ITEM: 3.1 Minutes- Jim Kappelhoff
Title
APPROVAL OF OCTOBER 23, 2012 PARK BOARD MINUTES
Background
UNAPPROVED
CITY OF BLAINE
PARK ADVISORY BOARD
MEETING MINUTES
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
7:00 p.m.
The Blaine Park Advisory Board met in the Council Chambers of City Hall on Tuesday, October 23, 2012.
1. Vice Chair Bird called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL
Members Present: Commissioners Bird, Das, Leathers, Markle, and Schwarz.
Members Absent: Chair Walthour and Commissioner Langenfeld.
Staff Present: Jim Kappelhoff, Park and Recreation Director.
2. Approval of Minutes: September 25, 2012
Motion by Commissioner Schwarz to approve the minutes of September 25, 2012 as amended. Motion seconded by Commissioner Markle. Motion approved unanimously.
3. Open Forum for Citizen Input
None.
4. New Business
5.1 Recommendations for Park and Recreation Fee Schedule
Park and Recreation Director Kappelhoff presented a background and summary of the recommendations for the Park and Recreation Fee Schedule.
Every year the City Council adopts the City's Fee Schedule ordinance. The fees are established by each City department for licenses, permits, services, rentals and documents they provide. The Park and Recreation Department's fee schedule is for parking permits, rentals of athletic facilities, athletic field lighting, park facilities and for use of athletic facilities by youth athletic association participants and tournaments. Staff has attached the current Park and Recreation Fee Schedule for the Park Board's review. The fees have remained the same since 2010 when the Park Board last reviewed and supported the schedule. At that time the fee structure was changed considerably as described below: · Changed from a per day rate to a per hour rate for park shelters and athletic field rentals. · Established hourly rates. · Resident and non-resident per hour rental rates for park shelters and athletic fields. · Added specific per hourly rental rates for shelters at Aquatore, Town Square and Lakeside Commons Park shelters. · Added a per participant and tournament fee for youth athletic associations to defray costs of athletic field maintenance costs. Implemented in 2011. · Added parking permits for Lakeside Commons Park. Implemented in 2011. Staff and facility users feel the application of the current Park and Recreation fee structure is reasonable and justified. However, in reviewing the per participant fee for youth athletic associations, staff is recommending an increase. The current Blaine youth athletic associations per participant fee for is $5.00 and tournament fees are $25 per non-Blaine team. In 2011, the City generated $28,865 from these fees and yet the cost for the City to maintain athletic facilities at Aquatore, Airport, Soccer Complex and Jim Peterson Athletic Complex was $443,000. It is not the intent nor is it reasonable to increase fees from youth athletic associations to reimburse total maintenance costs, but to offset the total encumbrance. Staff would like the Park Board to consider recommending that the per participant fee for youth athletic associations be increased from $5 to $10 and the tournament fee remain the same (in most cases, tournaments are the biggest fund raiser for youth organizations and may have a greater financial impact). Also it should be noted that in a 2010 survey that of the eight cities' that charge athletic associations a per participant fee the average was $10.94. |
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Commissioner Das verified that the $28,865 is collected from participant fees.
Park and Recreation Director Kappelhoff confirmed that this includes both participant and tournament fees.
Commissioner Das asked what is included in the maintenance costs.
Park and Recreation Director Kappelhoff reviewed that it covers labor and material costs, machinery costs, seeding, mowing the field and all aspects of maintaining the four athletic sites.
Commissioner Das asked on page two about how much is collected for athletic rental and parking fees.
Park and Recreation Director Kappelhoff confirmed that $8,000 was collected for parking fees. He stated that a specific number is not available for park rental fees. He added that the youth athletic association is getting a good value as they have a lot of access for their participants for a small fee.
Commissioner Das confirmed that there is room to raise the fees as five dollars is a low amount for a yearly participant fee.
Commissioner Markle asked if there has been a positive or negative response from participants on the fee changes that were previously made.
Park and Recreation Director Kappelhoff reviewed that people renting the facilities or picnic shelters seem to understand the hourly rate that was charged and no negative feedback was received. He noted that people are understanding of the resident/nonresident fees.
Commissioner Markle asked whether fees are collected for the Marathon, Blaine World Fest and other functions. He asked how much is collected for rentals.
Park and Recreation Director Kappelhoff stated this money is kept track of and goes into the general fund.
Commissioner Markle confirmed that he supports increasing the fees to benefit the fee schedule for this year.
Commissioner Leathers asked whether a fee breakdown is available for participant fees versus tournament user fees for teams.
Park and Recreation Director Kappelhoff reported that it is likely 75 percent for individual users and 25 percent for tournaments.
Commissioner Leathers asked why consideration is not given to raising the tournament costs.
Park and Recreation Director Kappelhoff explained that an invitational tournament means a Blaine team is the tournament host. He noted that the nonBlaine teams are charged $25 for the tournament for its duration. He explained that the invitational fundraisers are a primary fundraiser for Blaine teams. He stated that in 2010 when the fees were implemented teams were accepting of the participant fees. He reported that the tournament fee was an issue for teams because they have to pay for officials and other overhead, which impacts their bottom line. He stated that teams were willing to pay $20 and he negotiated $25. He asked if the Board wanted to consider a $30 fee.
