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11-08-2023 PR MIN J City of Meeting of the Elk River ElParks and Recreation Commission River Held at the Elk River City Hall Tuesday, October 17, 2023 Members Present: Chair David Williams, Commissioners Dave Anderson, Greg Loidolt, and Mike Niziolek Members Absent: Mike Brown,Ryan Holmgren, Mark Rathbun Council Liaison: Councilmember Mike Beyer (absent) Staff Present: Assistant City Administrator/Business Services Director Joe Stremcha, Parks and Recreation Manager Michael Hecker,Recreation Assistant Ali Wallace I. Call Meeting to Order Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the meeting of the Elk River Parks and Recreation Commission was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Chair Williams. 2. Consider Agenda Moved by Commissioner Loidolt and seconded by Commissioner Niziolek to approve the October 17,2023, agenda. Motion carried 4-0. 3. Consider Minutes Moved by Commissioner Anderson and seconded by Commissioner Loidolt to approve the September 13, 2023, Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes. Motion carried 4-0. 4. Open Forum No one appeared for Open Forum. 6.0 Parks and Recreation Manager Report Mr. Hecker presented the staff report and added that the staff is working on two trail grants. One is for the Meadowvale/CR44 trail. We have $370,000 from park dedication for the trail next year but if we can get the grant,we can save some park dedication money. The second grant is for a Transportation Alternative Grant for a trail along Highway 10, from the Rotary trailhead to Babcock Park under the bridge towards the apartments. Mr. Stremcha shared the first step in applying for the grants is to submit a letter of intent. The full application process begins in January and February, depending on the grant. As we work with the Public Works department to help craft the letter of intent,we will bring this to the commission at a �....,, later date. MN DOT will give feedback whether this project is worthy of pursuing based on the criteria of the grant process,if it is then it will go through the full application process. Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes Page 2 October 17,2023 Commissioner Anderson asked for more information regarding the vandalism at the skate park. Mr. Hecker shared the lighting control box was broken and the irrigation control box was also damaged. Staff are working to move the two control boxes into a secure area, such as a mechanical building like the one at the splash pad. Commissioner Anderson asked about the work being done at Hillside Park. Mr. Hecker said some improvements are being made and confirmed they are also making some changes to the design to reduce maintenance in the future. Mr. Hecker shared that he attended the National Recreation and Parks Association Conference last week in Dallas and his main emphasis was to look at master planning.The process has changed since we did our last plan in 2015 and it should include what the public needs,not just wants. There are other types of analysis they do now in addition to the statistically valid needs assessment which is an important part of the process. Commissioner Loidolt shared he was excited to read about the athletic facilities tour. Mr. Hecker said they learned quite a bit on the tour and shared some things with HKGi.There should be a meeting soon for the Athletic Facilities Master Plan Committee. 7. Announcements Commissioner Anderson shared the Nystrom property along Proctor,across from Salk Middle School,will be developed eventually. He thinks the Commission should focus on the trail master plan for that area since there is only parking on the west side of the road, across from the baseball fields, and he is concerned about someone getting hit while crossing to the east side of the road to get to the \„._, ball fields. Commissioner Loidolt agrees there is not enough parking and people park on the west side of Proctor since there is no parking on the east side and suggests looking at getting better parking for the fields. Commissioner Niziolek shared we need to create a controlled or semi controlled intersection for pedestrians to cross,which seems to be the Salk Middle School exit. Mr. Stremcha stated we will add this to a future agenda item as a talking point and bring up the Trails Master Plan as a focus point. 8. Motion to Adjourn Moved by Commissioner Loidolt and seconded by Commissioner Anderson to adjourn the meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission. Motion carried 4-0. The meeting was adjourned at 6:46 p.m. P1 / E1E1 11 NATURE Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes Page 3 October 17,2023 Minutes prepared by Ali Wallace. David W. ' ms, Chair I j t_ Tina Allard, City Clerk 11uERE1 11 NATURE I -IN ,0-%" Members Present: Members Absent: Council Liaison: Meeting of the Elk River Parks and Recreation Commission Held at the Elk River City Hall Wednesday, November 8, 2023 Commissioners Dave Anderson, Mike Brown, Ryan Holmgren, Greg Loidolt, Mike Niziolek, and Mark Rathbun David Williams Councilmember Mike Beyer Staff Present: Parks and Recreation Manager Michael Hecker, Senior Administrative Assistant Dawn Larson, Assistant City Administrator/ Business Services Director Joe Stremcha I . Call Meeting to Order Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the meeting of the Elk River Parks and Recreation Commission was called to order at 6:30p.m. by Vice -Chair Loidolt. 