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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-01-10 Park Board Minutes1 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PARK BOARD HELD AT CITY HALL JANUARY 10, 2012 7:00 PM I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Hulbert called the meeting to order at 7:01 pm II. ROLLCALL Answering roll call were Members Peterson, Deeds, Steel, Hulbert, Fronek, Segreto, Lough, Neville, Weicht. Member Jones entered the meeting at 7:03 pm III. APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA Member Peterson made a motion, seconded by Member Deeds, approving the meeting agenda. Ayes: Peterson, Deeds, Steel, Hulbert, Fronek, Segreto, Lough, Jones Motion carried. IV. ADOPTION OF CONSENT AGENDA Member Peterson made a motion, seconded by Member Deeds approving the consent agenda as follows: IV.A. Approval of Minutes – Regular Meeting of Monday, November 7, 2011 Member Steel stated she has a correction to minutes. She noted that she was the one who chaired the December 13, 2011 Park Board meeting. Ayes: Peterson, Deeds, Steel, Hulbert, Fronek, Segreto, Lough, Jones Motion carried. V. COMMUNITY COMMENT None VI. REPORTS/RECOMMENDATIONS VI.A. Edinborough Park Study Results and Recommendations Ms. Kattreh handed out a list of questions she put together that were captured from the Park Board and City Council’s work session. Mr. Keprios indicated that Karen Kurt and he added a few more to the list for the Park Board to review. He stated that between staff and the consultants they are going to work towards getting the answers to those questions. Mr. Keprios asked the Park Board if there were any additional questions they would like to have answered. He stated that it sounds like another joint work session with the City Council will be scheduled in March. Chair Hulbert asked if the Park Board ever saw the RFP before it went out like they did with the golf course RFP because he doesn’t remember going through that process. Mr. Keprios explained the way the process worked is he was asked by the City Manager to get collective thoughts of what was being handed to them from the City Council and put together the RFP. He noted when he delivered it to the City Manager he asked if they needed to run the RFP through the process and have the Park Board and City Council approve it. He stated that the City Manager told him he thought the RFP captured the essence of what the City Council wanted and he made the decision to go ahead and send it out. Member Peterson indicated that if the pool is taken away and there are some senior citizens living there who use it what could be done to give them other activities. He noted that he wants to be sure they still 2 feel they are part of a community in terms of programming and in terms of their interests. He commented that he thinks that could help reduce the tension of the possible closing of the pool. Member Deeds asked Mr. Keprios when he would like to see a decision and a strategy going forward. Mr. Keprios replied that would be a better question for City Council as this is a City Council driven initiative. He stated it is his understanding the City Council would like a follow-up joint session with the Park Board sometime in March. He indicated that he would encourage the Park Board to hopefully go in there of one mind with some well thought out recommendations of what you think the direction ought to be such as: what is the real mission for Edinborough; what direction should it head; what kind of subsidy do you feel should be acceptable, if any; what do you feel is important to the community and what does the facility mean to Edina. He commented if the Park Board has these discussions then the rest of the answers will hopefully fall into place. Member Jones stated that she was seriously disappointed with the report that was given to them for their work session. She noted they should expect the next report to be at a higher level. She pointed out it was poorly written, many misspellings and typos as well as incomplete sentences. She added that the spreadsheet contained inaccuracies in the capital improvement plan numbers which really makes her question the validity of the entire report. Member Jones pointed out that in the RFP they specifically asked the consultants to talk about the land north of the park as well as would expanding the facility be feasible for that park area and what amenities would you recommend adding as well as would that expansion improve profitability. She stated she would request that be included and remind them that was part of the original RFP. Member Jones also pointed out that she had trouble with their market analysis; their primary service area definition was for a 20 mile radius. She stated she feels that is without foundation and that the report wastes approximately 30 pages on overly broad publicly available demographic data for the 20 mile radius service area. In addition, it also doesn’t make any distinction between recurring regular users of Edinborough from the immediate area to the occasional user from the broader geographic area. She stated that based on play park season pass sales the vast majority