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HomeMy WebLinkAboutmin-June 25, 08 City of Columbia Heights Park and Recreation Commission June 25, 2008 Eileen Evans called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. ROLL CALL Members present: Eileen Evans; Tom Greenhalgh; Stan Hoium; Kevin McDonald; David Payne; Marsha Stroik; Keith Windschitl, Recreation Director; Kevin Hansen, Public Works Director/City Engineer; Gary Peterson, Mayor APPROVAL CONSENT AGENDA Motion by Hoium, second by Greenhalgh, to approve consent agenda. Upon vote: All Motion carried. ayes. LETTERS AND REQUESTS A. Request for a full or partial refund of a canceled JPM rental down payment Evans asked when the cancellation occurred. Windschitl replied that it was received in April for the June date. He stated that the date was not re-rented. The JPM policy indicates if the date is re-rented the original renter will receive their deposit back. Motion by Payne, second by Greenhalgh, not to refund the $500 down payment to stay Motion carried. consistent with the current policies. Upon vote: All ayes. B. Request for a reduced fee on the rental of JPM for the Midwest Polka Association on Sunday, August 17, 2008 for a community polka dance. Evans asked if the Association includes residents of Columbia Heights. Peterson stated that some of the people live in the City. He indicated that this would be a nice event for Columbia Heights and that the Lion’s club would be working the bar. The event would be for a four-hour block of time. Motion by Payne, second by Greenhalgh, to charge the $40 entry fee and $15 per hour in Motion carried. the building. Upon vote: All ayes. OLD BUSINESS A. Sketch Plans for Labelle Park Boardwalk Hansen reported on the conditions of the Labelle Park boardwalk. Two examples were presented of updates for the park. One approach creates an island where the existing boardwalk seating area is. This provides some options down the road. Hansen proposes removing the boardwalk and extending the existing trail in next year’s budget. The shoreline would be restored. The second approach creates a shelter on an island peak area but does not connect to the north side of the trail. The concrete would be removed because it is beginning to heave causing a tripping hazard. Recreation Department 3/30/2009 Page 2 Stroik asked about the expense of the plans. Hansen replied that the least expensive thing to do is work with what is already there and remove the boardwalk. McDonald indicated that the current improvements are very nice and keeps the area natural. Evans indicated that the concentration of improvements should be on Huset Park because she believes that LaBelle Park is not a heavily used park. The trail is heavily used and should be kept as a natural park. All members agreed with the removal of the boardwalk. B. Schedule meeting date for Ramsdell Park Master Plan with Neighborhood Hansen reported that community input was received three years ago. This meeting will discuss a plan for redeveloping the park. Items of discussion include a girl’s softball field of correct size, a safe walking trail, fencing, a skate park and additional parking for the new gym space being built at the High School. Evans asked about the status of the wading pools. Hansen indicated that based on the 2008 legislative action the City wading pools do not meet code. The pools need to have an approved manufactured bottom drain cover set with particular screws. Each year the pools are inspected and approved by Anoka County. Hansen indicated the need for an outside interpretation of the law to determine if major improvements are needed or just the removal of the concrete for a new drain. Improvements for cutting the concrete to fit a certified drain basket and cover would cost approximately $2000 for each pool. The pool at Ramsdell Park continues to have a minor leak. Stroik asked on the amount of usage at the wading pools. Hansen indicated that the wading pools are used frequently throughout the day. Stroik suggested talking with the school district regarding the improvements being discussed at Ramsdell Park. Hansen indicated that the funding within the Park Development Fund would provide money for a shelter at Huset Park and maybe one additional park. C. Huset Park Picnic shelter Hansen indicated that $85,000 is budgeted for a shelter at Huset Park. The money has been re-budgeted from 2007 to the 2008 budget due to not knowing the status of a community center or expansion of Huset Park. Hansen asked the Commission if a shelter is something that they would like to accomplish this year or re-budget for 2009. Evans asked where the shelter is planned to go. Hansen replied that the plans show it to the west and north of the bocce ball courts. Motion by Greenhalgh, second by Stroik, to move forward with installing a shelter at Motion carried. Huset Park. Upon vote: All ayes. D. Review Park Rental fees beginning 2009 Evans indicated her agreement with implementing a park rental fee considering the new shelters. Windschitl indicated the need for the park rental fee to be a reasonable price as to encourage use of the shelters and parks. These fees would cover cleaning, garbage pickup and other maintenance costs. Currently the parks are not cleaned over the weekend so if there is a party interested in reserving the park on a Saturday and a second Recreation Department 3/30/2009 Page 3 reservation is on a Sunday there is no guarantee that the shelter will be clean. Windschitl asked the Commission if there should only be one rental per weekend. Discussion among the Commission included having seasonal Public Works staff cleaning the building and charging the renters a cleaning deposit. Hansen indicated that the wading pools are checked on a daily basis by two certified staff. Windschitl suggested basing the rental fee based on the size of the shelter. For a large shelter like Sullivan or Silver Lake charging $50 for a resident and $75 for nonresident. For a smaller shelter like Huset Park charging $25 for a resident and $50 for a