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HomeMy WebLinkAboutApril 2, 2009 C I T Y o F NDOVE 0 PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING -APRIL 2, 2009 MINUTES The Regular Bi-Monthly Meeting of the Andover Park and Recreation Commission was called to order by Chair Butler on April 2, 2009, 7:00 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, Andover, Minnesota. Commissioners Present: Bill Hupp, Tony Kowalewski, Vice Chair Jim Lindahl, Mark Lindell, Mark Miskowiec, and Shan Ramnath. Commissioners Absent: None. Also Present: Assistant Public Works Director, Todd Haas. RESIDENT FORUM 0 There were no comments at this time. Motion by Kowalewski, seconded by Ramnath, to close the resident forum. Motion carried on a 7-ayes, O-nays, O-absent vote. APPRO V AL OF MINUTES There were no changes. Motion by Lindahl, seconded by Miskowiec, to approve the March 19, 2009 Park Commission minutes as presented. Motion carried on a 7-ayes, O-nays, O-present, 0- absent vote. CONSIDER IMPROVEMENTS TO HAWKRIDGE PARK/09-18 Chair Butler explained this item is in regards to considering the improvements that should be made in the redevelopment of Hawkridge Park. Ms. Valerie Holthus, 17680 Arrowhead Street, stated she lived very close to Hawkridge Park and would like to make some points. She stated there are currently eight places to skate and fourteen places to play soccer in the City and of them Hawkridge Park is the 0 only one nOlih of Isih and the only one in the St. Francis School District attendance area. She stated the kids who live in Andover should not be penalized for not living in Regular Andover Park & Recreation Commission Meeting Minutes - April 2, 2009 Page 2 0 the Anoka Hennepin School District. She stated it seemed like in their area they are always having things taken away from them. She explained the dollar amount being saved by not having the hockey rink has not been determined yet and the Hawkridge neighborhood will have to pay more and get less. The purpose of parks is to serve the City with outdoor recreation and by removing this rink the public will not be served. To be considered a regional park, Hawkridge Park should have multiple uses. This neighborhood has produced some excellent hockey players mainly because of their hard work and love ofthe game but also partly because Hawkridge Park was there for them. She gave examples of some of the kids that have come from the neighborhood and excelling at hockey. She noted that Hawkridge is busy every night of the week and wondered why the City would take away something that is so highly utilized and plays a role in producing such good hockey players. Chair Butler stated they received an email from Dave & Brenda Sollars, 2351 180th Avenue NW, expressing their concems including the fact that this area is served by School District 15 and that a lot of kids in the school district use the park for hockey. There is also some concem about the level of traffic if they go to a larger size soccer complex with three or four fields. Mr. Todd Rossi, 18042 Edelweiss Street, stated he liked having a hockey and ice rink at Hawkridge Park and allows some family time in the winter. He stated when he has gone 0 by the rink: he sees a lot of kids in there playing with their friends. He stated it is a nice community hockey rink and if they take the rinks away and bring them closer to City Hall who will have control of those rinks. He did not think there would be room for all ofthe kids to just go out and play hockey with friends. Ms. Theresa Meier, 3020 18181 Avenue, stated there are not a whole lot of opportunities for kids to get together anymore and play unorganized sports. There are not a lot of opportunities for pond hockey and pick up ball anymore and this is one of the little areas where this can happen. She would like to see Hawkridge Park keep their hockey rink. Commissioner Hupp asked what her feelings were on eliminating the ballfields. Ms. Meier stated she would not like to see that eliminated because kids do practice on the fields. Commissioner Hupp asked what Ms. Meier would rather have, ice rink or baseball field. Ms. Meier did not know ifthat was a fair question because one was a winter activity and one was a summer activity but she indicated if she had to pick she would pick the ice rink but would prefer that they both stay. Mr. Rick Johnson, 2451 179th Avenue, stated it seems like there is every influence ofthe associations in regards to the parks. He stated this is a community park and thought it should be left a community park. 0 Regular Andover Park & Recreation Commission Meeting Minutes - April 2, 2009 Page 3 0 Mr. Rossi stated he would like to keep the ice rinks if they needed to pick between the rinks and ball fields. Chair Butler asked Mr. Haas ifhe knew how much use the fields at Hawkridge Park have gotten by the associations. Mr. Haas thought the baseball field was being used on a regular basis but the neighbors would know better and he had heard the hockey rink was used regularly. Mr. Gary Lemke, 2135 177111 Lane, stated his boys use the ice rink. He stated Hawkridge Park is in the St. Francis School District and feeds a lot of the St. Francis Youth Hockey Association players to the high school program. He understood the Andover Huskies Youth Hockey Association wants more ice for their kids but the St. Francis Hockey Association needs rinks too. He stated he would prefer to keep the ice rink at the park. Commissioner Miskowiec asked ifhe