now.
I would bet 10 to 1 that none of them are going to happen. They will come
back again and will continue to as long as they make the minimum
improvement, like you said, will just keep it running.
Mark Koegler: This is an example of where you have a conflict of what you
want to do long term and what the realities of the existing situation are.
When somebody comes in with a 2 1/2 acre plat, you have to review that plat
on the merits of what you have required them to submit which is 2 1/2 acres
of land. You can't somehow anticipate that in the future they are going to
~do this or that thereby doubling or quadrupling their demand or whatever so
I think reasonably the only way you can guard against that, which is what I
think this group is trying to do, that is to define a minimum threshold of
what's needed and to set in gear the framework of how that can be acquired.
If that means that the Gagne piece is required to dedicate 5 acres or 4
acres or 3 or whatever the number is, and then simultaneously the City
enter into discussions with them about acquiring the rest or getting an
option on the rest, the option presumably would be the preferred method
because that may buy you 5 or 10 years for all we know. We don't know how
these things are going to proceed but that is specifically the intent. How
do you protect that long term interest and that is what this group is
trying to do.
Jim Mady: One of the things we may want to look at is a suggestion Tom
Hamilton came up with of asking a developer if he would be willing to give
us either a reduced price or possibly even additional land besides what we
can legally require and then hang his name on the park.
Larry Schroers: Is it the purpose of this Commission that we want to make
acquisition of the parcel rather than getting the $415.00 per unit or
wahtever to use that money on improvements elsewhere like Lake Ann for
lighting or something? Is seems to me that we wouldn't be getting as good
a deal on the property if it sells for $4,000.00 an acre because we get a
smaller percent of that. Is that correct?
"......Mark Koegler: That's correct but again, that's tied back to presumably a
defensivable position that that's what the land costs and that's a real
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 40
......"
number that's known. It's not an arbitrary number. We're not saying in
this scenario that let's acquire 4.4 acres. Well, where did you get the
4.4? This way we've got a defensivable way as to how we arrived at that
number. I don't know if that answers your question specifically or not but
that's the intent and to try and quantify what is a reasonable amount that
can be collected and then in turn what can be acquired? This whole thing,
as you can tell, is a very complicated issue. It's not black and white by
any means when it comes to the rural area.
Larry Schroers: It seems to me like itis going to be hard to decide
whether or not we want the property or the money basically depending on if
we justify the use.
Jim Mady: I don't think that decision is going to be quite as tough. We
first have to decide whether or not we need to acquire any parcels at this
point and if we do decide we need to acquire parcels, the opportunity
exists now to acquire some of the land through the park dedication fees. I
think what we're going to be looking at coming up at these proposals, we're
probably going to be looking at taking the money first off at least until
we decide what we want to do with the land.
Mark Koegler: That's the unfortunate aspect I guess of timing on this. It
would have been nice if the targeted date for the ordinance change would
have been June 15th or something because you would have been through the
park element by then and you might have decided definitively that yes, we ~
want a neighborhood park here and we want a neighborhood park here and then
you can work towards that. Unfortunately, the cart is in front of the horse
here in that you have to make a decision and a recommendation in a timely
fashion to the Council on what dedication you're going to make a
recommendation on for all of these subdivisions that are coming in. I
think you've got about 3 or 4 of them on your agenda yet this evening.
Gloria Corpian: Can we make a recommendation without even seeing the area?
It sits here on a piece of paper and say that looks good.
Jim Mady: We usually do.
Curt Robinson:
Do we have to make a recommendation tonight? Okay.
Larry Schroers: That kind of goes back to what you were talking about with
the Attorney earlier today was that if we can buy back, isn't that what you
were saying earlier?
Mark Koegler: I guess technically you are buying it back. There won't be
any exchange of dollars. We use the dollar figure to arrive at what his
proportionate share of land dedication should be and in this case, if you
use Gagne at $4,000.00 per acre, it is 4.4 acres. The thing is
defensivable for you to go back and say vern, old buddy, we don't want any
of your money, we want 4.4 acres and then we want to purchase an additional
acre or we want an option on a purchase of additional acres at this point
in time to bring us up to the 15 number or whatever. -'
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 41
J1I""'"
Ed Hasek: With the hope that the appraisal on that particular piece
doesn't come in at $6,000.00 which would leave us down around 2 acres.
Mark Koegler: I think probably a direction in that vein would best be
stated kind of here's our preliminary recommendation, have the City Council
or the City Staff look at dollar numbers and if there is any substantial
change from that, it would probably have to come back to you. You are
operating a little bit in a void or a vacumm of information and that's the
way typically, unfortunately these things work out.
Gloria Corpian: You've got your pictures drawn in certain areas there now,
could the landowners say I won't give you that but I'll give you this?
Mark Koegler: They could and that's possible and that may be acceptable to
you.
Councilman Johnson: Carol, let me ask you this question. There's a January
15th cut-off of putting in the applications and there is a June 15th cut-
off for certain actions to be taken...
* A tape break occurred at this point in the meeting.
Carol Watson: Dave and Don Halla, 11m guessing but I suspect that all they
did was do it because they just didn't want to be locked into the 10 acres.
"""They don't have any intention of subdividing that land and creating lots
the day after tomorrow. They aren't developers anyway. They would have to
sell it. There again, the price is higher than Gagne's. I don't think
that is going to happen very quickly and I don't think they even want to.
I think they will do the minimum of what they have to in order to maintain
their right to 2 1/2 acre lots and keep us quiet.
Councilman Johnson: We just tabled this one until January of 1988.
Whether there is a possibility, if these guys really don't want to develop,
they want to maintain their 2 1/2 acre rights. Right, because of TH 212.
Ed Hasek: He's still under the rider and he doesn't even have to do
anything.
Councilman Johnson: That's correct. Because of TH 212 and how that is
going to affect him and how it is to the City's advantage if we allow him
this 2 1/2 because he could go there and force us to buy TH 212 right away
now or he's going to subdivide that first.
