5.0. PRSR 02-11-1998 c �
Item#5.
Ilky of /
Elk MEMORANDUM
R•
iver TO: Park & Recreation Commission
FROM: Steve Ach, City Planne��
DATE: February 11, 1998
SUBJECT: Preparing Concept Plans for Vacant
Parks
Last month, the City Council authorized the hiring of a new planning intern
who will be able to dedicate time towards assisting the Park & Recreation
Commission with preparing plans of individual plans that have yet to be
developed. At Wednesday night's meeting, I would like to discuss with the
Commission their ideas and strategy of how they would like to proceed with
using the planning interns time for park planning purposes.
• With the planning intern on board, I think this would be a great opportunity
for the Park & Recreation Commission to work aggressively towards
preparing detailed plans of the undeveloped parks. Detailed plans will go a
long way towards communicating to the residents moving into those
neighborhoods the Commission's thoughts for the "vacant land" which may
be in their backyard. Furthermore, the preparation of these plans may also
be used to help lobby for future publicly financed park improvements.
In addition to preparing various park plans, the planning intern will also be
able to work on other park planning efforts such as some of the trail
corridors. For example, Brady Halverson, the previous planning intern,
began an examination of the trail corridor through the entire Hillside Estates
Development. The trail along with other landscaped improvements and
other amenities could be incorporated into the corridor. Another project that
has had some work done on it is the 193rd Avenue park corridor. Once again,
there needs to be some additional detailing before any improvements are
made to the corridor.
I look forward to talking with the Park & Recreation Commission Wednesday
night and receive some direction on how you would like to proceed with these
park planning efforts.
•
s:\council\park&rec\intern.do c
13065 Orono Parkway • P.O. Box 490 • Elk River, MN 55330 •TDD &Phone: (612) 441-7420 • Fax: (612) 441-7425