02-26-2018 Council Work Session Packet

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WEST METRO Regional trails are cleared of snow only if cities do it Three Rivers Park District doesn't plow its 10 trails come winter, but some suburbs take on the task themselves. By LAURIE BLAKE Star Tribune SEPTEMBER 25.2010 —10:37 PM Ira winter, Three Rivers Park District's 10 ;popular regional trails are up for adoption. Those in cities such as St. Louis Park, Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park are picked up, reflecting a local desire to keep the trails clear during snowy months for walkers, runners and even bike commuters. Others draw no champions and are quietly snowed in. They include the Dakota Rail and Lake Independence trails, which are lined by cities unwilling to take on the maintenance and liability. Three Rivers tends to the trails spring, summer and fall. But from Nov. 15 to March 31, they're closed unless cities choose to take over the maintenance of segments within their jurisdictions. "We don't have the capacity to operate all these many miles of trails in the winter," said Margie Walz, the district's associate superintendent. Since the mid-1990s, Three Rivers has given cities the option to use city crews to keep the trails open. St. Louis Park clears snow from the Cedar Lake LRT Regional Trail from Minneapolis through St. Louis Park to Hopkins. "it is such an excellent amenity, it's hard to see it shut down for an entire season," said Cindy Walsh, the city's director of parks. People walk, tun and bike the trail all winter. "We are very happy with its use and impressed with the people who use it all year round," she said. Brooklyn Center's segment of the North Mississippi Regional Trail is just four blocks, but the city keeps it open all winter because it links residents to a larger trail system, said Todd Berg, supervisor of parks and streets. "It's a pretty important part of the park system for residents." In Brooklyn Park, "we would hear from our residents" if the city didn't plow the 4 miles of Rush Creek Regional Trail and the 4 miles of the Shingle Creek Regional Trail that run through town, said Jon Oyanagi, director of recreation and parks. Golf course employees get winter trail maintenance duties because the city thinks it's important to provide residents with "fitness and year-round outdoor opportunities," he said. Minnetonka and Excelsior regularly take on segments of the Lake Minnetonka LRT Regional Trail. Golden "Valley, Greenwood, Hopkins, Maple Grove, Plymouth, New Hope and Shorewood also adopt the stretch of trails within their borders. Eden Prairie plows the Minnesota River Bluffs LILT Regional Trail for walking, jogging and bike commuting, said Parks and Recreation Director Jay Lotthammer. "More and more, people getting into year-round mike commuting use that as a safe way to commute," he said. Taking on a trail segment for the winter comes with rules. Three Rivers requires cities to obtain a permit and buy liability insurance as well as plow, sweep, sand, pick up trash and post permissible activities. To control ice on crushed limestone trails, Three Rivers insists that cities "use buff - colored three-eighth-ineh, clear limestone chips," sold only by one Burnsville aggregate Pit.