Ed Hasek: Has there been much action along either of those TH 212
corridors by landowners? Typically when a highway goes through, somebody
is out there buying land at intersections because they know the zoning is
going to change. It seems to me that there ~eally isn't a need to acquire
the land at any particular spot right now. We know that we need a park
down there. Whether it's where 1 is, where 3 is, where 4 is or where some
~other parcel of land is. If there is another large parcel of land. We
know the development is going to be there but we don't have to target this
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 42
.....,.".
park in the middle. It's a large park. It's not something you have to be
able to walk to. Certainly Gagne isn't going to give us the entire
frontage along pioneer Trail. He's going to want some access in there I'm
sure. Maybe what we ought to do is just let it go for right now. We'll
say yes, we're going to take the dedication when it comes down and my push
is going to be to up that dedication.
Carol Watson: I think we would have plenty of time, at some point in time
when Gagne's property sells before it's subdivided to make that
determination. .
Jim Mady: I think what we need to do then is make a motion to accept cash
in 1 ieu of land and ask the Council that once the development starts to go
through that we have the opportunity to take a look at a large parcel of
land. A 15, 25 acre of land.
Carol Watson: I can't see how we can even decide on this. None of these
properties have sold. We don't know where any houses are going to be. I
don't see how we could decide where we even wanted it.
Ed Hasek: I think we could decide if we really had something in mind but
it sounds like we've got kind of a program and about a size that we want
and a location that's generally in this vicinity but I guess I just don't
see the push to really tie it down that tightly right now. Perhaps he's
right. Maybe we should take cash in lieu of with the recommendation to.
the Council that we be allowed to look at those developments in case there-'
is something that we really feel that we need or would want based on
forecasted residential development.
Carol Watson: Anything that g~ts done comes back here anyway.
Lori Sietsema: We're at the sketch plan process right now. This is the
only time we see it.
Ed Hasek: Does that make sense Mark? Have you been pushing for it for any
particular reason?
Mark Koegler: No, if there was one clear cut best choice, I would advise
you of that but this issue is so gray that there is a lot of ways to go.
Still though, the inherent danger in that one is if Mr. Gagne proceeds as
he is going to do presumably, and comes in with all of his plat
information, he could have platted established lots by the time you decide
we need a park there and that's going to reflect on the price.
Ed Hasek: It could with the except that the Planner, in discussion with
him, and I'm assuming that the City still encourages people to come in and
talk to them before they go ahead and final plat, we have the whole
preliminary plat process to go through which he must be just starting right
now.
Mark Koegler: Yes, or about to start.
-'
Park and Rec Co~~ission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 43
,....
Ed Hasek: So he's still on a hook. If the planner is under the
understanding that we're looking at something down there, and something
flashes, it's up to the Staff to recommend to us and to look at things too
right?
Mark Koegler: The fallacy in that is that at the beginning point when the
preliminary plat is reviewed and approved, you are asked to determine what
the park needs are in that subdivision. Your policy that you're looking at
right now says that we're going to coll~ct dollars from each and everyone
of those units that goes in. That is the policy that apparently may be
enacted and presumably would be transferred onto that particular
subdivision. At that point in time, he's done with his park review. If
you want to come back later and buy land from him, you're at his mercy.
Ed Hasek: Gagne. But what I'm saying is I don't think necessarily because
of the amount of undeveloped land that there is down there, that
necessarily Gagne's is the one. He's going to come back. If it doesn't
develop he's going to have to reapply in two years or he's going to have to
start his plat and he's going to have to outlot everything. How does the
City work the development? Is he allowed to plat the whole thing and not
develop any roads or anything?
Mark Koegler: He can get a preliminary plat approved on the entire thing
but the final plat probably only for the first division which might only be
~how many lots it is with everything else being put into one outlot or a
series of outlots.
Ed Hasek: Have we got hooks into the subsequent phases then at all?
Mark Koegler: Typically, no. Once you've approve the preliminary that
sets the tone for development.
Ed Hasek: Until he gets one developed.
Mark Koegler: See, that's where it gets tricky.
Ed Hasek: How long can we hold onto 1 with developing 2, 3, 4 or 5?
Carol Watson: He can go on for a long time.
Jim Mady: All he is required to do now is have a final plat on a partial
development in in two years.
Ed Hasek: What does the City typically require for Phase I? 10% of the
development?
Mark Koegler: There is no specified percentage.
Ed Hasek: If a guy comes in and says he's going to develop 4 lots out of
~15~ for Phase 1, is that acceptable?
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 44
Mark Koegler: It may well be.
Ed Hasek: Has it been the policy of the City to accept things like that or
do they typically say, this doesn't show us enough of a commitment?
~
Councilman Johnson: We're in new territory. We're in virgin territory
right now with these developments because the switch between one Zoning
Ordinance to the new Zoning Ordinance and people coming in. We've got the
previous Council made some special exclusions to allow what's happening
right now where you can go to January 15th to make your application and
June 15th to do certain other things. This is something that has never
been done before in the city so there is no precedent.
Ed Hasek: The question comes up, you've obviously taken a look at this.
You've got the aerials and things and you've obviously studied it. Has
there been a push by Lori, by the previous Park Commission, by yourself as
a planner for the City, by the Planning Commission or Council to locate a
park down there or has it just been kind of?
Carol Watson: Where do you want it? I'm serious. You looked at it, where
do you think it should be?
Mark Koegler: You made the statement earlier that concurs with my
thinking. I think there are a number of parcels down there that are
suitable. As I said earlier this evening, some of those fall within these
pieces of property and some of them don't and undoubtedly as of this point~
we have not investigated all of the reasonable choices. The issue that had
to be brought to you this evening was one that involves timing and that is,
if for some reason you particularly are attached to the Gagne piece, or the
Halla property, now's the time to act. If you want to say, we think there
are other options out there. We're not going to take those. We'll look to
some other ones. That's another course that you can take.
Jim Mady: I guess I'm of the opinion that we maybe have to gamble a little
bit on this and just guess that we're going to have the opportunity further
down the road. I don't 1 i ke do i ng someth i ng with a gun to my head and know
darn well that we send it to City Council and tell them we're going to take
Gagne's piece of property, we're probably going to get 4 acres and we're
goi ng to ask for another 10 and we're goi ng to buy it at $40,000.00, tha t
is going to get shot down. I personally don't think that would be
reasonable for us to do something of that nature. I know my vote is going
to be to take cash in lieu of and suggest that maybe the Planner, when he
talks to Gagne, that if they are interested in dedicating some of their
land to us and get their name put on it, that we might be willing to take a
look at that but we're going to have to gamble at this point and not take
some land right now. We just can't.
