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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-17-22-PTRC Minutes CITY OF ARDEN HILLS PARKS, TRAILS AND RECREATION COMMITTEE MEETING TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022, 6:30 PM ARDEN HILLS CITY HALL CALL MEETING TO ORDER Chair Marie Hinton called the May 17, 2022 meeting of the Parks, Trails, and Recreation Committee to order at 6:32 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Marie Hinton, Committee Members Paul Beggin, Dan Dietz, Mark Kelliher, Micah Kiernan (via Facetime), Kerri Seemann and Council Liaison Steve Scott OTHERS PRESENT: Staff Liaison Joe Vaughan, and Public Works Director/City Engineer David Swearingen, Assistant Public Works Director Lucas Miller and Bobby Pop ABSENT: Committee Members Jill Anderson, Micah Kiernan, Suzanne McGaugh, Tim Nelson, and Kristine Poelzer 1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chair Hinton asked to Public Comment to the agenda. A motion was made by Chair Hinton and seconded by Committee Member Beggin to add Public Comment to the agenda. Motion passed unanimously. The agenda was approved as amended by the Committee. PUBLIC COMMENT Bobby Pop wondered if the Committee would consider adding pickleball stripes to the tennis courts at Hazelnut Park. Most people have nets so it is only lines that would need to be added. Council Liaison Scott said there was a City Council Work Session the previous night and one of the discussion items was how to use a donation from the Spring Lake Park Lions Club. He will ask to add pickleball lines to the list. Chair Hinton said she appreciated Mr. Pop coming in and pickleball was on the work plan as something they’d like to see. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen said getting a quote for the work could take a couple of weeks, then it would be brought to a City Council work session for discussion. It could be a couple of months for the whole process to be completed. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes May 17, 2022 Page 2 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. April 19, 2022 PTRC Minutes Committee Member Kelliher felt the minutes were more like a transcript and thought future minutes could be condensed. The Committee approved the minutes. 3. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. Trail Projects Update Assistant Public Works Director Miller said there will be concrete and paving work done over the next week on Snelling Avenue south of County Road E. Lexington Avenue is one lane southbound and closed northbound with a detour, they had utility conflicts and are working on the east half of the road. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen added that there is a feasibility study happening along Old Highway 10 from Lake Valentine Road to Highway 96. Soil borings have been done and a report should be coming in a couple of weeks. Once the feasibility study is done they can work on getting grants for funding the trail. Also, the senior living complex on Park Shore Drive is moving along. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen said the city received $450,000 for Safe Routes to School out of the needed $850,000. They are waiting on response from the bond request. 4. NEW BUSINESS A. PTRC Summer Meetings Chair Hinton reminded the Committee that meetings are to end at 8:00 p.m. and items left on the agenda at that time will be moved to the next meeting’s agenda. In the past, the committee has taken a bus to do park tours, she had done this in her own vehicle. Staff sent a list of trails that were toured in 2016. If they look at trails in June it might be hard to do without a bus, or they could do something similar to last year where they all drove around to different parks. Council Liaison Scott said he wouldn’t anticipate getting a bus this year due to COVID. Committee Member Dietz said last year they started off with a lot of people but lost some at each stop. He felt they couldn’t do many parks this year. Committee Member Beggin felt three parks would have been reasonable last year. Chair Hinton asked if they’d like to discuss which three parks they’d like to go to or do an email survey. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes May 17, 2022 Page 3 Committee Member Kelliher said they could wait until everyone reports what they saw this last month in the parks. A motion was made by Committee Member Beggin and seconded by Committee Member Kelliher to discuss which parks to tour until after the Parks Reports. Chair Hinton said the July meeting is usually skipped and everyone goes to the picnic. The majority of people that responded to her email said they would prefer to have an in-person meeting and go to the picnic if they chose to. Committee Member Beggin felt that when they did the park tour in June, the picnic in July and no meeting in August they really lost momentum. He thought a meeting in July was a good idea. A motion was made by Committee Member Kelliher and seconded by Committee Member Dietz to hold a meeting in July. Motion passed unanimously. Chair Hinton said that for some reason the Committee has always skipped the August meeting. She asked how the committee felt about it. Committee Member Beggin thought it would be a great time to hear about summer programming from staff. A motion was made by Committee Member Kelliher and seconded by Committee Member Dietz to hold a meeting in July. Motion passed unanimously. B. Engagement Plan Chair Hinton said she wanted to discuss how to engage residents. The Communications Coordinator said she is always happy to get content suggestions for the newsletter but there is no guarantee it will make it into the newsletter. Committee Member Beggin suggested the committee members have a set of questions they can use to ask people when they are at the parks and on the trails. He thought they could have four or five questions and answers could go into a central place and talked about at a meeting. Staff Liaison Vaughan said they could make a QR code to put along the trails and in the parks that would take people to the survey when they scanned it with their phone. Committee Member Kelliher thought they should brainstorm on questions people would be receptive to answering. Such as “do you like grass trails vs asphalt trails”. He thought they should generate questions via email. Chair Hinton said she’d like to see this again on the June meeting agenda. Committee Member Beggin suggested asking what trails they use. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes May 17, 2022 Page 4 Staff Liaison Vaughan said he could also put the code at the pavilions and shelters. A motion was made by Committee Member Kelliher and seconded by Committee Member Beggin to brainstorm ideas for questions and discuss them at the next meeting, and to continue to look into QR codes. Motion passed unanimously. C. Recruitment Plan Chair Hinton wanted to discuss current or future ideas for recruiting new members to the committee. She noted ideas were on the memo. Committee Member Beggin said as they are talking to people in the parks they can ask if they have any interest in volunteering or getting involved with PTRC. Committee Member Dietz thought they could come up with a short handout about what is involved in being on the committee. He would come up with a draft. D. Volunteer Update Chair Hinton said she talked with Committee Member Poelzer who has agreed to be the volunteer coordinator liaison between groups and staff, and is already working with five groups. Committee Member Poelzer would like to notify Council Liaison Scott when she gets groups volunteering for tasks so he can tell the rest of the Council. Committee Member Poelzer would like to figure out a gesture of appreciation for volunteers such as an Arden Hills mug because she feels it goes a long way with getting people to return as volunteers and getting more volunteers. Committee Member Poelzer understands she needs to let staff know when groups are working but would anyone from staff be there? Assistant Public Works Director Miller stated the idea of communicating with staff was to make sure they had the supplies they needed for the project. Chair Hinton said Committee Member Poelzer would like to see the volunteer forms updated. Staff Liaison Vaughan explained there were two groups from Boston Scientific, and one from Gradient, one from a church from Washington that will be visiting in July. He wasn’t sure what the other group was. Chair Hinton thanked Committee Member Poelzer for her work thus far. E. Park Reports Chair Hinton reported that the amenities on the list were correct for Arden Manor Park. There are no lids on the trash cans, no nets on the basketball hoops, a large crack in the concrete at the picnic shelter, the playground was in good shape, and there was plenty of mulch. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen noted that park is scheduled for full replacement and a design consultant is working on it now. They are taking soil borings and from Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes May 17, 2022 Page 5 that they will learn if the park can be redone this year or have to wait. There are drainage issues that can be taken care of with the new design. Chair Hinton said the sign on the north side of Crepeau Park has fallen down. There are no lids on the trash cans, parts of the trail could use mulch, there is a wood duck box that has fallen near the north entrance, the benches are dirty, there is a cracked and bent post on the bridge. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen asked that they report items like the bridge and the sign through the request tracker on the City website. Committee Member Kelliher reported that Arden Oaks Park is pristine in just about every way. There was large branch that he brought over by the trash can. There was a slide and a tumbler gym as part of the playground that weren’t on the amenities list, and kid size Tonka toys. Staff Liaison Vaughn thought the Tonka trucks were probably left by the neighborhood daycare. Committee Member Dietz said the roof on the building at Floral Park needs attention, people are driving through the entrance thinking it’s a road, there may need to be a sign. Tennis balls at the Royal Hills tennis court are going under the gates, and there is no bench there. Chair Hinton stated that Committee Member Anderson sent her notes regarding Freeway Park. There is a crack in a swing and garbage cans don’t have lids. Committee Member Kiernan said Hazelnut Park had been re-mulched around the playground and swings, everything seemed to be in good condition. The tennis court has been used for pickleball. There is some graffiti on the benches and inside the slide on the playground. There were limbs and branches down but he’s had help throwing them into the woods. Trash can covers are working out well. The park is well used, including the baseball field, but there are quite a few weeds along the dugout and around the tennis court. There is no lock where the bases are stored and they get thrown around the playground. Committee Member Seemann added that she has been pulling garlic mustard in Hazelnut Park. She looked at five parks and found garlic mustard in four of them. Chair Hinton stated that Ingerson Park has a picnic table that needs painting, there was trash blown around and graffiti in the bathroom enclosure, and the basketball court is starting to get pitted. Chair Hinton said that Committee Member Anderson found nothing to note at Johanna Marsh. Committee Member Kelliher said Lindey’s Park has 3 benches that can get listed as amenities. Perry Park has one hockey rink with lights and a port-a-potty. The permanent restrooms were locked. Staff Liaison Vaughan said the port-a-potty is there year-round and the restrooms are locked unless the pavilion is rented. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes May 17, 2022 Page 6 Committee Member Kelliher thought the soccer field listed as an amenity should be deleted, but there were 3 baseball fields. Chair Hinton reported on behalf of Committee Member Poelzer that Sampson Park was mostly in good condition. There was a dead tree branch hanging over a parking space that should be removed. There are some cracks on the playset exposing metal that need repair, some of the wood beams surrounding the swings are rotting and have rusted nails exposed, some trees need branches trimmed. Triangle Park looked to be in good condition. Committee Member Beggin reported that there were tracks across the basketball court, but it has since been cleaned off. There is a six-inch square spot that is down to the dirt by the basketball hoop. Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen said that spot had been repaired last year but popped up again over the winter. They will figure out a better fix. Committee Member Beggin said people have asked if they can bring their rakes for woodchips. There were some people throwing javelins but stopped when he got there. Committee Member Kelliher commented that he heard Royal Hills, Floral, Freeway Park, Crepeau, Sampson and Valentine all have issues that might be worth the visit at the June meeting. Committee Member Beggin suggested taking Valentine off the list. After further discussion it was decided they would visit Floral, Hazelnut and Sampson Parks. A motion was made by Committee Member Kelliher and seconded by Committee Member Dietz to visit Floral Park, Hazelnut Park and Sampson Park at the June meeting. Motion passed unanimously. F. New Member Appointment Staff Liaison Vaughan swore in new committee member Kerri Seemann. 5. REPORTS Public Works Director/City Engineer Swearingen explained that the existing timber style signs at the parks are aging and as they need repair or paint they are being replaced with composite signs that are maintenance free. Staff Liaison Vaughan added the Touch a Truck event will be at Perry Park on Saturday. Arden Hills Public Works, Lake Johanna Fire, Ramsey County Sheriff, Allina Health, and the National Guard will be bringing vehicles from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Staff Liaison Vaughan noted he will edit the fall recreation guide in June and July so if they have any ideas for recreation programs they should bring them to the June meeting or email him. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes May 17, 2022 Page 7 Summer youth leagues are full and will be starting the first week of June, playground registration is going well but he needs staff. 6. NEXT MEETING The next PTRC Committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 21, 2022 starting at Hazelnut Park, followed by Sampson and Floral Parks. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 7:57 p.m.