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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1986-03-11 Park Board MinutesEDINA PARK BOARD 7:00 P.M. March 11, 1986 Edina City Hall MEMBERS PRESENT: Joan Lonsbury, John Thayer, Jim Fee, Marilyn Wooldridge, Jean Rydell, Bob Christianson, William Lord, Don Wineberg MEMBERS ABSENT: Andy Montgomery , George Warner STAFF PRESENT: Bob Kojetin, John Keprios, Ed MacHolda, John Valliere, Madelyn Krinke OTHERS PRESENT: Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Bjerken, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mattson, Gary Rosen, Sheldon Danielson, G.H. Danielson, Donna Hipps Joan Lonsbury called the meeting to order. I. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 11 MEETING Jean Rydell moved to approve the minutes of the February 11, 1986 meeting. John Thayer seconded the motion. Motion Carried. II. 66TH STREET PROPERTY Bob Kojetin explained that the Park Board has already heard the matter of the proposed sale of city lot along 66th Street and West Shore Drive. they made a recommendation to the Council to sell the lot and the City Council discussed the sale at a regular meeting, and gave approval for the sale. Objections were raised by some individuals after the Council meeting that they had not received notice of the Park Board or Council meetings. The Council therefore decided to ask the Park Board to hear the matter again after notice to all the neighbors legally entitled to notice. Mr. Kojetin stated that the staff has been looking at some of the small parcels of land which the City has acquired over the years to see if there are some which serve no real purpose for the City which might be sold to serve a better purpose. The 66th Street Property is one of these pieces of land. If Virginia Ave. were vacated and joined to the existing lots, there could be two additional buildable lots created. Gordon Hughes had suggested to Mr. Danielson that if he did buy the lot, he could subdivide his property to create two additional 'buildable lots. Bob Christianson asked if it were subdivided into two additional buildable lots, would they be comparable size to the other lots in the subdivision. Mr. Kojetin indicated that they would appear to be about the same. Gunnar Danielson stated that lots 1 and 3 are the present lots on which his house is built. The proposed division is what Mr. Hughes had suggested. Mr. Danielson said his reasons for wanting to buy the property are not for his own gain, but to actually improve the property. He feels that it is being used as a dump area for leaves, grass clippings, and trash, and that the area is not and cannot be used as a park as it is without bringing in fill because there are many deep holes and gullies. Mr. Danielson feels that if the lot were built on, the land would be far more attractive than the way it looks now. Dick Bjerken whose property adjoins Mr. Danielson's to the North, addressed the Park Board. He showed photos of the property in question as it appears in the summer. He objects to the parcel of land being sold. Mr. Bjerken feels it adds a lot to the aesthetics of the whole area because it is part of a beautiful entrance to Cornelia Park. Another reason Mr. Bjerken objects to the lot being sold is because it is not presently serviced by utilities and in order to run sewer and water, his back yard and others would have to be dug up and he has some very large, mature trees which would have to be disturbed. Paul Mattson of 6516 W. Shore Drive also addressed the Park Board with an objection to selling the lot on 66th Street. He lives one lot away from the property. Mr. Mattson objected because he feels the present aesthetics of the area are very important to the neighborhood and he feels it should be left as it is. He suggested that the dumping on that lot is no worse than it is in the Cornelia Park itself. It is Mr. Mattson's opinion that Edina does not have enough park property and it makes no sense to give up this piece. He further stated that it gives a lot of enjoyment to the people. He is disappointed that it has been brought up again because he was of the impression that when it was discussed in 1968 and the decision was made not to run Parnell through to 66th, but to run West Shore through, that the city property would become park board property and he thought that Virginia Ave. was going to be given to the city as well. He would like to know what happened to that plan. Mr. Mattson said he would like to see the property remain with the Park Board and the people. Joan Lonsbury asked if Mr. Mattson has observed dumping in the park. Mr. Mattson stated that he as actually seen trucks dump leaves and debris in the park. Gary Rosen of 6500 West Shore Dr. stated that the neighbors have an annual clean up of the lot and park to pick up cans and debris which has accumulated during the winter. He said there is very little debris on the small city lot in comparison to what is in the park. He stated that he and Ray Kostick and Mike Montgomery, neighbors who were unable to attend the Park Board meeting, were very much opposed to the sale of the lot. They like the atmosphere which the lot provides. It is important to these