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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/17/1991 ��, - � �v . . � . C.. v ' • • CITY OF APPLE VALLEY PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE September 17, 1991 Minutes of the Apple Valley Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee held September 17, 1991 at the Apple Valley Community Center. PRESENT: Chairperson Greg Kopischke; Committee Members John DiRico, David Gross, Connie Scheid, Charlie Maus(arrived at 7:40pm) and Tina Rankin<arrived at 8:2opn); Parks and Recreation Director Randy Johnson; Associate Planner Meg McMonigal; and Park Maintenance Superintendent Tom Adamini. ABSENT: Russ DeFauw Item #1. - Chairman Kopischke called the meeting to order at 7:32 pm. Item #2. - Approval of the Agenda. MOTION: by David Gross, seconded by Connie Scheid to approve the agenda as presented. VOTE: Yes - 4, No - 0 Item #3. - Approval of May Minutes. David Gross questioned the duplication in the April and May minutes of the recommendation to City Council to purchase the Schultz property. He noted that the only difference between the two recommendations was that the May version requests City Council approval to allow the park dedication fund balance to go below the $500,000 amount; and the vote was 4-0 in favor. Chairperson Kopischke answered that the item just came up for discussion again at the May meeting. The intention was to notify everyone that the fund would go below the $500,000 amount with the purchase of the property. The Committee was aware that the day would come that this would happen. MOTION: by David Gross, seconded by Connie Scheid to approve the minutes for the May meeting as presented. VOTE: Yes - 5, No - 0 1 • • ` , Item #4. A. - Introduction of Tom Adamini, New Park Maintenance Superintendent Originally from Marquette, Michigan, Tom Adamini worked with the City of Burnsville and the City of Bloomington before coming to Apple Valley. Mr. Adamini's background includes 20 years of experience and a degree in Park Management, Natural Resources. He likes Apple Valley for its family oriented organization. The Parks and Recreation Department also has an excellent team concept. He sees Apple Valley's system as very well cared for and is not proposing a lot of changes. Some things he is looking for are a sounder turf management program and in the near future he hopes to implement a park by park inventory to help with the planning and budgeting for maintenance projects; not limited to just the park itself, but to include all amenities such as the parking lot, buildings, equipment, etc. The City received over 125 applications from all over the mid-west for the Park Maintenance Superintendent position. Of those, 30 received screening interviews. Staff than went through a ranking process to get the top three candidates. Mr. Johnson stated that the choice to offer Tom Adamini the position was made quite easily. The Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee discussed with Mr. Adamini and Randy Johnson the care and maintenance of the pathways in Apple Valley. The park maintenance department maintains the pathways that are associated with the parks. Other city pathways are handled through the street department. During the winter months a priority ranking for snow plowing is implemented on city pathways: . Priority A = pathway leading to a school and will be plowed with top priority. Priority B = pathway along a major street and will be plowed as a second priority. Priority C = other pathway and will be plowed as time permits. Not all city pathways are plowed by the city maintenance departments in the winter. There are over SO miles of pathways and it is not feasible for the city maintenance crews to plow all of them. However, during the summer months, all city pathways are swept. If anyone finds a problem or a hazard on the pathway, they are asked to contact the maintenance department to have the problem taken care of. Chairperson Kopischke asked Mr. Adamini to speak from his experience and tell the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee anything the City could be doing differently. - Tom stated that he is concerned with: the ongoing .tree care of the young stock; a more scientific approach to turf management; and a strong program for maintenance replacement. There are a lot of older facilities, pathways, etc, that need to be taken care of. We're not 2 � � r i � really set up to say this is taken care of this year, this item next year, etc. Tom also stated that he is very maintenance oriented and likes a definite plan to follow. He also likes a theme. When someone enters Delaney, Hagemeister or Alimagnet parks they will know it's an Apple Valley park by the red and grey colors incorporated there. Al1 trash cans throughout the park system will eventually be painted red and grey. Chairperson Kopischke asked Mr. Adamini if the park maintenance budget concerned him with all the things that have to be done. Tom answered that he isn't too concerned with the current budget, but it wouid have been nice to get a little more money for equipment. There will be some major pieces of equipment that will need to be replaced in the near future. There are quite a few boy scouts and referrals from court services that are working in the parks to help the maintenance department. David Gross questioned who is responsible for cleaning the ponds within the city. Mr. Johnson answered that almost all of the ponds in Apple Valley are under the control of the public works department because they are storm water holding ponds. The exception to that would be if the pond is located within a city park. With Lac Lavon the park department also works with the homeowners association to help control the milfoil in the lake. A private contractor is hired to cut the weeds in the lake and the city pays their fair share of the cost. Meg McMonigal reports that she has been working with the engineer's office to outline guidelines for lakeshore property owners; i.e. don't wash your car in your driveway; clean up after pets; be careful when doing oil changes that the oil doesn't get into the lake water, etc. As a rule, the Department of Natural Resources has jurisdiction over all lakes within the state of Minnesota. Itera #4. A. - View City of Apple Valley Promo Tape. Randy Johnson explained that one of his other jobs for the City of Apple Valley is to act as Lhe cable T.V, liaison to the City Council and Cable T.V. Committee. The Cable T.V. Committee hired Moving Pictures to produce a city promotional video with a target market geared towards small businesses and individuals that may be interested in moving to Apple Valley. Later a second video will be produced with a target market for industrial and commercial businesses in mind. 20 hours of taping were done throughout the city. This included testimonials with individuals also. It was then edited down to approximately seven minutes. 