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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOctober 4, 2018® 6VEANLf) Y O F 1685 CROSSTOWN BOULEVARD N.W. • ANDOVER, MINNESOTA 55304 • (763) 755-5100 FAX (763) 755-8923 • WWW.ANDOVERMN.GOV Regular Park & Recreation Commission Meeting October 4, 2018 7:00 P.M. Meet at Andover City Hall 1. Call to Order 2. Resident Forum 3. Approval of Minutes (9/6/18) 4. Agenda Approval 5. Presentation by Lyle Bradley (Resident) Regarding Stevens Point Sculpture Park 6. Consider Request from the Andover High School Girls Fast Pitch Booster Club/Eveland Fields Regarding New Roof for Dugouts 7. Consider Revisions to Tournament, Multi -day and Jamboree Application 8. Consider Revisions to Application for Scheduled Use of Recreational Facilities © 9. Discuss Timber River Park/Regrading of Field 10. Outstanding Items 11. 12. Chair's Report 13.Adjournment u 101 141 Is] PARKAND RECREATION COMMISSIONMEETING OCTOBER 4, 2018 MINUTES The Regular Bi -Monthly Meeting of the Andover Park and Recreation Commission was called to order by Chair Lindahl on October 4, 2018 7:00 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Commissioners Present: Chair Jim Lindahl, Commissioners Ted Butler, Mark Miskowiec, Dawn Perra and Jake Widmyer. Commissioners Absent: Commissioners Brian Beck and Angela Marinello Also Present: Assistant Public Works Director, Todd Haas RESIDENT FORUM No residents appeared to address the Park and Recreation Commission. APPROVAL OFMINUTES Motion by Butler, seconded by Miskowiec, to approve the October 4, 2018 Park Commission minutes as presented. Motion carried on a 3 -ayes, 0 -nays, 2 -present (Lindahl and Perra) vote, and 2 -absent (Beck and Marinello) vote Motion by Perra, seconded by Widmyer, to approve the agenda as revised. Motion carried on a 5 -ayes, 0 -nays, 2 -absent (Beck and Marinello) vote. PRESENTATION BY LYLE BRADLEY (RESIDENT) REGARDING STEVENS POINT SCULPTURE PARK Mr. Lyle Bradley, longtime resident, educator and outdoor enthusiast, has requested to be on the agenda to discuss an idea that he would like the Park and Recreation Commission to consider. He recently visited a park in Wisconsin, near the City of Steven's Point called Sculpture Park and that that the City of Andover might want to consider something like this in one of the parks in Andover. Steven's Point Sculpture Park information can be viewed at http://stevenspointsculpturepark.org.problems Mr. Lyle Bradley has lived in Andover for 60 years. He stated while going through Stevens Point, WI in July he had car problems and pulled into the first gas station and had to wait Regular Andover Park & Recreation Commission Meeting Minutes — October 4, 2018 Page 2 © for five hours for the repairs. He accidently came upon the Sculpture Park in Steven's Point. He described the various sculptures he saw. He described the trail that was within the Sculpture Park. He was impressed with colored cloths (flags) that were in the trees. Mr. Bradley provided the Commission with a drawing of the area. Mr. Bradley thought the Park Commission may want to use some of these ideas in a City park. Chair Lindahl thanked Mr. Bradley and stated this sounds interesting. Mr. Bradley suggested the Commission visit Stevens Point and see it for themselves. Mr. Bradley showed the Commission an oxen shoe and told the story about how it was found on the Oxen Trail. CONSIDER REQUEST FROM THE ANDOVER HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS FAST PITCH BOOSTER CLUB/EVELAND FIELDS REGARDING NEW ROOF FOR DUGOUTS. Ms. Tracy Strombeck, Andover High School Fastpitch Booster Club President, stated within the last week there have been some huge changes. The fence will not be done at the middle field. She is no longer asking for money from the City because AAA decided to put monies toward the construction of dugout roofs. Tonight, they are only looking for approval for the roofing of the dugouts. The roofs would be made of metal/tin. Ms. Strombeck noted wood is not being used. j Commissioner Widmyer asked if the School District needed to approve and Mr. Haas stated a City building permit would be required. Mr. Haas stated the Park and Recreation Commission is requested to consider a request from the Andover High School Booster Club for the installation of a roof on the dugouts for the middle (#2) and north (0) fields at Eveland Fields. The request from the Andover High School Fastpitch Boosters Club and Andover High School Fastpitch Girls Varsity Head Coach for roof improvements for the dugouts at Eveland Fields was provided for Commission review. Eveland Fields are owned by the City of Andover. The City has a joint powers agreement with the Anoka Hennepin School District regarding the use and maintenance of the 3 fields. The City is responsible for scheduling and maintenance of the 3 fields basically from June through August of each year and the school district is responsible for scheduling and maintenance from September through May. Also provided to the Commission was an estimate from Freedom Fence for the roofs in the amount of $10,271.00. If the Park and Recreation Commission is recommending funding the project, staff will need to obtain an additional quote from another contractor. S Regular Andover Park & Recreation Commission Meeting Minutes — October 4, 2018 Page 3 © Mr. Haas noted this proposed request is not a standard improvement that the City has made on new or existing ball fields. These items are above and beyond our typical improvements to the fields. If the Commission recommendation is to move forward with proposed roof improvements, the Commission will need to determine how this will be funded since there will not be enough funds in either the 2018 or 2019 park miscellaneous funds to cover the cost of the roofs. The Commission has the option of recommending