Carol Watson: The Gagne property is so far east. It's way over on the
Eden prairie border. It's not a particularly centrally located area.
It's just inside the City limits virtually. He's going to put a real nice
with it wrapped around a lot of roads and everything because he's going to~
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 45
,..-..
sell lots on the road first so he's going to end up building streets up
the kazoo before he builds anything. This piece we're considering
certainly is not going to be his first sale. It might be real cheap by the
time we make that decision.
Ed Hasek: It's like Hesse Farm. When Hesse Farm first sold their lots, I
think they were selling for like $25,000.00 roughly. The last lots that
sold were selling for $100,000.00 and that's what is going to happen on
that parcel right there. The only thing it doesn't have is the bluff
overlook and that's what the people in Hesse Farm really bought.
Councilman Johnson: Gagne is going to get some good prices along the lake,
his wooded area. His cornfield and his swamp.
Ed Hasek: That will kind of slide back a little. You'll be surprised.
People like to live next to big ones. It helps the value of your house too.
Mark Koegler: Just as a comparison in land values. These lots down here
are selling in the neighborhood of $25,000.00 to $28,000.00.
Ed Hasek: How big?
Mark Koegler: 2 1/2 to 3 or there abouts. The lots up in this area, and
you probably know the name of that subdivision. I don't recall what it is.
~"There were lots in there that started at about $28,000.00 and some of the
rear lots that sat up high that had...
Carol Watson: Lake Lucy Highlands. That was Stellar's property.
Mark Koegler: Okay, some of those lots sold in the neighborhood of
$67,000.00 plus a $7,000.00 street assessment.
Ed Hasek: $415.00 a unit.
Councilman Johnson: That's another thing to be decided upon. That $415.00
is based on urban where you have 15,000 square foot lots and smaller.
Another thing for you all to work on, I don't know if it's tonight, I don't
know if it's on your agenda at all but needs to be but is how do we assess
what dollar amount do we go for for 2 1/2 acre and 10 acre, whatever lots
taking into accout future needs and has to be taken into account, that's
where Mark maybe would have helped you.
Ed Hasek: I think it ought to be a dedication at the time that the
building fee comes in but why set it at $415.00? Why not base it on the
cost of the lot?
Councilman Johnson: That's for you all to decide and recommend to the City
Council in the future.
~Jim Mady: Mark, first off, do you have any more?
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 46
Mark Koegler: No. The only issue that is before you first of all is to
set the policy.
....."I
Ed Hasek: Set the policy for these rural area?
Mark Koegler: For the rural area.
Councilman Johnson: How do you define as setting the policy? Does that
include cost or whatever because I don'~ think they have enough information
at this time.
Lori Sietsema: How generally are we going to treat rural subdivisions and
made a recommendation to send it to City Council? That's basically what.
Mark Koegler: I would suggest that you have some kind of statement of
intent that you foresee the need for neighborhood park facilities within
the rural area and in order to accommodate that need, you feel the most
equitable basis would be to collect the cash per unit charge in lieu of
land dedication and then to allow the city time during the comprehensive
planning process and normal planning routines to go back and identify sites
that should be acquired for park purposes.
Ed Hasek: I don't feel badly about saying that we'll take cash in lieu of
right now but I certainly don't want every developer who comes in figuring
that he's got cash in lieu of up front because that really the way it sits
right now. He's getting it for free and any developer would pay cash in ~
lieu of. If the policy says that, then he's going to take that to court
saying, you told me this what I had to do and that's all I want to do and
now you tell me you want 10 acres of property. Where does that come across
in your policy so we have to kind of protect our rears.
Councilman Johnson: In your motion you don't want to specify or you may
want to reserve back that you want to look at what that cash will be.
Mark Koegler: You do that annually anyway by resolution.
Ed Hasek: Okay, so that's something comes up every March or something and
it's just one of those policy things.
Lori Sietsema: Exactly. We usually do in January but with this whole
process and with the Comp Plan updating process, we're trying to tie it in
all together.
Ed Hasek moved, Jim Mady seconded to recommend that within the general
rural use area of the City that the City accept cash in lieu of payment for
park dedication with the stipulation that at the time developments are
brought forward the Park and Recreation Commission is allowed to review
each and everyone of them for potential park sites. All voted in favor
and motion carried.
....,,;'
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 47
,..,..,
Councilman Johnson: Paraphrase your motion, when you look at Robert's
Rules of Order, whereas we find, therefore I move and what Mark said in the
front is that the whereas we recognize there is going to be a need for park
land in the general rural use area. That's how you get your intent into
your motion if you want to play with rules of order.
Jim Mady: We've been pretty loose at the Park Commission.
Gloria Corpian: It hasn't been all right on tonight has it?
Jim Mady: It very seldom is.
Councilman Johnson: The Council is pretty loose too with Rules of Order.
Rural Subdivision Reviews:
- Lake Park Estates
- Great-prains Golf Estates
- Country Hills----
- Timberwood
Lori Seitsema: Your motion says that as they come in you review each one
and you have so...
",....
Carol Watson: Basically, we want to review these because you showed this
is what we talked about.
Jim Mady: Let me go over each one. Lake Park Estates is item 12(a). This
is the Gagne property. One of the concerns I have with it is the potential
trails. Specifically along TH 101. I believe that corridor is probably
important.
Lori Sietsema: This is the parcel we're talking about where the site #1
with that 15 acres is. TH 101 is here. He's talking about putting in a
street right through the middle with this being the lake and kind of a
wooded area in here. What I am proposing is Eden prairie has a trail along
this street. This is supposed to be straighten out here. It has a trail
along the street that stops somewhere over here and I believe as they
improve this, that it is going to go all the way through so we are
proposing to connect into their trail and ask for an off the street trail
easement here and also a off the street trail easement through the main
street of the development. Not on the cul-de-sacs but along the main
streets.
Larry Schroers: Do we know what kind of trail we're talking about? Is
this a multi-use trail or is this a paved bicycle trail or what kind of
trail is that?
~Lori Sietsema: As we get the trail plan all together, Mark's working on
that too as a part of the Comp Plan updating, will be identified at that
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 48
--'
time how we're going to deal with each one of these trails. I would guess
that this would be paved and probably this would be too on one side and
just have it on one side of the street but those are the kind of things
we'll be talking about when we get that and that will be the next meeting.
