Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-03-1994 Park Commission Minutes . � MINUTES OF THE CITY OF ORONO PARK COMMISSION MEETING HELD ON MAY 3, 1994 ATTENDANCE The Park Commission met on the above date with the following members present: Chair Richard N. Flint, Alex Vongries, Susan Wilson, and Lili McMillan. Robert Howells, Sherokee Ilse, and James White were absent. John Gerhardson, Public Works Director and Recorder Barbara Anderson represented staff. Councilmember JoEllen Hurr was also present. Chair Flint called the meeting to order at 7:22 p.m. (#1) APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF MARCH 7, 1994 AND APRIL 4, 1994 Lili McMillan noted a correction on page two of the March 7, 1994 Park Commission Minutes regarding the dollar amount being the cost of the entire study, not the first phase. It was moved by Vongries, seconded by Wilson to approve the corrected Minutes of March 7, 1994 and the April 4, 1994 Park Commission Minutes as submitted. Ayes 4, nays 0. (#2) APPROVAL OF PARK COMMISSION ACTION AGENDA FOR 1994 Vongries commented he felt that items such as preparing parks for summer usage and repairing turf and the ball field at Hackberry Park were items that were done by the staff and not items that needed to be included in the Park Commission Action Agenda. Wilson commented that these were items on which they had received calls from residents in the past and they were included in the agenda to keep the Park Commissioners informed of the status of these items. Vongries commented he felt these items should be on the Park Department agenda, rather than the Park Commission agenda. Flint noted that the Action Agenda was requested by the City Administrator in order to create a plan for what the Park Commission was going to do and what the staff would be expected to do for the year. He noted that there were a number of things that others re responsible for, but that the Park Commission would receive complaints if these things weren't done. Discussion ensued regarding the type of items which should be included on the Park Commission Action Agenda, and Flint suggested that perhaps if they assigned responsibility for each item it would keep it in perspective. Wilson stated she viewed the agenda as a chance to keep track of these items and she preferred to use it more as a work sheet to remind the Commission of things that need to be done. Vongries stated he felt that it should be re-worded to more accurately reflect what they do. He did not feel that the Park Commission was preparing the parks for use. Hurr commented that it might be good to put who was responsible for each item behind it, which would clarify this issue. Thereupon it was agreed that the Park Commission would review each item on the action agenda and assign responsibility for that item. 1 MINUTES OF THE CITY OF ORONO PARK COMMISSION MEETING HELD ON MAY 3, 1994 � APPROVAL OF PARK COMMISSION ACTION AGENDA FOR 1994 (CONTINUED) lst Quarter, 199 (January-March) Responsible Party - Obtain proposal for park planning (done); decide upon process; present to City Council - Monitor ice rinks and develop proposals for improvement John - Commence planning for Old Crystal Bay Playground; Subcommittee obtain public input Previously Appointed - Work with developer of Dickey property regarding Staff and Park development of bike trail Commission - Meet with golf course superintendent (done) - Formalize Adopt-A-Park Program Sherokee&John(done) - Complete plans for French Creek Preserve John & Susan - Complete contracts with School Board and OBA for new OBA field on school property Staff, Sherokee & Council - March - advertise the availability of canoe racks at Staff (done) Summit Beach NOTE: Advertise in newsletter next fall for spring availability - Reorganize Park Improvement Sub-Committee (#3) 2nd Quarter, 1994 (April-June) - Implement plans for French Creek Preserve and have Sue & John formal opening ceremony - Rent canoe racks at Summit Beach Staff - Continue planning for Old Crystal Bay Playground Sub-Committee - June meeting - Bus tour of selected parks (French Creek Preserve, Hackberry, bike trails, Crystal Bay site, and OBA) at 6:00 p.m. 2 MINUTES OF THE CITY OF ORONO PARK COMMISSION MEETING HELD ON MAY 3, 1994 (#2) APPROVAL OF PARK COMMISSION ACTION AGENDA FOR 1994 (CONTINUED) - April and May - prepare parks for summer usage Staff - Repair turf and fall field at Hackberry Park before the Staff t-ball season starts - Continue planning for bike trail proposal Sub-Committee Dick, Susan, Lili, Jim - Initiate park planning process Park Commission,staff, City Council - OBA to complete Little League fields on school property Staff& Sherokee, OBA 3rd Quarter, 1994 (July-September) - August meeting - select recipients for Friends of the Lili/Commission Park award - Construction of first stage of bike trail Dickey property Developer - Continue park planning process and analyze survey Park Commission - Complete plans for skating rinks and take any actions Lili & Staff necessary to prepare skating rinks - Prepare parks for winter Staff - Continue planning for Old Crystal Bay Playground Sub-Committee 4th Quarter, 1994 (October-December) - Complete the Park Planning Process; recommend to Park Commission Council - Commence monitoring of skating rinks Discussion ensued regarding when to present the revised agenda to the City Council. Flint commented he felt that the Park Commission should establish a roster for Park Commissioners to attend City Council meetings in order to better facilitate communication between the Council and the Park Commission. 