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Arden Hills Service Directory 1245 West Highway 96 Arden Hills, MN 55112-5734 Office Hours Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m.—4:30 p.m. 651-792-7800 www.cityofardenhills.org Sheriff and Fire 911 Water and Sewer Problems (During non-business hours) 651-767-0640 Mayor: David Grant 651-538-0747 dgrant@cityofardenhills.org Councilmembers: Brenda Holden 651-636-2987 bholden@cityofardenhills.org Fran Holmes 651-631-1866 fholmes@cityofardenhills.org Dave McClung 651-332-0352 davemcclung@comcast.net Acting City Administrator: Sue Iverson 651-792-7816 siverson@cityofardenhills.org Communications Committee Editors/writers: Susan Cathey, Tina Kulzer Writer: Emma Theis Council Liaison: David Grant Staff Liaison: Amy Dietl Desktop Publisher: Mary Nosek Council meetings are held at City Hall on the second and last Monday of the month at 7 p.m. Meetings are televised live on Cable Channel 16. Meetings of the Planning Commission are televised as well. Visit www.cityofardenhills.org for information about taped meeting playbacks. Arden Hills Notes is the official news- letter of the City of Arden Hills, an equal-opportunity employer. 2 City Park Profiles--a series Arden Manor Park 4601 Prior Avenue by Tina Kulzer Arden Manor Park is a well-appointed, 2.5-acre park situated in the manufactured home community of Arden Manor, located north of Highway 96 between Highway 10 and I-35W. The City of Arden Hills did not initially have ownership rights in Arden Manor Park. As the manufactured home community is privately owned, the City was granted an approximately 3.61-acre easement in 1975 to construct, provide, and maintain park amenities for the residents. The City’s Parks and Recre- ation Committee recognized that residents of Arden Manor – a community bound in all directions by highways and interstate roads – did not have a safe or direct link to any of the other City parks. The committee believed that Arden Manor residents needed a park facility that was easily accessible within their community. However, poor soil quality, heaving during spring thaws, and ongoing drainage problems that caused significant flooding of the recreation areas in Arden Manor Park resulted in “the most primitive and underutilized park facilities to use,” according to Parks and Rec- reation Department notes from 2000. A critical redevelopment begins In 1999, the Parks and Recreation Committee sent a survey to residents of Arden Manor and held a community meeting to solicit their feedback on planned improvements at Arden Manor Park. Due to the extensive amount of drainage work and soil replacement that had to be com- pleted to make the acreage suitable for the plan concept – as well as challenges experi- enced as the City and the property owner negotiated the particulars of financing these improvements – the scope of the project was somewhat limited. In the end, existing amenities (picnic shelter, tennis and basketball hard court surfaces, and play structure) were removed. Grading work was done; basketball court surfacing and painting was completed; and a new concrete pad, park shelter, and playground equipment were relocated and installed in 1999 and 2000. Another outcome of this redevelopment was that the nature of the City’s role in the park changed: in 2000, the property owners con- veyed fee title of the easement property (on which Arden Manor Park is located) to the City. As a result of this donation, the City of Arden Hills became the owner of Arden Manor Park. Arden Manor Park today The amenities at Arden Manor Park are located close together within the park space, maxi- mizing their usage and ensuring safe ingress and egress for park users. The park features a large, mulched playground area, neatly bound by a railroad tie enclosure. A fully fenced-in, full-court basketball court and a park pavilion are available for residents, as well as a large continued on page 3