[0:23] welcome to the Oakdale Parks and Recreation Commission meeting we're at the Oakdale City Council chambers uh we

[0:31] are calling this meeting to order and now we'll take a roll call julie Commissioner Berth here commissioner

[0:38] Cunningham here commissioner Gianini here commissioner Meyer here commissioner Proer here commissioner

[0:44] Shore here great please stand for our pledge of allegiance

[0:53] i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation

[1:01] under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all

[1:08] thank you all right everyone get take a peek at the

[1:14] agenda for today i get a motion to approve

[1:21] i'll make a motion all right second all right all in favor i passed

[1:29] february 18th minutes it's been a while you guys check it out do you remember it

[1:36] first of all yeah okay um can I get a motion to

[1:42] approve anyone a motion all right Jan second second second all in favor

[1:50] passes great right now we'll go to an open forum there's just tons of people here

[1:57] today so take your time and we'll get you as you come

[2:04] there's no one here hannah you want anything other to say all right

[2:09] um now we'll go into old business 2025 work plan commissioner education julie

[2:17] you want to Yeah thank you Commissioner Meyer um so speaking to our 2025 um work plan um

[2:26] education assignments I'm not sure how you guys want to do this this year um I I feel like how we did it last year

[2:33] wasn't necessarily the best way to do it do you have any suggestions on how you

[2:38] would like to see that happen um I'd still like to see just someone you know take an event or a park visit each month

[2:45] but I'm not sure the best way do you want to email me what you would like to do or would you like to to pick

[2:50] something today what do you guys What would you guys like to see

[2:56] well I picked one for myself uh for this month perfect okay we'll have we'll have

[3:02] you report um as soon as we I can report that I did just recently okay okay so do

[3:10] do you want to have a month assigned or would you prefer just to come and report

[3:15] if you were at a park or an event that's a little easier but I don't know

[3:22] if that's going to work for everybody but yeah yeah i'd

[3:27] rather re report when I go okay so okay are we okay with that sure well yeah the

[3:37] only It'd be nice to have someone at each event though representing the

[3:43] commission so if we just do it ourselves and nobody shows and it's kind of not

[3:49] what we're about um so if we can email Julie if we're going to be around and doing something and if you see someone

[3:57] doesn't have an event covered if you could put it out to all of us and say "Hey who can get here?" Sure well last

[4:04] year so everybody just picks something so we had someone covering something every month i think if we picked a

[4:10] program and everyone had to attend that would be kind of a heavy list i don't mean everyone has to attend a one that's

[4:16] not covered and you just put it out and say "Who can cover this who can make this cuz if we're all doing our own

[4:22] thing and say we're going to be here we're going to be here okay but you have one event that's in a social or something

[4:30] can one of you make it out of here okay does that sound okay to everyone so to recap are we So we're going to email you

[4:37] Julie every month and say So I I'll say okay next month is the an indoor market

[4:44] in November who would like to take that okay so like that works um I had signed

[4:50] up for it I believe but like I was there at the Beski Beski Park tree planting

[4:57] um do you want to know before or afterwards like I could have emailed you and said hey I attended that it was

[5:04] really a good um event right well you know so just going forward I just wanted

[5:10] to have a better process but um what we'll plan to do then is for July um

[5:16] I'll reach out to everyone and ask if anyone can cover whatever it happens to be and then and then you can whoever you

[5:23] know was available can pick that but we only need one person then we'll just do that every month um but you can

[5:29] certainly report to the activities that you were at today okay and is that at a

[5:34] different point of this meeting or Oh you can do that now yep oh so yeah I did attend a really good event um Andy I

[5:42] think you were there too but um it was the um Bethky Park tree planting they

[5:47] had lost a lot of trees in that park due to emerald ashbor and so they had um I think like

[5:56] 25 to 30 trees that we planted uh right to the front um off of Granada Avenue

[6:02] there and the mayor was there um and we had a lot of um people from some of the

[6:09] local schools help planning and um it was just really a fun event to see um

[6:17] you know that we pay attention to our parks and we get people who are interested in our parks and um Maxine

[6:23] Bethky um was really happy that we all paid attention to it too you know so

[6:30] yeah it was well turned out I thought excellent thanks the weather wasn't

[6:35] great but it wasn't bad it wasn't this full day rain like we have today so

[6:41] Okay wonderful thank you uh Julie anything else on that yeah I think Mike

[6:46] had a Oh no i meant I had a a upcoming event that I was planning to attend so I'll report next time okay okay we'll um

[6:53] we'll discuss via email yeah okay perfect anybody else on that i went to the blood drive over at

