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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1986-05-13 Park Board MinutesEDINA PARK BOARD 7:00 P.M. - BRAEMAR CLUB HOUSE 8:30 P.M. - EDINA CITY HALL MAY 13, 1986 -------------------------------- MEMBERS PRESENT: Bob Christianson, Mack Thayer, Marilyn Wooldridge, George Warner, Andy Montgomery, Jim Fee, Bill Lord, Jean Rydell, Joan Lonsbury ABSENT: Don Wineberg STAFF PRESENT: Bob Kojetin, John Keprios, Ed MacHolda, Larry Thayer, Madelyn Krinke BRAEMAR COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Ed Howat, Dick Maguire, Craig Sarner, Dick Burman, John Justice, Art Katzman The Edina Park Board met at 7:00 p.m. at Braemar Golf Course Clubhouse and was given a tour of the facility. The Park Board was introduced to Lucy Rosche who is the Clubhouse Manager. Ms. Rosche gave a brief synopsis of rentals for the Clubhouse since May 1. There are thirteen wedding receptions scheduled for this year and many golf course events in the main Braemar hall already. The Park Board then adjourned to the meeting at the City Hall at 8:30 p.m. The meeting was called to order by Chairman, Joan :Lonsbury .:.Joan, -suggested that Edina's idea for the Peace theme was for the audience to join in singing "Let There Be Peace On Earth" with the Sousa Band on July 4 this year. Joan mentioned that she had a letter today from a parent objecting to the scheduling of practices of any athletic activities on Wednesday because of conflict with church activities. Joan stated that she intended to write a letter to the associations asking them to honor the tradition of Wednesday nights not being scheduled for athletic activities and would also write to the churches in the community asking them to also observe Wednesday's as church night for youth as much as possible. Bob Kojetin reported that playground equipment in many of the parks is in rough shape after the winter. A lot of the equipment has been and is being replaced, including concrete rings and sand under the equipment. The maintenance crew has gone through all sites this spring and replaced a lot of broken and worn parts. Mr. Kojetin will present an updated ten-year plan in June, which hopefully will have enough money budgeted in 1987 to replace all old equipment and upgrade all parks. Bob stated that he had a call from a man who was very angry about a playground not being done immediately and that the person would probably come to the next park board meeting and council meeting because all of his demands can not be met immediately. 1 BRAEMAR SPORTS COMPLEX Joan Lonsbury thanked all who have worked on the Braemar Sports Complex Committee. She introduced Ed Howat, chairman of the committee, who presented the findings of the committee and the committee's recommendation and proposal. Ed Howat prefaced his presentation of the committee's findings by stating that he couldn't help thinking about the kids - in particular the large number who are in the gymnastics program who may be served with an eviction notice. The whole reason this study was done was for the benefit of the kids in this community. Mr. Howat stated that last September when the pavilion floor was in need of repair, and when the gymnastics association heard that they may be losing their facility at the hut, a committee was formed to look into the possibilities and needs of the associations for facilities. After many meetings and surveys and discussions, three options were formulated: Plan A - Repair the Pavilion and be very Spartan, but restore it to its original condition. The cost would be about $204,000. Plan B - Convert the Pavilion to a gymnastics facility - build an Olympic -size ice arena and covered open multi -use arena adjacent to share common public and service facility. A major concern with this plan is fire safety. Plan C - Provide a new gymnastics and Olympic ice facilities, using existing pavilion for natural ice/multi-use as it was originally designed. An estimate of 3-1/2 million dollars has been made for this plan. Mr. Howat commented that he had discussions with a variety of people, in which indications were made that Normandale Community College is looking into building an Olympic size pool and Bloomington is looking into building an Olympic ski jump. If these became reality and if Edina would build an Olympic size hockey rink, the Southwest suburb area could become a drawing card for many Olympic games and events. Mr. Howat stated that several options have been investigated - but not in great detail - for funding of a project. Basically the options are revenue bonds - net or gross, and general obligation bonds. He suggested that perhaps gross revenue bonds and fund raising efforts would be a good possibility. Comments by the other members of the committee were also made as follows: Dick Maguire, President, EGA - thanked the committee and Ed for their support of the gymnastics association. He stated that there are 500 in the gymnastics program now and over 800 in hockey and he believes the community could get behind this project and give a lot of help. Dick Burman, President of Braemar Figure Skating Club - said he thinks that people move to Edina because they know they will be able to sell their homes when they move because the community is a desirable one to live in and their investment is a sound one. But Edina must keep up with other communities to maintain that status. 