of the regular users come from less than 10 miles so she doesn’t understand where they were coming from for their market analysis being so broad. Lastly, she pointed out that the report also uses National Recreation data and inappropriately applies them to their local market. Member Peterson indicated that he thinks it’s important to keep Adventure Peak and the new soft play area together. He noted it may be worthwhile to see if Southdale would have something available; it could be a municipal/private deal and it would also help solve the parking issue. Member Peterson stated that if the aspect of Adventure Peak and the soft play area were taken away from Edinborough then Edinborough Park could be like a regular neighborhood park. He added they could have band concerts available which would draw residents of the condos as well as all Edina residents. Mr. Keprios stated that he would propose the Park Board look at the questions they’ve handed out and let him know if there are any additional questions for staff or the consultants to study. He noted he would be happy to put this back on the February agenda for another follow-up before the next work session with the City Council in March. VI.B. 2012 Work Plan Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that the “Work Plan” he put together is just a draft. There are a few items that could easily be moved around. He noted that some of the things are standard such as the fees and charges and capital improvement plan, which could possibly be moved one way or another, but fees and charges typically take place in October. 3 Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that the policy manual he referenced would probably take place in July and it is something new. He explained it is something staff has put together and contains mostly procedural policy items for how they run the day to day business. He noted, however, as he started to look through it there are some policy decisions that he thinks the Park Board should weigh in on and make a recommendation to the City Council. Member Peterson made a motion, seconded by Member Fronek approving the Work Plan with the following changes: • Move the Edinborough Park Study results to their work session with the City Council in March. • Move the Highlands Park Edina Soccer Association proposal to March. • Move the Wooddale Park Edina Lacrosse Association proposal to April. • Move the Donation and Naming Working Group recommendations to April. • Put the Grandview Plan on the March agenda. Ayes: Peterson, Deeds, Steel, Hulbert, Fronek, Segreto, Lough, Jones Motion carried. Member Deeds asked the Park Board if it would make sense to put together a subcommittee or small task force together to begin looking at the Senior Center. He noted this way there can be some ground work done before it is discussed at the June meeting. It was decided Member Deeds will head up the subcommittee with the help of Member Segreto. Member Lough suggested as soon as staff or the Chair know about an addition to the schedule that you communicate via e-mail to the members. He stated that way they don’t have to wait until the Friday before to send out the agenda and background material. VI.C. Set Special Meeting Date for Hornet’s Nest at Braemar Arena Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that the Hockey Alumni Group is proposing a pretty significant exciting project for Braemar Arena. He noted it includes permanent varsity and junior varsity locker rooms for both boys and girls. It also would include some space that would be leased to private organizations; it would include dry land training for hockey as well as a pro shop and restaurant. He pointed out there are some pretty significant donors lined up and they are prepared to make a proposal to the Park Board. He explained they would prefer not to wait until the February Park Board meeting since there is already a full plate for February’s agenda. Mr. Keprios stated from a staff standpoint they support it and recommend the Park Board accepts their request. The Park Board discussed which date would work for the majority of the Park Board members to hold the special meeting. Member Jones made a motion, seconded by Chair Hulbert, to hold a special meeting regarding Braemar Arena on Monday, January 23rd at 7:00 pm Ayes: Peterson, Deeds, Hulbert, Fronek, Segreto, Lough, Jones Nays: Steel Motion carried. VI.D. Donations Policy & Naming of Parks and Facilities Policy Working Group Update – Ellen Jones, Edina Park Board Member Jones informed the Park Board that they are moving along and thinks it will be completed by February. 