HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-09-11 Park Board Minutes 1
EDINA PARK BOARD
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2006
7:00 P.M.
EDINA COUNCIL CHAMBERS
EDINA CITY HALL
_____________________________
MEMBERS PRESENT: Mike Damman, Ray O’Connell, Mike Weiss, Linda Presthus,
Gordon Roland, Andy Finsness, Karla Sitek
MEMBERS ABSENT: Todd Fronek, Jeff Sorem, Jeff Johnson, George Klus
STAFF PRESENT: John Keprios, Ed MacHolda, Janet Canton, Tom Shirley
OTHERS PRESENT: Idelle Sue Longman, Jennifer Janovy
___________________________
I. APPROVAL OF THE JUNE 13, 2006 PARK BOARD MINUTES
Mike Weiss MOVED TO APPROVE THE JUNE 13, 2006 PARK BOARD
MINUTES. Linda Presthus SECONDED THE MOTION. MINUTES APPROVED.
II. CONCERNS OF RESIDENTS
Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that the City Council has asked that each Board and
Commission have a standing agenda item for “Concerns of Residents”. He noted that it
is his recommendation that this item appear on the agenda following the “Approval of
Minutes” each month. He explained that this a time for residents to have an opportunity
to address the Park Board on Park and Recreation Department related issues. Mr.
Keprios pointed out that the only time this would not be the case is when there are
workshops, etc. The public is welcome to attend these, however, they don’t necessarily
have the right to participate. The Park Board agreed they would like to the see the
“Concerns of Residents” follow the “Approval of Minutes” on the Park Board agendas.
III. UNITED PROPERTIES DEVELOPMENT REQUEST FOR CENTENNIAL
LAKES PARK LINK EASEMENT
Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that they have received a formal request from
United Properties asking to build a walkway between their 7601 and 7600 buildings in
the south east portion of the Centennial Lakes development. He noted that this would be
their third and final all-weather link between their five office buildings. Mr. Keprios
explained that, although the majority of this link would be built on private property, the
walkway would encroach on approximately 7 square feet of City of Edina owned park
property, thus requiring an easement. Tom Shirley, Manager of Centennial Lakes Parks,
showed a larger scale map of the area to the Park Board.
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Ms. Presthus asked if there are any negatives associated with this to which Mr. Shirley
replied not really, this is actually fairly common. Mr. Keprios asked Mr. Shirley if he
supports this motion to which Mr. Shirley replied yes, he does support it.
Linda Presthus MOVED THAT PARK BOARD ACCEPT THE REQUEST FOR THE
CENTENNIAL LAKES PARK LINK EASEMENT AS DESCRIBED BY TOM
SHIRLEY IN THEIR AGENDA. Karla Sitek SECONDED THE MOTION.
Mr. Keprios pointed out that as his staff report indicates, this would need to be contingent
upon United Properties paying all of their legal fees or any fees associated with making
the easement happen. Linda Presthus ACCEPTED THE AMENDMENT THAT IT BE
CONTINGENT UPON UNITED PROPERTIES PAYING ALL OF THEIR LEGAL
FEES OR ANY FEES ASSOCIATED WITH MAKING THE EASEMENT HAPPEN.
Karla Sitek SECONDED THE AMENDMENT.
Mr. Finsness asked Mr. Shirley what the exterior looks like to which Mr. Shirley replied
that it would match all of the existing buildings that they currently have.
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
IV. PARK AND RECREATION FACILITIES AND SERVICES NEEDS
ASSESSMENT SURVEY
Mr. Finsness indicated that Mr. Keprios is looking for a formal action on the survey and
asked if anyone had any comments regarding the survey.
Mr. MacHolda stated that the word “or” should be added to question #10, number 1, so
that it reads like all of the others.
Mr. O’Connell informed the Park Board that he has read through the survey many times
and thinks it addresses everything they had asked for, including the number of pages,
language, etc.
Ray O’Connell MOVED TO GO FORWARD WITH ACTION WHICH WOULD BE
SENT FOR A SIGNATURE BY THE MAYOR.
Mr. Keprios handed out the proposed cover letter for the Needs Assessment Survey and
requested Park Board approval.
Mr. O’Connell made a motion “THAT THE EDINA PARKS AND RECREATION
INTEREST AND OPINION SURVEY BE APPROVED IN ITS CURRENT WRITTEN
FORM”.
MOTION FAILED FOR LACK OF SECOND.
