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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-04-2003 Park Board MinutesPark Board Meeting – August 4, 2003 Minutes 1 The August 4, 2003 City of Lino Lakes Park Board me eting was called to order at 6:45pm, by Acting Chair Taschuk. Roll call was taken, members present were Pam Tasch uk, Bill Kusterman, Katie Boyle, and Paul Montain. Members absent were Michael O’Connor, Pat Huelman and George Lindy. Also present was Rick DeGardner, Public Services Di rector. APPROVAL OF July 7, 2003 MINUTES: Bill Kusterman made a motion, seconded by Katie Boy le, to approve the July 7, 2003 minutes. The minutes were approve d. SETTING THE AGENDA: The agenda was passed as presented. Review Cost Estimate for Proposed Recreation Area I mprovements for Bruggeman Properties – Rick advised the Bruggeman Properties preliminary plat was discussed at the July 7, 2003 Park Board meeting. As indicated at last month’s Park Board meeting, th e developer will be requesting the City Council to credit the d evelopment of the private park area and construction of the trail s towards the Park Dedication Fee. Subdivision VI of the current Park Dedication Ordinance states, “Where private open sp ace for park and recreation purposes is provided in a proposed s ubdivision, such areas may be used for credit, at the discretio n of the City Council, against the land for cash dedication requi rement for park and recreation purposes, provided the City Cou ncil finds it is in the public interest to do so." Rick referred to a copy of a cost estimate for the proposed recreation area improvements dated July 25, 2003. Staff is comfortable with the estimated costs. If the Park Board elects to recommend to the City Council that credit be giv en towards Park Dedication fee requirements, Rick advised he i s recommending that the developer not install the asphalt trails a long Hodgson Road and Birch Street. Therefore, the developer wi ll commit to developing the private recreation area as proposed as well as the 5’ wide concrete trails in Phases I – III. The tot al proposed credit would therefore amount to $174,098. This wo uld result in a cash balance of $82,680. Staff recommends design ating $33,000 of the cash balance to construct the trails along H odgson Road and Birch Street. Rick advised Mr. Schlenk, Bruggeman Homes, discusse d with staff earlier today the possibility of the park area bein g public and the City maintaining the park. The Planning and Zo ning Board is scheduled to review the plan next week. Park Board Meeting – August 4, 2003 Minutes 2 Mr. Schlenk came forward and stated a cost estimate was prepared for the park area. He indicated he would like cred it for the park development. He asked the Park Board to consi der the park area to be deemed public. Acting Chair Taschuk asked why the proposed private park area has now changed to a public park area. Mr. Schlenk adv ised there was miscommunication with his development team. He has been advised that the park area can be public. He stated the pa rk area being public would also help the City with the issue of p ark credit. Acting Chair Taschuk asked for a current layout of the plan. Mr. Schlenk presented the current plan noting the 1.2 a cre park area and trail locations. He reviewed the site features that include park benches, tables and play structure. Paul stated he is very disappointed with the plan. He stated proposing that the park area be public is a step in the right direction. However, he does not feel the park is a good value for the City. The park area does not have good acc esses for the public. Also, the City can not accommodate the 150 homes with a cash dedication of $82,000. Acting Chair Taschuk agreed and indicated she is al so concerned that the park area is surrounded by townhomes. Acc ess is also an issue. She stated she is not comfortable with the park area being public due to the way it is laid out. Katie stated she believes the development would be more attractive to buyers if the park area stays private . Mr. Schlenk stated the cost estimate for the park i s very accurate. Paul stated he is concerned that after the park is built, the City only has $82,000 in cash dedication. He state d that is not a good value for the City. Rick stated that typically neighborhood parks servi ce residents within a quarter to a half mile of the park area. He stated he is hesitant about the layout of the plan. He state d it is difficult to access the park area and it is surroun ded by townhomes. The plan does provide an extensive trai l system that is very costly. He stated he would prefer to look at a larger area if the intent is a public park. If the park i s to be deemed public, the park should go through the master plann ing process. Mr. Schlenk stated that in terms of public access, all of the surrounding streets are public and parking can be p rovided. He Park Board Meeting – August 4, 2003 Minutes 3 stated that redesigning the park area at this point would be very difficult. He stated he would prefer to move forwa rd with the preliminary plat as previously submitted. Rick asked how someone would access the park area w ithout utilizing someone’s private yard. Mr. John Johnson, Engineer for Bruggeman Homes, ref erred to the drawing of the plan and indicated the public park a nd corridor can be extended. The ponding area can also be modi fied for access. There would be two access points to the pu blic right-of-way. The question is if the City wants to consider deeming the park area public. He stated he believes that makin g the park area public will solve some of the problems with th e park credits. The City would then maintain the park are a to City standards. Paul stated he likes the idea of the park area bein g public if the two accesses were larger. He stated he does li ke the trail system. The big issue is with the dollars. A cash dedication of $82,000 is too low. Rick advised the first question is whether to pursu e the park as