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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 08I:\CC Drafts\Park Amenities COVID-19.docx City of Lakeville Parks & Recreation Memorandum To: Mayor and City Council Justin Miller, City Administrator Cc: Mark Kruse, Parks Superintendent From: John Hennen, Parks and Recreation Director Date: April 30, 2020 Subject: Park Amenities COVID-19 BACKGROUND At the April 27th City Council Work Session, the Mayor and City Council discussed relaxing some of the COVID-19 restrictions on our park amenities throughout the park system. The following park amenities are currently closed: Playgrounds (45) Tennis Courts (3 sites, 6 courts) Pickleball (1 site, 6 courts) Volleyball Courts (3 sites, 5 courts) Disc Golf (On School District Property maintained by the City) Mini Golf Restroom Buildings (9) If the Mayor and City Council wishes to relax some of the restrictions, one could consider opening the tennis courts, open four of the six pickleball courts to spread out play, open mini golf and open the disc golf course pending school district approval. If one were to open the playgrounds, the installation of signage could be considered indicating “Playgrounds are not sterilized, play at your own risk” along with the social distancing verbiage. Staff would not suggest opening the volleyball courts as three of the five courts are at Antlers Park which is a park that is already heavily used which will be a challenge to properly social distance from one another. The City Council may want to consider closing the two beaches at Antlers and Orchard Lake Park as well. Staff does not suggest opening the nine restroom facilities in the system but instead ordering and placing portable restrooms at these sites along with at the other park locations that receive them every year. Many of the cities, counties and other agencies that we are aware of are taking I:\CC Drafts\Park Amenities COVID-19.docx these steps. The reason for this consideration is to reduce the number of part time seasonal staff needed to maintain the system which limits financial risk and the portables do get maintained and sanitized by the contractor. Also by increasing staff, it becomes a difficult task to maintain the appropriate protocols to keep crew separation considering we don’t have a vehicle or piece of equipment for each full and part time employee if we bring on too many additional seasonal employees. DIRECTION Staff is seeking direction regarding relaxing some of the COVID-19 restrictions on our park amenities.