03/06/2006 Park Board Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Rick DeGardner From: Rick DeGardner Sent: Friday, February 24, 2006 11:55 AM To: 'JP PETERSON'; David Knoll; Brian Hronski Cc: Dave Knoll; Dave Knoll; Aaron Frederickson ( apfrederickson @arthurchapman.com); George Lindy (GeorgeLindy @comcast.net); kboyle @mastersforum.com; Pam Taschuk (ptaschuk @brookcntr.k12.mn.us); Pat Huelman (phuelman @umn.edu); Paul Montain (Mountainenviro @aol.com); william.kusterman @ey.com Subject: RE: Summer Game nights Jay, I would like to clear up some misperceptions you stated in your earlier email and notify you of information we need from Centennial Soccer before we can allocate the soccer fields for this summer. "To clarify, the athletic fields at Rice Lake Elementary and CMS belong to the school district and its taxpayers. Lino Lakes is currently providing athletic field maintenance to the school district in exchange for I believe gym time at ISD #12 schools for no charge and Lino Lakes in turn earns revenue from the programs that operate in these gyms." Yes, the athletic fields at RLE and CMS belong to the school district. The amount of city dollars (taxpayer money collected from Lino Lakes residences /businesses) to maintain the athletic fields on ISD #12 property are substantially greater than the amount of revenue we derive from Lino Lakes Parks and Recreation Department (LLPRD) programs in the schools and gyms. I am not sure of the relevance of your statement since Centennial Soccer (in 2005) utilized 100% of all soccer fields located within the city limits of Lino Lakes, 7 days a week (except White Bear Soccer used Clearwater Creek Park for practices and our lacrosse program used CMS #7 on Sundays). "In addition Lino Lakes now charges residents from Circle Pines, Centerville, Blaine and Lexington an additional charge to participate in activities sponsored by Lino Lakes in ISD #12 gyms and athletic fields that these citizens have paid for with their property tax dollars." The additonal fee (normally $5) charged for non - residents to particpate in LLPRD programs are to help offset the costs that Lino Lakes taxpayers pay for the LLPRD Department's existence (staff, building, computers, telephone, etc). Realistically the additonal fees collectively don't come close to even putting a dent in our budget. •However I view this more as a symbolic gesture to Lino Lakes residents that they are provided a "discount" since they are already paying (through general levy taxes) the costs associated with having a recreation department. I think if you ask Lino Lakes residents (whom I am paid by and work for) whether they should pay the same fees to particpate in our programs as people who don't live in the city, I think most would agree with the current pricing structure. Again, I don't see the relevance of this argument since Centennial Soccer utilizes almost 100% of the soccer fields on school district property and throughout our city parks. • "The soccer club is like the basketball association, we each own no facilities and rely on the school district to provide these facilities to us. The City of Lino Lakes has a separate agreement that should in no way affect the usage of fields by the soccer club." Our agreement with the school district has no bearing on our allocation of athletic field space for the various user groups. As a representative of Centennial Soccer how can you argue that your organization isn't provided a fair amount of soccer fields from Lino Lakes since Centennial Soccer is allocated 100% of all soccer fields (with two small exceptions)? Our objective, as discussed with the Centennial Soccer Club as early as 2003 is to allocate fields based upon three criteria: 1. The City of Lino Lakes will make every effort to reserve /allocate game and practice fields to the youth sports associations in proportion to the number of Lino Lakes participants in relation to the total number of participants. For example, if 75% of a youth sports association's participants reside in Lino Lakes, then the City of Lino Lakes will provide fields for 75% of the games and practices In addition to addressing the needs of the youth sports associations, city staff will also consider the long- term condition and quality of fields. For example, a field(s) may be taken out of commission for a year for renovation. If necessary, city staff will compare the level of Lino Lakes resident participation in all youth sports groups when allocating fields. For example, if the necessity for fields (as defined in Criteria #1) to accommodate all youth sports associations exceed the available amount of fields, city staff will allocate fields based on the number of Lino Lakes residents in each youth sports association. "We all need to maximize usage of all possible green spaces to support youth athletics in our communities and cannot have a few neighbors at some parks affect the hundreds of families that can benefit from their usage. We no longer have 1