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HomeMy WebLinkAboutmin-february 25, 09 City of Columbia Heights Park and Recreation Commission February 25, 2009 Tom Greenhalgh called the meeting to order at 6:33 p.m. ROLL CALL Members present: Tom Greenhalgh; Stan Hoium; Kevin McDonald; David Payne; Marsha Stroik; Gary Peterson, Mayor; Kevin Hansen, Public Works Director; Keith Windschitl, Recreation Director APPROVAL CONSENT AGENDA Motion by Stroik, second by Hoium, to approve consent agenda. Upon vote: All ayes. Motion carried. LETTERS AND REQUESTS A. Request for the down payment to be refunded on a canceled JPM rental due to a death in the family Windschitl indicated this rental is on a Thursday evening in June. He had received a phone call from this party stating there were problems with the caterer, a few weeks later they called regarding the death of the bride’s father. Windschitl has seen an increase in these types of situations from other cultures suspending celebrations after a death. In light of the budget situation he does not suggest deviating from the policy. Windschitl recommended not giving a refund but offering another date to transfer the rental to. Hoium stated that the budget crisis should not be a factor and believes that this group has given ample notice for a refund. Stroik indicated that the letter and obituary are contradictory in when the funeral is taking place. She is not opposed to re-renting Murzyn Hall within in the same calendar year. Payne asked why the hall was rented on a Thursday and if they are rented. Windschitl stated that the $500 payment is the down payment to go towards the whole rental fee. He stated that the policy states that down payments are not refundable. Payne indicated how he can see both sides of this situation and is unsure of what to do. You need to have a policy in place to deter people from reserving and not following through on a rental. Windschitl indicated that this situation is slightly different because it is a Thursday and not the typical Friday or Saturday rental. With this date being a Thursday it would most likely not re-rent. Stroik stated that when trying to remain true to the policy in place should it matter what day of the week it is. She indicated problems might occur by opening up the policy where any one can cancel at any time and not follow through with a rental. Hoium indicated that each case is made on an individual basis and precedence is not being set by this decision. McDonald agreed. Windschitl agreed. Motion by Hoium, to give half of the down payment back or offer the whole payment to go towards a future rental date. No second. Park & Recreation Commission 02/25/2009 Page 2 Motion amended by Hoium, second by McDonald, to give half of the down payment back at a total of $250. Roll call vote: Greenhalgh, aye; Hoium, aye; McDonald, aye; Motion carried. Payne, abstain; Stroik, abstain. Upon vote: 3 ayes, 2 abstain. B. Request for a reduction in the rental fee for the Life Line Screening group Windschitl indicated that this group has rented a room at JPM about once a year. With this group being a return rental he would recommend a 25% discount if they were to rent the space any time after 12:00 noon because we would have a full rental in the main hall beginning at that time. If this group wanted to rent the space any time prior to noon he would recommend a full rental rate. Peterson stated that he had this screening process done and they do charge for each screening. Windschitl withdrew his discounted rate recommendation. Motion by Hoium, second by Stroik, to charge the full rental rate to the Life Line Motion carried. Screening group. Upon vote: all ayes. OLD BUSINESS A. 2009 budget reductions/reduced hours at John P. Murzyn Hall Windschitl informed the Commission that the attached letter recently went out to users of JPM. He indicated that this was a tough decision for the Council Members and it will be difficult for office staff regarding scheduling. As part of budget reductions the goal is to reduce staff by $17,000. The building will be closed down if there is not a paid rental or a recreation program in session. Windschitl indicated that it would be difficult to cover staffing costs from different groups in one night just to stay open for an hour or two. Current recreation programs run sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening. Windschitl indicated that the civic or fee waived groups currently using JPM will have the option to reschedule use of the building within the hours of the recreation programs and there will be no charge. The letter indicates this policy will go into effect April 1. Windschitl indicated that these are great civic groups; we enjoy working with them and will continue to work with them. Whenever groups use an area in JPM there is cleanup required after each use. By reducing JPM use this will cut nighttime and early morning staff hours. Windschitl indicated that if groups are requiring a specific night or hours above the in-house programs it will have to be looked at case by case, and a fee would be charged for additional hours. Hoium asked