Park Advisory Board

10801 Town Square Drive City of Blaine Blaine, MN 55449 Anoka County, Minnesota Minutes - Final Park Advisory Board Chair Jeffrey Bird, Rex Markle, Prad Das, Ron Leathers, Jeffrey Lester, Christine Pribbernow, Karen Varian Tuesday, August 26, 2014 7:00 PM Council Chambers 1. Call To Order The Blaine Park Advisory Board met in the Council Chambers of City Hall on Tuesday, August 26, 2014. 1. Chair Bird called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. Roll Call Staff Present: Nate Monahan, Program Supervisor Jerome Krieger, Program Supervisor Guest: None. Present: 6 - Chair Bird, Markle, Lester, Pribbernow, Leathers, and Varian Absent: 1 - Das 3. Approval of Minutes 3.-1 TMP 14-1838 APPROVAL OF JULY 22, 2014 PARK BOARD MINUTES Sponsors: Monahan Attachments: July Minutes.doc Approved Aye: 6 - Chair Bird, Markle, Lester, Pribbernow, Leathers, and Varian 4. Open Forum for Citizen Input Chair Bird opened the Open Forum at 7:02 p.m. Chair Bird closed Open Forum at 7:03 p.m. City of Blaine Page 1 Park Advisory Board Minutes - Final August 26, 2014 5. New Business City of Blaine Page 2 Park Advisory Board Minutes - Final August 26, 2014 5.-1 PB 14-26 DOG PARK COMPARISION FROM OTHER CITIES AND COUNTIES Sponsors: Monahan Program Supervisor Monahan provided reports on tours of the different dog parks from other Cities and Counties. He reviewed the following: City of St. Louis Park City of Eden Prairie City of Burnsville Anoka County Ramsey County Program Supervisor Monahan showed pictures of the various possible fencing/entrance, ground cover - grass or woodchips, and clean bag containers. He noted additional features that all the dog parks had were benches or picnic tables, garbage and recycling cans outside the fenced area and trees. Some of the parks had lights, water, agility obstacles, and a heater in the shelter. Program Supervisor Monahan noted some discussion points: 5 foot chain link or fence posts and farm wire fence - Anoka County uses a combination of chain link and farm wire fencing. Bullpen Entrance: woodchips, concrete or leave existing grass? The supervisors suggested if budget allows concrete would be the best option to minimize erosion issues. Grounds: Leave existing grass or woodchips? Most of the dog parks used woodchips in the dog park areas. There is currently good grass in the proposed dog park area. Wood chips may need to be done in the future. Bag Containers: Metal Box or Mail Box? All dog parks had clean bag containers with most having the mail box style. Mr. Monahan stated no feces were found on the ground in any of the parks. The residents pick up after their dogs. Additional Seating - Picnic Tables or Benches? The City has extra picnic tables that could be added to the dog park at no cost. Garbage and Recycling Cans outside fenced areas. City of Blaine Page 3 Park Advisory Board Minutes - Final August 26, 2014 Plant extra trees for shade? There were many trees planted in the dog parks. Lights - One City had a donation for the installation of lights. Heaters on shelter? Burnsville was the only one with heaters in the shelter. It is on a timer and would run for 20 minutes. Agility Obstacles? (Possible Eagle Scout Project) The City requests a lot of requests from Eagle Scouts to do projects and this would be a good possibility for Blaine. Water - most of the dog parks had water along with dog bowls, etc. A water fountain would be great if the budget would allow. There is a possibility of adding some area to Lochness Dog Park to the south of the proposed area. Program Supervisor Monahan requested the Park Board give him direction as to which amenities they would like staff to get estimates on? The budgeted amount is $125,000 (coming out of CIF Interest Fund and slated for 2016). Council approval will be needed and signage and rules determined after Council approval. Chair Bird asked how the Lochness Dog Park space compared to the ones staff toured. Program Supervisor Monahan stated Blaine’s would be the smallest. Eden Prairie’s would be the most comparable to Blaine’s. Commissioner Leathers asked if most parks had a 5 foot chain link fence. Program Supervisor Monahan stated 5 feet high was standard. Commissioner Varian asked how large the bull pen entrance would be and Mr. Monahan stated the other parks were approximately 5 x 7 feet to 8 x 10 feet. Program Supervisor Monahan stated right next to the bullpen is the gate for public works to access the park for maintenance. Commissioner Markle asked if the shelter in this park gets any rentals. Program Supervisor Monahan stated it is not rentable and is more of a walk up shelter. There is another shelter in the park. Commissioner Markle stated the concrete in the bullpen would be a good idea and the five foot chain link fence. The woodchips could be added later. He asked if woodchips were put in would they just go on top of the soil and Program