10/24/1979 P&Z Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 3 Planning and Zoning Commission October 24, 1979 city would be involved at Metro's meeting in January or February to review their criteria for the next year. Presently, under these criteria,thecity would not receive any grants. A recess of five minutes was taken, and the meeting reconvened for Mr. Short's presentation on parks. Mr. Short indicated he would cover the systems approach to'parks, the'pre- vious plan (1974), the proposed draft plan, proposed policies to accompany this, and some questions in relation to regional parks posed by Metro' Council which had to be answered as a part of the park plan.' Copies of a summarized recommended system for Lino Lakes were available, which had been prepared as part of a memo at the request of the Park Board last winter. There was also information on funding and recommended standards for parks; there were a number of standards the city could use to evaluate and/or develop their park system, for example, how many acres should be provided per thousand population. These ;categories were: tot lots, neighborhood parks, community playfields, community -wide city park, and special use parks. Aside from this, parks could generally be classified into active and passive kinds of activities, although there were some overlaps. The passive category referred to disorganized or outdoor appreciation types of activities, for example, strolling in the park. Borderline activities would be providing space for casual or impromptu sports and picnicking. The active category would include all organized sports such as little league and activities that required a special field such as 'football and tennis, or playground equipment. The hierarchy of parks would try to address all these different kinds of needs. Mr. Short reviewed these, start- ing with the types of parks located closest to home up to those farthest from home. Tot Lots were generally provided along with other parks further up in the hierarchy, such as neighborhood parks, Frequently they were in higher density areas where there was no room for people to provide their own facilities. In reference to Sunset Oaks, Mr. Short indicated it was rare to provide a tot lot in a large lot subdivision. Neighborhood'Parks were providedwithin walking or biking distance of home, and were intended to fulfill the day-to-dpy activities of the family. It included play apparatus, open play area for pickup softball or football, a picnic area, or scenic areas. Parking areas were not considered necessary, as the park was near the home or within drop-off distance. Winter activities would include free skating as opposed to hockey, as activities would be of the the type that would not require orggnization. A mimimum size of three to ten acres was suggested; in a large development, more than three acres would be needed, and if some of the property was wetland and not usable, more than ten acres would be needed. Mr. Short suggested 21-31 acres per thousand population, which was taken from a national standard and custom- ized for Lino Lakes; taking the population and dividing it by that recomm- ended standard would give the number of acres to provide as .a goal. More important than the standards per thousand, however, were the service area standards, or how