[7:00] the discovery center uh thankfully it wasn't busy because they only had like two people drawing blood and it would

[7:06] have taken forever um but no it was it was fine no problems

[7:14] we and I haven't been here for a little while um but we went to me and my family

[7:20] went to the egg hunt and we also went to Sunday bingo and I mean the egg hunt is

[7:26] always a great event it was lots of fun lots of families lots of kids um the bingo was also a lot of fun and I was

[7:34] actually really surprised like how many like non- young families there were it was a lot of like

[7:42] older generation there cuz um which was great you know it's a it's a neutral

[7:48] environment you know to be able to just go and play bingo and eat some ice cream

[7:54] and it was it was fun and we're definitely going to do that again perfect thanks for the feedback

[8:02] anyone else mark i did forget to say that um that tree

[8:07] planting was in honor of Jane Klein who was on our parks and rec commission before she died

[8:14] so it was good to honor her too definitely okay good all right yep

[8:20] moving along uh we have Hannah Dunn our community development specialist here to

[8:25] talk about the park system plan update welcome Hannah thank you

[8:30] just wait for my slides to pop

[8:39] up there we go so thank you for having me here this evening um for new faces on

[8:44] the commission my name is Hannah Dunn i am a community development specialist with the city and I have been leading the park system plan project um as the

[8:51] project is getting fairly close to wrapping up I want to take the time to come to your meeting um to provide an

[8:56] update and review the project the park system plan is intended

[9:03] to be a comprehensive park plan that will serve as a guiding roadmap for the next 20 years the city of Oakdale

[9:10] already has a really wellestablished parks trails and recreation system however um due to significant city

[9:16] growth changing demographics um interest in different park amenities and aging

[9:21] infrastructure um we felt that a new park system plan was needed um so it it

[9:27] will provide um a way to to meet the demands and communes uh demands and

[9:34] needs of the community um the park system plan will identify and prioritize recommendations for

[9:40] improvements schedules costs staffing and funding opportunities uh the project

[9:45] kicked off in January of last year so we're looking or we're about a year and a half in um and we're anticipating that

[9:52] it'll be completed within the next couple of months um SRF Consulting Group they are the consultant that we hired

[9:58] they're not present but um Stuart has been and Ken have been here to a couple meetings um so they they were hired to

[10:04] provide professional planning services for the project the next few slides goes over um

[10:10] how the city staff and SRF consulting you know developed the park system plan the different tasks that we did so back

[10:17] in um early last year the spring uh very early stages of the project a number of

[10:23] tasks were completed we um reviewed previous plans and studies um we analyzed demographic trends uh we

[10:30] completed a comprehensive inventory and assessment of all our parks and their amenities trails buildings athletic

[10:36] fields um this was done by city staff and SRF consulting group um going out spending a few days in the parks walking

[10:43] around taking notes um and filling out an assessment form there was an initial survey in

[10:50] March that uh sought to gather just general feedback from um residents and park users about um what they like about

[10:56] our system what they think can be improved and then lastly there were a few days that city staff and the

[11:01] consultants spent um going through design sharets um we met with various departments such as public works the

[11:07] police department to do some informal interviews and then from that information that we gathered as well as

[11:13] the survey results we just started to um put some ideas to paper and developed some preliminary concept plans the

[11:19] consultant then took those kind of just you can see on the picture you know trace paper they took those designs and

[11:25] put them into the um you know really nice professional format last summer was our really big

[11:33] engagement push um so following the development of the preliminary concept plans we wanted to gather people's

[11:39] feedback about those plans and see whether they were supportive of the recommended improvements there was an

[11:45] online survey which we promoted um on social media and we used yard signs in the parks to get people to um take the

[11:51] survey we attended events such as the farmers market and summerfest to engage with visitors we had stakeholder

[11:58] meetings with the Oakdale Athletic Association and Oakdale Wellness 50 plus we attended city commission meetings

[12:03] such as yours um em uh the environmental management commission the economic development commission um there were

[12:09] also some informal popups at Tanner Lake as well as other parks um and when we were out in the other parks we were

[12:15] really trying to be intentional about engaging volleyball players so this is a um a use of our park that we're seeing

[12:23] increase so we were trying to be intentional about um speaking with those um that play grass volleyball to gather

[12:29] their thoughts um following all that engagement um concept plans were further refined and um we attended two different

[12:36] um council workshops in the fall of 2024 to gather council feedback

[12:42] then throughout the winter um and spring of this year the project team worked more with city council to finalize preferred concept plans and develop

[12:49] detailed cost estimates that will be really helpful when we're working on our capital improvement plans in the future

