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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-17-24 - PTRC Minutes as amended CITY OF ARDEN HILLS PARKS, TRAILS AND RECREATION COMMITTEE MEETING WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2024, 6:30 PM ARDEN HILLS CITY HALL CALL MEETING TO ORDER Vice Chair Kate Olson called the September 17, 2024 meeting of the Parks, Trails, and Recreation Committee to order at 6:30 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Vice Chair Kate Olson, Committee Members Dan Dietz, Kerri Seemann, Lacy Loosbrock, Liz Johnson, Emelia Rogers, Nancy Jacobson, Tim Nelson OTHERS PRESENT: Recreation Supervisor Matt Johnson ABSENT: Committee Chair Jill Anderson and Council Liaison Emily Rousseau 1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Committee Member Seemann moved and Committee Member Dietz seconded a motion to approve the meeting agenda as amended. The motion carried (7-0). Items 3A-Council Liaison Update and 5A-Adopt-A-Park were removed from the agenda. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. August 20, 2024 PTRC Minutes MOTION: Committee Member Rogers moved and Committee Member Loosbrock seconded a motion to approve the meeting minutes as amended. The motion carried (7-0). 3. REPORTS A. Council Liaison Update This item was not discussed. 4. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. Trail and Parks Projects Update Recreation Supervisor Johnson shared that the Met Council Regional Solicitation grant awarded $1 million. The program had extra money and the parameters were expanded. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – September 17, 2024 Page 2 Recreation Supervisor Johnson said that Council discussed Arden Oaks and Freeway Park at their last meeting. Bolton and Menk joined Council at a work session. There was a discussion about installing a nature playground at Freeway Park. Information will be brought back for further discussion. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said the most popular choice for Arden Oaks Park was the ADA playground. The City received a grant for approximately $83,000. To receive that money, the equipment must be ordered. That project is moving forward. Committee Member Loosbrock asked if having an ADA playground will mean parking changes. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said this will technically be an ADA structure it isn’t required to be ADA compliant. Committee Member Jacobson remembered some parks previously received HOA quality equipment. She wondered if this was strictly for park equipment. Recreation Supervisor Johnson confirmed. He said this is better because it’s real prices. This will be over $200,000. Committee Member Jacobson asked if Freeway Park is just on hold. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said Council approved moving forward with the hardcourt replacement. The play equipment will be decided upon after the vendors supply proposals for a nature park. Committee Member Jacobson asked if anything was approved for the upper portion of Freeway Park. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said the fence. Vice Chair Olson said she emailed Public Works Director and City Engineer Swearingen about the fence. He said there is no design yet. He didn’t know for sure if it was going to be an actual fence or a landscaping planting barrier to provide screening from the on-ramp. Committee Member Jacobson asked if additional funding is available for Freeway Park to rehab the ice rink. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said that wasn’t in the budget. There are no upgrades planned right now. Committee Member Johnson asked how the proposals for a nature park will affect the timeline. She wondered if the proposals will be brought to the PTRC. Recreation Supervisor Johnson the hope is nothing will change with the timeline. Councilmembers don’t want to make residents close to Freeway Park wait. The dollar amount will have to be locked in by the end of the year for construction in spring. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – September 17, 2024 Page 3 Vice Chair Olson asked if Recreation Supervisor Johnson has an idea if the nature play structure is made to look like wood, but it’s plastic. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said they discussed that it would not be real wood. The fabricated structures last longer. Committee Member Jacobson said so it would look woodsy like a tree fort rather than the traditional blue and red plastic. Vice Chair Olson said she contacted Staff about Lindey’s Park. The county owns that. The county is giving it back to the City but the City hasn’t accepted it yet. Any improvements will be on the county, at this time. B. Work Group Updates Committee Member Johnson updated her project is to identify rain garden. The next step is to put something in the newsletter. She worked with Committee Member Jacobson to create an article that will be in the October newsletter. Vice Chair Olson asked if the article provided tips for what kind of maintenance should be done in October. Committee Member Johnson said there is a link back to the rain garden page of the Arden Hills website. She thought it would be a great idea to include that information. She wondered if it could be added to that web page. Vice Chair Olson reminded that she brought up several ideas at the last meeting. She received an email from staff stating that there is no budget to support any of the ideas. Staff suggested reaching out to the Arden Hills Foundation or local businesses for donations. She is not sure what next steps should be. Vice Chair Olson reminded