3 MINUTES OF THE CITY OF ORONO PARK COMMISSION MEETING HELD ON MAY 3, 1994 (�#2) APPROVAL OF PARK COMMISSION ACTION AGENDA FOR 1994 (CONTINUED) After discussion, the following roster was established: May 9, 1994 - Alex Vongries May 23, 1994 - Lili McMillan June 13, 1994 - Susan Wilson June 27, 1994 - Richard Flint It was requested that this item be placed on the Park Commission agenda to schedule additional Council meetings in July and August. Vongries commented he felt the City Council should be invited to go on the bus tour that the Park Commission has scheduled for it's June 6th meeting and stated he would invite them when he attended their May 9th meeting. All agreed that this was a good idea. (#3) REORGANIZATION OF PARK IMPROVEMENTS SUBCOMMITTEE Chair Flint requested volunteers to serve on this committee. Vongries asked if it was something that perhaps they should all be involved in rather than have a committee when one was not really necessary. McMillan commented that if they each took a park and kept an eye on it that would be a very effective way of keeping it up to City standards. Vongries commented he felt that the Park Commissioners should view all the parks so they were familiar with existing conditions. Flint commented he would like to have each Commissioner take a park in which he/she would take particular interest. The following list was established: McMillan: Hackberry Flint: Summit Beach Wilson: Crystal Bay, French Creek, Lowery Woods & Highwood Nature Trail Vongries: Antoine, Navarre Playground, Sandy Beach White: Casco Ilse: Bederwood Howells: It was determined that this process would replace the Park Improvements Subcommittee, and it was felt it would be much more effective. Vongries suggested that perhaps they should have a form to keep track of their inspection observations and provide a record of each park. Hurr suggested that perhaps they could take pictures of each park depicting existing conditions and put them in a book, which would be available to people to see what each park contains. She felt that if they could accomplish this prior to the bus tour, it would make it easier to familiarize people with those parks that they were not in the habit of frequenting. McMillan commented that an up to date survey of the parks and amenities would need to be done for Shardlow anyway, and she felt that the Commission doing this would save money. 4 MINUTES OF THE CITY OF ORONO PARK COMMISSION MEETING HELD ON MAY 3, 1994 (�#4) UPDATE ON PARK PLANNING PROCESS - MEETING WITH CITY COUNCIL Chair Flint inquired about the status of the survey and Gerhardson passed out the questionnaire which is proposed to be used. After reviewing the questions, Vongries suggested that the word "elected" be deleted from the fifth line on page 1, as he felt that was unnecessary. He noted he was concerned that the list of activities should be rotated so that the people being surveyed were not biased by the order in which they were listed. He also wanted to include hunting on the list. Discussion ensued regarding the possibility of when people responded affirmatively to a certain activity, to just have the surveyor ask them where they usually do this activity, rather than go through the entire list a second time. The Commission felt that question #73 should be kept as a follow-up question. Vongries commented that he felt the questions regarding whether the citizens would like more facilities provided and the potential cost of providing those facilities should be at the beginning of the survey rather than at the end. Hurr stated that she felt that the intent was to discern what the people wanted in the way of facilities and amenities rather than financial issues regarding the provision of those items. Chair Flint commented he felt the survey was well put together and would make a good survey. Hurr commented she would like to see a question included in the survey regarding the issue of user fees for specific activities. Vongries suggested the following question be included at the bottom of page 4: "If the facilities you desire were available would you be willing to pay a user fee to have them?" McMillan commented she felt questions #91 and #92 should be one question, as the