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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-02 CITY OF LAKEVILLE PARK AND RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES • JULY 2, 1986 The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Anderson at 7:00 PM. Members present: Grenz, McDonald, Anderson, Lovelace, Messinger and Olmsted. Member Gramstad was unable to make the meeting. Also present were Larry Lulf from the LAA and Park Director Steve Michaud. The first order of business was the approval of the Park and Recreation Committee minutes of June 18, 1986. Committee Member Messinger requested some additions to the minutes which included the involvement of neighborhoods in the final planning and location of the facilities in the various parks involved in the bond referendum. There were several citizens who were interested in being part of the planning process and they will be contacted when that process begins. It was also discussed at the June 18th meeting development of concept plans for Parkview Park and the inclusion of a BMX track somewhere in that area. 86-41 There being no further additions, it was moved by Messinger, seconded by McDonald, to approve the minutes as amended. Motion passed. • The next order of business was the Park Director's report. Staff gave an update of the bond referendum. It was announced that the bonds from the bond referendum had in fact not been sold and it was planned that they would be sold in mid July or towards the end of July. The time table with dates and the budget had been prepared and distributed to the committee for review. Staff informed the committee that several projects were now underway with the determining of hill cuts, working with topography and determining the most feasible strategy as to bidding out the work to other contractors or the city doing much of the grading in house. The committee was informed that the June 30th condemnation hearing for Antlers Park had been cancelled and no meeting had been rescheduled. Committee members will be informed as to the meeting date once it has been reset. The Dakota Heights Park development project is underway once again. All the survey work and topography work has been ordered and should come in during the week of July ?th and hopefully be completed by July 18th, which would allow us to request quotations for grading work. This project should be completed by the end of the Fall. Staff updated the committee relative to the Lakeridge Park development situation. Staff had met on site with a representative from the DNR and a determination is now being made by the DNR as to the necessity of a permit • to complete the project as planned. Park and Recreation Committee minutes July 2, 1986 • Page -2- There was much discussion concerning the operation of the beaches mostly surrounding some of the problems which have occurred at Valley Lake Beach. There have been several groups of teenagers hanging around the beach causing various problems .with citizens and facilities. This coincides with the next report, being the Park Ranger's position and how well it has been working out. To date the Park Ranger has made extensive travels throughout the park system meeting many people and even working with the youth groups trying to work out solutions to their problems so that the vandalism does not continue. To date we have received several reports from the general citizenry as to the positive reaction to the Park Ranger and his work in the system. We feel the park ranger position has been a great addition and has contributed greatly to the curbing of vandalism and mischievous activities in the park and good public relations for the City of Lakeville. The ranger is keeping a daily log as to where he goes, the time and the different situations that he confronts, maintenance problems, etc. We look forward to a very informative summer having the park ranger on our staff. The next item was the bike trail easements and planning. Staff met with Brian Watschke concerning easements across the planned unit development he owns at 185th Street. At that meeting staff learned he is going to begin • to develop the land which would mean building of the roads, sidewalks would be included. We will watch the progress of this building proposal and if it seems to be taking too long we will go in and develop the trail as was originally planned. The committee then discussed the Raven Lake proposal. There were several questions concerning priorities chosen by the Park and Recreation Committee as opposed to the site that was offered by the developer. Steve stated that the properties being suggested may or may not be a good location and the committee and staff would have to walk it to verify that. A couple of additions were that the proposed park would have an access from the residential area to the north and the possibility of adding on another lot to make the area larger. Staff also reported that playground equipment was installed in Kenreel Park due to the request of several parents. We received several favorable comments as to the playground that was installed. Likewise at Hershey Park, several parents have called wondering when their playground equipment would be reinstalled. The Park Dept. is presently building a bridge to span the new ditch that was constructed last Fall so that access can be gained for both the users and park maintenance equipment. We expect the bridge to be completed by the week of the July 14th and we should begin to install the older playground equipment the following week. • Park and Recreation Committee minutes July 2, 19$6 • Page -3- Item number four was a maintenance update. Staff informed the committee that several of the I.D. signs and rules and regulation signs were being installed with the shrubbery and many compliments had been received from citizens concerning the aesthetics of the signs. Maintenance crews are working very busily to keep up with the grass cutting, miscellaneous vandalism chores, constant cleanup, bathroom patrols and the various development projects we are involved in. We are into what is probably the busiest time of the year and it seems that everything is going very well. Under the recreation program update, several programs are now underway. The middle of the summer emphasis is now being placed on Pan-O-Prog. Under old business there was discussion on the Cedar Avenue trail which staff is presently working on with Dakota County to iron out the details of that trail and roadway reconstruction. It was brought up that citizen Paul Murphy had called several people concerning problems relating to picnic tables at Valley Lake Beach. There was much discussion by the committee concerning this issue. Several points were brought out; first of all Paul Murphy believes that all picnic tables should be removed from the park area due to the fact that the children are using the picnic tables to dive from shore into the water and also stacking them on the existing raft and diving into the water. He . feels this is dangerous and could cause a liability to the city. Staff informed the committee that the maintenance department has been removing the picnic table from the water and the raft on a constant basis trying to curb this problem. It was suggested that of the five or six tables that were existing at the park that at least half of them should be removed and that the remaining picnic tables be moved to the back side of the playground area in the lawn area and be chained to the ground on an experimental basis. Staff will report this to the maintenance department to implement the plan as soon as possible. Once again committee members requested that the trail be swept in Valley Park along Cedar Avenue on a regular basis. Staff will contact the street department. It was further requested by committee members from the Valley Park area that the police be requested to cruise the beach areas on a regular basis to assist the park ranger and the lifeguards in their enforcement of rules and regulations in the parks. It was mentioned by member Messinger that the tires on the playground at Bunker Hill Park should have holes drilled in the bottom to release the water that is forming inside the tires. Staff will contact the maintenance department. There was some discussion on the Fairfield park sign. Staff is to contact the High School to verify crossing their property with the trail connections. It was reported by staff that the main net climbing • apparatus at the Bunker Hill playground had been slashed by a knife and rendered unusable. It was also mentioned by member Grenz that the trail Park and Recreation Committee minutes • July 2, 1986 Page -4- access coming from Dodd Park development continue further along Dodd Blvd. up to Foliage Avenue so that the people from that side of Dodd Blvd. would have better access to Valley Park. It was mentioned as to some problems with the adult soccer leagues, which will be checked out. 86-42 There being no further business, it was moved by Olmsted, seconded by Lovelace, to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 9:30 PM. R spectf y sub it ed, ~ ~ ~ Ge ld S. Michaud, Director Parks and Recreation GSM: jr •