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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-05-13 MINUTESCity of Cottage Grove Parks, Recreation & Natural Resources Commission May 13, 2002 Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, a regular meeting of the Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resources Commission was duly held at City Hall, 7516 — 80th Street South, Cottage Grove, Minnesota, on the 13th day of May, 2002. Commission Chair Steve Morse called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Steve Morse, Tammy Schwartz, Eddy Wuorenma, Paul Barthol, Allan DuBois MEMBERS ABSENT: Al Boche, Kathleen Kullman OTHERS PRESENT: Associate Planner John Burbank Ice Arena/Recreation Manager Zachary Dockter Council Member Pat Rice APPROVAL OF AGENDA The agenda was approved as submitted. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Minutes of the April 8, 2002 meeting approved as mailed. NEW BUSINESS A. Park Improvement Funding John Burbank reviewed the memo submitted by Kim Lindquist to Council involving park improvements. He mentioned that the Council stated in their 2002 goals that they were looking to improve park buildings and shelters. In coordination with that, they will be looking to the Commission for guidelines on which buildings get replaced, repaired or updated. B. Ideal Park Recreation Equipment Burbank reviewed the Capital Improvements list in which Ideal Park was scheduled for replacement of playground equipment in 2003 along with Pine Tree Pond Park. There have been some major concerns in those neighborhoods that the park is unsafe. Burbank thinks that it would be possible to get those two parks replaced in 2002. Some funding would need to be transferred, but it is requested of the Commission that they wait until the budget discussions wrap up in the next month or so and make sure that it's feasible. Judy Long at Parks Commission Minutes May 13, 2002 2 8249 Ideal stepped up to the podium to discuss her concerns. She said the park has been there for 30 years since she moved in. The park equipment has deteriorated and it is very unsafe. The swings are deteriorated and she invited the Commission to come out to the park and see for themselves to see all the potential dangers. She's concerned that some of the parks are going on their second set of equipment while this park keeps being overlooked. She would like the City to get some new equipment and make it a decent park for kids to play at and to make the area look better. Commissioner Morse asked if the report that was done by the parks division on the annual maintenance and potential issues is available to review. This would help them to understand what condition all of our parks are in and enable them to determine if one should get moved up or not. If not, if there are five other parks just like Ideal then it makes that task more difficult. So, he requested to see those reports and get a better feel for what the other parks needs and uses are. Burbank mentioned that there is an inventory/safety list that is done each year and he will try to get a hold of that for the Commission, but once again he'd like to have this wait until budget talks are over. Possibly with additional funding, we may be able to do all of these parks this year and hold off on next year. Dockter went on to explain that the two parks on the top of the list for 2002, which are Highlands and Woodridge, are due for replacement because they are wood structures with pea rock as a base. There are safety concerns with these locations. Highlands, Woodridge, Ideal and Pine Tree Pond Park are all on the top of the needs list of our parks. Otherwise it would be very easy to switch them out and do Ideal Park this year, but there are safety issues with the others as well. Judy Long asked, once again, who is responsible for the checks and inventories and Burbank responded that it is the Parks Division. She asked how she could discuss this with the person in charge. Dockter referred her to the Foreman, but the items will be on next month's agenda so she may want to just wait and look for him there. C. Public Park and Open Space Sales Requests An issue came up where a citizen, John Anderson at 11206 72 Street in Old Cottage Grove, requested to purchase a strip of land 30'X 165' which is part of Lamar Park. Council reviewed the memo from John Burbank which recommends the denial of the request. It has not been the policy of the City to sell any strips of public park and open space in the past. The reasoning for the request for purchase is that the gentleman has been maintaining that lot and he feels that the City has not expressed any interest in use of that property. He would like to build an additional garage on his property and that extra land would help him to place it in a more appealing spot that he wouldn't be able to do without that extra land. One of Burbank's concerns is that selling the plot may cause a problem with a right -of -way if any future development was to happen in that park. John Anderson wanted to explain that he maintains the lot. The City doesn't want to bring their mowers on there. He's remodeled and he just wants to get a small piece of that lot to help in his remodeling process. He did want to make sure that the Commission Members understood that the map doesn't do it justice. He invites all the Commission Members out there to look at it and it may change their viewpoint a little bit. The feasibility of the sale is a lot more attractive if you're actually looking at it as opposed to looking at the map. John Anderson said he does disagree that he would be blocking a right -of -way with the purchase of that property. He thinks there still would be plenty of opportunity to get through there. Morse mentioned that the Commission is not the body who would make that final decision, but Parks Commission Minutes May 13, 2002 3 they are going to discuss it and make a recommendation. Morse personally feels that it is bad policy to begin selling strips of land because it could get out of hand. So, he believes that policy should remain that no park or open space land be sold. Schwartz mentioned that she believes the sale of the land would be okay and that if there were future plans that a right -of -way would be able to go through that property somehow, but her concern would be that when that future decision is made that