Loading...
10.08.2024 Park Commission Meeting Minutes CITY OF SHOREWOOD 5755 COUNTRY CLUB RD PARK COMMISSION MEETING SHOREWOOD CITY HALL TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2024 7:00 P.M. MINUTES 1. CONVENE PARK COMMISSION MEETING Chair Wenner convened the meeting at 7:00 p.m. A. Roll Call Present: Chair Wenner, Commissioners Hirner, Garske, DiGruttolo; City Council Liaison Callies; and Parks and Recreation Manager Czech Absent: Commissioner Bahneman B. Review Agenda Commissioner DiGruttolo moved to approve the agenda, as written. Commissioner Hirner seconded the motion. Motion carried 4-0. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Park Commission Meeting Minutes of August 27, 2024 Commissioner Garske moved to approve the minutes of the August 27, 2024 meeting, as written. Commissioner DiGruttolo seconded the motion. Motion carried 4-0. 3. MATTERS FROM THE FLOOR Barry Brown, 6050 Burlwood Court, explained that he had some random things that he wanted to bring up to the Commission. He noted that he had run into two of the University of Minnesota researchers that are doing the plot studies on buckthorn in Freeman Park. He stated that they told him that things were going surprisingly well as far as no foliage coming back but noted that when they are in the park, they get lots of questions from people walking on the trails. He stated that the City had originally talked about putting up a sign in the park, but somehow the decision was made that the signage was not necessary. He suggested that perhaps the City have an article published in order to let people know what is going on. He stated that the Commission will be having a conversation about off-leash dogs later on the agenda and wanted to share some information since he has had 29 years of experience walking his dogs in the parks. He stated that he had not seen an increase in the number of dogs off-leash, but has seen an increase in complaints from people. He explained that over the last year he has noticed that when people are walking their dogs towards him that are off-leash and they see him, they immediately put their dog on a leash because his dog is on a leash. He noted that, anecdotally, he would say that it is probably a 50/50 split of people who walk their dogs on and off-leash and explained that he had not heard that this has created any problems. He stated that the City Council was looking at taking on an e-bike regulation next week and the proposed language makes it appear as though the City would not allow any e-bikes on any of the trails or any of the grass spaces or fields in Freeman Park. He stated that he would support that rule, but if that is approved they will need to have signage posted at the entries. He stated that Greener Blade has been putting down a chemical PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2024 PAGE 2 OF 9 application on the soccer fields. He showed the Commission a photo of one sign that is about 7 x 7 inches that was placed at the soccer fields and noted in past years they did 30-40 signs when they did the fields and not just one so anyone walking would know to keep pets and children off these area. He read aloud the language on the sign that he felt was unclear because it wasn’t time or date-stamped so it was hard to know when things were dry and able to be walked on. He stated that he felt it would be nice to have a bit more communication when these things occur so people can keep their pets off of them. Commissioner Hirner asked Mr. Brown to send a copy of the picture to Parks and Recreation Manager Czech. Chair Wenner asked if staff could look at installing signage for the test plot area in Freeman Park and for the e-bikes. She asked Parks and Recreation Manager Czech to also talk to Public Works Director Morreim about the Greener Blade signs to ensure that they adequately covered the field areas. Mr. Brown stated that there are a few places where there are signs in the park that many people do not see, but everybody who is walking a dog in the park finds the poop station/bags and suggested that it may be nice to put signs right on those posts instead of randomly placing them in other areas. Commissioner DiGruttolo stated that she also felt that it may be a good idea to have some sort of bulletin board at each entrance to ensure that they can capture people’s attention at both entrances. Charles Babcock, 20465 Manor Road, stated that he has been working on the outside edge at the five corners at Manor Park to help it look better. He explained that the bus drops off kids there which hammers the asphalt, so he brought down some stones and arranged them to try to keep people from encroaching onto the parkland. He stated that he has also worked on trying to get some grass to grow there. He noted that he had a conversation with Public Works employee Chris Heinz who had expressed concerns about the rocks that he had placed. He stated that during one of the past park tours, there were some suggestions from the Park Commission about what to do on that corner, which was why he was here today; he wanted to talk to the Commission about what could be done in this area. He stated that the rocks are doing the job of keeping people off the area, but apparently, City staff felt that they were creating