Park Advisory Board

10801 Town Square Drive City of Blaine Blaine, MN 55449 Anoka County, Minnesota Minutes Park Advisory Board This meeting will be a hybrid of Zoom and in-person. The Mayor has signed a declaration allowing members of the commission, staff, and the public to attend the meeting remotely via Zoom as has been done during the COVID-19 pandemic. The council chambers will have limited seating, with audience chairs being set up at least six feet apart. There will be an overflow area where the meeting can be watched in the Cloverleaf Farms Room, also with chairs set up at least six feet apart. Please note that all visitors to city hall are required to wear a face mask while inside the building. Public comment options prior to the meeting must be received by noon on Tuesday, July 28. Email comments to: nmonahan@BlaineMN.gov or phone 763-785-6151. Zoom is for members of the public who want to comment remotely during the meeting on an agenda item. Join Zoom Webinar at https://blainemn.zoom.us/j/97920771876. Ways to watch if not commenting on an agenda item: BlaineMN.gov/Video or North Metro TV on Comcast, Apple TV, or Roku. Questions? Email - Communications@BlaineMN.gov Park Board Members: Chair Jeffrey Bird, Prad Das, Jeff Lester, Tonya Lizakowski, Rex Markle, Kristofer Paulseth and Tom Walsdorf The purpose of the park board is to provide a high quality of life for the city's residents through protection of its natural resources, its scenic, historical and aesthetic values, and by development of compatible facilities for public enjoyment. One of the board's functions as an advisory body is to hold public meetings and make recommendations to the city council. For each item, the board will receive reports prepared by city staff, provide the opportunity for public response, conduct board discussions and make recommendations. The city council, however, makes all final decisions on these matters. Tuesday, January 28, 2020 7:00 PM Council Chambers 1. Call To Order The Blaine Park Advisory Board met in the Council Chambers of City Hall on Tuesday, January 28, 2020. Chair Bird called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. Roll Call City of Blaine Page 1 Park Advisory Board Minutes January 28, 2020 Members Present: Boardmember Das, Lester, Lizakowski, Markle, Paulseth, and Chair Bird. Adjunct Member Drew Brown. Members Absent: Boardmember Waldorf. Staff Present: Nate Monahan, Recreation Manager. Guest: None. Present: 6 - Chair Bird, Commissioner Lester, Commissioner Das, Commissioner Markle, Commissioner Lizakowski, and Commissioner Paulseth Absent: 1 - Commissioner Walsdorf 3. Approval of Minutes 3.-1 APPROVAL OF THE NOVEMBER 26, 2019 PARK BOARD MINUTES Attachments: 11-26-19 Pk Motion by Boardmember Das to approve the minutes of November 26, 2019 as amended. Motion seconded by Boardmember Lester. Motion approved unanimously. Aye: 6 - Chair Bird, Commissioner Lester, Commissioner Das, Commissioner Markle, Commissioner Lizakowski, and Commissioner Paulseth 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 RECOMMENDING THE PROPOSAL FROM FLAGSHIP RECREATION FOR THE REPLACEMENT OF THE BLAINE BASEBALL COMPLEX PLAYGROUND IN THE AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $175,000 City of Blaine Page 2 Park Advisory Board Minutes January 28, 2020 Attachments: BBC Playground BBC Playground 1 BBC Playground 2 BBC Layout BBC Playground Replacement BBC Playground Flagship Install Recreation Manager Monahan stated the Blaine Baseball Complex Playground equipment is 17 years old and is need of replacement. City Staff met with Flagship Recreation to develop a cost savings plan for the new Challenger Field and playground replacement at the Baseball Complex. The vision for the playground was to provide as much poured in place surfacing to improve the accessibility for the playground from both a play feature and surfacing prospective. Since both projects will be utilizing the same poured in place surface Flagship Recreation is able to reduce the cost by tying the two projects together which will save the city over $11,000 dollars. Mr. Monahan reported the cost of this playground will be $169,196.22. The funds for this playground will come from the Parks and Trails Levy Fund. Staff exercised the purchasing practice of U.S. Communities Government Alliance which will save the city over $9,000 and chose the playground equipment line manufactured by Landscape Structures and supplied by Flagship Recreation. This improvement will also include concrete