neighbors and he feels to others from several blocks away who come through that area because they enjoy walking in the park. Mr. Rosen stated that the city does not have to spend much on maintenance of the property - cutting of grass on the boulevard is the only thing that is done, because it is a natural wild area. Skip Thomas, who lives at 6525 Parnell, stated that he bought his house in September of 1984 and he decided on that neighborhood because it was a very beautiful area. It is very important to him and was a big reason why he bought there. Mr. Danielson spoke about the dumping on the lot which has occurred for many years. He said that because of the holes and mess that was created, it is not an area that is usable. Mr. Danielson stated that he thinks when Virginia Ave. is vacated, he would own half of that strip of land, if it has not already been done. He feels that paying $28,000 for the parcel of land and paying for the 2 cost of utilities and other costs to upgrade the parcel to a buildable lot is an advantage to the city, because he feels that the land would be improved if built upon. Bob Kojetin explained that there is a 20 foot strip easement across the neighboring properties for access to water and sewer to the lots in question. One of the stipulations of the sale would be that Mr. Danielson would have to follow through with the planning commission to have the lots subdivided and sewer and water run to the lots. Bill Lord asked what the total benefit would be to the city. Bob Kojetin stated that it would be $28,000. Paul Mattson asked again about the ownership of the strip of land created by vacating Virginia Ave. Bob Kojetin stated that he would have to go back into the records and investigate. Bob Christianson said he is generally not in favor of turning park property back to individuals and wonders if any plans exist for further development of the land. Bob Kojetin answered that there were no plans at this time. Bob Christianson asked whether the city might consider filling in the gullies and holes and Bob Kojetin replied that open space is usually left in its natural state. Mr. Kojetin had walked around on the lot last spring and it was really a mess from the debris which had accumulated. He does not feel that it is a really valuable piece of property because of its small size. He further pointed out that Lot #3 could be sold right now if Mr. Danielson wanted to. Bill Lord asked what kind of control the city has over what is built on the iot. Bob Kojetin said the planning commission would have to give approval for any type of building that would be built. Bob Christianson MADE A MOTION THAT THE PARK BOARD RECOMMEND THAT THE PROPERTY ON WEST 66TH STREET NOT BE SOLD. Jim Fee SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. III. FEES AND CHARGES FOR BRAEMAR CLUB HOUSE RENTAL Bob Kojetin stated that there will not be a Council meeting in April until the 14th, therefore there is a need to set up a policy and fee schedule for the rental of the new Banquet Room at Braemar Golf Course. John Valliere presented a memo to the Park Board (copy attached) in which he set forth his recommendations for fees and charges for the Club House Rental. Don Wineberg commented that he questioned why the Co-ed lounge would be rented, and wondered if that would be taking space away from golfers who would normally be using it. John Valliere agreed that it should not be rented during golfing hours to avoid creating a problem for golfers wanting to use it, but still felt that there would be times when a small group of people might want to rent that area and not the large Banquet Room. John Valliere mentioned that he would come back to the Park Board in April or May with details on rules, regulations and contracts that would be used for rental of the Banquet Room. He said that he had checked with several other 3 which have a similar room which is rented out to get an idea of what the market is for such facilities and he based his recommendation on these figures and expects to increase the rental fee for 1987. Don Wineberg suggested going with flat fees for all rentals, not a charge per person because it is difficult to carry out that type of system. Don also suggested that a larger fee could probably be charged for the rental of the Banquet Room than the fee proposed by John Valliere. Bob Kojetin mentioned that the Council has been talking about the wine issue and has asked the staff to come up with a recommendation or ideas of what should be done regarding serving of wine at the Banquet Room. The way the ordinance and state law now stands, no wine could be served at the Club House. Bill Lord MADE A MOTION THAT THE PARK BOARD AMEND THEIR POLICY ON CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL AT BRAEMAR GOLF COURSE CLUB HOUSE TO ALLOW SERVING OF WINE AND REQUESTS THAT THE CITY COUNCIL TAKE ACTION TO MAKE SERVING OF WINE LEGAL AT BRAEMAR GOLF COURSE CLUB HOUSE. Bob Christianson SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION PASSED. Regarding fees and charges, Joan Lonsbury stated that she would like to see a reduced flat fee for small groups because she thought it might be more difficult to increase prices if it were on a per