Loading...
04/05/1999 - 00007810CITY OF FRIDLEY PARK & RECREATION CONIN�SSION MEETING CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Kondrick called the April 5, 1999, Parks & Recreation Commission meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. ROLL CALL Members Present: Sue Price, Marcy Sibell, Dick Young Dave Kondrick, Tim Solberg Members Absent: None Others Present 7ack Kirk, Director of Recreation & Natural Resources Paul Lawrence, Superintendent Public Works Dave Lindquist, Public Works Barb Dacy, Director of Community Development Deb Skogen, Recording Secretary APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION by Young second by Sibell, to approve the minutes of March 1, 1999 of the Parks & Recreation Commission meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION by Price, second by Sibell to approve the meeting agenda for April 5, 1999, moving item 2b Medtronic Development at Lake Point to 2a and adding item 2g DNR grants. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. 1. STAFF REPORT a. Pro.°�ram Update Mr. Kirk distributed a Sr. Newsletter and noted that the slide at Plaza Park had been burned. Mr. Kondrick wondered if the potential suppliers could be asked if they had any equipment that might be fire retardant. Mr. Solberg wondered if there might be an article in the Fridley Focus regarding vandalism and how much it costs to repair the equipment to help citizens become more aware. Mr. Lindqusit said there was a big problem in that corridor. He said they were able to clean about 90% of the spray paint from equipment and was not sure what to do in the future. He wondered if they should think about closing off some of the access to the park. Park & Recreation Commission Meeting of April 5, 1999 Page 2 Ms. Sibell wondered if the city could provide the schools with information to send home to the parents regarding the recent vandalism and the cost. Mr. Solberg wondered about using the bicycle patrol more often or about the use of a camera to view the area. NIr. Young said the camera would have to be placed high enough so it would be inaccessible. Mr. Solberg asked if signage could also be placed stating the area was under surveillance. b. Park Maintenance Report NIr. Lindquist said they were doing vandalism clean-up and repair. They were repairing other equipment as well to make it ready for spring. They were half way through sweeping the winter debris from the parks. They are also working along the Highway 47 corridor mowing and cutting back brush throughout the city limits. He was working with the MnDOT Volunteer Coordinator with the Adopt A Highway Program to have the volunteers come out and collect trash along the highway. Ms. Sibell noticed there was more work to be done now with the addition of the Highway 47 corridor clean-up, that staffwas doing more with less. NIr. Lindquist said they had been advertising for 4-5 weeks for seasonal help and had only received four applications. He said they were looking for an additional 15 seasonal workers. He did not know if the wage needed to be changed to try to recruit more people. 2. NEW BUSINESS a. Medtronic Development at Lake Pointe Ms. Dacy reviewed the proposed Medtronic Development with the Commissioners and explained the different phases of the proposal. She said the site area had increased from 1 million square fee to 1.6 million square feet of office space. She said sta� s recommendation was that Medtronic would pay the same park fees as the MEPC proposal, which was $.023 per square foot. They were recommending that the park fees be paid at the beginning of the project for the entire site. She said if the entire site was not then developed, the city would reimburse them for the area they did not acquire. Mr. Young hoped the city did receive the fees, unlike the developers from Christianson Crossings and hoped the City Council supported the whole amount. Ms. Dacy said staffhad supported a 50% reduction in fees for Christianson Crossing because they did create a park in their development and dedicated part of their property as a public easement. Park & Recreation Commission Meeting of April 5, 1999 NIr. Young asked what kind of value would be placed on the development. Page 3 Ms. Dacy said it would be a minimum of $100 per square foot per building and because it was a Class A development it could be between $100 to $150 per square foot. She said the first phase would be valued at $500 million with appro�mately $1 million worth of taxes. NIr. Young asked when they would begin paying property taxes. Ms. Dacy said in appro�mately 2011 the taxes would go back to the original jurisdiction. She said Medtronics had requested an e�tension of the TIF district to 2014 as they have appro�mately $100 million worth of site construction that will most likely not be recovered. She said the city was proposing Phase 1 go on to the tax rolls right away. She said the city had also met with the County and School District 13 to discuss the impacts it would have on them. Ms. Sibell asked if they could change the park fees because it was Class A. Ms. Dacy explained that at this time they could not because that was the way the ordinance was written. They would have to change the ordinance. She was asking for a recommendation this evening because it was going to the Planning Commission and then to the City Council. MOTION by Young second by Price that the Park and Recreation Commission recommend to the Planning Commission and the City Council that the city's commercial and