Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-06-08 Parks & Rec Comm MinutesDraft Minutes☐ Approved Minutes☒ Approved Date: 7/13/2021 Minutes City of Edina, Minnesota Edina Parks & Recreation Commission VIRTUAL MEETING June 8, 2021 7 p.m. I. Call to Order Chair Ites called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. II. Roll Call Answering roll call were Commissioners Nelson, Willette, McAwley, Good, Haas and Ites Absent: Commissioners Doscotch, Strother, Student Commissioners Sorem, Mork and Nahlovsky Commissioner Miller arrived at 7:10 p.m. Staff present: Staff Liaison Perry Vetter, Assistant Director Recreation & Facilities Tracy Petersen and Administrative Coordinator Janet Canton III. Approval of Meeting Agenda Motion made by Nelson to approve the meeting agenda. Motion seconded by Haas. Roll call vote. Motion carried. IV. Approval of Meeting Minutes Motion made by McAwley to approve the April 13, 2021 and May 12, 2021 minutes. Motion seconded by Nelson. Roll call vote. Motion carried. V. Reports/Recommendations A. 2021 Work Plan Discussion Chair Ites debriefed the Commission on the joint work session with the City Council. Updates were given on the following initiatives. Initiative #1 – Review and comment on proposed plan to identify barriers for participation and reach communities of color through different modes and feedback. Staff Liaison Vetter indicated this remains at the staff level. He noted on June 1 the Council authorized staff to join the Just Deeds program. He indicated staff is working on identifying the racial covenants that are one City owned, primarily park properties. The June 15 City Council meeting will have additional information on the removal and process of those racial covenants. Regarding the first initiative, the City’s Race and Equity Coordinator, Heid Lee and himself met with one of their peer cities and have received the framework of the approach being used in that city. Initiative #2 – Create presentation to share information about Parks & Recreation facilities, services, and systems with up to six community groups. Commissioner Nelson indicated this was shared at the Joint work session with the City Council. She noted there was not a lot of feedback but thought the Draft Minutes☐ Approved Minutes☒ Approved Date: 7/13/2021 Council was onboard with the way proposed to share the information. The material needs to be created still and will need to meet with the Communications Team for additional information. Initiative #3 – Report and provide recommendations on alternative funding sources for park related improvements including parks, facilities, and enterprise upgrades. Commissioner McAwley explained this was updated with the City Council. She noted there was a menu of options that were looked at for alternative funding. Everyone on this initiative have been assigned some research projects on three or four of the menu items. Follow up will be done in September/October, in time for the budgeting process. She thought there should be a group meeting twice a month between now and the September/October timeframe. Initiative #4 and Initiative #5 – Study and report on options to categorize underutilized park amenities/areas and identify park amenity needs and Study and report evaluating options for determining benchmarks (park amenities, operations, service areas) the commission started studying in 2020. Commissioner Good recapped the two initiatives and noted there was no particular progress made on either initiative. B. 2022 Work Plan Development Discussion Director Vetter reviewed the 2022 Commission Work Plan Calendar. Chair and Member Comments  Commissioner McAwley thought Items 2 and 3 from this year will probably be important to remain on the workplan for 2022 and will be ongoing especially with the initiative coming up on the sales tax.  Commissioner Haas indicated something he would like to discuss is accessing certain parks of the City. The need for better access and accessibility to these community parks. There could be discussions with the Planning and Transportation Committee about how to make it possible to access some of these community parks besides by car. Better pedestrian and bike access via pathways throughout the City. Identify some things to be included in future infrastructure projects. He suggested better signage or way finding. Commissioner Good suggested a way to use the Clover Ride to route through some of the parks.  Director Vetter reviewed the local option sales tax with the Commission.  Commissioner Good indicated one of his concerns is by the time they get to the Park Master Plan; someone will say those are pretty stale plans and need to be redone. He hoped that can be avoided.  Commissioner Good explained by tying both of the Park Master Plans to the local option sales tax, the components in there that the Commission thought were valuable, like mountain biking at Braemar are now tied to that plan and in essence pushed it out realistically three years. He noted that was a concern of his.  Commissioner Good thought it might be good to spend some time looking at the Comprehensive Plan and even all the way back to their Strategic Plan a few years before that and see if there are any items that might be worthwhile to have as specific work items in the 2022 plan. Draft Minutes☐ Approved Minutes☒ Approved Date: 7/13/2021 VI. Chair and Member Comments  Chair Ites indicated in the Wall Street Journal there was a front-page article about communities struggling with E-Bikes in some communities. He reviewed what the article talked about and wondered if they have seen increased traffic on the City trails with E-bikes. He wondered what the Commissions thought was on maintaining the flow between people that use the E-Bike as a riding tool and those that are walking or riding bikes. Mr. Vetter explained the City has not had a lot of feedback on E-bikes yet with the exception of the regional trail. He thought where issues will occur are on multi-use trails where they are not dedicated for bikers and joggers. A lot of the regional and distance trails are going to have that congestion and issue.  Chair Ites Indicated the golf club youth program started this week and there were 1,400 youth in the program. He congratulated the director on one of the largest programs in the Midwest. The director indicated there were still 900 kids still on the waiting list that concerned. He wanted to give a shout out to the staff at the golf course.  Commissioner Nelson thought it was great about the youth golf program and she would like to challenge the Commission on ways to expand the youth golf beyond summer. She brought this up to Braemar Golf Course as well. She thought there was a big opportunity for activities to be expanded for kids in golf. VII. Staff Comments Director Vetter updated the Commission on the following items:  City Council actions and activities.  Facilities Division is helping Braemar Arena on a new voice evacuation fire system.  Edina Aquatics Center will be opening on Friday, June 11.  Braemar Golf Course dome was reopened for several days to use the virtual golf simulator.  Summer programming has picked up in the City.  Centennial Lakes has summer concerts going on.  Farmers Market will begin on Thursday.  Sunday is the Annual Parade of Boats.  Art Center Camps and programming at the Senior Center are in full swing.  Tobacco Policy was included in the packet. VIII. Adjournment Motion made by Good to adjourn the June 8, 2021 meeting at 8:06 p.m. Motion seconded by Nelson. Roll call vote. Motion carried.