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06/05/2006 - 00028849CITY OF FRIDLEY PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING — JUNE 5, 2006 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Kondrick called the June 5, 2006 Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting to order at 7:15 p. m. ROLL CALL: Members Present Others Present Dave Kondrick, Mike Heintz, Marcy Sibell, Tim Solberg, Dolores Varichak Jack Kirk, Director of Parks and Recreation Rachel Harris, Environmental Planner APPROVAL OF MAY 1, 2006 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES MOTION by Mr. Heintz, seconded by Ms. Sibell to approve the minutes of the May 1, 2006 meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. APPROVAL OF PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION AGENDA FOR JUNE 5, 2006 MOTION by Mr. Solberg, seconded by Ms. Varichak, to approve the agenda for the June 6, 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 an update of the Parks and Recreation Department activities for the past month is included in the materials for this evening's meeting. He wanted to call attention to the Senior Program Volunteer recognition event that was held on May 9, 2006. There were sixty-five volunteers that attended the event. The event included a lunch and entertainment for the volunteers that help us with the many activities that make up our very active senior program. Mr. Kirk stated that he also wanted to call attention to the garden plots that are located in Locke Park, adjacent to the City maintenance garage. The City has rented 44 of the 46 garden plots for this year. The rental cost for a garden plot is $25, with a discounted rate of $20 for seniors age 55 and older. Mr. Kirk stated that the other items in the Program Update are provided as information to the Commission members to give an idea of the activities conducted during the past month. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq - June 5, 2006 Paqe 2 b. Park Maintenance Report Mr. Kirk stated that a copy of the Park Maintenance Report by Parks Supervisor Dave Lindquist is in the agenda packet. During the month of May, the park workers have been busy mowing and trimming in all the park areas. They have also been preparing all the baseball, soccer and softball fields for league play. 3. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Continued Discussion on Park Land Swap Proposal by Redeemer Lutheran Church Mr. Kirk stated that this item has been discussed at the previous two Commission meetings and the Commission made a site visit to the park, church and proposed land swap areas prior to the last Commission meeting. Redeemer Lutheran Church is very interested in trying to work something out to improve the parking situation for those attending their church. This item was put back on the agenda to see if the Commission wanted to discuss this more or if there was some additional information the Commission wanted staff to research on this. Mr. Kirk further stated that he had received a phone call this week from Quentin Wittrock, representing the facilities or building committee at the Church. Mr. Wittrock told him that the church is still very interested in some type of land swap, but would be open to other options as well. He said the Church is really willing to do any one of four things to help make this happen. First, they would be willing to purchase outright some park land from the City. Second, they would be willing to swap some land south of Mississippi Street for some existing park land. He noted that they are looking into the possibility of including a third residential property in the swap proposal. Third, they would be willing to swap the two residential properties they currently own, plus provide some new amenities for the park. The fourth option they are open to is to provide the two properties plus an amount of cash in exchange for the park land. Mr. Kirk stated that he told Mr. Wittrock that the City has not given up park land very easily and this was going to take some time for the Parks and Recreation Commission to study and discuss this proposal. Mr. Kondrick stated that he has given this proposal a great deal of thought and, in his opinion, he would like to see the City get an equal amount of land in exchange for the amount of land the City would be asked to give up. He would not accept anything less for the City than an equal amount of land. Mr. Kondrick further stated that a benefit of this proposal for the City would be the new park area on the south side of Mississippi, an area of homes that is not currently served by any park land in the neighborhood. Mr. Kondrick stated that he believed that they should be offering to exchange an equal amount of square footage of land for the land that they would like to receive from us. This square footage should not include the Anoka County land or any railroad property, but an equal amount of land coming from the church to the City. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq - June 5, 2006 Paqe 3 Mr. Kondrick further stated that he feels very strongly that the City should not be giving up park land and that is a stand he would like to see the Parks and Recreation Commission take. There should be a very good reason that is beneficial to the citizens of Fridley for the City giving up any park land for other purposes. Mr. Solberg stated that he would agree that the City should not be looking at giving up park land. As far as this park land swap proposal, he was not real excited about having the park on the other side of Mississippi Street. He believes that the parcel of land being requested that the City give up is the only parcel that is not part of a long, narrow strip of land. Agreeing to this proposal would take out a good size chunk of open space from this otherwise narrow, linear park. Mr. Solberg further stated that he would like to know what would happen if the City agreed to this proposal and the Church participation numbers continued to grow. Would we, or a future Parks and Recreation Commission, be looking at another proposal to swap more land away from Edgewater Gardens Park. Ms. Sibell stated that she sees that as a fair question to ask of the Church representatives. Do they have a long term strategic plan for this church site? She would expect that they have some idea of a maximum capacity membership that can be accommodated at this site. Mr. Kirk stated that perhaps the Commission should look at what they would like to see added to this park area over the long term. Could this area being requested in the land swap be used for an open play area or for some other purpose in the existing park? That area was used as a general skating rink several years ago and was graded so as to hold the water. Mr. Kirk also suggested that the Commission look at what type of facilities or amenities could be part of the proposed new park area on the south side of Mississippi Street. We could look at the exact size of the proposed land and see what type of park facilities could work in that area. It may help the Commission determine if a park on the south side of Mississippi is a good idea or not. He further stated that he did not sense that the Commission members were very excited about the nature area proposed by the church representatives. The Commission members agreed they were not in favor of the proposed nature area. Mr. Kondrick stated that the City Council and our Public Works Department may also be concerned about having another small park area that requires park maintenance. Mr. Heintz stated that he also believes that the City should get an equal amount of land in exchange if there was any swap of land. He further stated that if the City did go for some type of swap, what about giving up the current park land as an easement, so that if the church would ever leave that site the land would become park property again. Mr. Kondrick stated that is an idea that would have to be run by the City Attorney. Mr. Kondrick stated that it may be helpful to do a demographic study of the park area and the area south of Mississippi Street. How many homes are in there? How many kids live in these areas? How many seniors live there? Mr. Kirk stated that staff would look into gathering the necessary data. Mr. Heintz asked if we should do a survey of the area to see how the neighborhood feels about the proposal. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq - June 5, 2006 Paqe 4 Mr. Kondrick asked if the Commission could reach agreement and would be willing to say as a Commission that they are not willing to sell the park land, but are willing to consider a land swap as long as the trade is apples to apples or an equal amount of land coming to the City. Mr. Solberg stated that he is definitely not for a sale of land and that he is really not in favor of this land swap proposal. He would rather keep the status quo and do something better with the park land that is adjacent to the church property. Mr. Kondrick stated that with the demographic data and some information on the exact dimensions of the existing park and proposed area, the Commission can have some further discussion on this item at the next meeting in August. b. Continued Discussion on Native Plant Installation Proposal for Moore Lake Park Mr. Kondrick welcomed Ms. Harris to the Commission meeting and stated that the Commission took a park tour just prior to the meeting and one of the stops was at Moore Lake to look at the native plant installation of several years ago and the proposed area for a new shoreline planting project. He further stated the Commission members had a number of questions for Ms. Harris, including how tall the plants would be and are we required to do this shoreline planting. Ms. Harris stated that at the last meeting she was asked if there could be flowering plants included in the plantings and the answer is yes. She has some pictures of potential flowering plants that could be planted. Ms. Harris passed around the picture boards she has been given by the Rice Creek Watershed District. Mr. Kondrick asked if weeds would overtake the flowering plants after a period of time or are these durable plants that will continue to grow on the lakeshore. Ms. Harris stated that a mesh ground cover would be applied before the planting took place and that would act as a preventative measure to keep away unwanted plants and weeds. Ms. Harris stated that to answer the question whether or not we are required to do this, the Department of Natural Resources will not currently allow the parks staff to mow to the water's edge. They can only mow to the ordinary high water mark, which is usually two to three feet from the water. The City can just let the plants that are there grow wild or we can plant what we want to and manage the shoreline area. We can plant some flowering plants and lower growing plants. Ms. Harris stated that the proposal she came to the Commission with last meeting was a fifteen foot wide strip along the lakeshore. She saw some resistance to that proposal and she would like to suggest an alternative of planting a three foot wide strip of native plants along the east lake shore. This would be in the area that the City cannot mow anyway due to DNR regulations of only mowing to the ordinary high water mark. Mr. Kondrick stated that the challenge is to keep the shoreline buffer looking nice and also not growing too high, so as to impact the view people will have onto the lake. Mr. Heintz stated he would like to see plants with a maximum height of six to twelve inches. Mr. Kondrick stated that the Commission could take a stand that they want a variety of colors, they want deep rooted plants to prevent erosion and they want plants that are a maximum height of 24 inches high. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq - June 5, 2006 Paqe 5 Ms. Harris stated that she could not say right now that this was going to work, but she would check with the Conservation District and see if this is possible. Mr. Kirk stated that what he is hearing the Commission members say is that they would like a maximum height of 24 inches for the shoreline plants when the buffer strip is between the lake and a groomed park area. If the buffer strip were adjacent to a picnic area, the maximum height of 24 inches would apply. If the buffer strip were next to a wooded or forest area, the maximum height would likely not be an issue. Mr. Kondrick asked if there were some potential negative consequences to installing the shoreline planting, such as attracting certain "critters" that were not there now. Would certain animals take up residence in the plantings that we may not want in our parks? Ms. Harris stated that the shoreline plantings are more attractive and beneficial to ducks and fish. Ms. Harris stated she wanted to be clear on the width of the buffer strips that the Commission was supportive of. She wanted to know if the Commission was okay with planting from the lake up to the ordinary high water line. This would be two to four feet in width along the lake. Mr. Kirk asked Ms. Harris if the Conservation District could draw up a plan that would show the shoreline planting in more detail and give the Commission a better understanding of what would be going in and how it would look. It could be brought back to the Commission to show them what types of plants would be used. Ms. Harris thought that was a good idea and she would see if that could be done. The Commission members agreed that was a good idea and would be able to review the plan at the August meeting. Mr. Kondrick asked Ms. Harris if she needed to submit any plans to any governing body for approval before the shoreline planting could be started. Ms. Harris responded that she did not have to do this because she is not pulling any permits required to do this work. The Anoka Conservation District would be overseeing this project, so they would get all necessary approvals. Mr. Kondrick asked who would be paying for this planting project. Ms. Harris stated that this is a 50 - 50 cost share between the City of Fridley Public Works and the Anoka County Conservation District. Mr. Kirk asked if there are some measurements or tests that the Conservation District takes on a lake that could tell us how effective the shoreline plantings are to improving the lake water quality. If the lake is a certain level now, he would like to know how much improvement there is over time with these plantings. That may very well influence whether the City would want to do something similar at another location such as Harris Lake in the future. Ms. Harris stated that she did not know if tests were taken by the Conservation District. But, the MPCA tested the water in 2001 and found it impaired. Also, Anoka Natural Resources reports that East Moore Lake is eutrophic. Ms. Harris showed a copy of the report. Mr. Kondrick thanked Ms. Harris for the presentation and looked forward to some additional information at a future meeting. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq - June 5, 2006 Paqe 6 ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Mr. Solberg, seconded by Ms. Varichak to adjourn the June 5, 2006 meeting at 8:45 p.m. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE JUNE 5, 2006 MEETING ADJOURNED.