HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-10-07 Parks & Rec Comm MinutesDraft Minutes☐
Approved Minutes☒
Approved Date: 11/12/2019
Minutes
City Of Edina, Minnesota
Edina Parks & Recreation Commission
City Hall, Council Chambers
Monday, Oct. 7, 2019
7 p.m.
I. Call To Order
Chair Good called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m.
II. Roll Call
Answering roll call were Commissioners McAwley, Miller, Ites, Dahlien, Good, Nelson, McCormick
and Student Commissioner Osborne
Absent: Commissioners Willette, Strother and Student Commissioner Lelas
Staff present: Staff Liaison Perry Vetter, Administrative Coordinator Janet Canton and
Transportation Planner Andrew Scipioni
III. Approval Of Meeting Agenda
Motion made by Miller to approve the meeting agenda. Motion seconded by Nelson. Motion
carried.
IV. Approval Of Meeting Minutes
Motion made by Nelson to approve the Sept. 10, 2019 minutes. Motion seconded by Miller.
Motion carried.
V. Community Comment
Oscar Graves, 4215 Oakdale Ave. S., is a fifth grader at Highlands Elementary School and spoke
about the need for skate parks in Edina.
VI. Reports/Recommendations
A. Presentation on Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan
Andrew Scipioni, Transportation Planner, gave a presentation to the commission on the
Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan. The plan was adopted in 2018 by the City Council and was a
culmination of a public process and review of policy, plans and goals that created a vision to guide
future development of non-motorized trails infrastructure in Edina, including sidewalks, bike
facilities and shared-use paths.
Commissioners asked questions and provided feedback.
B. Park Assignment Discussion
Chair Good informed the commission the intent of this when it was brought up at the August
meeting is how the commission can become more proactive in engaging with the community as
opposed to waiting until someone had an issue or problem.
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The commission discussed the park assignment reestablishment and it was decided they are in
support of it.
It was also discussed having commissioners as liaisons to the athletic associations. Part of the
thought process was to look at the list of athletic associations and decide if they want to have a
liaison from the commission with those athletic associations. Chair Good also asked how they
can provide appropriate concise feedback so it’s meaningful from a department perspective as
opposed to just talking at a commission meeting once a month.
Chair Good asked the commissioners to pick out three to six parks they would like to align with
and let Staff Liaison Vetter or Administrative Coordinator Canton know which parks those are.
He also asked staff to indicate which parks have neighborhood associations tied to them. Lastly,
he asked if there was someone on the commission who has a strong affiliation with one or two
of the athletic associations and would like to volunteer on a trial basis to see how it works.
Staff Liaison Vetter noted that staff can come up with some options regarding feedback tools and
putting together a template.
C. Consideration of Special Project Guidelines
Staff Liaison Vetter informed the commission he has received an increase in requests from
neighborhood and resident groups to update or improve certain park amenities and facilities. He
noted rather than begin conversations without any background to what level these requests
might be, staff has developed a draft set of special project guidelines.
Staff Liaison Vetter went over considerations for special projects or proposals.
The commission had a discussion, made suggestions and asked questions.
The commission felt it was a great idea but should possibly be a little more concise and a little
more strategic up front; something that would allow requests to move forward with the ability
for more detail at a later step.
D. Parks & Recreation Commission Work Plan Update
An update was given on the current Work Plan initiatives:
Initiative 1 – Chair/co-chair a cross-commission committee to review the naming of a public facility in
the Grandview area after the BC and Ellen Yancey. Waiting for feedback from HRRC; there was
nothing to report.
Initiative 2 – Serve on a cross-commission committee in partnership with communities of color to
identify barriers for participation in programming. There was nothing to report.
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Initiative 3 – Chair-co-chair a cross-commission committee to develop a draft plan on Edina Grand
Rounds, including wayfinding. The initiative has been completed.
Initiative 4 – Complete a study and report for fields, courts and rinks capacity and utilization from
the data provided by staff. There was nothing to report.
Initiative 5 – Investigate possible alternative funding options to support future growth and
development of Edina’s parks, programs and green spaces. Commissioner Miller informed the
commission the committee met last week and they are now pursuing three things. First,
leveraging of the assets they have. They received a proposal from the outside group they have
been working with and now Commissioner McAwley will be meeting with City Manager Neal
to discuss. Second, Commissioner Ite’s will be meeting with an Edina resident who is on the
People For Parks Board in Minneapolis with regards to outside nonprofit funding and start to
flush out what that might look like. The third item is with regards to figuring out a way to get
the Developer Dedication fees back into the park system.
Initiative 6 – Review and comment on the Race and Equity policy statement developed by city staff.
Staff Liaison Vetter informed the commission that staff recently sent some of those policies to
the Parks & Recreation committee for review.