industrial park fee be charged and that the fee of $44,522.48 be charged with the building permits for the first phase of the Medtronic development with no negotiation for lower the fees. UPON A VOICE VOTE, THE VOTE WAS 4-1 WITH MS. SIBELL VOTING NAY. THE MOTION CARRIED. Mr. Young said there may be other land redeveloped due to the Medtronic project, such as the land south of 53rd Avenue between 7�' Street and University and he wondered if there was a way to differentiate Class A from warehouse or gas station. Ms. Dacy said when land is replatted for new development, they have restipulated that the park fees are due as well. She said they were trying to ma�mize the resources they had because the fee did not go very far. NIr. Young wondered what other communities charged. Mr. Kirk said the city's residential park fees were higher than the industrial. He said he would get information on what other communities were charging and the Commission could discuss it further at another meeting. b. Election of Officers Park & Recreation Commission Meeting of April 5, 1999 Page 4 Chairperson Kondrick opened the nominations. MOTION BY Solberg, second by Sibell, nominating Dave Kondrick as Chairperson and Dick Young as Vice Chairperson. Seeing no other nominations, the nominations were closed. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. Mr. Kondrick thanked the members for their support and said it was a pleasure to serve with them. He felt everyone had something to contribute which made it easier as the Chair. c. Plav�round Equipment Proposals Mr. Kirk said there were six playgrounds that would be replaced this spring. He said they would be inviting the neighborhoods to come in and view the proposals and comment on them. He said he would like the Park Commissioners to also comment on the proposals. After public comment is received, they tabulate the comments which helps in their selection process. He explained that the award of bid was different, as the Parks Department had given them a dollar amount and the bidders were to provide proposals for that amount. He described the different age groups that would be using the equipment and what they were looking for in the bids (i.e., quality, past experience, warranty, ADA compliance, safety considerations, past installation experience and quantity discounts). Mr. Young thought swings were a great idea, because even adults like to swing. Mr. Kirk said that the height of the equipment had changed due to the safety requirements. Mr. Kondrick wondered if there was a safety rating on the swings. Mr. Lawrence said he was not aware of any, but when they purchase the chain for the swings it was considered 800 pound weight. Mr. Kirk noted that the prices had escalated in the past due to all of the safety guards and requirements but felt the prices were leveling out. NIr. Solberg asked if once the bid was awarded if everyone else was notified who the winning bidder was. Mr. Kirk said he expected to see all of the consultants come in to see the proposals and said they were notified once the bid was awarded. d. Request from Champlin Baseball Association Park & Recreation Commission Meeting of April 5, 1999 Page 5 Mr. Kirk said he had phoned Mr. Stange regarding the Champlin Park Baseball Association request for fields for more information on how many kids they from Fridley they anticipated would be playing in their program. He said there were no baseball fields in the area and wondered if the kids in that area used the Fridley programs. He was not prepared at this time to agree to allow a baseball field to be used. He was looking for a recommendation from the Commissioners. Ms. Sibell wondered if they had looked toward the FYSA serving the participants from this area of the City. After further discussion, the Commissioners all agreed they would not support the request at this time and felt they needed additional information such as the number of Fridley residents participating in the program. e. Court Resurfacin� for 1999 Mr. Kirk explained that stafflooked at the worst basketball and tennis courts surfaces to determine what should be resurfaced this year. He reviewed the staff recommendations. NIr. Kondrick asked what the reason was for the lack of use of courts. Mr. Solberg said there currently was not a tennis professional that would peak the high interest, even though the High School Tennis Team was good. He suggested cutting back on the courts or changing the surfaces. Mr. Kondrick thought there should be one or two central locations with half a dozen courts and wondered why they were needed in the neighborhood parks. Mr. Kirk said if you included all of the school tennis courts, there were 39 courts in the city. Ms. Price said her daughter took tennis and there was a lot of interest last year in the program. Mr. Solberg said he preferred the lower courts at Commons Park as opposed to the Middle School courts up on the hill, which were in the wind more often. Mr. Young wondered about the potential traffic and noise that would be created at Commons if a basketball court was to replace one of the tennis courts. Mr. Kirk said the park building was used more frequently and felt it could be used more if there was more of a variety of courts, such as sand volleyball and basketball. Ms. Sibell wondered about the maintenance of a sand volleyball pit. Mr. Solberg wondered if the two northern tennis courts would be eliminated if you could move the basketball and volleyball courts further south. Park & Recreation Commission Meeting