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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-06 CITY OF LAKEVILLE • PARK AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES AUGUST 6, 19$6 Roll call: Members present were Lovelace, Messinger, Anderson, McDonald and Olmsted. Gramstad and Grenz were absent. Also present were Park Director Steve Michaud and Larry Lulf of the LAA. The next order of business was the approval of the Park and Recreation Committee minutes of July 16, 1986 and July 23, 1986. The minutes of July 23, 1986 should be corrected to read Olmsted was present and Lovelace was absent. 86-45 Motion was made by Olmsted, seconded by Messinger, to approve the minutes of July 16, 1986 as read. Motion passed. $6-46 Motion was made by Messinger, seconded by McDonald, to approve the minutes of July 23, 1986 as corrected. Motion passed. The next order of business was the bond referendum update. The Park Director reported closings have taken place on Valley Lake and North Park properties and the papers are in the mail for the Casperson property. A meeting took place at the Antlers Park site with the City Administrator, City Attorney and the park Director concerning vacation of the street. A decision is pending. • The Park Director has had several meetings concerning the bike trails. It has been decided that the street department will do a majority of the work. Some of the work has been started on an experimental basis. Work will commence next week on downtown to Antlers Park trail, with two to three weeks being needed in areas around 185th Street and other areas which will require permits. Permits have been received to cross Lake Marion. Rough grading will be completed in another day or so on Lakeridge. Steve has met with the engineer on Dodd Park access along Dodd Road. Bids have been received for the reconstruction in the Senior Center. The work should begin in September. The Department of Natural Resources approved the T dock for the fishing bridge on Lake Marion. More work will need to be done at Antlers before they will approve the second dock. A second application will be submitted for 1987 funding. Changes in layout of Dakota Heights Park were discussed. The soccer field has been removed. The rink has been taken out to be painted. It will be restored before the beginning of the season. At this time Steve Michaud introduced Steve Grittman of Northwest Associated Consultants who is working on concept plans of Valley Lake Park, Parkview and Casperson's Park. Casperson's concept plans were shown to the committee first. The Park Director has spent time looking at other cities' variations • Park and Recreation Committee minutes • August 6, 1986 -t- on shoreline properties and explained his ideas for various layouts. Ideas included an amphitheater, gazebos, archery range, bicycle BMX course, exercise course, sailboat buoys, concessions/bait sales, sailboat slips, passive trails with park benches along the shoreline, picnic shelters, possible fishing and paddle boat rentals and a possibility of cross country ski trails in the winter. Other ideas from the committee were a sliding hill, a slide into the water, tent camping, etc. Questions were raised on the logistics of having paddle boats, speed boats and fishing boats all in the same area. The committee instructed the park director to check the feasibility of some of these ideas. The mining potential is great in many areas of the park. Staff explained that recreation areas need to be identified soon so the topography could be reshaped to the benefit of the park layout. The question was raised as to what is being done about the houses on the property. Staff explained that one house is actually off the property and the owner of this parcel has a long term lease for his driveway. The other buildings will be razed by the fire department as soon as possible. They have already been condemned by the building inspector. A discussion was held concerning the change in the number of parking spaces from 40 to 72 at Casperson's. Staff reported that this has been officially • changed by the city council due to citizen requests and the traffic counts at the boat launch this summer. Member Anderson wondered if Lake Marion homeowners and others who voted on the bond referendum would be upset with this change. The boat launch will hopefully be opened by 1987 with much work being completed at the various park sites by freeze up this winter. Valley Lake Park discussion was next on the agenda. Steve showed the concept plan and asked for comments from the committee on the need for group picnic area. When the area on the north is developed, more property will probably be acquired which would be used for parking. The plan is to keep the west side passive and the east side would have the active recreation. The DNR's Kids Fishing Program may be implemented in this area with the DNR stocking Valley Lake. Staff is working on this and at least one fishing bridge will be put in. Staff feels the priorities are falling into place with funds and time commitments. Staff mentioned that Clean Flo had been out to test the water at Valley Lake after several complaints had been received. His findings were that is was a harmless algae bloom and that more aerators should be installed and kept running through the winter in order to keep water quality at its highest level. Staff asked for suggestions and comments on Parkview with some of his plans being a trail to Countryview Mobile Home Park, a major soccer field and a hockey rink. The athletic oriented theme of this park will remain with some changes being made in design, expanding and changing direction of softball • fields and the possible addition of a BMX bike path with some small jumps. Planting of