2009-07-01 P & R Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Parks & Recreation Committee Meeting Minutes 06-03-09 Currently the seasonal help is hauling water in the back of a truck and on occasion connecting a hose to the drinking fountain with a sprinkler and then moving it throughout the day, but watering restrictions are in effect and watering can only be done on odd/even days, before 10 a.m. and after 6, which only leaves from 7:30 to 10:00 a.m. on alternate days. Motion was made by Vice-Chairperson Amundsen, seconded by Chairperson Seeley to recommend City Council direct staff to research and get an estirnate(s) to install irrigation at Hidden Spring Park. All in favor. Motion carried unanimously. Hidden Sorin!!: Park PlanOnes Mr. Jeff McDowell, Bonestroo Landscape Architect was at Hidden Spring Park on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 to determine which plants needed to be replaced as a warranty issue. Ms. Stephan met with Mr. McDowell to discuss the plantings on the lakeshore in particular and concerns regarding the lakeshore restoration plantings. Ms. Stephan's concerns are there are so many weeds, mostly thistle and dandelions, on the lakeshore that if these are pulled there will be very little to sustain the soil on the lakeshore. There are some plantings which are believed to be weeds, but neither Ms. Stephan nor Mr. McDowell was sure that they weren't natives planted as lakeshore restoration. Mr. McDowell took pictures which he brought back to the office to try and identify. He reported via email, 'As far as the shoreline goes, I talked to three of our native plant guys. The picture is so poor that none of them could confidently identifY it. However, they all agreed it was not a native, and was probably a weed. But as we discussed on site, be carefUl about removing plants. I don't know how warranty and maintenance is being handled with the installer.' He also determined 44 plants in the raingarden need to be replanted as they did not survive the winter. This is a separate issue from the lakeshore plantings. Bonestroo is only responsible for the warranty on the raingarden plantings. Mr. Larson and Ms. Stephan talked to a representative of Natural Shore Technologies; the company which did the restoration, to inquire as to what was planted and were the plants under warranty. There was some confusion over the invoice and whether the plantings were actually done. Natural Shore Technologies sent pictures via ernail to confirm they planted the shoreline and stated 1,100 plants were installed for a cost of approximately $3,000. There was a maintenance agreement for $900 which would have given a warranty for the plantings. For whatever reason this appeared to be lost in between Bonestroo, the City, Public Works, Parks & Recreation Committee and Natural Shore Technologies because the committee, Ms. Stephan, and Public Works did not know these plants were insta1led and needed to be watered. The plantings were not cared for last fall. The maintenance agreement was never agreed to, we didn't even know it existed until this research was done and the conversation was had by Natural Shore Technologies. It is unknown at this time how many plants survived. The committee would like Mr. Larson have Mr. Statz, Bonestroo, explain how the failure to warranty came about, how could 1,100 plants at a cost of $3,000 not be under a warranty? The last reference in the Parks & Recreation Committee Minutes was in September 2008 when the committee asked when the plants were going to be installed. Apparently they were installed the end of August and were never watered by staff as we did not know they were there and needed to be watered. Ms. Stephan is meeting with a representative of Natural Shore Technologies on June 23, 2009 to discuss options and identify what was actually planted and what are weeds and will report 40f7