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031009 PK MIN CITY OF SHOREWOOD 5735 COUNTRY CLUB RD PARK COMMISSION MEETING SOUTHSHORE COMMUNITY CENTER TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2009 7:00 P.M. MINUTES 1. CONVENE PARK COMMISSION MEETING Chair Norman convened the Park Commission Meeting at 7:00 p.m. A. Roll Call Present: Chair Norman; Commissioners Davis, DeMers, Trent, Quinlan, Robb, and Edmondson; City Council liaison Woodruff; Park Coordinator Anderson B. Review Agenda Item 3, Matters From The Floor, was removed and replaced with item 5, Review Proposal for Community Garden. Item 4F, Report on Eddy Station Painting Project was added to the Agenda. Davis moved, DeMers seconded, approving the Agenda as amended. Motion passed 7/0. C. Introduction of New Park Commissioners Chair Norman welcomed both Commissioner’s Edmondson and Robb to the Park Commission. Commissioner Edmondson thanked the Commission stating that he had great interest in politics and considered this to be a labor of love for Shorewood. Always a strong and dedicated volunteer, he stated that he had taken an opportunity to review the past several months of Minutes as well as the Master Plan and was anxious to jump in. Commissioner Robb thanked the Commission commenting that, while he had no single pet project in mind to focus on, he was looking forward to getting involved and giving back to the community. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Park Commission Meeting Minutes of February 10, 2009 Davis moved, Quinlan seconded, approving the Minutes from the February 10, 2009, Park Commission Meeting as presented. Motion passed 7/0. 3. REVIEW PROPOSAL FOR COMMUNITY GARDEN Community Victory Garden Representatives Mary Donohue, Patricia Hauser, and Sandy Ahlstrom presented their garden proposal to the Commission. Representative Hauser stated that the group would prefer an alternate site to the one proposed by the City at Freeman Park. She suggested the City consider allowing them to place a smaller 25X50’ plat near the public works and public safety site where the garden would be exposed to more direct sun light, have easier access to water, and soil conditions might be more condusive to a raised or flat bed. Hauser explained that PARK COMMISSION AGENDA TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2009 PAGE 2 OF 5 the garden group would be responsible for amending the soil and adding manure or other improvements if the public works staff could merely lift the sod or help mark the spot. Woodruff suggested the garden members have their donors run their donations thru the Park Foundation so that their donations are tax deductible. Ahlstrom reported that the City of Excelsior has a 40 plot community garden behind the Garden Patch store that rents out 15X40’ spots at a $20 annual fee. She mentioned that the City supplies the water and asked if the City of Shorewood would consider supplying the community garden with up to 6 rain barrels and fill them from time to time. In addition, Ahlstrom pointed out that the City of Minnetonka also has a beautiful community garden near Purgatory Creek made up of 50 plots measuring 20X20’ each that rent for merely $12 annually, though they do not supply additional water than what is available to gardeners from the creek. She stated that neither City reported any issues with regard to vandalism. Anderson stated that she would consult with Public Works Director Brown to determine whether the Public Works site is possible or propose an alternative. Quinlan moved, Davis seconded, directing staff to determine costs and a location for the Community Garden and present those findings to the City Council for their endorsement that the project be carried forward under the Park Commission’s umbrella of summer programming at a participation cost not to exceed $250. Motion passed 7/0. 4. REPORTS A. Report on City Council Meeting Woodruff reported that the City Council held a Work Session the previous evening to discuss the fate of the Southshore Community Center, which continued during the Regular City Council Meeting. He explained that the Friends of the South Shore Senior Center dissolved suddenly in February and was replaced by the South Shore Senior Partners who rents the facility by day. Woodruff stated that the joint city members have met to discuss the facility’s future and the Shorewood City Council agreed to take the lead on administrative tasks thru April while options are considered. He noted that the LMCC has approached the member cities with an offer to purchase the building, ideal for their purposes. Shorewood City Council, however, has an option to buy out the other member cities for their original investment of approximately $311,000. Woodruff stated that, in fact, he made said motion that the City does just that, but the motion failed 2/3. He stated that he believed running the facility would be much more straight forward if just one, rather than five, city councils were involved and owned it. Woodruff stated that the Planning Commission reported to the City Council that they unanimously denied the little league request for a zoning amendment to allow advertising on the fences at Freeman Park. Other items of interest included the potential rental of the city owned house behind City Hall and that the annual deer hunt took place with fewer deer taken this year compared to previous years. He noted that the Council suggested they take a year off and postpone any hunt for 2009. B. Report on February 12 Parks Foundation Meeting Woodruff reported that the last Foundation meeting had been cancelled and that they would be meeting the following evening. PARK COMMISSION AGENDA TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2009 PAGE 3 OF 5 C. Report on Kick-Off Meeting and Park Tours with Consultants Chair Norman reported that representatives of TKDA joined city staff, himself, and Vice Chair Davis for a kick-off meeting and park tour last week. He noted that they took copious notes and everyone shared some good observations. He asked staff to have TKDA try to supply the Commission with some of the basics for their presentation in advance for their April meeting to allow Commissioners an opportunity to review their proposals and prepare comments. Anderson stated that she would ask TKDA to supply their reports in advance of the meeting. She interjected that the tours were very useful, even as the group trudged thru the snow, new ideas were discovered and potential redesigns imagined. D. Update on Summer Programming Anderson reviewed the summer calendar of events with the Commission, May thru August. She pointed out that virtually every available Friday activity was filled, in addition to other activities. Anderson stated that staff may also be considering a Stages Theatre camp sometime this summer and would