4 VI.E. User Fee Working Group Update – Keeya Steel, Vice Chair Edina Park Board Member Steel informed the Park Board they have determined what is available to them as far as cost analysis and they are writing up their recommendations focusing on the athletic associations. She indicated the working group would like more athletic association feedback on their recommendations and have a discussion with them on what they think. She asked if they should have that discussion or is it something to wait and have in front of the Park Board. Mr. Keprios responded if you want the athletic associations to work with you to establish policy then he would do it outside of the Park Board. If you want to set a policy and tell them this is the way it’s going to be then he would have it at a Park Board meeting. VI.F. Grandview Plan Update – Ellen Jones, Edina Park Board Member Jones showed the Park Board a draft of the Grandview Plan with the concept drawings of visions. She noted it shows a 30 year time frame of how the area may grow and develop. She added that obviously the City doesn’t own all of the pieces of property shown. She noted you can find all of the reports and access the draft of this plan at “edinacitizenengagement.org/Grandview/”. She noted at the website you can also review the public process as it has been to date as well as the next step in the public review process and you can join the blog. Member Deeds indicated that he is trying to get a sense of scale on the community center. Member Jones replied the plans are more framework than actual plans. She indicated that she thinks the small area plan would appreciate having advice on what the city would need and what programming would be appropriate. She noted they could also look at whether or not they could consolidate some of their other functions to more efficiently utilize city funds to programs for people. Member Jones suggested that the Park Board create a working group to look into what the programming aspect of their community building would be and advise the small area plan. Member Steel commented that as far as programs and services she thinks they need a comprehensive look at the city and not just one entity. She added that she doesn’t know if this is just a Park Board issue. Member Jones replied she agrees and thinks they need to have a very broad scope to look at how this would be utilized and to make it successful they would need to really look at all of their current services. Mr. Keprios replied from a staff standpoint if they are going to discuss this in March then he thinks the Park Board should weigh in on it. He stated that in his opinion it shouldn’t be a solution looking for a need. They need to find out what the needs and desires are first. Mr. Keprios suggested that we should take this one step further than a working group. He thinks they will need to hire a professional firm to do focus groups and studies and identify what the unmet needs and desires in the community are. He stated if they are going to look at a community center they need to identify what the needs are and he doesn’t think a working group is going to have the resources to do that. Member Jones commented that the process so far has been very open and transparent and if they were to hire a group to do surveys she wants to be sure they keep that same process. She would also like to make sure they keep their involvement in it somehow. VII. CORRESPONDENCE AND PETITIONS None VIII. CHAIR AND BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS Chair Hulbert thanked Members Fronek and Lough for their years of time and service; they all appreciate it very much. Member Deeds indicated that for an inner-ring suburb like Edina amenities are critical and the only thing that distinguishes them and keeps the property values up is the education system and the amenities; that 5 is why people live here. He pointed out that he thinks they need to develop a long-term vision because coming at it from the outside it looks like they’ve had a lot of haphazard development to some degree that’s grown over the years. He noted there is very little space left in the city and they have things spread all over in very small pieces. He stated that as a Park Board he thinks they need to take a serious strategic perspective thinking about what the amenity needs of the community are going to be over the next 10, 20, 30 years. He noted that they need to move forward and figure out how they can stay at the top of the list as a desirable community for people to live in. Therefore, they need to think more strategically at a little larger picture than they do. IX. STAFF COMMENTS Mr. Keprios stated that he would also like to thank Members Fronek and Lough for their great service. He added that the City Council will be appropriately recognizing both members at the annual Board and Commission meeting in March. Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that their outdoor ice rinks have been open with the exception of the past two days. He indicated that staff has done a phenomenal job with the outdoor rinks. They have even gone the extra mile and have gone to the local indoor ice arenas to get their ice shavings to pack along the boards to try to maintain some of the ice. Chair Hulbert added he has been very impressed with the quality of ice and still being able to skate. Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board they had their Winter Ice Festival at Centennial Lakes and Mr. Shirley and Ms. Knollmaier did a fabulous job. Mr. Keprios informed the Park Board that they opened the executive golf course at Braemar today and charged $10.00 a round and filled every tee time. In addition, he also saw some people playing tennis at Utley Park. Meeting adjourned at 8:17 pm