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Home My WebLink AboutMinutes for Dec 8City of Falcon Heights Parks & Recreation Commission City Hall, 2077 W. Larpenteur Ave. Monday, December 8 2014 6:30 p.m. __X_ Christina Erickson ___ Liz Asmus _X__ Cari Lee _X__Staff Tim Sandvik __X__ Gordon Strom __X__ Dave Thomas ___X_ Emily Metcalfe ____ Staff Tim Pittman _X__ Mary Hannon Jacobson ___ Michael Breen ___ Ron Eischen __X_Council Liaison Chuck Long Minutes 1. Call to Order 6:34 pm 2. Approval of October 8th meeting minutes - meeting minutes approved. 3. Old Business Curtiss Field is the 1st park that will undergo changes When the TCF Bank stadium was built, part of the stipulation was that they (UofMN) had to make money available to local communities in the form of grants because of the noise/parking/congestion associated with the stadium. When the MN Vikings started playing at TCF Stadium, they too were subject to this stipulation (that they too would contribute grant money for the nearby affected communities.) The City of Falcon Heights applied for some of these grants and were awarded one for Curtiss Field. KaBoom!, an organization that builds playgrounds, will be leading the development of the Curtiss Field playground rebuild project, with the $75K grant being funded by KaBoom!, UofMN and the MN Vikings. They have strict deadlines for this project and need the site preparation complete in early 2015 so that the project can be completed by May/June 2015. Because of this, the City of Falcon Heights is putting most of it's attention/focus on Curtiss Field at this time (because of the free grant money associated with it's redevelopment.) The city has $100K from the Hermes park dedication fee. They will be using some (or possibly all) of this money to remove the septic system currently under the playground structure at Curtiss, the playground structure itself and the warming house. All of these need to be removed in order for the site to be prepared according to project specifications/KaBoom! requirements. That is the city's current focus (getting the site prepped in time and providing KaBoom! with necessary paperwork/legalities.) The KaBoom! project will cover the play structure at Curtiss Field. The watershed? org will cover the cost of the fence around the pond at Curtiss Field. Everything else will require funding by the city. 2) Mary asked Chuck how the city council felt about the Park Open House and the feedback received from residents: Would it require a revisit of our recommended concepts? Chuck said no, that the council believes the P&R commission has the "big picture" in mind and knows that the commission came to recommend these concepts after a long study and evaluation of current needs and residential feedback. The concepts are just that: concepts... there is room for changes/tweaking. However, at this time, because of the timelines of the KaBoom! project, Curtiss Field is the priority right now. Gordon: Council feedback on goals for Curtiss field? Chuck: Curtiss is the priority for now and then we will circle back to the other parks. We have to work within our resources as we move forward. We may have to consider other sources, a special referendum, and other budget constraints from the county or city. Michael: Do we have enough money to do Curtiss completely? Chuck: We are not yet sure. Once we know final costs on removing items, we will see what we have left for finishing the park. The Kaboom! grant covers the play structure, labor is by volunteers. Is the fence around the pond chain link? Yes. But we can try to make it more attractive. Wrought iron? Greenery? Designs? These are all possibilities we can look into. 4. New Business Meet the new Parks and Rec person. Tim Sandvik, Deputy Clerk, Recreational Supervisor, spent the last 7 or 8 years with Brooklyn Park and another city. Currently in graduate school, and has history with parks work. Has worked here since August in another role. Chelsea Peterson is leaving for city work in Chanhassen. Winter Fest - Will go on in January. Is it possible to post the parks info on the web? The Improvement Study is on the website, should we add the conceptual work from Candace to the website? Coyotes have been spotted. Is their education we can put out? A link to basic safety information about what to do or not to do with coyotes? Maybe expanding the information to include all wild animals would be useful. Can’t give a date on when rinks will go in, warm up expected this week. Next meeting date: Monday, Jan 12th at City Hall, 2077 W. Larpenteur Ave.