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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-13-2024 PTRC Chair: Jill Anderson (2024) Committee Members: Dan Dietz (2024) Lacy Loosbrock (2025) Tim Nelson (2024) Kerri Seemann (2025) Kate Olson, Vice Chair (2025) Emelia Rogers (2025) Nancy Jacobson (2025) Abigail Weber (2024) Elizabeth Johnson (2026) Youth Committee Member: Maeve Edgar (term exp. 8/31/2024) Council Liaison: Emily Rousseau Arden Hills Parks, Trails and Recreation Committee February 13, 2024 6:30 pm 1245 W. Highway 96 Arden Hills, MN 55112 651-792-7800 www.cityofardenhills.org City Vision Arden Hills is a strong community that values its unique environmental setting, strong residential neighborhoods, vital business community, well-maintained infrastructure, fiscal soundness, and our long-standing tradition as a desirable City in which to live, work, and play. The public may access this meeting remotely by joining via Zoom. To join the Zoom Meeting, click this link (or copy and paste it into a new browser): https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82795499531 Agenda CALL TO ORDER 1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. January 23, 2024 3. REPORTS A. Council Liaison Update 4. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. Trail and Parks Projects Update B. Arden Oaks & Freeway Park Wish list 5. NEXT MEETING A. Tuesday, March 19 6. ADJOURNMENT CITY OF ARDEN HILLS PARKS, TRAILS AND RECREATION COMMITTEE MEETING TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2023, 6:30 PM ARDEN HILLS CITY HALL CALL MEETING TO ORDER Committee Chair Jill Anderson called the January 23, 2024 meeting of the Parks, Trails, and Recreation Committee to order at 6:31 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Jill Anderson, Committee Members Nancy Jacobson, Dan Dietz, Kerri Seemann, Lacy Loosbrock, Abigail Weber, Tim Nelson, Kate Olson, Emelia Rogers (arrived at 7:20 pm) and Youth Committee Member Maeve Edgar OTHERS PRESENT: Council Liaison Emily Rousseau and Recreation Supervisor Matt Johnson ABSENT: None 1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA The agenda was unanimously approved. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. December 12, 2023 PTRC Minutes Council Liaison Rousseau noted one change to Item 5B. Youth Committee Member Edgar mentioned that Committee Member Weber was absent. Committee Member Olson stated she was present but listed as absent. A motion was made by Committee Member Olson and seconded by Committee Member Dietz to approve the minutes as amended. Motion passed unanimously. 3. REPORTS A. Council Liaison Update Council Liaison Rousseau thanked Chair Anderson and Vice-Chair Olson for stepping into those roles. She said Rice Creek Commons is moving forward with a maximum density of 1,960. Next steps are to develop a main development plan. The spine road will most likely not be completed until 2027. The developer is expected to spend about $16 million to build parks and green spaces. Committee Member Olson thanked Committee Member Jacobson for attending that meeting and making sure parks were mentioned in the TCAAP discussion. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – January 23, 2024 Page 2 Council Liaison Rousseau stated she and the Mayor would be drafting a code of conduct for committees and commissions. She would like to have input from someone on PTRC. Committee Member Dietz offered to give input. Council Liaison Rousseau mentioned the State of the City would be at 10:00 am on February 10 at City Hall. She said the Council discussed the PMP and trail rehabilitation impacting the Floral Park neighborhood. Council approved naming the triangle park South Point Park. She appreciated the PTRC recommendation and explained that Councilmember Holden had a friend that used to care for the park and this was one of his suggestions. She told the City Council about some of the motions that PTRC made, and it sound like they may be able to do a presentation of their goals at the March work session. An open house would probably have to be pushed past spring. A prescribed burn would need to be communicated with the neighborhood so that won’t happen yet. Council Liaison Rousseau said Committee Members Nelson, Dietz and Anderson each have terms expiring in 2024, and Committee Member Weber and Youth Committee Member Edgar will be done in August. She asked them to let her know if they were considering renewing for another three years. There are currently three openings on the Committee with one applicant they will be interviewing. There is also an opening on the Economic Development Commission and the Planning Commission will have an opening for a Commissioner and an alternate. 4. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. PTRC Procedure and Planning Discussion Chair Anderson said they are hoping to come up with a clear plan as to what projects they’d like to focus on throughout the year so they can be better at articulating to the Council what they’d like to have done. She noted that Committee Member Seemann and former member Kelliher had provided a lot of details and plans. She would like to come up with four or five projects for 2024 and create committees to work on those. Councilmember Rousseau felt the PTRC is going in a great direction and they should solicit feedback from the group to see if it’s working and what they’d like to make different. Chair Anderson said the progress and types of things they are doing now are very different from the past. Committee Member Jacobson thought having work being done in the background with committees could be a nice way to get things done. Chair Anderson said once working groups are established they would provide updates to the Committee to let them know if there was anything they wanted the group to act on or give feedback on. B. Trail and Parks Projects Update Recreation Supervisor Johnson reviewed the memo from Assistant Public Works Director Miller which included new/updated items: Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – January 23, 2024 Page 3  Safe Routes to School from MVHS to E2 down Lake Valentine Road/Old Highway 10 is paved. There will be some repair work needed in the Spring but the trail is plowable this winter and it can be used by pedestrians at this time.  Floral and Arden Manor parks are substantially completed and open. Hardcourt striping, site clean-up and restoration of both parks will be completed in the Spring.  The 2023 CIP for Parks has been provided in the past and is available online. For the 2025 Parks Project (Arden Oaks Park & Freeway Park), it is requested that the Committee Members of the PTRC review the parks and provide comments to City Staff so that they can be presented to Council at an upcoming Work Session with recommendations from Public Works maintenance perspective. C. Bathroom Locks Recreation Supervisor Johnson said a motion was made to bring this item to a Council work session, but was it was tabled at another meeting for further discussion. Chair Anderson thought the concern was that Public Works didn’t support it. The Council could approve it anyway, so if PTRC thinks it’s a good idea they could still present it to Council as a way of public access to the bathrooms. Committee Member Olson thought it would save someone renting the building from picking up a key for the bathroom, but they’d still have to pick up a key for the kitchen. Committee Member Jacobson thought they were talking about having the bathroom open in the summer when there would be extra crew at the park to maintain the fields, so the bathrooms could be checked at that time. Committee Member Weber wondered if they could put the downsides that have led them to table it. She noted it wasn’t supported by Public Works, and there were issues regarding labor requirements. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said it depended on how much they were open. If the expectation was that they were open every day, there would be more cleaning involved. He didn’t think it could be open in the winter as the water gets shut off. There are Public Works staff on call on weekends for pavilion rentals that clean after the event is done. Committee Member Dietz understood why Public Works wouldn’t support it, did we know what they thought they’d be expected to do? Recreation Supervisor Johnson thought it was more of the idea of another thing added to their plate. Once it becomes a thing, someone has to take care of it, and that would be Public Works. Youth Committee Member Edgar saw it as a positive thing, and maybe it if went to a work session they could get a better idea of what the labor would be. She felt they should motion to pass it along. Committee Member Jacobson agreed. She thought it would be a good way to communicate to Council that they thought it was important to have accessibility to the bathrooms, and maybe Council would come up with options. Did they want to make a motion to have the locks put on and not worry about when they’ll be open; they could let the Council or Public Works decide that. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – January 23, 2024 Page 4 Committee Member Nelson said for $3,000 it would be an experiment. If they don’t like it they don’t have to keep it open. Spend the $3,000, play around with it and learn. If it works they can do it at other places. A motion was made by Youth Committee Member Edgar Olson and seconded by Committee Member Olson to request that City Council install automatic locks on the Perry Park pavilion bathrooms. Motion passed unanimously. D. Lindey’s Roundabout Committee Member Jacobson said some residents would like to see something other than grass in the roundabout. She and Committee Member Seemann produced five options. She explained the options that were shown on Attachment A, plus an additional option that included an oak tree. All options except Option 1 would require the City to maintain the area. Are there options PTRC supports, or should they present all of them to the Council? Committee