border, fiber, poured in place rubber surfacing, and benches. It was noted the current swing set frame/posts will be repainted and new swings will be installed. Mr. Monahan explained the cities cost is also less due to a community build that saves over $8,000 dollars in installation of the playground. The Blaine High School Baseball Team, Blaine Area Traveling Association, Blaine Area Little League, and Fusion Town Ball Team will help with the community building of the playground. Staff is also asking for a 3% contingency for this project to take the total cost of the project to $174,272. Boardmember Markle questioned what would be placed to the right of the play structure. Mr. Monahan reported the City hopes grant funds would be available to add a piece or two in the future. Boardmember Markle stated he appreciated the adaptive merry-go-round. He requested further information regarding the community build. Mr. Monahan explained the baseball teams would have workers onsite to assist City of Blaine Page 3 Park Advisory Board Minutes January 28, 2020 with installing and building the playground structure. He reported this would reduce the overall expense from Flagship Recreation. Boardmember Das asked what age group would be served by this playground. Mr. Monahan stated ages 2 to 12 would be served by this playground. He indicated the proposed pieces of equipment were ground level for accessibility purposes. He explained a zip line could be considered for this park in the future and noted this amenity would appeal to older children. Adjunct Member Brown asked how long playground equipment would typically last. Mr. Monahan noted the City likes to get 20 years out of its equipment but reported this park gets heavy use. He understood this equipment was being replaced prior to its useful life. It was staff’s hope the equipment from Flagship Recreation would last 25 years. Boardmember Paulseth suggested the swing set be pulled closer to the sidewalk in order to reduce the amount of poured in place surface material needed or that the poured in place surface be installed to the first two swings. Boardmember Lester asked if adaptive swings would be a part of this project. Mr. Monahan reported two adaptive swings would be included. Boardmember Lester questioned if the igloo piece of equipment was ADA accessible. Mr. Monahan explained the igloo would be accessible from the standpoint children could crawl in the igloo but would not be able to crawl on top of the igloo. Chair Bird questioned if staff would be completing the grading for the project. Mr. Monahan indicated staff Bauer Restoration would be removing the old equipment. The City would then grade the site. Motion by Chair Bird to recommend to the City Council approve the proposal from Flagship Recreation for new playground equipment at the Blaine Baseball Complex in the amount of $174,272 to include installing the poured in place surface to the first bay of the swing set with staff contacting the Park Board via email if additional funds were available for ideas on extra equipment. Motion seconded by Boardmember Das. Motion approved unanimously. Aye: 6 - Chair Bird, Commissioner Lester, Commissioner Das, Commissioner Markle, Commissioner Lizakowski, and Commissioner Paulseth 5.-2 RECOMMENDATION OF THE 2020 - 2024 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN FOR PARK DEVELOPMENT City of Blaine Page 4 Park Advisory Board Minutes January 28, 2020 FUNDS Attachments: Park Development CIP 2020-2024 Recreation Manager Monahan stated the city maintains a five-year capital improvement plan for park development funds. The capital improvement plan is a flexible plan based upon long-range physical planning and financial projections. Flexibility is achieved through an annual review and revisions as necessary. All improvements listed in the plan are proposed and must come back to the Park Board for review and then recommended to the city council. The City Council then makes all final decisions on capital improvement. Mr. Monahan reported revenue for the capital improvement plan comes from park dedication fees required of all new residential ($4,449)/unit), commercial ($8,704/acre), and industrial ($6,702/acre) development. The residential fee is split with 65% going to parks and 35% of the fee going to open space. All commercial and industrial fees go to parks. Mr. Monahan explained revenue from park dedication fees can only be used for development of new parks and trails, for new improvements to community parks used by all residents