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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/03/2004 Park Board OtherLino Lakes Public Services Department 600 Town Center Parkway Lino Lakes, MN 55014 (651) 982 -2440 Fax (651) 982 -2439 Memorandum To: Park Board Members From: Rick DeGardner, Public Services Director Date: July 28, 2004 Re: Park Board Update I know Sandie called all of you to inform you that the August Park Board meeting has been cancelled due to lack of agenda items. However, there are still some items of interest I wanted to convey to the park board: • Brian Hronksi, the new Recreation Supervisor, began work on July 26. Brian jumped right into things his first day and is working extensively on the rapidly approaching fall soccer and football programs. Brian is also taking care of other programs including fall softball. I am sure you will run into Brian soon! • The Parks, Greenways, and Trail System Plan was discussed at last week's City Council work session. The City Council seemed comfortable with the process and content. Final drafts will be sent to city council and board members within the next few weeks for review. • The Parks Update and the Recreation Update are attached to summarize what's been happening in the respective departments the past few weeks. • The attached letter will be going out to residents abutting Birchwood Acres Park later this week. We hope to begin work mid - August. • Our annual Park Board tour and barbecue is scheduled for Tuesday, September 7 at 6:OOpm. Paul has been gracious in hosting the post -tour barbecue the past several years. Perhaps someone else is willing to host this year? Give me a call at 651- 982 -2444 if you are willing to help out. All you need to provide is a grill! Proposed tour stops include: o Pheasant Hills Northeast Trail o Clearwater Creek o Birch Park • • • July 28, 2004 Let me know if there are any other areas of interest you would like us to visit. Also, please contact Sandie at 651- 982 -2442 if you are not able to attend on September 7th. Have an enjoyable August!!! 7/28/04 RD /Park Board /Aug 2004 cancelled and update • Lino Lakes Public Services Department 600 Town Center Parkway Lino Lakes, MN 55014 (651) 982 -2440 Fax (651) 982 -2439 July 30, 2004 Dear Birchwood Acres Park Adjoining Property Owner, I want to make you aware of some developments regarding Birchwood Acres Park. Later this summer, city staff will be installing an ag -lime infield for the informal ball field. The current turf infield area doesn't provide a safe environment to field ground balls. Ag -lime infields provide the safest surface for an informal ball field. An ag -lime infield will make the ball field much more functional and safe for park users. To reinforce the fact that the design and intent of this ball field is for informal use only, the player benches will be removed. Staff will also be communicating with the various youth sports associations to further strengthen our commitment that Birchwood Acres Park will not be used for any formal games or scrimmages. Rather, area residents and youth teams will use the field for informal activities and practices. In addition, there are some areas throughout the park that do not have good, • established turf. In August, city staff will be regrading and seeding portions of Birchwood Acres Park to hopefully establish better turf quality. • The city recently acquired 13 acres of parkland (4 acres upland) connecting the developed park area to 62nd Avenue. The master plan that was completed in 1997 indicates a trail connection to 62nd Avenue, a picnic shelter, sand volleyball courts, and horseshoe courts. As residential development occurs around Birchwood Acres Park, park dedication dollars derived from the developments will be designated to further develop Birchwood Acres Park. For example, park dedication dollars for Raven's Hollow ($85,240) have been designated for Birchwood Acres Park. When enough dollars are secured to develop the southern portion of the park, I anticipate inviting area residents to review the existing master plan to determine if any modifications of the master plan are warranted. Hopefully this will occur within the next few years. I hope you have an enjoyable summer! Sincerely, Rick DeGardner Public Services Director J: \Ricks Folder \Parks Division \Neighborhood Parks\Birchwood Acres\Ball field renovation 6- 04.doc Lino Lakes Parks and Recreation Department 600 Town Center Parkway Lino Lakes, MN 55014 (651) 982 -2440 Fax (651) 982 -2439 www.ci.lino- lakes.mn.us July 23, 2004 TO: Park Board Members FROM: Mike Hoffman, Parks Supervisor SUBJECT: June and July 2004 Maintenance Update When I wrote in June I was begging for the rain to stop now of course we could use some. Maintenance activity during June and July has included: o Weekly mowing of all turf areas. Irrigated athletic fields are usually mowed twice weekly. o Weekly garbage pickup. o Daily athletic field preparation. The majority of our summer programs have ended with adult softball finishing up this weekend. o Athletic field improvements — with fewer daily field preparations we have been able to devote more time to improvements. Projects have included: Sunrise #3 — renovated infield, rebuilt pitchers mound. Sunrise #4 — renovated infield, rebuilt pitchers mound. Sunrise #1 and 2 — renovated warning track. o Playground inspection and repairs: Replaced bubble mirror panel at Shenandoah Park. Replaced tot swing at Woods of Baldwin Lake Park. Replaced crawl tube at Lino Park. Replaced teeter spring at Marshan Park. Re -glued rubber tiles at Pheasant Hills and Wenzel Farm Parks. Added FIBAR at Lino and Brandywood Parks. Repaired track ride at Birch and Lino Parks. Removed graffiti. o Clearwater Creek Park Poured concrete pad around irrigation controller. Built 8x8 shed to enclose irrigation controller and electrical panel - also used for storage