Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutOctober MinutesMinutes ______________________________ City of Falcon Heights, Park and Recreation Commission Meeting October 11, 2004 7:00 PM _____________________________ Meeting Chair: Chuck Long Minutes By: Ann Davy Present: Jim Evans, Chuck Long, Denise Deen, Kimberly Kuhens, Ann Davy Excused Absence: Laura Kuettel, Patrick Dolan Meeting called to order 7:03 PM Approval of minutes September 13, 2004 Approval of agenda Staff Report Curtiss Field Curtiss Field is finished for the most part. The pond is draining at the expected rate. A layer of sediment was removed from the bottom of the pond. J. Bros. work on the project is complete. The gazebo is finished except for the electrical work which Muska Lighting is working on. The basketball court and the backstop will need to be completed in the spring. Court Surfaces & Repair was contacted to let them know of our decision to wait until spring to paint the court. Heather did not have any problem holding off on this project. We met with MnDOT last week to discuss their plans to add a bus lane on Snelling Ave. As they are working on the part of Snelling between Idaho and Iowa Ave., we requested that they update the manholes. There are four manholes in that block, all of which feed into the Curtiss Field pond. The update will include the installation of sumps with a catch basin to control the sediment in the pond. The City would maintain the sumps by vacuuming out the sediment on a regular basis. The signs for Curtiss Field arrived last week and will be installed this week. Evans asked if they were going to be installed in the locations we earlier discussed. The locations of the signs have not changed as of yet, but the maintenance crew may make slight adjustments to their locations if needed when doing the installation. Hockey Rink Fifteen residents showed up for the community meeting on Sept. 30 at Falcon Heights Elementary School. We did a Powerpoint presentation that explained the issue that we are trying to solve by adding a hockey rink at the school. The issue is that parents are concerned with their kids having to cross Larpenteur Ave in order to play hockey at Curtiss Field. There are 196 school-aged children in the Roseville Area School District that live in the area surrounding the school. The presentation showed pictures of other area rinks as well as the space that we are looking to place the rinks and the layout. Of the residents who were present, the majority were supportive of the idea of trying a hockey rink at the school. One couple that live adjacent to the space we plan to use were concerned about noise and lighting, but they are willing to give the plan a try. Overall, the feeling was that if the project was going to be done, they wanted it to be done right. Everyone agreed that lighting the rink would allow better use of the rink, but they didn’t want it to have a negative impact on those living closest to the rink. Right now we are looking at putting the hockey rink parallel to Ruggles and the pleasure rink just south of the hockey rink. Deen stated that lights could be placed on the west end of the rink with this set-up, thus facing away from the houses. Long asked if we knew where some of those in attendance lived. Kuhens stated that two of the families live on Holton between Ruggles and Garden. Adding lights this year is still up in the air. Greg is looking into some possibilities for temporary lighting to try. Long asked whether the hockey rink would be added this year if lights were not possible. We will be putting the rink at the school this year regardless of whether or not there are lights. All the community members in attendance agreed that the rink should be a temporary structure, meaning it should be removed in the spring. Deen added that Roseville has a site where the rink stays up all year long and takes up recreational space. Deen inquired about the possibility of putting a building or trailer at the site. There will not be a warming house this year, but down the road the City would look to add a building that could be used as a warming house in the winter and space for storage or other activities during the summer. The residents wanted to make sure that if a building was added, that it looked nice and fit in with the neighborhood. Evans wondered if any excavating would need to be done on the field prior to setting up the rink. Greg has looked at the space and found it to be flat enough that no work would need to be done on it. The meeting ended with everyone in favor of trying a hockey rink at the school. Long asked if anyone from the school was in attendance. Paul Charest, the school principal was there as well as a representative of the school district. Kuhens asked if both rinks would fit on the baseball field. There should be enough space or the size and layout of the pleasure rink could be adjusted. Deen inquired about fall soccer. The season is half over and things are going well. The last date of the program will be Saturday, October 30. Meeting ended at 7:25 p.m. Minutes respectfully submitted by Ann Davy. If there are any corrections or additions, please contact Ann Davy by phone at 651-917-1287 or by email at ann.davy@ci.falcon-heights.mn.us.