nonresident. Windschitl indicated that past rentals have not caused any damages. A $100 damage/key deposit is required when renting a park; a few keys have been lost over the years. Evans suggested indicating on the rental form that if renters do not cleanup the park after a rental to not allow them to rent in the future. Windschitl brought up the fact that many non-profit groups reserve the park. Stroik indicated that if a minimal fee were reasonable there would be no reason to waive the fee. Other members agreed that regardless of what type of group is using the park the cleanup and electric charges would still be the same. Motion by Payne, to set a park rental fee of $30 for small shelters and $50 for large shelter to a Resident and $50 for a small and $75 for a large shelter to Nonresidents. All fees will be subject to tax. Discussion of motion included cleanup costs regardless of the size of shelter, the need to have separate fees for various parks versus keeping it a basic fee, and a renter could have a large group at a small shelter but there is no way to monitor the attendance. Windschitl indicated that currently Nonresidents are charged a park rental fee of $50 plus tax. Motion to amend by Payne, to set a park rental fee of $30 plus tax to Residents and $60 plus tax to Nonresidents regardless of the shelter size. Hansen indicated that when groups of 100 people or more require more cleanup than a typical park rental of 30 to 50 people. He suggested a separate rental fee for larger groups of over 100 or 200 people. Motion to amend by Payne, second by Hoium, to set a Large Group/Corporate Rental fee of $100 plus tax for groups over 100 people effective January 1, 2009. Upon vote of Motion carried the motion as amended: All ayes. . E. Review Event Wagon Rental fees beginning 2009 Windschitl indicated that the tables, chairs and game equipment in the Event Wagon is equipment formerly used by JPM and Recreation Programs. Commission Members agreed that labor and gas costs need to be offset. Evans added that although the Event Wagon was originally donated ultimately down the road things like tires and other parts need to be replaced. Recreation Department 3/30/2009 Page 4 Motion by Hoium, second by Payne, to charge a $25 plus tax rental fee for the Neighborhood Event Wagon effective January 1, 2009 to cover costs associated with Motion carried. delivery and maintenance. Upon vote: All ayes. REPORTS A. Recreation Director Windschitl invited the Commission Members to the groundbreaking ceremony for the th new gym space with the school district. The ceremony will take place on June 26 at 10:00 a.m. at the Columbia Heights High School. Windschitl indicated that the Jamboree Festival would be June 26 – 29. There have been a large number of teams interested in the Men’s Softball Tournament. Fireworks will be on Saturday evening at approximately 10:00 p.m. The parade will be at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Thursday evening there will be approximately 50 kids at JPM for the Outdoor Knowledge fishing clinic. Last year many companies gave donations for this event. Windschitl complimented Liz Bray for a job well done organizing the event. He stated that Bray would be running the Heights Idol performance again on Saturday evening. Windschitl stated that the PALS organization donated a big screen TV and DVD/VCR to JPM for the use of the hall. He sent them a thank you card. B. Public Works Director/City Engineer Hansen indicated that the park improvements are moving along. Sullivan Lake Park curbing and concrete is done. Paving will occur next week. Storm sewer will be finished shortly. The playground equipment should be delivered and installed the week of July 14, the shelter is scheduled to be delivered and installed the week of August 14. The crews will be moving on to Silver Lake Beach next week. Hansen contacted Silverwood to get a pedestrian access to join up with our park. He has not yet received a response from the district administrative staff. Kordiak Park is doing major renovations. Renovations involve complete trail restoration up to 8 feet wide, new playground, parking lot and water quality improvements. A new playground area will be added near the existing shelter. An overlook will be installed to the north of the waterfall. The restroom shelter will also be updated. C. Commission Members Hoium stated that when he drives around and sees the seasonal Public Works staff they are always working and doing a good job. Hansen reiterated that they are a good crew. Hoium asked about putting a plaque of some kind at a park or park bench in memory of Jerry Foss. Hansen suggested naming the park shelter at Huset Park after his name. All members agreed that he was a strong advocate for the Park & Recreation Commission, the City of Columbia Heights, park improvements, and a member of the Athletic Boosters. Peterson suggested creating a plaque with all of the Park & Recreation Commission Members names when the park improvements are done for Silver and Sullivan Lake. Recreation Department 3/30/2009 Page 5 Stroik asked if there is a way to allow people to buy into pieces of the parks as memorials to family members. Hansen replied that in the past there have a few requests where people have donated benches. He stated that Huset, LaBelle and Sullivan Parks have benches or plaques like that. Peterson indicated that Hart Lake is not very visible from the road. He suggest clearing some of the brush and trees away to see the lake, adding lights and a few benches. Hansen replied that under the Comforts of Home development the intent was to put a trail around Hart Lake. There are new developers for that project. Payne thanked the Commission for the park cleanup in April. He suggested doing a park cleanup every year. Stroik suggested placing more garbage cans in Huset Park because during the cleanup there were not many garbage cans, especially around the pond area. ADJOURNMENT Eileen Evans adjourned the meeting at 7:55 p.m. ______________________________ Deanna Saefke, Recreation Clerk Typist II