Park Advisory Board

10801 Town Square Drive City of Blaine Blaine, MN 55449 Anoka County, Minnesota Minutes - Final Park Advisory Board Tuesday, November 24, 2015 7:00 PM Council Chambers 1. Call To Order The Blaine Park Advisory Board met in the Council Chambers of City Hall on Tuesday, November 24, 2015. 2. Roll Call 1. Chair Bird called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Staff Present: Nate Monahan, Recreation Manager Present: 7 - Chair Bird, Comissioner Lester, Comissioner Pribbernow, Comissioner Das, Comissioner Varian, Comissioner Markle, and Comissioner Walsdorf 3. Approval of Minutes 3.-1 MIN 15-34 APPROVAL OF OCTOBER 27, 2015 PARK BOARD MINUTES Motion by Commissioner Markle to approve the minutes of October 27, 2015 as presented. Motion seconded by Commissioner Lester. Motion approved unanimously. Aye: 7 - Chair Bird, Comissioner Lester, Comissioner Pribbernow, Comissioner Das, Comissioner Varian, Comissioner Markle, and Comissioner Walsdorf 4. Open Forum for Citizen Input Chair Bird opened the Open Forum at 7:05 p.m. No one appeared to address the Commission. Chair Bird closed Open Forum at 7:06 p.m. 5. New Business 5.-1 PB 15-42 BATTING CAGES AT BLAINE BASEBALL COMPLEX FIELD #1 Mr. Ernie Johnson from the Blaine Baseball Boosters presented plans and details for batting cages at the Blaine Baseball complex Field #1. City of Blaine Page 1 Park Advisory Board Minutes - Final November 24, 2015 Mr. Johnson stated he represents the Blaine Dugout Club. The location of the batting cages was indicated on a map. Mr. Johnson stated appropriate hitting cages are needed in the City. Currently there is only one batting cage for the entire facility. The Dugout Club has done research and have found a good location for a batting cage on Field #1. The process for raising the money was through the Dugout Club, Blaine Traveling Baseball, Blaine Fusion Amateur Baseball team, Blaine Youth Hockey and Blaine High School. Over $13,000 has been raised for this project. They would like to begin digging this fall so by spring construction can be done. Currently they have raised $13,000 of the $16,000 needed for an aggregate surface. The cost for an artificial surface would need $11,000 - $13,000 more. They have enough money to begin construction and would fundraise to make the rest of the funds. They would really like to have the artificial surface. Mr. Johnson requested the City Council would consider helping financially on this project. Chair Bird thanked Mr. Johnson for his efforts. Chair Bird asked if there is a trail access to the proposed location. Mr. Monahan stated there is a trail 30-40 feet from the corner of the field. Everything will be brought in by bobcat so as not to damage the fields. Mr. Johnson stated a general contractor would be doing the landscaping and the concrete work. There will be a concrete mow strip. All other work will be done with volunteer labor. Chair Bird asked Mr. Monahan if city staff had reviewed the plans and Mr. Monahan stated staff has reviewed the plans and some soil corrections were done. Staff is confident with the work the group will do. Commissioner Walsdorf asked about the cost estimates on the dirt surface vs. artificial turf. Mr. Johnson stated with the dirt surface some athletic aggregate needs to be brought in which is a much more expensive material. The artificial turf can be place directly on the packed sand. Commissioner Walsdorf asked if the lighting will impact the batting cages and Mr. Johnson stated the batting cages will not be used at night. Commissioner Markle asked if there is any provision for seating or viewing around the batting cages. Mr. Johnson stated no seating would be put in place. It is fairly uncommon to have seating areas directly near the batting cages. The batting cages would be used for practice and warming up before a game. Commissioner Markle asked if the cages would be for public use and Mr. Johnson stated they consider it a donation to the City and their plan is it would be used by all the ballplayers. There will not be a pitching machine. They will bring in a City of Blaine Page 2 Park Advisory Board Minutes - Final November 24, 2015 vinyl net protector and heavy netting. The netting will be removed for the winter season. Commissioner Markle asked if the pad would border the fence and Mr. Johnson stated it would. Commissioner Walsdorf asked who would pay for the replacement of the nets in seven years. Mr. Monahan stated it is assumed the Boosters would pay for the replacement netting. Mr. Johnson stated they are a fundraising organization and they do pay for the replacement netting. Commissioner Das asked if any private clubs would use the batting cages and Mr. Monahan stated the Blaine Fusion Amateur Baseball Team will be contributing money for the project and be using the batting cage. Commissioner Das suggested local businesses be asked for donations. Chair Bird stated this will most likely be recommended to the City Council for approval but it would be self-funded by the boosters. The City Council may have funds available to contribute. Motion by Commissioner Varian to recommend to the City Council approve the construction of Batting Cages at Blaine Baseball Complex Field #1. Motion seconded by Commissioner Walsdorf. Motion approved unanimously. Aye: 7 - Chair Bird, Comissioner Lester, Comissioner Pribbernow, Comissioner Das, Comissioner Varian, Comissioner Markle, and Comissioner Walsdorf 5.