Loading...
PR 04/23/1979 - 312430 pARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING APRIL 23, 1979 MEMBERS PRESENT: Robin Suhrbier, Jan Seeger, Betty Mech, Barbara Hughes, Dave Kondrick MEMBERS ABSENT: None OTHERS PRESENT: Charles Boudreau, Parks & Recreation Director Jack Kirk, Recreation Supervisor Connie McMillion, Program Supervisor Siah St. C1air, City Naturalist Jerrold Boardman, City Planner Larry Bendel, President, FYSA Soccer Lenny DeMann, Lasco Concessions, 11740 Jefferson St. N.E. . CALL TO ORDER• . � Vice-Chairperson Suhrbier called the meeting to order at 7:45 p.m. ELECTION OF OFFICERS TO SERVE FROM MAY 1, 1979, TO MAY 1, 1980: Ms. Suhrbier suggested that since she had resigned from the Commission and there would be another new member, the election of officers be post- poned until the May meeting. MOTIQN by Dave I�ondrick, seconded by Betty Mech, to postpone the election of officers until the May meeting and that J an Seeger act as temporary chairperson in the interim period. Upon a voice vote, all voting aye, Vice-Chairperson Suhrbier declared the motion carried unanimously. APPROVAL OF MARCH 14 7.979 PARKS & RECREATION COMr1ISSI0N MINU1'ES: MOTION by Barbara Hughes, seconded by Dave Kondrick, to approve the � March 14, 1979, Parks & Recreation Commission minutes as writ�en. Upon a voice vote, all voting aye, Temporary Chairperson Jan Seeger declared the motion carried unanimously. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: The tollowing items were added to the agenda: Comprehensive Aevelopment Plan - Item H under New Business /'\ . Larry Bendel - FYSA Soccer - Item I under New Susiness . - - -,.�+r I. PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING APRIL 23 1979 - PAGE 2 MOTION by Barbara Hughes, seconded by Robin Suhrbier, to approve the � agenda as amended. Upon a voice vote, all voting aye, Tem�orary Chair- person Seeger declared the motion carried unanimously. DIRECTOR'S REPORT• A. Introduction of Staff Mr. Kirk introduced Siah St. Clair and Connie McMillion and himself to the Commission members. B. Slide Presentation Mr. St. Clair showed the Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Depart- ment slide presentation for the new commission members. C. Planned Pro'ects for 1979 Mr. Boudreau stated he had invited the staff to share with the commission some of the projects planned for the rest of 1979. He asked Mr. St. Clair ta talk about same of the things planned for the summer and for the fall in the Naturalist Division. Mr. St. Clair stated that he had given each of the commission members a brochure which outlined the things that were going on now. He stated the A-frame at the Innsbruck Nature Center had been remodeled. The main office had been moved upstairs so that the whole main floor was open for e�ibits. Lighting had been put in f�or night progra�ing. The A-frame was going to be open seven days a week during the spring season. This was experimental to see what kind of response they received. They were planning to have it open six days a week during the summer. If there was a lot of interest for the Sunday hours, they could continue that into the summer. Mr. St. Clair stated that during the summer they would be having a day nature camp program at Innsbruck, midnight nature walks at Spri�gbrook and Znnsbruck, and activities with the playgrounds. At the end af the summer, they would be writing up a curriculum for use in the fall to send out to all teachers in the area so that the teachers would know what programs were available and for what ages. This would include alZ school districts involved with Fridley. Mr. St. Clair stated he also did work with Boy Scouts, He stated the big thing would be working at the Springbrook Nature Center in setting up the future of Springbrook which would involve a lot of intensive planning. � Mr. Kirk stated he would like to go through some of the new items in the recreation area. At the next meeting, they should have the suu�er brochure,, and he would go through it at that time. m � � .��. PARKS & RECRLATION CONtMISSION MEETING, APRIL 23, 1979 - PAGE 3 r`'\ Mr. Kirk stated that on Wednesday, April 25., from 5:00-6:•30 p.m. at Co�mons Park, the Parks & Recreation Department was cooperating with the Minnes:ota Twins Baseball AssociaCion in putting an a baseball clinic for both boys and girls, ages 8-18. This was a free clin�c. Mr. Kirk stated that the Parks & Recreation Department was in a cooperative venture with Unity Hospital's "Wellness Program". As part of this, the Parks & Recreation Department was operating a"Fun and Fitness Running Program every Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. at Locke Park. Each person participating will receive a certificate af participation. Unity Hospital will