Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-12-13 Park Board PacketAGENDA CITY OF EDINA, MINNESOTA PARK BOARD MEETING COMMUNITY ROOM UPSTAIRS CITY HALL Tuesday, December 13, 2011 7:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER II. ROLL CALL III. APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA IV. ADOPTION OF CONSENT AGENDA A. Approval of Minutes — Regular meeting of Monday, November 7, 2011 V. COMMUNITY COMMENT During "Community Comment, " the Park Board will invite residents to share relevant issues or concerns. Individuals must limit their comments to three minutes. The Chair may limit the number of speakers on the same issue in the interest of time and topic. Generally speaking, items that are elsewhere on tonight's agenda may not be addressed during Community Comment. Individuals should not expect the Chair or Board Members to respond to their comments tonight. Instead, the Board might refer the matter to staff for consideration at a future meeting. VI. REPORTS/RECOMMENDATIONS A. Edina Park Recycling Bin Recommendations — Dianne Plunkett Latham, Edina Energy & Environment Commission B. Revised Turf Management Plan — Dianne Plunkett Latham, Edina Energy & Environment Commission C. Edina Senior Center — Bill Lough, Edina Park Board D. Work Plan - Keeya Steel, Vice Chair Edina Park Board E. Donations Policy & Naming of Parks and Facilities Policy Working Group Update — Ellen Jones, Edina Park Board F. User Fees Policy Working Group Update — Keeya Steel, Vice Chair Edina Park Board G. Grandview Plan Update — Ellen Jones, Edina Park Board VII. CORRESPONDENCE AND PETITIONS VIII. CHAIR AND BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS IX. STAFF COMMENTS A. 2012 Park Board Meeting Calendar X. ADJOURNMENT The city of Edina wants all residents to be comfortable being part of the public process. If you need assistance in the way of hearing amplification, an interpreter, large -print documents or something, please call 952-927-8861 72 hours in advance of the meeting. MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PARK BOARD HELD AT CITY HALL NOVEMBER 7, 2011 7:01 PM L CALL TO ORDER Chair Hulbert called the meeting to order at 7:01 pm II. ROLLCALL Answering roll call were Members Jacobson, Jones, Segreto, Hulbert, Lough, Steel, Peterson, Neville, Weicht, Fronek III. APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA Member Jones made a motion, seconded by Member Peterson, approving the meeting agenda. Ayes: Jacobson, Jones, Segreto, Hulbert, Lough, Steel, Peterson, Fronek Motion Carried. IV. ADOPTION OF CONSENT AGENDA Member Peterson made a motion, seconded by Member Lough approving the consent agenda as follows: W.A. Approval of Minutes —Special Meeting of Tuesday, September 27, 2011 W.B. Approval of Minutes — Regular Meeting of Tuesday, October 11, 2011 Ayes: Jacobson, Jones, Segreto, Hulbert, Lough, Steel, Peterson, Fronek Motion carried. V COMMUNITY COMMENT None VT REPORTS/RECOMMENDATIONS VIA. Edina Veterans Memorial Mr. Keprios gave the Park Board a power point presentation on the Veterans Memorial. Bob Kost, Architect with SEH, gave the Park Board a presentation on the site review, design concept, options presented, preliminary cost estimate and where they hope to go from here. Mr. Keprios indicated that he is requesting that the Park Board recommend to the City Council the approval of the Veterans Memorial design, concept and location as it is currently proposed. Member Segreto asked if any trees will need to be cut down to which Mr. Keprios replied as it is currently designed there is no tree removal contemplated. Member Segreto asked if the watershed district will have to approve the project to which Mr. Kost replied they will and they have had preliminary conversations with their consulting engineer. Member Segreto indicated that in looking at the maintenance she didn't see any snowplowing during the winter and asked if that is anticipated. Mr. Keprios replied it is not their plan and if any snowplowing were to be done it would be done by volunteers. 1 Chair Hulbert asked what the maintenance cost of $4,152.00 is for. Mr. Keprios explained that figure is the most expensive case scenario which would reflect the use of only fiill-time maintenance staff and no part-time staff or volunteers. Member Jones pointed out that she knows the watershed district is willing to offer grants to programs that meet certain criteria. She asked if there is something they may need to do in the design that would affect their eligibility for being able to secure a grant. Mr. Keprios responded that is something that would become his responsibility if the City Council approves this project. Marshall Schwartz, 5528 Dundee Road, member of the Veterans Memorial Committee, talked to the Park Board about the Veterans Memorial and very strongly urged the Park Board to give it their full support. Member Peterson made a motion, seconded by Member Segreto, to approve the Veterans Memorial concept and recommend the City Council do the same. Ayes: Jacobson, Jones, Segreto, Hulbert, Lough, Steel, Peterson, Fronek Motion Carried. VI. B. Edina Aquatic Center Swim Team Use Policy Mr. Keprios recapped the Report/Recommendation that was in the Park Board packet. Member Jones asked if there is a reason for the different policies for the fields and gymnasiums. Mr. Keprios explained when they built the two gymnasiums they needed to establish the recognized bodies that use gymnasium time in order to be able to dictate who has priority access. Mr. Keprios pointed out at this time they do not have a priority access policy for the Aquatic Center or Braemar Arena. . Member Jones stated if no swim club were to meet the 90% resident rule then as she read the proposed policy it would go in the hierarchy of the criteria listed with number one being the percentage of Edina youth served. Mr. MacHolda replied that is correct. Member Segreto indicated that she takes great comfort in consistency so if they decide to implement a policy she would favor the 90% residents because that is what all of the other facilities have. She noted that to rewrite the proposed policy to 75% they would be writing a policy to address what is before them and there is something inequitable about that to her especially with the long history they have with the Aquajets. Mr. Keprios explained the reason this is in front of the Park Board is because we currently do not have a public policy that addresses priority access to the Edina Aquatic Center. He stated the question is do you want to establish public policy or not have public policy and have staff deal with it using the best business practice possible to maximize revenues. Member Steel commented that she is hesitant to make a decision tonight as their User Fee Working Group is essentially looking at this and unless there is an extreme urgency she would ask that they hold off on this decision. Chair Hulbert responded he thinks there is urgency because these groups may need to start to find out where they can secure their pool hours. The following people gave public testimony before the Park Board: John Wanninger, 6509 Navaho Trail, Aquajets Jeff Carpenter, 6705 Galway Drive, Edina Swim Club Sally Glieden, 5515 Grove Street, Aquajets Rachel Wittmer, 4706 Sunnyside Road, Aquajets Pi Gracie Taylor, 4600 Oak Drive, Aquajets Erica Evans, 6232 Concord Ave., Aquajets Katie Taylor, 4600 Oak Drive, Aquajets Kristina Taylor, 4600 Oak Drive, Aquajets Kim Jones, 4601 Edina Blvd., Aquajets Amy Anderson, 6909 St. Patrick's Lane, Aquajets Lisa Wittmer, 4706 Sunnyside Road, Aquajets Kate Lundsten, Head Coach of Aquajets Swim Team, 8986 Deer Run Drive, Victoria, MN Alex Adams, 5129 Wooddale Glen, Aquajets Steve Foster, 1841 Nicolas Way, EP, Aquajets Leslie Nicholson, 5617 Beard Ave. So., Edina Swim Club President Todd Hansen, 6221 Ashcroft Lane, Edina Swim Club Scott Jones, 4601 Edina Blvd, Aquajets Amy Murphy, 5316 Ayshire Blvd., Aquajets Midi Hansen, 6221 Ashcroft Lane, Edina Swim Club former President Van Donkergoed, 9497 Painters Ridge, EP, Aquajets Jeff Rodriguez, Head Coach of Edina Swim Club Paige Bingham, 4626 Fdgebrook Place, Aquajets Member Jones indicated if no one were to meet the residency requirement that she would like other people's opinions on whether they should look at a percentage or total number of residents. She noted they could have a very small group of 30 swimmers and have a high percentage of Edina residents but it would not serve their community at all to have them have total monopoly of the pool. Member Steel commented that is why she is fearful of making a decision right now on a percentage different from the one already established. She pointed out what if there are new associations down the line or one association fails to meet the 90% rule and other groups can step in then they would be setting precedent tonight. Member Lough gave an example of three different swim clubs. If club A had 60% residents, Club B had 50% residents and Club C had 40% residents; however, Club C has the largest team with the most absolute Edina residents on what basis would you choose and allocate pool time under a policy such as what is being suggested. Mr. Keprios replied if they are going to establish a policy it ought to be one that's realistic and best fits and serves the community at large. Mr. Keprios asked if the Park Board is going to recognize one organization formally as they have with the other sports, then what should that percentage be. Member Peterson suggested someone from staff and a couple of Park Board members meet with the two clubs and try to come up with a solution. He stated if they are unable to do that then Park Board and staff will make the solution for them. Member Segreto indicated she agrees with member Peterson and would rather see this worked out between the groups and staff and a Park Board member or two rather than vote on it this evening. Member Steel stated that maybe it would be fair to propose that if the User Fee Working Group does not have a policy to present to the Park Board at their next meeting that they continue with the no policy for the upcoming season but come up with a policy for the 2013 season. Member Segreto made a motion, seconded by Member Jones, that the Park Board adopts a no policy for the Edina Aquatic Center. Member Fronek informed the Park Board that he thinks it makes the most sense to be consistent and 90% has been consistent across all of the associations. Member Fronek made an amendment to the 3 motion, seconded by Member Segreto to empower staff to make the decision for the 2012 season and request staff to continue to work with the two swim clubs and the User Fee Working Group to establish a policy for 2013. Chair Hulbert indicated that what he doesn't like about the motion is they are just deferring the problem down the road and he would prefer to hash it out right now. Member Lough stated it's his understanding if they choose 90% the result would be that staff will still have to work with the two clubs to try to negotiate a solution which is why it is in front of the Park Board. He indicated if they were to vote 75% then perhaps there would be a different result which he is not really prepared to go there because it would be inconsistent with the other policies that are at the 90% level. He noted that he feels there needs to be a little more shaping and wisdom put together in terms of a policy for the Aquatic Center, Mr. MacHolda indicated that without a policy in place it has always been his role to honor the request of the recognized body. In his 26 years in working for the City he has known one swim club and that is the Edina Swim Club. He stated that staff is caught in between and without a policy he would have to go off the same guidelines he has for the past 26 years and without a policy in place that is the direction he would have gone. Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that when it comes to enterprise facilities they need to do what's good for business to which they are both great customers. He stated that if the Park Board is not willing to take the step to create policy then they are going to remain status quo. Member Jones stated she has heard two different things that staff would do. Mr. Keprios replied if the Park Board is unwilling to make a policy they are going to carry on with business as they have unless they are directed to do otherwise. He stated that Mr. MacHolda has done a wonderful job trying to resolve this matter at a staff level; however, Park Board is being challenged by a group to create policy and, if the Park Board is unwilling to do that, staff will continue to rent pool time to both groups similar to the past several years. Chair Hulbert asked for a vote on the amendment: Ayes: Jacobson, Jones, Segreto, Hulbert, Lough, Peterson, Fronek Nays: Steel Motion carried Chair Hulbert asked for a vote on the original motion: Ayes: Jacobson, Jones, Segreto, Hulbert, Lough, Steel, Peterson, Fronek Motion carried Member Jones made a motion, seconded by Member Lough for Park Board to develop policy for the following year. Ayes: Jacobson, Jones, Segreto, Hulbert, Lough, Steel, Peterson, Fronek Motion carried ILC. Edina Senior Center Presentation — Sue Weigle, Director of Edina Senior Center Mr. Keprios explained to the Park Board the relationship between the Senior Center and the Library. Ms. Weigle gave the history of the Senior Center to the Park Board. She then discussed all of the different types of activities, classes, speakers, trips, sports, etc., that the Senior Center offers. 4 Ms. Weigle informed the Park Board that their biggest problem is parking because there are only 80 spots for the Senior Center and library. She noted that she tries to schedule the Senior Center activities during the day and the library schedules their activities later in the day and evening. Ms. Weigle pointed out that Community Education and the Senior Center have a verbal agreement on who offers what so that they are not in competition with one another. She added that Community Education does use the Senior Center for some of their classes and has worked out fine. Ms. Weigle indicated that so far this year they've had approximately 50 to 60 rentals to which most of them are during the day. She stated during the evening hours are non-paying organizations that use it such as the library, City of Edina, Firearm Safety program, Adaptive Recreation programs and the Twin Cities Harmonica Group. She added that the Senior Center is also a voting precinct. John Lundquist, Chair of the Senior Center Advisory Council and President of the Senior Center Golf League at Fred Richards Golf Course, informed the Park Board what the Advisory Council does. Member Lough asked which spaces inside the Senior Center they are using to which Ms. Weigle replied they use the Sherwood Room for rentals at night so that a staff person does not have to be there and the Senior Center can be locked up. There are people from the library there until 8:00 pm. Member Jones asked Ms. Weigle if there were more parking does she think their programming would grow to which she replied yes. Member Lough commented that the Senior Center is a real asset to the community and he would like to think they could see that place full both daytime and evening. He stated that it seems to him to be underutilized. Ms. Weigle commented that she doesn't want to see them compete with the library. Member Lough indicated that he is just saying parking notwithstanding there could be ways to utilize the facility in the evening as well as ways to market and utilize the facility. Member Lough indicated that the city has to subsidize the Senior Center to a fair degree and as with any segment of the population they are deserving of consideration by the City; however, at the same time they are trying to understand how they can best cover the costs of that segment of the community through the user fees and other mechanisms. He stated that in terms of the Senior Center he is not necessarily looking at charging senior citizens more but because it is such a nice facility is there some way they can increase the utilization of the facility yet provide the seniors with the same programming. Ms. Weigle responded that if they were to start renting in the evening they would need to hire staff so she is not sure that would balance it out. Mr. Keprios pointed out they would have to analyze the return on investment and see if it is feasible to have more evening rentals. VI.D. Braemar Golf Course Revenues Analysis Member Jones noted that even though Mr. Anderson is not at the meeting she would like to thank him for creating the Braemar Golf Course Revenues Analysis, it was very helpful. Chair Hulbert indicated that he thinks it may be helpful to see more of this for next year's budgets. Member Jones commented that it will also be quite helpful in the future when there is a proposed increase in fees and charges. VII. CORRESPONDENCE AND PETITIONS None VIII. CHAIR AND BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS Member Steel indicated that she has frequently been going to the dog park and that the dog waste has become a significant issue. She stated she thinks the problem is growing because it is getting darker 5 earlier at night and people are not as motivated to clean up. In addition, you cannot see where you are walking and it's harder to monitor your dog. Member Steel indicated another item that has become a big issue is people are using the park and do not have an off -leash dog collar on. She stated that she knows there are signs and that it's hard to police but was wondering if they could put up a sign just temporarily saying this has become an issue and if you do not have a collar you need to leave the premises. She added that she has heard some park goers say they will probably not renew their off -leash license if it continues. Mr. Keprios responded this has been an ongoing issue and he will bring it to the attention of the Edina Police Department's Animal Control Officer, Tim Hunter, and see what ideas he may have. Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that there is a group that has been willing to pick up on occasion and clean sweep the whole park in return for some advertising. He noted that the sponsor has donated some doggie bags and some containers with their names on them to help us address the issue. Mr. Keprios indicated that they did put some outdoor lights in at the park but probably not enough and they will need to take a look at that. He noted that is something that we may need to add to our capital improvement plan to get that done. IX. STAFF COMMENTS Mr. MacHolda informed the Park Board that the excavation is now done for the flow rider and they've started to pour the concrete, so it's a good sign. X. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 10:11 pm 9 REPORT/RECOMMEN DATION To: EDINA PARK BOARD Agenda Item Item No. VI. A. From: John Keprios, Director Park and Recreation Department ❑ Action z Discussion F-1 Information Date: December 13, 2011 Subject: Edina Park Recycling Bin Recommendations ACTION REQUESTED: The Recycling & Solid Waste Working Group (RSWWG) of the Energy & Environment Commission requests that the Park Board review and comment on the Edina Energy and Environment Commission's proposed Edina Park Recycling Bin Recommendations. INFORMATION/BACKGROUND: The attached copy of the Edina Park Recycling Bin Recommendations from the RSWWG of the Edina Energy and Environment Commission outlines their recommendations to have recycling bins in every Edina Park. As per EEC's request, also attached is a copy of a memo from Three Rivers Park District that describes a variety of receptacle containers and the three categories of containers they identified that best fit the Three Rivers Park District system. Staff is very supportive of adding more recycling bins throughout Edina's parks wherever it is needed and practical. As stated in EEC's recommendations document, there are currently recycling bins in only two outdoor park settings which are Lewis Park and Pamela Park. There are currently a total of 185 trash receptacles throughout the entire park system (see attachment). It is also important to point out that we have 40 parks (not 50); however, we do not have trash receptacles at all 40 parks. The attached trash receptacle inventory shows that we have 185 trash receptacles spread out among 36 different parks. The Edina Park Maintenance Department provides and maintains trash receptacles at 36 different park locations. Six park locations do not have a need for trash receptacles. The other two parks that are not shown on the inventory list are Edinborough Park and Centennial Lakes Park because they provide and maintain their own trash receptacles as do all of the enterprise facilities. There is still some debate as to the real effectiveness of recycling bins in unsupervised outdoor settings. The EEC's proposal states: "Apparently the park staff did not understand that small amounts of residual contaminants are acceptable and can be removed at the Materials Recycling Facility. City park staff should be instructed to discontinue throwing out the contents of the recycling bins having small amounts of contaminants." Our Park Maintenance Department staff conducted their own study earlier this year from June 21 to August 29, 2011. Recycling containers were checked 48 times and found that contents were contaminated over 60% of the time (see attachment). Rather than argue and debate this issue, staff is willing to do our part to make whatever changes can be implemented to improve on that percentage by placing containers next to each other and educating the public through signage and marketing. It seems cost prohibitive to hire staff to clean contaminated recycling similar to Three Rivers Park District's aggressive recycling program unless this is a higher priority above other projects and services that compete for the same tax dollar. Therefore, staff recommends supporting an initiative that establishes a task force to further study this issue and pursue the addition of more recycling bins on a grant basis. Staff also recommends that we not immediately place recycling bins in all 36 locations but continue on a pilot project basis by adding bins to three to five parks for one year and then revisit the issue. ATTACHMENTS: • EEC Edina Park Recycling Bin Recommendations • Three Rivers Park District Memo (Waste Receptacles) • Trash Receptacle Inventory • Email from Superintendent of Park Maintenance Vince Cockriel Edina Park Recycling Bin Recommendations By Recycling & Solid Waste Working Group (RSW WG) of the Energy & Environment Commission Proposal of 10-14-11 Objective: Recycling in Edina parks is an important component Edina's commitment to the Green Step Cities program. All Edina Parks must have outdoor recycling bins for bottles/cans paired with each outdoor trash can within one foot of each other. In addition, there must be indoor recycling bins for bottles/cans in all facilities plus paper/cardboard recycling bins for those facilities where paper/cardboard is used. Outdoor recycling bins must be suitable for outdoor use such that they will withstand the elements, damage and/or theft. The outdoor recycling bins must be of sufficient capacity with at least 60 gallons. At such time as the City Sanitarian implements the RFP currently in progress, which includes organics composting, recycling for compostables must be implemented in all park facilities. Survey: A survey of the effectiveness of the Dow grant of 3 recycling bins for Lewis Park and 5 recycling bins for Pamela Park was made by photographing the contents of the outdoor recycling bins and outdoor trash cans by members of the RSW WG during early September 2011. The photographic survey showed that almost no recyclable office paper or cardboard was being placed in either the outdoor trash cans or recycling bins. Consequently, a 3 bin system of 1) trash, 2) bottles/cans and 3) paper, is not required. Only two outdoor receptacles are necessary, one for trash and another for bottles and cans. A three bin outdoor system would only have applicability when organics composting is implemented. According to the attached 28 July 2004 Three Rivers Waste Committee Receptacle report, the cost of a three bin system is in the $1,000 range depending on the product. The RSW WG's photographic survey also showed that very little ,ontaminants were accidentally being placed in the recycling bins. City Park Superintendent Vince Cockriel indicated that 60% of the contents of the recycling bins were being thrown out. Apparently the park staff did not understand that small amounts of residual contaminants are acceptable and can be removed at the Materials Recycling Facility. City park staff should be instructed to discontinue throwing out the contents of the recycling bins having small amounts of contaminants. The RSW WG members have been informally monitoring the contents of the recycling bins since May 2010 a couple of times per month and have found no instances of contamination so severe that the contents would have needed to have been disposed of. The only exception being dog feces. Throughout all the RSW WG monitoring, only 1 bag of dog feces was found in one recycling bin by the Pamela Park tot lot. The RSW WG will write a Spring opinion piece for the Edina Sun Current reminding residents to cooperate and place only recycling in the recycling bins and to be especially careful to place dog feces in the trash. Sanitarian/Recycling Coordinator Solvei Wilmot will write a counterpart Spring article for About Town to better educate the public. Outdoor recycling bins are presently located in only 3 of Edina's 50 outdoor city parks. These are located at: Lewis Park (3 donated by Dow), Pamela Pk (5 donated by Dow) plus a few at Braemar Park. Indoor recycling bins are also found at Edinborough and City Hall. Park Superintendent Vince Cockriel did not know how many trash cans were in Edina city parks, only that they were emptied daily, undoubtedly to avoid unpleasant odors and to avoid scavenging animals. Inventory: An inventory must be made of the number and kind of outdoor and indoor trash cans in each park. The inventory also needs to indicate if the hoods are damaged. The report should include a recommendation on the number, kind and cost of recycling bins to be ordered. Most outdoor trash cans observed by the RSW WG are made of either concrete with a beige plastic hood, or of black plastic with an orange plastic hood. The dimensions of these are as follows: Concrete Trash Can: Base outer diameter = 25.5", inner diameter = 21.75" — Hood outer diameter = 26.5", inner = 26.25" 1 Black Plastic Trash Can: Base outer diameter= 21.5", inner= 21"— Orange hood outer diameter= 22.75", inner= 22.25" Dow Recycling Bins: Base outer diameter = 24", inner = 22.75" — Green hood outer diameter = 24.5", inner = 24.25" Jptions: The most cost effective options for meeting the above objective are: Obtaining donors for recycling bins like those donated by Dow Chemical. These are approximately $600 for each 60 gal recycling bin. Under Park and Rec policy, local Organizations donating recycling bins could have a donor's name placed on a donated item, but advertising cannot be placed there. In other words, the recycling bin could say "Donated by Joe's", but not "Eat at Joe's." The organization's logo would be permissible as on the Dow recycling bins at Lewis and Pamela Parks. Park and Rec policy states that a donor must donate at least $5,000 before their name can be placed on an item. This policy should be amended to make an exception for recycling bins given that Dow had their name on each recycling bin despite the $600 cost of each. 2. At least some of the hoods on trash cans are cracked or otherwise damaged (especially those on the concrete trash cans) and in need of replacement. The damaged trash can hoods should be replaced instead with recycling hoods for bottles and cans. New recycling hoods for bottles and cans would cost under $100 each depending on the style hood chosen. Only 2 of Edina's 50 outdoor parks have a sufficient quantity of recycling bins — Lewis Park and Pamela Park. Assume that each park has 6 trash bins. If half of the trash bins were converted to recycling bins by purchasing new hoods (some of which are cracked and in need of replacement anyway), the approximate cost would be 3 X 50 X $100 = $15,000. Spread out over 2 years the cost would be $7,500/year. Obtaining recycling bins by changing out trash can hoods is also preferable because it eliminates having to throw out or store the surplus trash cans and is consistent with the 3 R's — Reuse, Reduce, Recycle. If a trash can is destroyed or stolen, it should be replaced with a recycling bin until such time as all trash cans are paired with recycling bins. Replacing 50% of the trash can hoods with recycling hoods results in no extra work on the part of park maintenance in emptying them because they are empting the same number. The only difference is that half the contents are going to trash and half the contents are going to recycling. From: Solvei Wilmot [mailto:swilmot@ci.edina.mn.us] Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2011 10:13 AM ,'o: Dianne.Plunkett.Latham@Comcast.net Subject: FW: Waste Receptacles Committee Recommendations -Final (3) Th0 roe Rivers Le PARK DISTRICT Some history for you on the waste receptacles Memo TO: Executive Management Team (EMT) DATE: July 28, 2004 FROM: Steve Hancock, Park and Trails Maintenance Manager Dan Friedges, Park Maintenance Supervisor -Hyland Jennifer Christie, Park Operations Assistant Amy Gurski, Senior Civil Engineer -Development Section Jeff May, Golf Operations Supervisor -Baker National Golf Course Lynn Stoltzmann, Park Operations Supervisor -French David Thomas, Golf and Ski Maintenance Supervisor-HSSA Jane Votca, Interpretive Naturalist -Richardson Nature Center SUBJ: Category I Waste Receptacle Committee Recommendations Baekj!round: Last spring Dan Friedges spearheaded a committee to study what style of waste receptacles are currently being used in the park system. An inventory was taken in each park and the results showed quite a menagerie of receptacles. There was everything from old steel 55 -gallon oil drums, plastic manufacturing barrels both black and white in color, newer Rubbermaid containers and some from suppliers such as BFI. The receptacles found were in many colors, sizes and shapes! The committee identified three use categories for waste receptacles. They are as follows: I. Those containers found in and around Nature Centers, Visitor Centers, Golf Course Club Houses, Ski Chalets and enclosed Pavilions (Bryant, Fish) etc. These containers should compliment the building design in terms or style and color and should be chosen in consultation with Development r Section and Facility Operations staff and architects (where applicable). Recycling Bin History 3Rivers 2 II. Those containers located primarily throughout picnic areas, group camps, beaches, swim ponds, campgrounds, etc. This is the largest group and both trash and recycling barrels should be provided. Over time, these receptacles should be standardized throughout the park system. III. Those containers used along our Regional Trails and other trail segments. Through the trail design process a theme container was selected. It is a combination wood/galvanized receptacle poured in concrete. Category II receptacles were purchased in 2003 from Otto Industries, Inc., out of Charlotte, N.C. The barrels cost $37.00 each and are 68 -gallon containers on wheels. The barrels come with a ten-year warranty. The Three Rivers Park District logo was molded into the plastic. A gray color was purchased for trash and royal/BFI blue for recycle. About 2/3 of inventory was for trash and 1/3 for recycle. Category III receptacles are currently being implemented as a new regional trails are build or existing regional trails are reconstructed. Category I receptacles are the focus of this committee and recommendations contained in this memo. Category I Waste Receptacles Committee's Purpose: To recommend Category I waste receptacle options to the EMT in an effort to improve the aesthetics of the waste receptacles located in and around Nature Centers, Visitor Centers, Golf Course Club Houses, Ski Chalets, enclosed Pavilions. Goals/Objectives of the Waste Receptacle Committee (Category I): To consider various options and select mutually agreed upon receptacle options