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Consider Agenda Moved by Commissioner Brown and seconded by Commissioner Rathbun to approve the November 8, 2023, agenda. Motion carried 6-0. 4. Consider Minutes Moved by Commissioner Rathbun and seconded by Commissioner Brown to approve the October 11, 2023, Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes. Motion carried 6-0. S. Open Forum No one appeared for Open Forum. 6. Presentations 6.1 MORC (Minnesota Off -Road Cyclists) Hillside Park Trail Report Derek Burchill, the trail boss at Hillside Park for MORC presented his report. He oversees all the work and maintenance that happens on the trail. Mr. Burchill pointed out that he and the volunteers spent a lot of time grooming trails last year for fat tire biking. He also shared that about 30 trees came down in Spring and Summer, so volunteers were busy cutting up those trees to keep the trails clear. They also spent a lot of time resurfacing trails and creating drainage to help trails dry out. He explained that there is a lot of sand out at Hillside which causes erosion issues. This Fall volunteers did some work to improve some trail sections that had this issue. Commissioner Rathbun commented Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes November 8, 2023 Page 2 on some temporary added signage on the B line but wanted to know if the sign will be more permanent in the future. Mr. Burchill said he has a fiberglass one on order now. Commissioners thanked Mr. Burchill and MORC for their dedication and work on the park and trails. 6.2 YorWZumbro Grass Trail -Tristan Jordan Tristan Jordan presented his power point presentation. Key points of the power point included trail development -project proposal, property marking, clearing trees and brush, digging out stumps and installing fence and signage. Finally, they installed three loads of wood chips and 50lbs of grass seed. Overall, Tristan and volunteers spent 28 days on site, 1-5 hours each day, with a total of 441 hours on the project. They removed 31 loads of trees and brush which were hauled to the compost site. City staff helped with stump grinding, ground leveling, and culvert work. At the end of the presentation Tristan showed a video of walking through the trail upon completion of the project. 6.3 Camp Cozy Park Natural Resources Management Plan Laura Domyancich, Friends of the Mississippi Ecologist, presented her report. Camp Cozy is primarily a passive park with a good prairie and is a great natural resource. FMR is recommending focusing on restoring the remnant prairies, doing woody removal and fire management. They would then move their focus into wooded areas to keep the buckthorn limited. The plan would be to start restoration next fall. The plan is still in draft form. 7.0 Action Items 7.1 Park Dedication -Park Pointe Second Addition Mr. Hecker presented his report. One change to his report is that the DNR requires a minimum set back of ten feet from the high-water mark, so the trail easement must be adjusted from 25 feet to 35 feet. Commissioner Niziolek asked about the yellow trail connection and if that is needed or not and how the pedestrians would access the trail if it was not connected. Mr. Stremcha said that there is a point on the north side by Khever Marsh Park that is sufficient. Commissioner Niziolek asked to see the topography of the property. He wants to make sure that the trail access coming off Lincoln Street will make a complete trail if the topography provides a buildable trail in the future. Mr. Hecker pulled up a topographical view and while both Commissioner Anderson and Niziolek both have concerns about how steep it is, it does appear to be possible. Mr. Stremcha said that he feels it is comparable to what they just installed at York and Zumbro. Lance Lindberg, 18261 Simonet Dr. Elk River, came to the podium and asked if the future trail being discussed would be paved or not. Mr. Hecker said that the DNR would prefer it to be unpaved. Moved by Commissioner Brown and seconded by Commissioner Anderson to approve park dedication for Park Pointe Second Addition be paid, at the applicable rate at the time of recording, for one dwelling. Motion carried 6-0. IIIIIII I NATURE Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes November 8, 2023 Page 3 .•� Moved by Commissioner Brown and seconded by Commissioner Holmgren to approve a 35- foot-wide trail easement along Kliever Marsh as indicated in the Trails Master Plan. The setback for the trail should follow the Ordinary High -Water Mark. Motion carried 6-0. 