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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-25-08 PTRC �ARZEN ]HILLS PARKS, TRAILS, & RECREATION COMMITTEE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2008 **6:30 P.M. MEETING** ARDEN HILLS CITY HALL 1245 WEST HIGHWAY 96 AGENDA 1. Call to Order and Roll Call 2. Approval of Agenda 3. Approval of October 21, 2008 Meeting Minutes 4. Committee Vacancy Discussion 5. CP Rail Report—Bolton and Menk, Inc. 6. City Council Update—Fran Holmes 7. Parks, Trails, and Recreation Update—Michelle Olson 8. Work Plan for 2009—review 2009 goals and expectations 9. Next Meeting: Tuesday,December 161" - 6:30 p.m. 10. Adjourn Attachments: 10/21/08 Minutes 2009 goals and expectations A quorum of the City Council may be present at this meeting. P:\Admin\Committees&Commissions\Parks Trails and Recreation Committee\Agenda\2008\11-25-08 Agenda.doc e Commission and Committee: Committee Name: Parks, Trails, and Recreation Committee (PTRC) Established by Arden Hills City Council: Year: 2009 1. General Purpose for Committees and Task Forces: While the City Council and City Staff have the sole responsibility for all activities within the City of Arden Hills, from time to time they find it desirable, advantageous, and necessary to bring together residents of Arden Hills in order to broaden and enrich the discussion around possible decisions. As an example, the City Council's ability to debate and consider far-ranging alternatives is stifled by the risk that the mere discussion of alternatives will engender them with undeserved merit. In addition, Arden Hills will always seek to hire the most qualified and capable employees, but in doing so we will frequently hire staff that is not intimately connected to the Arden Hills neighborhoods. Therefore, it is critical that the City create a mechanism where the City Staff can get unfettered and unbiased reaction to their novel thoughts and ideas. The Commission, Committee, and Task Forces are established to broaden and enrich the content that will ultimately be enacted or authorized by the elected City Council. 2. Mission/Purpose: Parks,trails, recreation, and natural resources in Arden Hills increase the desirability of the city as a place to live or work, enhance the health and well-being of citizens and guests, and improve the value of citizens' property. The Parks, Trails, and Recreation Committee (PTRC) represents the interests of Arden Hills citizens in leading the continuing development, expansion, and improvement of those resources. The p T RC recommends to the City Council actions that support those interests; monitors the use of and the improvements in parks, trails, and recreation; and collaborates with other City . y _ committees and commissions in improving parks and trails. 3. Goals: 1. Recommend actions that advance the vision for parks, trails, and recreation. 2. Recommend ongoing financing methods for parks and trails that P replace ark p dedication fees. 3. Assist in the development of a parks and trails plan for TCAAP. 4. Committee Expectations: While the work required of PTRC members will vary both across members and across time, the following expectations are generally held of all committee members: 1. The interests of Arden Hills and its citizens are foremost 2. Participation of PTRC members is key to their contribution— a. Members should be present and involved in meetings of the committee. b. Members should be actively engaged in discussing issues, sharing perspectives, and raising questions that are essential to good decision-making. C. Effective participation derives from continually learning about Arden.Hills parks, trails, and recreation and the physical and political environments in which they exist. This learning includes those formal opportunities afforded by the PTRC, as well as informal opportunities that occur in the course of one's activities. d. As a general guideline, members should expect to spend approximately b to 8 hours per month in their work on the committee. 3. The PTRC is a group of peers—no one member has more standing or power than others. — 4. Respect for the opinions of each other, and for those with whom the PTRC interacts, is a hallmark of the committee's work. Members seek clarity in presenting their views, and represent a sense of stewardshipin all that the do. Y S. PTRC members engage in continual self-assessment of their performance on the committee. As needs arise, they seek education and skills necessary to their performance. As a collective, the committee develops changes in its g composition, structure and function as needed. 6. The PTRC provides opportunities for the education of its members both as part of committee meetings, and through access to educational events in other settings. Members actively engage in this education as part of their responsibility to the committee. ?. Some of the work of the PTRC is in areas of subjective judgment, where tht,r e is not enough hard information to make the decisions that are necessary. Y Members who are most successful in these decisions are those who are aware of the values they hold, willing to engage in the discussion of those values and respectful of those values held by others that may differ from their own. 8. The PTRC is composed of individuals with diverse perspectives and experience. The committee benefits from the contrasts that this diversity engenders, and seeks to improve the decisions it makes and the actions it takes by understanding the conflicts and resolving the disputes that arise in the discussion of issues and plans. 9/ Evaluation of Buckthorn Particulates From a Chipper- Shredder by Lanny Baumann 10/27/08 Summga: Samples taken from the pile of shredded buckthorn plants in Hazelnut Park on October 26h 2008, showed almost total destruction of thorns on the stems. There is no significant safety issue to pedestrians if used as trail cover on Arden Hills paths and trails. Back round: Buckthorn removal projects in Arden Hills parks yield a significant volume of waste plant material that could be used as ground cover on city trails. Because of the many thorns there is a potential safety issue if thorns are not broken down when passed through the city's chipper- shredder machine. The question of this issue came from the Parks Trails and Recreation Committee (PTRC)meeting of 10/21/08. Evaluation Procedure: Four half gallon containers were filled with particulate material from different parts of the debris pile resulting from the buckthorn removal project at Hazelnut Park on 10/25/08. The four samples were slowly and carefully inspected for any sign of intact thorns. Findings: Approximately 90%of the particulates,by volume, were less than 3/4"long and many were less than 1/2". Some longer stem pieces ranging in size from I"to 3"remained but with no thorns attached. I believe the thorns, being more brittle, were shattered, as only a few sharp 1/4"tips could be found in the fine particulate material. There were other plants that were also shredded with the buckthorn. They had some pointed ends,not sharp like a thorn, and also not a big safety issue because the pointed end was on the longest dimension of the particulate which would normally be horizontal.