that combines function and attractiveness. • Products were chosen in consideration of aesthetics, durability, customer convenience, efficiency of maintenance handling, cost and warranty. Key Functional Features: • Around buildings with play areas (Hyland and French) containers need lids to help minimize bee issues, control odor and wildlife tampering -raccoons • Recognizable -ability to distinguish between waste and recycle options • Appropriate size of container to correlate with volume needs and location • Efficiency of handling • Durability, long-lasting, warranty • On wheels or dolly for ease or removal inside buildings at peak operating times, i.e. HSSA during winter operations, reservation rooms and nature center classrooms Key Aesthetics Features: • Style to blend in with building structure in terms of style • Attractive color(s) to compliment the building design Recycling Bin History 3Rivers N • Rectangular shaped inside the building were preferred for space considerations • Serve as a positive first impression to the building and demonstrate attractiveness was taken into consideration • Branding recognition of the Three Rivers Park District logo and name Recommendations: • Provide two types of containers inside the building. One type of container will be used in nature center classrooms and reservation rooms to accommodate larger volume and mobility needs. A second type of container will be used in all other public areas where aesthetics are a priority over function in terms of volume and mobility. • For the appropriate aesthetic effect at each specific building, staff could select the color hue options of grey or light brown. • On-site staff would be allowed to supplement Category I receptacles with Category II receptacles for the duration of a peak use period. If conditions deemed reoccurring over a extended period of time, additional Category I receptacles should be ordered. • The committee recommends that one recycling receptacle be designated for recycling due to the commingling recycling process. The commingling recycling process sorts multiple materials -glass, paper, plastic and aluminum. Either wet or dry is acceptable. • Below are two waste receptacle selections recommended by the waste receptacle committee for inside and for around/outside the Category I buildings. Inside Buildings Both Option Ai and Bi options contain a subset of Option X (Slim Jim containers) to be used in the nature center classrooms and reservation rooms to accommodate larger volume and mobility needs. Option Ai Recycling Bin History 3Rivers 2 o Belson Recycled Plastic Group Collection Receptacles o Twin containers side by side -waste and recycling o Dark Brown or Grey color options to blend in with inside building decor o Wheels or carts are not an option for mobility o Volume Capacity - 23 Gallons o Warranty -1 year o Signage on top of lid: Trash or Recycling-Cans/Glass or Plastic O MSRP-Twin Containers $995 Option B o Recycle Design -The Infinity Series o Twin Containers side by side -waste and recycling o Brown, Light Oak or Grey colors o Glides are available for mobility o Volume Capacity -33 gallons or 40 gallon containers o Warranty -1 year o Signage for lid insert: Trash or Recycling-Plastic/Glass (see below) o MSRP-Twin Containers on glides $1,210 This option was not selected for an outdoor option because there wasn't a lid available on the container and there were some concerns over maximum volume capacity of 40 gallons. This container was selected by the EMT several years ago... Recycling Bin History 3Rivers L Option X -- For Nature Center Classrooms and Reservation Rooms o Rubbermaid Slim Jim o Twin container side by side -waste and recycling o Grey or Tan container with green lid for waste and blue for recycling o Optional wheel cart is available ease of movement, if chosen by on-site staff o Volume Capacity - 23 gallons o Warranty- • Signage for lid insert: Trash or Recycling -Cans, Newspaper, Glass or Plastic O MSRP-Twin Containers with trolly -$220 Around/Outside Building Around/Outside Definition: To integrate a balance between aesthetics and functionality, the around/outside area entails all the building entrances surrounding the building perimeter, typically demarcated by concrete sidewalk, steps or plaza areas. Areas adjacent to the around, such as a picnic area next to a play area would fit the Category II waste receptacle. Option Ao is Recycling Bin History 3Rivers 6 o Great Lakes Infinity Series o Two containers next to each other -waste and recycling o Desert Tan or Dark Grey color options to accentuate the building decor o Stationary containers -no wheels for mobility o Volume Capacity -32 gallons or 55 gallons o Warranty- 1 year o Visitor Centers with Play Areas nearby could select lid option o Golf, Ski Sites would have an insert with the trash or recycling label o MSRP-Twin $748 with flat lid, $846 with dome top lid Option Bo 1,r246)" OPTIONS. o Great Lakes Custom Newport Square Enclosure o Two containers next to each other -waste and recycling Recycling Bin History 3Rivers 7 o Desert Tan or Dark Grey color options to accentuate the building decor o Stationary containers -no wheels for mobility o Volume Capacity -38 gallons trash and 26 gallon recycle o Warranty — 1 year o On the 26 gallon recycle portion, each location could select either a side load with an engraved flap or a top load with 4" round hole engraved recycle o MSRP-Twin $887 includes hinged back doors, engraved flaps (waste and recycle) and decal of Three Rivers Park District logo on 38 gallon Recommended Vendors: Belson 111 North River Road North Aurora, IL 60542 Toll Free: 800-323-5664 Fax: 630-897-0573 http://www.belson.com For 56 years, Belson has been manufacturing the most professional and unique equipment for recreational facilities. Founded in 1948, Belson has grown to a multi -factory operation conducting all sales out of its original headquarters. With the help of dedicated customers and innovative engineering, Belson has become an industry leader in the manufacture of quality equipment. One of Belson's most valued possessions is its reputation as the manufacturer of new and unique products for today's new demands. Belson is proud of its products. They reflect years of perfecting the best. Belson's efforts have been directed toward being specialists - specialists in designing the best products with the finest available materials, specialists in economical manufacturing methods and specialists in customer service. Only Belson can offer you this specialized service. All products are warranted against defects in materials and workmanship for one full year from shipment. Recycle Design Distributed by Earl F. Anderson -Todd Anondson. 9701 Penn Avenue South, Suite 100 Bloomington, MN 55431 (952) 884-7300 www.recycledesi�y,n.com/Infinity/InfinityWaste.html With a clear mission six years ago, U.S. Plastic Lumber, in partnership with the design team of Fahnstrom/White, launched their "Responsible Products In The Environment" campaign. This effort to use recovered materials to create site amenities that are aesthetically pleasing and highly functional has far exceeded expectations. Our commitment to responsibly manage our resources will remain our guidepost and will direct our path into the 21 st century. Recycling Bin History 3Rivers By taking a unique design approach from the inception, we have focused on not only the advantages of Durawood PE plastic Lumber, but also its limitations. Through the use of a single, purified polymer, we ensure the structural integrity and consistency of the product and are able to manufacture to reproducible specifications. This premium Durawood PE, in combination with sand cast aluminum, cast-iron or hot rolled steel structural supports, provides a selection that will prove to be unsurpassed in design and performance. Great Lakes Specialty Products 206 Enterprise Road Delafield, WI 53018 Phone: 800-505-7926 Fax: 800-962-3455 www.greatlakesspecialty.com Great Lakes Specialty builds the finest looking and most durable products. Our products are constructed with Everlasting LumberTM. The highest quality of recycled plastic material, unparalleled in the industry. This 21 st century material will last two to five times longer than wood, metal or cement plus most people prefer the look of Everlasting LumberTM. This virtually indestructible material keeps a "like new" appearance even in the harshest environments. In addition, the material will never rot, split, crack, or splinter and is graffiti and insect resistant and it comes in a variety of colors. Estimated Quantities: Park Location Estimated Quantities- Inside Trash Estimated Quantities- Inside Recycle Estimated Quantities- Outside Trash Estimated Quantities - Outside Recycle Baker National 5 3 3 3 Glen Lake 3 2 2 2 Eagle Lake 3 2 2 2 RNC 1 1 2 2 ENC 1 1 2 2 Recycling Bin History 3Rivers I CRD 1 1 1 1 ,NC 2 2 2 2 French 8 4 5 3 Elm Creek 3 3 4 4 Hyland 6 4 5 5 Minnetonka 4 4 4 3 Cleary 8 2 3 3 HSSA 4 4 4 4 Bryant Pavilion 2 2 2 2 Cleary Pavilion 2 2 2 2 Fish Pavilion 2 2 2 2 TOTAL 54 37 144 41 Total inside quantity is 91, total outside is 85 for a grand total of 176 waste receptacles. Ai $45,273 Bi $55,055 Ao $34,000 Bo $39,028 $1,320 for 6 sets (based on Nature Centers and Reservation Room est.) Total estimate cost range depending on options selected is from $80,500 to $95,500. Bulk quantity discounts should be available upon negotiation discussions. An additional dozen receptacles are recommended as a contingency replacement supply. A recommended three-year phase implementation plan will be brought back to EMT upon final approval of selected receptacles and after funding amounts have been established. Recycling Bin History 3Rivers 11 TRASH RECEPTACLE INVENTORY "A NN # OF RECEPTACLES 1 Alden Park 2 2 Arden Park 2 3 Arneson Acres Park 2 4 Birchcrest Park 1 5 Braemar Park (Courtney Complex) 24 6 Bredesen Park 9 7 Browndale Park 1 8 Chowen Park 3 9 Cornelia School Park 5 10 Countryside Park 5 11 Creek Valley Park 3 12 Fox Meadow Park 1 13 Garden Park 10 14 Grandview Square Park 0 15 Heights Park 1 16 Highlands Park 5 17 Kojetin Park 1 18 Lake Edina Park 0 19 Lewis Park 8 20 McGuire Park 1 21 Melody Lake Park 0 22 Normandale Park 5 23 Pamela Park 13 24 Rosland Park 16 25 Sherwood Park 1 26 St. Johns Park 0 27 Strachauer Park 1 28 Tingdale Park 1 29 Todd Park 6 30 Tupa Park 1 31 Utley Park 4 32 Van Valkenburg Park 38 33 Walnut Ridge ParK 5 34 Weber Park 6 35 Williams Park 0 36 Wooddale Park 3 37 York Park 1 38 Yorktown Park 0 185 Vince Cockriel Frorn: Vince Cockriel Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 20118:29 AM To: John Keprios Cc: Solvei Wilmot; Bob Prestrud Subject: Recycling Containers John, As you know, we have been monitoring the contents of the new recycling containers on a regular basis since the seasonal help arrived in mid- June. This monitoring consisted of emptying the containers and seeing what the contents consisted of. The start date of the monitoring was June 21St. That date was chosen for two reasons. The first reason being the fact that the containers were new to the two test parks and we wanted to give the park users a chance to get used to them before we monitored them. The second reason was that we are fully staffed by mid-hrne. The results of the monitoring are as follows: Lewis Park -Checked times from June 21" to August 291'. Contaminated 34 times, r io'jn 141 Pamela Park-Checked4$ times from June 21" to August 291h. Contaminated 31 times. The cumulative times the containers were emptied is 9 0 . The number of times they were contaminated is 6S. Over 60 of the time the containers are contaminated. The size, shape, color, signage or location within the parks doesn't seem to make any difference in the recycling compliance. The contaminated containers were simply dumped into the dumpsters with the rest of the garbage. The clean containers were put into the recycling dumpsters. Monitoring the recycling containers is labor intensive. Adding and emptying recycling containers that end up being garbage containers is also labor intensive. If purchased with City of Edina funds, the recycling containers that we are currently using are 6 to 8 times more expensive than the garbage containers that we are currently using. Hopefully this information will be helpful as we go forward. VC Vince Cockriel, Superintendent of Parks x 952-826-03051 Fax 952-826-0392 ycockrielnci.edina rnn us I www FdinaParks.com / Doing iittsine�s ...For Living, learning, Raising Families c DAILY REFUSE LOG FOR LEWIS AND PAN/IE1.A PARKg RIECICLE BINS CON-FAMINATM LEWIS PARK 6, j a 7 8 ����9 10 1(e 12 13 14 15 1.6 17 1.8 19 Afa YES/NO Y /,j 9 \jc ) yc-5 Yes Ve 'V Q5 YES/NO PAMELA PARK w 2/as� 3 4 5 6 7 9 1,0 13 14 Is 16 17 18 19 YES/NO Pu DAILY REFUSE LOG FOR LEWIS AND PAMELA PARKS RECL.CLE BINS CONTAMINATED LEWIS PARK PAN 5 j/1 6 7 8 C, 971 aI lo 7/)-�.. 11 7/) 12 13 14 15 d 16 17 1.8 19 YES/NO Y") rAj .) A) pl, YES/NO PAMELA PARK WON X71 11 2 7/la- 3 l/�� 4 1 14r 5 �lrj 7 11 , 8 Wao 9 7/K t lo 7/ ),J- 1171)5- 12 13'�i� 14 15 16 l l 17 18 19 YES/NO A). RECLCLE BINS CONTAMINATED YES/NO LLWIS PARK PAMELA PARK YES/NO YES/NO 2 OJ3 9/ 3 5 6/;s yef 6 el 56 4/ t� (�i'.r 7 DI 8 il 9 10 10 11 h�jAJl 11 12 12 13 13 14 JVI) 14 15 15 16za 16 17 17 18 18 19 �ju 19 j /5 e"c /s t-�ZA. REPORT/RECOMMENDATION To: EDINA PARK BOARD Agenda Item Item No. VI. B. From: John Keprios, Director Park and Recreation Department F] Action Z Discussion ❑ Information Date: December 13, 2011 Subject: Turf Management Plan 11 ACTION REQUESTED: The Energy and Environment Commission (EEC) recommends that the Park Board provide review and comment on the attached proposed revisions to the Edina Park and Recreation Department's Turf Management Plan. INFORMATION/BACKGROUND: The attached copy of the Edina Park and Recreation Department's Turf Management Plan shows changes as proposed by the Edina Energy and Environment Commission. The EEC's recommendations were discussed at the Park Board's September 13, 2011 meeting. At that meeting it was determined that the athletic field list needed updating as to which fields have scheduled events and which ones do not. We appreciate all of the time and effort that the volunteers of the EEC have spent on this important issue. EEC volunteers worked closely with Ed MacHolda to determine which athletic fields are scheduled. It was determined that 40 athletic fields were identified as "Multiple -Use Scheduled Athletic Fields" as shown on page 11 which includes the Rosland Park Disc Golf Course which is considered to be a high use athletic field grass area. With the exception of Todd Park baseball field and Rosland Park Disc Golf Course, all of the other athletic field areas are categorized as "B" areas which shall have 15-20% tolerance for weeds and therefore herbicides will not be applied to these ground covers until weed growth makes up 15%-20% of the total ground cover. Todd Park baseball field and Rosland Park Disc Golf Course are categorized as O/C which means they will be treated with organics, or revert to a category C. Staff is supportive of the categorization as proposed; however, we recognize that some of the O/C areas may have to be revisited in time depending upon the effectiveness of the organic herbicides, the safety condition of a field and the community's level of tolerance for increased weeds. For example, I question how tolerant the community will be to have City Hall grounds totally infested with weeds. I am also concerned about athletic teams that are scheduled at Todd Park which is suggested to be organic herbicide or no treatments (O/C). The neighbors surrounding the boulevards and circle area of Duggan Plaza and the boulevards adjoining Bredesen Park should be informed about the plan to move those properties from a B classification to an O/C classification because I suspect that there will be little tolerance for weeds in those highly visible neighborhood areas. It is also important to note that it is very costly to re -turf areas that are completely weed infested. The only other concerns from staff are the proposed advisory signs and public educational signs. On page 7 it is proposed that staff place signs before, during and after herbicide applications to keep off the grass for