a problem with weed whipping. He noted that if the City felt weed whipping was a problem here, he believed that he could get some volunteers to do that work. Chair Wenner stated that she appreciated Mr. Babcock’s suggestions and all he has done for Manor Park because she felt the park looked fantastic. She asked that he send an e-mail to Park and Recreation Manager Czech outlining his suggestions. Park and Recreation Manager Czech stated that weed whipping around some rocks doesn’t seem like a large task, but when you consider all the City parks, having rocks makes it a lot slower to weed whip those areas. Chair Wenner stated that she understood where Public Works was coming from and suggested that it may be a good area for some native plantings. She asked how residents could get involved if they wanted to take on a community project such as putting in some native plantings or weed whipping. PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2024 PAGE 3 OF 9 Park and Recreation Manager Czech stated that he was hopeful that they will have a more formalized process in the near future. He stated that, for now, any projects or suggestion could be sent to him by e-mail or give him a call. He stated that he will discuss this issue with the Public Works Department to discuss possible options. 4. NEW BUSINESS A. Off-Leash Dog Discussion Parks and Recreation Manager Czech explained that in recent months there have been a number of concerns related to off-leash dogs primarily at Freeman Park, but also at Badger and Cathcart Parks. He explained that the City has gotten complaints about dogs on the trail just running into private yards and even up onto their porches. He stated that even if the owners claim that their dogs are friendly, coming onto private property is a major concern and noted that a scenario where there is a friendly off-leash dog that greets an unfriendly leashed dog and explained that he did not feel that would go well. He reviewed language from City Code that dogs are not to be running at large at any time within the City. He noted that the City does not have a dog park, but Chanhassen has a large off-leash dog area at the Lake Minnewashta Regional Park. He explained that staff was just looking for some direction from the Commission on ways that they can help mitigate this situation and reviewed some of the staff ideas that were outlined within the staff report. Commissioner DiGruttolo stated that she had looked up a few things that other cities have done including designating off-leash hours in specific parks, for example, early morning or late evening times. She noted that she felt this may provide a compromise between owners who prefer off- leash play but also ensure that other park users can enjoy the park without being disrupted. She stated that they could put up signs and announce this through things like social media. She stated that another idea was using a website where people can rent out their property for dog runs or off-lease dog parks called www.sniffspot.com. She noted that they could create temporary, seasonal dog parks by converting underused park areas. She stated that she was wondering about possibly using Cathcart Park or Southshore Park. She outlined some potential costs for temporary fencing and maintenance. She noted that both Edina and Eden Prairie have had temporary dog parks in their underutilized areas. She stated that the City of Edina has a dog license system with off-lease privileges in designated areas where they charge money for that benefit. She explained that she has chosen not to walk her dog on the trail because her dog had been attacked before by larger dogs so now, even if a friendly dog runs up to her wanting to play, her dog will attack that dog which means she ends up getting in trouble because somebody else had an off-leash dog. Park and Recreation Manager Czech shared some photos of current signage at the City parks, examples from other cities, and suggested that they may be able to get some sandwich-type signs that were very moveable which may help bring attention to them. Commissioner Garske stated that he thinks he has seen those signs in a few spots throughout the City. He stated that he felt signs were helpful, but this was actually more about getting people to do the right thing. He stated that he felt the most effective approach may be to have posts on social media and within the Shore Report that states that there would be increased enforcement of off-leash dogs. PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2024 PAGE 4 OF 9 Chair Wenner stated that it would probably be a good idea to lay out what would happen if someone is caught with a dog off-leash. She noted that she has two dogs and used to spend a lot of time at Freeman Park and would let her dogs off-leash on the trails and leash them up if they saw people, but she does not really do that much anymore because her younger dog is not very obedient. She stated that she could speak to the quality of the park at Lake Minnewashta and Purgatory Park because they are both amazing spaces, but her concern is that, in the City, there are not a lot of places that people can just walk to. She stated that many of the people she sees at Freeman Park are elderly and retired and it is part of their