-2 PB 15-43 RECOMMENDATION OF THE 2016 - 2020 FIVE-YEAR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN FOR PARK DEVELOPMENT FUNDS Mr. Monahan presented the 2016 - 2020 Capital Improvement Plan for Park Development Funds. Revenue comes from park dedication fees from residential, commercial and industrial development. Council has approved 10% increase for residential and 10% increase for industrial. There would be no increase for commercial. The big revenue change was internal borrowing with only $1.1M borrowed. Mr. Monahan reviewed the CIP line by line. Chair Bird stated this was a shock to everyone on the Board. It was discussed and the Board wanted to make sure the loan payments were made each year and according to the CIP the revenue would be much below that amount for 2016. There is some work to be done to determine how spending is done in the years going forward. Commissioner Varian asked how the park dedication fees are determined and Mr. Monahan stated meetings are held with the Planning and Development Director Brian Schafer who projects what has come in and what could possibly be coming in for future years. It is a projection. Commissioner Varian asked why for the loan payments is $80,000 paid in 2016 and $380,000 in 2017. Mr. Monahan stated City of Blaine Page 3 Park Advisory Board Minutes - Final November 24, 2015 that is a formula the Finance Director did. There is some flexibility. Mr. Monahan stated this is internal borrowing and can be adjusted. Commissioner Lester stated mentioned pushing out payments. He feels that would be pushing the problem away. He would be more inclined to making more payments up front to help lower the payments in the future. Chair Bird stated there was a total of $3.1M borrowed. Mr. Monahan noted Blaine has hired a Community Development employee, which should help increase development. Mr. Monahan stated there are three last parks to be built. Commissioner Das asked if any revenue could be estimated from the Lexington Athletic Complex and Mr. Monahan stated that cannot be estimated at this time. Chair Bird stated common sense says we need to stop spending now. There are two things he would like to see happen. He would like to get some input from the Finance Director that if we did not have any expenditures for the next 24 months and what can be done about aggressively paying down the loan or delaying it to a time when the revenue source in 2016, 2017, and 2018 that we are not in the red. The Glen Meadows Park could wait, as that area is not fully developed. He would like to push everything else out. Chair Bird would like to suspend all projects from 2016 going forward until revenue can be received and we can pay down what is owed. Commissioner Walsdorf stated he agrees with Chair Bird. Commissioner Walsdorf asked why the loan payments jumped so high in 2017 and 2018 and Mr. Monahan stated that is the formula the Finance Director used. Commissioner Walsdorf asked about the new park for $600,000 in 2019, which is very close to the Lexington Athletic Park. Mr. Monahan stated it would not be really close and staff felt something would be needed in this new development. This is a projection at this time. Commissioner Markle asked about the three new parks and noted the last two have not been developed at all. Mr. Monahan stated they have just begun moving dirt in the Glen Meadows Development area. Commissioner Markle agreed the last two parks should be removed from the plan and push Glen Meadows out two years. He would propose to remove the hockey rink also. He agrees no expenditures in 2016 - 2017. Lakeside Commons is a fixed expense, which is being paid back, and he would suggest leaving that alone. Commissioner Varian stated she would like to see the Finance Director’s rationale for how payments are determined. It appears he is City of Blaine Page 4 Park Advisory Board Minutes - Final November 24, 2015 balancing them with the expenses. She agrees all the new items should be removed but she is hesitant to going out further for the JP Athletic Complex. Chair Bird agrees JP has not been finished. He could not recommend moving the CIP forward to the City Council for approval. He suggested having the Finance Director come to the January meeting and provide information and suggestions on how this can be managed better either in a workshop or provide written information for review. Commissioner Markle asked for a couple different versions to review. Chair Bird requested the versions as follows: 1. Remove everything that is scheduled to be spent in 2016 and 2017. 2. Move the JP Athletic in 2017 complex and Glen Meadows to 2019. 3. Move JP Athletic complex to 2017 and move everything else out altogether. Chair Bird stated one more request would be to look at how to be more aggressive in repaying the payments. Informational: no action required 5.-3 PB 15-44 PARKS AND RECREATION UPDATES Mr. Monahan provided the Parks and Recreation Updates on the following: Aquatore Playground - It is complete. Mr. Monahan showed pictures of the completed playground. Commissioners Das and Walsdorf stated it looks very good. Mr. Monahan thanked the public works and streets crews for their work on this project. Broken Oaks Playground- There was some vandalisms. Replacements will be made. Harper Park- This is the 65th park and is nearly completed. Photographs of the park were shown to the Commission. Chair Bird stated it looks wonderful. 50th Anniversary Civic Recognition Reception - December 3, 5-7 p.m. at Blaine City Hall. Commissioner Pribbernow stated the planning has been going on for 18 months. Morning at the North Pole - There will be a holiday concert December 1st 7:00 p.m. at Blaine City Hall. The December 5th City of Blaine Page 5 Park Advisory Board Minutes - Final November 24, 2015 session at noon still has a few openings. Go to blaineparks.com to register. Blaine Triathlon 2016 - The event will take place this year. September 10, 2016 8:00 a.m. start. The kids’ triathlon will be held the last weekend of July as well. Informational: no action required 5.-4 PB 15-45 DECEMBER 22, 2015 PARK BOARD MEETING Mr. Monahan reviewed the December 22, 2015 Park Board Meeting is the week of Christmas. Staff recognizes this can be a busy time for Board Members and therefore, presenting the decision to the Board to conduct the meeting. A motion must be made if the Board decides to cancel the December meeting. No motion is required to conduct the meeting since it is regularly scheduled. At this time staff does not anticipate business items that need to be addressed in December. Motion by Commissioner Walsdorf to cancel the December 22, 2015 Park Board Meeting. Motion seconded by Commissioner Markle. Motion approved unanimously. Aye: 7 - Chair Bird, Comissioner Lester, Comissioner Pribbernow, Comissioner Das, Comissioner Varian, Comissioner Markle, and Comissioner Walsdorf Adjournment Commissioner Das motioned to adjourn. Commissioner Pribbernow seconded the motion. Motion approved unanimously. Chair Bird adjourned the meeting at 8:15 p.m. Aye: 7 - Chair Bird, Comissioner Lester, Comissioner Pribbernow, Comissioner Das, Comissioner Varian, Comissioner Markle, and Comissioner Walsdorf City of Blaine Page 6