seven days. The Environmental Protection Agency labels all pesticide products with specific notification requirements. The herbicides used on City -owned park land state that people should stay of the treated areas until the chemical is dry, which is typically less than 24 hours. Staff believes it is important to follow EPA requirements. The other proposed sign that staff does not support is posting signs near children areas (see page 8) stating that this area has not been treated with herbicide chemicals. This could become confusing to the public because it would be logical for the public to then assume that we do apply herbicides wherever there is no sign. The Park Board is asked to please review the proposed changes and provide comments to the EEC who will then bring the matter to a Work Session with the City Council at a later date. ATTACHMENTS: Proposed Revised Turf Management Plan EDINA PARK AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT TURF MANAGEMENT PLAN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Revised Nov. 12011 • Introduction The City of Edina owns and maintains over 1,500 acres of beautiful park land, wooded areas and open space within its city boundaries. Approximately 600 acres are grassy areas that are routinely maintained on a mowing schedule. In addition, the Edina Park and Recreation Department also maintains many acres of highway islands and boulevards. Part of the maintenance responsibility includes controlling undesirable and/or injurious pests, such as weeds, insects and fungus to an acceptable level of tolerance. Some of the Edina Park Maintenance Department turf management practices that have been used in the past have included the use of fertilizers and herbicides. TerminolgZy By dictionary definition, pesticides are chemicals used to kill pests, such as insects and rodents. Herbicides are chemicals used to eradicate (kill) plants, such as weeds and grasses. In fact, the term "cide" means killer. The word "pesticides", however, is commonly used as the term that includes all the "cides" in the industry, such as fungicides, insecticides, and herbicides. In other words, all herbicides are considered to be a type of pesticide. There are 18 major pesticides that are used in approximately 2,100 different lawn care products. Selective herbicides are chemicals that are designed to eradicate specific plants, such as broad is leaf weeds, while not harmfully affecting other plant species that share common turf, such as desirable grasses. One of the most commonly used selective herbicide chemical is 2,4-D. Non-selective herbicides are chemicals that are designed to eradicate all "green" plant life. In other words, Non-selective herbicides, such as Roundup (a water soluble Non-selective herbicide brand name manufactured by Monsanto Company), are used to kill all green plants, such as all turf grasses and weeds. Non-selective herbicides essentially block the photosynthetic process in plants. Turf areas that have been treated with Non-selective herbicides can be re -turfed (seeded or sodded) within a week after application. Non-selective herbicides are commonly used to kill green growth around trees and under fencing to eliminate the need for labor intensive grass/weed trimming. Organic herbicides are non -chemicals, often plant -based such as corn gluten, that work by inhibiting root formation at the time of germination. The timing of application is very important for the treatment to be effective. Turf must be treated before weeds germinate. Organic herbicides have low or no toxicity for humans and animals and break down rapidly in the environment after application. History One of the turf management practices that has been used by the Edina Park Maintenance Department to control weeds and other undesirable grasses has included broadcast applications 2 of selective herbicides by licensed herbicide applicators. This practice has long been viewed as an economical approach to weed control. The largest grassy areas of the Edina Park System have typically been treated with selective herbicides (sprayed on in a liquid form) once per year in the Spring. These large area applications have been carried out by Edina Park Maintenance staff who have been trained and licensed by the Minnesota State Department of Agriculture. The smaller areas, such as roadway triangles and islands, that are more labor intensive to maintain, have been annually treated with selective herbicides in the Spring by contracted turf care companies, such as True Green ChemLawn. The heavily scheduled athletic fields throughout the Edina Park System have typically been treated with selective herbicides in a liquid form in the Spring and have received an application of weed and feed granular (combination fertilizer and selective herbicide) in the Fall of the year. Fertilizers are typically applied once or twice annually to turf areas in need of nutrients to maintain healthy grasses. Fertilizers are not herbicides and are not considered to be a member of the "pesticide" family. Fertilizers are essentially nutrients (food) for grass plants. The large open grassy areas throughout the Edina Park System have not been treated with fertilizers in past practices, mainly due to economic reasons. In the past, the Edina Park and Recreation Department has used non-selective herbicides, such as Roundup, to eliminate green growth around trees, under fencing, around hockey boards and in cracks that develop in tennis courts and hard surface areas, such as basketball courts. This practice has been an economical approach to grass and weed trimming, mainly for aesthetic purposes. The eradication of weeds and grasses that develop in cracks in tennis courts and hard surfaces courts has been done for two main reasons: 1 Eliminate hazardous play surface conditions (safety reasons). 2 Minimize further damage to the hard surface area (economic reasons). The main goal of the Edina Park and Recreation Department's turf management plan has long been to maintain safe and aesthetic turf in the most economical fashion allowed by law. The Edina Park and Recreation Department's past practices have been carried out by hard working, dedicated and well trained maintenance personnel who take great pride in their work. The City of Edina and its Park Maintenance Department have always been concerned and conscious of the impact of its turf maintenance practices on human and animal health and the environment. Because the most important factor in applying herbicides is safety (especially that of children), the Park and Recreation Department has voluntarily made (and continues to make) changes in its own methodology in the application of herbicides to help minimize herbicide exposure to children. During the Spring of 1994, several concerned residents questioned the potential health hazards associated with the Edina Park and Recreation Department's turf management practices. At the Edina City Council meeting on Monday, June 20, 1994, the Edina City Council directed staff to work with Edina Community Health Advisory Committee (ECHSAC) to establish a plan and a process that addresses the concerns of the use of herbicides on City owned property. ECHSAC July 13, 1994, Meetin The ECHSAC met on Monday, July 13, 1994, to discuss this issue. After lengthy discussion, it was determined that the goal should be to find alternative methods of turf management to control pests, such as weeds, that require considerably less or no herbicides. The issue regarding the potential health hazards and environmental impact associated with the use of herbicides was discussed and there was clearly debate on both sides of the issue. It was determined by the ECHSAC that, at this point in time, there is not enough undisputed conclusive evidence that suggests that the Edina Park and Recreation Department's current use of herbicides does or does not pose potential health or environmental hazards. Therefore, the recommendation of the ECHSAC was for the City of Edina to establish a turf management plan that errs on the safe side of herbicide use. The action taken by the ECHSAC at that meeting was as follows: Bob Wilkins MOVED TO RECOMMEND THAT THE PARK AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT WORK WITH THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT AND THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT IN CREATING A CLASSIFICATION OF PARK PROPERTIES AND RECOMMEND AN APPLICATION PROCESS THAT WOULD LIMIT AND REDUCE USE OF HERBICIDES IN RESPONSE TO CITIZENS CONCERN. AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO HERBICIDE USE, THE COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS INVESTIGATING INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT (IPM), A PROGRAM EMPHASIZING FERTILIZING, SEEDING, AND MOWING. THIS PROGRAM WOULD BE REVIEWED BY THE COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICES ADVISORY • COMMITTEE FOR IMPLEMENTATION IF THERE IS PROVEN EFFECTIVENESS. Audrey Runyan SECONDED. MOTION CARRIED. At the August 1, 1994, City Council meeting, the Edina City Council directed the staff to research and recommend a plan to reduce the use of herbicides on public properties and present the recommendations initially to the Edina Community Health Services Advisory Committee. The ECHSAC was asked to review staff's recommendations for alternatives for turf management during the month of December, 1994. The plan was to then have staff take the ECHSAC's recommendations to the Edina Park Board at the January, 1995, Park Board meeting. The Edina City Council has further directed that the matter then be brought before the Edina City Council on Monday, February 6, 1995. At the November 16th ECHSAC meeting, the ECHSAC was concerned about the long term effects of herbicide use, as well as, recommending a realistic and acceptable plan using preventative measures that will benefit people 20 to 30 years from now. The ECHSAC determined that there is good reason to establish a plan and policy that reduces the amount of herbicide use on public and private lands. Through this study, it was learned that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registers, rather than licenses, herbicides and pesticides. Therefore, the EPA does not guarantee the safety of the products they review. The EPA can, however, require testing of products and recently stipulated, for example, that the 2-4, D manufacturers repeat an animal -cancer study. The EPA has also asked the industry to take voluntary risk -reduction measures while the study proceeds. According to the 1993 General Accounting Office (GAO) Report, the EPA is more concerned with the health effects of one-time 4 or short-term exposures to MCPP and dicamba along with 2,4-D (which are "licensed herbicides" currently used by the Edina Park and Recreation Department). The 1993 GAO Report also states that dicamba and 2,4-D are deemed "restricted use candidates" by the EPA due to groundwater concerns. The one fact that is most commonly misunderstood by the public is that an EPA "licensed herbicide" is not necessarily "safe" with regards to human and /or environmental health. Through this study we have further learned that the EPA has not yet developed guidelines to assess the health effects of human exposure to pesticides after they are applied to lawns. In particular, the EPA is concerned about the persistence of pesticides in the environment and potential effect on children, who may have more contact with treated lawns than adults (1993 GAO report). Edina Park Board January 10, 1995 Meeting At the January 10, 1995 Edina Park Board meeting, the Edina Park Board took the following action: Mr. Fee MOVED TO RECOMMEND TO THE CITY COUNCIL THAT WE ACCEPT THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE ECHSAC AND RECOMMEND TO THE CITY COUNCIL THAT THEY ADOPT THE TURF MANAGEMENT PLAN AS PRESENTED IN THE REPORT SUBJECT TO ANNUAL REVIEW OR SOONER IF DETERMINED NECESSARY. John Dovolis SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES There are various but limited turf management practices that promote healthy grass growth and turf stability while minimizing weed growth without the use of herbicides. The goal is to create a strong and healthy grass that dominates weed growth. Ideally, the goal is to maintain healthy turf grasses while controlling the percentage of pests (weeds) within a predetermined tolerance level without the use of herbicides. Desirable grasses need four main elements to survive: 1 Air 2 Water 3 Food (nutrients) 4 Sunlight Grasses cannot survive when any of the above elements are absent. The most important element is air. In other words, if soil is too compacted, grasses cannot breath. The second most critical element is water. Desirable grasses do not compete well against weeds and undesirable grass plants in drought conditions. 5 The fact is that weed plants (such as knotweed) and undesirable grass plants (such as sandbur) are typically much hardier plants than desirable grasses (such as bluegrass or ryegrass). If left to nature without any interference of turf maintenance, weeds and undesirable grasses will eventually dominate the turf. In some cases, a weed dominated turf can lead to unsafe or intolerable turf conditions for certain turf users, such as softball, baseball, soccer and football players and golfers. Integrated pest management practices that help desirable grasses best compete with weeds are as follows: 1 Irrigation 2 Aeration 3 Proper drainage 4 More frequent mowing schedule whenever possible (ideally never cut more than 1/3 of the grass plant each cut) 5 Set mowers higher (cut grasses ideally at 2 '/z") 6 Proper fertilization schedule (more frequent and smaller quantities per application, plus proper timing) 7 Over seeding (slit seeding) 8 Top dressing 9 Use most durable grass seed mixture selections 10 Sodding where practical . 11 12 Minimizing thatch where needed Spot use applications (as opposed to broadcast applications) of least toxic herbicides only in cases where the intended activity would be intolerably compromised or when an economic or potential human injury is at risk To achieve the goal to use the least amount of herbicides possible, staff is proposing the following IPM based turf management plan: TURF MANAGEMENT PLAN (GOALS) 1 Identify existing pests, such as weeds, and their current percentage make up of existing ground cover. 2 Identify stressed areas of turf and evaluate IPM based options for treatment of the problem. 3 Establish a classification of Edina's public -owned park lands and open space and establish a weed tolerance level to each property. 4 Establish reasonable investments needed and desired to assure best results utilizing IPM based principles in turf management. 5 Routinely monitor and analyze success of IPM based turf management program in writing: a Identify the pest (weed) and the size (density) of its infestation. b Keep records of effectiveness of treatment on solving each turf problem; irrigation, 11 • fertilization, mowing, aeration, dethaching, and, as a last resort, use of least toxic chemical. c Keep records of citizen complaints and comments related to turf management program. 6 Develop a list of acceptable management strategies for eradication of weeds when weed dominance exceeds predetermined tolerance levels, such as: a Predetermine a list of herbicides that are effective against the targeted pest (weed) but is least disruptive to the environment, and human and animal health. b Use methods of selective spot treatments instead of broadcast treatments whenever possible. c Post signage before, during and after applying herbicides. Signs should carry the following information: 1) date of application; 2) advisory to keep off the grass for at least 7 days after application. Signs should be clearly legible. d Apply herbicides only as a last resort. e Consult a professional turf restoration professional before determining that herbicides are necessary. It is recommended to continue this practice for a minimum of two years. f Making sure that herbicides are applied by only licensed herbicide applicators. 7 Designate a responsible individual (or individuals) for making decisions to carry out and • evaluate the turf management plan. 8 Educate full-time maintenance staff as to best turf management practices using integrated pest management approaches to pest control. In other words, become self-reliant to avoid long-term reliance on consulting expertise. 