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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-21-23-PTRC Minutes CITY OF ARDEN HILLS PARKS, TRAILS AND RECREATION COMMITTEE MEETING TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2023, 6:30 PM ARDEN HILLS CITY HALL CALL MEETING TO ORDER Committee Member Kate Olson called the March 21, 2023 meeting of the Parks, Trails, and Recreation Committee to order at 6:30 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Committee Members Kate Olson, Nancy Jacobson, Kristine Poelzer, Jill Anderson, Mark Kelliher, Kerri Seemann, Emelia Rogers, Dan Dietz, and Lacey Loosbrock OTHERS PRESENT: Assistant Public Works Director Lucas Miller, Recreation Supervisor Matt Johnson, Council Liaison Emily Rousseau ABSENT: Chair Marie Hinton, Committee Member Tim Nelson 1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Committee Member Kelliher asked to add a New Business item regarding the Mounds View school district brochure. A motion was made by Committee Member Kelliher and seconded by Committee Member Poelzer to add Mounds View Community Education brochure to New Business. Motion passed unanimously. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. February 28, 2023 PTRC Minutes A motion was made by Committee Member Dietz and seconded by Committee Member Poelzer to approve the minutes. Motion passed unanimously. 3. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. Parks, Trails and Recreation Committee Goals for 2023 Assistant Public Works Director Miller stated that Chair Hinton wanted more input from the Committee, the goals will eventually be presented to the City Council. Committee Member Olson read the Trails goals. Discussion ensued regarding a priority list versus the goal list. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes March 21, 2023 Page 2 Committee Member Loosbrock requested an updated trail map without the proposed/upcoming trails shown, only existing trails. Assistant Public Works Director Miller proposed making one of the goals to support a more detailed or interactive trail map. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said they hope to have a removable trails map in an upcoming activity guide, along with parks and amenities. Discussion continued regarding trails maps. Committee Member Poelzer thought the term database wasn’t necessarily correct for trail improvements and parks. She thought it was probably more like a calendar or schedule. Assistant Public Works Director Miller stated the project pages on the website get updated as projects move forward. Committee Member Poelzer suggested a list of trail and park improvements could be added to the website for each upcoming year. Committee Member Anderson thought a goal could be to help create a better system for community members to get information regarding planned improvement projects, possibly changing “database” to “schedule”. Assistant Public Works Director Miller said Arden Manor and Floral parks do have their own page on the website now. Committee Member Kelliher said that last year he went through the budget and put together a park by park list of what the scheduled park improvements were and for what year they were planned. He felt that was what they were asking for. Assistant Public Works Director Miller stated there is a hard court and play structure list of projects that are in rotation, it is being adjusted and improved. Committee Member Kelliher suggested a description and future view of each park on the website. Assistant Public Works Director Miller explained that they just finished a 30-year projection of street project rotation, they will similarly do the same for sanitary, water and storm sewer, and parks. The streets projection took about three years to put together. Once done it would get put online. In general there is a street project every other year and on the odd year there would be a park project. Committee Member Kelliher thought the second bullet point should be listed under Habitat restoration/plants instead of Parks. Committee Member Olson read the Habitat restoration/plants goals. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes March 21, 2023 Page 3 Committee Member Poelzer said the goal of letting the whole city know about volunteer opportunities is moving forward in 2023. Committee Member Olson read the Community and Rec & Events goals. Committee Member Poelzer noted they have talked about having a magician, dances and music at the parks, or a free fun day. Committee Member Olson said it would be nice if there was something more to picture day at soccer and baseball. Committee Member Olson read the Volunteer Opportunities. B. GreenStep Cities Program Committee Member Olson read the information provided by City Administrator Dave Perrault. Committee Member Kelliher asked what their involvement would need to be to get to the next step. He thought a recognition thing versus a funding opportunity had a different feel to it. What would be the benefit of going to Step 3? Council Liaison Rousseau stated this was talked about at the Council work session, they discussed putting the conversation on hold until after the LMC conference in June. There was discussion about hiring an intern to work on GreenStep or climate action next year. It sounded as though we submitted for a number of things that if they had been submitted separately would have put us at a higher step, so it might be interesting to see what was actually submitted. Committee Member Kelliher asked what were the benefits of having a higher designation in the GreenSteps program. Committee Member Poelzer said some people actually look at things like this when deciding where to live, and it goes along with the City Vision. Committee Member Kelliher asked if Committee Member Seemann could lay out her vision and what she’d be advocating for. Committee Member Seemann said invasive species management was her first concern. Raising chickens has been facilitated so she felt we should get recognition for that. She is intrigued with the concept of community food forests, and support and protecting wildlife. Committee Member Kelliher asked if she was thinking to use the program as a blue print but not necessarily get a higher designation. Committee Member Seemann replied that was correct. Committee Member Anderson wondered how No Mow May fit into the program as the City is moving forward with that. She felt they could take advantage of the fact that it is happening already. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes March 21, 2023 Page 4 Committee Member Olson suggested adding another item to the goal list for GreenStep with bullet points from the best practices list. Discussion ensued regarding which best practices have been done and which they would add to the list of goals. C. Nametags, Vests and Locks Update Name tags were distributed to committee members. Committee Member Poelzer suggested members wear the name tags when they are in the public volunteering. Recreation Supervisor Johnson reported that they would have two different colors of vests, PTRC members would be able to keep their vests and other volunteers would get the other color to use during the day they are volunteering. Committee Member Poelzer said she talked with someone at Twin City Hardware about electronic restroom door locks that could be set on a timer. She will be meeting with him at Perry Park to look at the doors. Committee Member Rogers said New Brighton is adding a lock system to a couple of their parks. Council Liaison Rousseau suggested they add electronic restroom locks to their goals. Recreation Supervisor Johnson encouraged the committee to volunteer at the Spring Egg Hunt. D. Triangle Park Update Assistant Public Works Director Miller stated that Met Council has confirmed that a Comp Plan amendment wouldn’t be needed to designate Triangle Park as an official city park and it could be brought forward to the City Council for approval. Committee Member Poelzer explained where Triangle Park is located and that there is a chess table that they want to have listed as an amenity. She’d like to see more of them installed at the park. A motion was made by Committee Member Kelliher and seconded by Committee Member Poelzer to recommend to the City Council to name the park Triangle Park. Motion passed unanimously. Discussion took place regarding how to bring the request to the City Council. It was decided to bring it to a Council work session when they present the PTRC work plan. E. Trail and Parks Projects Update Assistant Public Works Director Miller gave updates on: Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes March 21, 2023 Page 5 • The Floral and Arden Manor Park Conceptual Layouts were in the packet as requested. • 2023 Tree Plan Project Suggested Locations: o Hazelnut at old tree locations o Highway 96 Committee Member Dietz asked about the possible water source at Floral Park. Assistant Public Works Director Miller stated well pricing came in very high, the only other option would be to pull from the water main at the street and it isn’t being pursued at this time. Assistant Public Works Director Miller said the same concrete structure will be used for the new shade structure but it will be shifted away from the trail to allow for plow trucks. Assistant Public Works Director Miller also noted that 29 new trees will be installed along Highway 96. There is enough left in the budget for approximately 14 more trees to be placed somewhere in the City. 4. NEW BUSINESS A. Mounds View Community Education Brochure Committee Member Kelliher asked if staff has considered partnering with the Mounds View Public School District to advertise some of the recreation activities. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said they do team up with them for things for example the track program, along with other cities. He didn’t see a problem working with them. Committee Member Rogers said for her the issue is keeping track of what activity is being offered where; parks and rec, community ed, city or county. 5. REPORTS A. Council Liaison Update Council Liaison Rousseau said she sees her role as communicating between the committee and Council. She wants to provide information about what the Council is doing, and she likes documentation. Committee Member Poelzer said she thought anything they passed a motion on would be reported by the liaison to the Council, but that hadn’t been happening. Council Liaison Rousseau said she would be reporting some information at the end of the work sessions but it might be good to have members come to present about key areas. Committee Member Kelliher wondered if some the recommendations could be handled by staff. Council Liaison Rousseau said the Council provides direction at work sessions after discussion. She thought the level that advisory committee recommendations would be taken depends on the Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes March 21, 2023 Page 6 individual Council members. She suggested at the end of each item they could determine who would take the next steps on it. Council Liaison Rousseau reported that a park maintenance plan and trail maintenance policy was presented at the last City Council work session. Also, funding was discussed for the Old Snelling trail from Lake Valentine Road to Highway 96, and the Lake Johanna Boulevard trail. They were interested in feedback from the PTRC. A motion was made by Committee Member Poelzer and seconded by Committee Member Kelliher that the City should apply for any grants that are available. Motion passed unanimously. Council Liaison Rousseau said there was a open position with the Met Council Parks and Open Spaces committee. 6. NEXT MEETING B. Tuesday, April 18, 2023 The next PTRC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 18, 2023. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.