all right I'll call to order the October 17th 2024 meeting of the corkran parks and trails commission s roll call christon here friedrick here Anderson here Nao here ster here great and I would like to invite everyone to say the Pledge of Allegiance United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all and then we'll move on to agenda approval anybody have any changes problems anything like that move to approve the agenda second all right uh all those in favor and those against great then meeting minutes any questions on the minutes or changes or Corrections I'll make a motion to approve the minutes excellent can we get a second a second excent all those in favor I all those opposed good moving on to open Forum public comment opportunity there is no one in the excellent no presentations no unfinished B business and new business historical overview of city park development yes so let's get right into it uh including in your packet is an overview of the conversation that I had with uh Commissioners NBO ster and then the Meister family they our commissioners were kind enough to go with me and provide that introduction a little further and ask the right questions that maybe I miss so thank you so much to the two of you for your time um included in that discussion though were a few community members and organizations that have made such an impact on City Park um I highlighted in the memo Willie Snyder who helped a lot with dirt work and excavation and is who Snider field is named after Frank Meister he mowed the park free of charge um he installed the first playground helped with fencing around the ball fields updated the warming house he helped with concessions in the warming house he has me Field named after him really just a community advocate who wanted to give back and it is apparent in that Park um Denny jobes helped uh Frank Meister update the warming house so the doors and painting and things of that nature uh Larry Jordan helped with the back stop for Snyder field and then the Northwest area JC's have been prominent ongoing and still continue to be uh with with the park shelter and the playground which I did finally get to go through all of the council minutes from I think I went 1997 to 2001 uhhuh um some of them are not fully uploaded into our laser fish system so I wasn't able to see some of them but from the ones that I saw uh our own commissioner navo came to the council meeting with George gak to ask to put the playground that is there now put it in place and the JC's helped donate and B spent her time coming in to advocate for it so thank you B thanks that was a fun tidbit that I didn't know specifically it was you I thought that was kind of fun and now you're still here just being a passionate part of the trails advocate so do you remember that when you came in and yeah well come on there was only 2000 no I'm kidding was7 oh oh I was thinking it was about 25 it was about 25 years ago but the other the wood you were you were six the wood structure got um P by like a tornado and trees on it and stuff like that and so it needed updating at that point so nice and unfortunately I think the people who worked on it prior you know they they had done their Duty it was my turn or our turn well thank you for doing mhm um and the playground that commissioner Nao is referring to is actually pictured on that polar right to the left of the text so it had um it had tires that kids could climb on I think it was a wooden structure to my knowledge um can't remember it you can or cannot it's kind of where the t-all fields yes are now yep and we'll dive a little bit more into that but this is some of the information that I found in the council minutes um we've got fence bids for Lions field coming in back in 97 uh the JC's helping and the Lions helping to fund a youth hockey rank back in also 97 uh 98 got field three fencing updates with a lot of community involvement uh 98 hockey rink lighting 2000 the old playground removal also 2000 was the new playground and then uh the dedication of the equipment itself so I'm not saying B might be the greatest Park planner of all time but she managed to get it erected in like five months which is pretty impressive um so that's kind of the conversation with the Meister family and the council minutes that I dug through and to be fair there's plenty more from 2001 up to 2017 that I wouldn't have seen right I've been here since 18 so anything in between there is still a little bit of a mystery and I'll continue to look into it but I wanted to provide at least an update moving forward though I thought it was interesting to look at the park development from GIS as well I recognize this might be kind of hard to see uh with the adjustment of the TVs and how far away it is now but we will have closer visuals as I move through the slideshow but this just kind of shows how development truly started to hit the park at about 89 or around that time sometime between 69 and 89 I can't get a full grasp in the minutes that I could find where I was looking specifically only went back so far so I'll try and get a little more detailed information but this gives us at least a starting point to looking into it um so you can see in ' 89 the eastern part of the park starts to develop by 2000 we're starting to get the uh pin wheel side and then 2002 well I'll