2009.12.02 PRC Minutes
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Crystal Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission
Minutes
December 2, 2009
The Crystal Parks and Recreation Commission meeting was called to order at
7:00 p.m. by Chairperson Lori Merriam. Commission members in attendance were: Ms.
Josephs, Ms. Haney, Mr. Mueller, Mr. Schuneman, Ms. Sodd, and Mr. Jungroth. Also
present were, Ms. Moore, Council Liaison; Mr. Rauen and Mr. Berggren from the city
staff. Also in attendance were Bill O’Reilly representing the bike race and residents
representing interest in expanding the disc golf course and the dog park
The Minutes were approved as corrected.
Bill O’Reilly representing the bike race presented the Commission with two checks
totaling $5,350 for the Recreation Scholarship Fund from the Bike Race. The Race was
a huge success again, and Mr. O’Reilly would like to explore putting on another race in
mid-September. He also mentioned that he and a group of volunteers with the race
would like to reconstruct the stairs at Bassett Creek in order to make them safer for
future bike races. Mr. Rauen will look into the request. Mr. O’Reilly needs a letter from
the recreation department regarding matching funds, which would include our Tax ID#.
The Monthly Reports were given. Mr. Mathisen was not present to give the Engineering
Report.
Ms. Merriam gave the Chairperson Report. Ms. Merriam discussed subcommittee
protocol, which includes:
- For each subcommittee the Chair should either be City Staff or a Commission
member
- Encourage face to face meetings
- Limit email length; if something needs to be discussed at length it is better to
conduct that meeting in person.
Ms. Merriam and Ms. Hackett attended the November EQC meeting to talk about the
Adopt a Park program. From the meeting they determined that the EQC was interested
in adopting a different park. They also expressed some interest in partnering with the
City to expand the outreach of Park Pride. Ms. Merriam & Ms. Hackett invited them to a
future commission meeting to discuss strategy.
Commission elections were held and the end result after motions and white ballots were
passed is as follows:
- Chair: Lynn Haney
- Vice Chair: Tom Jungroth
- Secretary: Sarah Joseph
A review of the dog park sub committee meeting was given. The citizen groups
attended the work session were they talked about the site plan. The volunteer group for
the dog park has already raised $4,500. The sub-committee will meet on December 28
to discuss the upcoming neighborhood meeting. They will be write a meeting notice to
residents of the Bassett Creek Park that will be sent by the City. The forum will be held
on Saturday January 9.
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The Volunteer group also presented their vision for the project, which included 6ft high
fencing, trees, and wood chips. They also would like to see some other natural
elements such as berms. They discussed an opportunity to have an electrician donate
their time to re-work the lights for the dog park. Mr. Rauen will look into the proposal.
Ultimately they would like to see the lights on a push button timer.
The Commission discussed the disc golf expansion. Currently there are 12 holes. The
Sub-committee walked the course and viewed some of the expansion possibilities. The
majority of the committee felt that the wooded area was not a good place to infringe. It is
felt that the woods at Basset Creek are a unique area and it should not be touched.
After a lengthy discussion the following motion was made:
Moved by Mr. Jungroth and seconded by Ms. Sodd to recommend the
expansion of the disc golf course to 18 upon Commission approval of the course
layout. course layout. Motion passed: 6 Yes/1 No.
The disc golf group was encouraged by Ms. Merriam to take the commissions comments
into consideration and to come back with a new course layout.
Mr. Berggren and Ms. Sodd gave an overview of what the Crystal Sparkles contest was
and encouraged more entries.
Ms. Moore gave the City Council report:
· Working with Brooklyn Parks Environmental Health Department
· Aldi will be moving in the Crystal Shopping Center
· The shopping center will receive $3.9 million in updates
· Aldi will be adding a loading dock to the back of the building which will affect the
Frolics events
· Cell phone towers will be going into Crystal but not near parks or schools
Ms. Haney gave the Crystal Frolics report:
· They have new band coming in this year
· Carnival may not be feasible with the addition of the Aldi loading dock. The
current Carnival provider may not continue with the Frolics if he cannot operate
the same way as in the past.
· There was a lot of discussion regarding what could be done with the Frolics
Carnival instead, but Ms. Haney does not want to commit to a scaled down
Carnival.
Mr. Jungroth gave the Crystal Business Association report:
· There will be a Social Event at the Surly Brewery on December 4 th .
The meeting was adjourned at 8:57pm.
Scott Berggren
Recorder