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PR 09/10/2007 - 29880CITY OF FRIDLEY PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING —SEPTEMBER 10, 2007 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Kondrick called the September 10, 2007 Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting to order at 7:06 p. m. ROLL CALL: Members Present: Dave Kondrick, Michele Barrett, Mike Heintz, Marcy Sibell, Tim Solberg Others Present: Jack Kirk, Director of Parks and Recreation Bruce Pomerantz, Innsbruck Villages Association Elaine Billew, Innsbruck Villages Association APPROVAL OF AUGUST 6, 2007 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES MOTION by Mr. Heintz seconded by Ms. Barrett, to approve the minutes of the August 6, 2007 meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. APPROVAL OF PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION AGENDA FOR SEPTEMBER 10, 2007 MOTION by Mr. Solberg, seconded by Ms. Sibell, to approve the agenda for the September 10, 2007 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 summer activities went very well and we had some good participation numbers. The last of the programs ended in late August and we are now into our fall programming. Mr. Kirk stated that a Program Update has been included in the agenda packet for the information of the Commission members. The Update identifies some of the activities that took place during the summer months. The summer ROCKS program continues to grow in popularity and many of the weeks for this summer were full with a waiting list of participants. The summer day nature camps offered at our Springbrook Nature Center continue to be popular. We had 16 different camps this year with 429 participants. Mr. Heintz asked how the "rest stop" for the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk worked out at Riverview Heights Park. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — September 10, 2007 Paqe 2 Mr. Kirk stated that it was a wonderful event and there are several pictures in the Program Update. Staff would certainly support allowing this type of event again. It is a good cause and the organization was very good to work with. b. Park Maintenance Report Mr. Kirk stated that Mr. Lindquist, Parks Supervisor, is not able to be at the meeting this evening, but has provided a written report of park maintenance activity during the past month. Mr. Kirk further stated that the Parks Division has been helping the Streets Division put in the parking lot expansion at the Fridley Community Center. The paving for the additional parking stalls is complete and they are working on a basketball court that will be just south of the parking lot. Our Public Works employees have done a great job with this in-house project. It will really help the parking needs for our activities and events at the Community Center. c. Springbrook Nature Center Report Mr. Kirk stated the Fridley Lions Club has donated money for a new bridge to serve the hiking trail at the nature center. Several Lions Club members, including our Mayor Scott Lund, spent a considerable amount of time doing the work to install the bridge this past weekend. We need to complete some work with ramping the trail up to the bridge and then it should be okay to open for use. This is a really nice and needed improvement and we want to thank our Fridley Lions Club. d. Pumpkin Night in the Park Mr. Kirk stated that the 2007 Pumpkin Night in the Park is scheduled for Saturday, October 20t". He invited the Commission members and their families to participate in this event. 2. NEW BUSINESS a. Parks, Trails and Open Space Chapter of City Comprehensive Plan — Draft Review Mr. Kirk stated that this is a draft copy of the Parks, Trails and Open Space Chapter of the City of Fridley Comprehensive Plan. Staff has been working on this draft for several months now and would like some input from the Parks and Recreation Commission. It is being introduced this evening and Commission members are encouraged to review this entire chapter prior to the next Commission meeting in October. At that time, Mr. Kirk would like to see the Commission pass a motion of support for the Chapter with any changes or additions that the Commission would like included. Mr. Kirk further stated that the key part of this in his mind is the part that addresses the many action steps that are recommended to be taken. These are the objectives that are set forth to improve and upgrade our park, trails and open space system. He would like the Commission to especially review these action steps to see if there are things that staff might have left out. Do these action steps outline a plan to do the types of things we want to see happening in our park system? Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — September 10, 2007 Paqe 3 Mr. Solberg stated that this document appears to be guiding principles, but also some long term suggested wishes for improvements and additions to the parks. He would see these objectives or action plans being incorporated into the 5 year CIP that the Commission recommends for approval each year. Mr. Kondrick stated that the Commission will plan on discussing this again at the next meeting in October. b. MN Kite Society Request to Use Commons Park for Event on October 14 Mr. Kirk stated that he has received a request from the Minnesota Kite Society to use Commons Park on Sunday, October 14 for a kite flying event. They have used Commons Park for the past six years and there have been no problems, so staff would recommend approval of the request. He is recommending a$10 per hour or $50 total charge for using the Commons #3 field for this event. He would also recommend a$100 clean up deposit be submitted prior to the event. MOTION by Mr. Heintz, seconded by Mr. Solberg, to approve the request of the Minnesota Kite Society to hold an event at Commons Park on October 14t", going along with the recommendations of staff on the $10 per hour field rental and the $100 clean-up deposit. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. c. Showmobile Rental Policy Mr. Kirk stated that staff is recommending a slight change on the showmobile rental policy form and it is actually just a minor wording change. Our current policy states that we will charge overtime rates for moving the showmobile when it is rented. While we often do move the unit on overtime hours and then charge the renter accordingly, there are also some times when it is moved during regular hours. The recommendation is to change the wording from "overtime costs" to read "transportation and set up costs". We will charge the renter based on our actual incurred costs to move and set up the showmobile each time. Mr. Heintz stated that in the rental agreement form, it states that overtime rates are up to $40 per hour. He would suggest that the wording be changed to state overtime costs at current rates, so we don't have to change the form each year. The Commission members agreed with this suggestion of listing overtime costs at current rates. MOTION by Mr. Heintz, seconded by Mr. Solberg, to change the wording on the showmobile rental policy to read that the City will charqe transportation and set up costs for movinq the unit to the rental location. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — September 10, 2007 Paqe 4 3. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Innsbruck Park Property and Encroachments Mr. Kirk stated that this item was discussed at the May Parks and Recreation Commission meeting and he has included a copy of the minutes pertaining to this item from that meeting in the agenda packet. It was recommended at the May meeting that the City send out a follow- up letter to property owners around Innsbruck Park, giving them some additional time to take care of the encroachments into the park. A letter has been sent out and property owners were asked to remove debris or take care of any encroachments by September 15t". Staff should be doing some follow-up inspections of the park property later this month. Mr. Kondrick stated that the Commission is very protective of park land that belongs to all of the people in the City and they do not want to have park land taken away from them. They must answer to people throughout the City and they need to be very careful with the park land under their watch. The Commission needs to find ways to make sure that people neighboring the parks are not encroaching into the park land that belongs to all of the people in the community. Mr. Kondrick stated that the City needs to notify people when problems of encroachment have been identified and ask them to make the appropriate changes to rectify the problems. If they choose not to make the changes, then the City needs to take action at the expense of the offending property owners. The Commission will take the stance that the encroachments are not right, that the offending property owner is on City property and that the City wants the property back. Mr. Pomerantz stated that there is the distinction between individuals who encroach and a developer who encroached on the property thirty-one years ago. Mr. Kondrick stated that may be right and we have to work those things out now. We are not looking for fault here, but we need to remedy the situation. The Commission will force the right thing be done for everyone's protection. Mr. Pomerantz stated that the solution for one does not have to be the same as the solution for other situations. Mr. Kondrick stated "just so you folks know and you can tell your neighbors that the Commission is very steadfast in its opinion that the City will keep the park land that we have and do not want anyone to take it from us. We want our guests tonight to speak what is on their minds regarding this issue." Mr. Pomerantz stated that they are here tonight to see what solutions the City has to address the encroachment issues. Mr. Kirk stated that it was brought up at the last meeting that a possible land swap may solve the problem in some cases where there are encroachments that would be difficult to remove. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — September 10, 2007 Paqe 5 If a private property owner has encroached into City land and would like to offer some private land to the City in exchange for the land that has been encroached upon, it is his opinion that the process should be initiated by the private property owner. Ms. Billew stated that they were given the impression that there was some land that perhaps the City would be interested in with some type of a land exchange. Mr. Kirk stated that he is not the saying the City would not be interested, he is stating that the proposal to consider this exchange should be coming from the property owner to the City. If there is some land that could work well for the new trail system in the park, it may very well be a good exchange for both parties. Mr. Pomerantz stated "what you are saying is that it is our responsibility to come up with a counter offer and he doesn't take that position because this has been going on for thirty-one years". He thinks it is the City's responsibility after thirty-one years to find out how much property has been encroached upon and how much property the City wants from them in exchange for it. It is not our responsibility, but the developer's responsibility. The City inspectors over the thirty-one years never said anything about townhouse property or landscaping being in City park land. Ms. Billew stated that the electrical box has been there a long time and it would be awfully hard for the inspectors when they were looking at that property not to notice that it was in the wrong place. Mr. Kirk stated that this issue only came to the attention of the City in the past year when we were looking at the entire park property prior to planning for some new trails through the park. We found out that the electrical box and a light pole were on park property and the townhome association had done a fair amount of landscaping into the park property. Mr. Pomerantz corrected that it was done by the developer, not by the townhome association. He said we have to understand who did this. He does not want this in the record that they did the clearing of park land to do the landscaping. It was the developer who did this when building the townhouse project. Mr. Pomerantz stated that you cannot expect people who are buying property for the first time to hire a surveyor to make sure that the property lines are correct. Mr. Kondrick stated that he would disagree with that statement. He said it is the responsibility of the home or property owner to correctly determine their property lines. Mr. Pomerantz stated that a City electrical inspector should know where an electrical power box is placed. Ms. Barrett stated that the Commission has identified a problem around this park and is trying to come up with ways to fix the problem. Mr. Kirk is saying that since it is your property that is encroaching into the park, you should come forth with a solution to take care of the encroachments or propose to the City an option of exchanging some land. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — September 10, 2007 Paqe 6 Mr. Heintz stated that when an electrical inspector goes out to inspect an electrical box, he goes out to check connections and to see if it is constructed and hooked up properly. He is not there to see if the box was placed on the private property and not on public park land. Ms. Billew stated that she had asked a City staff person what was expected of the townhouse association regarding the landscaping that was in the park. Did the City want them to go in there and chop down the trees that were planted? The City staff person, who is not here tonight, told her that the City did not expect them to take the trees out. Mr. Pomerantz stated that whatever needs to be done, the residents of the townhouses are not personally responsible for what the developer did. Now we are talking about a solution. Mr. Kirk stated that there has been a lot of discussion about the electrical box and the light pole and those are really not big issues as they pertain to the park and the use of the park. The landscaping into the park from the townhouse property is more of a concern. That area is park property and this particular park is a natural area. Someone should not be back into that area mowing grass or planting a garden. It should be left as a natural area. Ms. Billew stated that does create a problem for them because they do own a small portion of landscaped property that they need to access through what the City is claiming as park property. If they can't get through what is identified as park property, they can't get back to their own property to mow. Mr. Kirk stated that he is not sure that the City has a responsibility to provide access through park land for private property owners to do maintenance work. Mr. Heintz stated that Mr. Kirk had previously stated that the City would at least look at a proposal that would work out for both the City park and the townhouse association. It is up to the association to come to the City and propose some type of solution that would provide access to this back property. Mr. Pomerantz stated that they may need to go to their City Council people and say that it is not their responsibility to come up with a solution to this problem. He feels that is up to the Park Commission and they will ask the City Council to direct the Commission to come up with a solution. Mr. Heintz stated that it is his opinion that the request for a land exchange should come from the townhouse association and not be initiated by the City. He further stated that he did not see this as a City staff responsibility to come and tell you that we want property in exchange for City park land that you have encroached upon. Mr. Pomerantz stated that he thinks it is staff's responsibility to come up with a solution and he doesn't see anything wrong with the City staff saying this is the amount of acreage or square footage that you are encroaching into the park and we want this amount of your land in exchange for it. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — September 10, 2007 Paqe 7 Mr. Heintz stated that he would not have a problem with staff coming out and helping the townhouse association determine how much area they are infringing upon. It would then be up to the association to come back to the City and offer a proposal of townhouse association owned land in exchange for that. Mr. Kondrick stated that the City can define where the property lines are so the townhouse association can see where the boundaries are. Ms. Sibell asked when the last survey of the property lines was completed. Mr. Kirk stated that was done last fall. Ms. Sibell stated that she is concerned with the City having to pay for another survey of this same area. One has already been completed and the property owners have been notified about encroachments into the park. Ms. Billew stated that they are not asking for another survey. What they would like to know is from the survey you have done, how much area have we encroached into the park. Mr. Kondrick stated that is a point well taken. We know where the boundary lines are and we need to find out how much property is involved in the encroachments. Then we can move forward from there. Mr. Pomerantz asked if the City could tell the townhouse association how much acreage is involved in the issue prior to the next townhouse association board meeting which is on the third Thursday of the month. Mr. Kirk stated that he would attempt to have City staff ineet that deadline, however, this will likely involve the work of our City surveyor. Mr. Kirk stated that he did not know the projects that the surveyor was working on at this time and did not want to commit until he has talked with him. Ms. Billew stated that they are making a formal request for some help from the City to determine the acreage involved in the encroachment area. The townhouse board would then be in a position to make a decision on what to do next. Mr. Kondrick stated that the Commission is considering putting up signs on the park boundary that would have "Park Boundary" written on them. This would help everyone know where the lines are when it comes to this natural area that has been the subject of these encroachments. Ms. Sibell stated that when the issue of encroachments and the signs was discussed at a previous Commission meeting, she spoke up and said she did not want those. After hearing more about the issues we are facing at Innsbruck Park, she is now supportive of putting up those park boundary signs. Mr. Kirk stated that he did not feel we would need to put those signs everywhere along the park boundary. He would recommend that we concentrate on identifying the boundary in the areas where we have had the encroachment problems. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — September 10, 2007 Paqe 8 Mr. Kondrick thanked Mr. Pomerantz and Ms. Billew for attending the Commission meeting and representing the views of the townhouse association. 4. ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Mr. Solberg, seconded by Ms. Sibell to adjourn the September 10, 2007 meeting at 8:27 p. m. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE SEPTEMBER 10, 2007 MEETING ADJOURNED.