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7.1. HRSR 04-05-2021 *1� Request for Action City of Elk River To Item Number Housing and Redevelopment Authoritv 7.1 Agenda Section Meeting Date Prepared by General Business April 5, 2021 Colleen Eddy, Economic Development Specialist Item Description Reviewed by Downtown Beautification Suzanne Fischer, Community Development Director Reviewed by Cal Portner, City Administrator Action Requested Received information regarding decorative fixtures for downtown. Background/Discussion Staff was directed to gather information from other cities and present the findings regarding hanging baskets in downtown at the request of the Downtown Rivers Edge group. Staff will provide details in a PowerPoint presentation. Financial Impact N/A Attachments ■ Hanging basket spreadsheet ■ PowerPoint Presentation sheets p0WIHEU 6Y AWRE Hanging Basket Questions Anoka Chaska Chisago City Fairbault Forest Lake Compararitice Cities Lisa A LaCasse Brian Yung Doris Zacho Paul J. Peanasky Other Cities Public Services Administrator PW Superintendent Parks Superintendent Parks and Recreation Director We order 16" 'weekender' baskets from We work with Gertens on all of our Green Valley Greenhouse. They're hanging baskets. They put a good planted once &grow all summer. GV package together a fair price. When Lebens Floral in Hugo; usually choose They buy a 20" or l ar ger Where do you get your baskets from? starts them in their greenhouse. We we a change a few years ago what we want by February D n hue sfloral in F ribau1t basket from Viking hangthem before Memorial Da & we went from 16 baskets to now Greenhouse in Stacy. remove them after the first frost, or 18" baskets and at a much lower before Oct 1. The baskets are returned cost. to GV for reuse. Do you have tho same arrangements all Our arborist chooses flower colors (2 to Same arrangements all season, but We do basically mid-May to mid- Yes and we have about 5 spare plants is 3), changes it up year to year. Don't summer, or do you have spring and fall include potato vin inc 1 n we have some for shade and some Sept. The seasonal planters DT are that can replace a basket if one gets e because they tend arrangements. to starve out the flowers.fl r . for full sun. done manually by myself. destroyed or plant just dies on us. We own the baskets and they plant them in late February. Donahue's Public Works staff hang&maintain will grow them in the their green them (takes — 2 days). The hanger rods We have dedicated seasonal public house until we pick them up the are wired to the poles so they don't works staff that maintains them 7 week prior toMemorial Day. Parksrk s blow off. Each basket has 2 irrigation days a week including holiday Only Department then installs the flow e rs lines. Baskets are watered every other a few are maintained by irrigation. and we leave them up until round Who maintains them? day 10-20 min. dep. on weather. We have found that the best way to PT Seasonals are hired to do park October 1. Starting the day after the They are hand watered from a Every Monday a staff person checks rounds and maintain the baskets is to hand daily watering. plants go up,we work with our Sr. Gator/water tank set up. several baskets and irrigation lines to water h that way they get Center and they begin watering them - make sure they are getting adequate them. The Sr. Center waters every1ooked at every day to identify and water. The watering schedule is adjusted issues. day and twice a day when the during times of drought, extreme heat, weather gets hot. Usually Tues, etc. Wed, and Thursday for a second watering. Second watering is in the early evening. We do a light fertilizing everyday. A Yes,we dilute Miracle Grow so small dosage of fertilizer in every We supplement the watering with Yes, once a week. We also have to they'rB fertilized a littte every day, tank of water. Once a week we add Are they fertilized on aregul r basis? fertilizer at least once per month. watch for insect issues (aphids plus they have osmocote in them1 teaspoon of dawn soap to 30 gallon water tank. Apparently this which is slow release. helps h rk h e ps t e water stick to e peat moss in the baskets. In 2020,we ordered 275 baskets $47.95ea for — $13,500. For 2021,we will order 300 baskets for$15,000. On Main St. we hang 2 per pole; side streets We have 108 hanging baskets and 5 get 1. We also hang them in parkin lots spares. This cost comes from the around oity hall. 284 w/b placed on We annually purchase & maintain Initially22 with help from the EDA parks maintenance budget(general light poles. 