Ms. Presthus commented that she found a couple of things that maybe should be changed
to be more grammatically correct. She suggested that on #18 to change the heading to
read “How supportive are you having the City of Edina spend resources to . . .” . Then
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have A-F start with the word “Develop” and lastly reverse G with H because at that point
it’s okay to have the last one sit different from the rest of them.
Mr. Damman informed the Park Board that Diane Plunkett Latham sent him an e-mail
asking that the Park Board consider adding another question to #18 after H which would
ask “If you believe that buckthorn is a problem, in which three city parks would
buckthorn removal be of highest priority to you, with one being highest?” Mr. Keprios
pointed out that the City did hire a professional firm that did prioritize the removal of
buckthorn within Edina. Ms. Presthus commented that she thinks people would have
trouble filling in the names of the parks. Mr. Keprios replied the majority of residents
probably don’t know which parks do and do not have buckthorn. Ms. Presthus
commented that she thinks for the every day resident to name three parks off the top of
their head that have a buckthorn problem is asking them to do more than they can do
without a lot more information. Ms. Sitek stated that if they’ve already had a
professional firm prioritize the buckthorn wouldn’t this just be opening up a whole new
can of worms?
Mr. Keprios indicated that regarding #17 he doesn’t have an issue with what Ms. Plunkett
Latham is saying, it’s essentially the same thing just stated in a different way. However,
he does not like the idea of the three categories; high, medium and low. He prefers to
keep it the way it is with the four categories. Mr. O’Connell stated that he would prefer
to leave #17 the way it is. He noted that there was a lot of discussion on the topic and
this was their best solution.
Mr. Roland noted that on #18 it should be consistent where it states in the second
sentence “For each action, please indicate whether you and your household are very
supportive, somewhat supportive, not supportive, or not sure by circling the
corresponding number. However, above #2 it says “somewhat not sure” instead of
“somewhat supportive”. It would be much better if they kept it the same language.
Therefore, it should read “somewhat supportive” above 2. Ms. Presthus pointed that they
also need to change #3 to state “not supportive” and change #4 to read “not sure”. Mr.
O’Connell stated that by changing that it would definitely make it a lot clearer. Ms.
Presthus clarified that it should appear exactly the same way that it’s written in the dialog
above. Mr. Weiss noted that if they are going to be consistent then #13 has the same
issue; very supportive, somewhat supportive, not supportive, not sure.
Ms. Presthus asked why on #10 do they limit it to just youth? Don’t adults play softball,
lacrosse, soccer, etc., to which Mr. Keprios replied that is a fair question. Mr. MacHolda
suggested that they delete the word “youth” across the board on #10.
Ms. Presthus pointed out that on #7, V the word “inside” should be taken out and it
should just read “Senior Center” because we all know it’s an indoor senior center.
Mr. MacHolda noted that they also want to look at A through E and eliminate the word
“youth” because a lot of adults play some of the sports as well. In addition this will also
stay consistent with #10. Mr. Keprios replied that he is going to take note on that and
check with Mr. Vine just in case he may have a reason for that. He commented that is a
very good recommendation.
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Ray O’Connell MOVED TO APPROVE THE SURVEY WITH ALL PROPOSED
CHANGES PLUS THE COVER LETTER. Linda Presthus SECONDED THE
MOTION. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
Mr. Keprios thanked the Park Board for all of their time and effort that they put into this.
He noted that it’s a great survey and feels it will provide powerful information that will
really help them with the capital improvement plan and comprehensive plan. Ms.
Presthus asked if the City Council will be going over the survey word by word to which
Mr. Finsness replied no.
IV. MORNINGSIDE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION REQUEST TO WAIVE
FEE
Jennifer Janovy, Edina resident, informed the Park Board that she is on the steering
committee of the Morningside Neighborhood Association to which they are a 501C4 non-
profit organization that was founded in 2003. She noted that they seek to represent every
property owner and resident in Morningside which consists of approximately 720 homes.
Ms. Janovy explained that they don’t have dues and all of their meetings are open to
everyone in the neighborhood. She also added that they do have their own by-laws. Ms.
Janovy indicated that they have had held several events at Weber Park to which some of
them they have needed to use the warming house and have paid the rental fee. Therefore,
because they are completely reliant on donations and in-kind contributions they have
decided to approach the Park Board and ask if the rental fee could be waived for their
annual meeting and up to two events per year in the warming house.
Mr. Finsness asked what the two events per year would be to which Ms. Janovy replied
that they did not specify the two events, however, in the past they have had the “National
Night Out” party held there because of rain. They have also had a City Council
candidates forum, a public safety forum, a skating party during the winter, although that
was held during regular open hours so that did not require a rental. Ms. Janovy pointed
out that last November they wanted to use the warming house for a food drive for the
food shelf but because they didn’t have the funds to pay for the rental they were unable
to.
