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051005 PK MIN CITY OF SHOREWOOD 5755 COUNTRY CLUB ROAD PARK COMMISSION MEETING CITY HALL TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2005 7:00 P.M. MINUTES 1. CONVENE PARK COMMISSION MEETING Chair Davis called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. A. Roll Call Present: Chair Davis, Commissioners Young, Farniok, Westerlund, and Wagner; City Engineer Brown Absent: Commissioners Meyer and Moonen; and City Council liaison Liz é e B. Review Agenda Items #5 and #6 were addressed in reverse order. Wagner moved, Westerlund seconded, approving the Agenda as amended. Motion passed 5/0. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Park Commission Meeting Minutes of April 12, 2005 Westerlund moved, Young seconded, approving the Minutes of the April 12, 2005, Park Commission Meeting as presented. Motion passed 5/0. 3. MATTERS FROM THE FLOOR There were none. 4. REPORTS A. Report on City Council Meeting of April 25, 2005 and May 9, 2005 Brown reported that the rehabilitation of the well building at Badger Park was put to bid and would be paid for out of the water fund. Wagner asked whether the construction would impact sports organizations. Brown indicated that the only impact would be that a construction trailer would be parked in some of the th hockey spots during construction. On May 9, the City Council discussed past public information meetings regarding potential traffic changes at Radisson Road, near Christmas Lake Road. While it will remain two- way traffic for now, Brown pointed out that further thought would need to be given to making it more pedestrian friendly. PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, MAY, 10, 2005 PAGE 2 OF 5 B. Update on Concessions Brown reported that Mr. Withum, the new concessionaire, was up and running for a flat fee of $1,200, plus $100 per tournament. The City was looking forward to a successful and long-term relationship with the new vendor. C. Update on Music in the Park Brown reported that members of the City Council donated $300, which the City will match. This, added to the $2,000 budgeted for Music in the Parks and a $500 donation from the Park Foundation, the Commission will be near its estimated $3,200 expenditure for the event. 6. DISCUSS CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM FOR PARKS Chair Davis asked where the money for CIP is kept and whether it could be tapped for pond projects or trail extensions. Brown stated that CIP improvements are laid out in the 5 year plan which is a part of the master plan and is scheduled to be updated this year to cover the next 5 years. He pointed out that the City Council has earmarked $10,000 per year for CIP small park improvements, though the Commission has already spent an estimated $14,000 for the skate park improvements. Chair Davis pointed out that $14,000 for the skate park was higher than first anticipated. Brown stated that due to fuel costs, labor, and material costs the price tag had gone up. With regard to the overlay of the skate park surface, Brown stated that Mr. Burry, of Midwest Asphalt Company, has promised to get back to him soon. Wagner moved, Westerlund seconded, to proceed with the purchase and placement of the skate park equipment, and once the City has evaluated the need for the overlay to do so. Motion passed 5/0. Chair Davis asked whether the initial $8,000 budgeted for the equipment last year would be taken out of last year’s budget as it was slated, or this year’s budget. Brown pointed out that the CIP is a fluid document which can be amended before the City Council to complete worthwhile projects. Wagner inquired who manages the CIP fund balance, noting that it appeared the interest rate was merely 1% on an amount this size. Brown stated that Finance Director Burton, with input from investment advisors, manages the fund. Westerlund asked why the city had declined adding additional park space in lieu of dedication fees. Brown stated that the City had been accepting dedication fees instead of land based on a referendum put before the citizens 12 years ago which indicated they were satisfied with the amount of dedicated park land. PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, MAY, 10, 2005 PAGE 3 OF 5 Chair Davis suggested the City consider revisiting this from the standpoint of land preservation and passive park use. Brown pointed out that there are few lots left to be developed in Shorewood; therefore, little funding has been available to make improvements until now based on these few remaining developments such as Cub Foods. Brown cautioned the Commission that, from a construction standpoint, the CIP fund was not significant. Wagner suggested the Commission or City begin to investigate alternate sources of funding. Brown concurred, encouraging the Commission to take the charge of finding alternate funding, or partners for projects like the water rehab project. 5. REVIEW MASTER PLAN While a review of the master plan or Comp Plan should be done in conjunction with the CIP, Brown asked for comment from the Commission. Westerlund requested additional time to review the master plan, just handed to her this evening, and compare it to the CIP before discussing individual parks this evening. Young suggested the master plan be broken into pieces for ease of evaluation. Westerlund suggested the Commission discuss the CIP with regard to each park on the tour, i.e. Manor, Silverwood, and Freeman, following the park tour itself. Westerlund reported that she had contacted Mr. Osgood, a renowned limnologist, to join the Commission at Manor Park, though he was unable to attend a staff member of the MCWD volunteered to join the Commission the night of the tour. Young commented that it would be advantageous to have an ‘expert’ on hand at Manor Park to discuss the options or recommendations for the pond. Brown summarized the Commission’s desire to spend more time evaluating the CIP and Master Plan in light of the budget, consider dates for the next park tour and which parks would be evaluated from the Master Plan next. Wagner pointed out that it would be useful to be given a list of major rehab projects slated within the next 5 years as they evaluate the CIP. Brown noted that major updates are done every 10 years with the development of the new comp plan, estimated for 2008. Young stated that he would like to see updates of designated deficiencies inserted into the master plan packet, with dates, following each tour to determine what has changed from year to year with regard to improvements and the CIP. Chair Davis agreed. PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, MAY, 10, 2005 PAGE 4 OF 5 A. Role of Horticulture and Tree Inventory Chair Davis pointed out that the role of horticulture and a tree inventory should be considered as part of the Master Plan. Brown stated that the sample tree inventory supplied by Chair Davis brought two questions to light, first, what does the Park Commission wish to achieve by performing