Larry Schroers: Is there enough easement there that you could, if you
wanted to, run a cross country ski trail alongside of the pavement? Is
there enough room for that?
Ed Hasek: They're asking for something beyond the right-of-way. The trail
would actually be on their right-of-way.
Lori Sietsema: Yes, we're asking for land beyond the right-of-way of the
road there so it would just be as much as we wanted to ask for. 20 feet
would give us a bike path and enough room for a cross country trail.
Ed Hasek: Are those going to be platted as outlots? Is that how they are
typically done now? Is this something that you've done in the past, these
easements?
Lori Sietsema: Yes, they are usually outlots.
Ed Hasek: They are platted as outlots then so the homeowner adjacent to it
doesn't own that land. It is an outlot within the plat?
-'
Lori Sietsema: We do a combination. Some of them we've gotten easements
where the person who owns the lot actually owns it. What we prefer to do
is get a deed for that trail.
Ed Hasek: Is that taken as park dedication then?
Lori Sietsema: The easements have not generally been given park dedication
credit but outlots are. It just depends on who you're working with. It
just isn't always the same.
Ed Hasek: Is there a legal problem with taking an easement? Is that why
the City prefers outlots?
Lori Sietsema: We prefer outlots because then as a property line they have
to comply with setbacks. An easement, they can build right up, an inch
away from the easement as long as they don't build on the easement. If
it's a property line then they have to be so many feet back and that gives
you a buffer if you're walking your dog.
Carol Watson: They don't build their garage or something right up against.
Lori Sietsema: That way they don't feel like they've got people walking
right next to their windows.
Ed Hasek: Does the easement kick out the normal setbacks then? If you've
got a 35 foot front yard setback and we take 29 feet of it, put the trail u~
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 49
,-..
against the road anyway, or 10 feet is enough for a trail I guess, that
doesn't kick out that 35 foot setback from the right-of-way does it?
You're talking about building right up against it.
Carol Watson: But if you own 10 feet of that, they could get awfully
close. It would be part of that setback area wouldn't it.
Lori Sietsema: If it's an easement, they can build right up next to it.
Ed Hasek: They could potentially if we took, for example 35 feet in the
front as an easement, it would take their building setback then and they
could build their home right up against the easement?
Lori Sietsema: Right. It's just like a utility easement.
Ed Hasek: If we took 10 feet then they would have to go 20 beyond the
easement.
Carol Watson: Anything we have to do with that?
Lori Sietsema: You just have to make a recommendation as far as what we're
going to require of this developer.
Jim Mady: What I would like to suggest we look at requiring a trail along
'-"Pioneer Trail that will essentially connect into Eden Prairie's trail
system at some point in time and along pioneer Trail we will request what
we consider a Class I bikeway. A totally separate off-road trail.
Lori Sietsema: Class I is having a street, a walkway, a bikeway so that's
two trails is Class I. So bikers and walkers on the same in a Class II.
Jim Mady: Okay, I'm looking for Class II then along pioneer Trail.
Ed Hasek: Can we add something to that. Have we got anything going down
TH 101 at all?
Jim Mady: We would like to put trails along there.
Larry Schroers: But there are proposed changes for TH 101 in that area
right now aren't there?
Lori Sietsema: Yes, I would go for a trail along TH 101 too.
Carol Watson: Not at this point, not at that particular portion.
Lori Sietsema: There is talk about straightening it down in the Halla
piece and we'll see that one next.
Carol Watson: But right here it wouldn't change configurations.
,.....
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 50
",."
Ed Hasek: What I was thinking about was some way of cutting through this
plat rather than having everything out in the street. If there was some
way of cutting through here and I can't believe the City's not going to
make him push this out to the property line so that this road can go
through to develop this piece without having another cul-de-sac put in.
I think you're right that maybe there's an opportunity that...
Gloria Corpian: Maybe we should table it until next time and think about
it.
Jim Mady: No, we can't let it go. What we're looking for really is to
take advantage to ask for trails on both pioneer Trail and TH 101 as well
as through the main road curving through the property. What I'm looking
for is off-street trails on both pioneer Trail and TH 101 and a combination
of off-street and on-street through the development. I wouldn't be real
concerned with being off.
Carol Watson: No, because there won't so much of a traffic consideration.
Jim Mady: But it definitely has to be off-street I think on the two lane
arterials there.
Councilman Johnson:
trails in there.
I like his comment on an outlot to connect the two
Jim Mady: We're already doing that though.
-'
Ed Hasek: See, that's the problem. We're doubling up. Now we've got a
guy that's got a trail on both sides. Is the intent to serve every lot
with a trail system or does the trail system a means of getting people...
Lori Sietsema: I believe we have a trail on the other side of TH 101 so we
don't need it there.
Jim Mady: Okay, then why don't we request...
Councilman Johnson: You want a trail all the way around?
Ed Hasek: No, he was just saying that maybe if there is a trail on TH 101
that maybe we could do something else. Is it possible that we could ask
for a trail connection...
Carol Watson: I think he needs to sell some of that property and he will.
Jim Mady: What I'm looking for is a motion for off-street trail along
pioneer Trail and to check what we have currently, if we don't have a trail
plan along TH 101 on the west side, to ask for off-street trail along the
east side of TH 101 and that the main roadway circling through the property
be widen to allow for on-street trail.
...",,;
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 51
JIll"
Carol Watson: Yes, just so it's off but just a little bit wider so that
there's a striped area or something.
Lori Sietsema: Now in the joint meeting they mentioned that striped trails
along the street were not desirable and being the curved street that it is,
I think that we need to be consistent in the kind of trails that we're
going to ask for within subdivisions. Personally, I think it should be
off-street with the curve that it is, the Council and the Commission has
mentioned in the past that it's most desirable to have the off-street
trails and I think we should make it to be consistent with what we ask for
from one subdivision to another.
Carol Watson: So policy would be that we request all trails be off-street?
Our preference would be that all trails be off-street?
Lori Sietsema: That's my recommendation.
Councilman Johnson: There's not a necessity to put a trail along a street.
In a subdivision I lived in Iowa, the trail was actually back between lots
such as the back lot line here cutting up and through rather than getting
people walking where cars are moving. Where cars could come off the street
onto you, whatever, this would help the value of these properties to have a
trail through. The lots that sold first in Iowa were the lots with access
~to the trail leading to the park.