Supervisor Monahan stated it would. The mailbox for the bags seems a good idea. He does not feel lighting is necessary. He City of Blaine Page 4 Park Advisory Board Minutes - Final August 26, 2014 feels this area is very small for a dog park. He would like to see something bigger and better but does not see the opportunity at this point. He would like to have staff provided cost estimates for the items mentioned. Chair Bird asked what enhancements need to be made to the nearby shelter to make it usable and requested staff research the cost of that in the overall price. Commissioner Pribbernow clarified the construction would not be until 2016. Commissioner Leathers stated we could only go with chain link fencing. He would like to see staff look at a water source in the dog park. Commissioner Pribbernow asked if there could be a trough and Program Supervisor Monahan stated he will see what is available. There is not an existing water source in the Park. Commissioner Lester suggested the cost estimates be brought in to see where we are with the budget. City of Blaine Page 5 Park Advisory Board Minutes - Final August 26, 2014 5.-2 PB 14-27 PARK UPDATES Sponsors: Monahan Program Supervisor Monahan provided updates on the following parks: Aurelia Park - Program Supervisor Monahan provided an update on the Parking Lot Improvements plan which has been put out for bid by the Engineering Department. Recurbing would be done with all new asphalt and sidewalk. There will still be on street parking utilized. Estimated cost is $55,000. Chair Bird asked when this would be done and Program Supervisor Monahan stated this fall. Commissioner Markle asked if the sidewalk would be raised above the parking lot and Program Supervisor Monahan stated it would be. The hockey boards will be replaced yet this fall. The metal roof installation will begin next week. Irrigation would be done if monies remain in the budget. This would also include Osman’s Park. Territorial Tennis Courts - Both courts will be resurfaced with two coats starting next week. Lexington Athletic Complex - Program Supervisor Krieger reviewed the Lexington Athletic Complex is changing weekly. Construction began in June. The curb is done except for the turn lane coming off Lexington. He showed photo’s of the 3 stall building for public works equipment. The light poles have been installed for both baseball fields and two of the four multi-purpose fields and for the tennis courts. The curb for the playground is installed. Oak trees remained in the park. The basketball hoops and standards are in and the staking has been done for the court. Chair Bird stated the site is very impressive and it changes every week. Chair Bird asked what else can be done for the remainder of 2014. Program Supervisor. Krieger stated the posts will go in for tennis courts and pickle ball courts. The multipurpose fields will be seeded tomorrow. Irrigation has already been installed. Grass should be seen in 5-7 days. The fencing on baseball fields will be finished. The backstops are being constructed with 40 foot poles and netting. The tennis courts should be finished in the next week or so. The roads and pathways will be laid with bituminous. Trail lighting and parking lot lighting will be worked on. The playground equipment will be installed either very late fall or early spring. The footings for the building are in. The slab for the building will be poured within the next couple weeks and the building will be constructed Fall-Winter. Aquatore Field #1 - Program Supervisor Krieger reviewed the City is working with the watershed. Some dirt has been moved. By City of Blaine Page 6 Park Advisory Board Minutes - Final August 26, 2014 November he is hoping the grading will be done and they are waiting to make sure none of the dirt moves. This field will be irrigated. The dugouts will be covered. Baseball Complex Field #1 - Program Supervisor Krieger stated this was approved for $25,000 by the Council. The infield shaping and returning it to original grade was sent for bids and the bids came in starting at $30,000. City staff will be doing this work in-house. Staff has been doing an excellent job on this project and he showed pictures of the current status of the field. The City worked with the associations to install the scoreboard and collaboration with other city groups $18,000 has been raised for new dugouts. Artificial turf walkways will go from the dugouts to home plate. This will be a big facelift for BBC #1. The asphalt pad around the backstop will be replaced. Chair Bird thanked the City organizations for their help with this project and public works for their hard work. City of Blaine Page 7 Park Advisory Board Minutes - Final August 26, 2014 5.