day to get out and socialize and let their dogs play. She suggested that the City look into the possibility of adding some off- leash areas to the City’s existing parks and noted that the American Kennel Club has recommendations for what should be done if dog parks are put into existing park spaces. Park and Recreation Manager Czech stated that dogs are an extension of a family and the City wants its parks to be warm and welcoming for them. He stated that people may not get out and enjoy the parks if they cannot bring their whole family with them. Chair Wenner stated that she thinks that people would appreciate having someplace that they could walk to with their dogs and not have to drive to get there, especially for those who may not access to a car or other mobility issues so it would be difficult for them to drive to the off-leash areas. Commissioner Hirner stated that he loves the idea of putting signs at the poop bag stations because those will be the people that need to see it. He asked why the City couldn’t use one of the ballfield areas during the winter months as an off-leash area for dogs because they were already fenced in. He stated that Southshore Park is not huge, but the community garden area is already fenced in, so if they cleaned up that area at the end of fall, he felt that could also potentially be utilized as an off-leash dog area. He stated that he also felt that they may be able to put up some temporary fencing on the back of the soccer field at Manor Park and use it for an off-leash dog area during the winter months. He stated that he wasn’t sure where they could have the off-leash areas during the warmer months. He explained that he did not want to use the hockey rink in the summer months because he felt there were other things that the City could use that space for such as a rollerblade hockey area, if they pave it. He stated that he felt that the City had quite a few options for the winter months, but wasn’t sure where they could put an off- leash dog park during the summer months because the City parks are pretty heavily used. He stated that he liked the idea that Commissioner DiGruttolo brought up of having specific off-leash hours that were not during peak use times. Mr. Brown asked if the City found that one of their baseball fields was never really being used for baseball if that may be something that the City considers for this year on a year-round basis. Park and Recreation Manager Czech noted that all the fields are pretty heavily used in the spring, summer, and fall. Chair Wenner noted that there was also an area east of the fields that is a big, green open space. She stated that she thought perhaps it was designated as a sledding hill and where the City stores snow from the parking lots and asked if that may be an option as well. Park and Recreation Manager Czech clarified that he had not been with the City during the winter yet. PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2024 PAGE 5 OF 9 Chair Wenner stated that she felt that this issue was something that the Commission should pay attention to when they are working on their master plan. Park and Recreation Manager Czech stated that it is very likely that this will come up during their master plan discussions. He stated that if they could find a location for a temporary solution he felt that would be great because it would be a cost-effective way to see if it would be a good place for the City to invest additional resources. Chair Wenner stated that it may be good to include in any social media campaigns information about www.sniffspot.com as well as a list of dog parks in the metro area as an extra resource for residents. Commissioner DiGruttolo stated that the City could also do summer programming that included dog training. Commissioner Garske stated that there is a park in Tonka Bay that his kids call the ‘dinosaur park’ where they had a hockey rink where they used to let dogs do off-leash, but they have not had it for the last few years. He stated that it would be interesting to find out why they stopped doing the off-leash thing for the dogs and whether there were issues with things being destroyed or if it was just not being utilized the way they had hoped. He stated that the other concerns he had with using a baseball or soccer field, especially in the spring, would be the potential damage to the fields if the dogs were digging, lots of foot traffic, or there was no snow cover. He stated that he was also concerned about possible noise complaints if the City makes a new off-leash park in a location that used to be a playground. He stated that he liked the comment made earlier that dogs are part of people’s families and would like to provide a nice open space for the dogs to be able to play, if the City can find a way to fit it into the park system. Commissioner Hirner explained that his only caution was trying to force a dog park into the west side when it is so close to Minnewashta because he did not think that would make a lot of sense. He stated that he would rather see them take advantage of the nice dog park that is already in place at Minnewashta and look at doing something in Shorewood on the east side. Commissioner Garske stated that he felt that they should add this to their planning meeting for a