Carol Watson: Here, it seems to be people do not appreciate having public
walkways through their backyards. The neighbors feel free to walk their
dogs and ride their bicycles and their children are playing.
Lori Sietsema: They are much harder to enforce and maintain.
Councilman Johnson: It's not much of a trail to walk along though.
Carol Watson: Developers don't like to have to mess with it.
Ed Hasek: I think that's excellent idea for major trail systems but then
you have to be able to police them. The Luce Line Trail for example. Some
of the railroad corridors that have been converted to trails and I know
that a lot of the cities require an internal major connection. Rather than
putting it down at the roadways they will relocate them but that is
something that has to be planned where a kid can go. I don't think on a
small plat like this is perhaps a place to do that. My suggestion, and
obviously if the piece to the east is already platted is not going to
work, would be to kind of do that same thing only do it on secondary
streets around that lake. Connect up to TH 101. Take something maybe that
would connect into Eden prairie and go around that lake on secondary lakes
but that's not going to happen.
Carol Watson: Next door they are platted kind of up their long narrow lots
~to pioneer Trail.
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 52
Jim Mady: I'm changing my mind now. I'm not really seeing a need for a
trail right through the middle of the property. I don't think it's going
to go anyplace.
..."",.
Councilman Johnson: Starting no place, going no place?
Jim Mady: Exactly. If the Planning Commission is looking for sidewalks,
that would be the place to put them but I don't know if we need to put a
trail just through that guy's subdivisi9n.
Larry Schroers: I work for Hennepin Parks and we have extensive trails
systems. We have a northern trail corridor that links many of our parks
and we run into a lot of enforcement problems and personal property damage
as a result of people going down the trails with snowmobiles, motorcycles,
cutting private property owners' fences, tearing up grass, injuries out
there. Someone hurts themselves and it's unaccessible and we have to send
rangers out there on snowmobile with a rescue sled behind to get somebody 3
miles back to an ambulance. Going off of the main arteries is desirable
aesthetically but practically, it's a lot of problems.
Councilman Johnson: Future subdivision trails here may be a bigger issue
than at this point because who's going to be using them?
Ed Hasek: That's close. I'm hoping that Mark is looking at the trail
system.
.....""
Lori Sietsema: Yes, we are.
Carol Watson moved, Ed Hasek seconded to recommend putting an off-street
Class II trail along Pioneer Trail and potentially along TH 101 if it
doesn't currently exist in a plan. All voted in favor and motion carried.
Ed Hasek: Are those things converted to snowmobile trails at all in the
wintertime?
Lori Sietsema: No.
Ed Hasek: Horses are off as well?
Carol Watson: We don't have anybody to clean up after them.
Ed Hasek: Cross country skiing?
Jim Mady: They're not maintained for that.
Lori Sietsema: We don't have any groomed trails that the City does.
Larry Schroers: That's probably something that will become an issue in the
future and one thing that you want to consider there is you don't want to
put a groom trail on top of pavement. It just doesn't work. ~
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 53
lflii""'"
Carol Watson: There are a lot of nice groomed trails out on Minnewashta
Regional Park.
Lori Sietsema: And Carver and the Arboretum.
Carol Watson: Carver Park, there are plenty of places to go there.
Great Plains Golf Estates.
Lori Sietsema: This being pioneer Trail here, up here is what we were just
talking about, this is TH 101, this is a deep gully here, a deep gully here
and somewhere back here they corne together. He's got a cul-de-sac corning
in here and a cul-de-sac that comes here and a cu~-de-sac that comes here.
Basically what I'm proposing is that we acquire an off-street trail along
TH 101. It's steep right in here so somewhere, maybe at this point here,
get it to corne along this side and then a crossing point here. Eventually,
if this is straighten out, we could keep it on the same side but because of
the steepness right in here and the grade.
Larry Schroers: Is there any reason why it can't stay on the west side of
TH 101 to hook up with the other trail that we just proposed?
Jim Mady: The slope on the north side is real steep.
,.... Larry Schroer s: I'm wonder i ng about the danger of cross i ng TH 101 there.
There seems to be pretty limited visibility just about anywhere on TH 101.
Ed Hasek: Does the west side go down all the way to pioneer Trail on TH
101, north of Pioneer Trail? Is it on the west side in place or proposed?
Lori Sietsema: Basically, we're working on it. We don't know yet.
Jim Mady: It's still being designed.
Ed Hasek: Can we just say that we would like it to stay on the same side as
whatever is going on.
Jim Mady: Consistent with the trail.
Ed Hasek: They can work with the slope. We can get a trail down a steep
slope with any problem.
Jim Mady: We don't want to have to though because it costs money.
Gloria Corpian: Just leave it as a trail system along TH 101 and they can
decide where is best to put it through.
Jim Mady: We should really be recommending it as much as we can in detail
to the developer otherwise we're going to end up, he's going to give us
,...... right-of -way.
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 54
Lori Sietsema: If it isn't clear, we won't get it.
.....",
Larry Schroers: What kind of liability do we have if someone would get run
over crossing the road there? Does that fall back onto the City?
Jim Mady: Potentially. I think if they're hurt on the trail but if
they're hurt in the right-of-way.
Carol Watson: Then it's like being hurt on the street.
Councilman Johnson: Except we designed a trail that criss-crossed a
highway.
Jim Mady: And if they can prove we were negligent in doing so it's always
open. If we're crossing pioneer Trail, we're crossing basically a major
thoroughfare no matter what we do there.
Carol Watson: If Eden prairie is willing to run the risk of crossing TH 5
and TH 4, I think we could probably handle one crossing on TH 101.
Jim Mady: I think what we need to do is take a trail along the southeast
portion of TH 101. Can we go back to Gagne's for just one second just to
see what the topography is like? We don't where the trail is on Gagne's
yet right? It hasn't been established?
Carol Watson: Along pioneer Trail.
.....,,'
Jim Mady: Right but we don't know where it is on TH 101. It comes down on
the west side but it hasn't been established all the way to this point yet
right? You say that it starts on the west someplace?
Lori Sietsema: It's pretty much for sure to here and from there down to
the corner is where it's unsure.
Jim Mady: We don't know what the topography looks like there? Why don't
we just keep it on that side and just keep it going?