and requesting to the City Council to include this in the 2019 — 2023 Capital Improvement Fund (CIP) for construction in 2019. Motion by Butler, seconded by Miskowiec, to approve the request for dugout roofs at Eveland Fields as requested. Motion carried on a 5 -ayes, 0 -nays, 2 -absent (Beck and Marinello) vote. CONSIDER REVISIONS TO TOURNAMENT, MULTI -DAY AND JAMBOREE APPLICATION Mr. Haas reviewed the Park and Recreation Commission is requested to consider revisions to the Tournament, Multi -day and Jamboree Application. © The application for softball/baseball, football/soccer/lacrosse and hockey with the revisions recommended by staff, due to the concerns that the City has had with parking, specifically at Prairie Knoll Park and Sunshine Park was provided for Commission review. The language added to each application is generally the same but modified to fit based on the type of activity that is being planned. New in 2019 — The applicant will be required to provide parking attendants during the duration of the tournament, multi -day, jamboree or event by hiring a company or providing association members to oversee the parking operations at Prairie Knoll Park and Sunshine Park to ensure that vehicles are parking in designated parking areas only. All other parks/facilities may also require the association or applicant to provide parking attendants where it is anticipated a larger group of spectators are expected. The company that is hired or the association members that will be working the tournament or event must always wear the required MNDOT approved reflective vests. Parking attendants will be responsible to contact the Anoka County Sheriff s Department when there is a conflict/issue/concern with parking. Mr. Haas noted the association or applicant can provide other alternatives/options to the City for approval which details how the parking operations for a particular event will not impact the park/facilities and/or the area residents in which then the requirement could be waived. Mr. Haas noted the City has received calls from the neighbors about vehicles parking in the ditch at Prairie Knoll Park this fall. Additional signs were placed in the ditch to stay off © the grass by the football association, but the drivers ignored these signs and the No Parking signs and parked where it was most convenient. As far as Sunshine Park, it was noted by Regular Andover Park & Recreation Commission Meeting Minutes — October 4, 2018 Page 4 © City staff that this past August, that vehicles were driving on the paved trails and parking in the ditch along the Crosstown Boulevard. Driving on the trail is a safety issue and parking in grassy areas will cause damage to irrigation heads and the grass especially if the grass is wet or saturated. If a parking lot attendant was required to direct traffic, they would have been directed vehicles to park at Andover Elementary School parking lot and walk back to Sunshine Park. Staff has discussed the issues with the Anoka County Sheriff's Department and they are in favor of requiring parking attendants as they have other more important items such as traffic enforcement and important calls than writing citations for parking violations. Commissioner Widmyer stated he would be in favor of the wording and asked if the group does not comply what would the ramifications include. Mr. Haas stated the sheriff would be called if violators do not cooperate with the parking attendant. Chair Lindahl stated if the parking attendants are doing their jobs the association should not be penalized. Commissioner Miskowiec stated this could be on a trial basis and is happy with the language. © Commissioner Perra suggested who could be the attendants should be more defined. Commissioner Butler stated he is not in favor of putting association members in charge of enforcing laws. There are repeated incidents at Prairie Knoll but not at Sunshine Park. He believes the applicants should be asked how parking would be handled. Commissioner Butler asked if the Associations have been contacted about this and Mr. Haas stated it has been discussed among staff and would be a City decision. Chair Lindahl stated staff should be able to forecast which events would have issues depending on the age of the participants. Commissioner Butler stated he would not be in favor of this applying to Sunshine Park. He feels this is unusual for youth tournaments. He suggested asking the associations on the application what their plan is to handle overflow parking issues. Commissioner Miskowiec suggested if there are problems at one park the process should only affect that one park (Prairie Knoll). Mr. Haas stated there have been issues at Sunshine Park, once or twice a season. Commissioner Perra stated she likes the idea of putting a question on the application of how would parking overflow be addressed. © Commissioner Butler stated he would not have an issue with requiring a parking attendant at Prairie Knoll. ED Regular Andover Park & Recreation Commission Meeting Minutes — October 4, 2018 Page 5 Mr. Haas was requested to bring this back for Commission approval once it has been re- worded. The consensus of the Commission was to table consideration of revisions to tournament, multi -day and jamboree application and direct staff to bring it back to a future meeting. Mr. Haas stated it was earlier discussed to give staff the authority to issue permits for shorter events and unless there are issues they would not need to come before the Park and Recreation Commission. CONSIDER REVISIONS TO APPLICATION FOR SCHEDULED USE OF RECREATIONAL FACILITIES Mr. Haas reviewed the Park and Recreation Commission is requested to consider revisions to the Application for Scheduled Use of Recreational Facilities. The application with revisions recommended by staff was provided for Commission review. The