2 Craig Sarner from Edina High School - indicated that he felt it was important for community people to get behind youth athletics. A lot of what sports has to do with is dreams and the children are affected by the dreams they grow up with. John Keprios stated that there are very apparent trends - the 1985-86 season was the first time all hockey games were scheduled indoors. Parents and kids are willing to pay for the indoor ice. Through a survey, coaches indicated they can get 2 - 3 times more accomplished on indoor ice vs. outdoor ice. The need .for more indoor ice does exists. Edina has always been a city of leaders and achievers; time has caught up to us. Peggy Fifield, Head Coach of EGA, stated that they have had to limit their enrollment because of inadequate space. The main issue now is safety. Larry Thayer, Braemar Arena Manager, indicated that his staff would like to see some money put into this project to bring Edina back to #1 status. Bob Christianson asked some questions about the Projected Income and Expense report; Q: is the $50,000 income from EGA generated only by fees? A: Dick Maguire answered, yes Q: Would you cut out outdoor rinks? A: John Keprios answered that some would be eliminated but certainly not all would be. Q. If gross revenue bonds was the method of financing, would the loss be made up from general operating funds? A: Bob Kojetin stated that would be true. Q: What is the market rate for ice rental now? A: Larry Thayer answered that as of last summer, the rates ranged from $67/hr - $74/hr. for prime ice. Q: Are demographics of future users based on the School Board's projections? A: John Keprios said, yes they are. Andy Montgomery asked about the need for an Olympic size rink. Bob Kojetin said that it would have multiple use - an Olympic size rink could be sectioned off so there could actually be four mite teams using the ice for practice at one time. While the Olympic rink would be mostly for practice, the rink could be scheduled for Olympic hockey events. Larry Thayer also mentioned that if more teams could be scheduled at the same time indoors, that would free up time for adults to use the rink at a more reasonable hour. 3 Mr. Sarner indicated that an Olympic size rink would be extremely good for the high school players to use for practice and also more and more games at a high school level are being played on Olympic size rinks so the more opportunity our players have to skate on the larger rink, the better it is for them. Joan Lonsbury asked about seating for gymnastics and hockey. She wondered how many spectators could be seated on bleachers, etc. John Keprios indicated that the plans call for seating for about 1200. Joan asked why so few seats if we would expect to have large events. John Keprios said they do not want to take away from the arena. Bob Kojetin further answered that the seating has not been fully investigated and decided upon all the specifics regarding seating at this time. Joan Lonsbury asked if there would be spectator seating in the gymnastics area. Bob Kojetin said there would be and Dick Maguire said the capacity would be about 500. Mr. Maguire feels provisions would be made for additional seating for national and regional meets which could also generate revenue. Joan Lonsbury asked if bandy could be played on an Olympic size rink. Bob Kojetin said that rink bandy could be. George Warner asked about the multi -use aspect of the facility. He wondered if it could be adapted for uses other than hockey. Ed Howat said a good way to make the facility a multi -use facility would be to convert the hockey rink to a gym floor, however the length of time it takes to make the conversion is very great and therefore the cost of converting it is very great. That is a possibility that could be checked on and estimates could be made of what revenues would be required to make it feasible. Bob Kojetin mentioned that a wood floor has been discussed previously and it would be an excellent way to alleviate some of the scheduling problems which are encountered in school gyms for basketball and volleyball. George Warner feels that_if the project goes to a bond issue it would be good to try to sell the public with a facility that is multi-purpose for the entire community, not just for three groups. Bob Kojetin said he felt it was important to put a wood basketball floor into a facility to make another gym area in the community. Mr. Kojetin made a comparison of construction costs from the time the original arena and pavilion were built to the construction costs today. He said the present pavilion which cost $300,000 to construct would probably cost $1,100,000 to $1,200,000 and the present arena which cost $500,000 today would cost $2,500,000 - $3,000,000. Bob again stated that we do have to make sure we can construct a facility which is multi-purpose for more than three groups and good 20 years from now. Mack Thayer commented that a review of funding of the Golf Course Club House and arena bonds would seem to indicate that a bond issue would work very well now for another facility such as the one being proposed. Marilyn Wooldridge MADE A MOTION TO ACCEPT OPTION C CONCEPT (PLAN $7 OF THE PROPOSAL) AND RECOMMEND IT TO THE CITY COUNCIL. Jean Rydell seconded the motion. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 4 OTHER BUSINESS Bob Kojetin announced that another proposal which will be coming to the Park Board is for a facility for the Historical Society. Bob stated that location is one of the issues which will need to be decided. Mr. Kojetin also mentioned that the Normandale Park issue will be discussed at the June Park Board meeting. Bill Lord MADE A MOTION TO ADJOURN. Bob Christianson Seconded the Motion. Motion Carried. Meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m. ITEMS FOR COUNCIL APPROVAL: Marilyn Wooldridge MADE A MOTION TO ACCEPT OPTION C CONCEPT (PLAN #7 OF THE PROPOSAL) AND RECOMMEND IT TO THE CITY COUNCIL. Jean Rydell seconded the motion. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 5