the committee that The Discover Your Parks Passport would be a free program for residents. It would encourage residents to visit all of the parks in town. There would be a word or picture at each park and when residents complete the passport, they would turn it in at City Hall and get a prize. The financial ask wouldn’t be very high for this idea. It could be sponsored by a business and the prize could have the company name on it. The Economic Development Committee (EDC) is contacting businesses. They could be a good resource for which business might be interested in sponsoring the passport program. She thought that would be a good project to start with for next year. Vice Chair Olson emailed Arden Hills Greening to see if they are interested in partnering with the City to put on an Earth Day Event in the spring. They would still need financial support. Vice Chair Olson talked to Recreation Supervisor Johnson regarding a city-wide garage sale. He thought the City’s sign ordinance wouldn’t allow signs to be up long enough to promote the event. Signs need to be removed after 3 days. In order for an event like this to happen, we would want participants to sign up in advance and the best way to get the word out would be signs. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – September 17, 2024 Page 4 Committee Member Jacobson asked if the signs would be along the road. She wondered if placing signs in the park vs. on the side of the road would be allowed. Committee Member Johnson asked if the ordinance could be amended to exclude garage sale week. She has seen other cities amend their sign ordinance with language that specifically allows signs for Garage Sale Week. Vice Chair Olson asked for input on the ideas discussed. She would be willing to try to find a sponsor for the Discover Your Parks Passport. She asked if the committee needs to get direction from Council to make that kind of request. Recreation Supervisor Johnson did not think Council approval was needed for a City event. Committee Member Johnson asked if the City would promote a PTRC park passport program. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said yes. Committee Member Johnson thought it would be easier to get the programs going if the planning takes place as part of the PTRC and then place the information in the Arden Hills Notes newsletter. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said the biggest thing is there is usually a small fee for residents to participate in programming. That helps offset the costs. The City doesn’t have a pool of money for events like this. He thinks all of the ideas that have been suggested are great. He would love to see the City take part in them. There’s just no guarantee, unless outside funding is secured. Committee Member Johnson thought connecting with EDC would be key. She is certain business owners would like to donate to see these events happen. Vice Chair Olson asked what everyone’s thoughts are on the city-supported garage sale. She said there is a resident on Chatham who runs one in May. Someone approached this resident to ask if he was aware of the city-wide sale. He said he never heard of it. Two other residents use social media to promote their dates in June. Vice Chair Olson approached those residents, and they thought it would be great if the city would promote the event and make residents aware in the newsletter. She thinks it needs to be an official city event for those things to happen. She thought amending the signage rules might be required. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said any ordinance amendment would have to be approved by Council. Vice Chair Olson believed the only Staff time needed would be for Recreation Supervisor Johnson collecting addresses and creating/distributing the map. She thinks the current residents do promote their dates. So, they may already be on some social media lists. Residents don’t know about it. Committee Member Rogers thinks this is a way to draw attention to Arden Hills. She thought maybe it should be pushed to another year out, to give time to find funding and plan the event. Vice Chair Olson thought there was a Gateway Tourism Dollar program that may be able to help. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – September 17, 2024 Page 5 Recreation Supervisor Johnson said that is for advertising. He said the Recreation Department has never received any money from that program. It is intended for tourism. Vice Chair Olson thought tourism means that people who don’t live in Arden Hills come to Arden Hills for a specific purpose. She thinks a city-wide garage sale fits into that description. MOTION: Vice Chair Olson moved and Committee Member Rodgers seconded a motion to recommend that Council consider supporting a city-wide garage sale event. The motion was not put to a vote. Discussion ensued regarding what was being asked for. Committee Member Rogers thought it would be important to be specific about what is being requested. Vice Chair Olson agreed. She will put some thoughts down before the next meeting so the request will be clear. Vice Chair Olson asked if there was an update on the Earth Day Event. Committee Member Seeman said she tried contacting Bethel to try to connect with their Environmental Club. She has not heard back from them so she doesn’t think they are interested in participating. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said he is interested in running events. Vice Chair Olson said the issue with 2025 is that Earth Day falls so close to Easter. The City already has an Easter Egg Hunt event. She thought maybe this event could be pushed until 2026. She said Arden Hills Greening is working with the Arden Hills Foundation to collect donations. Maybe that could be an option to look at in 2026. Committee Member Rogers pointed out that some years the Easter Egg Hunt event takes place in the snow. She understands it may be counter-intuitive to hold an Earth Day event indoors, but she wondered if partnering with the libraries could be an option. Committee Member Jacobson said in 2026, Earth Day will be two weeks after Easter. Committee Member Seemann said Council Liaison Rousseau asked her to share that the Volunteers of Chatham put together a work plan about a month ago. They are hoping to get some plants in the ground this fall. The City would like the volunteers to spread grass seed. Their reply was that they can’t spread seed until the buckthorn is removed. The Volunteers of Chatham requested the use of the City’s sprayers. The City Attorney said volunteers should not be allowed to use herbicides. Public Works does not have the resources to spray the buckthorn because this was not planned. Public Works is preparing for winter and they are shifting to those maintenance items. They don’t know if they can get to it. This will mess up cutting the buckthorn throughout the park. Volunteers cannot use herbicide unless a staff member is present to supervise. There is a volunteer event coming up in a week and a half and the site is not prepped for planting. Vice Chair Olson said she saw some things were cut back. She wondered if that area was treated with herbicide. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – September 17, 2024 Page 6 Committee Member Seemann was not sure. Vice Chair Olson asked if the suggestion is to request Public Works plans to spray next year. Committee Member Seemann said she was asked by Council Liaison Rousseau to update the committee. She confirmed she would like to request that Public Works plan for the spraying next year. Committee Member Jacobson asked for clarification on the upcoming volunteer event. Since the site is not properly prepared, the planting can’t happen? Committee Member Seemann said some of the work can be done but the buckthorn seedlings will need to be pulled by hand. The direction was to seed two to three acres. That will not happen. Committee Member Jacobson summarized that the volunteer planting can’t be done because they are unable to clear the two to three acres and removing the buckthorn seedlings would be completely manual labor. Committee Member Seemann confirmed. She said in order to get the plants in the ground, the buckthorn seedlings need to be removed. There would be no way to spray the buckthorn later, without killing the plants. Committee Member Jacobson asked if there was a smaller area that could be completed. Committee Member Seemann said they are already working on a very small area. Committee Member Johnson asked what the time commitment would be to spray the area. Committee Member Loosbrock said she requested that Public Works go and spray for just an hour to prepare for the planting. There was no response. Committee Member Dietz asked if a weed whip could be used. Committee Member Seemann said that won’t kill it. Once the flowers are in the ground, the buckthorn can’t be sprayed without killing the new plants. Committee Member Loosbrock asked if there would still be a volunteer event on September 28. Committee Member Seemann confirmed. There are at least eight volunteers. Committee Member Nelson asked who made the decision to prohibit volunteers from using herbicides. Committee Member Seemann said it was the new City Attorney. Committee Member Nelson asked if it was a liability issue and if there was anything that could be done to change it. Vice Chair Olson asked if it needed to be sprayed right away after cutting. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – September 17, 2024 Page 7 Committee Member Seemann confirmed. Vice Chair Olson asked if the seedlings that are there have been cut. Committee Member Seemann said no. They are full new seedlings and are growing in clay so they are hard to pull. Committee Member Jacobson asked if the volunteers will be pulling the buckthorn manually. Committee Member Seemann confirmed they will be doing that for part of the time. They could get a lot more planted if they didn’t have to spend a couple hours pulling the buckthorn seedlings. She has about 4,000 plants which would take 100 hours of planting. That can’t be done in one day. 5. NEW BUSINESS A. Adopt a Park This item was not discussed. B. PTRC Handbook Discussion Committee Member Rogers said that Committee Member Seemann introduced a concept to create a PTRC handbook. It would help define the committee’s role, the rules, and who is a part of the group. The hope is it will be a document that can be edited. The second part of this would be to request the City’s assistance in establishing a way to share information electronically. Committee Member Rogers said the handbook starts with the committee’s mission and purpose. That mission was last revised in 2014. She asked if anyone had suggestions for feedback or edit the mission. Vice Chair Olson said she thinks the mission looks good. Committee Member Johnson said she would like to see a procedure outlined for when the PTRC has an idea. How does it get to the website, or into the newsletter? Committee Member Rogers said there have been discussions regarding how to define that process for all the commissions and committees. Hopefully this can help everyone. Recreation Supervisor Johnson described how an item gets into the newsletter. He said there is a board for the newsletter. It starts with the Council Liaison for the group. The Council Liaison will pass the information to the Liaison for the newsletter group. That board will approve or deny. If it is city business, it should be approved, but the final decision falls on that group. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – September 17, 2024 Page 8 Committee Member Johnson said she understands that portion. She wondered how the information is pushed out to social media. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said it’s the same group. That would most likely be a yes or no. It should still go through Council Liaison Rousseau for this group, who can bring it to Staff or Councilmember Fabel who is the liaison for that group. Discussion ensued regarding what social media outlets the City has. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said the best practice for timing to submit for the newsletter would be at least 30-days. A social media post would not need as much lead time, but probably a couple weeks in advance would be acceptable. Most likely, any city-related items will be allowed. Committee Member Jacobson said she submitted an article for the newsletter and she thought the process was easy. She has not requested to be included on the City’s social media. That could be a request later. Committee Member Rogers said she thinks a request was made. There is so little control on social media and she isn’t sure what can be said. She doesn’t want to say anything wrong. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said the Rain Garden Initiative is something that is supported by the City so requesting it be added to social media shouldn’t be a problem. Committee Member Loosbrock wondered if a News Flash on the website had different rules. She thought the information could be distributed faster in a News Flash vs. the newsletter. Recreation Supervisor Johnson thought requesting a News Flash item would be like requesting something be added to social media. The newsletter is a longer process because of the formatting and editing that needs to be done. Committee Member Loosbrock said she hasn’t seen anything posted about the volunteer event she has planned. She wondered if she should email Council Liaison Rousseau and Senior Communications Coordinator Cardona. Recreation Supervisor Johnson confirmed. Vice Chair Olson thought this item had a great start. She wondered about next steps. Committee Member Loosbrock said she would edit the document. She requested the other committee members look over the document and email her directly with any suggestions or additional edits. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – September 17, 2024 Page 9 Committee Member Dietz said he thinks it looks great. He pointed to the Things to Know section. He said if there are maximum or minimum number of members allowed and term limits should be included. Vice Chair Olson the terms should be outlined. If someone’s term ends in 2024 does that mean December 31? Committee Member Dietz said the number by the committee member’s name is the year the current term ends. Committee Member Jacobson asked how many successive terms a committee member can serve. Committee Member Dietz said it is three. C. Student Feedback Vice Chair Olson said the two student committee members completed a survey. They thought they could be more involved outside of the meetings by joining work groups. They learned how local city government is run and how individuals can get involved. They would recommend more onboarding. They thought the process between PTRC recommendations and Council review was too slow. They enjoyed learning more about the City and how it operates. They thought it was challenging to find their place. They felt part of that was due to a one-year term limit, as well as an unconscious bias related to age. They would recommend future members to find their own space. They said you may not be invited, and you just need to insert yourself. Vice Chair Olson said there is one youth applicant who is interested in serving on the PTRC. Vice Chair Olson asked if any members had thoughts or ideas regarding responding to this feedback. Committee Member Rogers said she could put something in the handbook about a youth position. It is important to establish if it is meant to be a learning experience for the youth to see how local government operates or if the PTRC is seeking a youth’s perspective on projects. Maybe it’s both. But it should be laid out. Vice Chair Olson said some of the feedback is hard to navigate. She said one meeting, once a month for an hour and a half, makes it difficult to get things done. If the youth didn’t join a subcommittee, it could make it very difficult to feel like they fit in. Committee Member Jacobson thought the work group formation was just happening when they started. It might be easier to include a youth member into one of the subcommittees now that they are established. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – September 17, 2024 Page 10 Recreation Supervisor Johnson said applicants could be asked what work groups they are interested in during interviews so they can be included right away. Committee Member Dietz said the amount of time for meetings has always been an issue. It’s tough to balance committee member and Staff time. D. 2025 Work Plan Discussion Vice Chair Olson opened the discussion on the 2025 Work Plan. She asked when the Work Plan needs to be finalized. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said it should be sooner than January. The Committee is on schedule this year. He said the thinks the committee members have a great understanding that this is a goal setting exercise for next year, while work on the current year’s projects continue. Vice Chair Olson asked if the budget has been approved for 2025. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said it hasn’t been finalized yet. Vice Chair Olson said she would assume any projects for 2025 will need to have outside funding sources. She thinks there are a lot of great businesses in Arden Hills who would be willing to help. The Committee just needs to figure out a way to reach those businesses. Vice Chair Olson walked through the current project list. The Rain Gardens project will continue. Enhance and increase community events could be accomplished by the Discover Your Parks Passport with the city-wide garage sale being the second item of focus. Vice Chair Olson noted the Cummings tree planting is on the list. Committee Member Seemann said Public Works has already picked out what trees to plant but there was a request for vegetation. Public Works thought it would be helpful if PTRC recommended planting at Cummings Park. The need would be volunteers to clear and maintain the plating area. Discussion ensued regarding what trees were removed and what was being planted in their place. Committee Member Loosbrook said she has a group of volunteers who are going to pick up trash at Cummings Park and she doesn’t know how much work there will be for them. It’s a Boston Scientific group. The planting could be an alternative, if there isn’t much trash to pick up. Committee Member Rogers thought it would be helpful to split the list into projects that the PTRC are taking ownership of, and which projects are a request for what the Council should prioritize for funding. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – September 17, 2024 Page 11 Vice Chair Olson said the backstop for the tennis practice was removed. Residents are hoping to see it replaced. The recommendation to that resident was to get a petition together. She is not sure if there is any work for the PTRC or is it just following up to see if the resident has questions. She is unsure about the process. How can the PTRC help residents navigate the process for requesting park amenities? Vice Chair Olson said the Fall Soccer End of Season Scrimmage will remain on the list for 2025. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said that is an easy one. He just needs to offer it. Vice Chair Olson said if they wanted to enhance the event, the PTRC could look at inviting food trucks or asking the Arden Hills Foundation to provide ice cream. Vice Chair Olson said the committee should not lose track of advocating to prioritize the Hazelnut Parking Lot. Vice Chair Olson was not familiar with the item to continue the Karth Lake partnership. Committee Member Seeman thought Council Liaison Rousseau was trying to coordinate Karth Lake with rain gardens. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said Karth Lake has a board. Vice Chair Olson said the Adopt-A-Park Program is a great goal to continue working toward. Vice Chair Olson said Lindey’s roundabout and pickle ball nets should both remain on the list. Committee Member Loosbrock thought the items that should be prioritized by Council are the Hazelnut parking lot, Lindey’s roundabout, pickleball nets, the tennis backstop and adding Freeway Park. These would all be future projects. They aren’t goals that the PTRC can accomplish. They require money. The other items are things that the PTRC can work on. Vice Chair Olson said the items to remain on the list of PTRC items is rain gardens, enhancing and increasing community events. She thought the Cummings tree planting could be on both lists. Committee Member Loosbrock thought the list for the City would be park improvements that the PTRC recommends. Discussion ensued regarding what items are PTRC responsive items and how to communicate to Council which items are from the PTRC and which ones are resident requests. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – September 17, 2024 Page 12 Committee Members decided to change Pickleball nets to Pickleball courts so they can discuss where tennis to pickleball conversions may be made and to add Freeway Park to the priorities list. Committee Member Nelson said he thinks it’s important to define what the next trail project should be. He said we are waiting for 2026 and 2028 for the two big ones. Doing nothing between now and then seems silly. Committee Member Dietz agrees. PTRC should be identifying possible future trails. Committee Member Nelson said there is so much time and planning involved in those projects. He suggests a resident survey that looks at the purple lines on the current trail map, that identify future trails. Ask residents which ones they want to see prioritized. Committee Member Rogers said there have been requests for a map of only the existing trails. Vice Chair Olson said she saw New Brighton received Safe Routes to School money. She asked Staff how to get that money. Committee Member Dietz wanted to add continue working with Great River Greening to the list. Vice Chair Olson said she will work with Chair Anderson to rework the list, as discussed, for the October meeting. Recreation Supervisor Johnson noted that the Hazelnut Parking lot is a project that must be done. It is a legal taking of land. It can remain on the list if the Committee Members think it should be there. But there is nothing for the committee to do. 6. NEXT MEETING A. Tuesday, October 15, 2024 ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Vice Chair Olson moved and Committee Member Dietz seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried (9-0). The meeting was adjourned at 7:46 p.m.