9 Promote and educate the public as to responsible effective private lawn care practices. Encourage the public to implement integrated pest management practices on their private properties. Turf Management Task Force The Turf Management Task Force was formed in September 2010 at the request of the Energy and Environment Commission (EEC) as a response to Edina residents' concerns on the use of herbicides in parks and children play areas. The Task Force consisted of one member each from the EEC commission, the Community and Health Committee and the Park Board. The City was represented by the Superintendent of Parks. The Task Force reviewed the original Turf Management Plan and evaluated how it was implemented from 1994 to date. It was discovered that herbicides were not always applied according to the plan. Residents' concerns about excessive dandelion weeds in untreated areas (classified as "C" in the plan) had prompted treatment of those areas with one-time spraying of the herbicide 2,4 D early in the spring. 7 Organic herbicides have been shown to be as an effective non-toxic alternative for lawn care. Unlike chemicals, however, organic applications require additional attention to proper timing and weather conditions. Typically, it takes three to four seasons to eliminate weeds, compared with just one application per season for the chemicals. The Turf Management Task Force concluded that organics can be easily integrated within the current turf management practiced by staff. Organics will be the environmental preferable alternative to treating areas that have 25% tolerance for weeds and are located at or near children play areas. The revised plan uses a new label "O" to indicate turf areas that will be treated with organics. Signs will be posted near children play areas to make it known that they have not been chemically treated. The Turf Management Task Force recommends reviewing turf management practices every five years, with the goal of progressively decreasing the use of chemical pesticides. E? WEED TOLERANCE CLASSIFICATION FOR CITY OF EDINA OWNED PROPERTY WEED TOLERANCE CLASSIFICATION FOR CITY OF EDINA OWNED PROPERTY In 1995, the City of Edina adopted the following standards to Edina's public -owned parklands and open space. Next to each classified public land or open space, is a suggested category (A -D) designation as to the level of weed tolerance proposed for that particular area. In turn, each classification dictates the type of turf management needed for that specific ground cover. The definition of each category is as follows: CATEGORY A These areas shall have a 0-5% tolerance for weeds. In other words, herbicides will not be applied to these ground covers until weed growth makes up 5% of the total ground cover and it has been determined that there are no other reasonable methods of weed control. CATEGORY B These areas shall have a 15%-25% tolerance for weeds. In other words, herbicides will not be applied to these ground covers until weed growth makes up 15%-25% of the total ground cover and it has been determined that there are no other reasonable methods of weed control CATEGORY C These areas shall have a 100% tolerance for weeds. In other words, herbicides will not be used as a means to eradicate weeds with the exception of noxious weeds or other exotics mandated by State Law. If necessary, where needed or desired, these areas will undergo a returfinent (restoration) which will replace or restore existing ground cover. CATEGORY D These are areas that are subject to special herbicide applications, such as eradication of noxious weeds as mandated by Minnesota State law and the creation of oak savanna forests. In essence, all public -owned and private -owned properties are subject to category in the event that noxious weeds are present. CATEGORY O These areas shall have a 15%-25% tolerance for weeds. These areas are scheduled and non- scheduled athletic fields located near schools or untreated areas. It is desirable to reduce the amount of chemicals in these areas to avoid unnecessary health and environmental risks. These areas shall either be treated with organics, or revert to category C. These areas are indicated below as "O/C" *These areas were changed from staff's recommended category "B" to category "C" by the Edina Community Health Services Advisory Committee. These were changed for reasons of minimizing potential herbicide exposure to children (Cornelia School fields, Creek Valley School fields and the Yorktown Park field next to the Southdale YMCA). 10 CATEGORY 1 GOLF COURSES: • Braemar Golf Course (36 holes) A • Braemar Golf Driving Range A • Normandale Golf Course (9 holes) A 2 FLOWER GARDENS: • 72 different sites throughout park system A • Formal Gardens at Arneson Acres Park A 3 SCHEDULED ATHLETIC FIELDS (CAN BE LOCKED/SECURED): • Braemar soccer field (one field) A • Courtney Fields Baseball Complex (4 fields) A • Garden Park baseball field (one field) A • Van Valkenburg Park Softball Complex (3 fields) A 4 MULTIPLE -USE SCHEDULED ATHLETIC FIELDS: • Alden Park soccer field (1 field) B • Cornelia School softball fields (1 field) B • Cornelia School baseball field (2 fields) B • Countryside Park baseball fields (2 fields) B • Creek Valley soccer fields (5 fields) B • Garden Park softball field (1 field) B • Garden Park soccer fields (4 fields) B • Highlands Park soccer field (3 fields) B • Highlands Park softball field (1 field) B • Rosland Park baseball field (1 field) B • Rosland Park Disc Golf (I field) O/C • Lewis Park soccer/football fields (3 fields) B • Normandale Park baseball field (1 field) B • Pamela Park softball fields (3 field) B • Pamela Park soccer fields (3 fields) B • Strachauer Park (2 soccer) B • Todd Park softball field (1 field) O/C • Walnut Ridge Park (2 Lacrosse) B • Weber Park baseball (I field) softball fields (2 fields) B • Wooddale Park baseball/softball field (1 field) B 5 MULTIPLE -USE NON-SCHEDULED ATHLETIC FIELDS: (one field each) • Arden Park O/C • Birchcrest Park O/C • Bristol O/C 11 • Browndale O/C • Chowen Park O/C • Heights Park O/C • Kojetin Park O/C • McGuire O/C • Sherwood Park O/C • St. Johns's Park O/C • Tingdale Park O/C • York Park O/C 6 SPECIAL USE MAINTAINED FACILITIES (Outdoor areas): • Arneson Park (arboretum and general grounds) A • Braemar Arena grounds area B • Braemar Golf Dome grounds area C • Centennial Lakes A • Edina City Hall O/C • Edina Art Center C • Edina Fire Department A • Edina Public Woks Building grounds O/C • Edinborough Park (one acre exterior area) A • Frank Tupa Park (historical site) O/C • Williams Park (historical site) O/C 7 MAINTAINED OPEN PLAY AREAS/OPEN GREEN SPACE: • All 38 parks (approx. 400 acres) C 8 DESIGNATED PICNIC AREAS: • Lake Cornelia Park C • Braemar Park C 9 PLAYGROUND AREAS: • 24 playground equipment sites C 10 MEDIAN GRASS AREAS (ISLANDS AND TRIANGLES): • Frontage roads B • Boulevards B • Triangles/medians B • York Ave. Island B • Boulevards adjoining Bredesen Park O/C • Boulevards adjoining Duggan Plaza O/C • The "Circle" area of Duggan Plaza O/C 11 WOODED/NATURE AREAS: • Braemar Park savanna forest areas D 12 • Bredesen Park C • Lake Cornelia Park C 12 NON -MAINTAINED OPEN SPACE/WOODED AREAS AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS PARK LAND: • Fox Meadow Park (park land) O/C • Garden Park Addition (open space) C • Highlands Park O/C • Krahl Hill (open space) C • Lincoln Drive Floodplain (open space) C • Moore Property on Melody Lake (open space) C • Todd Park O/C • Walnut Ridge Park C 13 HARD SURFACE AREAS: • Basketball courts (8 sites) A • Parking lots A • Pathways A • Tennis courts (15 sites) A 14 INDOOR PARK AREAS WITH PLANT GROWTH: • Edinborough Park (trees, shrubs and flowers) A • Arneson Park greenhouse (primarily flowers) A 15 PLANT GROWTH IN AND AROUND LAKES, PONDS AND CREEKS: • Islands D • Shoreline D 16 OUTDOOR HOCKEY RINKS: • 10 sites C 17 AREAS WITH NOXIOUS WEEDS: • Public -owned property D • Private -owned property D The premier athletic fields that are classified as "A" all have two things in common: 1 Irrigation 2 Fencing Because all class "A" athletic fields have irrigation, they require the least amount of herbicides (and possibly none) (delete) to maintain healthy turf with very few weeds. Irrigation is an important tool and key component in implementing IPM based turf management practices. The only irrigated athletic fields that are suggested to have a class "A" tolerance to weeds are those with fencing. If herbicides are ever needed to maintain their 5% weed tolerance, the entire area 13 can be locked and secured from users during and shortly after herbicide applications (typically 24 hours as recommended by herbicide manufacturers). This practice will minimize the potential human exposure to herbicide chemicals. There are currently ten (10) irrigated athletic ball fields that are suggested to have a "B" classification for weed tolerance because they do not have security fencing: 1 Garden Park soccer fields (4fields) 2 Lewis Park soccer/football field (3fields) 3 Pamela Park soccer fields (3fields) There are currently three (3) irrigated athletic ball fields that are suggested to have a "O/C" classification for weed tolerance because they are located next to Creek Valley Elementary School. 1 Creek Valley soccer field (3 fields) The "B" classification irrigated athletic fields will rarely (if ever) need herbicide applications to maintain a weed tolerance of 25%, whereas, the non -irrigated class "B" athletic fields present a greater challenge to control weed dominance without the use of herbicides. The main reason for the recommended "B" classification for the five irrigated athletic fields is due to their lack of fencing to secure access to these areas. With proper equipment, labor and materials, IPM based turf management practices should dramatically reduce or eliminate the use of herbicides on all irrigated athletic fields. The "Hard Surface Areas" have an "A" classification for 3 main reasons: 1 Undesirable weeds that grow in cracks on hard surface areas can create an unsafe surface for users. 2 Non -treated weeds in hard surface cracks can lead to further hard surface damage which could lead intolerable or unreasonable economic injury. 3 Human exposure to spot treatment herbicide use on hard surface areas is very minimal (exposures are typically limited to footwear). At this time, none of the class "C" turf areas have irrigation except the three Creek Valley soccer fields. If this Turf Management Plan is adopted, it is staff's recommendation to direct the Edina Park Maintenance Department to use IPM based turf management techniques to maintain these class "C" weed tolerance areas to as high a standard as possible without the use of herbicides and using organics when needed Even though these are classified to have the highest level of tolerance for weeds, it is staff's recommendation to attempt to maintain the best turf possible with the available resources and labor (without the use of herbicides). Without irrigation, even good turf management cannot avoid eventual domination of weeds, however, good turf management can successfully deter the inevitable. The length of time for which a good turf management program will succeed on non -irrigated turf depends on turf use, and soil and weather conditions. 14 As mentioned earlier, all property within the City of Edina boundaries (public or private) are subject to a "D" classification if noxious weeds are present. Under the Minnesota Noxious Weed Law (Minnesota Statutes Chapter 18, Sections 18.75 to 18.88), there are ttlirtcen noxious weeds that have been deemed by the Commissioner of Agriculture to be injurious to public health, public roads, crops, livestock. In addition, there are any number of fifty-one (5 1) secondary weeds that may be added to the noxious weed list by the Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture without a hearing or upon petition by the Edina City Mayor and approval by the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners. The following is a list of the thirteen noxious weeds: Common Name 1. Yellow Star Thistle 2. Grecian Foxglove, 3. Oriental Bittersweet, 4. Leafy Spurge 5. Canada Thistle 6. Musk Thistle 7. Plumeless Thistle 8. Garlic Mustard 9. Purple Loosestrife 10. Wild Parshnip, 11. Common Tansy 12. Spotted Knapweed 13. Poison ivy Botanical Name Centaurea solstitialis L. Digitalis lanata Ehrh. Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb. Euphorbia esula (L.) Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop. Carduus nutans (L.) Carduus acanthoides (L.) Alliaria petiolata (Bieb.) Lythrum salicaria, virgatum (L.), Pastinaca sativa L. Tanacetum vulgare (L.) Centaurea stoebe spp. micranthos Toxicodendron radicans (Ktze.) CONCLUSION It is reasonable to expect that the Edina Park and Recreation Department will likely receive many complaints about increased visible weeds in the parks, however, this should not be viewed as a lack of the program's success. A moratorium on herbicide use is not a practical, realistic, or responsible approach to turf management and weed (or pest) control. As previously mentioned, if left to nature without any interference of turf maintenance, weeds and undesirable grasses will eventually dominate the turf. It would be economically unreasonable to routinely replace ground cover with new turf in efforts to avoid use of all herbicides in all areas at all cost. An IPM based Turf Management Plan is the most reasonable approach to a reduction and, in some cases, elimination of herbicide dependency. To be successful, citizens should be expected to accept higher weed tolerance in many areas of the park system that have previously been managed at a relatively low weed tolerance level. It is reasonable to anticipate that the most visibly noticeable presence of weeds will be the few weeks in early spring when dandelions (annuals) have flowered. 15 As pointed out at the December 14, 1994, Edina Community Health Services Advisory Committee meeting, there are approximately 4,700 acres of privately owned and maintained residential lawn turf and approximately 150 acres of commercial lawn turf. Combined, there are approximately 4,850 acres of privately owned and maintained lawn turf within the City of Edina, which is about 800% more ground cover than that which is maintained by the Edina Park and Recreation Department. The point is that public education regarding environmentally conscious approaches to lawn care is an important part of this proposal. 