3 • � ' , Mr. Johnson believes that the end result is quite good. It will be available to realtors and developers and shown on Star cablevision. Anyone interested in borrowing a copy of the tape should contact Randy Johnson. After watching the video, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee voiced positive opinions of the tape. They felt it was very nicely done. Item #5. A. - Summer Project Update. The parks and recreation department was quite busy during the summer. As of last week, the title for Mrs. Schultz's property cleared and some - developers have been contacted about potential development of the three lots on the eastern portion of the property. Connie Scheid suggested contacting the neighbors around Mrs. Schultz's property to let them know what will be going into the proposed park. Mr. Johnson explained that there will be an announcement in the local papers and anyone that owns property within 350 feet of the park land will receive a direct mailing. There will also be a public meeting held. The property will probably remain as raw land for a few years. This year it will basically be let go naturally and then be picked up in the spring for mowing. Holding a public forum and erecting an informational sign were also suggested. Charlie Maus pointed out that one of the key points is to let the residents in the area know that it will not be developed overnight. • Randy Johnson agreed to have a news release done in the early spring to - get the word out. Apple Ponds property has been acquired. About a month ago the developer received some specific information on the grading and seeding requirements that need to be done before the land can be accepted as park land. It should be completed this fall. Mr. Johnson believes that this should be one of the first places for new park development because these residents have been waiting for quite sometime for a park in their area. . Huntington Park building construction began a couple days ago. Vista phone company will be picking up approximately 93� of the cost for the building with the park dedication fund paying the remaining $4,000 or so. Over 1,000 sprigs of crown vetch were planted by the maintenance department to help with the hillside erosion control. Eastview Athletic Complex soccer field "C" hosted its second conference soccer game on Monday, September 16. Two more boy's games and three more girl's games are scheduled yet this season on this field. There were fans in excess of 300 people attending Monday night's game. 4 • � As a general rule, the City of Apple Valley parks and recreation department does not charge any user fee for Apple Valiey youth groups to use the athletic field facilities. However, the school district does charge the regular going rate for admission into the soccer games. When asked about next year, Randy Johnson replied that no one knows for sure yet. Some people want all of Apple Valley high school's soccer games piayed at Eastview, and other people do not want any of the games played at Eastview. City Council funded $60,000 and the park dedication fund paid an additional $12,000 to install lights, fencing and bleachers for Eastview's field "C" . A scoreboard was donated by the Coca Cola Company. John DiRico asked about the fund balance for park dedication. The financial reports are not yet available from the Finance Department, but Randy Johnson will address a memo to the Committee showing the information according to his records. There were no problems with the easement for Briar Oaks pathway. The city attorneys are drawing up the paperwork and the park department expects to construct the trail yet this fall. Randy Johnson went on to outline/review the remaining projects listed on the information included with the agenda package. Item #5. $. - Park Name Recommendation. City Council rejected the name "Dalmatian Park" and suggested that the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee review the list of suggested names along with a few more suggestions. Councilman Goodwin requested that the name "Erwin Ulrich Park" be added to the list of potential names. Mr. Ulrich was the first chairman of the Apple Valley Planning Commission and is now deceased. After much discussion, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee members chose "Apple Grove Park" for the recommended name for the park located near fire station #1. MOTION: by Charlie Maus, seconded by Connie Scheid to recommend to City Council the name Apple Grove Park" for the park located near fire station #1 and the playground equipment area to be called "Dalmatian Play Area. " VOTE: Yes - 6, No - 0 The person who suggested "Dalmatian Park" will be awarded the $50.00 prize money according to the contest rules because that was the first name taken to the City Council for approval. There is the possibility of purchasing a few different varieties of apple trees to be placed in the park, maybe with a plaque to identify the various species. 5 • � ' . Item #S. C. Adopt-A-park Program Update. The Parks and Recreation Department is trying to get more people/organizations/groups involved with the Adopt-A-Park program. In the fall issue of the park brochure eight groups were listed in recognition of their involvement with the program. The Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee is asked to help spread the word about this program. David Gross made an arrangement with an Apple Valley hockey team that his bank would purchase the team jerseys if the team agreed to participate in the Adopt-A-Park park clean up. He expects more teams to take advantage of the same arrangement. Tom Adamini reported that in addition to the eight groups listed in the brochure, there have been four more groups volunteer. The Adopt-A-Park contract is for a one year term. Item #6. A. Fall Brochure. Randy Johnson distributed copies of the fall Parks and Recreation brochure/city news. The latest copy of the "Good News Update" was also distributed. Mr. Johnson read to the Committee a letter from Mrs. Garrison addressed to the Parks and Recreation office. Mrs. Garrison gave some very nice compliments about the summer playground sta£f and program. The next meeting of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee will be scheduled for Tuesday, October 15, 1991. If there is not a full agenda, the consensus is not to have a meeting during October. The subject of a public open meeting was discussed. The Advisory Committee has been holding a public open informational meeting every other year or so in the fall time. Fall is a better time for the meeting because the meeting input can be considered when planning for the upcoming year. Chairperson Kopischke suggested maybe foregoing the formal open meeting but send a letter to the various organizations to let them know that the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee and staff are interested in their ideas and input. Item #7. Adjourn. There being no further business, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee meeting was adjourned, MOTION: by Charlie Maus, seconded by David Gross to adjourn the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee meeting at 9:lOpm. VOTE: Yes - 6, No - 0 6