just I'm not going to get super in the weeds because we'll get there um this shows the later part of the 2000s that we've seen thus far um specifically I thought it was interesting from 2021 to 2024 watching that eastern border of the park develop I didn't realize how quick it happened um so 1969 to 1989 is when the first parts of the park really popped up uh me Snider and lions field start to develop so those are those Easter ball Eastern ball fields over here so we've got Meister Snider and lions field uh one t- ball field comes to be uh a skating rink area begins to develop the Pavilion develops the tennis court area develops and then the playground is installed this is not the current playground but the previous one and can ask a question yeah go ahead so that triangle kind of part that was what city park was right because the other part was school district land correct so it's like this part right here so over here it would be this up to about here and down and over because it's still the same Parcels from what I've seen other questions on the first slide well first of these guys um so then 1989 to 2000 we're starting to see those Western pin Wheels start to develop a little bit more right here the main west parking lot develops and comes to be the tennis courts are developed up here and then ice rinks are more formalized but the pin wheel was Rockford correct that's the school district put those in yeah so then from 200 to 2002 uh you start to see a shed in the Ballfield pin wheel I know that doesn't seem like a big deal but the sheds are still there um you start to see the current playground get installed so right here it moves from its original location which was down here um and they installed the new one up here uh trails are starting to lead to the Pavilion and playground once those are installed so you can see up through here and kind of over those didn't exist as prominently before questions on these ones all right 20 2002 2004 slowed down a little bit got one additional t- ball field uh you can see it right over here so it was this Eastern one so 2002 2004 was was the start of parks and trails commission that was when we began meeting and we did we weren't concerned with parks at first it was a natural resources inventory was first C years and that's when we started to make the master Park plan and we knew that City Park was there I remember that because two of my neighbors were on the commission dad and um sure Craig okay right other questions comment you guys have more historical knowledge than I do I'm just trying to provide what I found are you doing great thanks so then we look forward to 204 to 2006 the batting cage area is starting to become more defined um so that is the area right over here you can kind of see a white the batting cage is BL yes which we can also talk about if you is it I saw that on the way to work uh 2006 to 2012 uh the sheds and the bleachers go up around the pin wheel ball field so right over here we're starting to get more sheds more uh bleachers and then the batting cage installation took place in 2012 right over here question what year did we purchase the the Rockford property from the from them do we know oh yes 18 or 19 I want to say 19 I think it was 19 was to say 17 or 18 it wasn't 17 because I was here and I started in 18 and I won remember if it was the year that I started or I think it was 18 okay that's the whole left side was Rockford until this is pretty much the line is the tree line and the hill that was a huge deal getting that property I think Rockford's intent was to build a school there Elementary School it was yeah it was they were holding on there's a point in the minutes where they talk about how they are specifically holding on to the property because they want to further develop but then in 18 or they ended up selling to the city it just wasn't the right fit I guess um I think their funding was not so high they needed the money yeah um bad andage takes its shape and then two more ball field or two more t- ball fields come into play so then we got all four of the t- ball fields now in 2012 and then it just kind of slows down a little bit so I thought we'd highlight the development near Rush Creek a little bit uh so you can see between 2021 when there's nothing there and then 2024 when it's it's pretty well built out um but I think that really emphasizes the fact that there are people over there and they need that trail connection to access the park and now we're we're changing kind of what the goals and Visions are right I mean it's accessibility now and it's newer updated amenities so it was just it was very interesting to see all of the historical information that I found um I am working through kind of a mockup of a summary of minutes that have to do with the parks and trails commission so if anyone would like to see that further I can certainly send it out um I'm more just going to try and keep it on hand for a historical reference point um but I'd be happy to share it and if there's any Council minutes that you'd like to see specific ially I can try and track them down questions comments thoughts cool very interesting very interesting super cool and if there's areas that you'd like to know more about that maybe I didn't hit on that I can try and research a little more I can I'd be happy to take any