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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-12-19 Parks Minutes MEETING MINUTES CITY OF MAPLEWOOD PARK COMMISSION MEETING Wednesday, December 19, 2007 8:00 P.M. Council Chambers - Maplewood City Hall 1830 County Road BEast 1. Call to Order @ 8:00p.m. 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of Agenda . Commissioner Roman moved to approve agenda. Commissioner Brannon seconded the motion. All ayes 4. Approval of Minutes: . October 17, 2007 Meeting Minutes - Changes to October 17, 2007 meeting minutes - Commissioner Yang - Correction: She thanked staff for spreadsheet. She stated that we need to look at what is available at the parks and see what kind of facility is there and if it is reflective of the way the park is being used. who uses the park and how they use it. Commissioner Gran made a motion to approve the minutes with the correction. Commission Christianson seconded the motion. All - ayes . November 21, 2007 - Commissioner Fischer had one correction on the last page, the second bullet point. It should read the Human Relations Commission not Community Relation Commission. Commissioner Brannon made a motion to approve the minutes as corrected and Commissioner Roman seconded the motion. All ayes 1 abstention 5. Visitor Presentations: . Gladstone Neighborhood Streetscape Study- . Mr. Konewko distributed copies of power point presentation. would like consensus on in terms of direction for Gladstone Gateway Trail. . An informal discussion with Tom Harrington and Jon Horn, of Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. took place. . The project is Gladstone Neighborhood Streetscape Study. Tom suggested thinking of Gladstone as a whole; think about a theme and character for entire area. Five items to discuss: 1. History of Project 2. Phase I Improvements 3. Trails and Sidewalks 4. Impacts on Flicek Park 5. Powerline Burial . Phase One of the project will focus on public street improvements and create/establish a precedence of design for the remaining public areas of Gladstone. . There are several basic elements to a street scape project. They include lighting, landscape, signage, pavement, any other street furnishings and possibly public art. . Tom and Jon also had several meetings with other Commissions and the City Council. Three themes came out of these meetings: 1. Recreation Open Space Nature Base Theme 2. Eco Village - Definition: allow for human scale, walkable and allow for connectability and accessibility. Lastly looks at sustainability as a design solutions. Possibly using eco friendly products such as solar powered lights. 3. Historic nature of this area. . Looking for a guiding principle for design for both public and private development. Focus is on public infrastructure. . Provide information both on the public development and private development. . Phase one encompasses the area of Frost Avenue and East Shore Drive and proposed round about - Frost Avenue to Hwy 61 east to Phalen Place . Budget is $600,000 for the first phase -included in this budget are: o trails at 10ft. o concrete side walks of 6 feet o trees on average 35 ft on center in the boulevard o round about landscape similar to the round about at Frost and English o street lighting - Ornamental and colored. o four pedestrian nodes for walkers to rest. . Project is to commence in May 2008 and be projected to be completed in the fall of 2008. . Provide shade - random pattern of trees for shade, green boulevard, curb and gutter does not change, two lanes in each direction and looking for a 6 ft minimum boulevard for street lights and street trees. Requests from other meetings was to make the boulevard wider. . Smaller trees would be needed if the power lines are not buried. In the future if undergrounding the utilities occurred it would mean re-doing the trees. . Discussion took place regarding the connections to the Gateway Trail. Tom and Jon's plan proposes two new connections to the Gateway Trail in the Gladstone area. Commissioners expressed concerns in regard to pedestrian safety at round abouts; making sure the City is corresponding with the State of Minnesota about the connections; landscaping in the middle of the round about; ease of access to the trails; and number of lanes coming into and around the round about. . Dewey stated that the staff would work with consultants and come up with alternatives that will address the safety issues and bring back some alternative proposals. . There is a grading issue. A possible solution would be a retaining wall. One idea was to create a sea wall to avoid using hand rails, comfortable height for seating. . Trees were discussed. Issues included the limited amount of room for trees to grow, possibly using native plantings a buffer, and use of rain gardens. . Flicek may not be a ballpark in the near future the consultant stated if it is an open space the grading can be adjusted. . Overhead power lines vs. underground were