report back. She shared the Garage Band Jam poster with the Commission and encouraged the Foundation liaisons, Woodruff and Davis, to obtain a financial donation. Edmondson stated that he had made a few calls to some of his contacts in order to recruit judges. Anderson stated that Edmondson agreed to contact Tino’s pizza to see if Tino’s might consider donating pizza for the Safety Camp lunch in exchange for the exclusive warm food sales at the Garage Band Jam in July. E. Report on Meeting With Adopt-A-Garden Volunteers Discussed as Item 3. F. Report on Eddy Station Painting Project Anderson reported that upon notifying the contractor of his award, Koehnen Painters indicated that, unfortunately, he had since gone out of business and would not be able to complete the project. Anderson asked the Commission to make a new motion allowing staff to send out a new proposal for painting quotes for both the Eddy Station and Freeman picnic shelter. She explained that Public Works Director Brown agreed that a new proposal should include both the Eddy Station building and picnic shelters for painting improvements. Davis moved, Edmondson seconded, approving staff’s recommendation that a new painting project proposal form be sent out for Freeman Park Eddy Station and the Freeman Park Picnic Shelter. Motion passed 7/0. 5.DETERMINE DATES FOR PARK TOURS PARK COMMISSION AGENDA TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2009 PAGE 4 OF 5 thth The Commission set May 12 and June 9 as the Spring Park Tour dates, meeting at City Hall on both th dates at 5:45pm. The meeting following the tour on May 12 will continue at City Hall as opposed to th Freeman Park. If TKDA chooses to make their presentation on May 12, a second meeting in May may be scheduled for the Park Tour. 6. REVIEW ON-LINE SURVEY QUESTIONS Anderson reported that she and Secretary Grout had developed both a spring and summer online survey for their review. She pointed out that several questions will remain standard each quarter, though others will change to focus on various initiatives. For instance, the spring survey will provide valuable information for the park planning process and master plan update with the consultants. The summer emphasis will focus on Shorewood Park Events. The Commission recommended a few minor changes, such as a ‘check all that applies’ directional, a space for residents to type in their email, an area to identify parks they use most and age groups within their families, before making it available online. In addition, the Commission asked Anderson to not only provide a link on the homepage for the survey, but also insert a hard copy in the upcoming newsletter for residents who are not computer savvy to complete and drop off. 7. REPORT ON MAINTENANCE OF PARK IMPROVEMENTS/DONOR POLICY Anderson summarized the history of the Donor Policy which was created in 1997 to clarify ownership of items and infrastructure placed in the parks. She pointed out that recently little league approached the city to ask to be allowed to place advertising on Freeman fencing in an effort to raise money for scholarships and to keep overall costs down for everyone. The maintenance piece only came to light during this process. She stated that the ‘safety concerns’ mentioned by the little league had never been brought to the City’s attention until this point. As in other cities, she stated that there has always been a base level of service provided by the City, mowing, dragging the fields, etc., and that certain higher levels of TLC are handled by the organization. Having held conversations with Administrator Heck, Public Works Director Brown, and STLL President Heitkamp, Anderson asked that the Commission allow staff time to bring all of the interested parties together to have an informal conversation to clarify where the maintenance responsibilities should fall. In an effort to alleviate some of the burden little league has been under, she suggested the City take a look at where certain maintenance pieces belong without rising to the level of a formal agreement. She noted that Heitkamp stated that, overall, he was satisfied with the level of service the City provided but looked forward to meeting to discuss responsibilities and expectations further. She cautioned setting a precedent with regard to maintenance, stating that this could open a new can of worms if staff were to develop a detailed formal document with each organization outlining their expectations of what the city should be doing. She stated that each organization has different opinions and requirements and that Public Works staff does an excellent job managing their duties. She feared that if a higher level of service was mandated of staff, user fees would have to go up to cover the added maintenance. Chair Norman expressed his desire for further definition and requested that staff develop a document which references whose responsibilities are who’s with regard to maintenance. PARK COMMISSION AGENDA TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2009 PAGE 5 OF 5 Woodruff concurred, stating that the City should have a baseline agreement of who is responsible for what. He asked how the Donor Policy had ever been executed between the City and little league, as it was never formally adopted. Trent interjected that he believed the Commission was making a ‘mountain out of a mole hill’ with regard to establishing a formal maintenance agreement with the organizations. He stated that public works staff has done an excellent job for many years catering to and caring for facilities without the agreement and feared over-bureaucracizing the maintenance piece could be a little bit dangerous and unsettle a lot of things, possibly relationships. Woodruff asked who should be responsible for replacing back stops and fencing. If the Donor Policy is followed, he stated that the City should be stepping up and caring for what they agreed could be put in. He recognized that if the organizations want a higher level of service than what ends up in the agreement, then they should do it themselves. Davis urged staff to sit down with all parties, figure out what needs to be done and what each one’s perspective and expectations are and write up a proposal. Anderson stated that she would propose the roundtable discussion, as she had already suggested, and seek out the holes, identifying who is responsible for filling them and write up what is proposed for review. 8. NEW BUSINESS Davis shared an off leash request for Freeman Park with the Commission. The Commission stated that it is against City Ordinance but is typically enforced on a complaint basis. 9. ADJOURN Quinlan moved, Davis seconded, adjourning the Park Commission Meeting of March 10, 2009, at 9:07 p.m. Motion passed 7/0. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, Kristi B. Anderson Recorder