the landowner would say no they don't want any right -of -ways going through or by their property. Commissioner Barthol asked if there were any specific examples of requests approved in the past of this. Burbank responded he's not aware of any requests that were approved, but he does know of many that were declined in recent years. Commissioner DuBois agreed with the policy to not sell park land, but he also said he'd like to see the property before making a decision based on the comment that visual reference would help to get a better feel for the property acquisition request. Chair Morse asked the Commission Members to at some point visit the land and take a look at it and we'll revisit the issue next month. D. Hamlet Park Picnic Shelter Update Dockter reviewed the memo submitted. He mentioned that a new picnic shelter had been purchased from St. Croix Recreation Company for the price of about $22,000. This includes installation, poured footings, concrete slab and installation of the structure. The structure will be similar in size to the former one that was vandalized, but this one will be a steel structure. Hopefully, this will alleviate the problems with fire. Burbank also mentioned that when the shelter is installed, we hope this will be prototype for all of our shelters to provide unity within our parks. Schwartz mentioned that she would like to see concrete tables and /or concrete trash barrels to avoid the hazards and vandalism involved with fire that seem to be reoccurring. Dockter responded that this is definitely a possibility. Price and maintenance become issues, but it is definitely feasible and it will be researched. OLD BUSINESS A. 2002 Commission Goals and Objectives Burbank reviewed the goals and mentioned that this is the third time it has been on the agenda. It is now broken down into long and short-term goals as requested by the Commission. Morse asked for discussion of which there was none and mentioned that it covers the goals and objectives he thinks were intended and they look good. Eddy Wuorenma made a motion to accept the 2002 goals as submitted. Seconded by Paul Barthol. Motion passed. Parks Commission Minutes May 13, 2002 B. River Access Park Update Burbank mentioned that he went to a county meeting in the last month to request the county land on Grey Cloud Island be used for a park. He thought the presentation went well and he did get the board's support of the park. Burbank said he also met with the DNR Grant Programmer and discussed some of the issues at hand and things are looking good for a DNR grant. C. Community Center Information Burbank said that there is a meeting with the Council and the Commission coming up at which point we would look to the Council for more guidance for where we want to go with the Community Center. If we want to keep going or if we want to halt it with the financial concerns of the state and city governments. Until that point we are waiting to meet with the Council. Burbank asked the Commission to review the submitted articles on private and public community centers. There is also an attached list of local community centers in which he invites the Commission members to visit them as they get the opportunity so they are prepared when they meet with the Council with background information. Morse agreed and said it would be hard for the Commission as a whole to tour the community centers so he asked the Commission members to visit as many of the community centers as they can on their own. REPOR'M A. Golf Division Morse and Wuorenma both stated that they have been to most of the lunch specials listed in the report and they feel they have been well received and the food is very good. The report seems to reflect that. B. Ice Arena Division Dockter removed the memo submitted and highlighted some points. The five -year contract with Coke was signed and that marketing support money will be going towards a new sound system at the Ice Arena. Otherwise it's mostly just maintenance time at the Ice Arena. C. Parks Division Dockter reviewed the parks memo and highlighted the area of Woodridge Park. The grass and field look good and are taking well. There are a lot of community groups coming in to do maintenance and clean up at the local parks which is nice to see. Parks Commission Minutes 5 May 13, 2002 D. Recreation Proaramming Division Burbank reviewed the staffing positions in the Recreation Department. Jason West is now the supervisor and Molly Root is the programmer. Parkside History and Improvements The comment was made by Morse that it looks like the Parkside Recreation Program is a very positive thing and he'd hate to see it lost. He had some questions on the grant. Dockter tried to supply some information on that. The Weed and Seed Program offered some staffing out there to offer these programs and he would get more information on the Weed and Seed Grant for the next meeting. E. Planning Commission Burbank reviewed the submitted Commission packet and pointed out one particular item which was the proposed Timber Ridge Third Addition. He wanted to mention with these new homes the Park Trust Fund will get some additional monies. Typically this is $1,000 per lot. There is no parkland being put in that area, instead they're making payments to the Park Trust Fund. F. Council Agendas No Comments. G. CGAA Morse mentioned that he spoke with Boche before the meeting and there were no major issues to be discussed. H. Historic Preservation No Comments COMMISSION COMMENTS Allan DuBois asked if we ever got lights at the Hamlet Park skateboard park. Burbank responded that has not been done as of yet. Allan also asked if Belden Park should be on the Capital Improvements list. He realized it had been replaced not too long ago, but he was wondering if it would be on there in the future. Parks Commission Minutes May 13, 2002 Morse mentioned that he saw in the Bulletin that the equipment at Cottage Grove Ravine Park was being replaced. That was a concern of his and he was happy to see it get done. STAFF COMMENTS Burbank told the Commission to be aware that next meeting there will be a request from the School District for easement routes by Hamlet Park. At which point the Commission will be taking action and making recommendation to City Council. .ADJOURNMENT R Schwartz moved to adjourn. DuBois seconded it. The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m.