of April 5, 1999 Page 6 NIr. Kirk said they may have to remove some trees. He said the courts could be removed now and a sand volleyball court could be put in later. He wondered if they wanted to reduce the number of tennis courts. He said the year maintenance cost to color coat and fill the crack of tennis courts was $29,000. He said the asphalt or should be replaced or an overlay put on once every 10 years. He said they are budgeting $70,000 every five years to do this. Mr. Solberg wondered if the cost of concrete, over time, be more cost effective than asphalt. Mr. Solberg supported consolidating the tennis courts by creating a nice 8-10 court grouping with lighting versus having individual tennis courts in individual parks, especially considering the cost of maintenance. Mr. Kirk said if they redid the tennis court at Commons they would not be able to do some of the other parks. Mr. Young said when they cut back on the hockey and skating rings because of budget cuts, the citizens understood. He thought they would understand again. Mr. Kondrick felt Commons would be the best spot for tennis. After further discussion it was determined to maintain the four tennis courts at Commons as tennis courts. Mr. Kirk said they would review their recommendations and that some things may have to wait another year. He suggested sometime before ne�t year taking a look at the individual parks and considering the appropriate number of tennis courts. Mr. Kirk asked what should be done about Logan park, should they wait until ne�t year or just put in a single court this year. Ms. Sibell thought it would be good to discuss it with the neighborhood and let them have some input. f. Non-resident Participation Statement Mr. Kirk reviewed the staff memo regarding non-resident participation and gave some examples of what led up to their decision to try to create a policy pertaining to non-residents. Mr. Young said he did not like the reference to guest, as he felt it inferred non-payment. He thought it was good to include non-residents or to expand programs, especially if it meant the program might not be a go because there was not enough resident participation. Mr. Kirk said that Fridley residents are given first priority when registering for programs. Mr. Young said at the schools there is a set of expectations that is posted to remind students and staff of how to conduct themselves. It is the same standard of accountability for everyone. He wondered if someone violated a"Code of Conduct" if their right to use the Park & Recreation Commission Meeting of April 5, 1999 Page 7 Community Center could be cancelled for a period of time. Mr. Young suggested having some type of signature card available whereby they would read and sign the expectations or "Code of Conduct" so they are aware of how to act. Mr. Kondrick felt non-residents could use the city's programs as long as there were openings but if a resident or non-resident violated the "Code of Conduct" they would be released from the program. Mr. Solberg wondered if a difference in fees could be used, similar to that of a golf course, one fee for members and another fee for non-members. Ms. Price asked why non-residents could not pay more, similar to that of softball. Mr. Kirk will bring in the Code of Conduct they have for the Community Center for the Commissioners to review. g. DNR Grants Mr. Young asked if the City of Fridley was applying for grants, like the City of Columbia Heights did. Mr. Kirk explained the City had applied for grants to support the youth programs and the Community Center, but not the DNR grants at this time. They will be looking at future applications. 3. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Parks 5-Year Capital Improvement Prog am Mr. Kirk reviewed the Parks 5-Year Capital Improvements Program and asked for input from the Commissioners. Mr. Young wondered about the replacement of the bleachers and said he did not see any costs reflected with the issue. Mr. Kirk said the bleachers would be replaced this year and would cost appro�mately $23,000. They are looking at dollars encumbered from playground equipment upgrades. He said he did not anticipate removing any of the bleachers, only retrofitting and/or replacing them. Ms. Sibell wondered if the city could purchase more bleachers at a better price if there was a large quantity? Mr. Solberg wondered, due to the cost of the signage, if a few signs a year were purchased with donations from the Lions. Park & Recreation Commission Meeting of April 5, 1999 Page 8 Mr. Kondrick thought the signs should all be replaced and did not want to wait and do only a few at a time. Mr. Solberg suggested soliciting for help to offset the cost. Mr. Kirk asked for concurrence on the staffrecommendations, especially those for ne�t year as that is what they would be budgeting for. Mr. Young wondered if the Nature Center proposed theatre and maintenance building could be one building to lower the construction costs. Mr. Solberg said that given the visitation list the Nature Center had, there were people from all over the state, country and world that had visited the Nature Center and thought staff should keep that in mind in looking for grants to apply for. MOTION by Solberg second by Sibell, to concur with the staffrecommendations for the Parks 5-Year Capital Improvements Program. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Solberg second by Price, to adjourn the meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE MEETING ADJOURNED AT 9:45 P.M.