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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-03-18 Parks Minutes CITY OF MAPLEWOOD PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION March 18, 2009 700 p.m. COUNCIL CHAMBERS - MAPLEWOOD CITY HALL 1830 COUNTY ROAD BEAST 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Fischer indicated eight out of nine commissioners were present, so there was quorum. 2. ROLL CALL Present Chair Peter Fischer Commissioner Craig Brannon Commissioner Don Christianson Commissioner Dan Maas Commissioner Mary Mackey Commissioner Carolyn Peterson Commissioner Bruce Roman Commissioner Therese Sonnek Absent Commissioner Kim Schmidt Staff DuWayne Konewko, Community Development and Parks Director Doug Taubman, Parks Manager Ginny Gaynor, Natural Resources Coordinator 3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chair Fischer asked for a motion to approve the agenda. He added one item, which was the introduction of the new City Manager, Mr. Jim Antonin. He also said the meeting would include public comments from citizens on the Lake Links Trail project. Commissioner Brannon made a motion to approve the agenda, seconded by Commissioner Sonnek. The motion carried by a unanimous vote. 4. INTRODUCTION OF NEW CITY MANAGER Chair Fischer introduced Mr. Antonin, the new City Manager. Mr. Antonin extended an "open door" policy to the commissioners. He said he hoped they could work together to further enhance the Parks and Recreation Department and facilities. 5. VISITOR PRESENTATIONS John Nephew, 628 County Road B. E, Maplewood. Mr. Nephew proposed an idea regarding funding challenges. He said the commission has a need for a funding source that is specifically committed to the parks. He explained what is called the Electric Franchise Fee. Cities are authorized to collect this fee 1 through the local power company. Currently a fifty cent set fee is charged to the power company and passed on to the customer. This money goes into the general budget in Maplewood. Currently, the money is dedicated for street lights. He suggested if there were to be an association between that fee and park maintenance, the city would authorize additional money to this fund; perhaps twenty-five cents, which would amount to $90,000 per year if each household was assessed. The city would create a pact with residents, and the parks, trails and open spaces would be part of a plan making sure maintenance is kept up. This fee would not be tax deductible or based on ability to pay. Mr. Nephew concluded by saying the City Council would be interested in ideas from the commission, suggesting they implement this as a goal and have discussions at future meetings. Chair Fischer stated if the commission deemed this worthwhile, they would discuss at a later date, and ask staff to bring additional information for an agenda item at a future meeting. Director Konewko said this would be how the process would progress if they chose to go vvth this idea. 6. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON LAKE LINKS TRAIL Chair Fischer said the discussion would focus on the final link of the Lake Links Trail. John Horn was present from Kimley-Horn Associates. He said his firm has been working with city staff concerning the Lake Links Trail during the last several months. He would present a brief overview focusing on the two alignments the Parks and Recreation Commission wanted to discuss. He said a number of segments of the trail have been built; a portion of the trail adjacent to White Bear Avenue will be built; and they would focus on McKnight Road and Bellaire Avenue tonight. Of the three possible alignments Lydia Avenue, County Road D, and an option going through a number of power lines, the third alignment had been abandoned. The alignment along Lydia Avenue would connect into the existing trail through the Bruentrip Farm property and connect with McKnight Road and Gall Avenue. Crossing McKnight Road, it would travel on the east side of McKnight Road to the south side of Lydia Avenue, connecting to the existing trail along Lydia Avenue. . The County Road D option would cross McKnight Road, extend north along the east side of McKnight Road to the north side of County Road D and along the east side of Bellaire Avenue to connect vvth the existing trail built as part of the Joy Park project. Currently the city is planning a curb and gutter redevelopment of County Road D this current year, and the project could be incorporated into the roadway construction project. The estimated cost of the Lydia Avenue option (3800 feet) is $230,000 The estimated cost for the County Road D (4200 feet) is $260,000 There could be additional costs of $25,000 to $50,000 to prepare for roadway construction on County Road D. Mr. Horn then summarized the pros and cons of each option. The Commission then had a question and answer period in which Mr. Horn attempted to answer questions. PUBLIC COMMENTS Fran Rongstad, 2357 E. Maple Lane, Maplewood, was in favor of the trail going along Lydia Avenue. Bud Berry, 2906 Mary Lane, Maplewood, was in favor of the County Road D option. Janet Mercer, 3029 Standridge Place, Maplewood, was against the McKnight Road/Lydia Avenue option. Sandy Letourneau, 3044 Bellaire Avenue, Maplewood, was against the trail going on Bellaire Avenue. She asked about the possibility of the trail running along the west side of McKnight Road. Bill Schweigert, 3051 Bellaire Avenue, Maplewood, stated that since Lydia Avenue is an extra wide street it should be considered as the number one option; he felt that it was also safer along Lydia Avenue. 