Lori Sietsema: That's what we would like to do if we can get the trail on
that side. The thing is we don't want to have to cross there and then
again there and again.
Carol Watson: You can't have a tremendous expense to develop a trail.
Ed Hasek: We've got our choice. We've either got a little bit of expense
to develop the trail or we've got to run the risk of crossing TH 101
several times.
Jim Mady: I would rather cross TH 101 because I know if we have the
expense to put the trail in, it won't go in.
Carol Watson: It won't happen.
....."
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 56
"...
we need to do with it.
Lori Sietsema: For five lots, take the money and run.
Carol Watson moved, Ed Hasek seconded to take cash in lieu of land
dedication for the five lots in Country Hills subdivision. All voted in
favor and motion carried.
Councilman Johnson: The preliminary plat was approved last night.
Lori Sietsema: This was one of them that was tabled though so we could get
that policy in.
Timberwood:
Lori Sietsema: This is Galpin Blvd. here, up here where there are a couple
of lots if TH 5 and Lake Ann is right up over here. I'm recommending the
standard, have the trail along the main street. Hopefully we can get a
trail all the way along it up to TH 5 with someday a trail along TH 5 to
Lake Ann.
Jim Mady: Along Galpin?
~Lori Sietsema: Right and an off-street trail along the main street within
':he development. That's my recommendation and take cash in lieu of.
Carol Watson: Where's the cemetary from here?
Lori Sietsema: Outlot A.
Ed Hasek: Why don't we just go with Lori's recommendation?
Gloria Corpian: Why did you want the trail through the center again?
Lori Sietsema: Because it's my recommendation that we need off-street
trails through each subdivision to get them to the main streets safely. To
get them to Galpin on their bikes and get up to Lake Ann and go swimming.
Carol Watson: This one looks like potentially it will connect up with
another development next door to it and we will actually be creating a
trail system that will probably run from CR 18 internally all the way to TH
5 actually.
Larry Schroers moved, Curt Robinson seconded recommended off-street trail
through development and along Galpin and take cash in lieu of land
dedication. All voted in favor and motion carried.
,.....
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 55
Jim Mady: At least for the next 15 years. That's just the realities of
it so what we have to try and do is get the trail plan in.
....",
Councilman Johnson: Will we really be pushing to put a trail in here to
service these 42...
Jim Mady: That's what we're looking for. We're looking to put a trail in
so the people coming from downtown and out west can get down towards the
bluff area where we do have parkland and at some point in time hopefully
tie into the wildlife area.
Lori Sietsema: We want to connect Chaska and Chanhassen to Eden prarie and
eventually Hopkins.
Jim Mady: Shakopee, it's all available to do it and we should be looking
into doing it.
Ed Hasek: So what you're talking about is bringing the trail down and
crossing TH 101 and pioneer Trail to get i~ onto the east side and then
dropping it down through Halla's parcel on the east side and then crossing
back over again to the west side at some point?
Lori Sietsema: We'll have that trail plan here by next March. Next
meeting.
Gloria Corpian: Let's just table it until next meeting then. -'
Jim Mady: We're being requested at this point to ask for parkland now.
Ed Hasek: Can we ask for it consistent with the recommendations of the
Planner as to the location of the trail? We're not holding anything out.
They are in preliminary plat right now aren't they?
Lori Sietsema: Right. You're right.
Ed Hasek: So they still have a final plat process to go through. That's
another whole month.
Lori Sietsema: As long as he owns both sides of that street that we're
talking about, TH 101, we can say a trail along TH 101 consistent with the
trail plan that is adopted in the Comp Plan.
Jim Mady moved, Carol Watson seconded to recommend obtaining a Class II
trail along TH 101 consistent with the trail plan that will be adopted in
the Comp Plan. All voted in favor and motion carried.
Country Hills:
Jim Mady: This one is 15 acres, 5 lots. I don't believe there is any
trail plan or anything in place for it and I don't think there is anything -'
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 57
"
Urban Subdivision Reviews:
-Sadd1ebrook
Lori Sietsema: Sadd1ebrook is in the urban area so wipe everything you
know about rural out of your mind. We're back to small lots. This is
Kerber Blvd.. Right here is where we have the off-street trail along
Kerber Blvd.. Chan vista is right here. Chan Pond here. This is the
triangle, a weird piece where the cattle path is. This is Powers Blvd..
There is currently no off-street trails along Powers Blvd.. Meadowgreen
Park is an 18 acre park with two softball fields, a whole soccer field, a
tot lot and scheduled to have a tennis court and it has a half-court
basketball court up there. There is a ponding area right in this area. We
have a trail along here that connects over here and goes down and eventua1y
someday will connect to Carver Beach. What I am proposing here is, they
are talking about public park adding to this. I believe that it is very
hilly and low. It's high or low. There are trees in here. I'm saying if
they want to give it to us fine but I'm not real excited about giving the
park dedication credit.
Jim Mady: We're not going to take anything in money.
Lori Sietsema: I'm not excited about giving them a park dedication credit.
I'm asking for a trail easement along here. A trail easement through these
~3treets that go through.
Larry Schroers: Where is that creek that goes down to Lotus Lake down
there?
Lori Sietsema: It crosses underneath the road right here and there is a
trail easement that goes across the road. So I'm saying, let's get an off-
street trail along here. There are trails that go around the pond here and
they'll corne out underneath the street here. It will be a crossing
somewhere up here because the sidewalk is on this side. Let's get a trail
here, here, here and going right across here and a trail along Powers.
Ed Hasek: How about asking that he provide us with the land without
any dedication credits? The hilly section that is a proposed park, since
he's not going to be able to do anything with it anyway and then ask for an
outlot. A trail easement through that one lot and put a trail easement
along the property line so the kids can get into the park without having to
go onto either one...
Carol Watson: And one of the things there that's not at Meadowgreen Park is
passive park.
Lori Sietsema: But we've got Chan vista right across the street.
Carol Watson: If he's willing to give that to us, then it still could be
~n area that could be left natural adjacent to that area.
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 58
..."",
Carol Watson: That's why he's giving it to you because he can't do
anything with it. Along Powers Blvd., you can't like your child very much
to send them out on a bicycle along Powers Blvd..
Lori Sietsema: But we've got an off-street trail though.
Carol Watson: Really an off-street trail because at this point, the park
is on the other side. Talk about crossing something. I would rather cross
TH 101 55 times then to expect a child to get across CR 17 at lots of times
of the day.
