PK PACKET 12202021 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Parks and Environmental Commission Regular Meeting Minutes September 13, 2021 Page 3 1 Commissioner Guest stated he is curious how emissions are measured and what benchmark is 2 used from 2005 and how is that benchmark obtained. Ms. Doolan stated the long-range plan 3 spoke to that and she will obtain more information on state-wide benchmarks. Commissioner 4 Guest asked if only the State measured that and not St. Anthony specifically. Ms. Doolan 5 stated she believes that is the case. 6 7 Chair Bellinger asked Ms. Doolan what type of help she needed from the Commissioners. Ms. 8 Doolan stated she would like to hear other ideas for the grant application. Ideas regarding 9 outreach, how to motivate individuals, prize offerings for people that come through the 10 workshops. A second step would be to message about the goals and be City representatives in 11 the workshops. 12 13 Chair Bellinger stated at the last work session there was a discussion about the environmental 14 focus for the Commission. This is timely and this will be discussed. She stated she 15 appreciates all her efforts. Ms. Doolan congratulated the Commission on the write-up in the 16 newspaper. 17 C.18 Pickleball Updates 19 20 Mr. Chad Gillard thanked the Commission and Staff for addressing all the questions from the 21 pickleball group. He stated pickleball play in St. Anthony has been quantified for St. Anthony 22 community and also the surrounding areas. The current access to pickleball currently is two 23 courts at Culver Court (shared courts without lights and courts are showing wear, no restroom 24 facilities). Mike Bauman has helped the group schedule dedicated pickleball times at Culver 25 Court. There are four to five confirmed groups that play pickleball. Those times are 26 Wednesday, and Thursday mornings and Thursday evenings. That time is being used very 27 well. They are working with Mike and the Community Ed Department to find some indoor 28 space for pickleball and offer courses through Community Ed. 29 30 Ms. Amber Potts attended via zoom and stated she and Mike are still in the planning phase of 31 the classes. One class was at Culver Courts and it was full and one class was held inside. The 32 people taking the courses were 55+. She sees some of those class attendees still playing. They 33 are looking to get more kids involved in pickleball. Every year 400 middle-schoolers learn 34 pickleball. They have nowhere to play. It’s a lifelong skill when people learn to play. 35 36 Mr. Gillard stated in August they collected signatures of people playing at Culver Court. 37 There was also some interest expressed as a result of the newsletter. In a very short time, they 38 were able to collect 86 signatures. There are several not in St. Anthony but the vast majority 39 of signatures collected are from St. Anthony. For VillageFest they ran a pickleball 40 tournament. There were 124 teams planning to attend. The weather did not cooperate and 41 had to shift from Saturday to Sunday. 2/3 of the teams were able to play before the rain 42 began. They have been doing some line testing to find some solutions and working with 43 public works to find an answer. Next weekend there will be 94 teams coming to town for the 44 MN State Pickleball tournament. This tournament will also be held on the tennis courts 45 September 18-19, 2021. Six local businesses contributed funds to purchase nets to enable 46 these activities for the tournament. Interest outside of St. Anthony but in close area is