if it would be difficult to kick programs out of the building? Windschitl replied that permits will be set up with groups ahead of time and if they continue past the allotted time frame they would be billed back for the additional hours. He stated that by using the nickel and dime mentality is not going to cover the projected $17,000. Hoium stated that charging a fee for hours used to cover staff costs and building operations is not unreasonable. Windschitl added that because there are multiple groups using JPM and they do not always come every week it will be difficult to keep track. NEW BUSINESS A. Review of Citywide Pedestrian and Bicycle Mobility Plan Hansen reported that a Citywide bide trail and pedestrian plan was funded through a grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield Active Living Community Grant program, over a year ago. Park & Recreation Commission 02/25/2009 Page 3 There has never been a bike trail and sidewalk plan for the City. This looked at incorporating active living principles, which includes items that are beneficial to the community. Hansen indicated that with an approved pedestrian plan, grant funding for City projects is now available. Hansen stated there is two big benefits that resulting from this process. It gives the City the necessary plan to support applications going through State or Federal means. It also gives staff a working document, that will change over time and update as funding or needs change to fit the needs of the community. Blue Cross has approved this plan and the next step is for the Commission to submit input on the plan approve it and send it on the City Council for approval. Staff is trying to integrate some of these recommendations into work being done in 2009. For example in Zone 4 recommending new sidewalks to connect up with main corridors or connections to common areas like parks. Fridley is interested in working together on this plan to make those kinds of connections. Hansen indicated that bike trails could be done in the parks, but are difficult to incorporate into a fully developed community. One of the least impactful and least costly ways to do bike trails in the City is to designate trails by painting the lines on the road. One idea is on Stinson Blvd. to make a connection up to the park with a trail down the th sliding hill to 37 Avenue. St. Anthony Village has done some striping on Silver Lane that is three feet wide. MNDOT recommends five feet wide for at-grade routes. This is now a new and separate element in our Comp Plan, currently under development and review submitted to Met Council. This is a guiding document for future improvements and when applying for other funding sources. Stroik asked if the sidewalks have looked at in St. Anthony Village. The sidewalks include pedestrian/bike lanes. Hansen replied that striping on trails create maintenance needs and enforcement issues. He suggests the best solution is to create a trail that is wide enough to accommodate both a bike and pedestrian trail that is 10 feet wide. Where there are existing sidewalks the trial would need to be an additional five to six feet wide th for snow plow equipment to fit. In Zone 4 on 7 Street the area was looked at in making th that connection as a sidewalk or striping a lane on 7 street. No comments were made on striping a lane, but residents did not like the sidewalk. The issue was not paying for the sidewalk because the recommendation is for the City to pay for it, but residents did not like the maintenance issue of the sidewalk. This mainly includes shoveling by the adjacent property owner. The whole concept of actively living is trying to promote people getting out and walking or biking in the community. Hansen indicated that in the future paved bicycle trails are most likely to happen within City parks, and fitting segments in existing areas is most likely by striping trails on streets. Stroik indicated that thth this brings up safety issues especially on streets like 49 Avenue or 40 Avenue. th McDonald agreed that 40 Avenue doesn’t even have a sidewalk from First Lutheran th down to 40. Hansen stated that Fridley does not stripe a lot of their trails, but placed th additional signs that say bike route. Peterson replied that residents on 44 Avenue fought the installation of the sidewalk and afterwards made comments that it is the best thing for th them. He indicated that the area on 37 is not a walkable community and has no connections. Peterson stated that walking on the street is not conducive to being Park & Recreation Commission 02/25/2009 Page 4 comfortable especially in our climate during the winter. He feels that if there is resistance to new sidewalks that people would change their opinions after they have the sidewalks and see the benefits. Hoium asked if the property owner typically get assessed for the sidewalk. Hansen replied that in the past the property owner was always assessed for sidewalk. In this proposal to get the project moving along, in Zone 4 during the first year the infrastructure fund would pay for the installation. Peterson asked if Blue Cross paid for all of the money