be selling T-shirts to promote the program. From this, plans were to develop some sort of running or jogging club from the people who participate. . Mr. Kirk stated the Parks & Recreation Department was working with the local Burger King in sponsoring a Pitch, Hit and Run competition for boys and girls, ages 9-12. This was a national competition set up with Burger King and the National Recreation and Park Association.. Local parks and recreation departments handled the competition for their cities. The competition for Fridley will be held May 19: Mr. Kirk stated they had improved the garden plots and would have the plots again this year: Mr. Kirk stated the picnic kits had been started last year or two years �"� ago, and this year they now had six official picnic kit boxes (containing volleyball, bocce ball, frisbees, football, horseshoes, hadminton, croquet, etc.), along with a picnic booklet,for families or groups to check out for $10/weekend. � Mr. Kirk also stated that this year there were 98 teams signed up to play adult softball. Mr. Boudreau stated he would not discuss the park projects at this time as the Commission would be reviewing the capital outlay items in the park and some of the park projects would be discussed at that time. D. Ethnic Festival Day ' Mr. Boudreau stated that �he Ethnic Festival� Day was presented in cooperation with Community Education, Fine Arts Committee, and the Parks, � Reereation, and Natural Resources Department. There were over 1,000 people in attendance. It was nicely done and everyone was looking forward to the second annual ethnic festival day next year. E. Playground Locations - 1979 Mr. Boudreau stated that Ms. McMillion would be the playground director and would cover the playground Iocations_for this year. � �u � PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING APItIL 23 1979 - PAGE 4 Ms. McMillion stated that most of the glayground locations were the same as last year--Commons, Hayes, Rice Creek, Sylvan, St�evenson, Logan, North Park, Madsen and Flanery. At this time, they were talking about splitting Craig and Ruth Circle and having Craig on Monday and Thursday and Ruth Circle on Tuesday and Friday because of the low registration last year. Gardens was still in the talking stages as there were some problems. Ms. McMillion stated that they were expanding the PITS (Playgrounds In The Streets) program this year to five locations; Ruth Circle, Rice Creek Townhouses, Summit Square, Windemere, and Oak Hill. PITS was a mobile recreation unit with two staff inembers, which goes out to locations that do not have playgrounds available within a close proximity. They had also expanded the PITS program to the full five days as opposed to the Mon., Tues., Thurs., and Fri, with the Wednesday as excursion day. Wednesday was excursion day for the regular playground program. F. Donation - H. B, �'uller Co. Mr. Boudreau stated that the H. B. Fuller Company had again donated $2,000 to the City of Fridley for the planting of trees in Locke Park. The Campany employees would be planting the trees in Locke Park on Friday, April 25. G. Shade Tree Program � Mr_ Boudreau stated that the information on the Shade Tree Disease Control � Program was basically the same as last year. The city was required by law to have a Shade Tree Disease Control Program. To date, they did not know what the subsidy, if any, would be from the State. It was quite an expen- sive program for the city to be involved in. H. Weed Program - 1979 Mr. Boudreau stated the Parks & Recreation Department was also in charge of� the weed program. Last year they gave out 101 notices on weeds. Basically, that came from complaints, but they did try to spot check every year for weeds over 10 inches high. The property owner was given a notice and encouraged to cut the weeds. If the weeds were not cut ' within 10 days, the city had the legal right to cut the weeds and bill the property owner. I. Metropolitan Council Grant - $365,000 Mr. Boudreau stated that the Metropolitan Council had recently granted the City of Fridley $365,OOO.for improvements at the Springbrook Nature ' Center. Metropolitan Council should have a contract to the city by the end of May. This was a big step forward. The $365,000 grant was without any match monies from the City of Fridley. � , ,I /�`\ ^ /"\ � PARKS & RECREATION COI�IISSION MEETING, APRIL 23, 1979 - PAGE 5 J. Harris Park Meeting . Mr. Boudreau stated that the Harris Park people had a meeting at the request of the residents and Councilman Schneider. About 20 people attended the meeting. They talked about what to do with the Harris Lake pond. He thought the concensus of the meeting was that they would like landscaping on both ends of the small area to provide buffers for the