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HomeMy WebLinkAbout081291 HERITAGE 1891 COMMUNITY 1991 1fTJSl(JJV 2Q91 *PLEASE REVIEW FOR MEETING OF 8/12/91* **NOTE CHANGE OF DAY FOR MEETING** PARKS ADVISORY COMMITTEE AGENDA MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 1991 COMMUNITY ROOM - CITY HALL - 7:00-9:00 P.M. 1. Call to order 2. Minutes from meeting of 7/10/91 3. Staff Reports A. Director of Parks and Recreation 4. New Business A. Review of Parks and Recreation Department Capital Improvement Program (1992-96) 5. Old Business A. Update on trail development in Lakefront Park 6. Set next meeting date A. Next scheduled meeting would be Monday, September 9 7. Adjourn the meeting **PLEASE---CALL TO CONFIRM YOUR ATTENDANCE!!** AGEN21 4629 Dakota St. S.E., Prior Lake, Minnesota 55372 / Ph. (612) 447.4230 / Fax (612) 447-4245 HERITAGE 1891 COMMUNITY 1991 CU7JS();.A/~ 2Q91 PARKS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES JULY 10, 1991 The July 10, 1991 Parks Advisory Committee Meeting was called to order by Chairman, Doug Berens at 7:12 p.m. Those members present were Kathe Abrams, Tony Anderson, Doug Berens, Ron ceminsky, Pat Heaney, Art Schoot, Kathy Smith, Dan Wehrs, Dave Unmacht, City Manager and Bill Mangan, Director of Parks and Recreation. Mike Babcock was absent. The minutes from the June 19, 1991 meeting were reviewed. TONY ANDERSON MADE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE MINUTES. SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED. ART SCHOOT Bill Mangan indicated that the trails were started at Sand Point Beach today, July 10, 1991 with the funding from the Prior Lake Lions Club. Prior Lake Blacktop received the low bid of approximately $14,000 to pave from Shady Beach Trail up to the bathhouse and from bathhouse to Shelter #2 and the strip of asphalt from the parking lot to the lake where the winter fish house access will be. The project should be finished by the end of this week. The 16 foot fireplace in Pavilion #2 at Sand Point is almost completed. The cost will be $4,200.00. It will be a very nice addition to the shelter. The balance of the funds from the Lions Club went to trees at Sand Point. Bill Mangan also indicated that the Centennial Committee will be sponsoring Bob & the Beachcombers at Sand Point Beach on Sunday, July 21 from 4:00 - 8:00 PM. This is a free concert. 1500 people are anticipated to attend. Bill Mangan gave an update on the Summer Playground pro9ram which is about half over now. We've continued to grow in thlS program and the staff is well qualified for this work. The program this year has about 300 participants. Bill Mangan stated that he received a letter of resignation from Bill Hansen effective June 25, 1991. Dave Unmacht suggested that we send Bill Hansen a Certificate of Appreciation. Dave Unmacht spoke on the attendance of the Parks Advisory Committee. The attendance was very good at this meeting and because of this, Dave felt that he should present it as self-evaluation perceptions as he sees it. At present, there are 3 volunteer committees in Prior Lake with a 4th one coming. He likes to remain as a laison between the staff or chair~erson in the various groups and the Council. It seems that the lssue with the Parks Advisory Committee has been the lack of quorum. 4629 Dakota St. 5.E., Prior Lake, Minnesota 55372 / Ph. (612) 447.4230 Fax (612) 447-4245 July 10, 1991 Parks Advisory Committee Meeting- Page 2 Discussion followed in reference to this issue. Perhaps the committee should be smaller, the night should be changed or start meetings at a later time. Bill Mangan indicated that during February, March & April the second Wednesday had to be postponed due to a lack of a quorum. There were issues that needed to be addressed and decisions made at these meetings and deadlines and timeframes are being missed because these meetings had to be postponed. Dave Unmacht indicated that one more than 50% of the members is needed to have a quorum. KATHE ABRAMS MADE A MOTION TO CHANGE THE PARKS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING DATE FROM THE SECOND WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH TO THE SECOND MONDAY OF THE MONTH BEGINNING IN AUGUST, 1991. DAN WEHRS SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED. The Bylaws will need to be changed to read according to the above motion. Dave Unmacht suggested that the Parks Advisory at the City Council meetings especiall~ when are on the agenda to show that their lnterest Parks Advisory Committee meetings. Pat Heane~ stated that he wanted to know the status of the Councils lnvolvement in pursuing the wish list presented from the Parks Advisory Committee when the Committee was first organized. The Committee is now a little more leary about presenting more ideas for fear of being shut down. Members be present the parks issues goes beyond the Dave Unmacht stated that he felt that the Council has completely backed out of setting the Parks