Loading...
05/01/2006 - 00028843CITY OF FRIDLEY PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING — MAY 1, 2006 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Kondrick called the May 1, 2006 Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. ROLL CALL: Members Present: Dave Kondrick, Mike Heintz, Tim Solberg, and Dolores Varichak Others Present: Jack Kirk, Director of Parks and Recreation Dave Lindquist, Parks Supervisor Rachel Harris, Environmental Planner Serena Lucky, Student — Minnesota School of Business T. J. Lucky, Springbrook Apartments Myrna Lucky, Springbrook Apartments APPROVAL OF APRIL 10, 2006 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES MOTION by Mr. Heintz, seconded by Mr. Solberg to approve the minutes of the April 10, 2006 meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. APPROVAL OF PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION AGENDA FOR MAY 1, 2006 MOTION by Mr. Heintz, seconded by Ms. Varichak, to approve the agenda for the May 1, 2006 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 Program Update for the Recreation and Natural Resource Department was included in the agenda packet for review by the Commission members. This is a summary of some of the activities that have been held during the last month. The spring activities are underway and the registration for summer activities has started. Mr. Kondrick stated that he noticed that the City received a donation from TCF banks toward sponsorship of the teen dance during 49er Days. Does the City thank all donors with a letter? Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq - Mav 1, 2006 Paqe 2 Mr. Kirk stated that they do receive a letter of thanks. We also give them recognition on the night of the event. b. Park Maintenance Report Mr. Lindquist stated that during the month of April, they were very busy with sweeping all the turf areas and getting all the parks ready for spring and summer use. They have swept all the bikeways/walkways throughout the city and painted lines on all the softball, baseball and soccer fields. They have checked out all the lights on the athletic facilities. Mr. Lindquist stated the irrigation systems have now been turned on for the season. The maintenance workers have still been dealing with the storm damaged trees and stumps in the park system. c. Fridley `49er Days Mr. Kirk stated that the annual city celebration, "Fridley `49er Days", is scheduled for June 14- 18 this year. There are many of the regular popular attractions such as the carnival, the Friday night street dance featuring Bob and the Beachcombers and the Saturday street dance featuring the White Sidewalls. The annual parade is set for Thursday night with a 6:30 p.m. starting time. Mr. Kirk invited the Commission member to participate in the 49er Days activities this June. Ms. Varichak asked if the 49er Days has always included fireworks. Mr. Kirk stated that the 49er Days has not had fireworks for about fifteen years now, but will have them this year. 49er President Pete Borman has solicited and received donated money to make the fireworks happen this year. The fireworks will take place at the Columbia Arena/ Community Park area on Saturday night at 10:00 p.m. d. Park Tree Planting Mr. Kirk stated the tree planting took place on Friday, April 28 with the help of 13 students and the principal from Fridley High School. There were twelve trees planted at Commons Park and three trees planted at Moore Lake. The Fridley Lions Club donated $1000 to help purchase the trees planted in the parks. Jim Kordiak and Jim Glaser of the Fridley Lions Club also helped with the tree plantings. e. June Park Tour and Picnic Mr. Kirk stated that the Parks and Recreation Commission normally takes a park tour just prior to the June Commission meeting each year. The tour could start at 6:00 p.m. and conclude around 7:00 p.m. at Commons Park. Immediately after the tour, the Commission has had a picnic and then a short business meeting. If the Commission would like to have a tour and picnic again this year, that will be arranged for the June 5 meeting date. The Commission agreed to the tour, picnic and meeting at Commons Park in June. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq - Mav 1, 2006 Paqe 3 2. NEW BUSINESS a. Native Plant Installation Proposal for East Moore Lake Ms. Harris stated she is here this evening to talk about a community involvement project over at East Moore Lake. She is the City of Fridley Environmental Planner and in that role, she manages the recycling program for the City, works on land use issues and environmental planning. Ms. Harris further stated that she was approached by the Anoka Conservation District looking for approval to install native plants along the storm drain inlet into the east side of Moore Lake to help improve water quality. The plants will stabilize the shoreline and slow surface water run-off into the lake. The plant installation will also help the City meet the NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit requirements. Ms. Harris stated that the project partners are the Anoka Conservation District and community high school