[12:54] we also worked to to develop a prioritization and phasing matrix um that prioritizes all the park

[13:00] improvements that are in the concept plans um over the short term which is 0 to 5 years um the midterm 5 to 10 years

[13:08] and then the long term 10 to 20 years all of that work takes us up to now where we're um compiling all of that

[13:15] the concept plans the phasing and prioritization matrix um into a digestible plan that current city staff

[13:21] and city council as well as future city staff and city council can use to guide the city's park system i'll pause

[13:28] briefly um to see if commissioners have any questions or comments about um how we developed the park system plan um

[13:34] engagement that was done i'll just open it up for Go ahead

[13:41] well I guess tonight are we going to go through each park and Nope so this was

[13:46] just an opportunity to as we're getting to the final stages to just kind of close out um have a final opportunity

[13:52] for questions um but we were not going to we had an opportunity I think back in November to walk through all the concept

[13:57] plans um so we were not going to walk park by park again tonight um the park

[14:02] concepts have been provided in your packet they've changed a little since um since the last time we were here um

[14:09] based on council feedback so if you looked through those and had any questions I'm happy to answer them now

[14:14] but um really this was just an opportunity to kind of as we're wrapping up the project to get in front of you

[14:20] and just kind of um let you ask questions are you guys satisfied with the feedback from the city when you went

[14:28] out from the from residents and park users yeah there was a lot of really great um really great comments people

[14:34] left really intentional feedback um I don't remember off the top of my head how many people took the survey it was

[14:40] pretty good response rate based on um other similar surveys um for projects and studies um and and at events we

[14:48] talked to um to lots and lots of people so I know um that there's still probably you know

[14:56] more that more comments that we could have collected but um we we did do a

[15:01] really big engagement push over the summer so yeah I thought the emails and how they could reply to that was very

[15:07] good actually so who has some questions oh that was Mike oh go ahead

[15:14] so in Tanner's Park um it refers to H as

[15:19] a water play area feature is that Yep uh splash pad we were intentionally keeping

[15:25] that flexible that is something that future council will decide how how that looks um but they had been supportive of

[15:33] of of a water play feature there um but we don't know what the what that will

[15:38] exactly look like so um when that area um and I don't off the top of my head know in that phasing matrix when that is

[15:45] proposed i think that's more of a long-term um park improvement um we will go through more of a final design

[15:52] process and and determine what that will look like

[15:58] i was just going to comment that I know this is a huge project to take on so I

[16:03] appreciate all the outreach and effort put into soliciting all the comments and

[16:09] feedback thank you absolutely no I think it's a job well done like I

[16:15] said the layout's great presentation's wonderful and you guys did put a lot of hard work into this all of you and uh we

[16:23] appreciate that for sure i did have uh one park specific question also uh for

[16:28] the uh Goose Pond Park yes yes uh was there anything in the proposal about signage for like not feeding the geese

[16:36] we the concepts are pretty high level so they don't go into that sort of wayfinding or other signage um but that

[16:44] could be something to consider down the line when we get into final design um

[16:49] processes um there was an an it'll take further refinement but we were

[16:55] attempting to um create some sort of buffer that will kind of keep um some of the geese hopefully away from that that

[17:02] turf glass grass that they love so much um but I think when we get into those final design phases we'll have to really

[17:09] put a little bit more thought into how that can work but maybe something that along the lines of more signage that

[17:15] could potentially help didn't council just talk about geese

[17:24] another question I have is um will we be um in on like deciding

[17:31] which ones are priority and which ones um you know like Armstrong Park was it's

[17:38] really been nothing up to this point and um so I

[17:45] mean city council went through um at multiple workshops and gave their

[17:50] priorities and hierarchy um so it's it was the phasing matrix is pretty much

[17:55] based on um their their priorities um but it's something that maybe we can um

[18:01] as we continue it's a living document nothing is set in stone so each time we kind of are revisiting maybe there'll be

[18:07] more opportunities um in the future for parks smart commission to weigh in um but I'm at this point I don't quite know

[18:14] how that will look like but it's something to consider i'm not saying that I think Armstrong should be

[18:19] immediately or anything i think it's just been one of those things that we have as a park but it's been like why yeah um Yep and we um

[18:29] reclassified a number of the parks like Armstrong and Meadows that don't have um trails or active amenities as natural

[18:36] resource parks we still find value in them in in um providing ecological habitat and serving as green space um so

[18:44] there are some parks we do have quite a number of them that are more of those natural resource parks but um Armstrong

[18:50] does have a concept plan um for kind of changing it up a little bit um but like

