Parks and Trails Commission

BAXTER PARKS AND TRAILS COMMISSION MINUTES Monday, November 27, 2023 at 4:00 PM “A Growing Community” Baxter City Hall, 13190 Memorywood Drive, Baxter, MN CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Baxter Parks and Trails Commission was called to order at 4:00 pm by Acting Chair Pennington. ROLL CALL MEMBERS PRESENT: Council Liaison Zack Tabatt, Commissioners Mari Holderness, Todd Calhoun and Josh Pennington MEMBERS ABSENT: Chair Melissa Barrick STAFF PRESENT: CD Director Josh Doty and Planner Matthew Gindele OTHERS: None MINUTES 1. Accept the Parks Commission Minutes from August 28, 2023 MOTION by Commissioner Holderness, seconded by Commissioner Calhoun to approve the Parks and Trails Minutes from the August 28, 2023. Motion carried unanimously. COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS None OLD BUSINESS None NEW BUSINESS 2. Dog Park Study Update Acting Chair Pennington asked staff for the report. CD Director Doty indicated that Widseth was tasked with providing a study to determine the best location(s) for a dog park within existing parks, existing City property, or property that could be acquired. The recommendations will be analyzed looking at available GIS data, the 2020 census, and a set of metrics based on the City’s most important goals. The final maps and information will be synthesized into a final report of our findings and will include recommendations for the size, location, construction costs and ongoing maintenance costs for a dog park located in the City of Baxter. We are currently in the analysis phase and are looking for feedback today on the final list of metrics to be sure we are accurately representing the City’s goals for their future dog park. 11/27/2023 Parks and Trails Commission Minutes Page 2 Our next meeting will be in January with the Parks & Trails Commission, and we will share some of the findings of each of the specific properties, showing positives and negatives based on our metrics and we will be looking for input and feedback from the board. CD Director Doty informed the Commission of the January 22nd meeting being needed and asked if that would work with the Commission, the Commission agreed that day at 4:00 pm will work. CD Director Doty reviewed the detailed project schedule, the City of Baxter list of Metrics Dog Park Study and type of dog park styles. After reviewing all of the pictures of different dog parks, CD Director Doty asked the Commission for questions, concerns and ideas. Commissioner Holderness asked how the synthetic grass would work with the weather in Minnesota. CD Director Doty stated it can be done, however the costs to do it is spendy. Commissioner Holderness asked if the upkeep would be easier in the long term, CD Director Doty stated staff would have to learn more about synthetic grass in order to answer that question. He will talk to Widseth about the cost and maintenance on different surfaces. He noted that Parks staff is in favor of this type of surface, maintenance wise. Acting Chair Pennington stated that he has been to the dog park in Brainerd and there are dogs that dig too, that can become a maintenance issue. Acting Chair Pennington asked about the leash regulations for Mississippi Overlook Park (MOP), do the dogs need to be on a leash or can they run on voice command. CD Director Doty indicated that he wasn’t sure if there were requirements, he would have to check. Acting Chair Pennington stated that he thought the dog park was more about socializing your dog with other dogs, MOP is more of a go hiking with your dog off the leash area. CD Director Doty agreed with the Chair and understood what he was saying. Acting Chair Pennington added that small parks are more for socializing the dogs verses having to fence in a larger area for dogs, that once the leash is off they can run and not come back to voice commands. It was noted that larger dogs may require more space. Commissioner Calhoun asked if anyone has contacted Brainerd to see what issues they have had with their dog park. CD Director Doty stated staff hasn’t, but staff can reach out to Brainerd. Planner Gindele, who visits the Brainerd dog park, noted that there are surfacing issues. He noted that it can get a bit muddy at times in the more heavily trafficked areas, especially during the early spring or right after a heavy rain event unless there are fresh wood chips. Acting Chair Pennington noted that the park doesn’t have water, however there is a hydrant outside the park with bowls that people can use to water their dog(s). He noted that they also have tubes that people can place doggie baggies in to help maintain the park. CD Director Doty added that he believes there will be some parks maintenance staff that will have to maintain the current parks and additional dog park to a certain standard and not depend on volunteers or residents. Acting Chair Pennington spoke of the different ways water could be provided to the park, a spigot, hydrant, or water trough. CD Director Doty all of that will have to be looked into. Acting Chair Pennington said that the type of restrooms needed, if any, will need to be determined on location. Can a person walk to an existing park that has restrooms, if not maybe a handicap porta potty may work. Commissioner Holderness added that you are not at a dog park for many hours so maybe a fully plumbed restroom may not be necessary. Acting Chair Pennington stated that if there is no parking, people will park wherever they want to. CD Director Doty added that Baxter is an MS4 city, there are parking surfacing requirements. CD Director Doty thanked the Commission for the input on this study. 3. OK Park Study Update 11/27/2023 Parks and Trails Commission Minutes Page 3 CD Director Doty stated that this study is going to be a little longer to complete the build-out of this park. He noted that there are a few inconsistencies regarding what items in the park should be kept, removed and renovated. He mentioned the neighbors that attended a neighborhood meeting and had a strong interest in keeping the hocky rink available for the neighborhood. He recapped the findings of last year. Widseth was tasked with developing an update to the 2015 Oscar Kristofferson Park (OK) Plan. We are currently at the second meeting in which we hope to discuss the goals and expectations of the park plan update and develop a list of proposed new amenities for this park ranked by priority. Our next meeting will be in January with the Parks and Trails Commission to share 2 conceptual park plans and the website created to share information and gather input from the public. At that time, we would like to finalize a date, location, and the meeting format for our public open house. CD Director Doty reviewed the project schedule and top park improvement/priorities for OK Park. He also reviewed the items that have been completed, might fit into OK Park and the options that are not available in this park. He