Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout6.17.20 Park Minutes Minutes Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Commission Meeting of June 17, 2020 Hugo City Hall, 7:00 pm Meeting held remotely pursuant to Minn. Stat. Sec. 13D.021 Present: Roger Clarke, Shawn Haag,Cathy Moore—Arcand, Nicole Schmid, Dave Strub, Ranell Tennyson Absent: Mat Rauschendorfer Staff Present: Scott Anderson, Public Works Director Shayla Denaway, Parks Planner Strub called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm. 1. Approval of Minutes from the May 20, 2020 Meeting Moore—Arcand made a motion, Haag seconded to approve the minutes of the May 20, 2020 Parks Commission Meeting with a correction made to the date listed under the Lions Park Feasibility Study for the Parks Commission Meeting be changed from June 18, 2020 to June 17, 2020. Ayes:Shawn Haag, Cathy Moore—Arcand, Nicole Schmid, Dave Strub, Ranell Tennyson Motion carried. Clarke joined remote meeting. 2. Lions Park Feasibility Study Development Guidelines for Lions Park were approved by the City Council on November 15, 2011 and a Preliminary Master Plan for Lions Park was approved on March 2, 2014. On May 13, 2019 the City Council and Parks Commission held a workshop to discuss funding of community parks.At the meeting of June 19, 2019 the Parks Commission identified their priorities for community park development and these priorities were presented to the City Council at their budget workshop on September 5, 2019.The City Council included "prepare for and begin construction of new Lions Park"on their goals for 2020.The Parks Commission discussed a work plan for Lions Park at their February 19, 2020 meeting. The first step was a feasibility study which included master plan updates, a phasing plan, and updated cost estimates. The Hugo City Council approved the feasibility study at their April 20, 2020 meeting with their discussion on the Road Capital Improvement Plan. As the first step in the feasibility study Candace Amberg,with WSB and Associates, presented three concepts plans to the Parks Commission that included minor revisions to the Preliminary Master Plan. Amberg shared Page 1 of 4 Parks Commission Minutes June 17,2020 that the goal is to look at various options and find a preferred approach to get one plan together. After that will come the next steps in the design process and starting to work with an architect to figure out what options the main park multiple use building should include. All options included modifying the parking lot on the west side to accommodate the Hugo Gardens Apartment development. Additional parking was added along the streets. A possible storage building was shown. The main pavilion was in the same location with an optional fire pit area. An alignment of 147th Street that includes a trail on the north side was shown. Each of the three options showed different configurations of the City Hall parking lot, pavilion and play features. Option 1 closely followed the original master plan and included both playground and splash pad options and allowed for the possibility of moving the ballfield away from the playground. Option 2 removed the splash pad and allowed for a larger playground. Changes to the parking lot at City Hall were shown that would make it a through road. Also shown were changes to the memorial space and a smaller fire pit area next to the pavilion. Option 3 added an interactive water feature and changed the location of the fire pit area.Also, a traffic circle was placed in the City Hall parking lot to help slow traffic. Parks Planner Shayla Denaway provided an update on 147th Street. Staff is working closely with the Hugo Gardens Apartment development on the construction of Finale Avenue.The City is looking at 147th Street as a future road improvement project but there are issues with the amount of right-of-way on 147th Street which complicates the placement of the trail. The City Council would prefer that the trail be located on the north side of 147th Street and Staff will be talking with property owners about easements to require the necessary right-of-way. Denaway will provide updates to the Commission when available. Amberg provided updated costs to the Commission. Currently,the costs are just budgetary figures and will change as things progress. The main park multiple use building has a wide price range depending on what options the Commission chooses. An inclusive playground would also add a large expense. Commissioners Strub and Moore—Arcand preferred the City Hall parking lot arrangement in Option 1 and felt that Fitzgerald Avenue should not be a through street. Moore—Arcand was concerned about the limited amount of close parking spaces to the City Hall building. Commissioner Tennyson favored keeping the ballfield close to the playground so that parents would be able to watch children who wanted to do different activities. Moore—Arcand agreed that was a good idea. Commissioner Strub believed that there would be various outside organizations, like Veteran groups,that would help fund the memorial. Strub also commented the he liked the idea of the fire pit area and questioned if infrastructure was figured in to the plan for Good Neighbor Days. The Commissioners discussed the differences between a splash pad and an interactive water feature.They also discussed the differences between a flow through system and a recirculating system. It was the overall consensus of the Parks Commission that they would like to include a water feature in the master plan. The Commissioners felt that it