[18:57] I said nothing set in stone if the future council decides that they want to go a different direction that is certainly um a possibility

[19:06] okay anyone else and I have one question yes

[19:13] um and we can take this offline but one of

[19:19] my lacks of skill is reading a map can we walk Tanner's Lake at some point so I

[19:28] can see what all of this means yeah absolutely yeah yeah and I think as

[19:35] Tanner's um is improvements are implemented there

[19:41] will be a lot more community engagement involved around that park and things like walking tours is something we've

[19:48] discussed as potential ways to engage people and help them understand what our vision for the park is but in terms of

[19:55] we can certainly just go on a a walk of tanners yeah when you have when you have some time because this is a foreign

[20:01] language to me so I just don't get it yeah absolutely i think that would be a great opportunity for you know to open

[20:09] it up to whoever's interested i'd be interested in seeing I'd like to get in on that yeah um and I don't I don't know

[20:16] what your plans are for summer i do believe that maybe there's one meeting that you take outside i don't know if

[20:22] you have plans for that but um I am willing to um offer Okay a walking tour

[20:29] of Tanners if that's something if you don't have different plans so no we don't be a great time for it that'd be a great idea yeah great time for it

[20:37] excellent excellent well there's no other questions i do have just a few more slides um

[20:43] so um now that we have all the pieces of the plan completed concept plans cost estimates phasing and prioritiz

[20:49] prioritization matrix the project team is in the process of preparing a draft the contents of the plan will um include

[20:56] an introduction that provides an overview of the plan it identifies the vision goals objectives um there will

[21:02] also be an assessment of need chapter that's where demographics will be discussed the current system and park

[21:08] assessments um the park gap analysis that we've completed and then there will be maps that show the distribution of

[21:14] the different um amenities such as playgrounds multi-use fields you can kind of understand um the system as a

[21:20] whole where um maybe there's some gaps the public engagement chapter will summarize the e efforts of the project

[21:27] team and then there will also be a recommendations chapter that's going to identify highlevel systemwide priorities

[21:33] related to accessibility safety connectivity and so on and then another chapter will be the Tanners Lake Park

[21:39] longrange plan um as part of the consultant scope of work Tanner received a bit of a deeper look um and more

[21:45] thought went into developing a preferred concept plan so that park is going to get its own chapter then there will be

[21:51] an implementation and funding chapter this is where that phasing matrix will go um and opportunities for funding will

[21:58] be identified we'll have this really great plan with concepts and phasing but it'll be really important to identify

[22:03] funding sources so we can actually implement the uh recommended improvements so this is something that city council is actively thinking

[22:10] about at the very end of the plan we'll have all the concepts all those detailed cost estimates so when the city council

[22:16] is going through the capital improvement um plan process those that that chapter

[22:22] will be really helpful um for them but uh it's a 20-year plan it's a

[22:27] living document it can change as um you know change with the times and the needs of the park users so um we wanted to

[22:33] make sure that um it's it can be a living document nothing has to be set in

[22:39] stone next steps the project team is in that final push to get a draft completed once we have one we will send it out to

[22:44] city council the parks and rec commission as well as other commissions for an opportunity to review and provide

[22:50] comments and then the input that you provide will be considered and when possible incorporated into the plan a

[22:55] final plan will go through council and will be adopted by them um this is um going to occur within the next couple of

[23:01] months once we have an adopted plan um we want to make sure that doesn't sit on a shelf and it's an active living tool

[23:07] for the city um so aligning that phasing and prioritization matrix with the city's capital improvement plan will be

[23:13] a step in the right direction and that's something that city council um is thinking a lot about right

[23:19] now so um before we wrap up this evening I'll open it up to commissioners if you thought of any other comments or

[23:25] questions feedback

[23:31] no I think it's um wonderful job wonderful job well if there are none thank you for

[23:37] having me this evening um as always you um are free to email me with any questions or things that come up so

[23:43] don't don't be shy thanks Anna appreciate it thanks for the ecoair too

[23:50] oh yes you're welcome that was a great event that we'll be talking with city council about um hopefully next week or

[23:57] two weeks no next week yeah I saw some of you there so thank you for coming

[24:03] thank you thanks Hannah all right staff julie you're the only one

[24:09] here i am i can go ahead with the the May June update for you um the summer

[24:16] Oakdale update has arrived in mailboxes so hopefully everybody received theirs

[24:23] um that will include um the months of June through September

[24:29] all seasonal staff have been hired for all of our summer programming and that

[24:34] um they'll start on June 6 so coming fast yeah

[24:40] um park cleanup update we had over a 100 volunteers to um help clean our 16 the

