07-27-2020 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PARK COMMISSION Monday, March 2nd, 2020 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 5 of 14 continued success. He stated the proposal was not about anyone’s feelings about the club; instead, it is about irreversibly modifying the face of the park the Orono community has come to enjoy. He realizes the trail will be evolving due to other improvements in the area. This proposal is for a massive building to be placed in the center of the pa rk and there will be launches and docks close to where people will be swimming. If the proposal goes through, the nature of the park will fundamentally and forever be modified. Placement of a large boat storage facility, private offices overlooking the lake, and a fitness facility is outside the scope of what should be considered good public resource stewardship. It also sets a dangerous precedent for the future of Orono parks. Ms. Rachel Feldmann, 1010 Old Long Lake Road, stated they are the property next to Summit Beach. She said she appreciates that the Park Commission exists and promotes the usage of all parks in the area. She would like to leave the park as it is. Adding the boating equipment would not fit with its purpose and is not the best use of th e park. They did receive notice from the rowing club to get together and get feedback, and that was great. She understands the rowing club has benefits: it’s a form of exercise and there are scholarships available, She noted there would be a lot more traffic and the situation would need to be assessed when it gets developed, because the City will probably have to make a bigger parking lot and they would already be taking away from the playground and grassy area. The teenagers use the hammocks in the trees. She said the park is very good the way it is now and asked the Commissioners to reject the proposal. Ms. Lisa McCarty, 3340 Graham Hill Road, stated eight years ago she and her husband wanted to move to Orono and looked at 1000 Old Long Lake Road. They lo ved the house, but because her husband is a surgeon and gone a lot, she was worried about the safety of the park since they had three young children at the time. She sat in the park after dark, and the activities she saw at the time were not things she wanted in her backyard so they did not buy the house. She believes there is a lack of perceived security in Summit Beach Park and believes having perceived security would change some of the activities occurring after dark. The park is known as the “Secret Beach” for a lot of secret reasons for the teenage crowd, and it is not just hammocking. She wanted to bring a different perspective: someone who chose not to buy a house in the neighborhood because of the park. Ms. Mimi Bendickson, 5500 Anderson Estates Road, Independence, said she grew up in the community and used to ride her horse down to swim in Long Lake. She was also part of the rowing club when it started and had two children involved. She said she thought it was neat that everyone could come together to voice their thoughts, their hopes, and their dreams for the amazing resource they have in their backyard. She stated the rowing club is transparent, folks are from the community, and they are focused on benefiting everyone such as 85-year -olds. It is the only club in the western suburbs so it meets the goal of a park reaching out to others. She thinks the City has a perfect partner with the rowing club because she knows the character behind the people. It was not an easy club to get going and they had t o meet with two communities to prove themselves, and she feels they have proven themselves over and over again in doing the right thing and listening. She thinks there is an opportunity for people to come together to create something special which encompasses everything and keeps an environmentally sound use of the lake. She said she is a realtor and sensitive to what these proposals mean to everyone. When looking at real estate evaluations, marinas are difficult for people, but values are high for sailing clubs because it is beautiful, there are set hours, there is no partying, so it is a completely different feel. She noted this is a sport that respects the environment and encourages a continued conversation. Chair Roath closed the public hearing at 7:10 p.m.