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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-11-25 PRC Packet . ~H~~te~ THE BIRTHPLACE OF MINNESOTA ~ STILLWATER PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD MEETING NOTICE NOVEMBER 25, 2002 The Stillwater Parks and Recreation Board will meet on Monday, November 25,2002 at 7:00 p.m. at Stillwater City Hall in the Council Chambers, 216 N. 4th Street. AGENDA . Approval of October 28, 2002 Minutes. 1. Ice rinks at Staples Field Park. 2. Peace pole (council referral). 3. Skateboard Park (council referral) 4. Continue review of park inventory 5. December meeting. . CITY HALL: 216 NORTH FOURTH STILLWATER, MINNESOTA 55082 PHONE: 651-430-8800 . . . CITY OF STILLWATER PARK AND RECREATION BOARD OCTOBER 28, 2002 Chairperson Polehna called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Present: Board Members Amrein, Flinn, Junker, Milbrandt, Polehna, Snell man Others: Community Development Director Russell Board Member McGarry Absent: APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion made by Board Member Junker, seconded by Board Member Flinn to approve the September 23, 2002 minutes with changes. Motion passed unanimously. REQUEST FOR LOWELL PARK PEACE POLE AND DOWNTOWN ICE RINK Ann DeLaVergne on behalf of the Downtown Interest Group requested approval for a peace pole in Lowell Park. The peace pole is a vertical six- sided pole with "May Peace Prevail" in six different languages on the sides. The pole will need a hole about four feet deep to securely hold the pole. The peace pole will be permanent. There was some concern amongst the Board about allowing a special interest group to place a peace pole on park property. The majority of the Board felt that allowing the peace pole to be located on public property might set a precedent. Currently there is not a policy in place to govern the placement of memorials on park property. The Board would like to put together a policy in the future. Motion made by Council Representative Milbrandt, seconded by Board Member Snell man to deny the request for a peace pole to be placed on park property. Motion passed unanimously. The Downtown Interest Group would also like permission to have an ice skating rink located downtown. Public Works Superintendent Thomsen suggested a couple of locations for the rink. The ideal location would be the gravel parking area between the River Market Lot and Lowell Park east of the telephone poles going . north and south. This location would not impact traffic or parking too much and the cost would be minimal. Motion made by Board Member Junker, seconded by Council Representative Milbrandt to allow the ice skating rink to be located at the gravel parking area between the River Market Lot and Lowell Park east of the telephone poles going north and south. REQUEST FOR SPECIAL LAUNCH AND/OR DOCK TO ST. CROIX John Kerschbaum requested approval of a dock location for gondola rides for the summer of 2003. Mr. Kerschbaum has spoke with the DNR and the Corps of Engineers about the city land just south of the Dock Cafe. The DNR did not express any concerns about this location. The Corps of Engineers sent Mr. Kerschbaum a permit application, however he needs the City's approval to go forward with the application. The Board did not feel comfortable granting approval. Liability was a concern . The Board would like Mr. Kerschbaum to continue to work with other people on the river for possible solutions. . Motion made by Council Representative Milbrandt, seconded by Board Member Snellman to deny the request for a special launch and/or dock. Mr. Kerschbaum should continue to work with others to find a solution. Motion passed unanimously. STAPLES FIELD PARK CDBG FUNDS Public Works Superintendent Thomsen wanted to know what improvements should be made. The Board felt that the lights, wind screens and trash cans be replaced. The Board also wanted Public Works Superintendent Thomsen's input of the possibility of a rink. If it were a possibility the Board would like to have a public hearing next month. REVIEW OF CITY PARK INVENTORIES The Board felt that signage in all of the parks needs to be consistent. The Board went over possible improvements to a few parks. . OTHER . Bike Race - FYI, will be held on June 15,2003. CIP 2003 - Council Representative Milbrandt will get clarification on this. Parks Dog Ordinance - The suggested wording was adopted. Lighting of Evergreens in Lowell Park Deb A sch requested permission to light evergreens i n Lowell Park. M s. Asch informed the Board that a trench would need to be dug from the nearest electrical outlet and that a transformer from the outlet would need to be provided. The downtown businesses would maintain the connection 0 n a n annual basis. In the first year, downtown businesses would cover the initial cost, but they would like assistance with workers and equipment. Motion made by Board Member Snellman, seconded by Board Member Junker to deny the request for lighting evergreens in Lowell Park. Motion passed unanimously. ADJOURNMENT . Motion made by Council Representative Milbrandt, seconded by Chairperson Polehna to adjourn the meeting at 9:15 p.m. Motion passed unanimously. Respectfully Submitted, Bobbi Mortvedt Recording Secretary . . Memo To: From: Date: Subject: Parks Board Steve Russell, Community Development Director November 15,2002 Parks Board Agenda Items for November 25, 2002 tv 1. Staples Field Ice Rinks. Tim Thomsen has reviewed the infield and basketball court locations for ice rinks and indicated it is feasible to construct rinks at both those locations. Based on your direction at the last meeting, I have provided special notice to residents within 300 feet of the park (one block). This will provide an opportunity to comment particularily on the basketball court location. 