Committee agenda and will leave this solely in the hands of the Committee. Pat Heaney was wondering why the revenues generated from the Park Dedication fee has not been increased and why this all takes so long. Other communities seem to be able to charge a larger fee. Dave Unmacht indicated that there is not an easy answer and that there are a lot of factors involved. Need to have a happy medium that will satisfy developers also. Fees are reviewed each year and also a "Collectors Street" fee (an impact fee) is going to be instituted which will allow for the pavement of trails, building of roadways, collectors streets, etc. in the future. Bill Mangan mentioned that the Parks Dedication fee recommendation is part of the Parks Comprehensive Plan and was reviewed by this Committee and the Council. This is only a small part of the City's Comprehensive Plan which should be completed shortly and will be presented to the Council for action. When this plan is approved, Bills document becomes part of that policy and at that time these impact fees can go into affect. July 10, 1991 Parks Advisory Committee Meeting - Page 3 Dave Unmacht stated that is was unclear to him that the Committee wanted these fees increased. He suggested that if a motion is made to recommend something, this needs to be addressed to Dave through a memo so that he can proceed accordingly. The Committee agreed that this issue had been discussed but no motion had ever been made. Discussion followed. Dave Unmacht stated that the focus is on commercial industrial development. A feasibility study is presently being done for County Road 21. The focus in the past has been on putting sewer and water in throughout the City and that is now finished. Kathy smith asked if businesses are really welcomed into the community. Dave Unmacht said that measures are taken of welcoming new residents; the City sends out new resident packages and there are two welcome wagons. The EDC sends out letters to new businesses but sometimes this isn't done on a regular basis. Perhaps the City should send the new resident packages to businesses also. Dave Unmacht indicated that there are two plots of land for designated sites for Industrial Parks. (short term & long term). The short term is County Road 21 and the long term is County Road 42, and County Road 18 to County Road 21. The second site is 140 acres (Horst Graser is doing the platting, Larry Anderson is doing the sewer and water, a feasibility study is being done and Kay Schmudlach is doing the financing). He is estimating this all will go to the Council within two months. The problem is that there is no private developer that will finance it. Pat Heaney felt that it was a good idea to at least have the feasibility study, etc. that can be presented to the public; at least this is a start & that this is available and the public has a choice. Discussion followed. Pat Heaner said that he would talk to Jim Riccioli of the Prior Lake Amerlcan and ease into ~romoting the activities of the Parks Department and the Parks Advlsory Committee. Doug Berens reviewed Section H of the Bylaws regarding the absence of a member and asked for staff direction. DAN WEHRS MADE A MOTION TO DIRECT STAFF TO SEND MICHAEL BABCOCK A LETTER ASKING HIM IF HE WISHES TO CONTINUE TO SERVE ON THE PARKS ADVISORY COMMITTEE OR RESIGN FROM IT. TONY ANDERSON SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION WAS CARRIED. July 10, 1991 Parks Advisory Committee Meeting - Page 4 New Business is staff recommendation to city Council for trail development. Bill Mangan said that the recommendations from the Parks Advisory Committee were to go to the July 1, 1991 City Council meeting but this meeting was cancelled. The legislative rap-up was in Brooklyn Park on June 26th. The City needs to cut $85,000 to $100,000 on top of $65,000. Because we are not getting these dollars, the City will need to cut back in various areas. Bill Mangan, with direction from staff, will be submitting the following recommendations to the City Council at the Monday, July 15, 1991 meeting. The Parks Advisory Committee reviewed and discussed the following items: Trail construction of Lakefront Park and Highway 13. As a result of this discussion, the following motion was passed as the Parks Advisory Committee recommendation. The Parks Advisory Committee recommend to the City Council of Prior Lake that the plans and specifications be prepared for Project 91-14 excluding trail lighting and bridge construction. This would be the paving of asphalt trails from County Road 21 to Lakefront Park and County Road 39 from Highway 13 South to Highway 13. The motion passed 6-0. The Parks Department staff would do the restoration and sodding which would save enough money to bring the projects within a $150,000 budgeted amount. Bill Mangan also indicated that staff meant to discuss the financing of this ~roject. 