Initiative 7 – Serve on a cross-commission committee to complete requirements for Edina to receive
the AARP City Designation. Commissioner Nelson informed the commission she had a
conference call with the committee and found out it will take a lot more time and effort to get
their city to be AARP recognized than originally anticipated. It was decided this is going to
require the city to make a decision if they want to continue because if it is they will need to
have an extra resource dedicated to it. In looking at other cities that have done this it really is a
year-long process because it takes quite a few steps and a lot of hours to do it.
Chair Good informed the commission Staff Liaison Vetter and himself were present when all of
the boards and commissions reviewed their ideas, suggestions and recommendations for the
2020 work plans. They presented seven initiatives to the council. The City Council is now
going to look over all of the recommendations and the boards and commissions should know
something in the next 45 to 60 days on what the council would like to see on the 2020 Work
Plan. Both Chair Good and Staff Liaison Vetter noted there were a lot of tree preservation
discussions.
VII. Chair and Member Comments
Commissioner Dahlien informed the commission he played at Braemar Golf Course
last week and was really pleased with how the course is doing. It’s been a wet year
but is in really good shape and gave kudos to the staff at Braemar; it’s really nice.
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Commissioner Ites congratulated Commissioner McAwley for winning her category
in the First Club Championship. He also noted he played the course today and it’s in
nice shape. He has played approximately 45 times since May 15 and it’s a nice golf
course.
Chair Good thanked Commissioners Strother, Miller and Osborne for their
representation with him for the Parks & Recreation Commission at the Open Streets
event again this year. He noted it was another good representation from the city and
noted there seemed to be a lot of more new residents compared to last year. It was
a fun community event and fun to see the emphasis of new residents as well as
residents just across the border of Edina. He heard positive feedback on Arden Park
and suggested they keep doing this event in the years ahead.
Chair Good informed the commission he went on another tour of Arden Park, as he
has mentioned in the past, and people are already utilizing the park which is good
seeing people want to be re-engaging with the park however, the park is clearly not
ready and that has a lot to do with weather and that’s delaying them to some degree.
There were people on the playgrounds and people on the paths. He noted it is
somewhat disappointing from a community perspective that people don’t respect the
fact that it is not an open park yet and they have broken down barriers and climbed
over fences. He commented if we see that happening and we don’t think the park is
yet safe then we need to take a more stringent stance to stop people from going in.
How do we take a more proactive step to keep people safe and keep them away
from the property; it is something they need to deal with.
Chair Good informed the commission that Recreation Supervisor Bushland followed
up on a question from last month’s meeting with regards to the tennis courts at
Creek Valley. The Creek Valley tennis courts are always open to the community.
VIII. Staff Comments
Staff Liaison Vetter gave the following updates:
The sports dome is scheduled to go up on Saturday, Oct. 12; however it is supposed
to be windy so it may be postponed a week. They are hoping to open on Nov. 1
The golf dome will open on Nov. 1
As long as the golf course is still in good condition, it’s not too cold and the
maintenance staff can get done what they need to they will stay open. He added
there will be a switch in the near future of hitting off mats only on the driving range.
Top Tracer is currently being installed at the golf dome.
The following updates from Arden Park:
o The Walk with the Mayor at Arden Park is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 19 at
9 a.m.
o The power is on in the building, the patio areas are being poured today, the
stonework on the bottom half of the building is being installed, work on the
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plantings continue, the hockey rink is currently being built, the lights for the
rinks are currently being installed and the playground and safety surface have
been installed.
o There are a number of people currently using Arden Park; however, the
contractor technically owns the site. They have talked to what that means
from a liability perspective and at this point they are kind of resigned to
people using the park.
o At Arden Park they will probably not have a ribbon cutting until next year;
however, they are trying to plan something for a New Year’s Eve Skate to
celebrate the 70th year of hockey at Arden Park. It will be an informal
welcome to the park.
The installation of the playground equipment for Phase I of the Fred Richards Park
project started today. They are planning a formal ribbon cutting on Monday, Oct. 28
and people can wear their costumes; the theme is costumes and candy. The event
will take place from 4-6:30 p.m. with the ribbon cutting at 5:30 p.m.
Staff is working with the Engineering Department because there are going to be three
roadway construction projects next year that are in and around parks. They will be
planning on how to adapt to work through some of the closures with programming
and scheduling.
At Centennial Lakes the bridge railings have now been completely installed, mini golf
is now closed and the one section of the sidewalk to upgrade will probably happen
the beginning of next week.
The Community Gardens will be closing on Oct. 31. The Engineering Department has
a sewer rehabilitation project that will go underneath the gardens. The project goal is
to have it up and running by the spring planting season.
IX. Adjournment
Motion made by McAwley to adjourn the Oct. 7, 2019 meeting at 8:28 p.m. Motion seconded by
Nelson. Motion carried.