02-14-2000 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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We have contacted several cities regarding the material that they use under playground equipment. There is a difference of opinion on the best material use. The most expensive material at this time is the manufactured wood chip product. This is a compressed wood chip product manufactured to a specific size. This is a relatively new product. It does offer the advantage of better accessibility, for disabled persons, as it is possible to travel across this surface in a wheel chair. There are also fewer problems with children throwing the wood chips than the pea gravel. The City of Plymouth is converting all of their parks to the manufactured wood chip product. They are adding additional chips to their parks every other year. This is more maintenance than is required for pea gravel. The neighborhood residents would like to have the manufacmred wood chips used similar to Cottagewood Park. Orono is currently using pea gravel in our other parks. Walkway and Trail Options The neighborhood concept plan includes a sidewalk along Shadywood Road and a trail on the alley north of the park between two houses. This is a 10* wide platted alley that has never been developed. The concept is that this alley trail could be used to access the park from the north. My understanding is those neighborhood residents, who ride the bus to work, would like to use this path to travel through to the park toward the Shoreline Drive bus stop. Currently they have to walk along Shadywood Road to reach the bus stop. This is hazardous because there is no sidewalk along Shady wood Road north of Lyric Avenue. This option of walking through the park would not work in the winter unless the park paths were plowed. We do not have the equipment for winter maintenance of these paths. Also, this path would go through a back yard and may not be acceptable to the adjoining property owners. This sidewalk issue is a larger problem than the park improvements. My recommendation is that the best solution would be for the City to construct a sidewalk along the Shadywood Road from Crystal Place to Lyric Avenue. Sidewalk installation may require retaining walls. This sidewalk would provide for safer pedestrian travel, from the north, to the park and the commercial area for neighborhood residents. The other sidewalks in Navarre are maintained during the winter by the City, so winter maintenance of this sidewalk would allow for year round access. It is possible to plow sidewalks directly adjacent to the street using a wing plow, so no new special equipment is needed. If this sidewalk is constructed, the use of Park Dedication fees may not be appropriate and other sources of funding may need to be used. The use of Municipal State Aid funds for this sidewalk is a possible option. State Aid rules allow cities to use Municipal State Aid funds on trounty Highway improvement projects, subject to the same cost participation rules that apply to Municipal State Aid Street projects. Sidewalks generally are an eligible item for State Aid f inding. If the City Council would like to pursue the installation of a sidewalk, wc can obtain cost estimates and investigate possible funding sources for construction of this sidewalk. A cost estimate has been developed that does not include the alley trail to the north and the sidewalk along Shadywood Road in the park improvement project. In ordf to reduce project costs the revised plans have substituted bituminous surface trails for the decorative concrete sidewalks.