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2019-11-12 Parks and Rec Comm MinutesCITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS, DAKOTA COUNTY, MINNESOTA PARKS AND RECREATION MEETING November 12, 2019 The November meeting of the Mendota Heights Parks and Recreation Commission was held on Tuesday, November 12, 2019, at Mendota Heights City Hall, 1101 Victoria Curve. 1. Call to Order – Chair Steve Goldade called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. 2. Roll Call – The following Commissioners were present: Chair Steve Goldade, Commissioners: Patrick Cotter, Pat Hinderschied, Bob Klepperich, Stephanie Meyer, David Miller, and Dan Sherer; absent: Student Representative Matthew Boland. Staff present: Recreation Program Coordinator, Meredith Lawrence, Assistant City Administrator, Cheryl Jacobson and Public Works Director, Ryan Ruzek. 3. Pledge of Allegiance The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 4. Approval of Agenda Motion Klepperich/second Miller, to approve the agenda AYES 7: NAYS 0 5.a Approval of Minutes from September 10, 2019 Regular Meeting Motion Hinderscheid/second Miller to approve the minutes of the September 10, 2019 Parks and Recreation Commission regular meeting. AYES 7: NAYS 0 5.b Approval of Minutes from September 25, 2019 Parks Tour Meeting Motion Klepperich/second Cotter to approve the minutes of the September 25, 2019 Parks and Recreation Commission Parks Tour meeting. AYES 7: NAYS 0 6. Citizen Comment Period (for items not on the agenda) None. 7. Acknowledgement of Reports 7.a Par 3 Update The Par 3 Update was provided to the Commission members prior to the meeting. There were no specific questions or concerns raised about the report. Recreation Program Coordinator, Meredith Lawrence, briefly reviewed the 2019 September Financial Report. Staff is very happy with the performance of the Par 3 financially this season and are looking forward to operations next year and keeping the course functioning financially. Commissioner Hinderscheid asked about the equipment in the parking lot and what the purpose was. Ms. Lawrence replied that there is a road project on Dodd Road and the contractor is using the Par 3 lot for staging. Chair Goldade asked if there was a program that was exciting for Ms. Lawrence at the Par 3. Ms. Lawrence replied that they did do some different programs this year that brought in more revenue and good community building programming. Commissioner Hinderscheid asked for an update on the marketing for the course. Ms. Lawrence replied that they have scaled back on the marketing pretty heavily. Staff has gone to more of a digital social media marketing platform and are utilizing more of the city publications, although Groupon is still being utilized. Not all of the financials are available for the end of year, but staff expects to provide that in the annual report. 7.b Recreation Update There were no specific questions or concerns raised about the report. Chair Goldade noted that the city is still looking for skating instructors and warming house attendants. 7.c Parks Improvement Update Public Works Director, Ryan Ruzek, noted that the playground improvements were underway at Hagstrom-King Park Playground and Wentworth Park. There is quite a bit of work left to do at Hagstrom-King. Wentworth Park is nearing completion. Staff will possibly move in some boulders and other features in the spring. Wentworth Park will still be under work with the warming house, parking lot and trails. There will be future discussions on tennis court improvements. Mr. Ruzek continued for the Warming House he is looking at possibly getting a 30 x 40-foot pole-frame construction. He received a second quote. The first company had quoted a cost of approximately $145,000 - $150,000. The second quote he received was approximately $210,000. He is waiting for a final response from the attorney on whether the utilities need to be included in the project. If they are, that would put the city over the state’s threshold of $175,000 requiring competitive bidding. The city would have to have its own blueprints drafted before they could competitively bid the project. Staff hopes to have utilities installed around May 2020, and hopefully get the building built in the spring of 2020. Chair Goldade asked that the Commission be informed when this goes before the City Council. Commissioner Hinderscheid asked if there were any solar opportunities at this building. Mr. Ruzek replied that has not been addressed. It is sitting in a pretty open area, just of the south of where the building will be located is a hockey rink, so there could be a tree blocking sunlight. Chair Goldade reminded the public that there is grant money being used to make improvements at Wentworth. Motion Meyer/second Cotter to acknowledge the staff reports AYES 7: NAYES 0 8. Unfinished Business 8.a Parks Tour Review Chair Goldade noted that the Commission has been purposeful getting out in the parks doing tours, and seeing what is going on in them. They did one in the spring and wanted to do another in late fall. Recreation Program Coordinator Ms. Meredith Lawrence provided a review of what they discovered on their tours. Commissioner Hinderscheid noted that at Ivy Hills Park, one of the tennis courts can be converted for volleyball. Commissioner Cotter stated how impressed he was with how well the parks are maintained. Every park they visited was incredibly well maintained; kudos to the staff. Chair Goldade requested everyone to start thinking about the spring park tour. He also encouraged the public to let them know which parks they would like the Commission to visit. 