HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks Commission Minutes December 2019MINUTES
City of Lake Elmo Parks Commission
December 16, 2019
Members Present: Commissioners- Mayek, Nightingale, Olinger, Schumacher, Weeks and Zeno
Absent: Ames
Staff Present: City Planner- Prchal, Public Works Director- Powers
The meeting was called to order by Weeks at 6:30 PM.
Announcements
No announcements
Approval of Agenda
Weeks motioned to approve the agenda, seconded by Schumacher.
Agenda was approved unanimously.
Approval of Minutes
a) November 18, 2019
No changes were made.
Minutes were accepted as presented.
Public Comments
Susan Dunn, 11018 Upper 33rd Street North. Ms. Dunn had done some more research on off-
road mountain biking and listed off other cities in the area that do not allow them. She
referenced an old lawsuit from 1994 claiming mountain biking is a safety concern and
needs to be restricted. She wants to make sure the commission knows this is in
important issue and one that they need to be thinking about in the future.
Parks Commission 2020 Work Plan
Prchal presented to the commission the work plan for 2020. Staff is recommending approval of
the 2020 work plan. These are guidelines for issues the commission can work on in
2020:
Planning and Policy Work there is a project with the county to have a trail extending
from the southern to northern border which is a multi-year plan. They could work on
some amendments to the park naming policy, facilitate the mountain bike trails project
in Sunfish Lake Park and talk about adding a dog park in the city.
Maintenance & Refurbishing Work there is opportunities to plant new trees, monitoring
Reid and Ridge Park trails which may need some added wood chips and develop a
walking trail map and maintenance plan.
Weeks asked if they could add the idea of more ball fields. Prchal said this might not be the best
time to add that. The city is slated to receive $1 million from the Royal Golf
development and that money is strictly for ball fields, because the development is
rendering some ball fields as not usable.
Olinger asked for clarification about the park naming policy. She was wondering if it is only in
regard to naming after a family and not after an individual. Prchal said that currently
parks cannot be named after a development but they can be a family name and that
updating the policy to be clearer will help.
Olinger moved to amend that 2020 Parks Commission work plan to include the possibility of
adding some new ball fields next year. Seconded by Mayek.
The motion was approved unanimously. The Work plan was approved unanimously.
January 22, 2020 Meeting Agenda
1) No items at this time.
Communications
Prchal shared with the commission a list of term expirations for the commission members.
Commissioners Zeno, Ames and Nightingale terms expire at the end of this year. Prchal
encouraged them to reapply if they are interested in continuing their service and to
encourage other residents to apply if they are interested. Terms are 3 years.
Weeks asked if Zeno and Nightingale are interested in reapplying, both said they were
considering.
Prchal said they will look at the park dedication fund again after the CIP is done, currently there
is $600,000 in the fund.
Weeks let the commission know that the City Council will be discussing the Inwood Park
development at their meeting tomorrow.
Director Powers had his crew checked out a reported leak at the VFW drinking fountain and
they found the leak and fixed it.
Weeks said that he has noticed a lot of parks amenities are expensive and he is encouraging
staff to find and apply for grants when they can to help fund some of these parks.
Powers said he has been in contact with the students that presented at the last meeting for
their ideas for the 180 acres. Their two ideas that they are most interested in are a
splash pad and solar lights in the proposed park.
Weeks asked if the gate at Sunfish Lake Park is working and Powers said it was working.
Director Powers also said that the lights at Pebble Park have been helping to reduce
dumping.
Powers said they are beginning to flood the rink and hopefully they will get it open this
weekend.
Zeno recommended the commission start thinking about doing some park walk-throughs to
generate some improvement ideas.
Meeting adjourned at 7:05 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Alex Saxe, Deputy Clerk