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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-12-08 Parks & Rec Comm MinutesDraft Minutes☐ Approved Minutes☒ Approved: Jan. 12, 2021 Minutes City of Edina, Minnesota Edina Parks & Recreation Commission VIRTUAL MEETING Dec. 8, 2020 7:00 p.m. I. Call to Order Chair Ites called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. II. Roll Call Answering roll call were Commissioners Strother, Willette, Mork, Nahlovsky, McAwley, Sorem, Dahlien, Doscotch, Good, Miller, Nelson and Ites Staff present: Staff Liaison Perry Vetter, Assistant Director Parks & Natural Resources Tom Swenson, Assistant Director Recreation & Facilities Tracy Petersen, Administrative Coordinator Janet Canton, Recreation Supervisor Nicole Gorman, City Forester Luther Overholt, Centennial Lakes General Manager Tom Shirley and Braemar Golf Course General Manager Joe Abood III. Approval of Meeting Agenda Motion made by McAwley to approve the meeting agenda. Motion seconded by Nelson. Roll call vote. Motion carried. IV. Approval of Meeting Minutes Motion made by Good to approve the Nov. 10, 2020 minutes. Motion seconded by Strother. Roll call vote. Motion carried. V. Reports/Recommendations A. Special Project Request: Bocce Ball Court at Kojetin Park Assistant Director Swenson informed the commission this is a special project request for a bocce ball court at Kojetin Park. He informed the commission this meeting is to gather feedback on the request, thoughts, issues you may identify, etc. No decisions will be made at this time. He indicated the resident who has made this request and is interested in donating money towards this project was unable to attend tonight’s meeting. City Forester Overholt gave an introduction of the special project and Assistant Director Swenson touched on a few items from the staff report. Commissioners gave their feedback and asked questions. Staff Liaison Vetter suggested because of the opportune questions being asked they should try schedule an additional time when the resident would be available to answer some of the questions for the Draft Minutes☐ Approved Minutes☒ Approved: Jan. 12, 2021 proposal. It was indicated the commission would need more information and would like to hear from the resident before moving forward. Commissioner Good asked if they could provide more online visibility to this process and show a list of special project requests they have received and reviewed and what the status is of those items. Staff Liaison Vetter indicated they just received notice from the Communications Department they are redoing some of their website pages on the Parks & Recreation administrative side. There is a content phase they will need to go through over the next couple of months so they can keep this in mind as they approach it to see where a strategic spot may be for this. B. Operational Update on COVID-19 Guidance Staff Liaison Vetter provided the commission with a quick update on the impact they have recently gone through with the COVID 19 pandemic. He gave an overview of everything that has happened since March 13 to present. He noted what they are hearing from the community is they would like more outdoor rather than indoor activities and more household rather than organized activities. The primary concern is not just what can we do in the park system versus what should we do in the park system for operations. He pointed out that it does not just impact city operations, patrons and participants, but their tenant partners General Sports, Velocity and Red River Kitchen as well. There is also a trickle-down effect that that impacts their 14 athletic associations who are dealing with the same things such as refunds, credits, etc. Staff Liaison Vetter indicated they usually discuss fees at the December meeting; however, they are going to hold off on that until January to see what the conditions are at that time. C. Season Recap: Centennial Lakes Park Operations Liaison Vetter introduced Tom Shirley, General Manager of Centennial Lakes and noted that General Manager Shirley recently celebrated 30 years working for the City of Edina. General Manager Shirley gave an update on what has been happening at Centennial Lakes.  There were a lot more walkers and joggers as well as picnickers with their restaurant carryout food.  The putting course opened a little later in the year. There were 16,000 rounds played; last year there were 23,000 rounds played.  The new Scottish Line nine-hole course opened in the lawn games area to which there were a little over 3,000 users.  Assistant Director Petersen was able to get a grant, so they were able to bring the paddle boat rental to the pavilion and hired a separate staff to operate it. Draft Minutes☐ Approved Minutes☒ Approved: Jan. 12, 2021  The Farmer’s Market this year was held at Rosland Park in the Aquatic Center’s parking lot. There were approximately 17 to 18 vendors. The vendors and the community really enjoyed having it at the Rosland Park location. General Manager Shirley informed the commission they will be opening all three ponds for ice skating once the weather permits. They will do everything as they did before except the building will stay closed. They will be adding a lot more seating outside and hope at some point they will be able to use the fireplace as well as the fire pit and heaters. The restrooms will be open on the outside of the building. D. Season Recap: Braemar Golf Course Operations Joe Abood, General Manager of Braemar Golf Course, gave an update and presentation on what has been happening this year at the various Braemar golf operations. He noted it was a unique and successful year as they went through the ups and downs. General Manager Abood went over the timeline and financial results of what took place at Braemar Golf Course.  Braemar Golf Course needed to be turned into a call center; however, the city’s phone system is not set up to be a call center so they needed to modify it. Staff took approximately 1,200 calls per day. Also, because the current POS system did not have the ability to take online payments all payments had to be done over the phone.  