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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRCMinutes-20100914 City of Hastings Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes Parks & Recreation Conference Room September 14, 2010 – 6:00 pm 1) Roll Call at 6 pm: Commissioners Flaten, Garrett, Miller, Rohloff, and Schommer, Parks & Recreation Director Bernstein Absent: Commissioners Smith & Vandehoef, Maintenance Supervisor Likes May & July Minutes: 2) Miller motioned to approve the May and July minutes as written. Seconded by Rohloff. Passed unanimously. Vermillion River Corridor Plan: 3) Mary Jackson from Dakota County gave a presentation to the PRC regarding the Vermillion River Corridor Plan. There is a public review of the plan for about 30 days and Director Bernstein has the full plan if anyone would like to review it. More information can also be found at www.improvethevermillionriver.org. An open house is planned at Extension, Farmington on September 23, 2010 from 5:30-7:30 PM. HHB Training Facility: 4) Dustin Vogelgesang was in attendance and gave an update regarding the training facility. The Hastings Hockey Boosters were directed to investigate two different types of facilities – an attached vs. stand-alone building. To build a stand-alone will cost approximately $400,000-500,000 versus the attached which is estimated to cost about $760,000. Director Bernstein pointed out that an attached building would give the Arena a vestibule which is desperately needed from an energy conservation standpoint. Bernstein would suggest that the City contribute financially if an attached structure is built. HHB has hired a company (Davies & Associates) to do a feasibility study on fundraising for this project. This company usually comes in plus or minus 6% on their figures and it should take about 6-8 weeks to complete the study. The HHB have a goal of raising $500,000, which would pay for the stand-alone building and the equipment. HHB would prefer an attached facility, but don’t feel they can raise the necessary funds in an appropriate timeframe. Commissioner Rohloff mentioned possible safety concerns if kids have to cross the parking lot to get to the facility. HHB is planning to schedule kids so that they would go straight to the training facility and then leave; they shouldn’t have to walk from the Arena to the facility. Bernstein has requested that Stotko Speedling provide him with an estimate of the cost of just building a vestibule for the Arena – a ballpark figure that was given verbally was $130,000. Dustin stated that ideally they would like to be able to give an exact location and type of facility when they are requesting donations. The square footage of the facility would be about the same no matter which version is built. The PRC would like to know if there are any grants the City could possibly secure to contribute towards building an attached facility. It was also noted that this new facility will hopefully entice more teams to come to Hastings and will increase summer ice rentals at the Arena. MOTION: Schommer motioned to support building an attached training facility to the Arena. The HHB’s contribution to that project would be $500,000. If the City chooses not to contribute the extra $260,000+ in order to build the attached facility, then the stand-alone building should be supported. Seconded by Rohloff. Passed unanimously. Departmental Updates: 5) Departmental updates were reviewed with the commissioners. Outlot J Update: 6) In order to lease this property to the residents, there needs to be an entity/organization to carry the liability insurance. Once that is finalized, the easement agreement for use of this property could be completed. Angie Schiller sent a note to Bernstein stating that unless the City is willing to sell this property to the residents, they will not be able to continue the neighborhood rink. The neighbors cannot afford the liability insurance required to lease the property. City staff has discussed selling the property and does not feel it is wise, since this property serves as a buffer and drainage easement. It was also noted that part of the agreement for allowing the rink last year included turning in waivers from the people who performed the maintenance. These were never turned in by the residents. MOTION: Rohloff motioned to not allow this property to be used as an ice rink anymore. Seconded by Miller. Passed unanimously. Hastings to Schaar’s Bluff Trail: 7) This trail will be about 75% complete by this fall. The Hastings section of the trail is only about 150 feet, but this will be a nice connection for our trail system. There is a crossing that is very close to the curve in the road, and Bernstein asked for a flashing trail crossing sign. It is a county trail on a county road, so the City doesn’t have much say in this. Vermillion River Corridor Maintenance: 8) In an effort to reduce the overall mowing for our staff and improve water quality of the Vermillion River, staff would like to discontinue mowing much of the City-owned corridor between Hwy st 61 and 31 Street. This area would be turned into natural prairie with some corridors remaining for viewing/access areas. Bernstein is working with Friends of the Mississippi to develop the costs of this project and Al Singer from Dakota County to fund it. Bernstein has also been working with Singer to buy out the lone property owner in that corridor. The current occupant has a ten-year lease and doesn’t appear to be willing to relocate. Al Singer’s program would support buying that property and staff is working to contact the actual property owner. The City would be responsible for demolishing the property, which would not be an issue. The concrete picnic tables could be relocated or staff could use their current location as an access area. MOTION: Rohloff motioned to support reestablishing natural prairie in that corridor as presented by staff. Seconded by Schommer. Passed unanimously. Highway 61 Bridge Update 9) : The staging area is becoming more active as preparations for construction are beginning. The existing river trail will not be closed until the temporary trail is constructed. This temporary trail will be blacktopped to the City’s standards and will cut south through the natural area and then run along Dam Rd. The City would like to leave this trail in place after construction. MnDot will repair the existing trail after construction as well. There will be temporary trail lighting; not sure at this time if there will be permanent lighting or not. Arena Equipment 10) : The water softener and floor scrubber are in dire need of replacement. The floor scrubber is in the 2011 budget, but the water softener was not included. The door replacement project at the Arena came in under the estimates we were given by about $22,000, so staff would like to use these funds to purchase this equipment. This would also reduce the 2011 budget by $7,000. The PRC was supportive of replacing this equipment in 2010. Cari Park Neighborhood Meeting 11) : There will be a neighborhood meeting this Thursday at 6:00 PM. All commissioners are invited. Bernstein has received a couple of emails from residents. Staff is proposing to re-grade and re-seed the middle open space area, which is a ponding basin. There will also be discussion about replacing the playground equipment. Staff would like to find out what the neighborhood wants for this park. PRC on TV 12) : The City Council approved having the PRC meetings on cable TV. There is a $50 per meeting fee and we generally have about 8-10 meetings per year. This will hopefully provide the public with more insight into what the PRC does. Staff will keep the PRC informed as to whether this will start with the October meeting or not. New Business: 13)  No new business Old Business: 14)  No old business Adjourned at 7:32 p.m. Minutes submitted by Kristin Behrens