-3 PB 14-28 ACCEPTED CONCEPT DESIGN FOR OPEN SPACE IMPROVEMENTS FOR SITE NO. 7 Sponsors: Monahan Attachments: 2014-07-15_Blaine_Trail-Layouts11x17_sm 1.pdf Phase 1.docx Program Supervisor Monahan reviewed on March 20, 2014, Council awarded a contract to Stantec Consulting Service Inc. to develop a detailed conceptual plan of improvements (trails and other amenities) for the large, 500-acre open space west of Lexington Avenue and north of 109th Avenue. This design will serve as the base for final design and construction. At the June 5, 2014 Council Workshop, Stantec presented their Concept Design which incorporated the Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB) comments/recommendations. Comments from the NRCB and the City Council have been incorporated into the concept design plan. Trail loops have been included and the water feature has been expanded to 9.8 acres with a depth of 6.5 feet. Cost estimates for the trails and other feature/amenities have been calculated. Staff will be pursuing possible grants and other funding sources to support the implementation of this project. One source of additional funding will be the sale of wetland credits from the new wetland restoration project approved by Council. These credits will begin to be available as early as 2017. This project will be implemented in phases beginning in 2015 with projected completion in 2020. Due to cost considerations, not all of the proposed trails and features will be included at this time. However, a sufficient number of trails, loops, parking and other features will be included to provide access and enjoyment for the general public. The trails and features not constructed through 2020 will be retained on a list of future projects for expansion within the open space area. Program Supervisor Monahan provided a table summarizing the recommended phases with the various associated tasks. These proposed phases can be adjusted as needed to fit available funds. This project will be paid for through the Open Space Fund. The current balance of the Open Space Fund is $846,374. It is projected there will be $1,050,000 revenue to the Open Space Fund over the next 7 years from park dedication fees. Again, other funding sources will be pursued to offset the costs of the project. The Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB) recommends that City of Blaine Page 8 Park Advisory Board Minutes - Final August 26, 2014 Site 7 be given a name and the name they are recommending is The Blaine Wetland Sanctuary. Program Supervisor Monahan showed the Concept Open Space Master Plan. He indicated the location of the Nature Center which is in the plan for 2020. The 6 wildlife viewing “structures” are still in the planning stages. Program Supervisor Monahan reviewed Phase 1 in 2015, Phase 2 in 2016 and Phase 3 in 2017, Phase 4 in 2018, Phase 5 in 2019 and Phase 6 in 2020. Total of all 6 phases is $2,893,449. In 2020 the Nature Center and possibly a Gathering Shelter are proposed. Commissioner Leathers left the meeting at 7:52 pm. Chair Bird asked how large the parking lot is off Lexington and Program Supervisor Monahan stated he will research and get back to the Board. The number of parking stalls was also requested. Commissioner Leathers returned to the meeting at 7:54 pm. Commissioner Markle asked about the trail connections. Program Supervisor Monahan stated there is either a trail or sidewalk that connects that segment. Chair Bird asked how many Pioneer Parks would fit in this area and Program Supervisor Monahan stated 5. 5.-4 PB 14-29 East Lake Park Feature Sponsors: Monahan Attachments: East Lake Park.pdf Program Supervisor Monahan reviewed this month’s feature park is East Lake Park. Staff prepared a narrative and power point on East Lake Park. This is the 55th Park presentation to the park board. Program Supervisor Monahan stated in May of 2003 Emmerich Development Corporation brought a proposal for 5 parks in the Lakes Development. One of these parks was East Lake Park, which was a 10.8 acre neighborhood park which had amenities that include: two playgrounds, half basketball court, shelter, benches, trails, parking lot, landscaping, open play area, and irrigation. The cost of the park came in at $159,300. East Lake Park currently has a trail that leads into our Site 7 open space and future plans will connect the trail to the Lexington Avenue trail and lead directly to our future Nature Center. The development of the park was started in 2005 and in 2008 the city officially accepted the park. City of Blaine Page 9 Park Advisory Board Minutes - Final August 26, 2014 Additional Items Program Supervisor Monahan announced the Blaine World Fest is scheduled for September 20, 2014 1-4pm at Town Square Park - 10802 Town Square Drive. The park dedication fees will be brought to the Board next month for consideration before going to Council for approval. Commissioner Leathers clarified this projection is for the next one to two years. 9. Adjournment Adjourned Aye: 6 - Chair Bird, Markle, Lester, Pribbernow, Leathers, and Varian City of Blaine Page 10