trees and shrubs is a necessity to both Parkview Park and Valley Lake Park. Park and Recreation Committee minutes • August 6, 19$6 -3- Staff requested that the planner put together three concept plans of each park, Casperson's, Valley Lake and Parkview, by August 20th. The planner felt that he could only get Casperson's completed by the next Park and Recreation meeting. A special meeting will be held August 27th to review plans of Parkview and Valley Lake. Committee member Olmsted stated that the Jaycees are planning to construct a building in one of the city parks and suggested the possibility of North Park being the site. This would be a four year fund raiser and construction plan. The park director thanked him and the Jaycees. North Park seemed to be a good location for such a project. Staff informed the committee that he had met with a group from the hockey association in regard to putting an ice arena in North Park. Steve stated this is a very determined group who is asking for the city's support in this project. Their main concern was with the proposed grading plan. They requested the ice arena site be graded along with the rest of the park. Steve showed the committee a picture of a possible new raft for Valley Lake. Although there was some discussion on what type of a raft to purchase, it was the general consensus that a raft was needed. 86-47 Motion was made by Messinger, seconded by Anderson, to purchase a raft for Valley Lake with bond referendum funds. The park director shall use his best judgement to purchase a raft approximately 8' X 12' in size, with a ladder. Aye: Lovelace, Messinger, Anderson and McDonald. Nay: Olmsted, because in his opinion a raft is unsafe. Motion passed. Other purchases from bond referendum funds have included a post hole digger and a dump truck shouldering machine, which the street department will help finance and take over when the bike trail project is completed. At this point, staff introduced Johnnie Johnsen from St. Croix Recreation Company to the Park and Recreation Committee. Messinger and McDonald gave a report on what they had done on playground comparisons. The subcommittee felt Miracle Recreation offered no variety in the playgrounds' basic units. Earl F. Anderson had interesting ideas and many gadgets. The subcommittee offered some suggestions to Mr. Johnsen on what they would like to see in some of the units. Mr. Johnsen explained his models further and what they included. He also stated that modifications could be made on his models and offered some suggestions of his own, which the committee was very please with. The Park director instructed the committee to go ahead and made a decision based on the analysis and the information they have. 86-48 Motion was made by Olmsted, seconded by Messinger, to discontinue discussion and make a decision and recommendation. • Motion passed. Park and Recreation Committee minutes August 6, 1986 -4- • 86-49 Motion was made by Messinger to recommend to city council the purchase of playground equipment in the amount of $82,070.00 from St. Croix Recreation Company. The acquisition is for nine playgrounds as outlined in the 1986 bond referendum. The remaining budget of $11,930.00 would be utilized far landscaping timbers and sand around the playground areas. Motion was seconded by McDonald. Ayes: Messinger, McDonald, Anderson, Lovelace and Olmsted. A special Park and Recreation Committee meeting will be held after the August 18th city council meeting to finalize the order. Steve will coordinate this meeting. Johnnie Johnsen thanked the committee for their time and stated he is happy to be working with Lakeville. The next item was the Park Director's report. Staff showed the committee a new map of the bike trail from Foxborough to North Park and south on Ipava. The map shows how the trail follows parks, easements and streets in addition to sidewalks in Woodbury. The trails have been walked by city staff and easements are being acquired. The committee liked the new trail route. The Park Director stated the main reasons for changing the route are the high water and poor soil conditions. Member McDonald asked about the possibility of making the trail into a cross country ski trail in the winter. The Park • Director thought it could be passible. Continuing under the Park Director's report, vandalism had been reported at Orchard Lake Park and Antlers Park. The necessary repairs have been made. The Dakota County JTP program ends this .week, however a few maintenance workers will stay on until school starts as there is much work to be done on a daily basis. The Hershey Park bridge is continuing under construction. It should be ready soon. The recreation programs are going well; there is a State Tournament at Aronson Park this weekend. The senior center rec room project is due to start in September. The Park Director stated that 1987 budgets are due by Friday and he has been working on that. He informed the committee that funds would be budgeted so they could attend the 1987 State Conference to be located in the metro area. Under old business, Steve stated that most of his 1986 equipment repair budget has been used up because of the tremendous amount of work the mowers and other maintenance equipment have done this year. He is saving funds in other areas with all the JTP employees, including lifeguards. Steve also reported that the Park Ranger is working out great and he has also begun another task of taking a park by park inventory.. • Park and Recreation Committee minutes August 6, 1986 -5- 86-50 There being no new business, motion was made by Messinger, seconded by McDonald, to adjourn. Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 10:50 PM. Respectfully submitted, Judi Ring 'sen Recording Secretary •