was important to have a feature like this to draw in the community and to help revitalize the downtown area. Denaway stated that a joint workshop with the City Council to discuss the Lions Park Feasibility Study and to review the concepts and cost estimates is scheduled for Monday,June 29, 2020. Page 2 of 4 Parks Commission Minutes June 17,2020 3. Proposed Public. Works Facility Public Works Director Scott Anderson gave an update on the proposed Public Works Facility that could possibly be constructed on 10 to 15 acres of the 125 acre Irish Avenue Park. Staff and Consultants have been working hard on the design of the proposed facility and now with most of the major components in place, they are looking more closely at the small details. Letters have been mailed to residents surrounding Irish Avenue Park and notices have been posted in the park notifying neighbors and park users of a Neighborhood Meeting scheduled for Thursday,June 18, 2020 with the City Council. Anderson encouraged the Commissioners to attend the meeting. Anderson shared new renderings of the proposed facility that showed various outside adjustments, including the placement of trees,the size of the asphalt drive and the location of the salt storage shed. He noted that they are leaving room for feature expansion on the site. Commissioner Clarke and Anderson met on location to walk the current trails and to discuss the placement of new trails. Anderson shared a map of the park that showed existing trails and options for new trails. Clarke said he believes that changing the placement of some of the trails, along with the addition of new trails would add enticements like varied routes, curves and shade, and some diversity for viewing trees and flowers. Commissioner Strub asked about access to the park and if it would only be from Irish Avenue or if the public would be able to use the Public Works Facility parking lot. Anderson said that the parking lot by the facility would be open to the public and have a trail that leaves the parking lot and connects to the rest of the trails in the park. The Commissioners all agreed that they would like to see a trail around the facility and stated that they liked the added trail options. 4. Clearwater Creek Preserve/JD 3 Update Parks Planner Shayla Denaway provided an update regarding the Judicial Ditch No. 3 repair project being undertaken by the Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD) in Clearwater Creek Preserve that was initially discussed at the February 19, 2020 Parks Commission Meeting. RCWD is moving ahead with the ditch maintenance project and will be creating a maintenance path to access the ditch for cleaning. As agreed upon in initial discussions, RCWD will construct the maintenance path in a location that will help improve the use of the park by residents. RCWD will be installing two culverts with a maintenance path on top that will also double as a trail so that pedestrians can access the park and heavy equipment will be able to access the ditch for future maintenance. This will enhance the use of the park and create opportunities for the City to construct additional walking paths. RCWD has asked for an agreement to use the main entrance of the park for access and will start the project in a couple of weeks. Commissioner Clarke mentioned that RCWD is providing a huge benefit for the City by installing the maintenance path in a manner that can double as a pedestrian path because these trails would be very expensive to construct as part of the Master Plan. 5. Recreation Program Update Parks Planer Shayla Denaway shared with the Commission that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused several recreation opportunities in Hugo to be cancelled, but with Governor Walz relaxing the Stay At Home Order some programs have been able to resume. Page 3 of 4 Parks Commission Minutes June 17,2020 On June 10, 2020 the fields at Hanifl opened and the Associations provided return to play plans with phased approaches. White Bear Lake Area School District has also implemented many policies for their programing, along with field use policies which are consistent with the City's policies. There is an interested party proposing an adult flag football league at Lions Park and Staff is working with them on a permit. Youth enrichment camps are now being held, however they have moved to Otter Lake Elementary School. Hugo residents can still participate;the programs were moved from City community rooms to Otter Lake so that the camp leaders would be better able to control the environment. Washington County Library has suspended all programs throughout the summer, but they are providing virtual programing and are currently opening up a limited amount of spaces for in-house library use. In the fall,Staff believes that they will hold Story Hour at Hugo Elementary School The Forest Lake YMCA has been doing a lot of great work during the pandemic. They are providing meals and outreach to seniors in the community and in Hugo they have opened up Park Play Days as scheduled and are playing outside at Hanifl Fields Monday thru Thursday with about a dozen kids participating. Commissioner Tennyson shared that the YMCA is looking for volunteers, both to help deliver the meals to seniors and to also provide financial assistance for the program. 6. Adjournment Moore—Arcand made a motion,Schmid seconded to adjourn the meeting at 8:36 pm. Ayes: Roger Clarke, Shawn Haag,Cathy Moore—Arcand, Nicole Schmid, Dave Strub, Ranell Tennyson Motion carried. Page 4of4 Parks Commission Minutes June 17,2020