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01-10-12 PK MINS CITY OF SHOREWOOD 5755 COUNTRY CLUB RD PARK COMMISSION MEETING SHOREWOOD CITY HALL TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2012 7:00 P.M. MINUTES 1. CONVENE PARK COMMISSION MEETING Chair Quinlan convened the meeting at 7:00 p.m. A. Roll Call Present: Chair Quinlan; Commissioners, Swaggert, Kjolhaug, Hartmann, Robb and Gordon; Administrator Heck; Public Works Director Brown; City Council liaison Woodruff; Absent: Commissioner Edmondson B. Review Agenda Robb moved, Kjolhaug seconded, approving the Agenda as presented. Motion passed 6/0. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Park Commission Meeting Minutes of December 13, 2011 Gordon moved, Robb seconded, approving the Minutes of December 13, 2011, as submitted. Motion passed 6/0. 3. MATTERS FROM THE FLOOR Shorewood resident, Mary Dvorak inquired about the proposed policy for the rinks. She stated that some cities do have rinks and doesn’t want the city to stop flooding the rinks. She was wondering why the city does not flood at night. Brown explained that the city does not have a night crew and would have to pay overtime to flood at night. The only guideline the city follows is for cold weather from other communities. Robb asked if Public Works was flooding the rinks currently. Brown stated that they just started to generate ice two days ago. Quinlan stated that this item is on the agenda and would be further discussed. 4. ORGANIZATIONAL BUSINESS A. Election of Officers Heck indicated that council would like to open the two seats on the Park Commission to the public and the two Park Commissioners with expiring terms. Edmondson asked that election of officers take place after appointments. Election of officers will take place at the March meeting. B. Approve Meeting Calendar Heck outlined the planning calendar to show what will be forthcoming for future meetings for everyone. He also stated that the City Council would like to hold the joint Park Commission meeting on February 28. PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2012 PAGE 2 OF 5 5. DISCUSS AND RECOMMEND ICE RINK POLICY Quinlan is hoping that this is mute point as cold weather is supposed to be approaching. Quinlan asked if there is a current policy in place. Heck stated that there is no official policy in place for warm/cold weather and when to stop flooding. There has not been a situation like this for many years where the weather is warmer than normal. Other alternatives to consider are does it make sense to utilize overtime to flood the rinks. Rinks usually close around February 14 for the season. A guideline/policy would help residents and staff in making decisions as to when to close due to weather and flooding of the rinks. Heck said that staff would go over a policy and bring back to the commission for review at their February meeting. Robb asked if we do get colder weather would we be able to still make ice. Brown stated that if we get cold weather we can make good ice at Cathcart and Badger hockey rinks. Swaggert moved, Gordon seconded, to keep attempting to make ice where possible and to direct staff to prepare and develop a draft policy and bring back to the commission at the February 14 meeting. Motion passed. Kjolhaug asked about Manor Park and how that is flooded. Brown explained that they use the tanker truck and use a brush to clear. Hartmann asked if there was a way to notify the public about which rinks are operating. Brown said that staff could put an update on the city website. Woodruff suggested giving staff direction as to when to stop making ice. Swaggert wanted to leave this to staffs discretion as part of the motion for this year and look further at a policy in February. Quinlan asked if there is a criterion for closing rinks. Brown explained that temperatures play a part in determining conditions of the ice (how soft it is, standing water); it comes down to a judgment call. 6. DISCUSS PRIORITY SETTING FOR BADGER PARK Heck outlined the priority process to the commissioners. After reviewing, the top four items that the Park Commission would like to keep or see are: Tennis Courts Restrooms Football Field Picnic Shelter The items that the commission would really want are: Community Green Space Parking Lot Improvements Non-paved Trail Lighted Tennis Courts Improvement to the Entrance Basketball Court Free skating, lighted hockey rink, warming house, pond or water feature, lighted basketball court, art or sculptures, paved trail and community gardens were rated as not as important. PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2012 PAGE 3 OF 5 Heck explained that the next step that the commission needs to take is to go through the items where there is consensus. Once there is a consensus, then work on putting those items into the CIP in some form. It was determined there needs to be a design element and where would these items be placed in the park. But the first step is to gain consensus on how the commission sees the park. Robb mentioned there is a variance in opinion on some of the items so there needs to be a discussion. Quinlan mentioned that costs should be considered. Does the Park Commission look at possible redesigning the park and determine what should be considered at the park and should consider the cost. Gordon asked if the report from the EPA was available and should be considered. Brown explained that 16 years ago there was monitoring of the parking lot, dairy queen site and gas station. East of the gas station there is a concrete pad, that pad was to cap the contaminates. MPC and EPA stated that the site was passable and discontinued the monitoring. Discussion ensued on the top four priority items. Picnic Shelters: There is an interest in a picnic shelter. Heck asked the commission to define a picnic shelter. Commissioner Swaggert stated he envisioned something like the structure at Manor Park – a building with a canopy. Commission Robb stated his idea is more like the canopy structure located at Silverwood. Commissioner Quinlan concurred with Robb, noting that a warming house type building is lower on the ranking. It was stated that a Hockey rink is low on the list as is a free skating area, if there isn’t skating, is there a need for a building. Heck stated that this is the purpose of the process – to come to consensus and understanding on what everyone’s view is. The Commission consensus is that in discussing