HomeMy WebLinkAbout4.3.24 Park Rec Minutes - Joint Meeting1 | Page
CITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS Joint Meeting of the Parks & Recreation Commission
and City Council Workshop
City Hall 2077 West Larpenteur Avenue MINUTES April 3, 2024 at 6:30 P.M. A. CALL TO ORDER: 6:35 P.M.
B. ROLL CALL: Jeff Yager____X__ Mike Bradbury__X*___ Eric Brenton__X___ Erin Williams__X___ Tom Faust__X___ Randi Lundell__X___ Bob Haight____ (Bradbury arrived after roll call) COUNCIL LIAISON:
James Wassenberg ___X___ STAFF PRESENT: Kelly Nelson___X____ Jack Linehan ___X__ 1. Community Park Renovation – Interior / Exterior Finishes
Haley Koesters of HCM Architects presents proposed exterior and interior material selections
for the new Community Park building. For the exterior, two brick selections are shown, one
just slightly darker than the other. In addition, two Hardie Board panels in blue tones are
shown as examples.
The design team slightly prefers the lighter brick and darker paint as well as the darker shingle
example for their recommendations. Councilmembers and Commissioners agree.
For the interior, Koesters says that in the Flex Room, they recommend a rubber flooring
material that will be durable against ice skates (combined with rubber mats) and have the
appearance of concrete, but resist cracking over time.
Koesters says that a decision still needs to be made for flooring in the Community Room,
depending on the overall look and use of the room, whether it is carpeted or the vinyl flooring
extends in there. Gustafson, Leehy and Wassenberg prefer carpet tiles, as do Parks and Rec
Commissioners.
Koesters says another area to gain feedback from is a feature wall in the lobby. Designers
included a mockup of a wooden slat wall.
Linehan says that, in speaking to Valerie Castile and the Castile family, they have clay hearts
that were created by Philando’s former students. Linehan says they’d like to include some of
the clay hearts on this wall.
Leehy volunteers to look at the clay hearts that the City would like to incorporate in the new
park building.
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Koesters says the hearts could be hung on the slatted wall that the designers presented for the
lobby’s feature wall.
Koesters continues walking the commission and council through material selections, including
wall colors, wall tile and ceiling materials. She says that you could either do concrete or epoxy
floors in the mechanical room.
Leehy says that the good thing about epoxy is that it absorbs water better than concrete.
Mielke shows Koesters a photo and asks what flooring material Roseville used in their building.
Koester says it looks like a tinted concrete floor, which is more expensive.
Mielke says this is looking like a high-end event space rather than a parks and rec building.
Koesters says she thinks it’s yoga by morning, Zumba by afternoon and Grandma’s 75th
birthday party by evening. It’s both.
Wassenberg is a big fan of carpet tiles.
Leehy likes carpet but does think of ADA compliance too when determining the flooring
material. Carpeting is easier to stand on for long periods of time.
Commissioner Williams asks about the padding underneath the carpet.
Koesters says that thicker pads tend to cause carpets to degrade faster.
Leehy adds that more pad holds onto more mold as well.
Koester says all of these materials are low VEOC.
Lundell also likes the carpet tiles and thinks it would help the way sound bounces.
Koester says either ceiling option has acoustic benefits.
Brenton says that a carpeted room helps acoustics for speaking events.
Williams has a question about lighting. Is there a way to diffuse the light?
Koester says that the lighting that is shown would be in the form of multiple lights, which are
downlights.
Wassenberg says that he likes the cove lighting shown.
Leehy says we should consider the longevity of the light.
Lundell says that even with perimeter lighting, we would still need some sort of lighting in the
center as well.
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Williams sees the wall in the Community Room wall having a projector, TV or rotating art.
Linehan says a key point to renting the room will likely always be AV.
Leehy says to be mindful of technology changing over time when considering AV equipment in
the Community Room.
Lundell likes the idea of mixing in some wood elements along with white walls.
The commission and council look closely at the materials and further discuss them.
Linehan brings up the subject of geothermal. He met with geothermal experts and they
discussed whether it would be a good fit. Yes, it would be a good fit. It would reduce electric
use by one-third. At current pricing, we would never recover the investment though because
electricity, even when reduced by 1/3, still costs more than natural gas. The benefit is moving
away from natural gas. Linehan says they discussed the possibility of installing solar panels on
the roof of a future outdoor picnic structure as well.
Koesters says their engineer will do a bit of modeling to determine costs, longevity, etc.
Lundell thinks it would be very forward-thinking to include geothermal and solar.
Williams asks about the investment cost difference.
Leehy wants to ask the question in another way. If you never pay it back (the cost of the
geothermal technology), does it eventually become more expensive?
Linehan says it’s important to be strategic; there are grant opportunities out there.
Yager mentions doing a canopy over the parking lot.
Linehan says the canopy idea came up on the geothermal call as well, but the cost of it was
much higher…approximately $1.5 million.
Faust says he thinks residents would support the effort to do geothermal.
Linehan says there are a lot of pros to it. But, are you doing it for a cost-savings or because it’s
the right thing to do?
D. ADJOURNMENT OF THE PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION: 7:59 PM Commissioners Bradbury and Lundell
motions to adjourn; Approved 6-0