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08.26.2025 Park Commission Meeting Minutes CITY OF SHOREWOOD 5755 COUNTRY CLUB RD PARK COMMISSION MEETING SHOREWOOD CITY HALL TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2025 7:00 P.M. MINUTES 1. CONVENE PARK COMMISSION MEETING Chair Hirner convened the meeting at 7:00 p.m. A. Roll Call Present: Chair Hirner, Commissioners Wenner, Garske, Bahneman, and Sylvester; and Parks and Recreation Director Czech Absent: None B. Review Agenda Commissioner Wenner moved to approve the agenda, as written. Commissioner Garske seconded the motion. Motion carried 5-0. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Park Commission Meeting Minutes of July 22, 2025 Commissioner Wenner noted a change needed on page 5 to clarify that Councilmember Sanschagrin was referring to the Minnewashta Elementary School fields not being included. Commissioner Garske moved to approve the minutes of the July 22, 2025, meeting as amended. Commissioner Bahneman seconded the motion. Motion carried 5-0. 3. MATTERS FROM THE FLOOR There were none. 4. GENERAL BUSINESS A. Parks Master Plan Update Parks and Recreation Director Czech stated that they are currently in Task 3, which was the community needs assessment, and noted this relied heavily on community input and engagement. He explained that the master plan survey was scheduled to close on August 14, 2025, but the project team has decided to extend the deadline through the end of the month to try to get as much community input as possible. He noted that so far they have gotten 173 responses and asked the Commission to encourage people to participate in the survey, and explained that their goal is to get closer to 300 responses. He stated that stakeholder sessions were held on August 15, 2025, and believes that overall, there was good input provided. He gave a brief overview of some of the other public engagement efforts that were taking place to try to get input from residents. He stated that they were planning a public engagement event on September 27, 2025, at Oktoberfest, but the consultant would not be able to attend. He stated that they would prepare all the information and asked that the Commission consider manning the PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2025 PAGE 2 OF 5 table during Oktoberfest. He shared a rough draft of the kind of information and data that would be presented to the City by the consultant upon the completion of their work. He noted that the Commission had past discussions about the concept of holding an Open House on this topic and asked if that was something the Commission still wanted to do, but cautioned that the consultant would not be in attendance because it had not been included in their contract. Commissioner Wenner asked if there were any Facebook groups that the City could reach out to regarding the survey, such as parent or park groups. Park and Recreation Director Czech stated that he was not aware of any groups. Commissioner Wenner asked if the Commission was still supposed to do self-guided Park Tour questionnaires. Park and Recreation Director Czech stated that they would welcome whatever feedback they could get and asked them to get this turned in as soon as possible. Commissioner Sylvester stated that after they have the draft plan, she would like to see residents have the opportunity to provide a reaction to the draft, but expressed concern that the overall timeline may be too tight for that. The Commission discussed the timeline and deadline for a recommendation to the Council and possible ways to hold an Open House as more of a Work Session meeting, once they received the preliminary Parks Master Plan, to get input from the public. They discussed possible meeting dates for an Open House without the project schedule. Parks and Recreation Director Czech asked the Commission to check their calendars and let him know if they would be able to help with public engagement at Oktoberfest. Commissioner Garske stated that something he would like to see included in what was being asked of the residents was whether an activity was something they already did, and how often they believed they would use this amenity. He explained that he was specifically thinking about pickleball, where it would be helpful to have this information to quantify some of the feedback they get. He stated that he would also like to get feedback from younger parents and suggested that they may want to bring the boards out to the park playgrounds to try to get this information while they are using the park. B. Concert in the Park Recap Parks and Recreation Director Czech gave an update on the Concert in the Park event that took place on July 17, 2025, at Freeman Park, which was sponsored by Midco. He noted that the estimated attendance for the event was around 175 people, which was similar to last year. He explained that they were not able to get an additional food truck to be able to serve a main course option, so they only had ice cream available. He noted that they have been having trouble finding food trucks that meet the requirements of the Excelsior Fire District, and if they meet the requirements, they have wanted to charge the City a fee. He stated that he found it interesting to see how many people walked or rode their bikes to the event instead of driving. PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2025 PAGE 3 OF 5 Chair Hirner asked if the food trucks may be a , and noted that there may also be an option for sponsorship for the opening band. Commissioner Wenner noted that she had gotten some feedback from residents that they wanted to see the City have more concerts in the parks. C. Safety Camp Recap Parks and Recreation Director Czech gave an overview of the traditional Safety Camp that was conducted in partnership with the South Lake Minnetonka Police Department (SLMPD). He noted despite the City trying new things as a way to increase registration numbers. He stated that they were exploring potential partnerships for future Safety Camps with local organizations, such as Community Education, for some increased promotion. He encouraged the Commission to share their ideas and thoughts on the event and ways to get increased registration numbers. Commissioner Garske stated that one thing that may have sunk things this year was the changes within the Explorer Program at the Minnetonka schools. Commissioner Sylvester stated that she believed that the Safety Camp needed a rebranding because there are a lot of fun camps available, She stated that it may have also been a challenge because it was held on Wednesday, which may not have agreed with the other partial camp options available. She suggested that the City may