public or private. Based on that answer, the park dedication fees and/or park credits need to be determined. Th e third option is to keep the park area private and recommend a pe rcentage of park credit that should be given to the developer. Paul indicated he would like to keep the park area private. Katie indicated she would like the park area privat e also. Bill advised he would like to see the park area public. Acting Chair Taschuk indicated she would like the park area to r emain private. The majority of the Park Board determined the park area should remain private. Rick reviewed the park dedication dollars based on the proposed plan with a private park area. He stated the Park Board should determine what percentage of credit should be given to the developer. Paul stated he does not believe 100% credit should be given to the developer. The amenities in the park increase the value of the development. He stated a 40% credit is adequat e. Mr. Schlenk stated the plan does meet the City’s re creation needs. He stated he believes that 100% credit is j ustified. He stated that he could also build more for the dollar s so the City is getting more for their money. Park Board Meeting – August 4, 2003 Minutes 4 Acting Chair Taschuk stated she is satisfied with 1 00% park credit. Bill stated he believes that with any park there is a value to the developer. He indicated he does not believe th at 50% or 100% credit should be given. He believes the figure is somewhere in between those numbers. Katie stated she is not comfortable with 100% credi t. Mr. Johnson stated there is a significant range of what credit should be given. He stated that the Park Board bel ieves some credit should be given but is not sure how much. H e suggested the amount of credit given should be left up to sta ff and the City Council. He stated it is very difficult to co mbine both land and cash dedications. Bill Kusterman made a motion, seconded by Katie Boy le, to recommend some park dedication credit be given to t he developer to be determined by the City Council. Paul stated he believes the Park Board is not doing their job. The Park Board should come up with a figure to reco mmend to the City Council. Acting Chair Taschuk stated her concern is that thi s is new territory for the Park Board. The ordinances needs clarity and should be discussed further. Motion passed with Paul Montain voting no. Acting Chair Taschuk requested the land/cash dedica tion requirements within the new Park Ordinance be discu ssed at a future Park Board meeting. OPEN MIKE No one was present for open mike. RECREATION DEPARTMENT UPDATE: Rick referred to the Program Highlights Flyer from July 2003. He noted 287 participants registered for the Summer Pl ayground Program this year – the highest registration total ever. Fifty-seven participants officially registered for the Op tions program this summer. The program will conclude on August 2 2. The CLUB outings have been going well for the most part. The “Wet and Wild Water Park Adventures” have been a bi g hit. The “Beach Blast Fridays” however, have all been cancel ed due to low registration numbers. Park Board Meeting – August 4, 2003 Minutes 5 The Day Camps begin on August 4. Currently, there are 28 participants enrolled in the Sensational Summer Hig h Adventures Camp for grades 5-7 and 33 participants enrolled in the Sensational Summer Adventures Camp for grades 1-4. Registration is relatively complete for fall soccer and football. Soccer registration is at 460 participants and foot ball registration is at 305 participants. Currently, 27 teams are registered for the fall softball league. Staff is currently working on the fall edition of t he Recreation Review. It is scheduled to be in homes the last we ek of August. Rick noted that a Summer Playground Attendance Summ ary was included in the packets. PARKS DEPARTMENT UPDATE: Rick reviewed a memo from Mike Hoffman, Parks Super visor, which summarizes the maintenance highlights for July 2003 . Rick noted maintenance activities have included warning track renovation at Sunrise #1 and #2. A 40’ of 6’ high chain link fen ce was installed behind the ½ court basketball court at Ph easant Hills Park. Other activities have included much work on both Hi ghland Meadows Park and Clearwater Creek Park. Staff will reseed all turf-seeded areas at Highland Meadows Park. The storm o f June 24 caused extensive erosion, which impacted the qualit y of the project. In the next two weeks staff will total ki ll the turf-seeded areas, till and regrade, adjust depth of spr inkler heads, final grade and reseed. Staff will also total kill, final grade, seed bed p rep and seed Clearwater Creek Park. Staff hopes to have the see ding completed by August 15-20. OLD BUSINESS: FLAAA Batting Cage Proposal – There was no representative from the Forest Lake Area Athletic Association to addres s this issue. NEW BUSINESS: Letter from Mr. Tom Opsahl – Acting Chair Taschuk advised some Park Board Members received a letter from Mr. Opsah l regarding a park proposal on Main Street. The letter asked for an indication of support or no support from the Park Board. She stated she believes the proposal needs to come to the Park Boa rd through the proper channels. She asked how the Park Board shou ld respond to the letter. Park Board Meeting – August 4, 2003 Minutes 6 Rick advised he has not heard from Mr. Opsahl and h as not seen the letter. He stated Mr. Opsahl should contact hi m and he will be informed about the proper procedure for his prop osal. The Park Board determined Bill would respond to Mr. Opsahl and ask him to contact Rick DeGardner. NEXT PARK BOARD MEETING: Rick advised the next Park Board meeting would be h eld Tuesday, September 2, 2003, 5:30pm, Park Tour at Paul Montai n’s House. ADJOURN: Bill Kusterman made a motion to adjourn, seconded b y Paul Montain. The meeting was adjourned at 7:50pm. Respectfully Submitted, Kim Points Recording Secretary Minutes were approved at the October 6, 2003 Park B oard Meeting.