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PR 10/01/2007 - 29881CITY OF FRIDLEY PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING — OCTOBER 1, 2007 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Kondrick called the October 1, 2007 Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting to order at 7:06 p. m. ROLL CALL: Members Present Others Present Dave Kondrick, Michele Barrett, Mike Heintz, Marcy Sibell Jack Kirk, Director of Parks and Recreation Dave Lindquist, Parks Supervisor APPROVAL OF SEPTEMBER 10, 2007 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES MOTION by Ms. Sibell, seconded by Mr. Heintz, to approve the minutes of the September 10, 2007 meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. APPROVAL OF PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION AGENDA FOR OCTOBER 1, 2007 MOTION by Ms. Barrett, seconded by Ms. Sibell, to approve the agenda for the October 1, 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 since the last Commission meeting of three weeks ago, many of the fall programs have started. The senior citizen activities have started up again after taking the months of July and August off. Connie Thompson has had some really good participation numbers with some of the recent activities at the Senior Program. There was a fall kick-off event on Tuesday September 11t" and 225 people attended the Chef's dinner for Congregate Dining and 149 were at the pie social that afternoon. Mr. Kirk further stated that the Update reports on a senior activity called Great Decisions, which is a discussion group on current world issues. The topic in September was the Middle East and there were 19 seniors that participated. The Senior Program also had a defensive driving refresher course with 52 participants. Mr. Kondrick stated that he and his wife participated in the Defensive Driving program and it was very good. He wanted to compliment Connie for the great job she does running the senior program. She is very knowledgeable and is offering some very worthwhile activities for our seniors. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — October 1, 2007 Paqe 2 Mr. Kirk stated that the after school activities for the elementary students, the ZONE for the middle school students and the environmental education curriculum with the Fridley school students are also among the activities started this month. b. Park Maintenance Report Mr. Lindquist stated that during the past month, the park maintenance crew has been working on a number of projects in the park system. In addition to the full time staff, we still have about six or seven of the part time workers helping out. They will finish their work by the end of October. Some of the projects included building a new hockey rink at Commons Park to replace the older north hockey rink. They have also been working on the Community Park ballfields project affecting fields 1 and 2. It is coming along very nicely. They have also just started on an improvement project at field 4 at the high school, which is used by the Little League program. This is actually moving the field out away from the hill and making some field improvements. Mr. Lindquist stated that they have also been working on the new parking lot and basketball court project at the Fridley Community Center. They should be getting the lines painted on the court this week. They have also been working with Siah on the proposed landscaping project at the Interpretive center building. c. Springbrook Nature Center Report Mr. Kirk stated that there are two items to report on this month. First is proposed landscaping project which affects the entrance area of the Interpretive Center. A plan was drawn up by Betty Ann Addison, former owner of Rice Creek Gardens. The overall project will cost about $5000, with the funding coming from the Springbrook Nature Center Foundation and community donations. We could see some of the work completed in the next couple of weeks if we can come up with the donated money. Mr. Kirk stated that the second item to report is that the Blaine/Anoka County Jaycees have approved a donation of $5000 to Springbrook Nature Center to purchase some equipment for a new exhibit. The exhibit would include a large, high definition flat screen monitor with wildlife movie cameras at various locations in the park. This will allow interpretive center visitors to observe real time nesting behavior and other wildlife activities within the exhibit area. 2. NEW BUSINESS a. 2006 — 2007 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 has two hockey rinks, the skating oval and the sliding hill in one area. 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 two rinks at Commons Park and one rink each at Flanery Park, Hayes Elementary, Madsen Park, Ruth Circle Park and Stevenson Elementary. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — October 1, 2007 Paqe 3 MOTION by Mr. Heintz, seconded by Ms. Barrett, to approve the staff recommended 2007 — 2008 skating rink locations. b. 2007 Commission Meeting Schedule Mr. Kondrick stated that the Commission members have before them a proposed schedule of meeting dates for 2008. The proposed meetings are generally on the first Monday of the month at 7:00 p. m. MOTION by Ms. Barrett, seconded by Ms. Sibell, to approve the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting schedule for 2008 as proposed in the meeting agenda packet. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. 3. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Parks, Trails and Open Space Chapter of City Comprehensive Plan — Draft Review Mr. Kirk stated that the Parks and Recreation Commission had some discussion on the Parks, Trails and Open Space Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan at the last Commission meeting in September. The City would like to see the Commission have input into this important Chapter and make any recommendations that the group would like to see included. Mr. Kirk further stated that he believes it is most important that the Commission look closely at the action steps section of the chapter. Those are essentially the goals and objectives for our park system. Mr. Kirk asked the Commission if they would go through each of the action steps listed in the draft document and make any changes or additions they would like to see. The Parks and Recreation Commission reviewed the action steps in the draft of the Parks, Trails and Open Space Chapter of the City Comprehensive Plan. Mr. Heintz stated that under statement one, the third action step is developing and distributing a promotional map that highlights the parks and trails throughout the City. He would like to see the map mainly on the City web page. He would also like to see a computer kiosk available at City Hall where people could print a copy of the map. He was concerned with too many copies being printed and the cost of doing that printing on a regular basis. Mr. Kondrick stated that he was okay with a mass mailing of the park and trail map every so many years. It is important that people know about our park system and the opportunities. Mr. Heintz stated that perhaps the City could include the park map in another mailing that the City sends out on a regular basis such as the City newsletter. Ms. Sibell stated that action steps four and five under statement one pertaining to our park areas and facilities read the City "should" continue to maintain all park and recreation areas to a high level of safety and cleanliness; and "should" continue to develop park and recreation Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — October 1, 2007 Paqe 4 facilities which minimize the maintenance demands on the City. She would like to see the word "should" changed to "will". Mr. Heintz stated that under statement two and action step two, he would suggest that we add the words "and support" after the word utilize. The action step would then read "The Parks and Recreation Commission and City staff should continue to utilize and support volunteers wherever possible to help with programs, services, and projects in the parks and recreation system. Mr. Kirk stated that he would suggest that statement number three be changed to read as follows: Fridley is nearly fully developed and has limited opportunities for park or open space land acquisition. Although Fridley meets the overall minimum acreage for neighborhood parks in the community, not all neighborhoods are served with adequate park land. The Commission agreed with this suggestion. Mr. Heintz stated that he would suggest a change to action step seven under statement number three. He does not believe that the Commission wants to promote conversion of park land to other uses and this action step almost sounds like the City is willing to allow this. He would suggest new wording for that action step as follows: "The City should not allow conversion of park land and public open space to other uses except when no feasible alternative exists. When such a conversion is unavoidable, the taking agency shall pay for replacement of equal or qreater value land and facilities to serve the needs of the people in that area. Mr. Heintz stated that with statement number five, he would recommend changing it to read "When considering the total acreage for community parks serving the community, the city should include areas and facilities provided for public use by other agencies such as the public schools". Ms. Sibell stated that with the action step under statement number five, she would change the word should to "will". The Commission reviewed the balance of the draft Parks, Trails and Open Space Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan. Chairperson Kondrick suggested to the Commission members that they keep the draft chapter and use this as a reference for future discussion on the Comprehensive Plan. MOTION by Ms. Sibell, seconded by Mr. Heintz, to approve the draft of the Parks, Trails and Open Space Chapter of the City of Fridley Comprehensive Plan with the changes suggested by the Commission being noted. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — October 1, 2007 Paqe 5 b. Innsbruck Park Property and Encroachments Mr. Kirk stated that it has been three weeks since the last Commission meeting and the last discussion on this issue. Something that the Innsbruck Villages Townhouse Association had requested of the City was an estimate of the amount of land or acreage that had been encroached upon into Innsbruck Park. Our City Surveyor Ray Statler was able to use the previous survey and mapping information to estimate that the Townhouse Association had encroached into the park at approximately 9,729 square feet or .22 acres of land. Mr. Kirk further stated that he had called Mr. Pomerantz with that information, which was to be discussed at the Townhouse Association board meeting of last Thursday. Mr. Kirk stated that Mr. Pomerantz had asked him if the City had identified an equal amount of Townhouse Association land that could potentially be included in a land swap with the City. Mr. Kirk told him that the City had not identified such land at this time. Mr. Kirk stated that Park Supervisor Dave Lindquist did make a site visit to Innsbruck Park to look at some specific encroachments at the park. Several property owners have not taken care of the encroachments as of yet. The staff will need to work with our City Attorney on the next steps to properly remedy the situation. Mr. Kirk further stated that he did receive a phone call today from one of the property owners with encroachment issues who wants to meet with City staff on site to discuss what needs to be taken care of. Staff will meet with this property owner in the next week or two. Mr. Kirk stated that he is meeting on Friday of this week with representatives of the Minnesota Off-Road Cyclist Association to discuss the proposed trail in Innsbruck Park. They are the group that helped put together the grant application for this project. We intend to discuss the next steps in the process for the trails. Mr. Kirk stated that no action is needed on this item at this Commission meeting. ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Ms. Barrett, seconded by Ms. Sibell, to adjourn the October 1, 2007 meeting at 8:35 p.m. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE OCTOBER 1, 2007 MEETING ADJOURNED.