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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-07-18 Parks Minutes Minutes of the Maplewood Parks Commission Council Chambers July 18, 2007 Members Present Carolyn Peterson Bruce Roman Craig Brannon Kim Schmidt Donald Christianson Peter Fischer Gaoly Yang Members Absent Michele Gran Staff Present: Duane Konewko, Environmental Manager Harriet Rydel, Recording Secretary The Parks and Recreation Commission met at City Hall at 5:00 p.m. for a tour of various Maplewood Parks, Trails, and Mississippi Street and County Road B City Property. Meeting called to order at 8:00 p.m. by Peter Fischer, Chairperson. 1. Welcome/Introductions/Housekeeping Items/Hand-outs - Requests Don made a motion to accept the agenda, Kim seconded, AII- Ayes 2. Approval of June 27th Meeting Minutes Craig moved to table the minutes and Don seconded, AII- Ayes 3. Visitor Presentations No visitor presentations. 4. Updates on Nature Center and Open Space Activities Dewey distributed an update on the Nature Center's activities. 5. Maplewood Community Center Update a. Tabled - no report 6. Gladstone Savanna Update a. Tabled - no report 7. Hazelwood Park - NESA (Hazelwood Park was one of the stops on the tour. Commission members observed the condition of the soccer fields.) Dewey has been doing research on artificial turf with various companies and the U of M. He will continue to research the topic. The City has gotten a $60,000 grant for artificial and/or synthetic surface for the soccer fields. The grant will need to be used by April 30, 2008. Tom Bigelbach, President of NESA expressed his concern for the condition of the soccer fields. He said it is now a safety issue. Tom stated he believed there is not a turf management program in place for these fields. Peter Frank stated a field plan needs to be put in place. He commented that nets should be removed and signage be posted when a field is suppose to be rested. Discussion: 1. 2. A suggestion was made to survey other communities to see how they deal with field usage issues. A suggestion was made to inventory the parks in the city to see if there are any parks that could be used as soccer areas, either playing fields or practice areas. Gaolyn requested that we also think of non-permit users having access to the park. Kurt Geiser, from NESA stated there is an educational component to this issue. He suggested a flyer be created that could be passed out to people who are coming to use the fields explaining the reason a field is not being used. 3. 4. Staff will be meeting with NESA in August to discuss partnership. Dewey requested that two Commissioners sit in on this discussion. Craig and Peter volunteered. Further discussion will take place at the August meeting. 8. Discuss Mississippi Street Park Petition and provide recommendation to City Council. a. This piece of tax forfeited property was acquired by the City of Maplewood to be used for storm water treatment. The parcel is one acre, Y:! acre to be used for storm water and the other Y:! to be used as the City deems appropriate. b. Staff was directed to look at this and bring recommendations to the City Council and then to the Commission. c. Councilmember Cave has been researching acquiring free playground equipment. d. Steve Dang, 350 Skillman, thanked the Commission for coming to visit the property. He stated a playground would keep the kids from playing in the parking lot and street. He also stated it would be economic to do the grading now since the equipment is there already working on the street. e. A young man addressed the Commission stating the play area would help keep the neighborhood children safe and out of the street. f. Discussion regarding calling this parcel of land a park took place. Peter stated that there is a strict procedure in place to identify and establish a new park. Kim stated she would like the Commission to use the formal process to determine if this should be a park. Peter will bring the document to the next meeting for review. Don made the comment that this area should be called a play area for now not a park. g. Don made the following recommendation: It is recommended that the City Council authorize the City Engineer to negotiate a change order with the contractor for the Desoto-Skillman Areas Street Project, City Project 06-16, for the purpose of grading and drainage improvements to the vacant lot at Mississippi Street and County Road B in preparation for a potential play area. Kim seconded the motion. AII- Ayes 9. August 13, 2007 - South Maplewood Moratorium Study Meeting - Rose Lorsung, Senior Planner, Schoell Madson, will be presenting the Executive Summary Report at 5:00 p.m. Council Chambers. 10. August 14, 2007 - Joint meeting of the Environmental and Natural Resources Commission, the Parks and Recreation Commission, and the Open Space Task Force to discuss Conservation Easements - Sarah Strommen from the Minnesota Land Trust will be leading the discussion. 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. in Council Chambers. a. Councilmember Hjelle addressed the Commission, stating that the City Council would be meeting on July 19, 2007 to discuss various Green Initiatives. 11. Other a. Peter asked that the Commissioners to use the trail maps given them to mark trails they would like to see connected. Please bring your changes for discussion at the August meeting. b. Dewey will send out trail maps a week before the meeting. c. Don thanked Dewey for the tour this evening. d. Gaolyn also thanked Dewey for the tour of some of trails and parks. e. Craig - Nothing to report f. Don - Nothing to report g. Bruce had a question regarding Legacy Park, concerning the recycling barrels. Dewey has had conversations with Mark Maruska concerning this. There has not been a decision made. h. Carolyn reminded the Commission of the Johnny Appleseed Day event on August 18'h at Heritage Farm. A two dollar donation would be appreciated. i. Dewey reminded the Commission that they need to start work on the Comprehensive Plan for Parks. j. Peter would like Joy Park added to the next meeting's agenda. Neighbors would like to come to the Commission meeting to discuss issues. 12. Next meeting will be August 15, 2007. The Commission will meet at City Hall at 6:00 p.m. The Commission will tour more parks and trails. They will then convene the regular meeting at 8:00 in Council Chambers at City Hall.