Safety measures were able to get in place so the main clubhouse could be open for retail only.  Additional staff was hired so they could get a golf car rental operation going. They needed to create a few different positions where the golf cars were cleaned on a regular basis.  Red River Kitchen was able to open in June; however, they were not allowed to have banquets.  There were 74,000 rounds of golf played at Braemar Golf Course.  The driving range had a phenomenal year and was up $183,000 from the previous year.  The addition of TopTracer at the golf dome was an unbelievable addition for them. Braemar is one of the top locations for TopTracer for a couple of their awards and were one of the top locations in the world.  There were 1,742 juniors in the junior golf program this year and they also had a Junior Club Championship for the first time with 102 junior participants. They had the largest junior league in the region for the PGA.  Golf, Inc. named them “Development of the Year” honorable mention which is something that is worldwide. Richard Mandell received a design excellence award within his field which is very good for Braemar. They have also maintained the fact that they have a top 50 driving range and a top 50 golf dome.  Construction was completed on the new championship tee on hole 17. The process is still being worked through for a walking bridge on hole 16. Draft Minutes☐ Approved Minutes☒ Approved: Jan. 12, 2021 General Manager Abood pointed out that Jay Meyerhoff has done a phenomenal job with the junior program and Jeff Mold and his staff have done a phenomenal job, the course conditions are doing extremely well. General Manager Abood indicated that during the winter when they have snow, they will be grooming a trail around the driving range so they will have a multi-use trail for people to come out and walk, walk their dogs, etc. They also received a grant this year for snowshoes so that is another thing why are looking at in conjunction with the Parks & Recreation Department. Staff Liaison Vetter indicated that General Managers Shirley and Abood and their staff have done a fantastic job this year under quite extraordinary circumstances. Commissioners asked questions. E. 2020 Commission Work Plan Updates The following 2020 Work Plan updates were given. Initiative #4 - Develop criteria that incorporates sustainability and equity for prioritizing capital improvements for park infrastructure needs, including playground equipment, warming houses and core amenities for expansion and replacement. Parks and Recreation Commission will create the criteria and both Energy and Environment commission and Human Rights & Relations commission will appoint up to 2 members for feedback on final criteria before it goes to council. Commissioner Nelson informed the commission they are currently waiting for feedback from the Parks & Recreation Commission and then they will be able to take it to the next level. Staff Liaison Vetter noted that the commission will weigh in on it at the January Parks & Recreation Commission meeting and from their it will go to the City Council. Initiative #7 - Study and report on the strategic goal of 15% of Edina land dedicated to parks and green spaces. Commissioner Good informed the commission they recently met with staff and the direction they are taking is looking at the four quadrants in Edina. The concept is looking around surface capabilities and how the parks and available space are providing opportunity across those four quadrants. They are looking at active acres, passive acres and enterprise acres. They have then layered on data from a national perspective and began to look at where Edina fits in across the communities of similar size. It then becomes a little more granular for what service attributes they have whether it is ice sheets, playgrounds, ice amenities, skate parks, dog parks, etc. This allows them to have a little bit deeper and different look than just saying 15% of their land use is parks and green space. There is more work to be done to continue to refine that data. They will then look at that data and see what the data tells them and what they might potentially do about it when they think about their strategic initiatives and their new comprehensive plan. VI. Chair and Member Comments  Commissioner Strother indicated she appreciates the updates on the facilities and the pandemic response. She cannot imagine how quickly the staff has had to pivot to the Draft Minutes☐ Approved Minutes☒ Approved: Jan. 12, 2021 changing landscapes and changing laws and she appreciates all the work that has been done. Staff Liaison Vetter indicated it has been challenging but staff has been doing a fantastic job. VII. Staff Comments Staff Liaison Vetter gave the following updates:  Parks & Recreation are trying to take advantage and get as much work done as they can working with the new facility division from the Engineering Department. They have been a tremendous help in getting things squared away at some of the facilities.  Assistant Director Petersen and her staff have been working hard on the infrastructure side of the enterprise facilities.  Park Maintenance staff has completed the city’s portion of the Highlands Park hockey rink light project.  Assistant Director Petersen and her staff are not only continuing with the RECtivity boxes, but the “Hunt for the Yeti” and the “Fit Kit” activities are all being rolled out. VIII. Calendar of Events A. Upcoming Meetings and Events Staff Liaison Vetter informed the commission the Parks & Recreation Commission meetings will be held on the second Tuesday of each month for 2021. As far as the annual receptions those are to be determined. The January Parks & Recreation Commission meeting will be a virtual meeting. IX. Adjournment Motion made by McAwley to adjourn the Dec. 8, 2020 meeting at 8:43 p.m. Motion seconded by Strother. Roll call vote. Motion carried.