person basis. A recommendation was then made by John Valliere to increase the per person charge for evening meetings of civic organizations to a flat rate. $150 per evening was suggested and agreed upon by the board. Bill Lord MADE A MOTION TO AUTHORIZE BOB KOJETIN, DON WINEBERG, AND JOHN VALLIERE TO FINALIZE RECOMMENDATION OF FEES AND CHARGES FOR BRAEMAR GOLF COURSE BANQUET ROOM AND TO PRESENT THAT RECOMMENDATION TO THE CITY COUNCIL FOR APPROVAL AT THE NEXT COUNCIL MEETING. Bob Christianson SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Discussion about the priority list on page two of John Valliere's memo resulted in the suggestions that #4 should be a priority over #3, that patron card holders should have a place in the priority list and that some type of time system should be included in the priority list to make it meaningful. IV. WARMING HOUSE RECOMMENDATIONS Ed MacHolda presented statistics on the warming house attendance. Ed reported that attendance was taken by the warming house attendants every two hours and he feels that the attendants were very responsible individuals who kept quite accurate records. Bob Kojetin stated that there is a great need for additional soccer fields in the park system and after considering the skating statistics at Normandale and other rinks, his recommendation would be to convert the hockey and general rink area at Normandale to a small soccer field and a second soccer field where the football- little league field area presently exists at Normandale. It was pointed out that even though the actual number of skaters was greater at Normandale than at several other parks, a factor which must be taken into account is that Broomball was scheduled there, and if it had not been, the count would have been about 500 less. Mr. Kojetin would then recommend moving broomball to Weber rink and only schedule flooding once a week instead of every day as in the past since broomball does not require well groomed ice. LA Bill Lord asked if there would be a big savings in closing a rink. Bob Kojetin stated that if a new facility would be built at Braemar, the manpower would be transferred to that facility, so the difference would be in a more efficient use of the manpower. Don Wineberg MADE A MOTION THAT BECAUSE OF THE NEED FOR ADDITIONAL SOCCER FIELDS, THE SKATING AREAS AT NORMANDALE BE REPLACED BY SOCCER FIELDS, AND THAT BROOMBALL BE MOVED TO WEBER, AND OPEN SKATING AT NORMANDALE IN THE FUTURE BE INVESTIGATED. Bob Christianson SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION PASSED. V. RECREATION REPORT John Keprios presented a written recreation report. Additional information was shared regarding recreation. Ed MacHolda reported that soccer registration is at 1400 with 300 1st and 2nd graders. Bob Kojetin added information about the contract with North Star Day Camp to provide an all day camp for 4-13 year olds. North Star will be using the dome from 6:30 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. and from 4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. for a fee of about $20/day for 12 weeks. Marilyn Wooldridge gave a brief summary of the Sports Complex feasibility study. The committee has been meeting and had hoped to have a recommendation to bring to the Park Board for the March meeting, but did not have enough information yet. Hopefully they will have a recommendation for the April meeting. John Keprios commented that the pavilion floor will have to be repaired regardless of what is done about facilities. A new program which will be offered next year will be hockey for adults. It will be scheduled on outdoor rinks. VI. OTHER Joan Lonsbury stated that she had a complaint about 9 and 10 year olds having been scheduled for a hockey game on a Sunday morning. Joan Lonsbury stated that the Annual All Volunteers Award Recognition is April 22 from 5-7 p.m. at Interlachen. The cost is $6. Suggestions for candidates are needed. It was decided to change the Park Board meeting date from April 8 to April 15 due to the school vacation during the week of April 7. Don Wineberg MOVED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING. Jim Fee SECONDED. MOTION CARRIED Meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m. 5 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR COUNCIL APPROVAL: MOTION THAT THE PARK BOARD RECOMMEND THAT THE PROPERTY ON WEST 66TH STREET NOT BE SOLD. MOTION THAT THE PARK BOARD AMEND THEIR POLICY ON CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL AT BRAEMAR GOLF COURSE CLUB HOUSE TO ALLOW SERVING OF WINE AND REQUESTS THAT THE CITY COUNCIL TAKE ACTION TO MAKE SERVING OF WINE LEGAL AT BRAEMAR GOLF COURSE CLUB HOUSE. MOTION TO AUTHORIZE BOB KOJETIN, DON WINEBERG, AND JOHN VALLIERE TO FINALIZE RECOMMENDATION OF FEES AND CHARGES FOR BRAEMAR GOLF COURSE BANQUET ROOM AND TO PRESENT THAT RECOMMENDATION TO THE CITY COUNCIL FOR APPROVAL AT THE NEXT COUNCIL MEETING. MOTION THAT BECAUSE OF THE NEED FOR ADDITIONAL SOCCER FIELDS, THE SKATING AREAS AT NORMANDALE BE REPLACED BY SOCCER FIELDS, AND THAT BROOMBALL BE MOVED TO WEBER, AND OPEN SKATING AT NORMANDALE IN THE FUTURE BE INVESTIGATED. Bob Christianson SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION PASSED. 0