16 y v • r�oosPo�'+�w9� 1QE36 REPO RT/RECOMMEN DATION To: EDINA PARK BOARD Agenda Item Item No. VI. C. From: John Keprios, Director Park and Recreation Department 1-1 Action �71 Discussion Information Date: December 13, 2011 Subject: Edina Senior Center — Bill Lough, Edina Park Board ACTION REQUESTED: Vice Chair Keeya Steel has requested that this item be placed on the Park Board agenda. INFORMATION/BACKGROUND: No formal action or request for background information was requested for this agenda item. • j`�ooxPox�'��9� 1 Et t38 REPORPRECOMMEN DATION To: EDINA PARK BOARD Agenda Item Item No. VI. D. From: John Keprios, Director Park and Recreation Department Action � Discussion Information Date: December 13, 2011 Subject: Work Plan - Keeya Steel, Vice Chair Edina Park Board ACTION REQUESTED: Vice Chair Keeya Steel has requested that this item be placed on the Park Board agenda. INFORMATION/BACKGROUND: No formal action was requested for this agenda item. For background information, staff has attached Work Plans from the Edina Heritage Preservation Board and the Community Health Committee. The Park Board has never established a Work Plan in the past. ATTACHMENTS: • Edina Heritage Preservation Board 2011 Work Plan • Edina Heritage Preservation Board 2011 Goals and Objectives • Community Health Committee 2012 Work Plan EDINA HERITAGE PRESERVATION BOARD 2011 WORK PLAN January 11, 2011 Interviews and Appointment of New Board Members February 8, 2011 New Board Members Observe Meeting Recognition of Departing Board Members Preliminary Discussion of Heritage Award Nomination Process - Advertise March 8 2011 — Morningside Neighborhood Open House prior to meeting New Fiscal Year — Annual Meeting Orientation of New Board Members First Meeting with New Board Members Election of Officers Review of Possible Award Nominations City of Edina Recognition Event- March 21St, Centennial Lakes Hughes Pavilion April 12, 2011 Introduce New Member — Terry Ahlstrom Goal Setting for the Year Review of Budget Approval of Award Winners Plan Preservation Month Recognition Activities May 10 2011 — Preservation Month Proclamation "May — Preservation Month" — May 3`d th Joint Activity with Edina Historical Society: Open House — Cahill School & Grange Hall — May 10 Announcement of Award Winner(s) in press and on website Work Session with City Council — May 17th, 5:00 p.m. Presentation of Award: St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 4439 W. 50th St. — May 17th June 14, 2011 Southdale Center Discussion White Oaks Neighborhood — Plan for Walking Tour July 12, 2011 White Oaks Neighborhood Walking Tour August 9, 2011 Introduce New Board Member — Bob Moore Southdale Center Discussion September 13, 2011 Introduce New 2011-2012 Student Members - Anna Ellingboe and Samuel Copman MN Historic Preservation Annual Conference — September 22-23, in Faribault October 11, 2011 Introduce New Assistant City Manager — Karen Kurt MN Historic Preservation Conference Report November 7 2011 (Monday due to Election DU) Plan for the televised December meeting December 13, 2011 — Televised meeting Identify the HPB mission and goals Review 2011 work plan Present future goals January 2012 February 2012 Routine Business Items *Resident Proposals requiring HPB approval, including Certificates of Appropriateness and designation as an Edina Heritage Landmark *Community Comment — opportunity for residents to share new issues or concerns *Updates from Planning Staff and Consultant on Initiatives & Grants 2 HERITAGE PRESERVATION BOARD GOALS & OBJECTIVES 2011 RESEARCH 1) Complete the CLG grant -funded thematic study of heritage resources associated with Edina women. — Fall 2011 2) Revise and update Historic Context Study to reflect changes since originally written in 1999. — Fall 2011 PRESERVATION 3) Process Certificate of Appropriateness applications for proposed changes to properties designated Edina Heritage Landmarks. - Ongoing 4) Nominate at least one designated eligible property for heritage landmark designation. - Ongoing 5) Nominate Morningside bungalow properties for heritage landmark designation on a first -come -first-served basis. - Ongoing 6) Apply for Legacy Grant funds to improve accessibility to the historic Cahill School and Grange Hall at Tupa Park. — Fall 2011 EDUCATION 7) Provide Heritage Preservation Board members and staff with information, education and training in historic preservation. a) One or more members attend the 31s' Annual Minnesota Preservation Conference — September 22-23, in Faribault, MN. 8) Sponsor Preservation Month (May) activities. a) City Council Proclamation — May, Preservation Month — May 3rd b) Grange Hall/Cahill School Open House — May 101h c) Heritage Award Presentation — May 17th 9) Preservation Road Show — Community Education class providing information and resources for protecting the historic integrity of one's property. — Fall 2011/Winter 2012 10) Advise and assist historic property owners in building conservation and rehabilitation matters. - Ongoing Community Health Committee 2012 Work Plan March 20 • New Member Orientation • Election of Chair & Vice Chair • 2012 Committee Goals • City of Edina Medical Consultant & Fire Chief • Statewide Health Improvement Program Grant Update • Do.Town • Bloomington Quarterly Reports • Legislative & SCHSAC Report • Annual Boards & Commissions Meeting May 15 • Public Health Overview • Edina Emergency Preparedness Coordinator • Edina Chemical Health Coordinator • Statewide Health Improvement Program Grant Update • Do.Town • 2011 Committee Goals •..,. Bloomington Quarterly Reports • Legislative & SCHSAC Report October 16-17-18? • Edina Environmental Health • Bloomington Community Health Services • Bloomington Public Health Emergency Preparedness Services • Statewide Health Improvement Program Grant Update • Do.Town • Bloomington Quarterly Reports • Legislative & SCHSAC Report • LJ ore \�COAPOFJ''�w�/ 1666 REPORT/RECOMMENDATION To: EDINA PARK BOARD Agenda Item Item No. VI. E. From: John Keprios, Director Action Park and Recreation Department 1771 Discussion Information Date: December 13, 2011 Donations Policy & Naming of Parks and Facilities Policy Working Subject: Group Update — Ellen Jones, Edina Park Board ACTION REQUESTED: Vice Chair Keeya Steel has requested that this item be placed on the Park Board agenda. INFORMATION/BACKGROUND: No formal action was requested for this agenda item. cn • r�007{POtIJ'� '�� ]8f}6 REPORT/RECOMMENDATION To: EDINA PARK BOARD Agenda Item Item No. VI. F. From: John Keprios, Director F-1 Action Park and Recreation Department �71 Discussion Information Date: December 13, 2011 User Fees Policy Working roup Update — Keeya Steel, Vice Chair Subject: Edina Park Board ACTION REQUESTED: Vice Chair Keeya Steel has requested tha this item be placed on the Park Board agenda. INFORMATION/BACKGROUND: No formal action was requested for this agenda item. • r�cORPOFA'��� rasa REPORT/RECOMMENDATION To: EDINA PARK BOARD Agenda Item Item No. VI. G. From: John Keprios, Director Action Park and Recreation Department z Discussion Information Date: December 13, 2011 Grandview Plan Update — Ellen Jones, Edina Park Board Subject: ACTION REQUESTED: Vice Chair Keeya Steel has requested that this item be placed on the Park Board agenda. INFORMATION/BACKGROUND: No formal action was requested for this agenda item. � 2012 Pam Boas MEETING CALENDAR MEETING DATE TIME LOCATION Tues., January 10 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers, City Hall Tues., Feb. 14 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers, City Hall Tues., March 13 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers, City Hall Tues., April 10 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers, City Hall Tues., May 8 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers, City Hall Tues., June 12 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers, City Hall Tues., July 10 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers, City Hall Mon., August 13 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers, City Hall Tues., Sept. 11 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers, City Hall Tues., Oct. 9 7:00 p.rn. Council Chambers, City Hall Tues., Nov. 13 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers, City Hall Tues., Dec. 11 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers, City Hall JAMES VAN VALKENBURG 4204 Philbrook Lane Edina, Minnesota 55424 • (952) 922-2982 12/4/2011 Mayor Jim Hovland and Other members of the Edina City Council: Re: Quality of Life What would Edina be if it had? No Art Center No hockey teams No parks and fields No fire department No police department and No City Council None of these (and others) makes a profit or even breaks even. We don't want people to drink more, but we rely on liquor stores profits. Government is supported by taxes and revenue through such things as admission fees and user fees and such. These must be available for all and not just revenue profits. If your real concern is the present operation of these entities, we once had a committee of citizens who analyzed Edina (at no cost). They had some good ideas. Please don't destroy the quality of life we have in Edina. Get a citizen group and see what they determine. Bob Kojetin Kay Bach Jim VanValkenburg L� 1 December 6, 2011 ® Edina City Council 4801 West 50'' Street Edina, MN 55424 Dear Honorable Mayor Hovland and Council Members: In the past few years, I have been writing my memoirs of the Edina Park system of the 32 years that I worked at the City of Edina. I've been covering all the different associations, the development of the parks, and the revenue facilities. Enclosed is a transcript of audio recordings I made of my recollections of the Edina Art Center and the Edina Swim Club. Please keep in mind that this is not a finished memoir, but only my notes of Edina's Park and Rec history. I am providing them because I thought they might be useful for you to know the background as you discuss these two organizations. Sincerely, Robert J. Kojetin 5016 William Avenue • Edina, Minnesota 55436 •952-929-8889 Bob Kojetin Revenue Facilities: Golf -Arena -Gun Range -Baseball -Art Center (Tape 7) EDINA ART CENTER On September 12, 1977, we opened the Edina Art Center. This was the first official opening that I had when I was the Director of Parks & Recreation. During the dedication we had the Sousa 5k0w0..,Q�'1I(tf Band there with the trailer. We held the dedication down in the parking lot on the west side of the Art Center building and had a large crowd. Joan Lonsbury at that time was chairwoman of the Parke Board. She gave her speech; I gave my little spiel about the Art Center. This officially was the opening of the Edina Art Center. The Art Center though goes back until the early 70s. At that time a committee was organized between Pat Green and Marion Ward. I'm not sure of the gal's name (Anita Beck?) who at that time owned the Red Door or Red Roof (Reindeer House?) building that is actually now the Turtle down at 44`h & Beard in Minneapolis. She was involved because she was a great artist and part of the community. Pat and Marion had known her. I'm not sure at this time who was involved on that committee. It had about six members, including Ken Rosland. I was not on the committee, but I was f` involved in most of the meetings that were going on at the time. The study was to see if it was feasible to have an art center..... End Tape 7 Side B 37 Oral History Bob Kojetin Art Center — Greenhouse — Parks Begin Tape 8 Side A REVENUE FACILITIES: ART CENTER (Continued from Tape 7) .......to see if the Art Center was feasible to be built in the city. During that time, the location was probably one of the biggest concerns. Where would they put this art center? At the time we had acquired through a change of property the Parbenry (sp?) Estate which was over on 44`h Street. This was an exchange program with the Edina First National Bank who wanted to expand their new bank to the west. In that area at the time we had the Edina Library, which was the old house that was right on 50`h Street. We owned that property, plus we owned all of the property behind the homes on the west side of the parking lot, all the way down to the end of the parking lot. There was a strip of property some fifty -feet or so wide that was behind all of these homes, plus the library. So, the bank wanted to acquire all of that property. There were some rules within the homeowners who owned the property that backed up to all this property—that fifty -foot strip behind their homes. In their file it said that anytime that the city would take any of that property, all of the homeowners along the whole street that backed up to this property, had to commit to say they were in agreement that whatever goes on behind their area, they were notified and they had to be in consent that they would agree with that agreement. They had their fifty -foot strip behind all their homes which was actually city property. They were using that as their regular property and were not paying taxes on it. Because we wanted to exchange that property and the bank wanted to expand, we had to go to court in order to see if we could make that exchange. The court was actually a referee -type of court where they had the judge and the lawyers discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the case that was brought before them. After a couple of weeks the judge ruled in our favor that, yes, we were eligible to exchange this property and we could do what we wanted with it. At that time we agreed that (I'll have to get the exact numbers on this) the bank acquired the property that the bank was on and the remaining thirty feet. Twenty feet was left to the homeowners as a buffer strip behind their homes. We took thirty feet that was exchanged or sold to the bank. In turn, the two and a half acres that was the Parberry Estate was then given to us. That was the exchange in property. Oral History Interview Art Center, Greenhouse, Parks Because of acquiring this property, it made an opportunity for the art center committee to consider this as the area where they wanted to have an art center. It was a nice local area, but it was within a residential district. One of the things that was probably a drawback was that there wasn't a lot of parking places that we could make. We had to drive in on the property. There was a curb cut on 44`h Street that entered this property, which was for the Parberry Estate, of course. We would have to park a lot of cars right next to homes and it wasn't really the best of areas. But the art center committee decided that this was a good location so we proceeded on with using that as our area where 1, � 7 we would bunild an art center. The house that was on the property was not a large house. It was three bedrooms and an addition that was put onto the house made of redwood. It made a larger room on the west side of the home. We did not move into this house, of course, or take possession of it. We just left it stand there until we decided what was totally going to be done with it. On the back south side of the building was a greenhouse with windows and steel framing. We decided that the first thing we would do is take that down, remove it, and bring it over to the Arneson property and install it to the south end of the maintenance building or garage. We did not have a green house at Arneson. The house was standing there idle and was set back quite a ways from the street because originally the streetcar went down 44`b Street right in front of the house. In that area the Parberry's built a swimming pool. I remember the swimming pool because when I was working with Northwestern Bell Telephone K)w,tw\ G r s Company in the middle 50s, I was working with a fellow by the name of-Rfiffi Whitney who lived across the street from the Morningside Church and had grown up there. We were both cable splicer helpers at that time and we parked our truck down at the 44`s and Westgate Garage. In the evenings we did other activities. During that time, sometimes I remember we actually were coming home late and Graham used to sneak over and go swimming in that pool. He would say, "C'mon, let's go swimming." So we did actually go into that swimming pool. He knew some of the Parberry people, but we were there late at night, and there was no problem with going in there and taking a swim. Later on, after the streetcar had been removed for quite a few years and the Parberry's lost their 2 Oral History Interview Art Center, Greenhouse, Parks property through mortgage default, the swimming pool was filled in so that it did not cause a health hazard for the neighborhood. The property, as I mentioned, had then stood idle for quite a number of years. When we took over, it was kind of a rickety old house. I remember that one of the interesting things was in the main bathroom. They had a corner bathtub. It was homemade out of ceramic tile. It was always the consensus that the ceramic tile had come from Arizona or Southwest area of the United States. They actually had a lot of tile work in this house. At the time it was torn down, we tried to take out as much of that tile as possible. In the early years of the Edina Historical Society we sold this tile to make a few dollars from it. Otherwise during the time when it was closed and after we acquired it, the kids started using it. They painted all the windows on the inside of this house with black paint. Then they would start fires in it for whatever they were doing. One night the fire got away from them and it burnt the house down. It was fortunate because in the design portion we always talked about using this house for the art center. We had a design made by Art Dickey where he would add on an additional room and then convert the other rooms into studios. Because of this, it made a nice art center with a new