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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-01-13 MINUTESCity of Cottage Grove Parks, Recreation & Natural Resources Commission January 13, 2003 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 80 Street South, Cottage Grove, Minnesota, on the 13th day of January 2003. Chair Steve Morse called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Steve Morse, Barry Hamilton, Tim Sirianni, Allan Dubois, Eddy Wuorenma, MEMBERS ABSENT: Al Boche OTHERS PRESENT: Associate Planner John Burbank Ice Arena/Recreation Manager Zachary Dockter Recreation Supervisor Jason West Council Member Mark Grossklaus Council Member Pat Rice City Engineer Nancy Hanzlick I APPROVAL OF AGENDA The agenda was approved as submitted. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Minutes approved as mailed. OPEN FORUM Gary Wilms at 8991 Hamlet Avenue South stated that he wishes to express some of his concerns with the Hamlet Park expansion. He has lived right behind the park for the past 19 years. Gary feels that often the City gets too far in the decision - making process before soliciting neighbors input and he doesn't want that to happen this time. He's asking that he be included in the discussions for Hamlet Park. Burbank stated that right now preliminary cost estimates are being put together for the proposed draft by the Commission and staff. The reason neighborhood input has not been solicited at this point, is that staff prefers to do their homework before asking for public input. This method tends to make the whole process more efficient. Gary stated that his primary concern involved the plans for the end of Hamlet Avenue. Currently, he said there are trucks, four - wheelers and snowmobiles that abuse that area. Would it be a cul -de -sac, part of the park or a street continued on? Burbank stated that any future development of that roadway would be charged back to the developer and would not be Parks Commission Minutes 4 January 13, 2003 PARK MASTER PLANNING WORKSHOP A. Facility Standards Burbank explained that currently our parks have no set standards as to what belongs in a community park, what belongs in a neighborhood park, etc. He provided an inventory list of our current community parks and neighborhood parks to give an idea of where to begin with this project. The hope is that this will give us a guide for when people request certain items at any particular park. We would then be able to refer to this key and say "yes" this is something that should be at the park or "no" this is not something that should be at the park. This will also help us in the new development of parks in consideration of what belongs at a newly developed park. Hopefully, this will help alleviate problems of people moving into a new development expecting one thing and getting another when it comes to parks and open space. That's been an ongoing issue with past developments. Tim stated that he would like to see open space prioritized on the list as opposed to just having physical materials on the list. There should be some open space sizes per park. Modifications will be made and brought back next month. I COMMUNITY CENTER WORKSHOP A. Finance Process Memorandum A memo from Ron Hedberg, City Finance Director, was reviewed for possible options on financing a community center. One of the options given was for a tax levy for the debt service. An approximate tax increase was given for a $175,000 home and $300,000 commercial property. Another option was public /private partnerships, such as creating a community center with the YMCA, a privately owned health club or the school district, etc. The last item addressed was operating costs. Depending on how the community center is built; it can be built to operate at a deficit or operate at a break -even point depending on what is included in the facility and who is involved. B. Community Center Site Location Maps Burbank reviewed maps containing area constraints. He did a search with one -mile rings to the center of town to see where a central location would be and also displayed a map with an area forty acres square. Both these maps can help in looking at different locations and eventually picking out a location for the community center in respect to a central location and land availability. More charts and information will follow at subsequent meetings. We can then begin to rule out certain locations as deemed necessary. Parks Commission Minutes January 13, 2003 part of the pavement management program. So, at this point there is not real plan set for that street. NEW BUSINESS A. Commission Member Appointments 2 Burbank stated that Council appointed the two new Commission members Tim and John to the Commission. He is still trying to fill a third position with one of the remaining applicants. He's been trying to contact that applicant and just waiting for a response. B. Community Off Leash Dog Park Burbank reviewed the City policy that all dogs must be on leashes in Cottage Grove Parks and currently dog owners have no retreat to let their dogs run free. Many communities are building dog parks in an open space, put up a fence, and allow the dog owners to utilize the area. It is a pretty minimal investment. It would be a matter of finding the right property and installing a fence, along with the proper on -going maintenance. Burbank submitted reports from several communities and mentioned that the parks seem to be very well received in all the communities. He's heard very little negativity towards dog parks. Burbank pointed out four possible areas that would be far enough away from the public to hopefully not cause any problems. Those areas are: 1. Highlands Park 2. Hamlet Park 3. Langdon (where a piece of land was recently purchased) 4. Kingston Park Morse mentioned some concerns with the maintenance of the park. His original thought was how messy it