Lori Sietsema: Down here by the lights where the Lake Ann bike path is?
That's what I'm talking about so we can get all the way down here and cross
at that stop sign.
Carol Watson: Right, but the new West 78th Street isn't there anymore and
potentially that street, it's gone north, and potentially that street is
going to go in there so we are not going to be crossing down there. We are
going to be crossing up further because of that new street, that new
alignment.
Jim Mady: Do we want to look at overpasses, pedestrian overpasses, over CR
17 up in the corner if that's a concern?
Ed Hasek: Where's the topography of this thing?
sitting out here right now someplace?
Isn't there a farm house
.."""
Carol Watson: Yes.
Ed Hasek: What does that ravine start?
Carol Watson: Way down here.
Ed Hasek: Is that that big ravine? Why don't we cross underneath the
highway?
Jim Mady: We have cattle paths underneath there that exist.
Ed Hasek: How about here? Are there cattle paths underneath there?
Carol Watson: Not on Powers but there could be. It sure is high enough.
Councilman Johnson: But a lot of cost.
Carol Watson: But it would be a lot less cost then going over the top of
it.
Councilman Johnson: I think you could drill and insert that cheaper then
building a bridge over.
...,,;I
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 59
"....
Carol Watson:
road fol ks.
But both of them are unrealistic. We're going to cross the
We're not going to under it. We're not going to over it.
Councilman Johnson: Unless we find funds from somebody else to pay for it
such as Met Council, State or somebody else.
Jim Mady: Don't plan on it.
Councilman Johnson: They are proposing two settling ponds down here. Are
you looking at putting, have a park path through here?
Lori Sietsema: We're talking about going around on this side because this
is going to be multi-family down here so having a trail that would go
around these.
Councilman Johnson: Are we going to try and get a conservation easement?
Like Chan Pond, I'm going to be pushing all the way through to keep this
beautiful valley a beautiful valley and not somebody's backyard.
Ed Hasek: What are they telling us they're using it for on the plat there?
Jim Mady: The back of lots.
Councilman Johnson: These are the back of lots. They run the lots all the
Jll"""'way back and then the multi-family.
Ed Hasek: That's a hill there though right?
Councilman Johnson: This is a big hill here and there's a pretty good size
hill. There are going to be some beautiful lots there for a back walkout.
Coming out a walkout, he's going to get some big bucks for these lots going
back and a conservation easement or something with a trail where we've got
plenty of room when we're sure that we're not going to get guys putting
utility sheds down next to these ponds and everything. That's one area I'm
very concerned about protecting. He's going to go multi-family down here
in the future.
Carol Watson: Because that's adjacent to the commercial.
Councilman Johnson: They are building multi-family in this corner right
now. They sold this corner for mulit-family. They are looking to go for
apartments. This whole area is developing into multi-family.
Larry Schroers: Starting at the fence line or right up here at the corner
of the road on West 78th Street?
Councilman Johnson: No, the corner of the road back is commercial. About
half way back, two-thirds of the way back and the last third is multi-
fami ly.
,....
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 60
......"
Larry Schroers: There is a fence line there where the cornfield stops and
the wooded area starts, is that basically it?
Carol Watson: He took his trail here and the trail there and the trail in
the internal streets to bring people from here even over to this way easily
and then to Lake Ann Park. That's really all you would need and then if he
wants to give us that piece.
Jim Mad y : Ask him for i t wit h the 0 u t 10 t s but we' r e not go i n g tog i ve him
any park dedication for it.
Carol Watson:
deficient.
There's quite a bit of park in here. We're not park
Lor i Sietsema: It's not a park defic ient area at all. We've got Chan
Elementary right there. We've got Chan vista. You've got Meadowgreen.
Greenwood Shores isn't that far away. Lake Ann isn't that far away.
Carol Watson: That's why there are so many active areas, this would be
kind of neat to get that hilly piece for passive.
Jim Mady: What we need to do is recommend where we want the trails and what
we want to do with park dedication fees. What I'm going to do is take what
Lori is suggesting basically, which is the off-street trail along Kerber
and Powers, take the trail along the cow path, ask for the Outlot A to bE-,
dedicated to the City in gratis. No fee credits.
Ed Hasek: The trail is going to go where? Here?
Jim Mady: Along Powers, along Kerber, through the main streets there will
be a connecting trail and down connecting. There are two outlots
connecting the cul-de-sac and that other street.
Ed Hasek: It's all taken up in Outlot A. Outlot A includes all of that.
Jim Mady: Okay, that's what we're looking for. And a trail along Outlot B.
Lori Sietsema: We want it meandering around the wet areas.
Ed Hasek: So from the culvert it goes around like this and down to there
right?
Councilman Johnson: Are there any conservation easements to protect that
valley?
Ed Hasek: Is the storm water collected on the streets and put into storm
systems in this City? There are no ponding easements?
Jim Mady: That's down there is ponding.
Carol Watson: There's natural ponding areas.
.....""
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 61
""
Lori Sietsema: There's ponding up there going up into the park. Right
there. That's a pond up there. It's already there.
Ed Hasek: He's not going to be able to go down there with his multi
anyway.
Jim Mady: Are there any commissioners who feel the need for a conservation
easement?
Larry Schroers: On that, I'm a little bit conservation minded and is there
any practical way that they are going to be able to go down in there and
mess up the ponding?
Councilman Johnson: These homeowners?
Lori Sietsema: Is that considered a wetland?
Councilman Johnson: That is not protected wetland as of this time.
Carol Watson: Down in that ravine probably has a status.
Lori Sietsema: They have to be 75 feet back from. any wetland.
Councilman Johnson: But they can still plant grass. They can put up
~. fences. Everyone of these people can put a fence all the way down to the
edge of these ponds.
Larry Schroers:
crossing there.
I would rather see that an open area.
I've seen deer
Carol Watson: Are those ponds existing?
Councilman Johnson: No.
Carol Watson: See, they are creating those ponds. We're saying we want a
conservation easement along ponds that don't exist!
* A tape break occured at this point.
Councilman Johnson: Go with that as your conservation easement.
Carol Watson: Anything below a certain point.
Councilman Johnson: Something to give the people enough. You would have
to pick a line and make a line that is a conservation easement. Draw one
in.