by playground program. Built retaining wall near shed. Applied Roundup to unwanted vegetation in shrub beds. Added decorative mulch to sign bed. o Party wagon delivery and pickup. o Hazard tree removal in parks and along trails (some done by staff and some contracted). o Tanker watered new trees and landscaped areas. o Layout and painting of lacrosse field (CMS #5) o Poured concrete bench pads, installed benches at Behm's Park and Rice Lake Elementary basketball courts. o Installed Birch Park gazebo. o Site preparation and seeded Birch Park gazebo and Behm's Park and Rice Lake Elementary basketball courts. o Applied second fertilizer application at Clearwater Creek and Highland Meadows Parks. o Attended defensive driving training. o Irrigation system maintenance and repair: Replaced 50'+ of cracked zone line at Birch Park. Repaired leaky quick coupler and raised valve boxes at Rice Lake Elementary School. Replaced damaged heads at Behm's, Marshan , and Rice Lake Estates Parks. o Basketball court maintenance: Touch -up painted court surface at Pheasant Hills Park. Backboard repair (replaced missing hardware) and cleaning at Pheasant Hills Park. Cleaned backboards at other locations. o Flail mowed trail edges. o Trail repair: Snow Owl Lane — saw cut and removed approximately 40' of bituminous trail, rebased, compacted and installed new bituminous surface. Near Ware Road — Saw cut and removed approximately 100' of sinking trail, rebased, compacted, and installed new bituminous surface. Pothole patch at Rice Lake Elementary School, Fawn Lane and Ware Road where needed. o Boardwalk repair: Brandywood — replaced or redrove screws that were protruding from deck boards. Shores of Marshan — replaced approximately 40 2 "x6 "x8' planks along this section of boardwalk. As I'm sure you are aware, as our trails and boardwalk systems age, more resources will be needed to properly maintain them. Currently trail repair is running about $2 /ft2 that is just for the bituminous install. Preparation work by staff (old bituminous removal, rebasing and compacting) is not included in that cost. Cost for the two areas above (approximately 140') will be approximately $2500, again this does not include staff time spent prepping these areas. Boardwalk maintenance is not cheap either. Materials cost just to replace the planking at the Marshan boardwalk would run approximately $8000.00. Again, that is planking only not installed just some food for thought. Those are the major highlights from June and July, more to come in August. • Lino LaKes ParKs and R- ecreation Department Program Highlights - Suly Part: Board Update Youth Youth Instructional: Our summer youth instructional programs (Tennis, T -Ball, Soccer "Fun "damentals) have been going very well and will all conclude by the middle of August. All of our T -Ball and Soccer Fundamentals classes reached their participant maximums. We will research the possibility of adding additional sessions in the future, but space and instructor availability is limited. Summer Playground Program: We have had our most successful year yet with the Summer Playground Program. We reached our participant maximums at all seven sites and even went over at some - 347 participants are enrolled in the playground program this year. Next year we hope to add an additional morning site to help accommodate the interest level of the program. Our annual playground finale will be held Thursday, August 5 at Sunrise Park. Some of the activities at the finale include: carnival type games, water games, relays, ball games, our giant bounce, face painting, art -n -craft station and a magic show by Magician Brian Richards. The 28 playground staff this summer have also been doing a FANTASTIC job! Options: We have a total 49 children now enrolled in the Options program - we had a few join us after the program had been up and running for a few weeks. Things are going smoothly and an enjoyable summer is being had by all. The program will end August 20. .eld Trips: Our youth water park field trips have not been a big hit this year - we have had to cancel all of them so far. e cold weather we experienced early on in the season may have deterred people from participating. We hope to ave greater participation in our fall trips or we may have to reevaluate the need for this type of program. TAAG Beach Party: The TAAG program (a University of Minnesota sponsored collaborative study - Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls) is putting on an end of the summer beach party for middle school age youth. It will be on Friday, August 20 at Rice Creek Chain of Lakes Regional Park. So far 59 middle school age youth have signed up to attend the free event. The collaborative partners include: the University of Minnesota, Anoka County Parks and Recreation, Lino Lakes Parks and Recreation, Centennial Community Services, Centennial Middle School and the Chain of Lakes YMCA. Fall Soccer: Registration officially ended on July 15, but we are still receiving requests to be placed on teams. To date, 390 participants are enrolled in the program. This is a bit lower than past years' registration totals. Tackle Football: Registration officially ended on July 15, but we are still receiving requests to be placed on teams. To date, 287 participants are enrolled in the program. This is a bit lower than past years' registration totals. General Interest Recreation Review: We are currently working on the fall edition of the Recreation Review. It will be in homes the last week of August. Welcome Brian: We'd the like to welcome Brian Hronski to the Department. Brian, sident of Lino Lakes, is our new Recreation Supervisor. Brian comes to us from Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and will be taking over many of the programming responsibilities of Barry Bernstein. Welcome Brian! Questions? Please call Liz Bursack or Brian Hronski at 651- 982 -2440.