the picnic shelter, it is one similar to the structure at Silverwood Park. Football field – Heck asked the Commission if they ranked the football field higher because there is a need for a football field in Shorewood or is it because it is already at the park? Commissioner Gordon stated because it was there and she considers it open green space. Commission Kjolhaug stated the field is generally used for boy’s football ages 8-12 for two months out of the year that is why he provided a lower priority. Heck and Brown stated the Lacrosse club uses the field and ultimate Frisbee pick-up games are played there. Hartman asked if there was a capacity for this type of field at Freeman or if it could be used for soccer. Brown explained that soccer, football, ultimate Frisbee, and lacrosse use Badger field. Hartmann asked if there had been any requests to use the football fields. Brown explained that the sports organizations try to operate their spaces separately. So when the fields are scheduled for the sports organizations resting of the fields is considered. Hartmann asked if the football field is used during the day. Occasionally there is usage but it is the evening that the field is used the most. Heck asked if it was reasonable to refer to the Football fields as “Multi-use, green space.” The Commissioners agreed with that terminology. Restrooms: Heck stated this is on interesting item. Restrooms are rated high by the group, however, a warming house is low on the needs list. Heck asked what the Commissions idea of restrooms is. Hartmann asked if there is a lot of maintenance to the restrooms. Brown explained that restrooms are maintained every day. Hartmann thought if there is not going to be skating, then there would not be a need for a warming house. Robb also mentioned that there is the community center. He wondered if the restrooms at the center could be used. Brown stated there may be conflicts when there are events at the PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2012 PAGE 4 OF 5 center. Woodruff stated that the center is not always open in the evening and have different hours of operation. Swaggert indicated that his vision is a restroom structure with a canopy attached, that the restrooms be tied in with the picnic shelter in some way. The consensus of the commission is to consider the restrooms in conjunction with the picnic shelter. Un-lighted Tennis Courts: Heck stated this is the last item landing in the ‘1’ rating. He asked that Commission Swaggert provide his view for his rating. Swaggert indicated that tennis is an individual sport, not a community type activity. He sees the cost of maintaining the courts as high, a lot of unused tennis courts in the area, and value in community. Quinlan sees the courts used a lot and when he uses them, he has to wait. Robb stated he can see Commissioner Swagger’s point of view, but he also stated that tennis is a sport a wide age group of people can play compared to soccer or football. It needs to be determined if this is the right court to support and which courts get used most out of our park system. Heck indicated the city supports tennis courts in three parks, and asked if this is the right number of courts. Are these parks the best location for courts or is there a better alternative. Heck stated these are all issues the commission needs to work out during this process. Heck stated the next phase is to determine how the tennis courts tie in with all the amenities and to decide if the city has a need for three tennis courts. The commission will need to look at the whole park system and consider all park amenities and what is unique of Badger Park. It will be determined what you would like the park to look like. There was discussion on the TKDA plan. Woodruff mentioned that he was liaison during this process and that there was a lot of discussion as to the amenities needed in the parks. The community gardens were a new concept at that time and were added to most of the park plans. There wasn't this type of analysis done for each park. This was a visioning exercise that leads to this step that commission is working on. At this point Heck will document some of the information and the commission should look over the park questions on the community survey. See what the resident’s perception is of parks. This will tie in at the next meeting and review the top four and discuss the next four items. Heck will send out the list along with a summary of what was discussed. It was asked if additional meetings will be needed for this project and how the commission is going to move forward at the next meeting. The next meeting the Park Commission will start with looking at a vision for Badger Park, and review the citizen’s survey. Heck will include the citizen survey in the next park packet. The Park Commission is invited to attend the City Council work session on Februaru 13 as the consultant will be presenting the survey results. Heck asked if this process was helpful. Consensus was that it is. The commission thanked Heck for putting this together. PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2012 PAGE 5 OF 5 7. NEW BUSINESS Quinlan mentioned that there is another Eagle Scout looking for a project. Quinlan asked that the commission think about possible projects for the summer for this Eagle Scout. The Eagle Scout will be attending the next Park Commission meeting. 8. STAFF AND LIAISON REPORTS/UPDATES A. City Council Woodruff provided an update on the City Council meeting of January 9, 2012. B. Staff 1. Joint City Council Meeting Date Heck reported that the joint meeting with the City Council will be February 28 at 6:00 p.m. 2. Winter Activity Report Heck reported that Three Rivers will attempt to do snow shoeing in February; otherwise all winter . activities have been cancelled He also updated the Park Commission on the activities that will be taking place at Arctic Fever. 3. Summer Activity Update A written report was provided. 4. Strategic Planning Other items that staff is working on is:  Looking at a grant for buckthorn removal at Freeman Park.  Tree City USA program looking at a $25,000 grant to reforest certain areas of the city. Recommendation is to make the Park Commission the city tree board. 9. ADJOURN Swaggert moved, Kjolhaug seconded, adjourning the meeting at 9:10 p.m. Motion passed 6/0. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, Brian Heck Recorder Twila Grout Administrative Assistant