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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-20-25 - PTRC Minutes CITY OF ARDEN HILLS PARKS, TRAILS AND RECREATION COMMITTEE MEETING TUESDAY, MAY 20, 2025, 6:30 PM ARDEN HILLS CITY HALL CALL MEETING TO ORDER Committee Chair Dan Dietz called the May 20, 2025 meeting of the Parks, Trails, and Recreation Committee to order at 6:30 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Dan Dietz, Kerri Seemann, Lacy Loosbrock, Nancy Jacobson, Kate Olson, Derek Hilding, Liz Johnson, Amelia Rogers, Nikhath Nazir Ahmed, OTHERS PRESENT: Parks and Recreation Manager Jess Skalicky, Recreation Supervisor Matt Johnson ABSENT:. Eva Acosta, Sarah Julius, and Council Liaison Emily Rousseau 1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chair Dietz added the budget discussion to the agenda under New Business. MOTION: Committee Member Olson moved, and Chair Dietz seconded a motion to approve the meeting agenda as amended. The motion carried unanimously among members present. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. April 15, 2025 PTRC Minutes MOTION: Committee Member Olson moved and Committee Member Loosbrock seconded a motion to approve the meeting minutes as amended. The motion carried unanimously among members present. Page 2 a quote was attributed to Committee Member Olson and should have been Committee Member Loosbrock Page 12 a quote was attributed to Committee Member Olson and should have been Committee Member Rogers. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – May 20, 2025 Page 2 3. REPORT A. Council Liaison Update Recreation Supervisor Johnson provided an update from Council Liaison Rousseau. Council will be discussing the Twin Cities Gateway Grant and how to spend that money. The donations for the Park Summer Passport Program were accepted by Council. Committee Member Olson said that Bethel donated 100 water bottles for the passport program. She said the City is not allowed to solicit donations. That will make it hard to create the raffle baskets. Committee Member Rogers was going to reach out to the Arden Hills Foundation who can solicit donations on the City’s behalf. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said the foundation is set up so businesses can donate money. They can solicit donations and the City can request the monetary value of the prizes and the City can purchase prizes. There is an option to allow sponsorships. Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky said one of the first tasks she did was to put together a packet about sponsorships. She looked at what surrounding cities are doing. She discussed that companies can sponsor an event for a certain amount of dollars. In return, the company’s name will be on the flyer and will have a booth or table at the event. If it’s a larger event, there may be a banner. There can be different tiers of sponsorship or there can be a one time sponsorship based on an event. Most surrounding cities have a page dedicated to recreation sponsorships. She is recommending we create a sponsorship policy. There will be a template letter so the language is consistent regardless of who is seeking the sponsorship. When the new Communications Coordinator starts, they will be tasked with creating an advertising brochure outlining the items that can be sponsored. There will be a dedicated page on the website. None of this has been approved yet. The City Attorney will review the policy and she will bring it back to PTRC. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said its differentiating between donations and sponsorship. Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky said this is common. Nearly every city she looked at had some kind of sponsorship for recreation programs and events. Committee Member Olson asked for ideas on how to solicit donations for the big prizes for the Park Summer Passport program. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said we could request a monetary value from the Arden Hills Foundation. It would be good to have an idea of what prizes you want so you can be sure what amount to request. Committee Member Olson asked if we get a donation then we can go to Arden Hills businesses and purchase items for prizes. Committee Member Rogers said the EDC were excited that the PTRC asked for help. She doesn’t think it makes sense that we can use donated money to purchase prizes but can’t accept prizes. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said we can accept donations. We just can go out and solicit them. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – May 20, 2025 Page 3 Committee Member Olson said if a business comes to PTRC and says they heard about the Park Passport program and want to donate a prize, could we take it? Recreation Supervisor Johnson confirmed. Committee Member Rogers said we can’t partner with EDC. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said once the sponsorship policy is in place, PTRC and EDC can partner with each other. It’s a better for the businesses because they get something in return. Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky said the City Attorney needs to approve the language. Most of the policies she found at other cities were short and didn’t have much to them. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said Council Liaison Rousseau said Council approved the Committee and Commission Code of Conduct. He asked the Committee Members to read through it and sign. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said there haven’t been any applications for the Youth Committee Member. He encouraged the Committee Members to spread the word to any youths that may be interested. Committee Member Jacobson asked how old they have to be. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said he believes it is 16, but he will double check, it may be 14. Committee Member Olson asked what the time commitment was. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said it typically runs the length of a school year. Committee Member Rogers asked who will reach out to the Arden Hills Foundation. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said he will reach out to them to make the request. 4. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. Trail and Parks Projects Update Committee Member Olson has been getting questions on the Lake Johanna Boulevard trail. Who is keeping tabs on if we will be awarded the money for it? Is there anything else that the PTRC should be doing to encourage them to pick us? Committee Member Jacobson said it would be nice to say how much money is needed. She heard that Highway 10 got funding. Committee Member Olson was trying to find a contact at Ramsey County regarding the MN 51 trail improvements. There has been a lot of discussion about that trail. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – May 20, 2025 Page 4 Committee Member Jacobson said she and Committee Member Johnson have been working on that. It’s a MnDOT project, not a Ramsey County. It also includes the City of Roseville. Committee Member Johnson said they tried to get more information about the project. She said construction is supposed to start in 2026 but we don’t know any of the details. Committee Member Jacobson said there was some mention that parts of it will be built but not all of it. Committee Member Rogers said that there are different segments that have different funding. It is very unclear. Committee Member Jacobson said they don’t know where to get more information. It is in the works, there just aren’t a lot of details. Committee Member Rogers said it sounds like it is happening soon. We were told there would be community engagement. She hasn’t seen anything yet. Committee Member Olson asked if anyone attended the meeting regarding the trail by Josephine, coming down Hamline. Committee Member Jacobson said some of her neighbors went and didn’t get very much information. Committee Member Olson asked if the County Road D trail connection is on the list. Committee Member Jacobson said it is east of 35. It’s a Roseville project. Recreation Supervisor Johnson doesn’t think our Staff have much information. If it’s not a City project, they won’t have as much information. Committee Member Rogers is confused about the MN 51 trail. How will it connect from Lydia to Old Snelling. Committee Member Jacobson said neighbors have been mowing a grass path. Discussion ensued regarding the exact location of the trails. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said the Cummings roof was completed in May. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said that Council had negotiated with a private developer as part of the PUD for the site, for a trail to be added along the west side of Snelling Avenue from Highway 96 down to Royal Hills Park. This path is scheduled to be built in 2026 and will be owned and maintained by the City. Committee Member Olson said one of the comments she hears is you can’t get a stroller into the park. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – May 20, 2025 Page 5 Recreation Supervisor Johnson said City staff is working with a consultant to pursue grants and state bonding funds for the Old Highway 10 trail. The estimated project cost is $4.5 million. The Met Council Regional Solicitation Grant awarded Arden Hills $1 million. MnDOT awarded the City an additional $1 million. They are requesting $1.65 million from state bonding. Ramsey County is chipping in $1.2 million. Committee Member Loosbrock asked if SRTS meant Safe Routes To School. Recreation Supervisor Johnson confirmed. Committee Member Rogers said the corner from Lake Valentine and Old Highway 10 is a tricky corner. It is a sharp corner where kids are turning to go to school. She asked if the entire area will need to be redesigned. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said there will be a chance to give that input. Recreation Supervisor Johnson updated on the Hamline Avenue trail connection with Roseville and Lake Josephine. Arden Hills is coordinating with the City of Roseville on a trail connection on the west side of Lake Josephine. Construction is set to begin in 2026. Recreation Supervisor Johnson updated on Park projects. There was a pre-construction meeting on April 28th. In May, the old equipment was removed from Freeway Park and new equipment will be installed. When Freeway Park is finished, they will move to Arden Oaks and remove/replace that equipment. The sidewalks at Arden Oaks and Freeway Park will be in June. Committee Member Olson said she was surprised that the equipment was just sitting out and not stored. B. Work Group Updates Chair Dietz updated that the Rotary Club met with Committee Members at Floral Park. They will be working on Tuesdays 4:00-6:00 starting on May 27th and Saturdays from 10:00-12:00 starting on May 31st. That will be announced in an upcoming newsletter. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said there is no landing page on the website yet because the Adopt-A-Park program is so new. We will be promoting the work that the Rotary Club is doing as a pilot program and that we are hoping to expand to other parks soon. That will give Staff time to organize the program, build a web page and be ready when the program grows. Committee Member Jacobson said she joined the Rotary Club on Saturday, along with one of the volunteers. She was very impressed. They are interested in this project. She thinks people have learned a lot from Great River Greening. It is exciting to hear that Boston Scientific is interested in possibly adopting Cummings. Committee Member Loosbrock asked if people can just join them on those Tuesdays and Saturdays if they want to help. Chair Deitz confirmed. He will usually be there on Tuesdays. And someone else will be there on Saturdays to give direction or to take ideas on what can be done. Everyone is welcome. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – May 20, 2025 Page 6 Committee Member Olson handed out the letters to be hidden at the parks for the Summer Park Passport program. She requested that Committee Members install them on the weekend prior to the program start on Monday, June 9. Discussion ensued regarding where in the parks to place the letters. Committee Member Hilding asked if the letters should be hidden in a hard to find place or is the focus on getting people to show up? Recreation Supervisor said it should not be hidden in the woods or any other really hard to find spot. Placement can be on the back of a bench, or on a fence at the tennis court. Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky said she was touring the parks and noticed signs that identify plant species. She doesn’t think visitors to the park see them unless they are within 10-15 feet of them. Recreation Supervisor said they should not be put on a welcome sign or any playground structure. Committee Member Olson said she will hand out what she has but there should be a couple sets of each letter, so if it goes missing, the person monitoring that park can replace it quickly. Committee Member Hilding asked, as a new member how does he get into a work group. Recreation Supervisor outlined the main groups. Committee Member Rogers said the PTRC creates their goals in the fall and present it to City Council. The tasks on that goals list become the work groups. Committee Member Jacobson said there is a list of the existing groups so new members don’t have to wait until fall to join a work group. Committee Member Ahmed asked if there are groups that need volunteers. Committee Member Olson said if there is a group or project that they are interested in, new members can join any work group. Or if you have a new idea, you can form a new work group. Committee Member Rogers said one of the challenges is that you can’t talk to the large group outside of the meetings. It is difficult to avoid a quorum because the committee doesn’t have a lot of people to begin with. There is an ongoing item to create a welcome packet and put some procedures in place. She read the items from the Work Plan. Committee Member Olson said it would be a good idea to list all the work groups during the work group update. She read some of the groups, to include: enhancing and creating community events, habitat and restoration, volunteer coordinating. Committee Member Rogers thinks with all the trail work planned in the immediate future, it would be a good idea to have a trails work group. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – May 20, 2025 Page 7 Committee Member Jacobson said the December agenda had the 2025 Work Plan. That contains all the initiatives. She shared the Work Plan. Committee Member Ahmed asked what happened with the ice rink lighting. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said they received a quote. He said it will be $17,000 for all of them. Committee Member Rogers said the barrier with the welcome packet item is there is no where to collectively store our stuff, electronically. She is happy to pick it back up again. She thought we could bring a request to City Council to see if we can be have access to a shared drive. C. $15,000 SLP Lions Donation Recreation Supervisor Johnson asked if there were any items or ideas on how to spend the money. A decision needs to be made soon. One idea from a Committee Member Julius was to pave the gaga ball courts. She recently asked her daughter why she doesn’t play at Floral Park and her daughter said it’s because the courts are grass and weedy. She said the pickleball lines on the tennis courts are difficult to understand. He will mention to her that we were approved for nice pickleball nets. Committee Member Hilding said $15,000 isn’t a huge amount of money. He thinks we shouldn’t overthink it. He thinks the money should be used on fundamental, rather than glitzy and glammy new things. He thinks relining pickleball courts, benches, picnic tables are a good use of the money. He’s never seen anyone play gaga ball at Hazlenut. Discussion ensued about surfaces for gaga ball. Committee Member Olson put something on social media and got some responses to include: give Lindy’s Park some love, fence for child safety, Engerson could use some love, maybe a pump track, swinging benches, bike ramps, update and add lights to a tennis court, a chimney swift tower, drinking fountains, cut out for strollers or wagons at Royal Hills, basketball hoops at Cummings, fix the fence on the baseball field, hitting wall that was removed. Chair Dietz asked when the decision needs to be made. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said soon. It can be a little broad but they want to start making a plan. Committee Member Olson asked is there a reason they didn’t get new basketball hoops when the court was resurfaced. Recreation Supervisor Johnson was not sure. Two hoops is about $5,000. Committee Member Olson said that Cummings just got updated so it may be a while before more money is budgeted for that park. It would make sense to allocate this money for parks that will not be programmed for improvements for a while. Committee Member Hilding asked how complex is a drinking fountain is. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – May 20, 2025 Page 8 Chair Dietz said we looked at that at Floral and it was an exorbitant amount of money. Committee Member Olson said she would be happy with the two basketball hoops and one of the push buttons for rink lights. Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky said the city she used to work at, used all of the donations received for events. A big part of her role was organizing free community events that were free for the user, but not for the City. There isn’t a budget for that. She wondered if the money could be used for an event like a drive in movie. The down side is you can only do a couple of events. The upside is in the future we can get sponsorships. She said a movie in the park costs about $4,000. You have to get a license to show the movie and you have to rent the screen. Residents like events. Committee Member Loosbrock asked if the money is earmarked for a tangible object, or could it be used for an event? Recreation Supervisor Johnson didn’t think there were restrictions. Committee Member Rogers asked if we could use $5,000 for the basketball hoops and the rest for a couple of events. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said we can present the cost for two new hoops with the balance being spent on existing events to make them free or explore new events. Committee Member Hilding likes the idea. It seems like a higher level of the Park Master Plan. He thinks if this is a bigger picture vision, it may need more discussion. Chair Dietz said there have been different ideas in the past, but there hasn’t been any funds. Committee Member Jacobson asked if the basketball hoops are $5,000 each. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said that he recently purchased 3 and that was $8,000. So $5,000 would be for two of them. Committee Member Ahmed asked if the $5,000 includes the hoops plus installation. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said the Public Works Staff will install, it comes with everything they need. Committee Member Jacobson said there isn’t money for community events. To have a lump sum of money for events could be a good start. Committee Member Olson said the Lions Club came to PTRC to pitch the event that was free to residents, and they paid for all of it. They are doing it again this year so there is one free community event. Committee Member Johnson asked if there is a way to get a line item in the budget for events and have this be the starter fund. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – May 20, 2025 Page 9 Parks and Recreation Manager Skalicky did not know the answer to that. She asked the consultant who is working on the Parks Master Plan if recreation will be a part of the Park Master Plan. He said they will touch on it a little bit but the Park Plan is for parks. She shared that the consultant worked for a city previously. He established a small budget to hold community events. They built on that through sponsorships and were able to grow the special events. That is her plan for Arden Hills. Committee Member Hilding thinks events are a one time hit, of two or three hours of a public event. A new fence at a playground would be a longer return on the investment. He thinks $15,000 would be better used on tangible things and then work with Staff and Council to try to establish a community