2. Peace Pole. The council at their meeting of November 12, 2002 referred the peace pole request back to the parks board for reconsideration. Mike Pohlena and Wally Milbrandt were at the meeting and can pass on the discussion. The request before the city council had the . support of the Chamber. 3. Skateboard Park. The council, particularly Councilmember Bealka, expressed an interest in finding a location for a skateboard park. It was mentioned that the Graffiti indoor facility may be closing down in the near future. Special care must be taken in siting a park because of the traffic and noise generated from the use. Suggested locations by staff and others include JC Ballfield area, Lily Lake Park (Parks Department site) and lawn in front of recreation center. 4. Parks Inventory. As time permits, the board can continue reviewing the results from the individual survey and develop a summary description for each park. 5. December Meeting. Board member Milbrandt has offered to host the December Christmas gathering after the regular meeting. We can discuss a date and assignments at meeting time. . ~ . . u ages..>,:.... .,....;:~(:..:'{,,:;: Thel- , t -.i~cludes':'c08~ '\;~ed racter actors in amazing y .creative..cos- tumes who become part of the room decor as well as . see page 12, cot. '1 ................. ~--...bA....- ~ -..""-~, .- Right Time 'for America's Cities. Broder~, . 'ns leadership expert Ste Covey, who will address the e egates on Friday morning, December 6, and ABC News Commentator Ann Comp- ton, who will lead a talk show , are designed to meet .the needs and concerns of elected leaders from cities and towns of all sizes. Numerous events are planned by Salt Lake City such . as a special penormance by the yellow 20Q2 Congress. of' Cities button' for u~p' date program information register on line. Be s .' register by November13 to take advantage of the advanced registration rates. _ Cities Cakh the Wave, Build. SkateparksforTeens .Some of the characterS of . .Ciique du Berserque '.wan- der throughout . the room, while others are perched on by Lance Davis The fastest growing sport in the Unit- ed States is not baseball, football or soc- cer. And cities are taking notice. Skateboarding, once considered the bane of the urban landscape, is growing so fast that many cities are building or have built outdoor parks for their skat- ing citizens. Municipal officials, industry representatives and skateboard advo- cates say the facilities r~duce dama@.JQ. downtown fIxtures, provide safe places for skaters and help decrease crimes normally attributed to teen vagrancy. "Our demographics showed that most skaters were males between 15 and 30. As I started looking into that population group, and talking to others about it, I found out that that age group is the most challenging. It has the highest rates of drug use, suicide and incarceration," said Du Wayne Ordonez, director of outdoor recreation in Albuquerque, N.M. "It's enough to make one shiver." "But I noticed that when they were skating, they weren't fighting. They were focused on their skating and they were \ Professional skater John Muldoon performs a feeble grind at the municiPal skate park in Breckinridge, Colo. Skateboarding is the fastest growing sport in America, outranking baseball and football. . doing something good," Ordonez said. Albuquerque opened its $1 million skatepark in February 2000. The park is so popular that the city has approved a second park contingent on the passage of a bond issue in 2004. Skatebording's popularity has increase with the advent of ESPN's X Games. Professional skaters like Tony Hawk have also helped push the sport into the national limelight. Hawk has even established his own foundation, the Tony Hawk Foundation, that awards grants to cities that want to build skateparks. Since its creation two years ago, the Tony Hawk Foundation has awarded more than $200,000 in grants. One reason skateboarding appeals to young people is that it is an independent sport where the competition is one-on- one. "Today's youth are looking for inde- pendent activities that they can do in combination with other sports activities. Action sports, or extreme sports, such as skateboarding, rock climbing, inline skating and BMX, are one outlet," said Greg Witt, a professional skateboarder and product consultant for Skatewave, a company that makes modular skatepark components. Witt is also one of the founders of the Rider Advisory Council in S~n Diego, Calif., a nonprofIt group that assists cities in planning and see page 12, col. 1 ... .' Skateparks, &om page 1 building skateparks. Skatewave, which is owned by Landscape Structures, a playground equipment manu- facturer, is the only company in the skate industry that works solely with municipali- ties to design and build skateparks. Witt said the com- pany worked with 250.cities in the last two years to build skateparks. "At last report, there were approximately 24,000 park and recreation districts in the Unit- ed States, but there are only about 2,000 skateparks in the country," said Witt. "Skate- wave's strategy is to get cities to build small, neighborhood skateparks that will then feed into one large skatepark." And, according to Ordonez, "If you city doesn't have a skatepark, then your city is the skatepark." From the municipal stand- point, skate parks drastically reduce the amount of