Member Dietz asked if they had feedback from Public Works regarding the extra work involved. Council Liaison Rousseau said there were no sprinklers installed so there would need to be ground watering done. She knew Public Works hasn’t had any staff increases in a number of years and it that constraint is a challenge. Committee Member Nelson asked if Option 5 would require watering for a lot of years or just a big need up front. Committee Member Jacobson said it would be more for the first few years, they could have watering bags filled periodically by volunteers. She wasn’t sure about the grasses. Youth Committee Member Edgar thought the tree or Option 2 wouldn’t be that much of an extra maintenance burden. Recreation Supervisor Johnson clarified the City has no maintenance responsibility now, but once they add anything it will become the City’s responsibility. Committee Member Nelson was concerned about plows tossing snow and salt on the area and making everything hard to grow, at least in the first couple of feet. He liked the option of focusing on the center. Committee Member Olson said there was a four-foot apron that she assumed wouldn’t get plowed. Committee Member Dietz said he looked on the State of MN Department of Transportation website and they want to keep the height at three feet. He felt anything they add would add to a loss of visibility. Committee Member Jacobson explained the options would add to the center of the island. She said maybe what’s in the middle isn’t of that much value because your busy looking at the road. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – January 23, 2024 Page 5 Youth Committee Member Edgar understood that the first option would have more color at some point. She wondered if the concern from residents because they thought it would look as it does right now in the future. She noted changes would be an added burden on Public Works. Committee Member Jacobson added that maintenance would have to be led by volunteers but Public Works would allow them to use road signs that say people are working. Council Liaison Rousseau thought that would be more for clean up in the spring and fall. Committee Member Loosbrock said she thought part of the reason for the concrete apron was so you could see around the roundabout. She liked the idea of having a tree as long as it wasn’t too tall. Committee Member Jacobson said the oak would be large and because it would be a fixed object, Ramsey County would have to approve it, as opposed to a shrub. Committee Member Seemann said another option would be to wait until they can have an open house and get feedback from more residents. Committee Member Loosbrock felt this wasn’t now or never, they would still have the option to plant something. Chair Anderson suggested they consider making it a part of their 2025 work plan. Committee Member Jacobson thought if they incorporated Lindey’s Park that would generate more interest from the neighborhood. A motion was made by Chair Anderson and seconded by Committee Member Olson to table the item and discuss incorporating it into a long-term plan after getting community feedback. Motion passed unanimously. E. Chatham Restoration Workgroup Chair Anderson said she wasn’t sure where this project stood with the goats and restoration. She hoped to have volunteers for a work group to help Committee Member Seemann. Committee Member Seemann said she and Committee Member Jacobson had distributed surveys to the Chatham neighborhood to get feedback on what kind of plant management they’d like to see. Council Liaison Rousseau asked if she wanted people for a work group or if she needed physical volunteers. Committee Member Seemann said physical volunteers would probably be the most useful. Youth Committee Member Edgar felt there were opportunities to get volunteers from the high school, she could add it to the National Honor Society newsletter. Chair Anderson wondered if the Chatham restoration could be incorporated into their long-term plan. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – January 23, 2024 Page 6 Committee Member Seemann noted she didn’t deal with buckthorn until about August but would start on garlic mustard in May. A motion was made by Chair Anderson and seconded by Youth Committee Member Edgar to table the formation of a work group for the Chatham restoration project until they more formally address the 2024 goals. Motion passed unanimously. F. Arden Oaks and Freeway Park Wish List Recreation Supervisor Johnson explained they have two parks scheduled to be improved in 2025. He would like feedback on improvements they would like to add to the list of obvious maintenance items that will be done. The playgrounds and courts will be replaced, and PTRC will have input later on equipment they’d like to see. After discussion the following items were requested for Arden Oaks Park: a sign on the west side of the park, more benches that face out into the park instead of just into the soccer field, a new picnic table, two different play structures