long-term plan and also for the short-term to loop in back around. He stated that he felt that there was consensus to have more signage and also post things on social media to remind people about the rules about having dogs on a leash. Chair Wenner asked Commissioner DiGruttolo to send the other resources and information she found to Park and Recreation Manager Czech. Mr. Brown stated that he has spoken to residents about a dog park at Freeman Park before and the majority of people have said that even if there was a dog park, people would not want to put their dog there because they like the freedom of being able to have their dogs run around while they walked along the trails. He suggested that before the City actually did anything to find out if people would actually use it. Chair Wenner asked if the City was due for a good, old-fashioned park survey. Park and Recreation Manager Czech noted that would be something that comes with their master planning phase. PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2024 PAGE 6 OF 9 Commissioner Garske reiterated the suggestion to try to find out why Manitou Park in Tonka Bay no longer utilized their hockey rink as a dog park because he felt it may be helpful for the City to know. B. Badger Park Oktoberfest Recap Parks and Recreation Manager Czech gave an overview of the recent Oktoberfest event held at Badger Park. He stated that there were about 200 people who attended and the City got a lot of feedback that people were extremely grateful for the event. He stated that the City hosts this event in partnership with the Excelsior Morning Rotary and the Excelsior American Legion Post 259. He noted that they had an inflatable human foosball that was popular in the past, but this year was the least used, so they may choose to cycle it out in future years but noted that the other inflatables were extremely popular. He explained that the DJ was located in the parking lot, but felt that in future years it may be a good idea to find a way to get the DJ onto the field, if they could get adequate power there. He stated that staff also felt that involving the athletic associations was a great way of increasing exposure and providing additional activities for attendees. He noted that he also felt that there may be the potential for vendor booths in the area, such as a mini car show, a mini farmers market, or family bingo with the Southshore Senior Partners. Commissioner Garske noted that the human foosball was also lightly utilized last year. Chair Wenner suggested that they try to find something that may appeal to the older kids in the 6-12 age range. Park and Recreation Manager Czech stated that to Commissioner Garske’s point, it is probably a good idea to look for inflatables that do not require a lot of people in order to be used, like the human foosball, which essentially needed 8 people. Commissioner DiGruttolo stated that she liked the idea of finding some fall/October-themed activities like bobbing for apples, costume contests, or a yodeling competition. She stated that she thought that Park and Recreation Manager Czech has done a really good job of creatively finding ways to get kids engaged. Park and Recreation Manager Czech noted that he had recently attended that west metro directors meeting and one of the cities had a kids stein holding contest with apple juice, but wasn’t sure about the optics of that type of competition. Commissioner DiGruttolo stated that another good addition may be to have a pumpkin patch where people could get pumpkins or gourds, or have a contest where they could draw on the pumpkins. Commissioner Garske suggested that they may be able to partner with a car dealership that has an electric vehicle that could be used for power for the DJ and they could park on the field with their banner displayed. Park and Recreation Manager Czech stated that sounded like a good sponsorship idea. PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2024 PAGE 7 OF 9 Commissioner Hirner suggested that they also check with the school to find out when Homecoming is scheduled so there aren’t conflicts in the scheduling. Chair Wenner suggested that they could also include a teenage baking contest that matched the theme. 5. OLD BUSINESS A. Approve Smithtown Ponds Feature Naming Parks and Recreation Manager Czech reviewed the discussion at the August Park Commission meeting where they had talked about naming rights for the parcel that was currently known as Smithtown Ponds. He explained that he had spoken with the Schmid family about the desire to remove ‘farm’ from the name and the suggestion to name it ‘Pebble Brook Trail’ with some signage at the trailhead. He stated that the Schmid family was very happy with that idea and felt it would represent their family well. He noted that they were overjoyed with the idea of having some signage that shared some of the history of the property. Commissioner Hirner asked if they were talking about putting a sign on both ends or in just one spot. Parks and Recreation Manager Czech stated that they would just have one sign coming in off of Smithtown Road. Commissioner Hirner moved to recommend approval to the City Council naming the trail on the parcel located at 26245 Smithtown Road as “Pebble Brook Trail”, and place a sign at the trailhead on parcel recognizing “Pebble Brook Trail” as the name. Commissioner DiGruttolo seconded the motion. Motion carried 4-0. 