suggestions so I I always thought the park was older I just you know you look at the around the flight pool and I say 1930 you know it just looks it just looks sort of ancient and no no it's not that no it's not nearly that old so it was it was quite surprised to learn that there's a I think a corresponding history that had to do with with the how Athletics were sponsored there's corporate Athletic Association I don't know when that started all I I know Kevin Dale you know think Kevin Dale's father Kevin ended up yeah and so I think that that would be a really nice story to collect also Frank he probably know yeah Frankin remember that yeah that's good that was very interesting going over there and chatting with them that that was enjoyable uhuh I could have sat there for two more hours and he's been talking about it for days I guess he really enjoyed us all being there told me y they came into City Hall and I got really excited to see them again so did they oh NE the civic duty you know and such but so I got to see them and say hi and thank them again and it was very kind of Denise to take time out of her day too yeah to go over there I well and then to hear the side of the kids' story where if we wanted to see Dad we had to go to the park yeah because that's where he was all the time all the all the timeing your working if you wanted dad he was at the park so we can't rename those fields well what I find a little interesting is from the time those wood structures went up to when they got hit to now what's there that now has to be redone it's about a 25 year year cycle is kind of what I've seen there so you'll see a lot of vendors say eight to 10 years vendors I was going to say gosh um data shows they can last 10 15 20 years once you hit 20 probably a good time to start thinking about it there's like a stainless Steels whirly slide over at the park no that came from the old park because they told us it was just awesome to keep it and it was supposed to get rep power painted CED it never did just an FYI it still works yeah but it was crazy when we were working on it trying to save money they said well that's an awesome slide keep that no repaint the outside of it I failed it didn't get done so yeah kind of interesting though on that on the 25 year mark kind of like how we had the uh big tractor tires very that was cool yeah I remember those yeah there were 10 of them from what I read in the minutes okay when they had to get rid of them is it a safety issue nowadays or something or they just a good question I I guess I don't know that I've really seen any tires in playround you know for a while they're grinding up tires and using that for for Bas well for base for rubbered rubberized stuff and they don't do that because tires are not really all that friendly for little kids you just don't want them yeah getting that dust well they're probably hot well they well and dirty your hands get all black oh how fun we're going to have running water but I you know it reminds me when I was a kid the park buildings I went to were were WPA buildings they were built in the 30s during the Depression course this was this was the this no no WP I'm Sor works progress so it was the Federal Government trying to lift provide some employment for all sorts of unemployed people during during the Depression and so there was a big building boom of public buildings and that went all the way I grew up in Minneapolis and so it went right down to you know Persian field and L Hills field had buildings that were wood and looked you know out vaguely Army Barracks like I mean just that sort of not a lot of architectural subtlety to it and that lasted up through I suppose the late 60s and then when those those were really worn out and out of date and then they form down of course money is short so the buildings they put up were not Grand at all I mean cinder block kinds of buildings which are I think still there and they're they're uninspired you know and supposed to have gym space and the floors are kind of worn off you just kind of kind of shots them they need replacing but fix life kind yeah exactly progression yes good work I like that history stuff it's really nice yeah thank you I'll see what I can find for the corkran athletic association it gives me a reason to reach out to Kevin Dale and I do love to talk to Kevin Dale there you go awesome now you put this all good I have to keep adding on to say I don't know why we put parks and clerk because I mean as the parks and trails develops as the council develops as staff grows and changes I mean I'm not planning on going anywhere but it's nice to be able to that when you retire from here when I retire from here in 40 years and you have to get the information before the original people passed yeah you know talk to Kevin next week well Kevin's probably on the safe side but Kevin's active yeah um this will also make its way eventually into a newsletter okay yeah uh just so that we can get more publicly known information out there good and then if people have any thoughts maybe they can reach out and go hey hey guess what I actually know X Y and Z about this yeah exactly that I've got some pictures the hard part is back checking sure everybody's got a story right well that's just it so sure that'll work okay good you don't need anything from us on that no excellent