03-27-2023 City Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION DRAFT 4 Mr. DeGardner stated many communities have neighborhood parks throughout the City with one 117 central park that has an inclusive playground and the City may spend $500,000 to $1,000,000 on 118 that. 119 Councilmember Lyden asked to show the Councilmembers a video from the Northland website 120 regarding inclusive playgrounds. His personal thought is that just being ADA compliant is a low-121 bar and the City must rise some level above that. The video was shown to the Councilmembers. 122 Councilmember Cavegn asked if Mr. DeGardner would recommend having one major park with 123 full accessibility. Mr. DeGardner replied in the affirmative and noted perhaps even a second park 124 in the future. 125 Councilmember Stoesz asked Mr. Johnson about ballpark numbers for ramping up the inclusivity 126 at the City’s parks. Mr. Johnson noted just adding a ramp with the inclusive slides and without 127 the surfacing, the City would go from $75,000 to approximately $125,000. Adding the rubber 128 surface would add another $100,000. Councilmember Stoesz clarified it would be about 129 $250,000 per park. 130 Councilmember Lyden asked about funding sources. Mr. DeGardner noted there are probably 131 grants the City could look at. 132 Mayor Rafferty noted in talking about the other inclusive playgrounds in cities such as Richfield, 133 Plymouth, and Woodbury, the populations of those cities dwarf that of Lino Lakes. He noted 134 Lino Lakes does not have the same type of funds to utilize when it comes to parks. He asked 135 Park Board Member Pat Huelman what conversations the Board has had on the matter. 136 Park Board Member Huelman noted all of the parks within the City were built on the back of a 137 development when it went in with no money left over for added features or replacements. At 138 some point, Lino Lakes decided to invest in small, neighborhood parks and did not invest in a 139 destination community park with those bigger features. He noted the Park Board has been so 140 limited in money that it has been a challenge to keep the small neighborhood parks funded 141 properly. 142 Councilmember Lyden thinks the standard for accessibility is the bare minimum, and if the 143 Council decides that this is a priority, they will do it. 144 Mayor Rafferty noted three parks are on the agenda for this summer that are on hold. 145 Mr. DeGardner agrees with Councilmember Lyden’s comments that ADA compliance 146 requirements are probably not as stringent or high as some people want. He reiterated Staff’s 147 perspective and in working with Mr. Johnson over the years, that the City exceeds those ADA 148 requirements and standards. For example regarding the Watermark project, the standard was to 149 have 9 elevated accessible components and the project has 12; they are required to have 7 ground 150 level components and the project has 20 components. 151 Councilmember Stoesz asked if the City is tapped into Anoka County resources and whether 152 they can push to add a regional park in the area. Mr. DeGardner replied if the City Council 153