1) How will the city finance the project and 2) What wll1 the construction timeframe be and 3) What can City staff do in-house to bring the project within the dollar targeted. Because of the cancellation of the July 1, 1991 council meeting, time is running out to get all of the work done before frost. Dave Unmacht and Finance agreed to take the Project 91-14 recommendation to the Council in its' entirety and will recommend that the project be broken into a two year project; the first year being Lakefront Park and funding the full $75,000 for Lakefront out of the General Fund balance, and the second phase being that the Engineering Department would do the surveying and designing of all the plans and specs for the bid letting and construction of Franklin Trail starting in the Spring, 1992. The $85,000 will be used out of the General Fund balance to pick up the slack from the lack of local government aids that we're not getting from the State and therefore no department will have to cut their operating budgets or departments this year. The City Council will need to approve the plans & specifications and the bid letting for Lakefront Park will be Tuesday, September 3, 1991. Informational meetings and public hearings will be held to inform the residents that a trail will be going in their front yard for the Franklin Trail project. Every residential lot will need to be surveyed and elevations set for driveways, sidewalks, curbs, July 10, 1991 Parks Advisory Committee Meeting - Page 5 fire hydrants and utilities. These plans can be done over the winter for bid letting in the Spring of 1992. Bill Mangan indicated that the County Road 44 project has been pushed back to 1993 because of budget considerations. County Road 42 has been pushed back to 1994; however, the Wagon Bridge construction will be started on July 22, 1991. Kathy smith asked if the project will cost more because we will need to spread it over a two year period. Bill Man9an indicated that the bid from Prior Lake Blacktop had not lncluded the Franklin Trail project but that they had indicated that if both projects were bid at the same time, there could be a savings. Bill didn't feel that this would affect too much. City staff may have to do more work to make the dollar stretch. Kathy Smith felt that the Committee has become somewhat frustrated because every time something is about to take place something happens to prolong it. It seems that whatever is voted upon really doesn't happen within the proposed timeframe. There was some discussion on the informational meetings to be held with the Franklin Trail residents. Art Schoot asked if the Parks Advisory Committee would be involved in the public and informational hearings. Bill Mangan said that he, Dave Unmacht, the Mayor and Advisory Committee would conduct the hearings. Advisory Committee would then have direct contact with and would know what was going on. Dan Wehrs asked if there was a a certain timeframe in which these meetings needed to be held. the Parks The Parks the public Bill Mangan said that once the plans review, informational and public through the Council. Approval of happen in approximately March. Kathe Abrams asked if a large map could be given to the Committee members; perhaps color coded to show the location of the proposed trails, what the County plans to do, the Wagon Bridge project, etc. were complete for public hearings would be established the plans would hopefully Ron Ceminsky suggested that a map should be put in the Prior Lake American of the proposed trails. Pat Heaney suggested that a nice eye-catching sign be put up directing people to the trails once the trails are completed. July 10, 1991 Parks Advisory Committee Meeting - Page 6 Bill Mangan said that the City has our own sign routin9 machine. A sign could be made saying "Lakefront Park Hike/Blke Trail". These could be placed at West & Erie Avenues off of County Road 21. The next order of business was to review the "Meeting in the Park" . It was the general concensus of the Committee that the park meeting was successful; there were a lot of questions on the progress of trail develo~ment, what needs to be done in the parks and very little criticlsm. The police and fire department definitely helped bring the residents out. There wasn't a real good turn-out at Raspberry Ridge (approximately 20 people/15 of which were kids). The second week was as good as the first week but at 3:30 it started to rain and ther were early at Island View and only stayed for approximately 45 mlnutes. Bill Mangan suggested that the Committee should start something a little earlier next year and pursue the clean-up. This could be done in conjunction with City Clean-up day in the Spring. The Mayor can proclaim "Clean-up Week" and include the parks. Art Schoot asked if Bill Mangan had gotten any information on the suspended bridge at Lakefront Park. Bill Mangan said that Bruce Loney is working on getting some cost estimates and as soon as he does, he will bring those figures to the meeting. The five year capital improvement