HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes for Oct 13MEETING MINUTES
Monday, October 13, 2014
6:30 p.m.
City Hall, 2077 W. Larpenteur Ave.
City of Falcon Heights
Parks & Recreation Commission
1. Call to Order
Meeting called to order at 6:30pm.
Attendance X=present; AB=absent
X Candace Amberg WSB & Associates, Inc.
X Gordon Strom Chairperson
AB Christina Erickson Secretary
X Michelle Tesser Staff
X Tim Pittman Staff
X Chuck Long Council Liaison
X Mary Hannon Jacobson
X Dave Thomas
X Liz Asmus
X Michael Breen
AB Cari Lee
X Emily Metcalf
X Ron Eischen
2. Approval of Sept 8 Meeting Minutes
The Sept 8, 2014 minutes were approved.
3. Update on Curtiss Field Pond Project – Tim Pittman
Project is on schedule and going well. Tim has some concerns about the possibility of an
ice rink after all is complete due to the grading and surface but will see how things look
when the project is complete.
4. Public Works Report -Tim Pittman
Most work this past month has been doing some city hall remodeling.
5. New Business
None discussed at this time. Michelle had something she said she would communicate
via email (to conserve meeting time for the Park Concepts discussion.)
6. Revised Master Park Plans-Candace Amberg WSB & Associates
Candace began by explaining she took comments from last month’s meeting (when she
showed 2 concepts for each park), combined them into 1 concept per park, and tonight:
is looking for feedback on these concepts before finalizing.
Candace next updated the commission on the status of the audits:
• Playground audits done on all park sites. Some playground structures/pieces
were salvageable…. though in the long run – might be better to just replace
them. The biggest concern that came out of the audits was the playground
surfacing: all park playgrounds only had about 2 inches of adequate surfacing
when compliance requires 12 inches.
• Building audits: The building at Community Park is not handicapped accessible;
Curtis Park’s building is. Structural fixes are needed for both.
Next, each of the 4 parks and their concepts were discussed. Discussion included details
about each of the parks features, costs for the various features, building remodeling vs
rebuilding, alternate park improvements/ideas, phasing, resident feedback, areas that
money could be saved, etc.
As the concepts were presented, the following estimated costs were identified for each
park/concept:
1. Curtis Field Park= $978K
2. Falcon Heights Elementary = $122.5K
3. Community Park = $1.5M
4. Grove Park = $370.5K
The above concepts did not include all utilities in the cost estimates; Candace still needs
more information/data for that. She also said she still needs to sit down and have
discussions with the UofMN, State Fair (trail connections) and Roseville.
Chuck Long (council liaison) expressed the need for this commission to decide at
tonight’s meeting what the final design concepts need to be (for Candace to finalize and
bring to the city council at the November 2014 meeting.)
The commission went through each park concept as presented and made the following
decisions/recommendations:
1. Curtis Field Park= Approved concept presented by WSB except noted the pond
overlook is not high priority.
2. Falcon Heights Elementary = Approved concept as presented by WSB.
3. Community Park = Approved concept as presented by WSB with the following
changes: 1) removal of hockey rink and 2) removal of pickle ball courts (replace
with open green space)
4. Grove Park = Approved concept as presented by WSB but with the inclusion of
the possibility of a leisure rink (which means the option of eliminating the re-
grading/reseeding of the open space from the costs.)
Concepts as noted/modified above were approved by this commission. Candace will
make the above noted changes to the concepts in preparation for presentation to city
council.
The possibility of convening a special Park & Rec Commission meeting between now and
the November city council meeting was discussed if feedback from the 10/23 Falcon
Heights Parks Improvement Open House feedback warrants it. Gordon suggested to
Candace to have boards/diagrams available at the 10/23 event that represents what the
parks look like now for reference.
7. Meeting Conclusion
Meeting adjourned at 8:00pm.
a. Summary of Decisions Made
See above noted concept approval/changes for each park.
b. Summary of Action Items
i. Candace will make the changes as requested by the commission for the finalized
concepts before presenting to the city council.
ii. Michelle will notify the commission about the New Business that was not
discussed at the meeting due to time constraints.
c. Documents to Attach/PDF with these Meeting Minutes
i. See Attached Falcon Heights Master Plan Park Concepts
d. Next meeting date: Monday, Nov 10th at City Hall, 2077 W. Larpenteur Ave.
e. Submitted By: Mary Hannon Jacobson
Co
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Informal Open Green Space
INTERPRETIVE DESIGN:
Woods/Plants
Changes in Climates/Shis
Importance for Shade, Habitat, and Oxygen
Sports Court
Basketball Court
Pickleball Court
Picnic Shelter
10 to 20 People
Handicap Accessible
Children’s Play Area
Equipment for all ages
Wood chips or rubber surface
Trellis for shade
Trail Access
Paved Trail Connection to U of M St. Paul Campus
Backstops w/
Ornamentation
Fitness
Stations
Fitness Station
N
GRAPHIC S CALE
0’ 20’ 40’ 60’
Backstop w/
Ornamentation
Nature Play
Sn
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A
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N
o
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Free
Skating
Area
Parking
6 Spaces
INTERPRETIVE DESIGN:
Stormwater
Water Routes from built environment to
wetlands, rivers & oceans
Multi-Purpose Rink/Court
Basketball Court
Adjustable Height Backboards
120’ x 60’
Pond Overlook
Children’s Play Area
Equipment for all ages
Wood chips or rubber surface
Shade Structures
Main Park
Building
Restrooms
Warming House
Trellis for shade
Interpretive Sign
Interpretive Sign
N
GRAPHIC S CALE
0’ 20’ 40’ 60’
Privacy
Fence
Fire Lane
Iowa Avenue
Idaho Avenue
Sn
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D
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Ornamental Fence
Athletic Fields
Full size soccer eld (120yd x 75 yd)
Soball Field (60’ bases, 275’ FL)
Community
Gardens
Children’s Play Area
Picnic Pavilion
Equipment for all ages
Tensile Shade Structure
Parking
53 Spaces
Cl
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A
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N
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Roselawn Avenue West
INTERPRETIVE DESIGN:
Fields and Farming
Bees, Butteries and related pollination
N
GRAPHIC S CALE
0’ 40’ 80’ 120’
Basketball Court Rural Fence
Create gateway into park
New Main Park Building
Restrooms
Warming House
Picnic Shelter
New Picnic Pavilion
8-10 people
Naturalized Area
So-surfaced nature trails
Monarch monitoring area
New Picnic
Pavilion
8-10 people
Fitness
Stations
Nature Play
Areas
Split Rail Fence
Rain Garden
Potential Future Hockey Rink
Athletic Fields
Soccer eld (330’ x 195’)
Tee-Ball Fields
Garden Avenue
N
GRAPHIC S CALE
0’ 40’ 80’ 120’
Ruggles Avenue
Turf Track Route