good work let's move on to Bark in the Park survey woohoo so I told you guys last month that I would come back with more information about Bark in the Park just me doing that uh Bark in the Park took place on Friday September 6th uh we had a turnout of I think 35 to 45 dogs and owners so I I think for a first year really good uh we had 12 vendors committed I think 10 or 11 showed up um couple of them lost it on the calendar it happened um during Bark in the Park we did have a survey going we only got 17 survey responses generally positive and it was the people who attended the event it was all positive feedback that really was like yeah we'd be interested in having a dog park but that's also all people who had dogs who showed up to we a dog event so at a staff we were talking about it ideally we'd like to reopen the survey approximately a month allow for that additional feedback from the community as a whole um I would likely remove the question about Bark in the Park the event because if you weren't there as much as I love your feedback I don't want it now um and then feedback from the group that I'm looking for the questions included in the survey aside from the ones specific to Bark in the Park are you okay with those if they go back out um do you have any questions regarding the event itself and then do you have any thoughts on the proposed survey or the timeline for the survey when I went through this I'm not a pet owner but some of the that that last question on the first page what features would you like to see in a potential Park and uh shade shaded seating area and natural Landscaping well that you know that's a lesson for all the parks everything that we do whether it's your dog or your kid or or your own self walking around that people really do want that and that and know the Wild Flower needs some shading and it's that's kind of kind of my point and some natural Landscaping you know not everything needs to be molded so I thought it was I thought that was that's a pretty actually a pretty good response from on a survey I think you know I think it was a good response for the amount of people that attended the event I think for the Greater corkran Community I would like to get more responses from a more very pool I don't think it's fair to like take them only from a Bark in the Park event where people are passionate about dogs see for 6,000 people there are probably 3,000 dogs in cour right 4000 more do we collect emails with these surveys no and we I would be hesitant to collect because I would want to do this anonymously so that people feel comfortable providing their true feedback um what we do have however is every time someone registers for a Cork Room Parks and Rec event I'm sorry not event uh program they have the option to opt in for emails and so we do have a list serve of people who have opted in yeah I was thinking Sur would be great to uh it can they don't have to provide it it take a survey but hey if you want future surveys we'll send them right to you be on the list so maybe an option at the end yeah what final question would great is that on the tree sign up also uh to opt in yeah no but it could be they that's saving stamps huh M it's it's a lot easier to take a survey online than it is to pull it out and then surey and get it down on the end of the traveling you need us to make for Bark in the Park survey I don't need a motion just general direction if you guys are all okay with me going back out I that all makes sense go for it perfect y okay so that's that reports and information planning project update information only we have any planning project updates anyes any updates I am going to provide will be so I don't have anything specifically on 9A and I will note counselor Nichols is not on um so I will try to provide as much feedback as I can if you have any questions I'm gonna just ask kind of a stupid question that kind of has to do with this I came down the parkway thing for the first time when you know you come down and you come down 101 so north of uh what's the church up there Emanual oh like on 101 manual right yeah just just north of that by wor the new red bar and it just is that still Cork and that big trucking company yes yeah that's that came through a couple years ago well I remember just remember well we didn't hear it past the council I guess and it's built and done yeah holy moly I got to get out cross the road from the well I gotta go just driving around I guess yeah crazy okay yeah that was quick have you seen the water tower yeah and and the treatment PL she saw that was good oh uh we also the TV and exactly oh God no questions it sounds like parks recreation Trails update what's in the packet all right listen I will give you an update on what I have been working on Park planning so continuing to work with H KGI Stant and ortell those are our three Consultants that we're working with to help plan the park um you should have received an email a couple of weeks ago the openhouse survey opportunity is getting moved uh because the city park remaster project isn't going to council until next week uh it will be in the packet tomorrow it's generally posted on Friday before so if you're interested in looking at it it should be posted other otherwise if it's easier I can also send it out depending on what preferences are you know