want to look at aligning it with the schedule of, for example, Three Rivers Parks, and put it in as a gap filler with a rebranded, more fun name. Commissioner Garske suggested that they could also try to pair it with a holiday weekend. Chair Hirner suggested targeting the week after school gets out, when parents may be looking for things for their kids to do before the camps begin, as an entry into the summer. He stated that this may also allow for the event to be advertised within the school system. D. Memorial Bench Program Parks and Recreation Director Czech explained that there had been several requests that had come in recently from people interested in donating a bench in honor of family members. He explained that right now, the City did not have a formal process for this type of donation, and there was also not a lot of clarity related to things like costs. He stated that staff would like to get a formal program in place to streamline the overall process and were looking for input from the Commission to see if they supported developing a formal process, including having pre-approved locations where benches could be put. He noted that one of their other ideas was to have a tree donation option as part of the memorial program, where they could have a plaque placed next to the tree. He explained that if the Commission approved of this idea, staff would develop formal materials and bring them back to a future meeting for consideration. He stated that there is someone currently interested in placing a memorial bench at Freeman Park near Eddy Station and pointed out the general area they were interested in. Commissioner Wenner stated that she thought this was a great idea and would wholeheartedly support both a bench and tree memorial donation option for residents. She stated that she thought PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2025 PAGE 4 OF 5 the proposed location for the recent request at Freeman Park would be a good location for a bench. The Commission discussed their support of the memorial tree and bench program as described, questions about long term maintenance, things to included within the formal guidelines, ways to address specific placement requests to ensure they were placed logically, the possibility of having the consultants provide feedback on recommended bench placement as part of the Parks Master Plan, and the feeling that having a consistent process in place would be helpful. Commissioner Bahneman moved to recommend approval to proceed with the development of a formal memorial tree and/or bench program. Commissioner Wenner seconded the motion. Motion carried 5-0. 5. REPORTS / UPDATES A. City Council Parks and Recreation Director Czech reviewed some of the recent Council discussions related to the proposed 2026 budget. B. Staff Parks and Recreation Director Czech stated that there were about 75 people in attendance for the Movie in the Park event last week, but noted that this year's crowd seemed to be a bit younger than last year's. He reviewed some of the extra things they had available, such as a lei-making station, temporary tattoos, and popsicles for kids. He noted that he would give the Commission a full breakdown and recap at the next meeting. He explained that Excelsior had done a movie He noted that he had discussed -off event. He stated that the , but he had not gotten much information from the Commission. He encouraged the Commission, if they had a chance, to go out and check out the parks and get that feedback to him. He noted that the City had partnered with Hennepin County on some emerald ash borer tree removal within Freeman Park and believed that this would continue over the next year or two. He stated that the City met with Minnetonka Baseball a few weeks ago about the fence issues on Field 1 at Freeman Park, and they will be replacing the entire fence in early October and their own expense. He stated that the City had put out an RFP for the facilities study and task force facilitation for the SCEC, and they received 2 responses. C. Commission Commissioner Sylvester stated that she works with the Recycling Committee and shared that there are organics drop-off locations at Southshore and Freeman Park. She stated that the Committee was working on developing an event near Halloween for folks to bring pumpkins back as a way to promote organic recycling. She explained that the Recycling Committee was interested to see if the Parks Commission might want to engage in this event somehow. She noted that they wanted to make it a larger event than just telling people to come drop off their pumpkins, such as having a pumpkin bowling or a pumpkin slingshot. She stated that their idea was to find a way to make it fun and more family-oriented. PARK COMMISSION MINUTES TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2025 PAGE 5 OF 5 Commissioner Wenner stated that she felt this was a great idea and would like to see the City do more things like this for community outreach. She joked that she would vote for a trebuchet so people could launch their pumpkins. Chair Hirner stated that he liked the overall idea and asked Parks and Recreation Director Czech if this would be a good fit. Parks and Recreation Director Czech stated that he could discuss this with Recycling and Communications Coordinator Wilson, but noted that he may not have a lot of time to assist with planning a larger event this year because of the work being done on the Parks Master Plan. He stated that there still may be a way for the Parks Commission to add to a larger event this year, if the Recycling Committee could lead the charge. The Commission expressed its overall support for the event proposed by the Recycling Committee. Parks and Recreation Director Czech stated that he would talk to Recycling and Communications Coordinator Wilson about the event and put this item on a future Park Commission agenda. He encouraged the Commission to begin brainstorming ideas for discussion. Commissioner Wenner stated that she had attended a conference a few weeks ago and met someone who was involved with the University of Minnesota Turf Grass Science Department. She stated that she learned a lot of cool things from her and explained that they were pushing some potential lawn alternative plantings. She stated that she had forwarded this information to Parks and Recreation Director Czech and Public Works Director Morreim. Commissioner Garske suggested that for future events, such as Movie in the Park, the City consider scheduling them mid-week rather than towards the weekend. 7. ADJOURN Commissioner Garske moved to adjourn the Park Commission Meeting of August 26, 2025, at 8:25 P.M. Commissioner Wenner seconded the motion. Motion carried 5-0.