Mr. Keprios gave the Park Board some background information on how he typically
handles these requests to which he usually gets this request once a week. He explained
that in cases where groups or individuals get free rentals or discounted rentals is because
they have either donated money or given in-kind services to the city in some other form.
For example, the Garden Club is not charged for the use of the greenhouse or Arneson
Acres Park because of their donation towards planting and raising flowers to plant the
city’s 75 flower gardens. In addition, the Garden Club has contributed thousands of
dollars to the city to build the gazebo, fountain and formal garden. Mr. Keprios
commented that other groups whose rental fees have been waived are for those groups
whose function it is to use the facility for the purpose of raising money for the City of
Edina, not for their non-profit cause. He noted an example of that is they don’t charge
the Baseball Association to use the concession stand because all of the money that is
raised through concessions goes back into the Courtney ball fields whether it’s for
scoreboards, batting cages, sound equipment, etc. Mr. Keprios pointed out that groups
such as the Edina Historical Society are also waived any rental fees because they provide
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an archival service to the city as well as historical education and preservation services
and the operation of the historical museum for Edina residents. In turn, they don’t pay
any rent for the Terrace Room or for the use of the two historical buildings. Mr. Keprios
informed the Park Board that he also gives groups and individuals who rent Edina’s
public facilities on a real long-term contractual basis get a 10% discount for multiple
rentals that are done in a type of contract form.
Mr. Keprios explained that he gets a lot of requests from non-profit organizations such as
the American Cancer Society to rent facilities and they all pay the full fee. He
commented that in the past the Park Board has waived fees for things like Edina’s
contribution toward giving money to the hurricane fund. A group of Edina kids in a band
were given the use of the amphitheatre at Centennial Lakes, representative of the City of
Edina, to raise money to help do hurricane relief. Mr. Keprios stated that this is the
process they have followed and noted that the Park Board does have the authority to grant
or not grant a waiver.
Mr. O’Connell commented that the Morningside area is a special circumstance and at one
time they were a separate community from Edina but now they are part of Edina and they
pay taxes in Edina and they are a non-profit group which does need to be taken into
consideration.
Ms. Janovy informed the Park Board that Morningside does have a strong identity and
strong desire to come together as a community and keep neighbors informed about things
that are going on and getting to know their neighbors. She stated that so far it’s been
very positive, not only for the neighborhood, but for the city in some ways too. She
explained that every year most of the money that they’ve raised is used to deliver flyers
to every household approximately four times a year, not only inviting people to events
which are free, but to also give information to residents so they can stay informed of
what’s happening in the community. Not everyone has internet and not everyone is
involved in events that are going on in the city. Therefore, this is a way they contribute
to the City of Edina.
Mr. Weiss stated that because this is a community organization and they are actively
involved in trying to better the community he would be in support of it.
Ms. Presthus pointed out that she understands what is being said but if you look at the
other side of this if they do approve this it will set a precedent and if Mr. Keprios is
receiving these requests weekly she wouldn’t want to give special consideration here.
Mr. Keprios stated that he definitely is concerned to start a precedent as well as would
this be a one time thing or would they forever have free use of the Weber Park building,
that’s the other consideration.
Ms. Presthus asked Mr. Keprios are there a lot of other neighborhood groups like this
who ask for the use of facilities with the fee being waived. Mr. Keprios replied that he
has received requests from neighborhood groups in the past who asked for a break in the
fee to which he said no and they accepted that. Mr. Keprios pointed out that if you set
precedent for one neighborhood group there are going to be a lot more groups asking for
the same thing.
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Ms. Janovy indicated that she realizes that Edina has their own way of doing things but
pointed out that the City of St. Louis Park has a city funded and city supported
neighborhood association program whereby most of their 35 neighborhoods are formally
organized. She noted that one way they get support from the city is they are given free
use of park facilities. Ms. Janovy explained that they call the city, fill out a form and
they are able to use it. However, there are guidelines that these groups have to follow to
which they need to be formally organized with by-laws and also have a method of
transferring leadership from year to year. Ms. Janovy pointed out that with those two
guidelines in themselves there are a lot of groups out there that will not be able to meet
the criteria. Ms. Janovy suggested two more criteria be added to that which would be that
all events offered are to be free of charge and secondly everyone in the neighborhood
must be invited so that there is no sense of anyone being excluded.
Mr. Damman indicated that he agrees with the staff and that there should be a charge for
these facilities.