revisions also include concerns that the City has had with parking, specifically at Prairie Knoll Park and Sunshine Park. The added language in the application is generally the same as the tournament applications that were previously addressed. © Staff has received calls from neighbors regarding vehicles parking in the ditch at Prairie Knoll Park this fall during regular scheduled activities at the park. Staff has also discussed this with the Anoka County Sheriff s Department. One other item that has been included in the application addresses requests from applicants that are only wanting a one -day use of parks and/or facilities. The Park and Recreation Commission discussed this earlier this year that there should be some flexibility for City staff to review these one -day requests if the application is complete, and the request does not conflict with other approved activities. The Commission is supportive in adding this to the application. The consensus of the Commission was to table consideration of revisions to application for scheduled use of recreational facilities and direct staff to bring it back to a future meeting. DISCUSS TIMBER RIVER PARKIRE-GRADING OF FIELD Mr. Haas reviewed the Park and Recreation Commission is requested to discuss the re- grading of the field at Timber River Park. A quote ($27,295) from a contractor who has performed work in the past for these types of re -grading operations for the City of Andover and for other agencies. At this point staff is © recommending holding off on this discussion until later this winter and look at obtaining additional quotes from other grading contractors when they are not so busy and are looking Regular Andover Park & Recreation Commission Meeting Minutes — October 4, 2018 Page 6 © at lining themselves up for work in 2019. Staff is also looking into the possibility of having the Public Works Department re -grade the field. Any work that would be done would be in 2019 or beyond. Staff's recommendation is to hold off until later this winter to allow time to evaluate doing an in-house project by Public Works or look at obtaining additional quotes. The consensus of the Commission was to follow staffs recommendation. UPDATE ON PRAIRIE KNOLL PARKIPARKING LOT IMPROVEMENTS Mr. Haas stated this item is in regard to Prairie Knoll Park and the parking lot improvements that are being considered by the City Council. The City Council recently had a bus tour on September 25, 2018 and one of the sites they visited was Prairie Knoll Park. When visiting the park there was discussion about the illegal parking of vehicles at the south end and what should happen at the park to help improve the parking situation. After a short discussion, the City Council directed staff to include improvements to the north parking lot in the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for 2020 and inform the Park and Recreation Commission of their decision. © The Park Improvement Fund spreadsheet has been updated to include Prairie Knoll Park in 2020. Based on the projected fund balance, there is a deficit in both 2020 and 2021. The spreadsheet does not include the $1,000,000 that was recommended by the Commission to be allocated towards the potential Community Center expansion. Chair Lindahl thinks it is a terrible idea and no one uses the north end parking lot. He would like to hear from the Council as to why they think people would use it if it is paved. Commissioner Butler asked if the trail from the north parking lot is paved and Mr. Haas stated it is paved. Commissioner Perra stated she can understand why people won't park in the north park. Mr. Haas stated the parking lot could be shifted south to get closer to the fields. Commissioner Perra stated she does not know if that would matter. Commissioner Miskowiec stated the Commission has never been able to come up with a solution to the parking issues at Prairie Knoll. He is not certain it would help. Commissioner Widmyer stated a parking attendant would be cheaper that doing the parking lot. © Commissioner Butler asked if the Council was aware the requirement of a parking attendant during events at Prairie Knoll. Mr. Haas stated they are not aware. Regular Andover Park & Recreation Commission Meeting Minutes — October 4, 2018 Page 7 Chair Lindahl suggested the Council be made aware of the plan for parking attendant at Prairie Knoll and decide later about adding it to the CIP until after an attendant has been used for a year. The next Park and Commission Meeting will be held on November 1, 2018. OUTSTANDING ITEMS/MAINTENANCE UPDATE Commissioner Butler provided an update of the Andover Community Center Advisory Board. The staff and architects are trying to shave cost off the expansion. There would be one gym and one multi-purpose arena with everything being flexible space. They looked at operating efficiencies such as moving the check-in desk for the community center. The next meeting is Monday October 8. They are attempting to get updated plans to Council next week. Mr. Haas reviewed the completed projects, on-going projects, on -hold projects and other items of interest. The weekly parks maintenance update was provided for Commission review. CHAIR'S REPORT © Chair Lindahl asked staff to look at some possible parks where Mr. Bradley's suggestions might fit. Commissioner Butler suggested the City complex trail might be a possibility. Mr. Haas suggested it may work well in Kelsey Round Lake Park also. Commissioner Perra suggested the historical information on Andover be researched and possibly implemented. ADJOURNMENT OF REGULAR MEETING Motion by Widmyer, seconded by Miskowiec, to adjourn the regular meeting at 8:10 p.m. Motion carried on a 5 -ayes, 0 -nays, 2 -absent (Beck and Marinello) vote. Respectfully Submitted, Debbie Wolfe, Recording Secretary TimeSaver OffSite Secretarial, Inc. H