HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda for June 6
City of Falcon Heights
Parks & Recreation Commission
AGENDA
City Hall
Monday, June 6th, 2016
6:30 p.m.
___ Gordon Strom ___ Mary Hannon Jacobson
___ Dave Thomas ___ Michael Breen
___ Ron Eischen ___ Shawn Hubert – Commission Chair
___ Ben Reichelt
___ Council Member Gustafson
___ Staff Tim Pittman
___ Staff Tim Sandvik
1. Call to Order
2. Approval of April 4th, 2016 Minutes
3. Updates from Council Retreat – Council Member Gustafson
4. Programming Updates – Tim Sandvik
5. Ice Cream Social, Movie in the Park Updates – Tim Sandvik
6. Curtiss Field Updates
7. Other items
8. Adjourn
MEETING MINUTES
Monday, April 4, 2016
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 6:32pm.
Attendance AB=absent
Shawn Hubert Chairperson
Tim Sandvik Staff
Tim Pittman Staff
Randy Gustafson Council Liaison
Mary Hannon Jacobson Co-Secretary
Ron Eischen Co-Secretary
AB Dave Thomas
Gordon Strom
Ben Reichelt
Walt Dunlap
2. Approval of Feb, 2016 meeting minutes
The meeting minutes were reviewed and approved.
3. Low Waste Events
Tim Sandvik began the discussion with a presentation of what no-waste/low-waste
events are, what Ramsey County will provide for these types of events, how these types
of events benefit the environment/community and why the city of Falcon Heights wants
to implement them when possible for city sponsored events or events at one of our
parks. The city has asked the Parks and Rec Commission and Environment Commission
to identify initial goals and guidelines for this pilot program, so Tim will be working with
Paul Moretto, Staff Liaison to the Environment Commission, on creating these. This year
will be a “benchmark” year to compare future no waste/low waste events to and
explore other possibilities.
Tim asked the commission for ideas on how to make our Ice Cream Social/Movie in the
Park event (July 21st) a low waste event. Some of the ideas offered were:
1. Using organic utensils. Pro: Compostable/No Waste; Con: Additional cost
2. Solar Power trailer. Tim will do further research into this.
3. Using reusable containers: bowls/silverware, etc.
4. Use sugar cones/waffle cones/etc. for Ice Cream, and use bulk size ice cream.
Notify people ahead of time to bring their own bowls/spoons if desired.
5. Provide water filling stations and notify people ahead of time to bring their own
water bottles.
6. Use Dry Erase boards and Easels for signs (instead of paper/cardboard.)
Volunteers for this event are mostly the Lions club members who staff the ice cream
portion. City Staff and P&R commissioners are often volunteers as well. Where else
might we find volunteers?
1. Highschool and middle school clubs and organizations
2. Boy/Girl Scouts
3. Job Corps (who also participated in the KaBoom! build)
The Movie in the Park (after the Ice Cream Social) will have popcorn available, but will
be provided in recyclable paper bags.
Promotion of the event will start in May/June for the July event.
4. Update on Larpenteur Ave Medium
Tim Pittman: Clarified w/Sack today about his expectations from the P&R commission
re: the Larpenteur Median, and that at this time he just wants the commission kept up-
to-date on the status. Tim talked w/Andy (city forester) and they haven’t come up w/a
solution to the medians yet. W/in the next 2 weeks, city staff will be cleaning dead stuff
out of the medians, and afterwards they hope to have some solutions/options to
evaluate. Whichever route they take, the solution needs to require a lot less
maintenance (for safety issues and cost considerations).
5. Sidewalk Installation at Curtiss Field
Tim Pittman: Roseville engineer said the sidewalk will be 84’ long to keep the slope ADA
compliant. MNDot got involved because they want a sidewalk along Sneling from Hoyt
to Larpenteur for connectivity of the transit installations on Snelling. Falcon Heights is
trying to get them to move their proposed sidewalk away from Snelling so that the
heavy snow from Snelling does not cover it since the city doesn’t have equipment to
handle that type of snow. In addition, they are trying to stay away from the newly
planted trees – though some may need to be moved. The city is hoping MNDot will
compromise and only 1 sidewalk in that area will be created/maintained.
6. Update on Council Discussion Regarding Curtiss Field
Recommendations
Council Member Gustafson: Council looked at the recommendations the Park and Rec
Commission submitted. The Council appreciates the well planned recommendations and
the efforts the commission took to get input from the community. Council is encouraged
by the cleanup and sidewalk completion at Curtiss Field.
The City Council requested more detail of what a proposed “building” would mean:
purpose, how used, size, operations, etc. They would need this information to assign a
budget to it. Everyone (in the city council) agrees bathroom facilities would be
beneficial. How large would the bldg be vs the green space need? Council needs more
data/specifics on the building (parking, green space, landscaping, etc all relies on the
size/shape/use of the building.)
Council cannot bond for this building because it does not qualify for revenue bonds (so
it must be budgeted for.) The City Council needs more detail and a better vision of this
building to help sell the need for this building to the community. Other considerations:
could the Curtiss bldg take over Community park populations/events while Community
Park is undergoing renovation?
A recommendation was made to have a Park and Rec Meeting this summer at Curtiss
field and invite the public to offer ideas/requests for this building, as well as give the
commissioners an opportunity to review the space available for this building.
Commission will wait for more direction from council on what details are needed and
when.
7. Programming and Special Events
Tim Sandvik: All summer programming will be at Community Park this year, except for
some programs at Commonwealth Terrace (CTC) (which are only available to CTC
residents). Programming is based off of what was successful last year. Program
participation is down… possibly due to kids joining traveling and club teams and not
participating in the entry level programming which Falcon Heights offers. These same
challenges are seen by our Roseville and St Paul neighbors and other cities in the
metro/state.
The city is currently seeking and hiring staff for summer programming.
The Ice Skating season this year was short, but we had about 450 skaters. A comment
was made re: the ice rinks at Curtiss Field and how well maintained they were this year.
As mentioned earlier, the Ice Cream Social is being combined with the Movie in the Park
this year. Volunteers will be needed.
The 5K will be in September and volunteers are always needed. Date will be either 9/10
or 9/17.
8. Meeting Conclusion
Meeting adjourned at 7:50pm.
a. Summary of Decisions Made
i. N/A
b. Summary of Action Items
i. Tim Sandvik will be working with Paul Moretto on low-waste event goals and
guidelines.
c. Next meeting date: Monday, May 2, 2016
d. Submitted By: Mary Hannon Jacobson