addition to it. But his estimate cost at that time came in somewhere in the neighborhood of $250,000 to do this construction and adding on an additional room to it. This was a tremendous amount of money for a capital improvement at that time. We just did not have the money to go out and build the art center at that time. The art center was really put on hold after that to see if there was another area. During these years also in the middle 70s, there was a bond issue for the park department to purchase all the open space property that was still available in the city and also a proposal to have some capital money for improvements in some of the parks. The capital improvement portion of this was turned down. In there was the money for the art center and also to buy property. The capital improvement construction portion of the bond issue was defeated, but the open space property was still held. There were a couple of areas that were open space area that was considered for the art center. One that would be a real good area was a home that was on the right faecd Highway 169 or County fi 3 Oral History Interview Art Center, Greenhouse, Parks Road 18 at that time. That would be converted into an art center. That was a nice home that was a piece of property that was behind there, plus the home. It was in the bond issue to purchase. (I can't remember what the exact price was. I'll have to get that later.) It was considered that we had the option to buy the home from the homeowner, but because the price for Edina property was going up so much at that time, they just wanted too much money for the home. We thought that just wasn't a good area. It was along ways out at that time, along the highway out there. We dropped that thought and things just more or less stayed idle for a while. Then there was the Miller property which was in the bond issue and had two lots. We had tried to buy that property, but Miller was very upset about the idea that he wasn't going to sell his property to the City of Edina. The forty acres which was behind his home to the south and to the east, including a whole lake, was part of his property. He wasn't paying taxes on that property because he thought it was worthless wetlands and there was no reason for him to pay taxes on it. He never paid taxes on it. After seven years the state notified us that this property was up for option for him to 4 purchase and pay the taxes on the property, or it became available land. First choice usually on this area always came to the city if they wanted a piece of property. If not, then it would go on the open market. Of course we jumped on it right away and we picked up the forty acres. Because of this in the 60s, Miller always had a bad feeling for the city. At the same time we had a lot of snowmobiles just starting to come about. The people were using their snowmobiles that we let them use in the Cornelia Lake area and park. They were running all over and close to his home. He was really upset about that. Our relationship with Mr. Miller and his home and his two acres was really not in the consideration. Then Mr. Miller died and his wife and daughter were living in the home. We had built a walking path around Lake Cornelia. In order to build that path we had to go behind his house. We didn't want to do that because of our relationship, so the path came out on the street, went in front of his house, and then went back on the west side and around the lake. We owned the property on both sides of his house and behind it, but we elected to go into the street so we wouldn't have to go in back 4 Oral History Interview Art Center, Greenhouse, Parks of his home, which was the property that we did own. After a while the city and the people that were using the walking path thought that this possibly belonged to the city. The people would stop sometimes and look in the windows or walk through their property. Mrs. Miller didn't feel that she wanted to live there and take care of this house. She came in one day and asked if we would like to purchase the property. Of course we jumped at it. We had the money set aside. We offered her $100,000 for the house and the two lots. She took it. I thought that was a tremendous buy for us. Now it seems like a very low figure, but in those days it was a very fair price for her property. As soon as that happened, that was the start really of our location and finally settling down on where we were going to have the Edina Art Center. Because the home was a very unusual and unique building, it actually lent itself very well to being a public building. The first floor was pre -stressed concrete between the basement and the first floor. Mr. Miller was a collector of old things. The floor in the main living -dining room area was actually marble dividers that were taken out of some building downtown. They were the urinal dividers in some of the commercial toilets in downtown Minneapolis. The reason I mention it is that urinal dividers had holes where a toilet paper holder was mounted so that we knew that those pieces that were in the living -dining room were actually dividers from the bathrooms. Behind the house was a double garage that was dilapidated and had a caved -in roof and dirt floor. That was torn down immediately after we acquired the house. Inside the house it was completely loaded with all kinds of junk. It took a couple of truckloads. The art center committee and art enthusiasts and volunteers decided that we would go in there and really clean house and take everything out of it. At that time we decided how we would make the different art rooms. Upstairs there was a bedroom so we took out the dividers and made one big open room. We did some more sheetrock up there, some plastering and painting, and made that upstairs area one big room to use for a classroom. The downstairs basement was to be used for a ceramics area. The house I said was unique and because of this, when Mr. Miller built the house, he had put pipes in the basement floor to heat it. It was abode -bcr"ng, hot water heat, and he also took a three -eighths -inch piece of copper pipe and 5 Oral History Interview Art Center, Greenhouse, Parks weaved it up and down the side walls in the whole home and under the floor. It became a whole l house with radiant house, which was a tremendous and economical way to heat the house. Also because his dad was from England and he was born and came from England, the house was oriented in a very unusual position. It was oriented because of the sun so that it would be a very warm house in the winter time and in the summer time it would be a cool house. It was oriented cockeyed, as we would say, not north or south or east and west on the lot to create and have all the advantages of the sun for the home. The house was brick outside, stucco, but the walls were solid brick and mortar and concrete. There was very little wood in the house. It was really all a concrete house so it was very efficient to run, but it was difficult to nail into the walls. If you start putting nails in the walls, you were hitting the pipes, which we did do a couple of times. Also, in the basement we didn't realize that there were so many pipes for radiant heat in the floor. There was really a nice warm floor in the basement. We did cut through the floor and hit a couple of pipes there also. Within the first year after we had opened, the garage that we had torn down in the back ended up being re -built by Bill Hansen, who was with the fire department and on his off hours he was a cement contractor. We contracted with him to build the garage, put a roof on it of cement and - g P pre- stressed concrete and make it as an outside deck where the artists could go out, or we could have a picnic or whatever out there on top of the deck. This was basically the same size as the old two -car garage, so we called it the garage behind the building. In this was our ceramics room that we wanted to have for our ceramics where one corner was built for the kilns. In the early 80s a woman who was a very good artist and very active in activities within the city and the art world had died. Her husband (I can't remember the name now) said that they wanted to donate or do something at the art center in memory of her. As I sat down and talked with him for quite a while, he talked about building a room over the deck on the back south end of the building. We suggested building a huge art room on that side for classes. He was in agreement with that. Also, a friend of his, whose wife was a good friend, and who was an architect and engineer had his business over at 44`h & France. I had known him for years, Mr. Southern, but he was more of an electrical 6 Oral History Interview Art Center, Greenhouse, Parks f. architect rather than a regular architect for lighting of parks and other areas. Although we never used t him for any of our lighting projects, I knew who he was and had talked to him from time to time. She wanted him to be the architect and the engineer for this project. So in turn we sat down with him and designed this building that would be on the south end. As we were doing the design work, every time i he had something done we both went over there and talked with him. (I can't think of the guy's _---- name.) He would then pay him every so often for his work that he was doing. By doing this, it was tax exempt for him for this building that we tried to work out over the period of a few years. If he would pay for this total project, it would be a tax exempt for him. A lot of the things that we did in the city were considered this way. If we could work with the person donating money, and if they would donate it over a period of years, they could take a tax exempt every year, rather than taking it all in one lump sum. This worked out very nicely. Going back even with the Brian Wippermann Gun Range, that money was donated to the city over a period of ten years, and not the year that we built it. This was the same situation that was going to be paid to us over a period of three or four years. Then he would get a tax deduction each one of those years. Of course, finishing that building really completed the area of the art center with the downstairs as a ceramics area and the upstairs as the room. It really expanded and made the art center. We were then, in turn, able to reconstruct and redo the bathrooms upstairs and make a bigger office. We took out the slate floors that were in the two bedrooms that became the office. We also expanded the bathroom so that we could use it as a larger area for handicapped accessibility upstairs. When one of the next projects came into the art center, I had retired in the mid 90s. The Edina Library at Southdale was getting rid of their areas of transferring 8 mm and 60 mm film into video. Also they took private slides or pictures and put them into a video. This was a big activity going on at the Southdale library, but they were expanding their library, and they wanted to eliminate this portion out of their operation. So, in turn, we made a deal with the Southdale library, purchasing some of the property and the rest of it was basically donated that they felt wasn't really needed. It was just a donation to us. We hauled all of this stuff over. At the time, we were using the upstairs for 7 Oral History Interview Art Center, Greenhouse, Parks classes, but we thought that this would be a nice media center that we could fix up. That area in the bathroom that was upstairs could be converted into a sound room. That was one of my first projects after I retired as a volunteer to construct this room upstairs, put in t e _ ' r P P 9) on the walls, and also redo the main room, repaint them all, and make a little cubicle for an office. The fellow that was 1 running this media center at the library part-time was hired to do the part-time work for us. So, right away we had the person knowing the equipment. That worked out very nicely. It became a big project for us and another revenue receiver for us. It did take a long time. When people do convert from a movie film into a video, it takes time and hours. But this was a rental time and it was an income for us. The next project that I was involved with in the 90s that we expanded was the downstairs in the lower level. The photographer wanted to have a darkroom. I volunteered myself to make two darkrooms down there. Art Dickey was a big art photographer and was really well known state-wide, as well as nationally. He had his own darkroom in his own home from which he wanted to donate some equipment. We were also getting some equipment donated through the library. By doing this, we had enough equipment, developers, and enlargers that I ended up building two darkrooms downstairs. The slate that we used for the table top down there came from a church school that was down by the Basilica in downtown Minneapolis. They were removing all the slate chalkboards from their school. Bradley and I went down there and hauled home a whole trailer load. We were using this for countertops in the darkroom area. One of the unusual things about the art center was when we bought the property and as we were cleaning it out, we found working drawings of stained glass windows. We knew that Mr. Miller was a Stained glass window designer and builder, and his dad was very famous in this in England. We found working drawings of the Basilica in downtown Minneapolis so that we assumed that they were the designers for the stained glass window for the Basilica. But these working drawings were very beautiful drawings in color so that I took one of them and put a frame around it and used for my office as a picture because it was beautiful. We actually had one of the round pictures as well as two 8 Oral History Interview Art Center, Greenhouse, Parks cathedral -type windows on the side of the Basilica building. After a while, Foster Dunwiddie was i" involved in the rehab of the Basilica and was trying to find all the information he could on it. I mentioned to him that we had these actual drawings. We donated it to the Basilica. I actually gave the drawings to Mike Kelly, who at the time was on the Edina City Council. He then presented it to the Basilica people. I am assuming that these drawings are somewhere on display or in the archives of the Basilica in downtown Minneapolis. Before I gave it to them, I made Xerox copies of these colored drawings. They are hanging downstairs now. Also, in the downstairs there were a couple of windows that were cut glass windows. One of them was in the basement and we tried to have that replaced in the construction of the building. We also used in the garage area, which is actually the office now, the stained glass window. That is still in there from the original building. When we took over, the art center garage, which is where the office is now, in that particular area—Mr. Miller owned a Stutz-Bearcat car which was very, very expensive antique car. Every so often, I guess, he would take it out and drive it in parades, etc. Otherwise, I don't know where it went to. I heard rumors that it was bought and went to the New York area after he had died and his wife and daughter had sold the car. We then had another large improvement to the building. I can't remember exact date, but it was sometime in the late 80s, when we expanded. Art Dickey did the architectural work where we designed and remade the garage area and turned that into our office. Then we also made a room downstairs again right off the end and going to the east is another large room that we could use for classroom. Here we wanted to have a north facing window or skylight so that would get the natural light coming in from the north for the artists who were in this room on the lower level. This room became a very nice room. Going through and making sure we had the light when there wasn't light from outside, we had fluorescent lights and shades that we put up in the ceiling to try to duplicate the light coming from the north. We spent a lot of time in trying to make this just exactly right. I don't think we ever really accomplished it, but the shades were probably our biggest problem that we had because when it was bright outside, it was too bright downstairs. But it did make an excellent room. 9 Oral History Interview Art Center, Greenhouse, Parks When you think of all the construction that was done on the building itself through the years, it was tremendous and we still have the core building. Peggy Kelly had been very active in the art center board, along with her husband Mike Kelly. In the late 90s when I was not involved, Mike and the family decided that after Peggy Kelly died, they wanted to make a memorial to her. We always talked about having a media center where we could get into computer science. The Kelly's donated the money for it. We built the room out to the east from the main building. It was dedicated and the plaque for Peggy Kelly is still hanging in there. From that time we have done a lot of other work. Art Dickey had designed the area again. Along the wall they had different stations where we had a lot of tables. It was another volunteering project of mine that I got involved in and designed and also made all of these tables to fit in the corners, plus all the desks that were used in there, as well as some of the other tables in the storage area. The project was a combination made by a lot of the public works employees to save expenses. They did a lot of the construction work on the project. The overall project started at being about $75,000. I think it came to be more than $100,000 when the final bill came in on the improvement. It did make the overall improvement of the building excellent because it put on a little room that we always talked about. It was a little area to have a coffee room and a new restroom upstairs, which was better to have, and it gave us some more room in the kitchen. The old kitchen was really dilapidated. We had to start removing some of the old equipment that was in there so we made a new kitchen off of the office. The overall construction at that time really upgraded the building. What's to be done in the future? I'm sure there will be more extensions going on to the art center building. It is probably the parks buildings that had more extensions and improvements and remodeling done than any other building that we had in the city, including the golf course which has done a lot of remodeling, but nothing like the art center. 