program will be on the agenda for the next meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, August 12, 1991 at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 p.m. HERITAGE 1891 COMMUNITY 1991 19J.3f)JV 2Qf}/ MEMORANDUM TO: FROM: RE: DATE: Parks Advisory Committee Bill Mangan, Director of PAC MEETING TO CONDUCT A August 20, 1991 ~/ Ij(\ Members IF) f t Parks and Recreation . PUBLIC HEARING Due to a whirlwind schedule to try to research a project that recently came up, I inadvertentl~ did not send out a letter of explanation to you before a PubllC Hearing Notice came out in the paper. I apologize to you for this, however please read this memo carefully to get an understanding of what is going on. On July 20, 1991, Horst Graser, City Planner, received a letter of intent from Mr. William McDonald, owner of the 2 acre parcel next to the Wagon Bridge. The letter of intent spelled out an offer in which Mr. McDonald would be willing to sell the property to the City of Prior Lake. Two years ago, Mr. McDonald also offered the property to the City for $300,000 in which the city Council promptly denied because of the lack of funds. with this current letter of intent, Mr. McDonald is offering the property to the City under the following terms: $25,000 down payment Contract for Deed @ 10% interest $100,000 Gift to the city Total sale price of $245,000 $120,000 for 10 years I met with Dave Unmacht and Horst Graser to decide how we would approach this latest offer. It was decided that I would look into the availability of grant funds, Horst would look into private funds, and we would meet to decide how to approach Mr. McDonald. I found out that there are grant funds available, however, the deadline for applications is September 1. In this timeframe, I have to get a Resolution passed by the council to apply for the funds and also conduct a Public Hearing to receive public input as to whether the City should apply for a grant. I received this information on Wednesday, August 14, after a meeting with the State Department of Trade and Economic Development. Dave was on vacation, so I met immediately with Kay Schmudlach, Assistant city Manager, and we decided to put the Resolution on the Council agenda for Monday, August 19; submit a Public Hearing Notice to the paper for August 29 to have the PAC conduct the Public Hearing; thus all of the requirements by the State would be met to be able to apply for the grant. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT WE HAVE TO PURCHASE THE PROPERTY---THAT DECISION 4629 Dakota St. S.E., Prior Lake, Minnesota 55372 / Ph. (612) 447.4230 / Fax (612) 447.4245 MEMO TO PAC page 2 CAN BE MADE DEPENDING ON THE SUCCESS OF THE GRANT APPLICATION. After those requirements were met, I immediately began the process of filling out the application. There are land appraisals that have to be completed, drawings need to be done, plans completed, funding methods approved, etc. In all of this chaos, I thought that I would see how the Council reacted Monday evening and then either cancel the Public Hearing or inform the PAC that we would have a meeting to conduct a Public Hearin9' That is the reason for this memo---to inform you that the Councl1 passed the Resolution supporting the submittal of a grant application. Here is how the grant process works: 1. Prepare the grant application for submittal on August 30 (September 1 is a Sunday); 2. Inform Mr. McDonald that the City is seeking Grant Funds to assist in the purchase; 3. If successful, the City of Prior Lake could receive 50% of the grant application ($300,000 acquisition and development) or $150,000 which would be applied to the purchase of the property; 4. Mr. McDonald's contribution can be used by the City as an "in-kind" contribution meaning that the city's cost of acquiring and developing this property would be $50,000. with the new bridge going in, that parcel of land is invaluable to the Park System. It is the geographic center of the communitr, it is located on a County Trail, and there is historical slgnificance to the property (Grainwood crossing). So that is the history of what has been happening in less than a week---it has been a whirlwind pace. The Public Hearing is scheduled for Thursday, August 29, at 7:00 P.M. in the Council Chambers. Please mark your calendars for this Special Meeting. I do not anticipate a lot of people at this meeting. I would be very surprised if anyone would show up which is normal for a public hearing. Please remember that we are not conducting a Public Hearing to purchase this property---the Hearing is to receive public input for making an application to apply for grant funding, and the Citr Council has already passed a Resolution supporting the applicatlon. I apologize for not getting this to you earlier. If you have any questions or need clarification on any of this, please call me at the office to have your questions answered. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.