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Home My WebLink About09 15 16 MinutesParks Advisory Committee Join Meeting Minutes September 15, 2016 Members Present: Jason Tschetter, Kendall Larson, Members Absent: Cat Soukup, Kelly Loose, Andrew Uzpen, Ken Calautti, Steve Pany Staff Present: Angie Barstad, Katy Gehlar, Greg Skluzacek Attendees: Randy Geister (PLAY), Lee Bernich (PLAY), Mike Keating (PLABA), Pat Munger (Soccer), Gina Fern (ISD 719), Annette Thompson (City Council) Review Spring/Summer 2016 PLAY  Got the games in, plenty of rain  No major issues, smooth summer  Parking issues, had people assigned to parking management at Ponds  Ran into soccer a bit on Saturday mornings where parking was tight  Made adjustments for traveling baseball to allow two back-to-back games on Saturday mornings  Rec program for soccer is now at Lakefront which should help  PLAY and soccer have discussed staggered schedules to address parking congestion, but not much change  Shuttles were incorporated in some events  Primarily parking issues at Ponds/Ryan  Football is moved to Twin Oaks for this weekend to alleviate congestion  Concern about weather at Ryan if there is inclement weather o Would like to figure out larger shelter capacity for larger parks, specifically Ryan  Challenge with evening lighting for fields and bathrooms to get ahold of city staff when needed, have an on-call person to do lighting o Have had missed games because no one could turn on the lights o Keys are a challenge to manage o Schedule changes require a key holder to handle lighting o Some rooms are coded and many people have the code to access the AED, etc o City proposal to replace lighting at Ponds with system used at Ryan that enables lighting controls by smartphone  Summer sports growth trends o 1200 in baseball, flat growth o 400 in softball, up slightly o 400 in lacrosse, plateauing, still growing for girls o 700 in football, down from 900 due to concussions, etc. o 75 in tennis, up from 60 last year - no issues with court space yet PLABA  Some parking issues at Memorial, specifically on the 1-way  Sign on one side saying no parking this side, so people park on the opposite side  Temporary signs are used to help make it clearer  Neighbors have complained  Have had issues with people parking on the grass as well  Suggestion for Traffic Safety committee to offer suggestion to make grass parking ok for special events o Will also discuss markings for Memorial Trail  Would be handled through the community events request form o Creates process for large events to be able to request special accommodations Soccer  Tournament this weekend, but no baseball tournament  General field space concerns o Need to ensure that fields are properly rested so that quality can be maintained o Need more field space in general to accommodate growth  Eden Prairie is in a field rotation plan where they tape off fields for resurfacing  Soccer is looking at a facility, would be outdoor, grass o Someone is assigned to do research, but no concrete plans yet  Growth is hard to describe as they have shifted some programs a bit o Anticipating growth based on community trends City Maintenance  Significant staff turnover created challenges for City crews  Never fertilized, was too wet all summer  Switching to a contractor in the spring (Trugreen) to handle turf treatments  Water reuse project at Ponds was operational this summer o Started at Field 8, is now the entire wheel o Expecting to not have to fertilize those fields due to pond water irrigation Schools  Turf fields have helped to reduce pressure on fields  Football fields at Ponds look really good CIP Discussion  Three funds o General Fund - Operational Costs o Capital Park Fund - Park improvements and investments  Fed through park dedication funds  New neighborhood parks, etc.  $170k every two years o Revolving Park Equipment Fund  Capital replacement projects to replace community park facilities/equipment  Park amenities address short-term maintenance and replacement of garbage cans, play equipment, etc  Trail sidewalk and boardwalk replacement funding is proposed to grow in future  Emerald Ash Borer o Full analysis of trees in PL to assess future costs associated with EAB o Shifted focus from facilities and capital improvements to the Trails and Boardwalks line to address EAB replacements  City staff have been asked by council to look at options to increase funds outside of a general levy o Seasonal slip rentals at beaches o Parking fees at Sand Point o Possible per-registration fee to address funding needs for community park field and related costs o How/When do associations set fees?  Soccer recently raised fees (a couple years ago) to cover the costs of field striping  PLAY is dealing with increases for fees, equipment, etc.  Soccer shifted to several payments throughout the year to a single annual payment  Budgets are set for 2017 in Soccer and in process of being finalized for PLAY o General feedback is that this is just another tax and the associations are intending to portray this back to their users as a direct fee from the city o Are there benchmarks that we should be looking at to understand funding levels for our parks and programs  Cost per resident, cost per acre, cost per mile, etc  Over 1,000 acres of parkland, skewed by natural parks City Updates  Savage o Sports Center inflated October 7-8, opening on November 1 o Neighborhood meeting on August 30, no participation o Dome will be up through end of April o Master Park Plan for Community Park to be shared this fall o Working on trail at Schroeder  Shakopee o Quarry Lake Park is in NW corner of Shakopee is under construction with Phase 1 complete in October o Community Center is under construction - Skate park move complete in October o New rink will be available for boys HS hockey this fall o New $400k playground at Lyons Park o New HS turf installed next summer  Prior Lake o Community Events application was used this year and will be used for next year o Fees will start to be assessed in 2017, none of the associations will have application fees, but a facility fee may still apply  In addition to trash, biffs, etc Field Scheduling  Soccer raised a concern that it's very time consuming  Conflict for October 1 led to discussion on conflict o City has Fall Frenzy o Soccer moved weekends to accommodate o City to provide full year schedule in January to enable Soccer to schedule around  YMCA is looking for field space  PLAY is starting to try a new approach for scheduling that seems to be working better o Potential opportunity for collaboration to simplify process for city, soccer, PLAY Enrollment  8,342 up 479 - Largest K class ever is at 616 kids for 2016  No major projects planned for the district at this time  Twin Oaks track is not a competition material, competition material is at the high school  Turf is getting heavy use, lower levels at Twin Oaks, JV/Varsity at the HS Future Plans  PLAY has a serious need for basketball court space o Last year was largest basketball enrollment ever o Growth in participation at the high school for intra-mural, but creating contention o Neighboring communities are investing in facilities, but Prior Lake has not built any o Would be useful for a variety of indoor court sports o Basketball has different revenue streams than other sports o Is exploring it with the city of Savage o Was looking to offset costs in the school referendum o Admission fees for basketball tournaments o Gym space is in use from the school bell until 9:30-10:00 o Entry fees cover facility costs, janitorial fees, equipment replacement, uniforms, etc.  PLAY storage building o Working with City to build storage facility, going to PL City Council on 9/26 for approval o Working on "Lease" to assure rights to use the building  Ponds 1&2 o Potential interest from PLAY to invest in dewatering the fields  PLABA would like to make some investments at Memorial o Add on along the 1st base line and put up sun shades  City of Prior Lake will need to update the Comprehensive Plan by 2018  Soccer has assigned a person to research a future “soccer only” facility in Prior Lake.  Request from the City to project future enrollments from athletic organizations to understand facilities needs Future Joint Meeting Date: February 16, 2017 at 6pm in Parkview Conf. Room Future PAC meeting October 20 at 6pm in Wagon Bridge Conf. Room ____________________________________________________________ Submitted by Angie Barstad, Recreation Coordinator