reviewed a site plan of the park and the remaining green space located within the park. CD Director Doty stated he would like to hear the Commissions feedback on the build-out of the park. Commissioner Holderness stated that the concession stand and the fourth ball field are needed and that the ice rink should also stay in the park if possible, Commissioner Pennington agreed. Commissioner Calhoun asked that if the park could only have one new amenity, would the ice skating come first. CD Director Doty indicated that ice skating was high on the list with the residents that attended the meeting to voice their opinions. Staff has also had the same neighborhood come forth and request the fourth field. Acting Chair Pennington appreciated that parking is being addressed. He noted the pinch point where the parking is to get to the bigger parking lot. The kids sprinting out in front of cars getting to the fields and playground equipment, it’s dangerous. He was there for flag football, and it was chaotic at times, CD Director Doty agreed. CD Director Doty and Acting Chair Pennington moved a few items around with measurements to see where the hockey rink could fit, whether it was a full- size rink or a smaller rink. It was noted how expensive it is to have a regulation size rink with boards. CD Director Doty stated the regulation boards are expensive and that is why there are wood boards at LT park, however, there is the problem of them rotting out fast and always needing to be repaired or replaced. CD Director Doty stated that prior to the neighborhood meeting, staff proposed consolidating the ice rinks at LT park and taking away the skating at OK park. That way parks staff would only have to maintain ice rinks in one location. That changed after the neighborhood meeting and hearing it would be tough for the kids to have to cross Hwy 210 to get to the rink. Council Liaison Tabatt added that the Council was provided a cost per person verses expenditures to maintain the rink at OK Park and he remembered thinking that was a lot of money per person, maybe around $70/person. Acting Chair Pennington stated that the Parks Supervisor had shared that information with this Commission as well. Tabatt added that at the Council level there would be concern with spending roughly $250,000.00 for a new rink if only 12 kids are using it. CD Director Doty stated for the Commission to be prepared for a neighborhood meeting that residents are going to want more and have no concern for the cost of the items they are looking for in the parks. It’s as resources allow, such as the fourth ball field, that has been on the plan for years. Once it gets on a plan, then there is questions about why items are on the plan if they aren’t going to get built. Commissioner Holderness asked why the rink has to be so big or regulation size, CD Director Doty indicated that it doesn’t; there are other 11/27/2023 Parks and Trails Commission Minutes Page 4 sizes and options out there. Acting Chair Pennington stated there needs to be a distinguishment between hockey and skating when the topic is being studied, CD Director Doty agreed and noted that some places have skating on their trails, he noted one in Chaska. It’s just something to discuss at the open house meeting. Acting Chair Pennington asked if the connection to the Early Childhood Learning Center was a request from residents. CD Director Doty stated it was just a suggestion from the consultant. CD Director Doty added that staff can ask the childhood center how much they use the playground equipment. UPDATES Acting Chair Pennington asked if there were any updates. CD Director Doty informed the Commission of a jack pine savannah restoration project on the initial 60 acres in Mississippi Overlook Park (he showed the location on a aerial to explain the location). This is cutting down several acres of jack pine in an existing meadow setting and leaving a few to allow it to convert back to a native jack pine savannah, which is a highly beneficial environmental habitat that isn’t always present. The state was very interested in this project and a grant was received from LLCMR and WSCD to complete the work. There will be people coming from the cities and CLC students will be out there helping to haul the young jack pine into piles. There is a fire break trail around the perimeter of this area, so they can drag the trees out to that area in piles. At a later date, parks staff will use equipment to haul the piles to the location where the trees are chipped for trails. CD Director Doty stated that on the west end of the 880-acre city-owned property in SW Baxter (near Mapleton and Island Lake) the CTC students found buck thorn and they will be removing pockets of that with a chemical application. Both projects will take place this Wednesday and Thursday (November 29 & 30). There has been a request for a controlled burn of the jack pine savannah in the spring. CD Director Doty stated this group has put more on their list than they can handle, however they are very interested in the area because of the trails around it. This would be very beneficial for the prairie habitat. If it doesn’t work out the restoration would contain plug planting of native species/plants. Commissioner Holderness asked what they are going to burn. CD Director Doty stated it would be a grass burn, this turns the grass to ash and reinvigorates the growth in this area. Acting Chair Pennington stated that he has walked the Arboretum’s trail, and they have signage, our trails don’t have signage on the looped trail. He spoke to a person down there and they didn’t know there was a looped trail down there. With more signage people might branch out and use that loop more often. CD Director Doty agreed. There was discussion of having signage showing the loop. The Commission and Staff discussed the loop on the arial. It was noted that snowmobilers have been using that loop also. Acting Chair Pennington asked about the loop on Whipple if it was going to be done, CD Director Doty stated that is not being discussed at this time as the focus is currently on the two studies being done. There hasn’t been any conversation lately with all the land acquisitions. Acting Chair Pennington asked if it is going to be maintained because it wasn’t mowed at all last year. CD Director Doty stated he will ask parks staff. 11/27/2023 Parks and Trails Commission Minutes Page 5 Acting Chair Pennington asked about city staff opening up a trail corridor along east 371 to the bridge. CD Director Doty stated that staff is working on it currently, the corridor will be cleared and prepped. CD Director Doty has walked it and tried to save some of the nice old trees. ADJOURN MOTION by Acting Chair Pennington, seconded by Calhoun to adjourn the meeting at 5:21 p.m. Motion unanimously approved. Approved by: Submitted By: ___________________________ ______________________________ Josh Pennington Shanna Newman Acting Chair CD Administrative Assistant