2 Art Strobel, 3036 Bellaire Avenue, Maplewood, asked if it was feasible to have the trail on County Road D going through the north area of Joy Park. Judy Mcintyre, 3037 Standridge Place, Maplewood, was concerned about McKnight Road and the pond in that area; it would be a safety issue because the area is not fenced. Ann Grevelle, 3030 Lake St., Maplewood, believed that Lydia Avenue would be the best route for the trail and was also more cost effective. Willis Roberson, 2424 Lydia Avenue, Maplewood, was concerned about the trail going on the south side of Lydia Avenue. He asked about the trail going up the north side of Lydia Avenue. Vahey Tateosian, 2995 Bartelmy Lane, Maplewood, believed there was enough room on Lydia Avenue itself for a bike path on the street, and he also thought they could consider the north side of Lydia Avenue. Ron Sellie, 3028 Bellaire Avenue, Maplewood, was absolutely opposed to the trail going down Bellaire Avenue. He also asked about running the trail up the north side of Lydia Avenue. Jim Henk, 3035 Bellaire Avenue, Maplewood was in favor of the trail going along Lydia Avenue. Tony McEnroth, 3012 Bellaire Avenue, Maplewood, was opposed to the trail going down Bellaire Avenue. Ordell Vanovebeke, 3015 Bellaire Avenue. Maplewood, could not understand the feasibility of a trail on County Road D. He also asked about using one lane of traffic for a bike/walking trail on Lydia Avenue. Carol Mason Sherrill, Chair of the Environmental and Natural Resources Commission of Maplewood was concerned about the trails in Maplewood and throughout the metropolitan area being pleasant to look at and to walk/bike on. Jerry Ross, 2520 Woodlynn Avenue, Maplewood, was in favor of the Lydia Avenue route. Rick Rada, 3009 Standridge Place, Maplewood, was in favor of the County Road D/Bellaire Avenue option. Chair Fischer said he has a personal preference for Lydia Avenue, rather than County Road D. Commissioner Brannon thought there were challenges with either option; he thought the best route was Lydia Avenue. Commissioner Roman preferred the Lydia Avenue route. Commissioner Maas said he agreed with the comments about landscaping along the trail, and making biking/walking/driving spaces more aesthetically pleasing. He was in favor of the Lydia Avenue route. Commissioner Christianson thought 12 feet was too vvde for a trail. He said there was more open space along County Road D, and that trees could be planted along road. He said if the trail goes on Lydia Avenue, it should be an eight foot trail, with buffers between the curb and the trail. Commissioner Mackey said she could visualize both options for the trail, however tended to be more practical and liked the least expensive option, which was Lydia Avenue. She was in favor of trees and shrubs as buffers. 3 Commissioner Sonnek preferred the Lydia Avenue alignment. She also asked whether the trail could run along the north side of Lydia Avenue. Community Development and Parks Director Konewko stated they would move forward with plans for an eight foot trail and three to four feet of green space. Commissioner Maas stated vvde trails were great, however not at the expense of a buffer. He asked about natural landscaping which could be self-maintained. He also asked about the trail going on the west side of McKnight Road. Chair Fischer summarized all the comments and stated the decision has been made to build the trail along McKnight Road to Lydia Avenue. It would be an eight to nine foot trail with three feet of a grassy or natural area as a buffer. Chair Fischer made a motion to move forward with continuing the Lake Links Trail down the east side of McKnight Road to Lydia Avenue, crossing Lydia Avenue and continuing down the south side of Lydia Avenue. The trail would be nine feet vvde with a buffer of three feet between the curb and the trail which will be non-asphalt, vvth and screening problems addressed. Commissioner Brannon made a motion to approve the motion, with Commissioner Christianson seconding the motion. The motion carried by a vote of seven to one, Commissioner Roman voted against stating a preference for the County Rd D route. 7 APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chair Fischer said minutes from the last meeting were sent to the commission members, and they would make corrections. On page one there was a question about whether former Commissioner Julie Binko said she had been accused of being "open minded" in the past. Parks and Recreation Manager Taubman said he would listen to the audio of the meeting for confirmation on this. On page two, Chair Fischer referred to the sentences regarding a letter he sent to former Commissioner Binko. The letter to Ms. Binko had been recommended to be sent by the commission the previous year and was regarding a sensitive issue regarding a resignation. There was concern that Ms. Binko had accused this person incorrectly regarding an issue. He said copies of the letter were sent to the entire commission. One of the sentences should read "Ms. Binko had e-mailed a number of people about this issue, and was sent private clarification as to the accuracy of a statement she had written in the e-mail". On page three, Commissioner Sonnek corrected the following sentence to read "Commissioner Schmidt was concerned about applicants who were being interviewed by the City Council for commission seats having an unfair advantage of watching televised interviews before their intervievv'. Chair Fischer had a question about Commissioner Brannon's comment about informational materials available at commission meetings. Commissioner Brannon had meant to say that overhead screens reflect the information covered in the meetings, so if there aren't enough handouts, the information is available on the overhead projector screens. Commissioner Sonnek had a clarification regarding the majority of seats on a commission. She had asked if this meant the majority of seats on the commission or the majority of "filled" seats on the commission. Commissioner Fischer said a quorum is the majority of commissioners that are present at a meeting. 