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10/03/2005 - 00028808CITY OF FRIDLEY PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING — OCTOBER 3, 2005 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Kondrick called the October 3, 2005 Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting to order at 7:04 p. m. ROLL CALL: Members Present Others Present Dave Kondrick, Marcy Sibell, Tim Solberg, Dolores Varichak Jack Kirk, Director of Parks and Recreation Dave Lindquist, Parks Supervisor APPROVAL OF SEPTEMBER 12, 2005 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES MOTION by Mr. Solberg, seconded by Ms. Varichak, to approve the minutes of the September 12, 2005 meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. APPROVAL OF PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION AGENDA FOR OCTOBER 3, 2005 MOTION by Ms. Varichak, seconded by Mr. Solberg, to approve the agenda for the October 3, 2005 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 the Parks and Recreation Department Program Update has been included in the meeting packet for Commission members. Some of the programs highlighted in the update are the Fall Kick-Off at the Senior Center, the Senior Tea Club, fall youth gymnastics, the Garden Club at Springbrook, the Senior Golf league, elementary after-school programs, 4- person football and the ZONE for the teenagers. Mr. Kirk further stated that the fall programs are off and running and they all seem to be going well. Mr. Kondrick asked if the nature center was on schedule with serving as many participants as they have in the past? Mr. Kirk stated that the Nature Center staff is very busy this time of year working with the environmental education curriculum with the Fridley School District. We still provide some weekend programs and other interpretive programs during the week, the bulk of the programming is with the school groups. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — October 3, 2005 Paqe 2 Mr. Kondrick stated that he just wondered if we were on target or above target with the school groups this year. Mr. Kirk stated that he felt that we were on target and where we expected to be this time of year with the school groups. Mr. Kondrick asked if we had the capacity to service more school groups. Mr. Kirk responded that we could do some additional groups if asked to do so. b. Park Maintenance Report Mr. Lindquist stated that during the past month, the park maintenance crew was trying to keep up with all of the mowing, until the storm hit on the 21St. Since then, all of the crew has been busy attending to the many trees that are down in the park system and throughout the city. Mr. Lindquist stated that they have also been cleaning all of the park properties and preparing the athletic fields as scheduled for league play. They have moved the playground equipment at Oak Hill Park and installed the new basketball posts and goals at Sylvan park. Also, they have overseeded the soccer field area at Locke Park and field #3 outfield at Commons Park. Mr. Lindquist further stated that for the workers have been clearing the storm damaged trees and branches from the city streets, parks and other city property. They will be trying to dig the stumps out this week in the areas where the sidewalks were damaged. He would like to get the sidewalks repaired as soon as possible. Mr. Kondrick asked if we had any storm damage to playground equipment in the parks. Mr. Lindquist stated that we had a tree down on the playground equipment at Terrace Park, but it did not appear to have caused any significant damage. The picnic shelter at Briardale Park appears to have had the roof damaged by the wind. Ms. Sibell stated that she would like to speak on behalf of all the Parks and Recreation Commission members and tell Mr. Lindquist and the Parks workers thank you for all they have been doing for the past couple weeks cleaning up the storm damage in the parks and throughout the city. c. Anoka County Corrections — Letter of Apology Mr. Kirk stated that the City received a letter of apology from a young girl who had vandalized some playground equipment at Jubilee Park. He thought the Commission members would be interested in seeing that the corrections department is requiring this type of action from the offenders. Mr. Kondrick stated he appreciated that the child wrote the letter and the fact that the mother made the child clean up the graffiti. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — October 3, 2005 Paqe 3 d. Springbrook Nature Center SPRING Project Application to the State of Minnesota for Funding in 2006 Mr. Kirk stated that the agenda packet includes a copy of the final application that has been submitted to the State of Minnesota for grant funding in 2006. September 30t" was the application deadline; however, changes can still be made to the application through November 1 St. He further stated that Commission Chairperson Dave Kondrick spent a lot of time throughout the summer months as part of a planning committee preparing information that would go into this application. He wanted to thank Mr. Kondrick for all of his hard work and expertise with this project. Mr. Kondrick thought it was very impressive that we have the Mayors and City Councils of so many of our neighboring cities that offered resolutions of support for the Springbrook project that were included with the application. 