10 Oral History Begin Tape 5 Side A Bob Kojetin — Athletic Associations This tape will cover issues I dealt with from the beginning of the athletic associations and in the 60s and into the 70s and on. ATHLETIC ASSOCIATIONS The athletic associations are really the bread and butter for the park and recreation department. The majority of the kids are in one or many sports. Their parents are involved; they are the biggest pool of where volunteers come from and carry a lot of weight. When you wanted to build or expand a facility or program, they were the group that made the Village grow and expand and should receive all the credit for the outstanding community we are today. Edina has always been credited for outstanding teams and players. One thing I always think about and talk about to other communities was that the type of person that we had to have as coaches. Most of the coaches we had were college educated and generally had played some sport in college. They had good ideas and knew the sport. Other communities had generally high school educated coaches and I could notice the difference. This always was a discussion I had with other communities during the years. This miDa very personal observation as I worked so closely with these athletic associations for some 32 years. My first 15 years I sat on all the athletic association boards once a month. Our basic policy and our relationship with each association were to run each one of these associations basically the same. It only varied according to the sport. The park and recreation department would provide the facility. Each athletic board would select their own board—members and officers. In turn, each board would be recognized as the only organization of that particular sport. If any other group wanted to run that sport in the community, they, in turn, would not receive any help or facilities from the park and recreation board. We then, in turn, helped the individual sports try to work out their differences if another sport wanted to try to expand with some outside group. The park and recreation 0 department always had one person to be contacted or to sit on the board and would assist and sit on Oral History Bob Kojetin — Athletic Associations EDINA SWIM CLUB and PARK & RECREATION SWIMMING In 1956 the Edina Swim Club was organized. Although we didn't have a swimming pool, the high school had one and the swim club operated out of the pool in the 1�, gh school. They were r Tho b "', t 'a wa l determined to help us form a committee�nd`we loved wbond issue in 1957, there were very strong W--,, 1" Ki t-0 � a V"e— .3. individuals in the swim club that wanted to have an outdoor swimming pool. They were a strong force in making this happen. The swim club was a different type of organization because it was an individual sport and not a team sport like baseball. We did have a lot to do with the swim club board of directors. Ken and I didn't sit on that board, but we were very close with the members of the board of directors. They always came to us, especially after the 1957 and `58 when we opened the municipal swimming pool. The swim club would always use the swimming pool in the morning and that was a revenue receiver because they would pay for rental of the swimming pool. We also had a swim coach that was paid by the swim club, but when they would go to meets, the city would pay for expenses for the swim coach when he participated in going to St. Cloud or other parts of the state and would have to stay overnight. The city paid the expenses for the coach for housing and food. We did this for many years, until basically in the late 70s it was discontinued and the swim club operated all by itself—the hiring and expenses paid to the coaches. In the early years when the swim club was just starting to evolve at the municipal swimming pool, we had one meet which was the biggest meet of the year and also probably was one of the biggest meets in the state. It was the Minneapolis Aquatennial Swim Meet. The swim meet really was a meet that was affiliated with the Aquatennial, but they just recognized it as one of their activities that would run during the summertime. We always tried to encourage the president or the queen of the Aquatennial to come out and visit the Aquatennial Swim Meet. Sometimes they would, sometimes they would not. They would sometimes want to receive money from our swim club meet and from time to time we charged a fifty -cent gate receipt. Then they would come out and collect some of this money, or a deal was worked out between the swim club and the Aquatennial over the Oral History Bob Kojetin — Athletic Associations fees and the funds that we collected at the municipal swimming pool. In the 60s we didn't have the technology of today's touch pads and all the electronic scoreboards. I was asked at that time— because I ran so much and everybody used stopwatches—eve used to buy all the stopwatches, but after an event had occurred, there was no area where a parent sitting in the stands could actually see the results of any of these meets, except at the end they always had somebody sitting and typing all of these records. But you would not receive them until almost the end of the day. So they had asked me if there was someway that I could make time boards that we could use. They had seen them at some other swim meet, so I went over and visited another swimming pool and looked at their time boards. We came up with an idea of how to make time boards above each one of the eight lanes that we had. It was a long board that was like 8 ft. long x 2 ft. high and I had knobs on there that you could run over immediately and run it to a time and say that this time with a hole in the board, saying this was the time, or was in first, second, or third place for the individual. So it gave the time as well as it gave the winner. We used those boards for many years until finally technology in the 70s came around with the touch pads and the electronic scoreboards. The Minnesota State Swim Association at that time bought these boards and also they bought the lane markers. We had lane markers that we had bought for the pool and this is what they used all the time, but then the state bought all of the lane markers so they were always the same. From meet to meet during the summertime they would go to the different swimming pools that had outdoor pools—fifty meter pools at that time. Also the time boards and all the equipment would move from pool to pool, week to week. There was a meet almost every weekend at a different community. We in turn then would pack all the stuff up in trucks and take it to the next pool. That community would take it then to the next meet. So there was a lot of work involved in putting on a swim meet. They were long days, but the swim club board of directors and the number of people that volunteered to help run these meets was just a tremendous group of people. I always admired them because they would stand every weekend and do these timings. They would work in the sun out there, but they were a great, great group of individuals and were always 9 Oral History � t)Bob Kojetin — Athletic Associations jj encouraging us'build a second swimming pool. Because of the number of kids that we had in the program, they wanted a second swimming pool. We did many studies on the second swimming pool in the city. Our first design of a second swimming pool, of course, was at Braemar P in the northeast corner of the park that was designed to have our second swimming pool. This never materialized. Then when we built Bredesen Park, it was designed to have a second swimming pool in the northeast corner of that park. Another design area that we talked about was also at Bredesen Park, actually at the southwest corner, right off of Gleason Road and the Crosstown Highway. We talked about that as another site. We also investigated having the second swimming pool at the Valley View Junior High School and Senior High on the outside of that building. That was a pretty popular area that we talked about for quite a while as a location to build the second swimming pool. At that time in the 70s, we just didn't generate enough enthusiasm to build a second swimming pool. At that time the swimming pool was starting to decline in use. Ken and I used to say that the reason that our swimming pool started to lose revenue was the fact that at that time air conditioning came in. Before that time every home didn't have air conditioning like today. The C � V.,, -Z people did-rm* come to the swimming pool to cool off or they were just not interested in coming to the pool at that time. The swim club was still gig actively, but the number of general swimmers was not there anymore. Baumgartner, who was on the swim club board of directors and president in the late 70s and early 80s, was a very active member in the swimming circles around the state. At that time we started calling our Aquatennial swim meet, the International One, because he got teams to come from Germany and Canada to Edina. He was a tremendous instigator in arranging the swim meet in Edina to be one of the top ones within the state. It really was because the teams came from all over the United States and from Europe from time to time in the late 70s and early 80s. We worked with the swim club in the early 60s to early 70s, when they had a problem trying to have a registration or get the Edina indoor pools at Valley View and Southview to be used by the 10 Oral History Bob Kojetin — Athletic Associations swim club. I had worked out a deal with the school district so that the younger kids—the 4 and 5 year olds—that were not eligible for our swim program because we felt they were too young and couldn't use a bus on their own. But this was the age that the swim club wanted to start training for their swimmers. This worked out very well for them because they would register the 4 and 5 year olds at our summer registration program and then they would take the revenue from these swim classes and use their swim coaches that they already had hired to be active in the instruction of these youngsters at an early age in the swimming techniques. We were not that much involved in our own swim program in swimming techniques. This was a revenue receiver for the swim club and was a very successful program. As far as I know today, it is still running and I think the swim club is still involved in it. We do contract an outside swim group to coach and teach swimming in the Edina Swimming Pool or in the private pools that these private contractors are using now. EDINA HOCKEY ASSOCIATION In 1956 the Edina Hockey Association was formed. This of course started the hockey program in Edina that is still going strong. The first hockey rink was built at Arden Park. The kids participated in that program as general skating and they did have a hockey team that played other communities. They really started to organize all the differe t age groups, wl� Peewees, which !/ 12. t 3-�tF y r�, fU were Wand M year old kids; the Bantams. which were the junior high kids; and then they would go pI into a program in the high school in ninth or tenth grade.e hockey rink was also built at the higgh, WC?— we, h,&dJ school when it was constructed 110'e would maintain the hockey rink and the warming house attendant wamV,awed because the neighborhood also used this hockey rink. The high school built the hockey rink and the high school hockey team played there all the time outside behind the View Junior High School. Since the high school hockey team practiced at that rink, we did maintain it. We did have cooperation with the school and they would flood it sometimes also. As the hockey program developed and the number of youngsters that participated in it was growing and growing and we also tried to grow and grow with our hockey rinks outdoors. There MEMO y City Hall • 4801 W. 50th St., Edina, MN 55424 Phone 952-927-8861 • Fax 952-826-0390 • www.CityofEdina.com Date: December 13, 2011 To: Edina Park Board From: John Keprios, Park and Recreation Director Re: Staff Updates and Work Session Notice Work Session Meeting Notice: • The Park Board is asked to attend a Joint Work Session with the City Council on Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 5:00 p.m. in the Community Room to hear the Edinborough Park consultant's study results and recommendations. Staff Updates: 1. The general skating rink at Countryside Park is being flooded and maintained for this year's skating season. The warming house will be open and will have a Warming House Attendant staff person on duty throughout the outdoor skating season. 2. Last week the City of Minneapolis staff approached me and the Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of St. Louis Park to re -open the discussion of using the City of Minneapolis Water Works Department property at 40th and France as an off -leash dog park. 3. The Edina Soccer Association has offered to donate funds to convert the softball field at Highlands Park into a soccer field. It would involve removing the backstop at Highlands Park, plant grass or place sod in the softball field infield area and install irrigation. 4. The Lacrosse Association is requesting that the baseball field at Wooddale Park be converted to a lacrosse field. 5. At the December 6, 2011 City Council meeting, former Edina Park Director Bob Kojetin handed out the attached letter dated December 4, 2011 and he also handed out the attached "Oral History" done by Bob Kojetin. 6. The Edina Hockey Alumni Association will be giving the Park Board a presentation at the February 14 Park Board meeting regarding a $4 million addition to Braemar Arena to build locker rooms for boys and girls Edina Varsity and Junior Varsity hockey teams on the main floor and a dry -land training facility on the second level which will be run by a private organization. 7. The Edina Aquatic Center Flowrider amenity is under construction. 8. Hoisington Koegler Group Inc. has been hired to further analyze the proposed phase one development of the Countryside Park master plan. Citv nF FAnn AR01 Waat .S0tk Straat FAnrn MN 5.SA9A