and for improvements to neighborhood parks that serve new growth. It cannot be used for park maintenance. In 2019, staff has accelerated the internal borrowing repayments from $450,000 up to $800,000 which will save the fund $19,000 in interest. Staff commented further on the proposed projects for the next five years and requested comments or questions from the Board. Chair Bird requested further information regarding the $350,000 that has been set aside for the park in 2020 west of Lexington Avenue and North of Main Street. Mr. Monahan reported this park was just north of the school. He stated the land would be donated to the City in lieu of park dedication fees by the developer. He commented the $350,000 would cover the expense of a trail and playground structure. Boardmember Paulseth asked if the Lexington Athletic parking lot had more than one crown. Mr. Monahan reported this parking lot only had one crown. Boardmember Lizakowski questioned if parking spaces would be removed from the Lexington Athletic parking lot during the winter months. Mr. Monahan stated this was the case noting parking spaces would be lost when the rink was in place. He reported this park had over 400 parking stalls and staff was comfortable with the number of stalls available at this City of Blaine Page 5 Park Advisory Board Minutes January 28, 2020 time. Boardmember Markle inquired if the parking lot would have drainage issues in the summer if the crown was removed. Mr. Monahan stated the City Engineers would address this concern. Boardmember Markle asked if Happy Acres would have a second entrance point. Mr. Monahan stated this would not be an option based on cost. Boardmember Markle commented this may be a concern in the future. Mr. Monahan stated the main entrance would widened to help address this concern. Boardmember Markle expressed concern that a multi-stage build was in place for this Happy Acres. He appreciated the fact that the numbers were coming in more favorable than previously anticipated. He understood more discussions would be held around this project and for this reason, he could support the CIP at this time. Mr. Markle commented the long-term vision for this park would be discussed in 2020. Boardmember Das asked where the new park land east of Harpers Park was located. Mr. Monahan reviewed the location of the new park land. He stated the City would be evaluating if this land could serve as a park. Boardmember Lester thanked staff for the thorough report. He commented he always supported the City paying the principle versus taking on more interest. He asked what was occurring on the lacrosse field in the winter months. He asked if a hockey rink could be located on the lacrosse field. Mr. Monahan stated the hockey rink would destroy the lacrosse turf. Motion by Boardmember Markle to recommend the City Council approve the 2020 - 2024 Capital Improvement Plan for Park Development Funds. Motion seconded by Boardmember Lizakowski. Motion approved unanimously. Aye: 6 - Chair Bird, Commissioner Lester, Commissioner Das, Commissioner Markle, Commissioner Lizakowski, and Commissioner Paulseth 5.-3 PARK BOARD UPDATES Recreation Manager Monahan stated the Mary Ann Young Center Grand Opening would be held on Thursday, February 20th from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. He stated a program, tours and refreshments were being planned for this event. City of Blaine Page 6 Park Advisory Board Minutes January 28, 2020 Mr. Monahan reported the Snow Day Event was held on Saturday, January 25th and the weather was fantastic. He discussed the events that were offered in coordination with the Wargo Nature Center. He indicated there were over 500 people in attendance. Mr. Monahan indicated Blaine residents (with proof of residency) would receive free parking at Lakeside Commons. He encouraged residents to swap out old parking passes this summer when visiting the beach. Mr. Monahan commented the City would be using a new software system called Civic Rec in the fall of 2020. He reported this program would assist with marketing the City’s programs. Mr. Monahan reminded the Board the February Park Board Meeting would be held on Wednesday, February 26th at 7:00 p.m. Adjournment Chair Bird adjourned the meeting at 8:09 p.m. Boardmember Das motioned to adjourn. Boardmember Markle second the motion. Motion approved unanimously. Aye: 6 - Chair Bird, Commissioner Lester, Commissioner Das, Commissioner Markle, Commissioner Lizakowski, and Commissioner Paulseth City of Blaine Page 7