Ms. Sitek stated that she thinks a neighborhood group should be able to use their
neighborhood park at no charge and possibly stipulate that they have to have the criteria
listed such as by-laws, transfer of leadership from year to year, no charge for events and
that everyone in the neighborhood be included.
Mr. O’Connell commented that the Morningside neighborhood is a unique situation and
they have cohesiveness. He noted that he doesn’t want to set up a situation that makes if
more difficult for the Director but feels that some consideration should be given to the
Morningside neighborhood to provide a waiver for the facility. Mr. Weiss stated that he
would have an issue doing it solely for the Morningside neighborhood. He commented
that if they are going to do something like this they need to make it a policy with certain
criteria. He indicated that he doesn’t want to say that this is something that the
Morningside neighborhood can do but that the Todd Park neighborhood can’t. If they
are going to do it, it needs to be broader.
Ms. Keprios pointed out that one thing that concerns him is at what level of service
becomes free. He explained that there have been very large picnics, etc., where people
have trashed the facilities. Ms. Presthus stressed that is one of the reasons why they have
a fee, because it involves cleaning up, etc. They do not charge a fee just to make money,
there are definite costs involved. Mr. Keprios explained that the League of Women
voters rent facilities to host their events and inform the public of elections and candidates
and they are charged for the rentals. Therefore, they need to be very cautious. He
commented that he doesn’t want to sound like the total bad guy because he loves the idea
of providing neighborhood based programs and services at no charge similar to the block
party concept. Mr. Keprios stated that he would be happy to study the issue and come
back to the Park Board with some policy alternatives.
Mr. Keprios suggested to the Park Board that maybe they approve it this one time and ask
staff to study this further and come up with a policy. Mr. Finsness commented that
maybe it is worthwhile to make a motion to approve the function on October 29th and
then staff could look at the different parameters of how this could work. Mr. Keprios
stated that it encourages groups to use the warming houses and he’s all in favor of that,
however, they do need to be careful with the expense part. He explained that they can’t
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set themselves up to all of sudden it’s free to these groups and every weekend there’s
another function and they have to schedule for clean-up, etc.
Mr. O’Connell asked Ms. Janovy if they leave facility in the same condition as they
found it to which Ms. Janovy replied that they do pick stuff up off the floor and leave it
very clean with the exception of they don’t take the trash with them. They just bag it up.
Ms. Janovy stressed that they are very respectful of it because in essence it’s their
property too because it’s part of the city.
Linda Presthus MOVED THAT THEY GIVE A WAIVER TO THE MORNINGSIDE
NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION FOR THE USE OF THE WEBER PARK
SHELTER BUILDING FOR THEIR ANNUAL MEETING IN OCTOBER AND IN
PARTICULAR DIRECT STAFF TO THINK ABOUT FORMULATING A POLICY
THAT MIGHT BE WORKABLE FOR ANY FUTURE KINDS OF ORGANIZATIONS
SUCH AS THIS. Ray O’Connell SECONDED THE MOTION.
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
VI. CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN
Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that the Capital Improvement Plan will be on the
October Park Board Agenda asking for action. He asked the Park Board if they had any
questions or if they felt anything should be moved around. Mr. Keprios pointed out a
couple of things that have fallen off of the list to which one is re-coring the current key
system because there are much higher items on the priority list. However, it is a high
priority to renovate the keyless entry system. He noted that they have been told that the
current software is so out-of-date it may crash and they won’t be able to retrieve any data.
Mr. Keprios pointed out that is a big risk and they were supposed to have replaced it this
year, however, they had to compromise that project as well as the Chowen Park picnic
shelter in order to afford the overrun cost of the higher bids that came in on the Courtney
Shelter project.
Mr. Keprios pointed out that the one big ticket item listed for 2007 is for a new athletic
field with lights at Pamela Park for $400,000. He explained that this would be a multi-
purpose athletic field that would be built in a north/south orientation immediately
adjacent to the senior field at Pamela Park. He commented that this is definitely a
significant departure from what has been on the radar screen the past few years and added
that it may or may not become controversial. Mr. Finsness asked would it be natural turf
or artificial turf to which Mr. Keprios replied it would be natural turf.
Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board also on the CIP for 2007 is protective netting for
the Pamela Park softball complex for $50,000. He indicated that at one time the Girls
Fast Pitch Association had a batting cage there but right now their highest priority is the
safety of their spectators. Therefore, they are currently working on getting pricing so that
they can zero in on a dollar figure for the netting.