would be with people not cleaning up after their dogs, but after reviewing some of the responses from other communities, it sounds like the users are fairly educated with dog parks and clean up after themselves. So, with that it sounds like it is a fairly minimum cost and minimum maintenance. He thinks it would be a good thing for the community and he's in favor of looking further into it. Council Member Rice mentioned that this was brought to him by one neighbor in particular and he actually visited a park in St. Paul where he saw 20 to 30 dogs within a four or five acre park. Rice thought it to be considerably quiet concerning the number of dogs and owners running around. The people seemed to be well mannered, picked up after their dogs and the place was well maintained. He was fairly impressed with the dog park. Morse went on to say he is usually against doing facilities like this just because other communities are doing them, however, in this situation he feels it is an up and coming feature of parks. We should perhaps take a lead on this issue and look further into it. Tim expressed his support of the park and stated that his only concern would be the lack of education to users. Therefore, he felt it was critical to Parks Commission Minutes January 13, 2003 3 educate the users about maintaining after themselves and how to properly act in the park. Eddy said his concerns would be putting a park near other athletic facilities such as the spot pointed out at Hamlet. People may drop off their dogs in the park and walk over to watch whatever event is going on leaving their dog unattended. He would suggest putting it away from other facilities. The Commission feels that the park will get used and recommends staff to begin getting some cost estimates on what it would take to build and maintain the park. Allan went on to explain that hopefully this park will help to deter some of the other problems at other parks and on trails such as Hamlet. A lot of dogs are walked on that back trail and many owners don't seem to pick up after their dogs. Hopefully, this will give them an area to go to while keeping other areas of parks clean. Burbank stated he would get more information on park locations. OLD BUSINESS A. Facility Rental Fees - Continued Dockter submitted a memo with the new facility rental fees and stated that these are the fees proposed by staff for the Commission's recommendation. Morse had some concerns on the different user group levels particularly between 2 and 2A who are the local organizations and where they fit, like the school district and Athletic Association as related to traveling tournaments, in -house tournaments, etc. Jason West stated that Class 2 is for weekday league play with the local user groups and Class 2A would be specifically for weekend tournament events by the Association or School District. Dockter stated that essentially the only fees that are being raised are the added maintenance for two hours per day for any given event. So, the fee will be raised $60 per day or $120 for the weekend. The other fees such as satellites and dumpsters are fees which are set by the company we contract with. We have no real say on those costs. Also, a concession fee has been added and the facility deposit has been raised to make user groups more accountable for damages done to the facility and cancellations. Tim asked for clarification on the maintenance fee. He noted that it stated $60 for two hours of labor, he asked if you had to pay the fee in two -hour blocks or if you could do three hours at $90. Jason stated that due to union contract there is a minimum fee of two hours and anything above that could be broken down per hour. So, you could rent three, four, five, hours, etc. However, there is a minimum of two hours to begin with. That two -hour minimum is actually built into the athletic facility fees. We will reword that section. Eddy also asked if there is a priority list for the reservation of these fields. He's concerned that the local organizations may get surpassed by other organizations to reserve the fields. West and Dockter stated that it is typically first come, first served, but the local organizations do get first opportunity at reserving the fields through January. After that, it is open up to all other users. Motion made by Eddy to accept the new Event/Tournament Facility Reservation Form and fees. Seconded by Allan. Motion carried. Parks Commission Minutes January 13, 2003 TRAILWAY PLAN WORKSHOP Struck from the agenda. REPORTS A. Golf Division No comments. B. Ice Arena Division No Comments. C. Parks Division No comments. D. Recreation Programming Division Jason West mentioned that the Youth Activities Expo is coming up in February. E. Planning Commission No comments. F. Historic Preservation 5 Burbank mentioned that staff representative Bob Vogel has stepped down and Commission Chair Gary Golusky has also resigned. The Commission will be looking for a new chairperson and also a new Parks Commission liaison to work with the Historic Preservation Commission. G. Council Agendas Mark Grossklaus is the new liaison from the City Council to the Parks Commission. H. Monday News No Comments. 1. CGAA Parks Commission Minutes January 13, 2003 No Comments. COMMISSION COMMENTS Council Member Rice thanked the Commission for the opportunity to work with them and wishes the Commission the best of luck working with the community center and all the other projects ahead. STAFF COMMENTS N. Burbank introduced Nancy Hanzlick, the City Engineer. He mentioned that she will not be at all the meetings. She was on board for this meeting to get an idea on the kinds of projects we'll be doing since she will be doing a lot of the cost estimates and project work. ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn by Tim Sirianni. Seconded by Eddy Wuorenma. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m.