if you send it out it'll probably more likely get R I will send it um and then so we've got the public engagement opportunity happening on November 21st so that would be the parks and trails meeting day 5:30 to 6:30 so if you're able to be here Wonder ful if you're not also okay I understand it's before the actual meeting time so uh the survey is intended to be open from November 1st through November 22nd uh I plan to post it as many places as I can get it posted uh I will probably also send it out to all of you wonderful people and hope that you will send it out to all of your wonderful people uh other areas that I have been working on the park history as you saw tonight uh policy updates so I am working with our community development go ahead sorry I'm just checking I thought we moved our parks and trails commission meeting to Tuesday November 19th I have that on my calendar is Tuesday November 19th not the 21st just FYI and I don't know if it's because we I I remember was session but I don't remember why we moved it that's not Thanksgiving no Thanksgiving is the week after did we maybe move it because I thought it was Thanksgiving I don't remember I I just remember it's in my calendar for the TW for the 19th so do we want to Red discuss I think before Thanksgiving we next just do the Thursday fine with the normal day so we just have the meeting on the regular Thursday then yep okay someone remembers mov it no I don't even I'm gonna switch it then I remember the conversation but I don't maybe we talked and then we never finalized it Weimar put would do that but that's fine I'll switch it go back and on I can but that makes me nervous because I wonder if you guys made a motion changing and we have to make a motion back then yes you want to make a motion just in case can we we make a motion covered to confirm it unless we find a good reason to so to coincide with the open house yeah make a motion okay I'll make a motion to schedule our regular parks and trails commission meeting for Thursday November 21st coincide with our open house at 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. with our meeting starting at 7 p.m. second Perfect all those in favor right all those post thank you and I'm sorry um so park history uh policy updates I've been working with our planner and our deputy director of Public Safety so Ryan Burns and Dwight cing B uh we're working to update special event processes um so updating the form that's been in place for a while updating some of the front-facing information so that it's a little clearer for people updating how we put the information out there about signs special event signs making that information a little more clear for folks uh and then I'm also working on the park enhancement program and the park renaming policy it's just taken me some time because there's a lot of other things so I'm sorry uh Park the trails commission items so helping prep the P well prepping the packet and the materials inside of it uh minutes from previous meetings and then communicating the timeline adjustment for the open house youth Athletics baseball just wrapped up a few weeks ago so that season is done kind of Bittersweet he'll be back oh yeah he'll be back before I know it we do would we ever do like a flight football ball league with our current with our current offerings I would say I would not encourage it um our Fields take quite a bit of a beating from soccer and I'm already sometimes talk to about how often I use the fields so if we add just one more where like flight football is one of those where they're going to be pounding into that field and after the season of soccer of having it pounded down it's nice because there's kind of a break with ball baseball it lightens up a little bit you're not using every Green Space we could explore it I think as we re-evaluate what programming looks like with the new park I was just thinking for Revenue it might be another one more program that you could get it would be short won't be that long but it and it all depends on how you run it but I would say with current offerings I wouldn't encourage it but I think we could reevaluate and look at yeah what program offerings could look like for future uh I also went to a conference spent some time in man learning about pickle ball and workplace culture diverse purchasing options conflict resolution so it was really good got to meet some exhibit hall vendors that was really beneficial uh as we move forward into this city park project holiday toy and food drive is also coming up this is my casual plug it is December 11th that is the Tuesday with the 12th as a backup date so make sure that you talk to your neighborhoods and see if they would like to I'm sorry December 10th is the date the 11th is the backup date um make sure you register your neighborhoods it is a collection of non-p perishable food items and unwrapped new toys so the toys go to Toys for Tots the non-p perishable food items go to Cross services so just St in Rogers other than that we've got some Council items um the Public Works team put together a youth activities Grant application for a new Toro zmas mower I did not do uh pretty much anything with that so it's really nice that they have a public works admin assistant now we've got some extra help some more hands to make less work um is that a matching