was looking for a sheet of ice or a rink with boards. Mr. Lemke stated he wanted a rink with boards because his kids like to go and shoot at the boards for practice. Ms. Kelly Kovich, Heidi Holthus, Tom and Andy Benick and Haley Schmidt (all hockey players from St. Francis High school) were at the meeting to explain that outdoor hockey improves their game and a lot kids use the hockey rink at Hawkridge Park to learn to 0 skate including them. Their concern was primarily losing the hockey rillk. Ms. Schmidt stated they have all grown up within a mile of the rink and they have played and learned the game on this rink. Mr. Mark Miller, Field Director of North Metro Soccer Association, stated they are interested in working with the City and community on improving Hawkridge Park and the facility there. Their interest is centered on soccer and the soccer program. Commissioner Hupp asked what the Soccer Association was looking for in the way of financial commitments for the City. Mr. Miller stated they are looking at participating and actively being involved but he could not tell them what they would be donating at this time. They are looking at how they can improve the park by bringing multiple resources there, both financially and with membership skill sets. He stated he cannot make dollar amount commitment at this time but are looking to partner with the community. He stated they are trying to get centralization in the community and develop small pockets of fields so they will be able to rotate fields. Commissioner Kowalewski asked if the soccer association board has discussed other options that they have in place. Mr. Miller stated they have been working with the City of St. Francis in patinering with them to help support and grow their community programming basis as well and are also looking at projects with the City of Oak Grove. 0 Regular Andover Park & Recreation Commission Meeting Minutes - April 2, 2009 Page 4 0 Commissioner Miskowiec asked if irrigation was planned to be done at Hawkridge Park. Mr. Haas stated that is not in their plans at this time but could be possible in the future if the park were to redeveloped with soccer fields. The soccer association has expressed interest in helping financially in inigating the fields. Just keep in mind that a well will be necessary, as one does not cWTently exist within the park. Commissioner Miskowiec asked if Hawkridge Park would have a higher priority than some of the other parks on the list for inigation. Mr. Haas stated it could be added to the list and explained to the Council that this is more of a regional park and should be inigated if the Commission desires to do that. Mr. Rossi stated the way things sound is that the ball park is going to go away and he thought Hawkridge is a very large park and would have enough room for two football fields when reconstructed along with a hockey rink and baseball field with some room for parking. Commissioner Lindahl stated if they do a redesign, they would realign a lot ofthings there so that the entire park could be used. Chair Butler thanked all the residents for coming to the meeting for input and participation. He stated he was concerned about the loss of neighborhood use partially 0 because of what he thought a community should offer in terms of parks and also concerned about having good access to parks with a variety of activities at them around the City. There seems to be a trend to centralize and create larger blocks or parks which on one hand is great for parents who have all their kids go to a single park for all their activities but they also loose that neighborhood access that neighborhood parks have. He stated he has also heard that having that access to hockey at Hawkridge is very important. There are not any other hockey rinks in that part of the City but there is another baseball field in the area and the baseball association is not concerned about losing that field. He wondered if it might be feasible to look at some kind of an option where they keep the hockey and free skate rink and place and use the rest of the park for soccer if possible. Commissioner Ramnath stated he was at an informal meeting and one of the residents was asking about trucking and how much water goes into creating an ice rink and he believed it was somewhere between fifteen to twenty thousand gallons to get it started and a solid base and they also have to look at conditioning that rink. Commissioner Hupp thought it was around $6,000 to maintain the rink in the winter. Commissioner Lindell thanked the residents for coming out. In regard to the hockey rink, it is a need that is wanted in the area. There is a need for both hockey and soccer at this park. Commissioner Kowalewski stated he would like to know some dollar amounts that NOlih 0 Metro Soccer is going to contribute compared to what the City will be willing to donate as well before they proceed. He thought they needed to service all ofthe kids in the City. Regular Andover Park & Recreation Commission Meeting Minutes - April 2, 2009 Page 5 0 Chair Butler agreed and thought it was a good idea to find out where the money will be coming from before reconstruction. Commissioner Lindahl recommended they keep the park the way it is right now, they move forward into some new design layouts and get some ideas put forth and along with that get cost items for all the changes to be done so they have some actual figures. He thought for this year and next winter they keep the park system with the