property damage in downtown areas, alleviate congestion on side- walks and redu~e the possibili- ty of injury to skaters and pedestrians. ' Columbia, Mo., faced all three problems. Skaters were destroying fIxtures in public areas. T.heir tricks chipped away at retaining walls, marred paint on benches and damaged metal handrails. . "Our downtown is relatively tight. We don't have the wide sidewalks like you see in some cities. And we have a vibrant downtown, but when you throw the skaters into that mix, that caused a lot of congestion at the intersections where they hung out and the areas where they wanted to ride. It caused a hazard to pedestrian traffic," said Steve Saitta, Columbia's park development supe~ten- dent. "It eventually got down to the business community lobby- ing the city' council to ban , skateboarding, . inline skating and biking on city sidewalks." . That in turn led to the skaters and parents petition- ing the city council, to bufld a skatepark. With a $39,000 bud- get, Saitta's department" with the aid of local skaters, designed and built the park, which opened in 1999 in the city's most heavily used park,' the Columbia Cosmopolitan Recreation Area. The 28,000-square foot park has a roller hock~ynnk located I - next to it. It is adjacent to little league fIelds, tennis courts and other park facilities. The skatepark attracts skate enthusiasts from across the Midwest. "The popularity of this park has gone way beyond our expectations," said Saitta. "We're hearing from kids all over that it is one of the best skateparks in the nation." In neighboring Kentucky, the City of Lexington hosts the Lex Games, modeled after the X Games, at its skatepark. "This was born out of a group of young people who wanted to see the park get built, so they held the Lex Jam to raise money. After the park was' built, they held the fIrst Lex Games for novice skaters," said Jackie French, Lexington's recreation manager. "The event is very popular' and draws about 200 participants and a group of professional skaters,. Beast of the East, from New Jersey." Though some cities openly embrace skateparks, others resist. Even -in California, where the. sport of skateboard- ing was born, not all cities are eager to build.ska'teparks. An aerial view oftke Columbia, Mo., skatepark before it opened in 1999. Steve Saitta, the city's park development superintendent, said the park was planned,designed' and built by his department, with input [rom local skaters. Greg Witt, a professional skateboarder and product consultant for Skatewave, a company that makes modular skate park components, rides at the municipal skate park in Escondido, Cali/. Witt is also one of the founders of the Rider Advisory, Council, which helPs cities plan and design skateparkS. Witt said that Skatewave worked with 250 cities in the United States to build skateparks since 2000. The Skatepark Association USA (SPA) tried unsuccessful- ly to get a skateparkbuilt in Los Angeles. When their request was turned down, SPA built several portable skating structures and took them to neighborhoods where teen crimes were rampant. The impromptu Street Jams got the attention of local officials. "First the police would come by to make sure these were safe events because we were holding these in inner city neighborhoods where the gang violence was terrible," said Hei- di Lemmon, SPA director. "But the police saw that these kids 'V~l"~n:~:.tighting. They. saw how great these kids were at skating and I think the police saw this arid probably helped uS,more than anything else. . "Then we started to see more parks and recreation peo- ple coming out, and they start- ed asking us to do events in other parts of the city, then, before we knew it, the City of Los Angeles approved and funded 14 skateparks at $400,000 each," said Lemmon. SPA, which provides techni- cal assistance to cities on build- ing skateparks, is now develop- ing construction standards for skateparks and standards for youth programming and com- petitions. "Having a skatepark is great, but there are kids out. there who want to be like Tony Hawk. They. want to. compete and win and; and they want to become professional . skaters. And you have to be. there for. them.". . ., . Closing Event, &om page 1 - stages throughout the room perf9nning variously lively acts of fun and enter- tainment~ Their. acts include: mime, juggling, stilt walking, worms dancing, magic, contortionism, gymnastics,- mummenshanz, puppet drumming and Chinese juggling. Delegates will also have the chance to participate in pin trading, one of the most popular "sports" during the 2002 ' .. ,>" 'j ., .' OlYmPic Winter Games. Salt Palace Convention Center. . A wide variety of food will also be The closing event will complete the available ,during this special closing Salt Lake City and Congress of Cities event. experience for participants. It is yet When the closing event winds down, another opportunity to meet and net~ attendees can take advantage of the work with colleagues from around the great shopping available at the Gate- country. way to buy souvenirs for those back. . The conference will end earlier in the . home. Transportation to the Gateway day with the Annual Business Meeting, shopping area will be available from the preceded by workshops and the Dele- .' gates Luncheon. .'. For more information on the Con- gress of Cities and Exposition, includ- ing workshops, city information, mobile workshops and other conference activi- ties, see www.nlc.org. The conference begins December 3 with Leadership Training Institute Seminars and host city mobile work- shops.. .