4 Commissioner Sonnek's question should read; "If a commission has nine commissioner seats, is a quorum four or five members when there are seven commissioners at a meeting". On page five, Natural Resources Coordinator Gaynor said the Capstone Project occurred after the Comprehensive Plan was implemented. Chair Fischer said it should be amended to read "the suggestions would be incorporated after the Comprehensive Plan was being "drafted", not implemented. On page six, Chair Fischer said the sentence "there are large unused areas of parks; if these parks are restored ten years from now there may need to make these spaces active again". He said it should say "if we restore areas in active parks to more native areas, it should be noted that these parks are still areas for future active recreation if needed". Chair Fischer said the sentence regarding neighborhood service areas read "the document said residents should be vvthin a half mile of an active or passive park which is not a city, county, or state park. It should state "should be within a half mile of an active or passive park which is not a county or state park." Commissioner Craig Brannon was called Commissioner "Bruce Brannon". It should be Commissioner "Bruce Roman" and Commissioner "Craig Brannon". Chair Fischer wanted to correct a sentence on page ten to read "If I was sending out e-mails as chair, I would bring copies of the e-mails to the meetings so the commission members could be informed regarding concerns about violation of the Open Meeting Lavv'. Commissioner Peterson made a motion to approve the minutes as amended, seconded by Commissioner Brannon. The motion carried with two abstentions by Commissioners Maas and Mackey. 8. SPOON LAKE PRESERVE Natural Resouces Coordinator Gaynor introduced Mr. Steve Love, an engineer for the city. She stated they would speak tonight about the Spoon Lake Preserve. Mr. Love said the city is currently working on design plans for a street reconstruction project near County Road C and Highway 61. The streets included in the project are Palm and Connor Court, Demont Avenue, Brooks Court, Cyprus Avenue between Connor and County Road C, and all of Forest Street. In 1985 there were additional trees added to the south, and recently in 2003, the neighborhood was established and additional trees have grown into the area known as Spoon Lake Preserve. Mr. Love presented storm water treatment requirements for the project. There will be road surface that will be removed and replaced. He said this project will require about 19,000 cubic feet of water to be infiltrated. The soils in this area are heavy clay soils that do not hold infiltration. They are allowed to treat the water with filtration; which is water with drain tile underneath, taking the clean water into the storm sewer system When doing this they have to treat an additional thirty percent water. To accommodate this, they are proposing two treatment areas; one is at the corner of Cyprus and County Road C, there is currently a rain garden that exists in this area, however it never performed properly due to heavy clay soils. They are proposing to build a filtration basin with some water storage, which will take care of approximately half of the water. Mr. Love proceeded to discuss the area at the south end of Forest Street where Spoon Lake Preserve is. Currently a small portion of Forest Street runs off the street and has eroded into a gully. They are proposing to create a filtration basin at the end of the road. They would shorten the end of the road to remove pervious area that is not being used. There would be a filtration area, and they would realign a portion of the existing trail. This would allow them to treat the other half of the water quality. One of the problems in projects like this is water treatment in an area already developed. They are looking at ways of incorporating this into the preserve so it is not a flat basin; and replanting the area with trees. Mr. Love said they are unable to construct the basin 5 at the south end of Forest Street to meet the Watershed requirements. Any volume they do not treat they have to pay into a storm water impact fund, which is approximately $70,000 They would have to account for the volume they didn't treat and make those areas even larger. The commissioners had questions about the information reported and Natural Resources Coordinator Gaynor and Mr. Love attempted to answer their questions. Natural Resources Coordinator Gaynor said they have been hesitant about infiltrating preserves. She explained infiltration systems at preserves. She said it has brought diversity to the areas and they were able to grow different species of plants in these basins. At Spoon Lake, there are many trees, so they are looking at tree removal. They examined the impact of removing trees on this site. She explained how Maplewood defines a significant tree. Significant trees are hardwoods over six inches, and softwoods over twelve inches in diameter. Some softwoods are cottonwoods, box elder, and silver maple. The basin is approximately 8,000 square feet; and there would