8.b Summary of Work Session Chair Goldade explained that from time-to-time they gather as representatives of the citizens of Mendota Heights in order to provide feedback to the City Council and the city in regard to updates and improvements they want to see in the parks. The Commission spent time last week working on priorities. Ms. Meredith Lawrence noted that the Commission met last Wednesday, November 5, 2019, to discuss park improvements for next year, and hopefully for years in the future. In the work session, no official recommendations were made to the Council; however, they did go through the priority list that was discussed with the Council at the summer work session. It is hoped that the Commission could start looking at playground needs and what playground could be next remodeled. At the December Commission meeting, staff will be coming back and providing the Commission with more information. Staff provided the Commission with the playground inspection report that was completed in May 2018. The Commission was asked to review the inspection report before the December Commission meeting. Commissioner Hinderscheid asked for a placeholder to review the Minnesota/Wisconsin Playground annual grant to take advantage of possible savings. Chair Goldade noted that this is an exciting time for parks in Mendota Heights due to recent developments; that is one way the city funds the parks. For instance, the development at Highway 62 and Dodd Road, as well as others in the city, is the time that the city has to really make a difference in what they are doing in the parks. That Special Parks Fund, along with the city budget, are two ways that fund what is improved in the parks. Chair Goldade continued by stating that some of the exciting work that came out of the work session was this idea that they want to schedule park updates on an every other year basis; similar to what is being done at Hagstrom King and Wentworth. Looking at the nine parks that have playgrounds and putting them on some sort of schedule for updates. So the Commission will be looking for input on that and encourages residents to speak to a Commissioner or staff about ideas. Also, the idea of addressing annual safety issues and maintenance needs at all of the parks at any time is a great idea. The city staff is doing a great job of keeping the parks a place where kids and adults can successfully play and have fun. 8.c 2020 Tennis Court Rehabilitation Mr. Ruzek noted that as part of the parks tour, they looked at the Wentworth Park tennis court, which seemed to show some excessive cracking, settlement, and uneven wear of the surface. The existing chain link fencing looked like it had a number of corrosion issues; the entrance has the fence over it, which makes the court non-ADA compliant. It is staff’s recommendation that the city apply for a USTA grant, similar to the Marie Park tennis court, to look at rehabilitating Wentworth Park tennis courts. If staff can get plans out to bid, they could be looking at late 2020. In regard to Friendly Hills Tennis Court, the surface looked acceptable so staff’s recommendation would be to meet about getting a surfacing company out there and get a couple of assessments and written quotes. It is hoped that both of these tennis courts could be improved in 2020. It was suggested that one of these courts should have a pickleball court striped next to the tennis court; one pickleball court and one tennis court within an existing tennis court frame. Mr. Ruzek suggested the Commission discuss this. The issue he saw, if they were looking at Wentworth Park, he was unsure if the city would receive its entire $20,000 if it only has one tennis court and one pickleball court. The city may have to give up some of those grant funds for the Wentworth Park improvements. The improvements at Friendly Hills Tennis Court, he believes that does get used quite a bit by tennis players. Removing one tennis court may not be the best fit for that location. There is a paved hockey rink that staff could look at improving at Friendly Hills if it is felt that the Marie Park configuration does draw or meet the needs of the pickleball users in the city. Commissioner Hinderscheid asked if the city had every received any feedback on the sport court at Ivy Hills Park. Mr. Ruzek replied that residents either do not like the sport courts or they prefer the asphalt. It seems to be a pretty even number of calls for both types of surfaces. The sport courts are a little softer, so it is easier on the knees and joints; however, the ball reacts differently. Commissioner Hinderscheid noted that he met with Ms. Katie Lowe, the Executive Director of the YMCA, and while there were discussing pickleball, she noted that pickleball was a hugely popular item at the Y.M.C.A. Commissioner Sherer asked for clarification on what type of resurfacing they would be discussing; for cost comparative purposes they would not be talking about just sealing of the cracks, it would be a full-on resurfacing material and repainting for the Friendly Hills proposal. Mr. Ruzek replied that at Friendly Hills he was unsure if they could just go ahead with a sand acrylic filler to fill in some of the low areas, if they need to do any stripping of the existing surfacing so that