2 spar in case of damage and my Parks budget. We went 10 at the Veteran's Memorial and 4 at 120-140 hanging baskets. Most of through growing pains as many Fund). We used to pay the Sr. How many baskets do you have and how the funding comes from the Park Center upto about $4000 annual to the Cemetery. We started with 20 Operating fund. We also have some cities do. If you have a water pump are they funded? do all of the watering. But in our baskets in 2004. Baskets are paid out of on a maintenance vehicle this is the hGeneral f n (Parks) 'DT dollars to support this program r them. Staff current agreement we now share the fund best way to Ovate t o Sta does from our Special Services District. part of their building and no longer Beautification' line item. All that everyday. mulch, I n r i pay them to water. We pay utilities landscaping, p a plants, etc are paid r f this fund. Thplanterson their building. f out o o t s u d e used to be funded by the ABLA (DT business district) but now they are a budgeted expense. We only use lights poles designated for hanging baskets; they were installed with irrigation lines. We tried hand Other r watering but once we got more than 50 We have a very good working baskets it was decided it was worth the relationship with our senior center. expense to install irrigation. As roads/parking lots were reconstructed we added irrigation. 300 basketks —$15K; PW maintains; 120-140 baskets; PW maintains; DT Beautification fund Funded by Parks and Special District Funding Do not have hanging baskets Did not repsond Andover Farmington Champlin Lino Lakes Prior Lake Ramsey Savage Hastings Maple Grove Northfield Rosemount St. Peter Stillwater Chris Jenkins Chalene Ward Tim Behrendt Wynne Sutton Scott Schroeder Tim Moore Park& Rec Director Recreation Coordinator Streets & Parks Manager Horticulturist Maintenance Superintendent PW Superintendent The City does not maintain the We buy 20" baskets ($99/ea.) from XCEL Energy operates & maintains downtown flowers. I believe the Urbanscape Planters in Winnipeg our DT street lights. They do not We hire a contractor who buys after reviewing several vendors design allow the city to hang anything on businesses maintain them or the We get them from Fairbault Growers We get our baskets from Donahue's them from Gertens. Copy of our and cost. Peter Klym @ them. We have large pots on the Shoppes of Arbor Lakes etc. I also Inc. Garden House in Fairbault, MN RFP available. info�urbanscapeplanters.com; phone sidewalk placed along the curb in think they use Lynde s Nursery in is 1-800-439-4157. Flower cost is between parking stall. Purchased Maple Grove for all their flowers. —$42/basket. locally from Abrahamson's Nursery. We buy plants from Gertens. They plant 3 plants to each 8" mum pot in It is the same arrangements in the Same flowers throughout the season. early spring& finish them out in their baskets all season. We do switch up The contractor determines that h k h n f M greenhouses. It takes 3 of the pots to h design r r with We use 1 arrangement throughout the We putt e baskets up the end o May g P the des g year to yea w t a but we can request specific plants fill u the basket 9 lams per basket summer with tall grasses,wave and are take them down the end of P ( P P ) common theme being Petunias. if we want to. w some added soil. This way lpetunias and potato vines. September. / yams P Petunias are a hardy flower that can fill up the pot& they c/b placed tolerate some drought/neglect. immediately. Baskets go up in the springand we don't need to change them - they bloom into Sept. The horticulture staff(4 + me) We hire 3-4 seasonals that are maintains them. Each pole is rigged scheduled to do the daily watering. It with an irrigation system. We use a takes one seasonal approx. 4-4.5 425 gal tank w/a pump on a water The City has a contract with The MN We specify they need to be hours a day to water the downtown truck. Using a quick connect, both State Hospital here in St. Peter. They The city hires additional seasonal flowers. So we have 28-32 hours per pots receive water at the same time have inmates available for work employees to help with maintenance maintained using standard horticultural r week put into watering the hanging going directly into the tube that feeds release in which they water our along with some help from the practices. baskets and other flowers downtown. into the reservoir (see irrigation downtown baskets once a day businesses. These seasonals usually are retired or drawing). We water until it flows out throughout the summer. looking for a second job since they of the drainage hole. The hoses that only work 8-10 hours a week. feed into the tubes can be removed during the off season. The soil medium has a 3 month slow The water rig we set up for the The contractor decides release fertilizer in it;we use water downtown has a 60 gallon tank with a Fertilizer is mixed in with the water how/when they are watered and soluble fertilizer in our water starting wand to reach up to the baskets. With and they are watered 7 days a week. Yes - almost daily. fertilized. They warranty them mid-late June. If you have petunias in that, every other week we add one 16 outside of something crazy. Rain or shine. your basket you'll need to add oz bottle of"Miracle Gro Liquid fertilizer (heavy feeders). Feed" to the 60 gallon tank. We currently have 66 hanging baskets; 2 on each pole. The initial purchase was from the CIP fund. The purchase of all plant material comes out of our 19 baskets g $199 ea. _ $3781 + Park Operating Budget; our staff is $95/wk. for maint. 