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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-06-14 Park Board MinutesEDINA PARK BOARD 7:00 p.m. Park Board Tour Began from City Hall June 14, 1994 MEMBERS PRESENT: Bill Jenkins, Andy Herring, Bill Lord, Andy Montgomery, Ernie Fischer, Beth Hall, Jim Fee, Becky Bennett, John Dovolis MEMBERS ABSENT: Jean Rydell, Dave Crowther STAFF PRESENT: John Keprios, Ed MacHolda, Janet Canton OTHERS PRESENT: Kris McKeon-Rohman, Bobby Arnold, Blake Arnold, Jeffrey Arnold Park Board Tour 7:00 p.m. the Park Board went on a tour to the following parks and facilities: 1. Lake Cornelia Park 2. Normandale Park 3. Tingdale Park 4. Moore Property Open Space 5. Garden Park 6. Todd Park 7. Weber Park The Park Board Meeting began at 8:20 p.m. I. APPROVAL OF THE MAY 10, 1994 MINUTES Jim Fee MOVED TO APPROVE THE MAY 10, 1994 MINUTES. John Dovolis SECONDED THE MOTION. MINUTES APPROVED. II. HERBICIDES Mr. Keprios indicated that Kris McKeon-Rohman is in the audience and would like to speak to the Park Board about herbicides, which is not on the agenda. The Park Board agreed to discuss this issue first. Mr. Keprios pointed out that all of the Park Board members received a letter from Ms. McKeon-Rohman regarding herbicides. Mr. Keprios then indicated that he has received six phone calls from people who have read the article that Ms. McKeon-Rohman wrote to the Sun Current Newspaper. These people have been in favor of banning herbicides. He indicated that he has been keeping notes on everyone who calls regarding this issue. Mr. Keprios explained that his assumption is the City Council will be asking for a report from staff on this issue. He noted that the report will state that the herbicides are approved by the Environmental Protection Agency at the federal and state level. Also, the people who apply the herbicides go through a state licensing class and will do a better job of staking and signing areas before they spray rather than after. Mr. Keprios also pointed out that we will do a better job of coordinating with the schools to make sure there are no special activities going on outside of the playgrounds. Mr. Keprios pointed out that the day that was in question only the fenced in area of the adult softball field at Cornelia School was sprayed. Unfortunately, Cornelia School also had a special event scheduled that day at the school. Mr. Keprios stated that he has asked for information from the state to become more educated and has also looked at the findings from the Plymouth Park and Recreation Department survey. He noted that Plymouth hired the University of Minnesota to do a needs assessment survey and one of them was the herbicide issue. He stated that they too had a lot of environmental concerns from their citizens. The options before them were to discontinue the use of herbicides altogether, to continue to use herbicides on a licensed basis as approved by the state, or to use current organic fertilizers. Mr. Keprios indicated that 77% of those that responded stated that they wanted to continue the use of existing herbicides under licensed conditions. Mr. Fischer asked what would happen if herbicides weren't used. How bad do the fields get and what increase in maintenance is there. Mr. Keprios explained that weeds, unfortunately, are a plant that is much heartier than grass and if left to the elements will take over grass. Mr. Keprios noted that the Minneapolis Park System does not use herbicides and if you look at their fields they have almost 70% weeds and very little grass. Mr. Keprios noted that part of the component in the herbicide that's really in question is 2,4-D. It's a very controversial subject because there are some studies that show conclusively that 2,4-D is not hazardous while other studies have conflicting views. However, at the present time the EPA considers it to be within their limits when safely applied. Mr. Lord commented that we should rely on the professionalism and research of our staff in coming back to us with their recommendations. Mr. Lord then asked if Mr. Richards has responded to Ms. McKeon-Rohman's letter. It was noted not at this time. Ms. McKeon-Rohman noted that she does not like the references to the fact that the EPA seems to support this because the federal government's own General Accounting Office has criticized it's own Department of Agriculture and it's own EPA. They are not warning people well enough about 2,4-D or lawn care in general. She indicated that 2,4-D is very controversial. Mr. Jenkins asked Ms. McKeon-rohman if she is suggesting that we shouldn't use it at all. Ms. McKeon-Rohman indicated no, she just doesn't want to see it used on the playgrounds. She then noted that the children don't care if they are playing in weeds, in fact, they have more fun with the dandelions than they do playing with