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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-26-13 PTRC Minutes CITY OF ARDEN HILLS PARKS, TRAILS AND RECREATION COMMITTEE MEETING TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2013 ARDEN HILLS CITY HALL CALL MEETING TO ORDER Chair O’Malley called the February 26, 2013, meeting of the Parks, Trails, and Recreation Committee to order at 6:30 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Committee Chair Nancy O’Malley, Committee Members Phil Kramlinger, Jane Larson (arrived at 6:35 p.m.), Don Messerly, Chuck Michaelson, Harold Petersen, Steve Scott, Rich Straumann, Matt Trites (arrived at 7:00 p.m.), and John Van Valkenburg. OTHERS PRESENT: Parks and Recreation Manager Michelle Olson, Council Liaison Fran Holmes and Guest Charles Kachel. ABSENT: Committee Member Cindy Garretson (excused) and Committee Member John Peck (excused). 1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Committee Member Messerly motioned to approve the agenda seconded by Committee Member Michaelson. The motion carried unanimously (8-0). 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – January 8, 2013 MOTION: Committee Member Messerly motioned to approve the January 8, 2013, minutes as presented, seconded by Committee Member Peterson. The motion carried unanimously (8-0). 3. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. Trail Priority Discussion Ms. Olson indicated that she has included a future trail listing map and has revised the map and listing with the changes that were discussed at the January meeting. She indicated she did check with Public Works Director Maurer about restriping north Snelling Avenue (96 to Briarknoll) instead of having a trail. Mr. Maurer indicated it is not recommended since the segment is not wide enough. Discussion ensued and it was the consensus of the committee to take off “restriping” and to move this segment to low priority and also to move segments N, C, and C1 to high priority. Committee Member Kramlinger indicated the segments with safety concerns are the ones that should be high priority and felt those should also be ranked in order (i.e., I as #1and then E as #2, etc.). After further discussion the committee decided to only rank the two highest priorities. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes February 26, 2013 Page 2 B. Joint Council/PTRC Meeting Presentation Ms. Olson reported that she has put together a draft presentation based on comments and discussion from the January PTRC meeting. She also informed that the Joint Council meeting date has been changed to Monday, March 18, at 6:00. She would like the committee to review and make changes to the attached draft presentation for the Joint Council meeting. Ms. Olson proposed Chair O’Malley start the presentation with the mission and purpose of the PTRC, the goals, and then the community involvement slide. Ms. Olson recapped that at the last meeting they had talked about getting input from Council on how to get more community involvement and suggested they ask Council if they would like the PTRC to do a survey. Discussion then ensued on the priorities and who would be responsible for presenting each topic at the Joint Council meeting. The consensus of the PTRC was to have Trail st Development as the 1 priority with Committee Member Straumann presenting, the ndrd Freeway Park Enhancements as the 2 priority, the Hazelnut Park Pavilion as the 3 th priority, and the Off-Leash Dog Park as the 4 priority with Committee Member Michaelson presenting. The committee was also in agreement to take Buckthorn Eradication off the list of priorities and to move the Accessibility goal under the general goals category. Ms. Olson asked Mr. Straumann if he wanted an additional slide to talk about Ramsey County. Committee Member Straumann indicated he felt they could talk about things that were done and what still needs to be done. Ms. Olson indicated she would go ahead and draft a slide and e-mail it to him for review. It was also the consensus of the committee to insert a trail map before Committee Member Straumann’s slide. Ms. Olson indicated that for the Freeway Park slide she suggested enhancements based on discussions the PTRC had. The estimated cost for these enhancements came to approximately $66,000 including labor. Chair O’Malley suggested researching the idea of advertising on the boards to generate money for the parks. Ms. Holmes indicated she felt this idea was worth bringing to Council. Committee Member Scott volunteered to present the Freeway Park Enhancement segment of the presentation. Ms. Olson proposed the PTRC ask Council’s opinion on whether they would like the PTRC to explore putting a new picnic shelter at Hazelnut Park that would include flush toilets. Ms. Olson indicated the reasons discussed at our previous meeting, that Hazelnut is one of the City’s tier 1 parks, it is regularly used for sporting events, water hook up had been done when the irrigation system was put in which would make plumbing hook up easier, and parking is available. Committee Member Trite indicated he could present this portion of the presentation. Ms. Olson indicated she could send the presentation in note version and everyone could make their own notes in the notes area of the slides. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes February 26, 2013 Page 3 Ms. Olson then reviewed the fourth priority, the Off-Leash Dog Park. Committee Member Michaelson indicated he has gone to Shoreview to find out what costs are involved with the off-leash dog park and any complaints they have had. Committee Member Michaelson indicated the only complaint they have had is folks would like to have the park set up so they can have small and large dogs all together and that they would like to have the park open longer during the year. Committee Member Straumann suggested they try to obtain the triangle property on Sunfish Lake from the National Guard for an off-leash dog park. Ms. Olson indicated that this property belonged to the National Guard and/or Army and would be difficult to obtain. She suggested the PTRC bring this up to Council if they feel this is something they would like a report on. Ms. Olson asked if there was anything else that should be added to the presentation. Ms. O’Malley questioned if they had not talked about trying to increase handicap accessibility. Ms. Olson indicated that this was part of the work plan and something they will be looking at on a regular basis. She indicated the City is ADA compliant in regards to the playgrounds and will soon be removing the existing gates for the trails. Committee Member Larson suggested they have a checklist when they do the parks/trail walk through and volunteered to work on creating such a list. C. Other Unfinished Business Ms. Olson introduced new Committee Member Matt Trites. 