1-•4S 7.2 Park Dedication Glens -Ridge Simple Plat Mr. Hecker presented the staff report. The Commission commented that they would like a geographical map included with every staff report like the first page of 7.1. Moved by Commissioner Niziolek and seconded by Commissioner Holmgren to approve park dedication for Glens Ridge be paid, at the applicable rate at the time of recording, for one dwelling unit. Motion carried 6-0. 7.3 Subcommittee for Bradford Park Development Mr. Hecker presented the staff report. Commissioner Anderson asked about adding three Commission members instead of just two. Commissioner Loidolt said start with two and then add to three. Commissioners Anderson and Niziolek volunteered for the committee. Moved by Commissioner Loidolt and seconded by Commissioner Brown that two Commissioners will serve on a subcommittee for the Bradford Park Development. Motion carried 6-0. 7.4 Park Improvement and Park Dedication Fund Projects Mr. Hecker presented the staff report. He explained to the Commissioners that some items will move and change because of the playground and park survey that will take place in 2024. He pointed out the budget line item to update the master plan in 2025. Mr. Hecker also highlighted some of the details of other budgeted projects such as paving the Hillside parking lot etc. Commissioner Brown said that he thinks 2028 seems like a long time to wait to do the athletic fields and would like to see them done before that. Mr. Stremcha said that we need to wait until the athletic master plan is done to get real figures. Mr. Stremcha said that it is up to the Commission to make the projects a priority if they choose to. Commissioner Anderson confirmed if they are just approving 2024. He said that they should be just focusing on it right now since it takes so much work to get to the point of just approving this year. Mr. Stremcha reiterated that the motion is just for 2024. Moved by Commissioner Brown and seconded by Commissioner Rathbun to approve the 2024 Park Improvement Fund and Park Dedication Projects. Motion carried 6-0. 8.0 Discussion �-� 8.1 Proctor Trail Discussion p I v El [I I NATURi Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes November 8, 2023 Page 4 ,.�•� Mr. Hecker presented the staff report and slides with photos of the future Proctor trail location and the Nystrom Property. Commissioner Anderson asked to confirm that there would be a connection to the north by 194`' Ave. Commissioner Anderson asked where the location on the map was where an individual was recently injured while crossing the street. Mr. Stremcha confirmed it was further south by Oak knoll and explained that with parking lot improvements in the future the sidewalk and crossing there would be improved as well. Commissioner Niziolek said the important thing to address is how people get across Proctor Road. Right now, there is access to Salk Middle School to the east but if the Nystrom property is directly across from Salk that could become the safest crossing for pedestrians. Commissioner Niziolek does not want the crossing to be near school street to get across to the other side if his goal is to take the cross-country runners to Woodland Trails. The crossing would be right about where the end of the blue line is on the map on the east side of the road across from the Nystrom property. Commissioner Anderson said that it is important that they are discussing the need for a safe crossing directly across from the Salk School entrance now but there will have to be future discussions and planning with the school, city, county, and property owner. Commissioner Niziolek said that the additional benefit is that there are many people parking on the east side of the road to get to the ballfields and a new pedestrian crossing would make this safer. Commissioner Niziolek asked the Commission to also review 194`h Ave and Proctor crossing because there is not a shoulder on the road, and it is not safe to ride along it. He would like the City to review this. He mentioned this because it is just north of the Nystrom Property, and he just wanted to make everyone aware of this. 9. Parks and Recreation Manager Update Mr. Hecker presented the staff report. The Solar Picnic Table was paid for by the Energy City Fund not Park Improvement or Park Dedication. Councilmember Beyer asked Mr. Stremcha to follow up with an official update about it. Mr. Hecker said it is recommended to find a new location for disc golf to be moved to due to the new disc golf installations having stabilization issues due to the soggy ground. 10. Announcements 11. Adjourn Regular Meeting Moved by Commissioner Rathbun and seconded by Commissioner Brown to adjourn the regular meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission. Motion carried 6-0. The regular meeting adjourned at 7:47p.m. -,ON Minutes prepared by Dawn Larson. [�erEAEi it NATURE] Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes November 8, 2Q23 r Greg Lc Tina Allard, City Clerk ,1-ON Page 5 rerEAE� �r NATURE