event budget. Chair Dietz said in the past Council has said they would like to see PTRC focus on the recreation side of things. He asked for further discussion. Committee Member Olson said we are making a recommendation to City Council. They occasionally don’t take our recommendations and do what they want. Committee Member Hilding would like to see the motion amended to include $5,000 for an event and the rest to the basketball hoops and something else. Committee Member Olson would like to add the push button for the lights at Hazelnut Park. Committee Member Ahmed asked if the lights are LED. If not, it wouldn’t make sense to install this button on a lighting system that may be updated in the next few years. Discussion ensued regarding the kind of lighting at the parks. Committee Member Olson asked where the picnic tables need to be replaced. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said they were super outdated. There are two next to the warming house that are wood. Discussion ensued regarding the items on the list and what could be purchased from the list. Recreation Supervisor Johnson outlined how much the existing events cost and suggested the money could be allocated to make the existing events free. It could also be used for promotional materials for events. Committee Member Johnson said since we do these events already, there should be a line item in the budget. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said we charge attendees for the events. That’s how we pay for them. Committee Member Olson thinks focusing on the outdated picnic tables is a good use of the money. If we improve those parks but then leave the old picnic tables there, people will not be happy. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – May 20, 2025 Page 10 MOTION: Committee Member Olson moved and Committee Member Johnson seconded a motion to recommend using the SLP Lions $15,000 donation to purchase two basketball hoops at Cummings Park, add picnic tables to Arden Oaks and Freeway Parks and use the remaining money for special events. The motion carried unanimously among members present. 5. NEW BUSINESS A. 2026 Budget Discussion Recreation Supervisor Johnson asked the Committee Members to discuss what they would like the City Council to consider for the 2026 budget. Committee Member Rogers said the Council requests more recreation items, but don’t approve a budget amount for us. She feels like this committee circles because we get a great idea and request the budget but get a budget of $0. There is no way to move forward and no way to work towards the goals if there is not money. It is easier to begin with a budget and then spend the money, than it is to keep having ideas that won’t be funded by Council and then be expected to somehow still do them anyway. Committee Member Loosbrock asked if we could request $5,000 to do a movie in the park. She thinks they would be more likely to approve some funds if we have the event ideas ahead of time, rather than asking for the money before having a plan. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said they can request a line item with a certain amount of money with some examples of the types of events you would use it for. Committee Member Olson asked where cost for replacing trees and native plants would be budgeted. Committee Member Seemann said it would be nice if the City would budget $1,000-$2,000 per year for landscaping. A few years ago the tree fund was changed to add landscaping. Recreation Supervisor Johnson asked if she wants to know if that will happen again. Committee Member Seemann said it would be nice to know how to use the money if we have access to it. Committee Member Olson said we could help guide the use of that money. Committee Member Rogers asked if we could ask for a shared electronic system, maybe we could share it with EDC. Parks, Trails & Recreation Committee – May 20, 2025 Page 11 Committee Member Hilding wondered if we could ask for a pot of money and then brainstorm as a group on how to spend it, like we just did with the donation money. Recreation Supervisor Johnson said the Park System Master Plan will identify a lot of the gaps so we won’t have to come up with these one-off items any more. The plan will outline when items need to be replaced and that will be in the budget. Committee Member Jacobson said the Rotary and Boston Scientific are volunteering. It would be nice to provide those groups with resources. It is difficult because we don’t know what they need right now. Committee Member Olson said that the plan to create the Sponsorship Policy will probably get us more money. We just need an amount to get us through the next year and then hopefully businesses will step up and sponsor certain events. Recreation Supervisor Johnson summarized the request of $3,000 designated for PTRC events and landscaping materials. B. Tree Recommendation – Spine Road This item was not discussed C. Buckthorn Update – Chatham This item was not discussed D. Cummings Park Plantings This item was not discussed 6. NEXT MEETING A. Tuesday, June 17th, 2025 (Park Tour?) ADJOURNMENT Chair Dietz adjourned at 8:00 pm.