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PR 12/03/2007 - 29882CITY OF FRIDLEY PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING — DECEMBER 3, 2007 CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Kondrick called the December 3, 2007 Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting to order at 7:04 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 Dave Lindquist, Parks Supervisor Dick Young, 5695 Quincy Street NE APPROVAL OF OCTOBER 1, 2007 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES MOTION by Mr. Heintz, seconded by Ms. Sibell, to approve the minutes of the October 1, 2007 meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. APPROVAL OF PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION AGENDA FOR DECEMBER 3, 2007 MOTION by Mr. Solberg, seconded by Ms. Barrett, to approve the agenda for the December 3, 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 Program Update has been included in the meeting packet to provide Commission members with information on some of the programs and events over the past couple of months. Mr. Kondrick stated that he sees there was a large attendance at the Pumpkin Night in the Park at Springbrook Nature Center. Mr. Kirk stated that 3,300 paid participants at this year's event. That was a great turnout. Mr. Heintz asked what the cost was for admission. Mr. Kirk stated the cost was $4 per person for Fridley residents and $5 per person for non- residents. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — December 3, 2007 Paqe 2 b. Park Maintenance Report Mr. Lindquist stated that during the past two months, the Park Maintenance crew had spent a lot of their work time sweeping up the leaves in the parks and doing a lot of mowing into the month of November. They also maintained the football fields through the month of October. Mr. Lindquist further stated that they had been doing some work on the infields and warning tracks at the Community Park ballfields. Fields #1 and #2 will hopefully be ready for play next summer. Mr. Lindquist stated that they completed a nice project at the Little League fields by completely redoing the bathrooms. They put up new walls, and new flooring was installed. This will be a big improvement for the users of the facility. Mr. Lindquist stated that they have started the ice making for the skating rinks and will likely have the rinks ready in about a week and a half. Broomball and boot hockey leagues will be starting soon. c. Springbrook Nature Center Report Mr. Kirk stated that during November, the Minnesota House of Representatives and the State Senate Capital Investment Committees made site visits to Springbrook Nature Center. The visits were conducted to gather information on the $5.63 million SPRING project that has been proposed for the nature center. The City has applied to the State for $2.815 million in grant money to support 50% of this project. Mr. Kirk further stated that the visits went very well and the comments about Springbrook and the SPRING project were very favorable. We will find out next year if that translates into funding coming our way to support the project. d. Goose Management at Moore Lake Mr. Kirk stated that the City has been doing a Canada Goose Management program at Moore Lake park for over 15 years. The past couple of years, the company that we contract with for goose removal has tried a nest destruction approach at Moore Lake in an effort to keep the number of geese to a minimum. After two years of trying this, they are still finding a significant number of geese in the summer months. They came out in June this past year and completed a roundup of 57 geese. The company will continue to work with us on a roundup, but they will be discontinuing the nest destruction part of the program. Mr. Kirk further stated that he has included a letter from this company in the agenda packet which goes into some more detail about the program. The roundup will cost us more than the less expensive nest destruction approach. Mr. Solberg stated that he works for General Mills and they have a very large park like area with a pond that is on their property. They also have a significant goose problem at times and they are now using a trained Border Collie dog to chase geese off of the property. It has worked quite well in keeping the geese away. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetina — December 3. 2007 Paae 3 Mr. Kirk stated that he and Mr. Lindquist have talked about using a dog in our park system to help with the goose problem. It is something that they will be getting more information on. e. Innsbruck Park Trail Mr. Kirk stated that he wanted to give a brief update on the Innsbruck trail project. We are still waiting on a number of approvals so the grant award dollars can be made available to start the project. Mr. Kirk further stated that he met with the Wetlands Specialist with the Anoka Conservation District last week at the park to walk the site and help determine wetland impact. The Specialist has determined that there will not be an impact and there will be no loss of wetlands. We are also still waiting to hear on some other environmental and cultural impacts regarding this project. Mr. Kirk further stated that he thought the Commission should have this project as an upcoming agenda item and invite neighbors of the park to hear more about the trails and construction project. He thought this could be done in February or March. 2. NEW BUSINESS a. 2008 Softball Fees Mr. Kirk stated that he has the staff proposed Adult softball league fees for 2008. Staff is recommending a slight increase in fees for this year, however, with the program using alternate fields in neighboring communities, they did not want the fees to go up too much. The Sunday Men's League fees would go from $635 to $649. Teams in this league play a 20 game season. The Monday through Thursday night men's leagues would all go from $699 to $720. Teams in these leagues play a 22 game season. The Friday Co-Rec league would go from $420 to $440. Teams in this league play a 12 game season. MOTION by Mr. Heintz, seconded by Mr. Solberg, to approve the staff recommended adult softball league fees for 2008 UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. b. Farr Lake Park Path Mr. Kirk stated that when Farr Lake Park was developed in the late 1970's, an asphalt walking path was constructed around the lake. Part of the path was on dedicated park land and part was on private property. The path served the area very well for many years until the asphalt surface began to break up. Several washouts from water flow and expanding tree roots took its toll on the surface of the path. In 2006, the City removed the part of the asphalt path on park property and replaced it with a wood chip walking path. The other part of the asphalt path has remained as it is on the private property. Mr. Kirk further stated that the City has been contacted recently by representatives of the Innsbruck North Townhouse Association. They have requested that the City remove the remainder of the asphalt path and replace it with a wood chip trail, just like what has been Parks and Recreation Commission Meetinq — December 3, 2007 Paqe 4 done on the City park land. This would allow for a complete circuit path all the way around the lake. Mr. Kirk stated that City staff has researched many old documents related to the park, the development in this area and the walking path. While it is not clear that the City ever stated it would maintain the walking path, it does look like the Innsbruck Townhouse Association completed the initial construction of the path and then dedicated the easement for the path to the City. This would indicate that the City was intending for the path to be used by the public and the City would then take over the maintenance. Mr. Kirk stated that he would suggest that staff ineet with representatives of the Townhouse Association to talk about improvements to the path and possible cost sharing on a long term plan to improve the path and possibly the park. There should be some discussion regarding the construction and maintenance of the path, as well as a future dredging of the lake. There may be some other amenities around the path that would enhance its use such as benches and lighting. Mr. Lindquist stated the path on the easement adjacent to the townhouse property will be more difficult to maintain, because the slope of the land will provide for some heavy water runoff during rain events. It may require some retaining wall be constructed to prevent erosion of the path. Mr. Lindquist further stated that it may be helpful to check with the public works department on potential funding of some water control structures to help with the management of the run off water. Mr. Kirk further stated that if the Commission was in agreement that the City should help with the making the improvements to the remainder of the path around Farr Lake, a motion to that effect would be in order. He would then set up a meeting with representatives of the townhouse association and staff to discuss the project. MOTION by Ms. Sibell, seconded by Ms. Barrett, to support the City of Fridley help with the making the needed improvements to the Farr Lake path to complete the walking route around the lake. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED. ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Mr. Solberg, seconded by Mr. Heintz, to adjourn the December 3, 2007 meeting at 8:08 p.m. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL MEMBERS VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON KONDRICK DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE DECEMBER 3, 2007 MEETING ADJOURNED.