rink and then figure out what will be needed for renovations possibly next year. Commissioner Hupp agreed with pretty much everything that was said and felt it was important for them to take a look at the usages that are out in the fields and also get some ideas from the youth groups and financial commitments for finishing up the park. Mr. Miller stated he wanted to follow up on accounts about budget and the fiscal commitments. The board that he a member of has the same questions as the Park Commission. Their strong desire is to at least initiate some type of planning phase so they can get some kind of idea of the concept and costs of the project. They do not have a strong position as to whether or not the hockey rink stays or goes from their perspective but they do have a strong desire to initiate some type of a planning or discovery phase this kind of a project so they can determine some type of a budget and determine what 0 kind of a fiscal commitment they are able to make a realistic opportunity for all of them. Commissioner Kowalewski felt it was important to keep servicing the St. Francis School District and hockey association and keep the ice rink at the park. Chair Butler agreed. Mr. Haas thought the residents should contact the St. Francis Hockey Associations for use ofthe hockey rinks because he has not heard from them in years and they do not use the rink anymore. Motion by Hupp, seconded by Ramnath, to recommend to the City Council that they move ahead into a planning phase for redeveloping the park with the inclusion ofthe existing hockey rink at some location in the park. Motion carried on a 7-ayes, O-nays, 0- absent vote. The Commission recessed at 7:55 p.m. The Commission reconvened at 8:00 p.m. REVIEW COST ESTlMATES/09-14/IRRlGATION OF PARKS Mr. Haas stated the Park and Recreation Commission tabled this item at the last meeting to allow the members some time to review the cost estimates. He reviewed the information with the Commission. 0 Regular Andover Park & Recreation Commission Meeting Minutes - April 2, 2009 Page 6 0 Commissioner Hupp thought this was an item they needed to take under more consideration as far as bringing Hawkridge back into this plan and maybe they could table this to their next meeting. Chair Butler thought they should have a worksession on this item. Mr. Haas noted Hawkridge would take a while but he thought the Commission could rank the parks one through six and once they get Hawkridge done they could include it in there. Motion by Hupp, seconded by Miskowiec, to table to a future work session. Motion calTied on a 7-ayes, O-nays, O-absent vote. DISCUSS SKATE PARK/OS-OS Mr. Haas stated the Commission wanted to discuss as to where the Commission should go from here. Mr. Haas reviewed the information with the Commission. Mr. Shawn Van Vark, 15408 Lynette Street, stated there is nothing new in regards to this item. He stated for the type of dollars being talked about it is pretty hard in the economy 0 to expect a lot of commitment for the type of dollars that would be needed. He stated from a personal opinion it would be a better use ofthe City's dollars to have something that could be changed around rather than having something permanent. He did not think businesses would donate money for something that was not guaranteed to happen right away. Chair Butler wondered if they needed to bring this back to a work session or send this back to the task force to think about what the future direction of this should be. Commissioner Hupp agreed and thought they should have another work session because so much has changed since this item was first looked at. Mr. Van Vark thought no matter what type of park being built there is equipment that can be used. He wondered ifthere was any opportunity to commit $500 to the project this year to add a piece or two of equipment to the park to show the City's commitment to the park. Motion by Hupp, seconded by Kowalewski, to table this item to a workshop. Motion carried on a 7-ayes, O-nays, O-absent vote. Commissioner Lindahl asked if the option could be made into a worksheet in order to prioritize the options to narrow them down. Mr. Haas stated it could be done. e Regular Andover Park & Recreation Commission Meeting Minutes - April 2, 2009 Page 7 0 REVIEW OUTSTANDING ITEMS Mr. Haas reviewed outstanding items. CHAIR'S REPORT Commissioner Kowalewski stated there is going to be a lot of bike riders out there so be considerate. North Star Cycle in Andover will be celebrating its one-year anniversary of being open in Andover. Commissioner Lindahl asked if the ballfields have been cleared for use. Mr. Haas stated he has heard Pov's have been using some of the fields and he needs to talk to them about staying off the fields. Baseball will be looking at using the fields on Saturday at Andover Station North for try-outs. Commissioner Lindahl asked on the corner of Hanson and Andover Blvd, could they look at the possibility of regrowth there because it looks bad. Mr. Haas stated he would look into it. Commissioner Butler stated as they get closer to spring and summer sports please be 0 considerate ofthe parks and do not litter and also be considerate of the neighbors and where you park. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Lindell, seconded by Hupp, to adjourn the meeting at 8:19 p.m. Motion carried on a 7-ayes, O-nays, O-absent vote. Respectfully Submitted, Susan Osbeck, Recording Secretary TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc. 0