a tree inventory and why, and what goals would the Commission like to achieve. Chair Davis indicated that she would be interested in determining where the public stood with regard to active versus passive use. She questioned whether the residents value active use, parks, open space, trees, or what people’s attitudes might be. Davis felt people have a desire to protect the City’s assets, the open spaces, old woods, etc. as part of the bigger picture. Wagner stated that the public is well aware that buckthorn is a nuisance and should be informed or taught how to get a handle on it. Although tree inventories are expensive and time consuming, Brown pointed out that, with new technology, there might be an opportunity to incorporate a GPS unit that staff could use for dual purposes, and perform the survey work themselves. Westerlund agreed that a formal tree inventory would be over the top for the cities needs; however, if the Commission could identify a good stand of trees within one of the parks, via aerial photos the Commission could make a recommendation of what the City has and what is worth preserving. Westerlund viewed the inventory as an opportunity for restoration, habitat preservation, hazardous tree identification, and health of current trees. Wagner stated that he liked the idea of educating people, on a small scale, as to the value of a stand of trees or species and showing them an example within one of the parks. Brown asked Westerlund to forward him the name of someone who he could talk to about this process and the cost for performing a small scale inventory. Farniok stated that it would be relevant to get more detail of what is in Shorewood’s parks to aid the Commission in making a judgment of what should be added or preserved. Chair Davis questioned Brown whether he knew if Gideon Glen would become one of the responsibilities of the Park Commission. Westerlund explained that the City, County, and MCWD have a cooperative agreement in place that indicates that the MCWD will be responsible for the planning and development of the trails and kiosks. The Park Commission, on the other hand, can be involved in the planning process of the interpretive signs and kiosks themselves. Young asked what the timeline for completion was. PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, MAY, 10, 2005 PAGE 5 OF 5 Westerlund stated that in a year the project should be complete and should consist of three parts, the stormwater pond with a grit chamber, wetland restoration, and a maple basswood forest preservation project. Chair Davis reiterated her question whether the park would become part of the Commission stewardship and/or if the project would come with an endowment of sorts. Brown stated that those answers were unknown to date. Wagner stated that the real question is how the public will perceive the Gideon Glen area. If it appears to be seen as one of the City parks, then the Commission should have a hand in its stewardship. Brown noted that Gideon Glen would take a few years to be established and would be overseen in the process by several organizations, as the educational and preservation components intermingle. He pointed out that a tree inventory would be key to planning in this case to identify what is present and where it should be headed. B. Education on Buckthorn Control and Eradication Since Buckthorn is a community wide problem, Brown stated that it would be beneficial to choose a central location, like a park, where a buckthorn removal program could be instigated for educational purposes, as well as, for beautification. Wagner pointed out that a combination of a tree inventory and buckthorn removal program would be a worthwhile endeavor for the Commission to pursue. Farniok suggested developing an ongoing proactive plan to go after the buckthorn, by providing ‘weed wrenches’ to the public, and an education campaign. Brown pointed out that the city of St. Paul has hit buckthorn on many fronts, including a public education program, providing the tools to remove it, sponsoring buckthorn busting parties, etc. he suggested staff review its education pieces and potentially order some weed wrenches and report back. Farniok encouraged the Commission to choose a visible park, like Freeman, to begin. Target key dates in the fall, following the educational component over the summer, and host a busting party, which would then be followed up by incorporating removal into the spring clean-up campaign next year. Chair Davis concurred, stating that it would be a good fit for spring clean-up, or as an incentive, the City could volunteer to take the removed buckthorn away. Brown felt a buckthorn removal and education program would be a nice compliment to the save our valuable trees, as discussed earlier. C. Explore Methods to Reduce Vandalism within the Parks Via Work Session and Information From MN Rec & Park Assoc. Chair Davis stated that the gross damage amount of $11,000 was an incredibly high cost to the citizens due to vandalism. PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, MAY, 10, 2005 PAGE 6 OF 5 Brown stated that he had not had an opportunity to compile a great deal of data from other communities of what they’ve done to deter vandalism. He commented that it is nice the senior community near Freeman keeps a watchful eye on activity there and reports incidents immediately. While the cameras at Freeman have created some awareness and deterred some vandalism, he would assemble more information to report at a future meeting. Since cameras had been somewhat effective at Freeman, Wagner suggested that the City consider installing decoy cameras at other key locations. 7. DETERMINE LIAISON FOR JUNE CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS May – Young June 27 – Chair Davis 8. NEW BUSINESS Farniok asked whether the deer population was a park problem or even a city problem worthy of discussion at some future date. Brown stated that deer were not a park issue, nor did the City Council wish to address managing the deer herd population. Wagner asked what the status of some of the new park signs was. Brown stated that both the custom and non-custom designs had been approved, a vendor chosen, and installation would occur soon. The Commission agreed that new signs at the park entrances would be replaced as necessary; however, the rules and directionals would be posted immediately. Chair Davis brought up an issue regarding a joggers complaints regarding sediment along Lake Linden. Brown reported that he had spoken to this individual many times. While there is little that can be done other than deepening the v-ditch near the trail, the resident continues to pursue the matter in an attempt to get the answer he desires, with little regard to the impacts further changes would have on nearby residences. 9. ADJOURN Wagner moved, Westerlund seconded, adjourning the Park Commission Meeting of May 10, 2005 at 9:17 p.m. Motion passed 5/0. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, Kristi B. Anderson Recording Secretary