Jim Mady: I'll tell you what. It sounds like Larry is a little bit
interested in it and it sounds like you're certainly interested in it.
~That is something you can bring up.
Park and Rec Co~~ission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 62
--"
Councilman Johnson: I'll be bringing it up in the future but if I can get
your support, it helps me bring it up in the future.
Larry Schroers: How big of a problem is it to ask for that in a
recommendation?
Lori Sietsema: All I have to do is write it down.
Larry Schroers: If it's not a big prob~em, let's ask for it.
Carol Watson: Let's ask for a conservation easement along the ravine. Not
along the ponds that don't exist. Protection of the ravine area because we
can't talk about something that the developer's are going to make someday
out of storm water.
Jim Mady: You want to make a motion?
Ed Hasek: I thought it was.
Councilman Johnson: It's pretty well written with the exception of the
conservation easement along the ravine.
Ed Hasek: The only addition would be the gratis instead of the dedication.
Curt Robinson: We still didn't talk about park fees did we, park
dedication fees did we?
......"
Jim Mady: We would be asking for park dedication fees with no land.
Lori Sietsema: With no credit.
Councilman Johnson: You don't want Outlot A but if you're going to give it
us, we'll take it but we're not going to cut down your park dedication fees.
Jim Mady: But we definitely want a trail in there. We want to be able to
connect th i s whole th i ng to tha t park without hav i ng to go out to the
street to do it though.
Carol Watson: We want Outlot A. We just want him to give it to us. I
think it's nice passive parkland.
Lori Sietsema: If he can't build on it, he might as well give it to us and
I'm not suggesting we pay for it.
Carol Watson moved, Larry Schroers seconded to recommend that a Class II
trail easement be acquired along Kerber Blvd., Powers Blvd., the three main
streets within the development and along the south side around the ponds
that will be created, dry trails along the line separating the multi-family
from the single family. In addition to this recommendation, ask that a
conservation easement be placed along the ravine to preserve that ravine. .
Also, Outlot A be taken in gratis. All voted in favor and motion carried.-'
Park and Rec Co~mission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 63
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Updates:
-Park Ordinance Review
-Park Dedication Ordinance Review.
-Water Surface Usage Ordinance Review.
-Capital Improvement Budget Approval.
-Removed Signs ~ Kiowa.
-Lotus Lake Boat Access.
Lori Sietsema: 14 is basically for your review. The only thing, we can
have any discussion you want. I included the Ordinances if you want to
discuss them in detail, I suggest that we put them on the next agenda.
Jim Mady: Do you need a motion?
Lori Sietsema: No, I need to know if you want to do that or if they are
clear. The Park Dedication Ordinance will be coming to you anyway.
Gloria Corpian: If we have a queston we can bring it up next time.
Larry Schroers: The Ordinances that I read them, seemed pretty clear and
to the point.
Lori Sietsema: Last night the City Council acted to approve the Capital
~ Improvement Program as presented and the money allocated for Carver Beach
and Greenwood Shores would be contingent on making those accessible to all
residents.
Carol Watson: Which we did.
Jim Mady: We are recommending that they do.
Councilman Johnson: It will be pretty hard for us not to take your
recommendation since we told you to recommend it to us. There's also one
other change on the capital budget. Removing a bol1ard and chain.
Lori Sietsema: We just took out bollard and chain and put obstruct. I
still don't know how that's going to work because if you put a berm there
it's going to dam up all the water that runs down that street and we're
going to have major problems so that's something that we're going to have
to work on in-house and take it back to City Council.
Councilman Johnson: Carver Beach, you've got $250.00 to put a bo11ard and
chain up there. Various people said that it would just get ripped off,
just get chopped up. They would just hook their winch to it and yank it
out and bring it home. It would be best if you make a berm and throw some
trees on it. Leave the $250.00 there and just say obstruct.
Jim Mady: You could put a berm in and put a valley in it every now and
~then for water. That's no problem.
Park and Rec Commission Meeting
February 10, 1987 - Page 64
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Councilman Johnson: We left the $250.00 there. We just changed the
wording as to what it was for.
Lori Sietsema: (C) was the removal of the no parking zone along Kiowa
Trail which was right along Bandimere. That's where Prince used to live.
They accepted McKay and Robbins resignations. They authorized the access
plans for Herman Field and approve the Regional Softball Tournament as
recommended.
Jim Mady: One final thing, I would likoe to make a motion that Lori send
out a letter of thanks to Mike Rosenwald, Sue Boyt, Wallace McKay and
Charlie Robbins for their efforts on the Park and Recreation Commission in
the past.
Lori Sietsema: McKay's and Robbin's are already done.
Jim Mady moved, Ed Hasek seconded to send letters of thanks to Mike
Rosenwald and Sue Boyt for their efforts on the Park and Recreation
Commission in the past. All voted in favor and motion carried.
Curt Robinson: What about commission members going to the City Council
meetings?
Lori Sietsema: We need to set up a schedule for each commissioner to take
a turn attending City Council meetings that have park related items on. I~
happens about every other meeting we have park items on.
Ed Hasek: Every other regular meeting?
Lori Sietsema: Every other regular City Council meeting, yes and it's
usually the meeting after our meeting. The Council always meets on Monday
and we meet on the Tuesday, the first Monday and Tuesday of the month and
then the park i terns usually go on the thi rd Monday of the month for Ci ty
Council so unless otherwise.
Ed Hasek: Are we to start immediately?
Jim Mady: We should.
Ed Hasek: Why don't we set it up by seniority with the most senior being
number 1 and the last you can decide what you want for the three of us here
and just go through.
Jim Mady: Would you be willing to do this first one Curt?
Curt Robinson: Sure.
Jim Mady: Okay, then we'll check with Mike and see what his schedule is
looking like at the next meeting.
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Park and Rec Commission Meeting
~ February 10, 1987 - Page 65
Lori Sietsema: I'll send you a City Council agenda with the packets that
concern the Park and Rec items.
Jim Mady: And you could ask the City Council that when a park and rec item
comes on their agenda, that we would appreciate being pushed as close to
the front of the agenda as possible.
Carol Watson moved, Curt Robinson seconded to adjourn the meeting. All
voted in favor and motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 11:00
p.m. .
Submitted by Lori Sietsema
Park and Recreation Coordinator
Prepared by Nann Opheim
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