North St. Paul City Council — Transcript
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Public Concerns: Website Usability and Park Dedication Fees
Park Master Planning & Design Concepts (HGA Update)
Permanent Park Hours Recommendation
Memorial Park Memorials Cost Adjustment
Park Rental Policy Updates
Votes (4)
HGA Park Design Concepts Update
Trig Hansen of HGA presented progress on conceptual designs for three parks, sharing community engagement findings and initial cost estimates (McNight: $5-13M; Downtown: $600K; Third Street: $700-900K). The discussion heavily focused on McNight Athletic Complex, particularly the need to balance the school district's use agreement for three softball fields with broader community needs for diverse recreational spaces. Concerns were raised about the school district's lack of financial contribution and the opportunity for multi-use flexible fields.
Permanent Park Hours Recommendation
Moved by Dave Andren [00:38:29] · Seconded by Ingred Kler [00:38:45]
The commission discussed establishing permanent park hours, considering the current temporary hours (7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.). Members weighed early morning recreational use against potential issues. There was a general consensus that the current hours have worked well without complaints. The need for improved signage to communicate these hours to the public was also noted.
Memorial Park Memorials Cost Adjustment
Moved by Sarah Zarka [00:43:40] · Seconded by Dave Andren [00:43:45]
Staff proposed new prices for memorial benches and picnic tables, effective 2025, to accurately reflect current costs for materials, concrete, plaques (now bundled), and installation. The commission acknowledged the substantial percentage increase from prices set in 2013 due to inflation. Discussion also covered the longevity and replacement policy for plaques, stressing the need for clear upfront communication with families due to the emotional nature of these memorials.
Park Rental Policy Updates
Moved by Dave Andren [1:00:23] · Seconded by Ingred Kler [1:00:27]
Staff proposed several updates to the park rental policy for 2025. Key changes included removing deposits for open-air shelters due to lack of inspections, adjusting non-resident booking to December 16th to ease early-year scheduling, and a $25 rescheduling fee. Other points included temporary removal of food truck provisions, allowing inflatables with insurance/locates, and prohibiting staked tents. Concerns were raised about Housley Park key security and ensuring resident priority.
Notable Quotes (10)
couple different scales of intervention that we're exploring at mcnight um looking at from 55 million to 13 million um these are loaded conservative cost estimates meaning that um they reflect uh what it would take to implement the programs that we're showing on a conceptual design plan these are the programs the the desires and the wants.
if the high school is the only one using those fields I just want to challenge the group or hear your feedback on where do you lie in this because they can't make a design unless they know where we stand with going back to the high school and saying actually we're going to give you two and then you can Flex these other ones or you know actually we need this for something else.
I think until we get further along with the agreement what the city may have with the school district uh the sooner we find out if they're going to even Pony anything up we kind of at a standstill.
I don't see any reason not to uh to keep what we have right now I think 10 p.m. is probably late enough.
I'm in favor of the 1 hour earlier closing because all of our Parks like most of our parks are Urban they're surrounded by houses um I think we need to talk about then maybe getting better signage.
it is a a steep raise in price but I'm still in favor I think we built this back when we were building the playground so it's 2013 would be the last time that those prices were probably looked at.
I think it should be clear upfront that in 10 or 12 years this might need replacing this is our policy on that this might cost x amount or whatever um I think that needs to be super clear up front because this is an emotional thing.
we are not doing pre and post inspections of those sites so the deposit is not as justifiable as the other ones.
the non-resident can't book for for instance we had an issue last year where a resident or a non-resident wanted to book on January 3rd um we they want to book obviously in December so that they know they have the facility.
couldn't we put a code lock on that as well that is currently still in discussion there's some concern over cost of that um but that is being floated around and really concern is if Lloyd rents it and he gets the the special key and he goes out and makes a copy of that key and three weeks later he has a wild party there.
Ordinances & Resolutions (7)
Process through which HGA was selected for park master planning.
Identifies McNight Athletic Complex as 'playfields' and guides proposed uses.
Current city plans for infrastructure improvements, considered for funding park projects.
Long-standing agreement governing the use of McNight Athletic Complex by the school district.
Agreements for the operation of the triple batting cages at McNight Athletic Complex.
Document governing the rental of park facilities, undergoing updates.
Currently non-existent city ordinance, leading to temporary removal of food truck language from park policy.