7.0. PRSR 11-01-1988 Elk River Recreation Needs :
1. Money: Significant dollars will be needed for our many
needs. Even if 1000 new lots were platted and developed
annually, we would need much more revenue for park
acquisition and development than we would realize from the
• developer fee now paid. Funding options need to be studied
carefully. . .among the suggestions` I 'd make are the
following.
* levy a recreation levy. I believe the city can
legally do this, and such revenues would then be available
every year. $100,00-200,000 per year is not an unrealistic
figure for the city to be needing considering the needs to
purchase and develop significant park areas.
* go for a park acquisition referendum. (Witness the
success of the fire truck vote. ) My sense is that very few
votes ( less than 1000) would be needed to pass such a
referendum, and that the Recreation Board could easily
mobilize a large number of positive voters to come to the
polls.
* LAWCON grants. Go for it! However put your LAWCON
efforts into the purchase of a new park space rather than
developing a currently owned property. (see #2 below)
* collect a tax on RDF garbage. Maybe we really
can't do this, but I 'm not sure that its really been
investigated--I feel that since the RDF will have a negative
impact on quality of life, that a . 50/ton tax would help
assure that we could alleviate the damage with an excellent
park system. (Poetic justice? )
2. Buy. Houlton' s Farm is my first choice. It ' s perfect
• for multiple recreational use, its on the flood plane, its
relatively flat, it has an overhead irrigation system on
site, its proximity to the rivers provides for water access,
camping, fishing, etc. Try to buy it all, using any or all
of the means listed above. I think this site would be ideal
for a LAWCON purchase, and a subsequent LAWCON grant to
develop it.
3. Hire. We need to figure out just what we need in the
way of additional staff for recreation and parks. Input is
needed from youth athletic groups as well, and the Youth
Athletic Assn. idea needs to be massaged as part of this
discussion. The joint powers agreement comes into play here
as well--possible financial participation from Otsego,
Rogers and Zimmerman may be sought.
4. Plan. I feel this is a given, and maybe should be
higher on the list, but the real urgency is to buy land I
feel. No dollars should be spent on any park without direct
input from the recreation board. We need a set of outside
eyes to examine currently owned park areas and assess
possible new acquisition sites.
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5. Maintain. I feel that there are some inadequacies in
the current park maintenance functions. Maintenance
responsibility for outdoor facilities seems to unclear, or
ignored. A capitol expenditure plan should be adopted which
• includes addtional needed maintenance equipment.
Short term ideas:
1. Handke warming house replacement.
2 . Assist district in irrigating Salk-VandenBerge athletic
complex. ( $5,000 per zone, 20 zones--District is looking at
a five year plan to get the job done. )
3. Become agressive in a tree planting program to include
the removal of dead elms. There are too many eyesores in
town to mention--the city has been very slow and lax in
removal of dead elms, and I feel that any dead elm on public
or private property should be removed by the city at no cost
to the owner.
4. Delay major development of the Wilderness Park (right
name? ) Keep development limited to access and a simple
parking area for now.
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