Mr. Keprios pointed out to the Park Board that the maintenance garage at the Courtney
ball fields is now listed at $150,000 and previously it was listed at $92,000. He explained
that they have now been given some very specific dimensions, materials and amenities to
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which they should be pretty close to an exact amount within the next two weeks. He
commented that he is hoping it will be much closer to the $90,000 than the currently
listed $150,000. He stated the correct amount will be in the CIP that will be in the
October Park Board packet.
Mr. Keprios stated that there has been a change at Alden Park in that the amount went
from $115,000 to $118,000. He noted that after Mr. MacHolda and the neighborhood
met and came up with a design it looks like approximately $118,000 will be needed to
complete the job.
Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that another major change is the pathway at Garden
Park which was originally scheduled for 2008. He noted that there seems to be a lot of
strong interest to do it sooner. Mr. Keprios explained that by doing that they will need to
delay the pathway repairs at Arneson Acres to which it has been in the same shape for
decades and can certainly wait another year. Therefore, the $30,000 that was originally
scheduled for 2007 will now move to 2008.
Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that another new item on the list for 2007 is
waterproofing the historical buildings at Tupa Park. He explained that the Historical
Society and his staff have given him a heads up that this is a significant problem. Every
time there is a big rain there is water seepage through the walls as well as the foundation
of the Grange Hall. Therefore, it will cost approximately $20,000 to fix the problem.
Mr. Keprios indicated that he is open to any comments and feedback and added that he
thinks the Needs Assessment survey will help them a lot in their capital plan.
VII. UPDATES
A. Gymnasium Construction – Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that they are going
to start the flooring tomorrow in both gyms and from what he has been told they are
schedule to open October 1st. Mr. Keprios pointed out that the grand opening is going
to be delayed until all of the school construction is done so that there will be one
school/city ribbon cutting. Mr. Keprios indicated that they still anticipate to be under
the original budget of approximately 5.1 million dollars.
B. Athletic Association Meetings – Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that they have
scheduled a meeting with all of the athletic association presidents for Wednesday,
September 27th at 6:30 pm in the Community Room. He noted that they will be going
over the Core Values Document and the Relationship Document. In addition, they
will also discuss their Code of Conduct as well as talk a little bit about the Capital
Improvement Plan. This meeting will give the athletic associations an opportunity to
discuss any comments and concerns they may have.
C. Comprehensive Plan – Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that the City is about
ready to hire a consultant for the Comprehensive Plan to which they will be working
with all of the departments. He noted that the Park Board can expect to see the
consultant at one of their Park Board meetings. He commented that the Park Board
may want to look at putting together a three person committee to work with the
consultant and added that staff, of course, will do all of the leg work. Mr. Keprios
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commented that they can talk more about that down the road. He pointed out that the
Comprehensive Plan has to be in its final form and presented to the Met Council by
the end of 2008.
VIII. OTHER
A. Highlands Lake – Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that Highlands Lake has been
a rearing pond for the DNR. However, there are now too many larger fish which has
become an issue because the little walleye fry can no longer survive because they are
being eaten by the larger fish. Therefore, they need to start over which means they
want to kill the lake. Mr. Keprios explained that he has pamphlets on this and will be
contacting the neighbors. Mr. Finsness asked is this a common thing to do to which
Mr. Keprios replied yes. Mr. Keprios added that Highlands Lake has been one of the
best lakes for the DNR, it has been very successful.
B. Edina Curling Club –Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that there is a new club in
town “The Edina Curling Club” to which they will be using he new facility that’s
going in at the old Midwest Health Club site. He noted that the city is going to help
them out by creating a link on their website.
C. Athletic Association Meetings - Mr. Finsness informed the Park Board that a City
Council member asked him what the Park Board’s thoughts would be on each
member being responsible to attend an athletic association meeting. It would be
similar to how each Park Board member has taken on a few parks. He noted the
reasoning is so that the Park Board can have a closer connection to the associations.
Mr. Weiss responded that his feeling is if you don’t have a child in the program
you’re not going to care as much and therefore he’s not sure just how productive it
would be to sit in on those meetings. He noted that basically the association meetings
just affect that association in and of itself. Mr. Keprios stated that in his view as long
as the youth sports task force is now behind them that maybe they should have more
frequent all athletic association presidents meetings. He noted that he thinks this
would be a much more appropriate place and efficient use of your time to discuss
Park Board level issues than to have one Park Board member attend each of the
athletic association monthly meetings.
IX. ADJOURNMENT
Mike Weiss MOVED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 8:10 PM. Karla Sitek
SECONDED THE MOTION. MEETING ADJOURNED.