6. STAFF AND LIAISON REPORTS / UPDATES A. City Council City Council Liaison Callies gave a brief overview of recent City Council discussions and actions. B. Staff a. SCEC Update b. IPM Update in November Park and Recreation Manager Czech noted that the IPM update would be on the agenda for next month along with some discussion about natural areas. He suggested that the Commissioners take time to go through the parks and check out the athletic fields and natural areas before next month’s meeting. He noted that Public Works Director Morreim would be in attendance to update the Park Commission on the IPM. He stated that there is an item that is going to the Council regarding some potential staffing resources within the Public Works/Park Maintenance division. He noted that there has also been discussion on the SCEC scheduled and staff was slated to give an update on how the recent pricing change has worked. He explained that they were currently going through a lot of evaluation on the overall rental numbers, what their revenue has PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2024 PAGE 8 OF 9 been in comparison to last year, and gathering other pertinent details of the big picture in order to prepare a more detailed report for the Commission. He explained that this report would most likely come at the end of the year so they would have a full year to compare and reminded the Commission that the City had switched over to the CivicRec software at the beginning of 2024. He stated that they have put together a new rental guide that is more visually appealing and lays things out more clearly which he hopes will also help promote the space. He stated that he would like the City to dive into their current alcohol policy and figure out the parameters because there have been quite a few rentals in the last few months that have caused a lot of staff time to handle. He noted that this would be part of a larger conversation at the City Council retreat to figure out the vision for the building as a whole. Chair Wenner asked about the current alcohol policy. Park and Recreation Manager Czech stated that alcohol is permitted with a Certificate of Insurance and if they are serving for more than 3 hours they need to have a security guard hired at the renters expense. Chair Wenner asked if there had been issues with people getting out of hand. Park and Recreation Manager Czech stated that it was not necessarily with people getting out of hand, but when alcohol is involved, it tends to be a messier clean-up afterward. He stated that it also seemed like the respect for the building was not the highest for those users as well. He explained that the City has a separate full building rental, but when weddings come in and rent the banquet hall, they tend to have the assumption that they have the full building. He stated that he felt that there could be a policy that with a certain number of guests, full building rental would be a requirement. He stated that with the athletic associations, it had been on the work plan to get agreements in place this year and the City had received a template agreement that he had drafted back from the City Attorney and the City’s insurance agent, so he was working on revising and updating that with the athletic associations. He explained that the plan was to have agreements in place with all of the associations moving into 2025. He stated that he had attended the Minnesota Park and Recreation conference about 2 weeks ago and had participated in a few really great sessions and gave a brief overview of some of the ideas that were shared related to community engagement and park planning. Chair Wenner noted that she had never actually seen the athletic association contracts and asked if those would be made available to the Commission. Park and Recreation Manager Czech confirmed that they would be public documents, but they would be more of a City Council document and not one formed by the Commission. He stated that he would plan to include them in the Commission packets as the contracts are finalized. Chair Wenner stated that she would like the Commission to see what Greener Blade has been using on the fields. Park and Recreation Manager Czech stated that he believed that they have a list of what they have applied and when it has been applied that he can include in the next update. Commissioner DiGruttolo asked if that was information that could be put on the website so people knew the days that they will spray and what they would be spraying. PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2024 PAGE 9 OF 9 Park and Recreation Manager Czech stated that he felt that was a great idea and would discuss it with Public Works Director Morreim. Commissioner Hirner asked if there may be a way to coordinate efforts between the MBA and the City so the fields were sprayed on the same day even if they used different companies. Park and Recreation Manager Czech stated that he would check into that possibility. 7. ADJOURN Commissioner Hirner moved to adjourn the Park Commission Meeting of October 8, 2024, at 8:24 p.m. Commissioner Garske seconded the motion. Motion carried 4-0.