4. NEW BUSINESS None 5. REPORTS A. City Council Report Council Liaison Holmes informed that the County is getting ready to purchase the TCAAP property and that there will be a Joint Development Authority (JDA). The members of the Joint Development Authority are Mayor Grant and Councilmember Holden and Ramsey County Commissioners Rafael Ortega and Blake Huffman. The City appointed David Sands as the Chair of the JDA as it was felt he would be a good choice having Chaired the Planning Commission. Ms. Holmes indicated the first meeting is scheduled for tomorrow night, February 27, at 6:30 at City Hall. The JDA will start planning for the development of TCAAP. Ms. Holmes also informed the City had to do an AUAR which is an environmental study of how the development of TCAAP will affect not only the TCAAP land but the surrounding land (traffic and environmental) and then the City will also need to revamp the Master Plan that was prepared 5 years ago. Ms. Holmes mentioned that bids for the project are due sometime in March and that Representatives Bev Scalze and Barb Yarusso are working with the County to look at road improvements to get traffic up to TCAAP and to determine access points to the TCAAP property. Ms. Holmes informed that Blue Fox will be closing. John Roberts, who owns the industrial property behind Blue Fox, is purchasing the building and will be tearing it down in order to build a small strip mall. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes February 26, 2013 Page 4 Council Liaison Holmes mentioned that the microbrewery is still planning on going in at 1160 Red Fox Road. Ms. Holmes informed that signs have been erected for the East Street Flats which was the old Holiday Inn site. They will have studio and 1-4 bedroom apartments and the retailer that will be going in there is Now Bikes. Now Bikes is currently located in Shannon Square but they feel they will have more visibility at the East Street Flats location. She mentioned the City is still trying to find something for the Carroll’s Furniture building. Ms. Holmes stated that Hwy 10 and 96 will be closing in May. Construction work will start March 25 or 26, the streets will close in May, and in August construction will be complete enough so vehicles can travel west on Hwy 96 and turn up 10. The entire construction will be completed by mid-November. Ms. Holmes mentioned that the triangle parcel by Presbyterian Homes has finally been cleaned up and the City is now in the process of determing what they are going to do with that parcel and will be placing a gateway sign at the location. Ms. Holmes informed that in lieu of “Celebrating Arden Hills” Council is looking at having an ice cream social in conjunction with the opening of Valentine Park at the end of June. The event may include music and some other activities. B. Public Works/Parks & Recreation Report Parks and Recreation Manager Olson informed that the ice rinks officially closed on Sunday, February 24, and that they were actually open a week longer than scheduled. The rinks will still be available for use, but the City will not be maintaining them. Ms. Olson indicated she will bring rink use statistics to the next meeting. Ms. Olson explained that with the new website there is an Agenda Center which allows staff to do the agendas electronically. Ms. Olson indicated that if anyone prefers not to receive the paper version of the packet to let her know. She informed that she will continue sending out an e-mail with the link to the packet. Ms. Olson mentioned that she has provided a year end recreation report and that the programs highlighted in yellow are those that are in joint cooperation with Shoreview or another city. The statistics show enrollment was up from the previous year. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes February 26, 2013 Page 5 C. Ramsey County Parks and Recreation Report rd Committee Member Straumann reported that he attended the 3 Annual Minnesota Bike Summit. He mentioned that James Oberstar was in attendance and that he talked about Safe Routes to School. Also promoted was Safe Routes to School from Minnesota funds since Federal funds cannot be used for Safe Routes to School for high schools. Work is also being done on getting funding for the bridge over 35W and 96. Mr. Straumann also reported that Ramsey County is doing some things regarding buckthorn control and will be providing more information on that in the future. He also informed he is now on the Board of the Friends of Ramsey County Parks and Trails and there is a brochure included where one can donate a tree to a park. He also reported that a Community Center/ Armory is being proposed between the Public Works building and the National Guard property. It was questioned whether the City actually would be contributing to the Community Center. Council Liaison Holmes indicated she thought what had been decided was that the City would not contribute the 25 percent but would remain involved so that the City could make some of the amenities, like the gym and exercise equipment, available to the community. Ms. Olson indicated she would do some checking into the current status of this, but also felt the City was not contributing. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Committee Member Scott moved to adjourn at 8:07 p.m., seconded by Committee Member Michaelson. The motion carried unanimously (10-0). NEXT MEETING The next meeting is scheduled for March 18, 2013 at 6:00 p.m.