Commissioner Leathers stated that a $5 increase in tournament fees could be considered but he recommended getting additional feedback from the soccer teams to see what the impact of this is. He explained that if the participant fee is increased the tournament fee should also be considered. He recommended tabling for additional research. He asked when a recommendation is needed.
Park and Recreation Director Kappelhoff stated that a recommendation is needed for Council before the Park Advisory Board meets again.
Commissioner Leathers asked how much money is anticipated by raising fees.
Park and Recreation Director Kappelhoff stated that the total would be $60,000 with doubling the participant fee.
Vice Chair Bird inquired if their recommendation will stand and they will not have an opportunity to change it at their November meeting.
Park and Recreation Director Kappelhoff confirmed this.
Motion by Commissioner Leathers to recommend to the City Council to adopt the Park and Recreation Fee Schedule as presented to us into ordinance with no increase except for Blaine youth athletic fees in the amount of $10 for use of athletic facilities. Motion seconded by Commissioner Markle.
Motion approved unanimously.
4.2 Recommendation for Establishing 2013 Park and Recreation Park Dedication Fees
Park and Recreation Director Kappelhoff presented a background and summary of a recommendation for establishing 2013 Park and Recreation Park Dedication Fees.
Revenue for the capital improvement plan comes from park dedication fees required of all new residential, commercial and industrial development. Park dedication fees are adjusted annually by the percentage of increase in the fair market value of undeveloped land within the City with an annual increase not to exceed 10%. The Park Board recommended and the City Council approved a 5% residential and 3% commercial/industrial increase for 2012 park dedication fees. The current park dedication fee structure is as follows:
· $2,557 per residential unit.
· $7,378 per acre of commercial development.
· $5,016 per acre of industrial development.
Staff is recommending the Park Board consider another increase in park dedication fees for 2013 based on the following:
· Dedication fees were increased last year for the first time in 4 years and at the same time, according to Economic Development data, Blaine is ranked 2nd in the state for new residential units. Currently over 350 new housing permits were issued for 2012.
· This year, with the increase, Blaine still ranks 12th out of 14 in residential fees for metro cities in the attached 2012 Comparison of Park Dedication Fees. Residential park dedication fees have been near the bottom since surveys have been conducted by the Park and Recreation staff. Blaine is ranked in the middle of the cities for commercial fees.
· The Planning Department estimates a continued increase in new housing permits and of greater importance new land development. Future parks, open space and trail development should keep pace with this growth through measured annual increases in park dedication fees.
The attached table illustrates how increases from 1% to 10% would affect the 2013 park dedication fee structure.
Park Dedication Fee Discussion Point:
Should the City establish residential, commercial and industrial park dedication fees for 2013 that are the same, more or less than 2012?
Vice Chair Bird requested that the 2012 Comparative Park Dedication Fees chart with other cities be posted for review with the presentation. He asked why industrial is not listed on the comparison cities.
Park and Recreation Director Kappelhoff stated that he does not see a lot of industrial fees from each community and speculates that it may be included with commercial. He offered to check into this.
Commissioner Markle confirmed that there was a detailed conversation on this topic last year. He noted that the increase approved last year did not raise their position points on the cities comparison chart. He suggested that a 3 percent minimum increase would help keep pace assuming that other cities fees remain the same.
Commissioner Das stated that last year a 5 percent increase was approved. He recommended a 5 percent increase for residential development and 3 percent increase for commercial development. He confirmed that more money is raised from the residential fees. He stated that this would place them near where Ham Lake's fees are.
Vice Chair Bird stated that he is comfortable raising the residential fees by 10 percent as their fees are lower than many surrounding cities. He suggested that this changes the cost by $255. He stated that perhaps this will not need to change next year if this adjustment is made. He recommended a 5 percent increase for commercial properties, which would raise the cost by $500 per acre. He asked for ideas on industrial fees.
Commissioner Leathers stated that he is in agreement with Vice Chair Bird. He stated that he supported a 10 percent increase last year. He recommended increasing residential fees by 10 percent as people do not have choices of other locations to move where it would change their bottom line. He recommended that if it is not changed this year it will need to be changed next year. He stated that funding is needed, and development space is limited. He added that Blaine has beautiful amenities. He suggested a 3 to 5 percent increase in commercial and industrial.
Commissioner Das stated that he supports a 10 percent increase now on the residential development and 5 percent on commercial. He agreed that this keeps then in line with other communities.
Vice Chair Bird reviewed that they are looking at increasing fees for new development and new construction. It does not apply to current residents. He stated that these fees go to Park and Open Space funds. This is shared with a 75/25 split. He commented that they will go through the capitol improvement plan next month and they needing funds to maintain park amenities.
Motion by Commissioner Das to recommend to the City Council to establish park dedication fees for 2013 with an increase of 10% for residential/unit, 5% for commercial/acre and 3% for industrial/acre. Motion seconded by Commissioner Schwarz.
Commissioner Leathers asked why industrial would have a lower fee than commercial.