for different age groups, bonus stand-alone items like a little house or spinning piece, a bigger kid item like a rock wall or zip line, adaptive equipment wheelchair/stroller friendly surface and a path to the playground equipment. The following items were requested for Freeway Park: a gaga ball pit, swings for older kids, picnic tables, a path from the upper to lower level, a cement, asphalt or refrigerated floor on the hockey rink, rink boards redone, a warming house, remove the sand pit, add plantings between the park and the County road and the neighbors, and level the area where the picnic tables are at. 5. NEW BUSINESS A. South Point Park Signage Recreation Supervisor Johnson said the Council agreed on South Point Park as the new name for the triangle park. They are looking for recommendations for signage. There is already a gateway sign on the property. Discussion ensued regarding possible locations for a sign and promoting the checkerboard. A motion was made by Committee Member Dietz and seconded by Youth Committee Member Edgar to recommend not adding a regular park sign but to use smaller signage to indicate that it is a park. Motion passed unanimously. B. Memo Template Update Chair Anderson noted that she updated the memo template to identify what action is being requested of the committee. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – January 23, 2024 Page 7 C. 2024 Workplan Draft Chair Anderson stated that she added in an Action Idea to each item on the goal list. The 2024 workplan will identify what they want to accomplish this year and steps that need to be taken, along with longer term projects. It will be presented to the City Council at their March work session. She would like to discuss this version at the February PTRC meeting, along with what work groups everyone would like to be involved in. Discussion continued with how work groups’ efforts would evolve into more elaborate proposals to bring to the Council. 6. NEXT MEETING A. Tuesday, February 13, 2024 ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:01 p.m. UNFINISHED BUSINESS – 4A MEMORANDUM DATE: February 13, 2024 TO: Parks, Trails and Recreation Committee FROM: Lucas Miller, Assistant Public Works Director SUBJECT: Trail and Parks Projects Update Previously Discussed Items:  Hazelnut Parking lot negotiations continue between the City and Trinity Lutheran Church. The City has ordered geotechnical work in the lot to help determine the cost impacts which will determine scope and extent of work.  City is working with a consultant to pursue grants and it is a candidate to pursue state bonding funds 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 now projected to be $4.1 Mil since the 60% design is now completed. Estimated construction would be in 2025/2026 dependent on funding awarded. The Open House took place on 10/5/23 and was well attended. Great feedback was received. The Consultant has been directed to pursue federal and state funding for safe routes to school grants.  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. Ramsey County presented in November about the project corridor with Council.  Safe Routes to School from MVHS to E2 down Lake Valentine Road/Old Highway 10 is paved. There will be some repair work needed in the Spring but the trail is plowable this winter and it can be used by pedestrians at this time.  Floral and Arden Manor parks are substantially completed and open. Hardcourt striping, site clean-up and restoration of both parks will be completed in the Spring. New/Updated Items:  The 2023 CIP for Parks has been provided in the past and is available online. For the 2025 Parks Project (Arden Oaks Park & Freeway Park), it is requested that the Committee Members of the PTRC review the parks and provide comments to City Staff so that they can be presented to Council at an upcoming Work Session with recommendations from Public Works maintenance perspective, as well. Attachments N/A UNFINISHED BUSINESS – 4B MEMORANDUM DATE: February 13, 2024 TO: Parks, Trails and Recreation Committee FROM: Matthew Johnson SUBJECT: Arden Oaks & Freeway Park Wish List Action Requested Members discuss wish list improvements for Arden Oaks and Freeway Park. Please note general playground and court improvement is already planned for both parks. Background PTRC December meeting PTRC meeting members were asked to make some wish list items for the improvements of Arden Oaks and Freeway Park. At the January meeting members discussed the following wish list items. Arden Oaks: West Side Sign, update benches, Playground for two age groups, Playhouse style playground equipment, big kid item – zipline, ninja course, adaptive equipment Freeway: Make sure playground equipment is different than Arden Oaks, gaga ball pit, update picnic tables, path from top to bottom, update rink boards, concrete under rink, glycol (refrigeration for rink), remove sand pit, more swings Action: PTRC will recommend wish list items that could potentially add the park improvement plan. Attachment None