towards developing the plan. Hansen replied yes they did. It costs $23,000 to go through the whole process with no money from the City. Stroik indicated that she spoke with a resident who bikes an average of 2,000 miles per thth year. This person felt that the grades on 40, 49 and University Avenues were too difficult to be a family bike trail. They suggested an alternate bike route on Main Street with the main issue being traffic and safety. Hansen indicated that the only area on th University with a grade issue is on 44 Avenue, other wise there isn’t very much that can be done regarding grading on current street. Stroik indicated the need to create routes that take people to where they need to be going. A family route would be like one on Central Avenue taking people to the restaurants, Menards, Target and the grocery store. Hoium indicated the need to assess how many miles per dollar that you get and are you better off putting two miles of not perfect trail verses one mile of perfect trail. Stroik replied that the trail needs to be bike-able or it will not be used. Motion by Hoium, second by Payne, to recommend to the City Council to adopt the Motion carried. Pedestrian and Bicycle Mobility Plan. Upon vote: all ayes. REPORTS A. Recreation Director Windschitl reported the current Heights Happenings newsletter will be the last full color issue. Future issues will be in black and white print due to a cost savings of $2,200- $2,300 per issue. In the past it was closer to $600 and has recently increased. nd Windschitl indicated that the April 22 meeting is the same night as the Booster Athletic Banquet and would like to move the meeting time up. He asked if the park cleanup night was that same evening last year. Hansen indicated that last year the cleanup night was in May, which was a little too late. The members decided to determine a cleanup night at the March meeting. Windschitl stated that the Park and Recreation Meeting for April nd 22 would start at 5:30 p.m. Windschitl stated that the wood floor is being installed in the City Gym. He invited the Commission to tour the gym on Friday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. Hoium asked if the building was under budget. Peterson replied the process is on budget but not on time. The estimated finish time was the third week of March and is now talking about the third week of April. Windschitl indicated there were delays on some things like the roofing process when it was really cold. Hoium asked if there was going to be an opening event. Peterson indicated that there would be a grand opening event. Park & Recreation Commission 02/25/2009 Page 5 B. Public Works Director/City Engineer Hansen reported that all products have been ordered for the Huset Park shelter. Delivery ndrd is expected towards the end of March with construction to begin the 2 or 3 week of April. Hansen meet with Jeff Bahe from Jeff’s Bobby and Steve’s Auto World. They are still planning on providing a Park donation but the process has changed to a $25,000 donation and trying to raise $25,000 by donations. Stroik indicated that she saw Steve on channel 11 talking about their foundation building the biggest and best playgrounds in Columbia Heights and Bloomington. Peterson indicated that the School District has approached them about donating money to them. Hansen indicated that the original proposal from the Auto World foundation was to give the City $50,000 for Park playground equipment with community input. Staff prepared plans and bids for that amount on equipment only. Bids were taken on preparing all of the land for putting the playground in which is $35,000. Part of the work would be done in-house but there are costs for putting in concrete curb, woodchips, protective padding and more. The whole cost was estimated at $85,000. C. Commission Members th Greenhalgh asked about the status of the pedestrian bridge on 49 Avenue. Hansen replied that he would be approaching the City Council to begin work on the design end of it in order to go after federal funding. Hansen applied for this bridge for federal stimulus money and the City has made all of the cuts in this process to date. The final decision should be made shortly. Stroik asked if the Commission would be interested in conducting another spring clean up like the group did last year. Hansen suggested this be done some time in April. Stroik suggested working on Silver Lake Park. Peterson suggested clearing an area of Hart Lake to make the lake viewable as people drive by. Stroik asked who owns Hart Lake. Hansen replied that the riparian rights go th into the residential area along the lake and that the City owns the corner along 37 Avenue and Hart Blvd. The new developer, New Perspectives, has set aside $25,000 of th their money allocated to do a trail in that area. One idea is to place that trail from 37 th Avenue up to 39 Avenue to get over to Prestemon. Rice Creek Watershed was also contacted to do some cleanup and restoration of the shoreline. ADJOURNMENT Tom Greenhalgh adjourned the meeting at 7:48 p.m. ______________________________ Deanna Saefke, Recreation Clerk Typist II