2. NEW BUSINESS a. Proposed 2006 Adult Softball League Fees Mr. Kirk stated that staff is recommending an increase in the fees for the 2006 adult softball league fees. We feel that the fees are reasonable and comparable to what neighboring communities charge for similar programs. The fees cover all of the direct costs for the various leagues and have an amount included that is for maintenance and administration. The memo shows the fee amounts from 2001 to the present and gives a breakdown of the league costs. Staff would recommend approval of the 2006 recommended fees. Differences in league fees are primarily due to the different number of games played in the various leagues. The recommended fees are as follows: • Sunday Men's $635 • Monday Men's $699 • Tuesday Men's $699 • Wednesday Men's $699 • Thursday Men's $699 • Thursday Women's Fun $385 • Friday Co-Rec $420 MOTION by Ms. Varichak, seconded by Mr. Solberg, to approve the staff recommended 2006 adult softball league fees. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. b. Storm Damage in the Park System Mr. Kirk stated that in light of the significant tree loss in our park system with the recent storm, he would like to see the Commission have some discussion on ideas for replacing or replanting trees. Are there some ways that we can get the community involved in helping to replace trees in our parks? In two of our most visible parks, Commons and Moore Lake, we lost a total of 35 trees. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — October 3, 2005 Paqe 4 Mr. Kirk further stated that there were over 60 trees lost in the neighborhood parks, with countless others in the more natural or wooded areas. Springbrook Director Siah St. Clair told him today that he estimated that Springbrook Nature Center may have lost as many as 500 trees 3 inches or greater in diameter. Mr. Kondrick stated that he was thinking about the local service organizations such as the Fridley Lions Club and how they have been very generous with the park and recreation program in the past. Maybe they would be willing to channel some donated money to tree planting to help us replace some of our losses. He further stated that we need to talk about the tree losses in the local newspaper and the fact that we are looking for ways that we can replenish these lost trees. We should be specific as to how many trees we need, what kind of trees we need and where they would go. We also need to come up with what the replacements would cost. We need to let people know that there is an effort underway to replace the lost trees. Mr. Solberg asked what kind of trees we lost the most with this storm. Mr. Lindquist stated that the ash trees, silver maples and the spruce trees were really affected throughout our park system. Mr. Kondrick stated that he thought that we should start the promotion of replanting our parks now, even if we won't do the actual replanting of trees until next spring. We should get people thinking about how they might be involved. We need to find a way to get the trees and get them paid for. Then somebody would have to get them planted. Mr. Lindquist stated that we should be able to get some community involvement in the actual planting of trees. Even if the park workers had to dig the holes, we could get individuals and groups in on the planting. Ms. Varichak stated that we may want to consider some ways that we can recognize people who help with the trees, such as a nameplate next to a planted tree. Mr. Kirk suggested that staff start getting the word out that there will be some park tree planting opportunities and then come back to the Commission at a future meeting with some more ideas on how we would involve the community. Ms. Sibell suggested that we consider a committee of citizens to help coordinate the tree- planting project. Mr. Kondrick stated that he thought this was a good idea and that many people realize the value of trees in our parks. There are people who value how the trees add not only beauty to the parks, but are also a benefit to the environment. The Commission members were in general agreement that the City promote some community involvement in replanting our parks. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — October 3, 2005 Paqe 5 c. 2005 — 2006 Skating Rink Locations Mr. Kirk stated that staff is recommending the same skating locations as last year for the hockey and general skating rinks this winter. There would be one supervised warming house at Commons Park, which is what we have provided for the past two winters. Commons Park has two hockey rinks, the skating oval and the sliding hill in one area, so providing a warming house there affects a variety of park users. The general rink locations being suggested by staff would be Briardale Park, Commons Park, Creekridge Park, Flanery Park, Hackmann Park, Hayes Elementary, Logan Park, Madsen Park, Ruth Circle Park, Stevenson Elementary, Summit Square Park, and Sylvan Hills Park. The hockey rink locations being suggested are 2 rinks at Commons Park and one rink each at Flanery Park, Hayes Elementary, Madsen Park, Ruth Circle Park and Stevenson Elementary. MOTION by Mr. Solberg, seconded by Ms. Sibell to approve staff recommended skating rink locations for the upcoming 2005-2006 season. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Ms. Varichak, seconded by Mr. Solberg, to adjourn the October 3, 2005 meeting at 8:12 p.m. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE OCTOBER 3, 2005 MEETING ADJOURNED.