way it was presented was confusing. Gerhardson stated he would communicate the proposed changes in the survey to staff and keep the Park Commission informed of the progress. (#5) REPORT ON JOINT MEETING WITH AREA PARK COMMISSIONS AND ORONO SCHOOL DISTRICT McMillan stated that area Cities, including Maple Plain, Independence, and Medina have had round table discussions about their park systems. She felt that it was very informative to hear what other communities are doing in this area, and while they didn't get into specifics , most of the communities are also doing surveys to determine what their residents want to have in the way of park facilities. She stated that most Park Commissions are trying to solicit more funds from their City Councils to implement more programs. She noted that basically the School District was there to get more funds from the communities to run their programs. Hurr commented that perhaps they should get on the mailing list from these neighboring communities to receive their Park Commission Minutes which would help Orono be more informed regarding what the other communities were doing. 5 MINUTES OF THE CITY OF ORONO PARK COMMISSION MEETING HELD ON MAY 3, 1994 (#6) UPDATE ON PLANNING FOR OLD CRYSTAL BAY SITE McMillan reported that the Council voted to close Prospect Avenue at the last Council meeting. Gerhardson noted that staff will be meeting with the resident most affected by this decision to determine where they will be able to remove blacktop and still leave him access to his property. Gerhardson stated that once this has been done, the remainder of blacktop will be removed, the area will be graded, topsoil added and then it will be seeded. He noted that staff will be sampling the ground water for the next year to check on the contamination. He described the lead abatement program that would be necessary if the building is to be restored to it's original condition. He stated he would be presenting this to the City Council to find out what their wishes were. He stated that it would be much less costly to simply demolish the building. McMillan commented she felt that they should wait until they have the survey results before making major decisions regarding parks or park lands. Discussion ensued regarding the Post Office area and possible improvements that could be made in this area. Flint commented he felt that there needed to be a fence or some type of barrier along the roadway to keep the children safe when they were playing in the park. Gerhardson stated that presently it was wide open and traffic had a good view of the children playing. He felt that until decisions were made regarding the facilities which would be implemented on the site it might be better to leave it that way. Discussion ensued regarding the ground water contamination issue. The Park Commission felt that given the existing situation, the third parcel containing the old City Hall building should be sold rather than become park land. (#7) UPDATE ON PLANS FOR OBA FIELD Chair Flint stated that the City Administrator would be talking to Neal Lawson regarding the contract, and as soon as that was completed that OBA would begin construction. (#8) UPDATE ON TANDEM PROPERTIES (DICKEY PROPERTY) SUBDIVISION Gerhardson stated that the City Council would again be reviewing the Tandem Properties Subdivision request on May 23rd. Chair Flint stated that the City Council had required the developer to pay the park dedication fee based on the 8% of the fair market value of the property, but allowed the area of Outlot A to be deducted from that value. However, they declined to allow the developer credit for dedicating Outlot A to the City. He noted that the developer was responsible for construction of the interior trails in the subdivision, and those trails would be public trails. (#9) OTHER BUSINESS Chair Flint reminded the Commission that staff was no longer putting the dock out at Sandy Beach. Gerhardson stated that they will put buoys out, but not the dock. Vongries stated that he would be monitoring this park. 6 MINUTES OF THE CITY OF ORONO PARK COMMISSION MEETING HELD ON MAY 3, 1994 (#9) OTHER BUSINESS (CONTINUED) McMillan inquired if it would be possible to add steps under the trolley at Bederwood as children had difficulty in getting access to it unless a parent assisted them. Gerhardson responded that staff would look at it. Vongries commented that the Commission met on March 16, 1994 regarding the OBA baseball field to have public input and there were never any Minutes submitted for that meeting. He said that there should be some Minutes for the record. Gerhardson responded he would look into that. ADJOURNMENT It was moved by Wilson, seconded by McMillan to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 p.m., and a Work Session followed. Respectfully submitted, ,�'� � �' �� � ! ;� � � �� . .� t � � : . _ , �_ _ ,- � � Richard N. Flint, Chair 7