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12/01/2003 - 00028682CITY OF FRIDLEY PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING — DECEMBER 1, 2003 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Kondrick called the December 1, 2003 Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting to order at 7:08 p. m. ROLL CALL: Members Present: Dave Kondrick, Marcy Sibell, Tim Solberg, Dolores Varichak, Dick Young Others Present: Jack Kirk, Director of Recreation & Natural Resources Dave Lindquist, Parks Supervisor Nick Eoloff, Anoka County Parks APPROVAL OF NOVEMBER 3, 2003 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES MOTION by Mr. Young, seconded by Mr. Solberg, to approve the minutes of the November 3, 2003 meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. APPROVAL OF PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION AGENDA FOR DECEMBER 1, 2003 MOTION by Mr. Young, seconded by Ms. Sibell, to approve the agenda for the December 1, 2003 meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. 1. STAFF REPORT a. Program Update Mr. Kirk stated that he wanted to call attention to the Veteran's Day program on Tuesday, November 11t" at our Senior Center. There were over 200 people that attended the program that included a short ceremony, a guest speaker and a luncheon sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary. Mr. Kirk further stated that a program update was included in the agenda packet for tonight's meeting and provided additional information on some of the department happenings in the past month. It also included a listing of a number of events that will be taking place from now through the end of February. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — December 1, 2003 Paqe 2 b. Park Maintenance Report Mr. Lindquist stated that during the month of November, the park maintenance crew had finished two rounds of cleaning leaves from the parks, built the berms for the skating rinks areas, checked all the rink lights, and put up the safety fencing at the sliding hill to prepare for the upcoming winter activities. They also put away some of the seasonal equipment from the parks such as the tennis court nets and picnic tables. The thin ice signs have been placed around the aerator at Moore Lake. Ms. Varichak commented that since the old shelter was taken down at the Commons #2 ballfield, the area looked very nice. c. Video Program — Springbrook Nature Center Fees Mr. Kirk stated that staff would be taping a cable television program on the new fees associated with Springbrook Nature Center. The taping will be this Wednesday, December 3 at 4:30 pm. He invited a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission to join the panel and offer some input on the need for the fees and why the fee levels were selected. Mr. Kondrick stated that he may be available to do the show, but had a potential conflict on his schedule. He said he would let Mr. Kirk know if he could participate. 2. NEW BUSINESS a. Anoka County RiverFront Park Mr. Kirk stated that Anoka County Parks has some long range plans to do some redevelopment at Riverfront Park located just off East River Road in Fridley. Nick Eoloff, Park Planner with the Anoka County Parks Department is at tonight's meeting to explain some of the features of the plan for redevelopment at Riverfront Park. Mr. Eoloff stated that the Riverfront Park had opened in 1986. Not much has been done with the park since its opening, with the exception of the Reidell House upgrading. After close to twenty years, the park needs some redevelopment. The trails are in tough shape, the bathrooms are in tough shape, and the park is not utilized like it should be. Mr. Eoloff further stated that the County has some new ideas for the park and have submitted a request to the Met Council for funding the project. Upon approval, the funds would be available in 2006-2007 and they have requested $1.2 million. Mr. Eoloff showed the Commission members the plans that have been developed for the park area. Mr. Young asked what was the difference between a county park and a regional park? Mr. Eoloff stated that a regional park has Met Council designation as such and is usually a park facility greater than 100 acres and one that has special regional significance. Riverfront Park started out as just a county park, but when the acreage from the Islands of Peace was added to the overall park area, it gained the regional designation. As a regional park, the facility is eligible for Met Council regional park funding dollars. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — December 1, 2003 Paqe 3 Mr. Eoloff stated that the new master plan for the Riverfront Park essentially divides the park into various use zones. The southern zone will be redeveloped as a disc golf or "Frisbee" golf facility. The course would be laid out and the golf hole targets would be installed. The middle zone included the Reidell House and picnic facilities which are used very often for wedding receptions and other group special events. The picnic facilities and restrooms in this zone of the park will be remodeled and improved. A new playground structure with a nautical theme will be installed adjacent to the two large open air picnic facilities. The northern zone of the park will still have the boat launch facility, but a new picnic shelter and playground structure will be added to this end of the park. Parking facilities and the trail running through the park will also be greatly improved. Mr. Kondrick asked if the park was patrolled and if the restrooms were open at all times. Mr. Eoloff stated that the county Park Rangers do patrol the park and they open and close the restrooms each day. The rangers are also responsible for opening and closing the park gates to control after hours access to the facility. The county parks close each day one half hour after dusk. Mr. Young asked if the playground equipment was handicap accessible. Mr. Eoloff responded that the entire playground area surface will be wood fibers, which meets the ADA guidelines for accessibility. The wood chips in the fiber base mat down and provide a good base that will accommodate wheelchairs. Mr. Eoloff stated that the plans for Riverfront Park also call for some improvements to the entrance road to the park. Some new landscaping should help the entrance area. Mr. Young stated that he would like to see the County put in gates at the entrance area to this park. He realizes there is an extra expense to gates, but it would help with the vehicles entering the park after hours. Mr. Kondrick stated that he wanted to know if there would be any additional lighting added to the park. He further stated that lighting could help deter crime such as vandalism. Mr. Eoloff stated that there would be some additional lighting to the entrance to the park and for the parking lot areas. Also, the picnic shelters will have lights available and a security light at each shelter that will be on a photocell. He also expected that there would be some lighting in the boat launch area. Mr. Eoloff stated that the improvements would also include some observational seating areas so park visitors could sit and look out over the river. A fishing pier would also be considered in the northern area of the park. Mr. Kirk asked for the timeline on the improvements at Riverfront Park. Mr. Eoloff stated the work would be completed in 2006 and 2007. It would likely take a year for all of the improvements to be installed at the park. The final plans would be drawn up during the winter and the work done starting in the spring of the year. Mr. Kondrick stated that it was a nice plan for the park. He thanked Mr. Eoloff for attending the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting and sharing the planned improvements at Anoka County Riverfront Park. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — December 1, 2003 Paqe 4 b. Canada Goose Program Mr. Kirk stated that this item was place on the agenda because of some discussion at the last Parks and Recreation Commission meeting about the costs of the Goose Management program in light of the City's budget situation. Mr. Young had correctly pointed out that the City is currently paying about $25 per bird for the removal, when in 1990 we were paying just over $5 per bird. There is still the same $1,000 fixed cost to participate in the program, but the new cost is the $20 per bird fee to process for the food shelf. At the last meeting, Mr. Kondrick suggested that the Commission spend some time discussing this program. Does the Commission want the City to continue with the Canada Goose program at Moore Lake? Mr. Young stated that in spite of the cost per bird this past year, he did not feel this was a program we should drop. We are concerned about the health of people using the park, the quality of the lake water and he believes this is also a good service for the people who live in the area. Ms. Sibell stated that if we don't continue with the program, we could see additional demands placed on our maintenance workers to help with the clean up of goose droppings. She would also be concerned about the health and safety concerns if the program was cancelled. She acknowledged the tight budget, but would like to see the goose management continued at Moore Lake. Mr. Solberg agreed that the program should continue. He stated that it was a relatively low amount of dollars to pay for removing the geese from Moore Lake Park. Ms. Varichak stated that she also felt the City should keep this program. It helps provide a cleaner environment at this very heavily used park. Mr. Kondrick stated it appears that the Commission is strongly in favor of retaining the Goose Management program. He further stated that the City should really do something to discourage people from feeding the ducks and geese at Moore Lake. c. Alcohol Consumption Policy Associated with rentals of Springbrook Nature Center Facilities Mr. Kirk stated that the staff is looking to generate at least $4,000 in the next year through rentals of the Springbrook Nature Center building and picnic facilities. The new rental fees were established at the November Parks and Recreation Commission meeting. It has been suggested that allowing some limited alcohol consumption with special events such as wedding receptions will help to make the Springbrook facilities more attractive as a rental space. Our current park ordinances do not allow for this. Before the staff put forth any recommend change to allow for alcohol use at these events, he wanted to get an idea of what the Commission members would think on this matter. Mr. Kondrick stated that he thought allowing alcohol with the events would certainly help bring in the rental income. Serving alcohol at special events at Springbrook would be okay with him as long as it could be metered. He said that it would likely be only smaller groups at Springbrook, because the facility just can't accommodate large groups. It would be easier to monitor and control the alcohol use within a smaller group. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — December 1, 2003 Paqe 5 Ms. Varichak agreed that the alcohol use with a smaller size group is less likely to get out of hand. Allowing alcohol at a special event will be more appealing to potential renters. Mr. Kondrick asked if the Commission members thought that allowing beer and wine only would work with the rentals at Springbrook, or should an alcohol use policy include the consumption of hard liquor. Ms. Varichak stated that she didn't think that limiting to beer and wine only would appeal to those looking to have events like wedding receptions. Mr. Kondrick agreed and thought that a change in policy should include the ability to serve hard liquor as well as beer and wine. The objective here with the rentals is to raise money to keep Springbrook operating and he just didn't think the rental opportunities will be there if we don't allow the alcohol use at the events. Mr. Young stated that he thought if alcohol were going to be allowed to be used at Springbrook that the renters should be able to bring it in themselves. He is concerned that with high rental fees and additional fees to bring in an outside group to serve the alcohol, it will drive the costs so high the facility will not be attractive to renters. Mr. Young stated that he did not want to see hard liquor at the nature center. He felt it was out of place in the nature center. He could go along with beer and wine coolers, but would be opposed to expanding to anything beyond that. Mr. Young further stated that the alcohol use should be limited to certain areas like the interpretive building and picnic shelter. He did not want to see people walking the trails and drinking beer. He would favor a policy that would require all alcohol use to be inside of a building only. Mr. Solberg stated that although he does not drink alcohol at all, he thought that we should either allow all alcohol including hard liquor or not allow any at all. He did not think that limiting to beer and wine coolers would be very attractive to those looking to rent for wedding receptions and other like events. Ms. Sibell stated that she would only want to see alcohol use allowed on a limited basis and would not be supportive of hard liquor. She would want to see it limited to beer and wine coolers only. Mr. Kondrick stated that he would like to move on this matter. He asked if any of the Commission members were in favor of no alcohol including beer and wine coolers. After no one responded yes, he asked if there were those that favored only allowing beer and wine. Two of the Commission members stated they would be in support of beer and wine coolers only. Mr. Kondrick asked if the other Commission members would support including hard liquor and all three agree that they would. Mr. Kondrick told Mr. Kirk that staff could research the information needed and come back to the Commission with a proposal for allowing alcohol use at Springbrook. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — December 1, 2003 Paqe 6 ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Mr. Solberg, seconded by Ms. Sibell, to adjourn the December 1, 2003 meeting at 8:44 p.m. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE DECEMBER 1, 2003 MEETING ADJOURNED.