Commissioner Das explained that he is not certain how industrial differs from commercial. He asked staff if there are statistics on this. He asked if industrial development is slower and the increase does not have much impact.
Park and Recreation Director Kappelhoff stated that industrial development is slower than commercial development. He noted that industrial development has slowed. He noted that commercial development would cover types of businesses like Wal-Mart.
Commissioner Leathers added that he can support this motion. He noted that parks are not constructed in the industrial areas and there is far less building of this type. He acknowledges that the bulk of the funds are collected through residential building.
Motion approved unanimously.
4.3 Deacons Park Feature
Park and Recreation Director Kappelhoff stated that Blaine has a monthly park feature which covers historical information on a park. This month's presentation features Deacons Park.
In 1997, Sienna Corporation proposed a plan to the City Council to develop a land area of over 550 acres north of 109th Avenue and west of Radisson Road. The development became reality when approved in 1998 with nearly half of the acreage being set aside for the now popular T.P.C. of the Twin Cities golf course. The remainder was single and multi-family housing, and dedicated parkland.
Two public parks, one mini and one neighborhood, were proposed in the first phase of the development known as TPC 1st Addition. As residents moved into the rapidly developing area, a neighborhood meeting was conducted in 2000 to receive input and suggestions for park facilities and design. Thirty-three residents attended the meeting and provided suggestions that included playgrounds, basketball court, 2-4 tennis courts, picnic shelter, skating rink, small softball field, trails, putting green and special landscaping features. The next step was to take these ideas, incorporate them into a site plan and send them out for construction bids. However, prior to the bids going out, the park would need a name. The playground committee assembled a list of suggested names and was mailed out to the neighborhood park residents. The winner was Deacons Park, with Players Park and Mulligan Park a distant second.
In 2001, Deacons Park now has a new name and was completed with all new playground equipment, basketball court, putting green, shelter, trails, skating rink, small parking lot, landscaping and 4 (short-lived) tennis courts.
It all began in 2003 when a large depression occurred in the west portion of the tennis courts. An Engineering Firm did several soil borings on the court to determine the cause of the depression. The borings showed that the upper soils of 4 to 6 feet were silt and clay sand and from 6 to 15 feet was peat and organic silt. The Engineering Firm indicated that cause of the depression was the settling of the peat soils under the court. They recommended waiting to see how much further the soils would settle before looking at a correction. In 2004, the depression deepened and several cracks in the court surface began to show up. Public Works patched the cracks to keep the courts in play and in 2005 the cracks opened up significantly. The Engineering Firm conducted borings and indicated that a soil correction is needed and would involve removing 6 to 15 feet or more of peat soil and replacing it with sand. Several soil borings were taken at the north end of the park and hoping for a better location for replacing the courts. The borings here showed peat soil up to 19 feet deep.
Soil correction is extremely expensive and disruptive to the park landscape. It was estimated that to correct the soils and replace the courts it would cost $150,000 to $300,000. With this cost in mind, it was the consensus of the City Council to remove the courts, but provide an alternative park facility and requested Staff and Park Board to work with the neighborhood on an alternative park facility for Deacons Park.
Beginning in February of 2006, three neighborhood meetings were conducted to determine an alternative park amenity to the tennis courts. At the May Park Board meeting, changes for the final plan were agreed upon and recommended by the Board. The changes were irrigated landscaping, climbing wall, sand volleyball court, park benches and an enlarged general ice skating rink. All these improvements were installed and completed in the summer of 2006.
4.4 Other
Park and Recreation Director Kappelhoff commented that planning continues for Lexington Athletic Complex. He explained that tomorrow there is a tour of park athletic buildings that include restrooms, concession stands and utility rooms under one roof. He stated that they will visit Maple Grove, New Brighton and Bloomington, which have facilities with baseball fields. He commented that they will have the architect with. He stated that this is to determine what type of building to put in for the Lexington Athletic Complex. He explained that they will meet with the consultant, Carlson McCain a week later to review plans. He stated that in November there will likely be proposed site plans for the Board to review. He commented that for Aquatore Park field relocation they are working with wetland issues. He explained that they anticipate getting the extra dirt to sit on the field over the winter. He stated that for Legacy Creek Park they rejected all bids and will rebid it over the winter. He commented that a letter was sent to residents of this area to make them aware.
Vice Chair Bird asked about activity this year at Lexington Athletic Complex.
Park and Recreation Director Kappelhoff stated that a crop of corn currently needs to be removed by a rental proprietor and it is likely that nothing more will be done with the land until spring.
Vice Chair Bird asked whether the residents of Legacy Creek Park responded after receiving the letters.
Park and Recreation Director Kappelhoff stated that he has not heard any response so far.
Commissioner Leathers congratulated the Blaine High School girls and boys soccer teams as they are in state tournaments. He stated that it is the first time they had wins two years in a row.
5. Old Business
None.
6. Adjournment
Commissioner Markle motioned to adjourn. Commissioner Das second the motion. Motion approved unanimously.
Vice Chair Bird adjourned the meeting at 7:52 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Beth Bostrom
TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc.
Recommendation
By motion, approve October 23, 2012 Park Board Minutes.