the grass. Ms. McKeon-Rohman pointed out that she is not talking about golf lawns or the front of City Hall, she is talking about the actual playgrounds where children play. She noted it is okay to spray where the kids aren't playing. Ms. McKeon-Rohman stressed the fact that if 2,4-D is a 2 controversy right now why are we risking the health of our children for aesthetics. Ms. McKeon-Rohman also pointed out that she would like to send everyone a copy of the Plymouth survey that Mr. Keprios referred to. She felt that the survey lead people to pick the answer they were looking for. Ms. McKeon-Rohman again pointed out that she has fair meeting ground in saying let's not put herbicides on the children's playgrounds. Mr. Jenkins then indicated that the Park Board cannot decide anything on this matter tonight. He noted that the next move is for the City Council to act on this issue. Mr. Keprios indicated that this will be on the June 20th City Council agenda. It was suggested to Ms. McKeon- Rohman by the Park Board that it would be beneficial to her if she spoke at the City Council meeting on June 20th. Mr. Jenkins noted that he appreciates Ms. McKeon-Rohman coming to the Park Board with this issue. III. APPROVAL OF OUTDOOR SKATING RINK LETTER Mr. Keprios stated that at the last Park Board meeting he was given a directive to write a letter regarding the closing of outdoor skating rinks to appear in the Sun Current Newspaper. Mr. Keprios noted that he took the approach that it would be important for the Park Board to get some community input on the subject if we decide to close more than two rinks. Mr. Keprios explained that he has a Plan A and Plan B. Mr. Keprios then showed a map with concentric circles around the parks that indicated a half mile radius. He stated that Plan A would recommend eliminating Normandale, Pamela, Strachauer and Walnut Ridge. This way the city will end up with two skating rinks in each quadrant of the city. Mr. Keprios then explained that Plan B would put Walnut Ridge back in and eliminate Highlands. Mr. Keprios indicated that he doesn't want the Park Board to think that these are their only two options available. Mr. Fee felt the Park Board should first decide whether or not they want to send the letter in to the Edina Sun Current. Mr. Lord and Mr. Fee both felt that Plan A is the best plan. Mr. Keprios pointed out that Pamela is due to have a new rink soon and that was another factor he looked at when deciding upon this rink. Mr. Keprios handed out information on when the rinks were built and when they are scheduled to be rebuilt. It was noted that the Park Board agreed that Strachauer Park should be closed. Mr. Jenkins asked if Highlands is the next rink to be redone. Mr. Keprios noted that is correct and that is why he also made a Plan B. Mr. Fee asked why Countryside was picked over Normandale. Mr. Keprios noted that the idea was to leave two rinks in each quadrant of the city. Mr. Fee stated that he thinks the first step is to send out the letter. Mr. Montgomery indicated he felt it was a little long. It was then expressed that all of the information needs to be in it so that people 3 know what the ramifications are. Mr. Fee asked for an unofficial vote as to what each Park Board member thinks about the staff's recommendation of closing four rinks. Ms. Bennett asked if the numbers are going to increase with the Hockey Association indicating they will be needing more outdoor ice hours. Mr. Keprios explained that every year the Hockey Board states that they have to get better use of the outdoor hockey rinks. Mr. Keprios stated that by closing down three hockey rinks, it will not have a great affect on the hockey program. Mr. Jenkins asked what is going to be done with the labor and manpower that was used for those four rinks. Mr. Keprios noted that there are a number of things that could be done such as have groomed cross country ski trails, which people are always asking about. Also, trim trees which need to be done in the winter and work on the warming house buildings. These are things to focus on, however, there will really -not be a lot of money saved. Mr. Keprios pointed out that it doesn't look like the City Council is going to hire two full-time maintenance men to replace the ones we lost in 1990 and 1992. He indicated that every year they request these two positions be filled. Mr. Keprios noted that we are down to 13 full-time union park maintenance men. He noted that there is also one non-union working park foreman and one non-union park custodian. Therefore, there is a total of 15 full-time park maintenance staff. Mr. Keprios noted that by closing four rinks it will free up two full-time maintenance men to do the much needed maintenance, such as, garbage collection, tree trimming, cross-country ski trails and we will get a faster turn around in