classes. Classes from Fridley High School and Totino-Grace High School would be invited to participate in the project in the same manner as they did with the retaining wall planting. This project will be funded in a cost share arrangement with 50% funding from the Anoka Conservation District and 50% from the City of Fridley Public Works. Ms. Harris stated that the plan would be to install the project in three phases. Phase one would be to plant on the banks of the storm drain inlet near the swimming beach. Phase two would be to put in aquatic plants in the mouth of that storm drain inlet. Phase three would be to plant a buffer strip along the shore between the storm drain inlet and the existing native plant area by the retaining wall (on the south end of the park). Mr. Kondrick asked Ms. Harris if there was a plastic liner in the lake that was installed a number of years ago to prevent aquatic plant growth. If there is a liner, how will that affect the plantings that are proposed? Mr. Lindquist stated there was a liner installed in the early 1980's in the shallow water areas of the east Moore Lake basin. The philosophical thinking of the DNR has changed one hundred eighty degrees from that point in time. They now want the shoreline plants to flourish, rather than prevent their growth, which was the purpose of the liner. Ms. Harris stated that the proposed timeline for this project would be to install phase one sometime this summer or early fall. Phase two would go in 2007 and phase three could go in 2008. Mr. Kirk asked how long the proposed phase three buffer strip would be along the shoreline and how wide would the strip be? Ms. Harris stated that it would be fifteen feet in width and would run the entire length from the storm drain inlet to the retaining wall, a length of 505 feet. Mr. Kirk asked if the plants in this 505 foot strip would be the same as those that are adjacent to the retaining wall. Ms. Harris responded that yes they would be the same. Mr. Kirk stated that the Commission may want to visit Moore Lake during the June parks tour to see what the plants by the retaining wall look like. Everyone should understand that the entire length of the shore line south of the beach will look like that area when the plants grow for several years. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq - Mav 1, 2006 Paqe 4 Ms. Harris stated that a recent StarTribune article listed Moore Lake as an impaired waterway in Anoka County. This project can help improve water quality. Mr. Kondrick asked if there are any colorful plants that are included in a project like this. Ms. Harris stated that there are some flowering plants and there are other plants whose leaves change color in the fall of the year. The cardinal flower and the butterfly weed are two examples of colorful plants. Ms. Harris stated that what she is looking for at this point is the Commission's support to move ahead with phase one, with the planting to take place this summer. She would come back to the Commission with more information before moving ahead with phase two or three. Although phase three has been introduced, she would expect to come back for some lengthy discussion on this phase before approval and implementation. Mr. Heintz stated that phase three sounds like the most important part of the project when it comes to aesthetics. Why would we want to wait a couple of years to implement this phase? Ms. Harris stated that there may be differing opinions out there as to whether shoreline plantings as suggested for phase three are aesthetically pleasing. Some people do not see them that way. Mr. Kondrick asked if this shoreline buffer strip would actually start in the water. Ms. Harris stated that the plantings start right at the water line. These plants can tolerate the rise and fall of the water depth. Mr. Kondrick asked what kind of height we are talking about for these shoreline plants. How will this affect people's view of the lake from various vantage points? Ms. Harris stated that the plants vary in height, with some of the taller plants being 18 to 24 inches high. Ms. Harris stated there are several benefits of planting this vegetation. It slows the surface runoff into the lake, its long roots provide deep anchors for the turf and stabilize the shoreline, and the plants help filter out contaminants and actually clean up the water going into the lake. Ms. Harris further stated that she is looking for the support of the Parks and Recreation Commission for this project, especially the initial phase. It would be helpful if the Commission could make a recommendation of approval that would be forwarded to the City Council. Mr. Kondrick asked if there is some state regulatory agency that is saying that the City must do this project at Moore Lake or is this a voluntary project being initiated by the City. Ms. Harris stated that there is not anyone saying that we must do this; however, there are requirements that Mr. Haukaas has to comply with in order to obtain the NPDES permits. If this project would not go forward, the City would have to come up with a different project in order to obtain the needed permits. Mr. Heintz asked what the permits were for. Ms. Harris responded the permits are for storm water management. Mr. Kondrick stated that he is not ready to support this project at this time. He needs to learn more about this project before he can make a decision. It was suggested that we go to Moore Lake Park on our June parks tour and he would be in favor of that. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq - Mav 1, 2006 Paqe 5 Mr. Heintz asked if we wanted to approve at least phase one at this time, so they can get going on that portion of the project. Mr. Kondrick stated he is not ready to go forward with any part of the project until he has looked into it further. He asked Ms. Harris if the Commission gave a recommendation on this in June, would that work with the timeline for the landscaping plan. Ms. Harris thought that would work okay. She felt it was important that the Commission wait on a decision until they are comfortable that they have the information they need. Mr. Kondrick stated that he would like the Commission to revisit this topic at the next meeting in June, after they have had a site visit to Moore Lake as part of the parks tour. Mr. Lindquist asked if it would be possible for the Parks and Recreation Commission members to get a plant materials list with the various heights of the plants listed. Ms. Harris thought that would be possible. Mr. Heintz suggested that the information on the plants include some pictures, so the Commission would get an idea of what the plantings would look like. Mr. Kondrick thanked Ms. Harris for her presentation and stated that the Commission would revisit this item at the June meeting. 3. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Park Land Swap Proposal by Redeemer Lutheran Church Mr. Kondrick stated that it should be part of ineeting minutes that we did make a site visit to Edgewater Gardens Park and the Redeemer Church property just prior to our Commission meeting this evening. We looked at the existing park and the land being proposed as new park land to be included in the land swap. Mr. Solberg asked what our next step should be on this park land swap proposal and could it wait until the Commission has had a chance to visit with the City Council about this. Mr. Kirk stated that the Commission can decide to wait until a future meeting to discuss this item or you may want to proceed with some discussion tonight. Although a meeting with the City Council to discuss park items has not been scheduled, we could look at setting one up in the near future. The meeting with the City Council in the past several years was set up to discuss the results of the Council-Commission survey. Mr. Heintz stated he did not like the idea of the land swap. He did not think the land being offered to the City would be of much value or add much to the park because it will be too small of a parcel. It would not be big enough for a park area. He further stated that the area of the park that they would like to obtain from the City for church parking is not a very inviting or attractive area of Edgewater Park. What amount of money could the City gain from just selling that portion of the park to the Church? Could that money be used to buy play equipment or purchase other amenities for the park? Mr. Kondrick stated that other proposals have been made in the past that suggested the City sell some underutilized park land for development. If you agree to selling of park land, then you may open this up to many other requests of a similar nature in the future. People view the Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq - Mav 1, 2006 Paqe 6 value of park land and open space differently. The Commission needs to be very careful when it comes to discussion of selling park land. Mr. Kondrick further stated that he had no problem with their request for swapping some of their land for park land, except that they are not proposing to give the City the same amount of land in return for what they would be receiving. If they gave the City the same amount of land, or more, he would be more in favor of looking at this. Mr. Kondrick stated that the area south of Mississippi Street does not have a park, so the property being proposed would make a good addition to the park system. He was thinking that the Church should consider buying the next house and include that land in the proposal. The three properties, along with the Anoka County land could make a nice park area south of Mississippi Street. He is not interested in a swap of land unless we get at least an equal amount of park land for the City in exchange for giving up some land. Mr. Heintz stated that the Church was also willing to pay for a number of amenities and park upgrades as a part of this proposal. Mr. Kondrick suggested that the Commission continue this item to a future meeting and have some additional discussion as to what the City would expect in return for giving up any park land. ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Ms. Varichak, seconded by Mr. Heintz to adjourn the meeting at 8:47 p.m. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MAY 1, 2006 MEETING ADJOURNED.