discussed. The power line design will change the scenery and appearance of this area. The consultant believes it is very important to have underground power lines. Underground power lines have been included in the project budget. . Dewey stated that staff and consultants will look at the safety issues, power-line issue, and trail connections. Dewey will come back to the next meeting with more information. . Visitor - Richard Currie, 1937 W. Kenwood, vice - Chair of the Historic Preservation Commission stated that on February 23rd from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m., there will be a 51s' birthday party along with the State's 150'h birthday. The Historic Preservation Commission would like to invite the Parks Commission to have a table at the event. The 3M orchestra will be there along with the North Senior High Alumni Choir. Now available is a two hour DVD of events that took place in 2007 to celebrate Maplewood's 50'h Birthday. The Historic Preservation Commission has decided to host the Taste of Maplewood, the Car Show and the Booya in 2008. 6. Commission Presentations: . Discussion on meeting twice a month for the next six to nine months took place. . There are a number of projects coming up that will take some time along with the Comprehensive plan. There is enough on the agenda to justify more meetings per month. . Mr. Konewko asked is the current meeting schedule working. Do we need to add some other evenings? If we need another meeting, are you comfortable with this. Commissioner Fischer stated that the Commission in the past has added meetings to complete projects. The Commission could expand the meetings to 3 hours. Commissioner Brannon suggested having the Parks Commission on a different night from the Planning Task Force meeting. Mr. Konewko asked when the Commission would like to have the meeting. What other night would work for Commission members? We would start this meeting at 7:00 pm. Mr. Konewko will check into the possibility of the fourth Wednesday of the month and the first Wednesday as a back- up. . Commissioner Peterson commented that it was great to have so many people around the table at the Planning Task Force. Eight Commission members were present. . Commissioner Yang - Dragon Festival Chair the Committee to recruit exhibitors. Looking at Dragon Boat Race. She hopes that Commission members will attend. Dewey asked if the Parks Commission could help out. Maybe the Nature Center could do a display. July 12 and13th. . Commissioner Gran expressed concerned on not being able to connect with the City's web master. Commissioner Gran suggested having a secondary site for Parks information that she could update. She could create a link to the City's main Web site. Mr. Konewko believes the City should expand the City's website and not rely on an auxiliary web site. He will follow-up with Commissioner Gran on this issue. 7. Staff Presentations: . Nature Center Update - no update . Natural Preserves/Open Space Update - no update . Joy Park Master Plan - wait until Feb Mar . Community Center/Recreation Program Update . Follow-up with on-going discussions with NESA - soccer fields . Gladstone Update - Mr. Konewko thanked the Commission for its comments and discussion on the Gladstone project. . Pleasantview Park discussion - 1100 Mamie Street - Neighborhood Meeting - Staff has been asked to present this to Commission regarding lighting and a concrete hockey rink. Staff would propose a neighborhood meeting. There are issues with lighting. Concrete issue has come up before in concern to costs issues and maintenance issues. Discussions have taken place regarding liability issues. Mr. Konewko asked how should staff respond to this request? The request came from a group of neighbors. Park Commission needs to be flexible enough and needs to fit into the framework. Our job is to respond to the public requests. o Cultural Diversity issues - staff is working with Jennifer to get more people involved. Staff is working on addressing this also. Reaching out to people to become involved. Commissioner Yang suggest that staff iniate and make contacts start with congregations. Commissioner Binko suggested getting the kids involved to bring along the parents. Possibly setting up focus groups. Commissioner Fischer suggested structuring events to be fun and encourage participation possibly with providing food and give aways. Commissioner Peterson suggested getting seniors involved by having planned activities. o Trail map - Mr. Konewko asked to mark this up and bring back to the January meeting. Staff is in the process of trying to consolidate this material. o The Parks Survey is completed. Mr. Konewko shared the copies of the survey with the Commission. o Mr. Konewko also had copies of the Trail Survey. 9. New Business: 10. Adjourn - Next meeting will be January 16, 2008. Commissioner Roma made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Commissioner Brannon seconded the motion. Motion carried.