plowing our parking lots and paths. Mr. Jenkins asked if we currently have any groomed cross country ski trails and Mr. Keprios noted there are none in Edina. However, he has requested equipment to possibly groom trails this year. Mr. Fee asked where the trails would be and it was noted probably at Braemar and Bredesen. Mr. Montgomery stated that he has a problem with Highlands remaining open and Walnut Ridge being closed because Walnut Ridge was just rebuilt not that long ago and Highlands needs to be rebuilt soon. He felt that by doing this we are saying two different things. One is to save money but yet the other is to spend it. Mr. Montgomery suggested listing in the letter five or six parks and indicating that three of them will be closed since everyone agrees that Strachauer Park should be closed. Mr. Fee again asked that an unofficial vote be taken to see how each Park Board member feels on the issue and whether they are or are not in favor of it. Mr. Jenkins noted that he personally is torn back and forth on the issue. He understands the fiscal side of it, however he would really like to see the two maintenance men back on board. He feels the Park Board should be working on that issue. However, he personally does have a problem with closing the rinks. He indicated that he does not want to 4 close the rinks. He explained to Mr. Keprios that he understands where he is coming from and he doesn't have a problem with it but personally he doesn't think we should close any of the rinks. Mr. Lord indicated that outside of Strachauer he feels the same way as Mr. Jenkins. Mr. Fischer indicated that he goes back and forth on the issue too but that he would come down on the side of saying that he thinks what we are hearing from the staff is that there is a real crunch on manpower in the winter time. There is other maintenance that needs to get done that is not getting done and rather than have things go shotty on a slow curve he thinks that at this point he would go along with the staff's recommendation in closing down the rinks. Ms. Bennett noted that she also goes back and forth the issue. She stated that she has had people talk to her about the issue and that she really doesn't know. It's a tough issue and she understands both sides of it. Ms. Hall noted that she feels badly about Pamela being closed but that she goes along with the staff's recommendation. Mr. Montgomery noted that he supports the staff's recommendation. However, he doesn't want to walk away tonight and say we are going to definitely close these specific parks. He would like to see the letter get out to the public so they are aware of the situation and fiscal responsibility. Mr. Herring noted that he feels this is a very expensive proposition to continue to have all of these parks open and he thinks four parks should be closed. Mr. Dovolis indicated that he is never one to diminish things for kids. He agrees with staff when it comes to fiscal responsibility but he thinks we need to take a hard look at all of the services. He indicated, however, that he sees things diminishing in the Edina parks in general whether it's tennis courts, skating rinks, or other things in disrepair. Edina residents have to take a hard look at this and possibly we need to get some sort of a bond issue to get the different facilities, etc. back to the way they are supposed to be. Mr. Fee indicated that he would support staff, especially on a one year basis to see what kind of utilization we get out of the maintenance men doing these other projects. He noted that he would not be in favor of spending any big expenditures on Highlands or anything else until after one year and assess it at that time. Again, under the assumption that we don't get these two additional park maintenance men. Mr. Jenkins noted that it seems the majority of the people would go along with the staff's recommendation and close three or four rinks. Mr. Herring indicated that the only question is Mr. Montgomery wanted to add a couple of parks that are under consideration to be closed and he felt that's a good idea. 5 Mr. Lord asked Mr. Keprios how many times have we tried to close rinks in the past. Mr. Keprios noted that if we go way back in history we used to maintain rinks at Todd, York, Garden, Melody, Browndale, the list goes on. The trend has been to become more fiscally responsible. Mr. Herring noted that he thinks it's good to publicize this in the newspaper and receive some input. It was noted that the rinks that will be listed in the letter will be Pamela, Normandale, Walnut Ridge, Highlands, Strachauer and Countryside. Mr. Fee indicated that the letter should indicate that the situation will be assessed after one year to see how they are utilized. Mr. Jenkins indicated the in the audience are Bobby, Blake and Jeffrey Arnold. The Arnold's explained that their