homes, some playground equipment, open area down the middle for frisbee, toueh football, etc., did not want a shelter building, would like the ice keptopen on the lake during the winter months, would like to have the easement off of Dana Court into the park somehow marked for access, and would like picnic tables and some burners. Mr. Boudreau stated that most of these things could be accomplished this year as the City Council had given $3,000 to try to correct some of the damage done to the park last fall. Ms. Suhrbier suggested that a meeting be held with the Innsbruck North people concerning park facilities. The people in that area were very upset and frustrated as there were no park facilities in their area. Mr. Boudreau stated there was not anything staff could do. He suggested Ms. Suhrbier contact Councilman Schneider to set up this meeting as Councilman Schneider was the one who set up the meeting for the Harris Lake people. He stated he would be happy to attend any meeting that was set up. II. NEW BUSINESS: A. Request by Commissioner Seeger Ms. Seeger stated she would like to attend the "Marketing and Earth Sheltered Housing Seminar" on April 29-30 at the Holiday Inn Downtown. She asked if any of the co�nission members would like to attend. MOTION by Barbara Hughes, seconded by Dave Kondrick, to approve the funding for Jan Seeger and Barbara Hughes and one staff inember to attend the "Marketing and Earth Sheltered Housing Seminar" on April 29-30. Upon a voice vote, all voting aye, TemporarX Chairperson Seeger declared the motion carried unanimously. . B. Proclamation - Recreation & Park Month Mr. Boudreau stated he would like the Commission's concurrence to forward a proclamation to the City Council to declare June L979 as Recreation & Parks Month. . MOTION by Betty Mech, seconded by Dave Kondrick, to recommend that the "Proclamation - Recreation & Parks Month, Jt�ne 1979" be_forwarded to City Council Upon a voice vote, all voting aye, Temporary Chairperson Seeger declared the motion carried unanimously. �--� PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING, APRIL 23, 1979 - PAGE 6 � C. Request by Mr. Lenny DeMann - Concessions Mr. Boudreau stated that the Commissioners had received a�copy of a letter from Mr. DeMann, who would like the Co�nnission to consider his leasing the concession building at Moore Lake. Mr. Boudreau stated that the city had not run a concession there last year for'two reasons: (1) the County Health Department had checked the building and a lot of money would have to be put into the building to bring it up to health codes; (2) they felt they were running a program on�Moore Lake Beach and were not in the concession business. They had also lost money on it in the past. Mr. DeMann stated that, at no expense to the Parks & Recreation Department, he would like to bring the concession building up to health standards. ' With that, he would need more than a one-year lease on the building. If a lease was drawn up, a certain percentage of the gross profit would be given back to the Parks & Recreation Department. He stated he did have two mobile units he runs in Anoka County and he had another building at a baseball park in Elk River so this type of operation was not strange to him. He had talked to the Health Department about the building at Moore Lake, and they had explained to him what repairs were needed. Mr. Boudreau stated this had not been explored in depth because Mr. DeMann's request was the first request of this type. Before they could come to any conclusions, they would have to come to terms with the electricity, water, � liability insurance, additional trash clean-up, and those types of things. — Ms. Seeger asked if the Commission should be considering any other use fvr tt�e Moore Lake building? � Mr. Boudreau stated there plans were to use the buiZding for a first-aid buiiding. Ms. Seeger stated she liked the idea of having a first-aid building on the beach. Also, the city was always needing areas for storage. Mr. DeMann stated that maybe the Commi.ssion would consider the possiliility of his bringing in one of his mobile units if they did decide to use the building for something else, such as first aid. . Ms. Hughes stated she did not think there was a need for a concession stand on the beach, but it was a nice amenity, a convenience, and might well be useful. She was more inclined to want to hide the concession operation in a building rather than on the parking lot, just for general looks,.but did not have strong feelings either way. She thought that by not having refreshments, it might become more of a neigh}�orhood park, rather than a regional draw where people came ax�d stayed all day. � PARKS & RECREATION COA'Il�fISSION MEETING, APRIL ,23, 1979 - PAGE 7 � Mr. Kondrick stated he liked the idea of having a mobile uni� and save the building for housing equipment, etc. What concerned him most was the extra trash. Ms. Hughes asked Mr. DeMann if he would consider patrolling the area and picking up the trash. Mr. DeMann stated he would consider doing that. Ms. Hughes stated that she would like the Commission to look into this situation much further. Mr. Boudreau stated he would check the city ordinances, talk to Mr. Virgil Herrick concerning the legal problems, and explore this request with other staff inembers. He would then report back to the Cammission at their next meeting. The Commission thanked Mr. DeMann for coming. D. Adopt "Fair Share" Concept Mr. Boudreau stated that to try to be in keeping with what other municipalities were doing, he would like to recou�end that a"Fair Share Concept" be adopted. His recommendation for implementing the program was ^ as follows: , 1. All non-residents sha11 be placed on a waiting list for an activi:ty during the first week of registration. At the start of the second week of registration, the non- residents on the waiting list shall be entered on to the regular class list provided there are openings. 2. All non-residents shall pay a"fair share" fee whieh will be an additional 25% on top of the regular Fridley resident fee. MOTION by Barbara Hughes, seconded by Betty Mech, to recommend to City Council the adoption of the "Fair Share Concept" outlined above. Upon a voice vote, all voting aye, Temporary Chairperson Seeger declared the motion carried unanimously. E. Approval - Softball Tournaments Mr. Boudreau stated that for the new members' information, on softball� tournaments there was a policy approved by City Council that the Commission was allowed to give approval to four softball tournaments per year. Those four had already been established--Jaycees, Hockey Booster Club, Fridley Covenant Church and the Fridley Fire Department. ^ This year the Fire Department would not have a Cournament so this left • three. � � PARKS & RECREATION COrIl�IISSION MINUTES, APRIL 23, 1979 - PAGE 8 Mr. Boudreau stated the Commission had received copies of the requests from-Fridley Covenant Church and the�Hockey Booster Club. He stated.they 1� . had no problems with either request as both groups cleaned up and did a top-notch job of running the tournaments. MOTION by Dave Kondrick, seconded by Barbara Hughes, to recommend the �proval of the Fridley Covenant tournament request for July 21 and the Hockey Booster Club tournament request for June 15-17. Upon a voice vote, all voting aye, Temporary Chairperson Seeger declared the motion carried unanimously. F. Recognition of Past Commission Members Mr. Boudreau stated that the Commission might want to recognize the out- going coumissioners. He stated that Mr. Bob Peterson a.nd Mr. Leonard Moore were recognized at a City Council meeting with certificates of appreciation. He stated that the Parks & Recreation Department, in house, has awards that read, "Certificate of Recognition in the Cause of Municipal Recreation". He would be happy to give these awards if the Commission so wished. The Commission agreed they would like these certificates sent to Bob Peterson, Leonard Moore, and Robin Suhrbier. Ms. Hughes requested that Ms. Seeger s'ign the certificates as temporary chairperson and that Ms. Seeger also write a letter of appreciation to accompany each certificate. G. Report by Mrs. Bliss � Mr. Boudreau stated that, again for the new commissioners' information, the city had a policy whereby anyone whose home was located next to a park could request from the City of Fridley a four-foot cyclone fence to block traffic from the park with a 50/50 cost split. Mrs. Bliss currently had a redwood fence on her property which children were climbi�g over; therefore, she was requesting a cyclone fence in addition to the redwood fence. Mr. Boudreau stated he would attempt to talk to Mrs. Bliss and see if there were any alternatives, such as plantings, etc. At this time, he was just making the Commission aware of this request. MOTION by Barbara Hughes, seconded by Dave Kondrick, to receive into the_ record a letter dated April 13, 1979, from Mrs. Warren Bliss. Upon a voice vote, all voting aye, Temporary Chairperson Seeger declared the motion carried unanimously. H. Comprehensive Development Plan Ms. Hughes asked Mr. Boardman where the Comprehensive Develvpment Plan revisions were that three of the Commission members had put together at a special meeting. The whole c a�nission needed to look at it. Mr. Boardman stated it was before the Planning Commission. He apologized as he had not been aware that the Commission had not received it. He state he would have it sent back to the Cou►u►ission. ^ . �• PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING, APRIL 23, 1979 - P,AGE 9 Ms.yHughes stated she felt the Commissivn should have a special meeting to discuss those r�visions. The Commission set up a special meeting on Monday, May 7, 1979, at 7:30 p.m. I. Larry Bendel - FYSA Soccer Mr. Bendel stated his purpose for being at the meeting was to request that the Parks & Recreation Department piek up a portion of the refereeing fees as was done last year. He passed out to the cocrro�►ission members a list of the operating rules £or the soccer program. Mr. Bendel stated they had expanded the program this year�in tha� in the "Under 12" and "Under 14" age brackets, they were going to have what they called a"Major League Soccer Team". Try-outs would be held on Saturday, April 26, and the 18 best players will form teams in those age brackets and play 16 scheduled games--8 home and 8 away. The other.kids will play on a recreational soccer team with 4 games home and 4 games away. �iges 12-19 are the traveling teams, ages 10-under was the house league with 5 teams this year. They will play against each other in Fridley. There was an instructional league with 42 children signed up this year, ages 5-7. Total players signed up for this year are 271. Mr. Bendel stated that the total soccer budget was around $4,000. ^ Registration brought in about $�,0�0 an�--the deficit wasypicked up by -� the FYS;A. Last year the Parks & Recreation Commission had passed a motion to reimburse the FYS�, $700 for referee fees and some basic.equipment. This year they were asking the Commission to approve $400 as the Parks & Recreation Department's share of the referees' fees. Mr. Boudreau stated he had talked in depth with Mr. Bendel about this and the city's share on this was not out of line with what the city did for the other sports in the FYSA. The Commission members must also remember that the FYSA had given the city a flat donation of $2,500 for capital improvements on the areas they utilize. Mr. Bendel,was also looking at buying each coach a set of nets because of vandalism and scheduling problems. � MOTION By Betty, seconded by Robin Suhrbier, to recommend approval of $400 to the FYSA - Soccer Pro�ram as th e City's fair share of the refereeing fees. Upon a voice vote, all voting aye, Temporary Chairperson Seeger declared the motion carried unanimously. III. OLD BUSINESS: A. �date Neighborhood Park Plans Mr. Boardrnan stated that the Commission was�aware that the Planning Department had been working on a Comprehensive Development Plan and, as � part of that plan, they were also.doi.ng neighborhood park redesigns. a.... _ � PARKS & RECREATION COI�IIrlISSION ME�TING E�PRIL 23 1979 - PAGE 10 Mr.JBoardman stated that in the Benjamin-Briardale area, they had a ^ tract of land with a development. They did a design on that neighborhood park in order to start the neighborhood concept going. They used this area as a demonstration neighborhood on design where they notified people in the area by mail, held three meetings in the neighborhood as far as design criteria, what the people looked for in their neighborhood park, etc. This had worked so well that they had decided to do the same for the rest of the classified neighborhood facilities. Mr. Boardman stated that in order to get started on the process, they had a survey. Their goal was to attempt to survey 3Cllo of the residential units in the city. They were able to survey 62% of that 30% (1934 housing units or 6,800 people). After the surveys, Mike Franzen, Landscape Architect in the Planning Department, put together potential designs for the nine neighborhood parks, except for Benjamin-Briardale and Commons. Mr. Boardman stated they did initial designs;and when they had formulated finaZ designs, they decided to also do models of these park designs. They then notified the neighborhoods and set up meetings with them. They had good meetings and the meetings were finished in March. At this point in ti�e, they were starting to put together neighborhood booklets that would discuss design criteria, basic ideas, and basic recommendations on park design. Hopefully, tliose would be completed for the next Parks & Recreation Commission meeting. _ • B. Meeting Dates for 1979 The Commissioners concurred with rescheduling the regular Parks & Recreation Commission meetings on the alternate Wednesdays between Planning Commission meetings. The next meeting will be held on May 16, 1979, at 7:30 p.m. ADJOURNr�NT • MOTION by Betty Mech, seconded by Dave Kondrick, to adjourn the meeting Upon a voice vote, all voting aye, Temporary Chairperson Seeger declared the Apri1 23, 1979, Farks & Recreation Commission meeting adjourned at 11:10 p.m. . Respectfully submitted, < .) < Ly e Saba Recording Secretary � � ,