20 wks - split between the Parks and Streets $1900 for total of$5681. Operating Budget. The money saved We have 50-60 pots that are We have 110 hanging baskets (2 per pole). Purchase and maintenance is in watering time has more than paid Opurchased with funds from m out D T 46 ground level l ntors. Cost is funded through my operating budget. of them. We used to water baskets Beautification fund which has 15,0 00 $8Kplantto + $325/wk. to every day including weekends;if> 90 every year for various projects. maintain ($6500)— $12,181 degrees watered twice a day. It takes 1 overall total 1/2 - 2 hrs each time. Now we water once a week when weather is cool in spring and fall; 2 day's a week if hot, dry and windy. We hang 2 pots on each light pole. My recommendations if the City of Elk River can't find a volunteer group Same contractor decorates the to assist with watering. If City staff ground level planters for winter does the watering, they should water for about $5,000. the baskets twice on Friday's. Making the last watering more of a soaking to carry through the weekend. baskets &planters $12, 181 + Initial basekt purchase of X99/ea CIP) + $42 for flowers — $141 ea x 66 — $5000 for winter planters = 82 baskets; funded by Envir. Serv. $15,000 Beautification Fund X17,181 $9306 + maint cost. Cost is split bewteen Parks and Streets. Downtown Beautification STREETLIGHT HANGING BASKETS HRA COMMISSION MEETING 4.5.2021 Alexandria - 1• Cr ti 1 ,r;, 1 E_d' 'e' „° •:1• °� a it - � " B J� .�F�. �., .Ilf T •3,4 Wim • S 1 � • - r 1 • - 3 s � y r "y � @ @ � � � �� � � « »��� • r�\ ��� . � . �a � !3! , A � ���- � � � « «���■ ¥ , , a � . �% a■ ■� � � : � \��\ � . # ^���f�f� �- � ����■� �\vim . _�■ : : `«®/� ^ �" - � ■ � �� � a Chaska vl I r R716 - e ms• S� r e • �i ..� ..40 vv VL 4 P E '- New Ulm �yR ' i r ' q ►�. • � Cllr',... , ''. ;� - qti.-riy`L 411 4. ' 4r•. 4 � Northfield 9 PL R 7 3 n - may" 5 � r• ` Red Wing _fir:.r �l. T •�:!'r;.,� -. j` � .. - ` t r��� it ow lier � f1'1 iiAs:' ' max •yl� ..;;. Rosemount COMMUNITY FLOWER_-GARDE T , _ T e •7• l '' Yy St. Peter , low 10 i u r J 1 u 4 Weekend & H2O Labor Saving Baskets ■ Ideal for projects w/weight restrictions for their poles. ■ The reservoir lowers watering cost and frequency, less water usage and labor costs, and longer watering cycles. ■ 16" (1gal res) in black, sand, forest green, seafoam green & terracotta. 30-40# wt. ■ 23° (2.5ga1 res) in black or brown reservoir. 60-75" wt. ■ Withstands heat to 220* F and cold to -40* F ■ 10 yr guarantee � __. Alternative Light Pole Decorations low, 1 d f 4 F, t r , 1 a � r ' p J R . • • �Y I `��'u I .. yl R M1 f0 l�LL III � � �`"�+,,• •� � S L�'� 14 �I � �. � ��� e`er, wCf, - '��.•�. � 2 � � • a ��,.,fit. ,� t....1 � iJe �k �, t x�1 I I f NI Ij`111Or` .il� t�RF.•, ' s ?T t �Fy �}} I F�t ,�1 ° '41�.4N: 1�.,• x,. I IN i '� �• M 1 ` a �. CII ( I' }« 'Ri • r�r� ��Y I • �I I ' I •fin _�. ryr 55• 64• 58, 4 {� 70• # 54•� 59 64' # 61' 84, # 60' # 57, 55' } * 55 54' # 57 58" 67, 66' 4' 47,i i. 70' 73' * 1 J11k. 1� $4' 66' 67' * k q7z rk 104 141j 73' �' 70' 72, 6a' � l5• ~ 94' 49' � 48'' iai' 97' + 4U Pole Spans pnton- ntial Funding Sources Average cost for DT baskets in comparative cities is $ 1 OK - $ 15K HRA contributes $5K to the DT Businesses for beautification efforts If project requires -$ 1 OK, what fundraising events could help the group narrow the gap? Research beautification grants Solicit donations Ask for volunteers, garden clubs, scouts, etc. to help with maintenance Reach out to churches and religious institutions, civic clubs, schools, scout troops, sports leagues or teams - they might partner with you on a fundraising event or just get the word out to their members. Summary I I communities (comparative & others known for their flower baskets) 9 purchase baskets from area nurseries; I hires contractor for all of it MG - baskets/planters are purchased/maintained by local businesses SW - planters only (Xcel does not allow anything on their light poles) Some buy light poles designed to hold baskets w/irrigation lines; others install irrigation lines on the poles; most water daily with water trucks; all use slow-release fertilizer Summary Daily maintenance requirements for regular baskets — PW staff, contractor, senior citizens, St. Peter hospital residents, Park and/or PW seasonal staff, city Horticulture staff, volunteer groups, etc.Watering takes —30 hr/wk. Annual costs for downtown areas ranged from $9300 - $ 17, 181 depending on the quantity, size, and type of baskets. Varied funding sources; Environmental Services, Parks & Streets Operating budgets, Beautification funds, business donations, Kiwanis Club (Red Wing), Wine, Art & Pub Crawl (Alexandria), etc.