Grant or is that it is so we have to match the amount that the grant is okay and we have previously gotten this grant in the past we usually get it for $10,000 and historically I think we have gone for a lot more so it's been a successful Venture we'll see how this one gos October 10th the meeting last week didn't have anything super parks and trails related um but next week on the 24th is going to be the city park remaster um it's going to be a request for approval to continue with the project moving into design development and construction documents other than that that's what I got great thank you keeping busy right good job as always sub commmittee do we have a Garden Club report no no wait can I Playard clubo I got an email today from the uh State agriculture folks and I emailed back and I said hey but maybe this time we don't need to do the nursery stock dealer certificate and they said nope still do so I tried Le he tried started quoting statues so it's starting to get wow some clipped the bushes up front of city hall though that was not Public Works was out here quite a bit today because they trimmed it back I heard that they were fixing up some of the trees back there so thanks good excellent all right park dedication fund any questions okay I have another update yeah so Council approved uh an agreement with ABDO which was the Consulting Group that we were using for financials they are going to serve in the finance manager role so we should start seeing more updates to park dedication fund good okay other business announcements Tom I think you said you Maple Grove did a creek restoration uh great there at the at that where they've been messing with the roads to con Road 30 mhm um they also PC off on the to the north of that there's something new going on they they took the opportunity uh to restore mild Shoreline for the creek bed and also to put in some pollinator Gardens and it's a pretty big deal and and the director brought product little slideshow of what they've been up to it was a you know it was a big project it was a $7 million project wow to do that but because they got some grants and some other funding price to Maple Grove came down to a couple million um and I just you know it was uh it was kind of it was a nice show and and I thought I could bring I could see if he is interested and willing and able to bring it to perks and Trail sometime and their director Chuck no no I think it's used to know the name is his name Ben I'm just pulling any Maple girl contact I have you are Derek Derek Ash or Ash St work of The Rush Creek dream restoration where was that at it's it's off just just uh just north of 30 where they're where they're doing all that rerouting going to come in oh right there right it where 61's coming in it's piece that has not had development so it's easy to get in there it's not in people's backyard okay and so they just have kind of re restored the whole I wonder what they're doing there took took out a ton of Buckthorn and and some other stuffff right if he's willing I'd be all for it having him come in and very pertinent me on a meeting where we don't talk about Central Park always go long but yeah yeah maybe check in with them okay I'll check and see if he's cool thank you Tom uh that's it for other business announcements unless Ione something else you know I just did want to say that the 24th is also Ken Gunner is kind of going away uh meeting he's actually moved up North but he will be here to resign from the water at the council meeting the council meeting no which the next the 24th Thursday thank you and so at least that's uh that will be right at the you receive that recognition Ry in the meeting he was very prominent in the minutes that I reviewed yeah yes yeah yeah yeah he's said a he's had a a vision for the way cor should be run and what work should be inv I think for a long time he's been just incredibly useful and good at the waterers Commission M you really has gotten things kind of straightened out so and if you know anybody who would like to be has any interest being on the Watershed commission there is an opening no no I I do I do not my plate is really full I will be serving as the AL as the alternate and I'll do that as long as they need to be nice somebody be nice if they had a little bit of you know experience in that sort of work but Kevin can help and the group is is pretty friendly Shar not no Sharon Sharon used to do it Sharon did it for while botma did it for a while so there've been a variety of people who've done it and it's a it's one of the if the Watershed commission is doing its job a lot of problems which could pop up never pop up if they don't you know if you screw up the drainage that problem just never goes away with it for a century because you just don't have the space to fix it right so so Watershed functions pretty well in that respect I think do climates you know the amount of rainfall we get the way we receive rainfall seems to be changing and so they're they that is on their radar to make new developments more resilient through maybe not as much rain overall but having it come all in one weekend yeah good to all any other announcements all right then does anyone want to make a motion to adour in the meeting I'll make a motion to adour in the meeting I second excellent all those in favor I I post