ADMINISTRATION- Nate Monahan, Recreation Manager
Title
ADOPTING THE 2018-2022 FIVE YEAR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN FOR PARK DEVELOPMENT FUNDS
Background
The City maintains a five-year capital improvement plan for park development funds. The capital improvement plan is a flexible plan based upon long-range physical planning and financial projections. Flexibility is achieved through an annual review and revisions as necessary. All improvements listed in the plan are proposed and must come back to the Park Board for review and recommendation to the City Council. The City Council then makes all final decisions on capital improvements.
Revenue for capital improvement plan comes from park dedication fees required of all new residential ($4,320), commercial ($8,704), and industrial ($6,702) development. Fees from residential development are currently split, with 80% of the fee funding parks development and 20% of the fee funding open space development. The current 80/20 split was approved in 2013 for fiscal years 2014 through 2018. Staff will be bringing this issue back to City Council for review later this year. (Note - 100% of commercial and industrial fees are used for parks development.)
Revenue from park dedication fees cannot be used for Park maintenance; only for development of new parks and trails, new improvements to community parks used by all residents, or for improvements or redevelopment to existing neighborhood parks that serve new growth.
The attached plan was reviewed and recommended for approval by the Park Board at their January meeting.
The 2018 projects include the development of Sanctuary Preserve Park in the Sanctuary Preserve Development off of Lexington Avenue at a cost of $250,000 and a comprehensive Parks Master Plan at a cost of $125,000. Staff is recommending the city hire a consultant to plan and review all parks in our system to evaluate needs and plan for future improvements. The parks master plan will take about nine months to a year to complete.
The plan also eliminates funding for the proposed park East of Lexington and North of Main due to a proposed agreement with Anoka-Hennepin School District to partner on the playground that will be constructed for the new Elementary School off of Lever Street. The City will reduce the Park Dedication Fee from $133,920 to $33,920. In exchange, the School District will construct a 20 X 20 Shelter (Similar to Lochness Park) in the K-2 & 3-6 soft play area and increase the budget to the play area by enhancing the surface of the playground. Once developed, the park would then serve as the neighborhood park for this area.
The School District and the Parks and Recreation Staff will work collaboratively to produce the final concept for construction of the play area.
Recommendation
By motion, adopt the 2018 to 2022 Capital Improvement Plan for Park Development Funds.