be about a half an acre of tree removal. In that area, they would remove twenty-five significant trees. They also have to look at the ecological aspects of the preserve. There are some nice canopy trees in the area; however the shrub layer is buckthorn, dead trees, and almost no ground cover. She said it would be a worthwhile project if they could do a native restoration. They are interested in creating something different in the entry way to the preserve. There would be a trail which would connect with the street. They would also add thirty feet of graded trail and fix the existing erosion. They asked the Watershed District if they would be willing to put additional funding into the project if they created something interesting in the area. There are new technologies, and they were interested in partnering with us; the city could apply for a grant if this moves forward. The commissioners came forward with questions. Natural Resources Coordinator Gaynor and Mr. Love attempted to answer their questions and concerns. There were other concerns, questions and answers from the commission of Mr. Love and Natural Resources Coordinator Gaynor. He said this is scheduled to go to the City Council on Monday, March 23, 2009. If it was approved, the plan would go out for contract bids. Natural Resources Coordinator Gaynor said the staff felt because this is a street reconstruction project; these are areas that would be easiest to filtrate. She said they do not need a recommendation tonight; they wanted to hear the commission's thoughts and concerns. The commission felt blindsided about this issue. Chair Fischer said if the commission felt strongly about this, he would attend the next City Council meeting. City Council member Mr. Nephew expressed concern over how the commission felt about the project. He was reluctant to have the whole process derailed, but if it was something that should go to the Environmental and Natural Resources Commission, this would happen. Natural Resources Coordinator Gaynor said they would be happy to take this to the Environmental and Natural Resources Commission's meeting, which is the first Tuesday in April. The question was why the commission was informed so late in the planning process. Natural Resources Coordinator Gaynor said the council wasn't able to bring the complete data package forward until now Commissioner Sonnek said she trusted the project, and she thought city staff did an excellent job of protecting the Maplewood environment. One of the commissioners thought that the project would enhance the ecological aspects of the preserves. Mr. Nephew said this issue will be on the Consent Agenda for the next City Council meeting. Chair Fischer said because of the lateness of the hour, he would table the Lion's Park Survey Update agenda item. He distributed an item to the commission to review and comment on. He said he had an opportunity to discuss Fish Creek and Co Par land with two representatives from the area. He had met with 6 Representative Slavvk and Senator Wiger. Maplewood is requesting $2.4 to $2.6 million to purchase this parcel of land. Monies would be coming from the constitutional amendment that was passed this fall. He would continue to be involved vvth this project as long as necessary. Commissioner Peterson asked about forming or joining a taskforce on greenways with the Environmental and Natural Resources Commission. Natural Resources Coordinator Gaynor said the Environmental and Natural Resources Commission has a taskforce on protecting the greenways, and she said it would be perfectly acceptable to have the Parks and Recreation Commission involved with this. Chair Fischer stated Commissioner Peterson is appointed and will be invited to the next meeting in April, 2009. 9. NEW BUSINESS - MAPLEWOOD PARKS CLEANUP Commissioner Maas had a suggestion about this item. He said each park could have someone checking in volunteers; recording their names and where they are from. They could distribute a brief survey regarding what residents prefer to have as amenities in parks. He said they could partner with a nursery or garden center to donate small plants or seedlings to give to residents for cleaning up the parks. He suggested having music, perhaps a local band, making it more fun to pick up litter. Natural Resources Coordinator Gaynor said the Nature Center had a kit including snacks and everything needed for litter pickup last year. Natural Resources Coordinator Gaynor said this is an informal event, and would be advertised in the April Maplewood Monthly. 10. COMMISSIONER PRESENTATIONS Commissioner Roman reported a soccer tournament was scheduled for April 17, 2009. The coordinator for the tournament is Jim Taylor from the University of Minnesota. Parks and Recreation Manager Taubman and Jim Taylor assured Commissioner Brannon they would make sure the fields were dry before starting the tournament. Commissioner Christianson stated the next Dog Park subcommittee meeting is April 1 ~t at 700 p.m. at Maplewood Room at city hall. This item vvll be added under "Old Business" for the next Parks and Recreation meeting. 11. STAFF PRESENTATIONS. Legacy Park play lot vvll be discussed on April 13, 2009, and this item would proceed vvth the park development process. Community Gardens vvll be delayed until next year, 2010 Parks and Recreation Manager Taubman distributed some articles to the commission members relating to dog parks. 12. ADJOURN Chair Fischer made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Commissioner Sonnek. The motion carried by unanimous vote, and the meeting was adjourned at 11; 12 p.m. 7