house is the closet house to any hockey rink in Edina. They indicated that they have mixed feelings on Walnut Ridge being closed. On one hand they would never be bothered again early in the morning, but, by the same token, it is a rink that does get a lot of usage. Ms. Arnold stated that there are school bus loads of kids from Countryside School that come over to use the Walnut Ridge hockey rink. She noted that the neighborhood has turned over and now there are a lot of young families in the neighborhood. Mr. Keprios indicated that he will keep the Arnolds informed of any decisions that are made and what those decisions have been based upon. He then noted that a lot is being based upon participation and that it currently costs $3.60 per skater. There was a unanimous consensus that the letter be submitted to the Sun Current Newspaper. IV. TENNIS COURTS (USE STUDY UPDATE AND CONDITION REPORT) Mr. Jenkins noted that Mr. Montgomery and Ms. Rydell did a good job on the tennis court study. Mr. Montgomery stated that it's disappointing to see that the tennis courts aren't being used the way they used to be. Some of the tennis courts used to be in excellent shape and now they are deteriorating. Mr. Keprios passed around a list indicating the things they are going to try to get done this year. He noted that he would like to see at least six tennis courts get resurfaced and rebuild three hard surface areas, Todd, Normandale and Weber. He indicated that the Basketball Association is also willing to spend some money on this project. Mr. Keprios indicated that there are a number of playground sites that need to be rebuilt. He is hoping to revamp some of the lighting at Courtney Fields this year. Also, the carpet in the living room at Arneson Acres needs to be replaced. There are also eight roofs that need to be rebuilt on the warming houses. Mr. Keprios indicated that another big issue is which tennis courts are we going to do this year. He stated that he did not put Braemar on the list because it is unrepairable at this point. It needs to be totally rebuilt and we don't have the money to do it this year unless we forego the other six courts that need to be resurfaced. He stated that the nets are currently down 0 on the Braemar tennis courts because they are unsafe. Mr. Keprios noted that he is keeping a list of all phone calls he receives regarding the Braemar tennis courts. Mr. Fee asked if there is money to do all of the work this year. Mr. Keprios stated that we have $34,000 to the following: paths, hard surface areas, playground equipment, bleachers, benches, trash receptacles, signs and all park amenities. There is $55,000 budgeted in the capital plan to do the roofs on the warming houses. $80,000 from the Developer's Fund is budgeted to do the work at Arneson Acres. Ms. Bennett asked what type of playground equipment will go in at Lewis Park. Mr. Keprios noted that he will set up a neighborhood meeting so that everyone will be able to give some input as to what equipment they would like to see at the playground. Mr. Keprios explained that he has currently met with some members of the school district regarding a joint venture for new playground equipment. He noted he is not sure where this committee is going, however, there has been some talk of a joint bond issue. Mr. Keprios then stated, however, that the park needs are much greater than just playground equipment. Mr. Keprios indicated that it would be nice to see a park improvement bond issue and then pay for it through the capital plan over the next several years. Mr. Herring asked if we need to have 15 tennis courts in the city. Mr. Keprios indicated that is the report we are waiting to hear from Mr. Montgomery's group. Mr. Montgomery indicated that there isn't the use that there used to be at the tennis courts in the city. He noted that definitely their recommendation is to not rebuild Braemar. John Dovolis MOVED TO RECOMMEND TO THE CITY COUNCIL THAT THE BRAEMAR TENNIS COURTS BE TAKEN DOWN. Andy Herring SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. V. OTHER A. Wesely Memorial Dedication - Mr. Keprios handed out pictures that were taken of the Wesely Memorial dedication. He thanked Mr. Dovolis for being there. It was a very nice ceremony. B. Braemar Inspection Tour - Mr. Keprios indicated that the Braemar Inspection Tour will be on Wednesday, August 10th. He noted there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new 9 as well as a ribbon cutting ceremony for John Harris Drive. It was stated that it will be a scramble 18 hole event with dinner afterwards. Everyone will have an opportunity to play on the new nine hole course. Formal invitations will be mailed out in July. VI. ADJOURNMENT Jim Fee MOVED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 9:25 P.M. John Dovolis SECONDED THE MOTION. MEETING ADJOURNED 7