they can get a better adhesion with the new product – those are unknowns at this time. Chair Goldade noted that the city currently had four pickleball courts at Marie Park in the hockey rink; and staff has mentioned a couple of times of adding more pickleball courts to the hockey rink at Friendly Hills; and he thought he heard Mr. Ruzek say that if they were to do one tennis court and one pickleball court, the city could possibly lose grant money from the USTA. Mr. Ruzek noted that he did not believe that the USTA would offer any grant dollars for just resurfacing at Friendly Hills; he thought it would require a full reconstruction. Chair Goldade, referencing the information Commissioner Hinderscheid provided that pickleball is very popular, asked if staff was receiving phone calls for more pickleball courts. Ms. Lawrence replied that before the Marie pickleball courts were completed she did receive a lot of phone calls. Now that they are complete, she has not received any; however, based on other cities it does seem like it is a popular activity and if more courts were available, more people would play. The city has not had a full season with the Marie pickleball courts, and she would be curious to see how much they are utilized. Commissioner Hinderscheid commented that the city has been contacted by someone in the community about providing pickleball. He encouraged the Commission to go down to Eagan and see how utilized their courts are. He also believed it to be one of the fastest growing sports as it is great for seniors. He would strongly advocate for having at least one dedicated pickleball court. Commissioner Cotter asked if there had been a discussion about eventually being able to make the ice rink at Friendly Hills into pickleball so there would not be the issue of trying to combine a tennis court and a pickleball court. Ms. Lawrence replied that this is something that Mr. Ruzek has recommended in the past. Staff believes that would be the best option. Commissioner Miller asked about noise complaints relating to pickleball. Ms. Lawrence replied that was one of the biggest issues that other cities are having right now with pickleball. Motion Cotter/second Meyer to recommend moving forward with the full Wentworth Park tennis court project (applying for a USTA grant) and moving forward with the resurfacing of the Friendly Hills Tennis Court Chair Goldade asked for an amendment that they add four pickleball courts at the Friendly Hills Hockey Rink. It was determined that this be added as a separate motion. Commissioner Sherer followed up with regard to Friendly Hills, staff looked at the cost of resurfacing and if it is truly a cost benefit to go ahead with that, otherwise if it is like most pavement resurfacing it is something that is a band-aid and cracks tend to come back in a couple of years – in his opinion the $20,000 cost would not be worth it. Mr. Ruzek replied that staff could actively seek quotes and bring that information back to the Commission in the spring or early summer and hopefully answer some of these questions. Chair Goldade summarized the motion as being a full asphalt tennis court replacement at Wentworth Park and bids on sealing the Friendly Hills tennis courts AYES 7: NAYES 0 In response to the question of pickleball courts being discussed this evening or being brought back at a future meeting. Motion Hinderscheid/second Miller to ask staff to research the feasibility of developing dedicated pickleball courts somewhere in Mendota Heights Commissioner Klepperich stated that this had already been done. Ms. Lawrence noted that staff did bring a recommendation last spring to do dedicated pickleball courts at Hagstrom-King Park and that was not brought forward to the Council. Commissioner Hinderscheid stated that he was not just focusing on Hagstrom King Park. Chair Goldade asked to keep pickleball on the agenda for December and ask staff to think about where they might put them, including reviewing the Hagstrom King proposal and more information on the Friendly Hills Hockey. Commissioner Hinderscheid stated that would be fine. Chair Goldade stated that he would support keeping it on as an agenda item and if Mr. Ruzek was not going to be available in December that it be added to the January 2020 meeting. He did believe that there are people in the city that are interested in it and it would give them a chance to provide feedback to the Commission. It is cost prohibitive and there are a bunch of negatives; however, the Commission has changed since they talked about Hagstrom King Park so he would be supportive of keeping it on the agenda for further discussion. Commissioner Cotter agreed as he would like to learn a little bit more about what the options are. 8.d Community Engagement Check In Chair Goldade noted that the Mom’s Club did meet with their Community Group. Recreation Program Coordinator Meredith Lawrence noted that a few of the teams were hitting roadblocks with some of their community groups. She asked for a check-in on what is an attainable new deadline to have the information back. Mendota Heights Senior Living Facility – Patrick Cotter, Steve Goldade • Plan to meet November 26, 2019, at The Village Commons at 1:00 p.m. Local Students – Matthew Boland, Steve Goldade • Chair Goldade has not had a chance to meet with Student Representative Boland Community Education – Bob Klepperich, Stephanie Meyer • They were not able to identify a good group to meet with • They have identified a Neighborhood Watch that they may be able to work with • There is also a Book Club that could be a possibility to consult Rotary Club – Pat Hinderscheid, Steve Goldade • Met with President of the West St. Paul/Mendota Heights Rotary Club • There are 35-40 members of the Rotary Club; their initiatives include development community partnerships with other groups, cities, park and recreation projects/programs • They can raise money for community projects; they raised money for a park in West St. Paul • The local Rotary Club can apply for grants from the Rotary District • The club can also provide volunteers for projects • Everyone in the club is engaged in the community • The President is going to schedule a date for the Commission to make a Parks and Recreation Presentation • They meet every Wednesday from 7:30 – 8:30 p.m. at Southview Country Club • They are currently booked out until January 2020 and they will provide a date sometime in January It is the hope of the Commission to have these Community Engagement Meetings finished by their January 2020 meeting. 9. New Business 9.a Community Engagement Presentation Commissioners Sherer and Miller presented their findings from the Community Engagement Session with the Mom’s Club: • Met with 5-6 members at Commissioner Sherer’s home • All were residents of Mendota Heights • Went through the survey questions and had general conversation about the parks How long have they lived in Mendota Heights? • 3 years to all of their lives Top reasons for living in the community • Uniqueness of Mendota Heights having mature trees, open space, large lots • Attracted to the neighborhood playgrounds and the connectivity provided by the trial system Does the family use the playground equipment at the parks? • Overwhelmingly yes • Frequently • Every day in the warm months What do you like about the parks? • Green space • Park shelter What would you change? • More swings at the playgrounds as kids will fight over them • More equipment better suited for older kids – ages 8+ o More climbing structures o Bigger slides o Ninja course type of equipment o More drinking fountains o More shade – not just trees but maybe small canopies o Storage bins for regular common-use items to be shared o Sandboxes or places to dig o Covered dugouts at the playing fields o Community pool with water slides o Misting or spraying for cooling • Moms with kids of different ages like the amenities/options at Hagstrom-King 10. Staff Announcements Recreation Program Coordinator Meredith Lawrence shared the following announcements: • The city is in desperate need of seasonal staff; warming house attendance and skating instructor. Application available on the city’s website and at City Hall • Orbit Earth – a new event – received a grant from ISD 197 Foundation so this will be a free event over the winter break (December 30 at 1:30 – 2:30 at Mendota Elementary). Staff needs to know how many to expect so registration is encouraged • Other events can be found on the city’s website 11. Student Representative Update None. 12. Commission Comments and Park Updates Commissioner Cotter • Was out at Rogers Lake and two things struck him from the comments this evening o Sand volleyball is a great activity, the sand is well maintained o The skate park – conducive to teenagers Commissioner Sherer • Hagstrom-King playground installations is progressing • Basketball courts are being used • Everything is looking great at the parks Commissioner Klepperich • Drove through the parking lot at Mendakota Park today, his truck thermometer said 18 degrees, he did not get out of the truck and there was no one there • It looked very peaceful and quiet, very clean and nice • He also drove by Hagstrom-King and they were pouring concrete footings to anchor the playground equipment Commissioner Meyer • Everything great at Marie Park and Kensington Park • She also went on a little field trip and checked out the playground in a little more detail for future discussion. She will share pictures at the next meeting Commissioner Hinderscheid • There is a picnic table at the Dog Park that has a canopy that provides some shade; however, he agrees that it could use more shade • He was very encouraged this summer and fall to see how much the tennis courts at Ivy Hills Park were used • Thanked Ms. Lawrence for the favorable results at the Par 3 • Appreciated all of the comments from the Mom’s Club • Very encouraged by all of the improvements in the pipeline right now Commissioner Miller • He believed the work session was very productive and helpful and will reset the direction of the parks • Most of the little league equipment at Victoria Highlands playground has been cleaned up; there are still some things that probably will sit there all winter – bases and tarps, but nothing that would be harmful or a big deal • Victoria Highlands playground and park are in good shape Chair Goldade • Excited the new playground equipment is going in at Wentworth Park • The Valley Park path has been reopened • Excited for the future agenda items, which include playground updates and more discussions about pickleball • Encouraged resident / community involvement and feedback • Thanked staff for all the preparations made for the work session last week and for the meeting this evening 13. Adjourn Motion Cotter/Second Sherer to adjourn the meeting at 7:50 PM AYES 7: NAYS 0 Minutes Taken By: C. Darlene Oehlke Independent Contractor