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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-16-23-PTRC Minutes CITY OF ARDEN HILLS PARKS, TRAILS AND RECREATION COMMITTEE MEETING TUESDAY, MAY 16, 2023, 6:30 PM ARDEN HILLS CITY HALL CALL MEETING TO ORDER Committee Chair Marie Hinton called the May 16, 2023 meeting of the Parks, Trails, and Recreation Committee to order at 6:30 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Marie Hinton, Committee Members Nancy Jacobson, Dan Dietz, Mark Kelliher, Kerri Seemann, Emelia Rogers, Lacy Loosbrock and Kristine Poelzer OTHERS PRESENT: Assistant Public Works Director Lucas Miller, Council Liaison Emily Rousseau and Boy Scout Griffin Boldt ABSENT: Committee Members Jill Anderson, Timothy Nelson, and Kate Olson 1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Assistant Public Works Director Miller requested to add Color Choices for Playground Equipment and Shelters for Floral Park and Arden Manor Park, and Perry Dog Park Agility Equipment. A motion was made by Committee Member Kelliher and seconded by Committee Member Dietz to approve the agenda as amended. Motion passed unanimously. 2. PUBLIC PRESENTATION A. Griffin Boldt’s Eagle Project – Bee Houses Mr. Boldt stated he was building bee houses for leafcutter and mason bees as an Eagle Scout project. He demonstrated how to clean the bee houses. He’d like to put bee houses on posts near gardens in some of the Arden Hills parks and wanted to know where they’d like to see them placed. Committee Member Kelliher asked if he was budgeted for the project and how many houses would he like to construct. Mr. Boldt said he would be fundraising and some from his own pocket, and he’d like to build eight to ten houses. They are about one foot cubed. He said scouts in his troop and other troops are always looking for service hours and could be used to clean the houses each year. He could incorporate cleaning instructions so anyone could do it. He would build them out of pine and have a roof, he will look for post material. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes May 16, 2023 Page 2 Mr. Kelliher asked if there would be any finish to the house or roof. Mr. Boldt said he could possibly finish the roof, but they have to be selective about what they do to the house so the bees will nest in it. For now he is working on his proposal to the Boy Scout district and the rest of the plan could be done working with the City after that. He’d like to put at least a few houses in Floral Park, but he’d like suggestions for other parks. Mr. Kelliher wondered if the height of the houses made them too accessible for kids to mess with them or get stung. Mr. Boldt said these types of bees are relatively harmless and wouldn’t sting people. Chair Hinton said it sounded like the bees would really be in them over the winter. Committee Member Dietz said there are some bees in Floral park in the bamboo shoots and you wouldn’t know they were there. Mr. Boldt said they could place the houses on the bamboo. Chair Hinton asked when he wanted to start. Mr. Boldt said he process with the Boy Scouts takes about two months to plan and implement, so he’d like to install them in the fall or late summer. Chair Hinton asked if anyone had ideas for what parks other than Floral would work. Mr. Boldt said they bees would generally stay around the gardens or nearby other plants they could pollinate. Committee Member Jacobson said the Girl Scouts put in a pollinator garden at Johanna Marsh last fall, so this would be a good addition. A motion was made by Committee Member Kelliher and seconded by Committee Member Dietz to approve the proposed bee houses with the request that Mr. Boldt return with the number of houses and locations. Motion passed unanimously. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. April 18, 2023 PTRC Minutes A motion was made by Committee Member Kelliher and seconded by Committee Member Seemann to approve the minutes as amended. Motion passed unanimously. 4. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. PTRC Member Updates Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes May 16, 2023 Page 3 Work Plan Chair Hinton said she wanted to ask one last time if there was anything anyone wanted to add to the work plan for this year. None requested. Park and Trail Assignments Chair Hinton asked if anyone would volunteer for check on parks or trails throughout the summer for potential issues. The following assignments were made: Committee Member Dietz – Floral and Cummings Committee Member Rogers – Valentine Committee Member Olson – Arden Oaks, Lindey’s, Freeway Committee Member Anderson – Lindey’s Committee Member Seemann – Hazelnut Committee Member Poelzer – Triangle, Sampson Committee Member Loosbrock – Royal Hills, Arden Manor Committee Member Kelliher – Chatham, Arden Manor Committee Member Jacobson – Johanna Marsh Chair Hinton – Ingerson, Crepeau Discussion ensued regarding the website tracker and reporting park issues. Volunteers Committee Member Poelzer stated that in 2022 the City asked if anyone would step up to manage volunteers and she has been the point person since then. She explained the process from a phone call given to the Recreation Supervisor and that information being relayed to her, to making arrangements for volunteer activities. She needs to resign from doing this work at the end of June. She wondered if there would be someone else who would be interested in working with the volunteers. Chair Hinton thanked Committee Member Poelzer for her hard work. She asked if anyone was interested in taking over. Committee Member Loosbrock offered to take over the volunteer responsibilities. Committee Member Poelzer had a document from the MN Association for Volunteer Administration to give to Chair Hinton, and gave information regarding volunteers to Committee Member Loosbrock. She said on May 31 and June 7 there would be a volunteer event at Creapeau Park if anyone would like to assist. She also had the list of volunteers that helped at the egg hunt. Committee Member Kelliher said Recreation Supervisor Johnson is hoping to get a new software module that could help. City Council Liaison Rousseau thought they were looking to be sure that processes they do with billing will connect with the new software and it would likely move forward to Council. Committee Member Poelzer felt there was a lot more potential for volunteers in Arden Hills. Chair Hinton said that was part of the reason she would like to have more volunteer recognition because it would help people see there are opportunities to volunteer. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes May 16, 2023 Page 4 City Council Liaison Rousseau reported they had started conversations at the City Council work session about what more formal recognition could look like. She’d like to highlight someone in the newsletter such as a buckthorn champion that would come out around the time they were looking for volunteers to help with buckthorn. The city administrator will be asking other cities what they have in place for volunteer recognition and they will continue to discuss in June. Upcoming Meetings Discussion Chair Hinton asked if people were still interested in doing a trail tour in June. Committee Member Kelliher was concerned that if they don’t have a meeting in June and possibly July they may lose the momentum they’ve established in clearing buckthorn in the Chatham trails area. He’d like to have a meeting to discuss the specific proposal regarding bringing goats into that area. He gave further information regarding the goatherders. Committee Member Dietz wondered if they could meet before they do the trail tour. Chair Hinton suggested they have a stand-up meeting before the tour. A motion was made by Committee Member Kelliher and seconded by Committee Member Dietz that the June PTRC meeting would be a goat and buckthorn presentation followed by a trail tour. Motion passed unanimously. Chair Hinton said they may also need to change the date for the June meeting. Council Liaison Rousseau explained that June 19th may be a State holiday, so the City Council meeting may be moved to Tuesday. A motion was made by Committee Member Poelzer and seconded by Committee Member Rogers that the June PTRC meeting would be moved to June 13, beginning at a trail to be determined. Motion passed unanimously. Additional Reports Committee Member Poelzer encouraged everyone to attend the Commission and Committees picnic on July 18 at Cummings Park. Committee Member Poelzer noted that the northeast side of the parking lot at Sampson Park is crumbling, and some of the posts along the lot are rotted. B. Trail and Parks Projects Update Assistant Public Works Director Miller gave the following updates: New/Updated Items: • Safe Routes to School from MVHS to E2 down Lake Valentine Road/Old Highway 10 is scheduled for construction this summer 2023. There were $450k in grants awarded for this project. This project bid opening was 5/4/23 and the apparent low bidder was Bituminous Roadways. The contract will be finalized in the coming weeks with Ramsey County. A preconstruction meeting where a schedule will be discussed will be determined at that meeting. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes May 16, 2023 Page 5 • City is working with a consultant to pursue grants and bonding for the trail from Lake Valentine Road to Highway 96 along Old Highway 10. Feasibility study has been completed for this project this last fall. Estimated project cost is $2.6 Mil. Estimated construction would be in 2025/2026 dependent on funding awarded. Proposals from consultants are under review. Anticipating awarding the design contract on May 22nd. • Lake Johanna Blvd conceptual trail study was completed by Ramsey County and they are pursuing funding currently. They are shooting for a final design in 2028, dependent on funding awarded. Estimated construction cost is $9.5M. Council has adopted resolution 2023-023 which is the local match commitment for Lake Johanna Blvd Trail Project (estimated $2M). County is going for grants and bonding this year potentially up to $5.5M. 5. NEW BUSINESS A. PTRC Survey No discussion. B. PTRC Handbook Committee Member Seemann said she would like to create a handbook for PTRC members. She still had questions about procedures and deadlines. Assistant Public Works Director Miller explained that Council Liaison Rousseau had asked staff to put an introduction together and staff hadn’t had a chance to do that yet. The hope is to have one for next year. He’d like committee members to let him know if they have information they’d like to see on the document. C. South Shore and Floral Park Signs Assistant Public Works Director Miller said the drawings of the new signs for South Shore Fitness Park and Trail and Floral Park were attached in the packet. D. Color Choices for Playground Equipment and Shelters for Floral Park and Arden Manor Park Assistant Public Works Director Miller explained they need to choose a color scheme for the shelters and playground equipment at Floral Park and Arden Manor Park. City C ouncil deferred to PTRC but favored the Forester palette. Council Liaison Rousseau thought 2 councilmembers favored Forester, one preferred blue tones and another preferred primary. After discussion: A motion was made by Committee Member Kelliher and seconded by Committee Member Poelzer to approve the Spring Bloom color scheme for the play structures at Floral Park and Arden Manor Park. Motion passed 6-2. (Dietz and XXX opposed.) Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes May 16, 2023 Page 6 A motion was made by Chair Hinton and seconded by Committee Member Kelliher to approve Dark Bronze for the shelter posts at Floral Park and Arden Manor Park. Motion passed unamimously. A motion was made by Committee Member Kelliher and seconded by Committee Member Dietz to approve Mint Green for the shelter roofs at Floral Park and Arden Manor Park. Motion failed 3-5. A motion was made by Committee Member Rogers and seconded by Committee Member Seemann to approve Beige Brown for the shelter roofs at Floral Park and Arden Manor Park. Motion passed 6-2. (Dietz and Kelliher opposed.) E. Perry Dog Park Agility Equipment. Assistant Public Works Director Miller stated the City Council will accept the donation from Boston Scientific for the agility equipment, but PTRC needs to choose a few items in the Bronze package. They can pick a fire hydrant or a three fence silhouette, and the color scheme. A motion was made by Committee Member Poelzer and seconded by Committee Member Kelliher to choose the fire hydrant and the red color scheme. Motion passed unamimously. Assistant Public Works Director Miller asked if PTRC would like to ask the Arden Hills Foundation for the extra $523 for the equipment. Council Liaison Rousseau said they could also use the General Fund for that amount. A motion was made by Committee Member Kelliher and seconded by Committee Member Dietz to ask the City Council to use the General Fund to cover the additional cost. Motion passed unamimously. Assistant Public Works Director Miller said lastly, they would need to determine where a plaque acknowledging Boston Scientific should be placed. After discussion it was requested the plaque be put at the entrance to the dog park. 6. REPORTS F. Council Liaison Update Council Liaison Rousseau stated the Economic Development Committee will be returning, if they know of anyone that may be interested in volunteering. Four residents and five business representatives are needed, the first meeting may be in August. Also, a youth position was discussed but staff is researching with other cities and it will be talked about again in June. 7. NEXT MEETING G. Tuesday, June 13, 2023 Per previous motion, the next PTRC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 13, 2023. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes May 16, 2023 Page 7 ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.