[24:47] 16 parks that we had people sign up for thanks to all the volunteers they really do a good job helping keeping our parks

[24:54] clean um we also gave out seed bombs as thank you gifts so they're just little round balls that you can just toss

[25:00] wherever you'd like and hopefully everybody who received those will have some sprouts sooner than later i planted

[25:07] mine but I don't know with all this rain today so good luck um our artist of the month the

[25:13] painting pals who are local artists they um that paint together at Glad Gladstone

[25:19] um they've returned for their annual group art display and that will be um at

[25:25] the Discovery Center May through June so stop by and take a look if you're if you're at the Discovery Center um we've

[25:32] got a couple kayak programs coming up silverfin Kaying Kaying who we partner

[25:37] with um they'll be instructing to learn to kayak programs on Wednesday May 28th

[25:44] and then we also have a Strawberry Full Moon Kayak and that'll be on Wednesday June 11th and we still do have openings

[25:50] so if anybody's interested um jump online and you can you can register for those um the farmers market kicking off

[25:58] very soon Wednesday June 4th and again that's 2 to 6 at city hall uh new this

[26:05] summer we have live music schedule and those will start at 3:00 the first one

[26:10] will begin on June 25th so we'll have a variety of different dates and those

[26:15] will be advertised on our website as well um it's their the band names and

[26:20] that type of thing so so look for that um we'll also have several new vendors

[26:26] and that will be joining us this summer and you'll be able to find those on our updated farmers market list prior to

[26:32] Memorial Day so take a look for that take a look at that um our always popular amphitheater

[26:39] series will kick off on June 12th so we've got a few different ones this year we've got the Sustainable Safari the

[26:46] Yo-Yo Master Dazzling Dave and we've got Snake Discovery and then the always

[26:52] popular Raptor Center so we always tell people get there early and get a spot they always fill up really

[26:59] fast summer concert series that'll kick off on Wednesday June 18th and that will

[27:05] be um with a performance by Salsa Dell Soul and that is a Caribbean infused um

[27:12] band so we've got five total concerts this summer uh series will wrap up on

[27:17] August 20th with a 6 PM kids dance party and bubble party from Imagine Music

[27:24] Bubble Parties we had those um that group at Summerfest a couple years ago

[27:29] for one of the the kids shows and um it's really enjoyable and I know a lot

[27:35] of people showed up so um they'll be back if anyone wants to pop into that one um we've also partnered with the

[27:42] Maplewood Oakdale Historical Society this summer to provide summer programming at the Eer Schoolhouse so

[27:48] that'll be fun new and exciting um they've got um one room schoolhouse

[27:53] camps and that one will be in June and one will be August so um interesting to

[27:58] see how that'll that'll look and turn out this summer i do have a question

[28:04] about that you're having camps around that but is there times that you could

[28:10] just as adults you could just go through to see it or as of yet they haven't done

[28:16] programs for that just the open house that they'll have in September that'll be the one date but that is their goal

[28:22] to start working um at that and and you know having that open on a more regular

[28:27] basis in the summer okay um we've got outdoor story time and

[28:33] craft series that's something new we're doing um with paper pie and that will um happen at the amphitheater June July and

[28:40] August and um April does kids stories and crafts free program recommended for

[28:45] kids 10 and under no registration is necessary that's something you can just show up and participate in um we're also

[28:53] offering new Zumba in the park fitness classes and that will happen at the Eater Schoolhouse in the grassy area

[29:00] there um we'll do that this summer we've got three different sessions um sign up

[29:06] we've still got plenty of openings for that uh the Nature Preserve 5K coming up

[29:11] on Saturday June 28th at the Discovery Center again the event is sponsored by

[29:16] Everhard Group with Keller Williams Reality so we really appreciate their sponsorship for the third consecutive

[29:22] year um we're able to buy the nice high quality um race shirts that people

[29:28] really appreciate um speaking of Summerfest coming on as

[29:34] well um our seasonal staff will be making a few appearances the IT struck will be there Friday and that date is

[29:40] June 27th uh they'll be there from 11 to 1 and then again on Saturday June 28th

[29:46] from 12 to 4 they'll also be helping out with the popup splash pad along with the

[29:52] fire department and that'll be on that Saturday from 1 to 2:30

[29:57] um lastly we have our wellness transition to new transit maybe I'll let

[30:03] Jay on talk about that i know she likes discussing the wellness um 50 so if you wanted to do that during your time you

[30:09] can certainly do that movies in the park yeah that'll be coming later in the summer so I was just talking about Yeah

[30:15] may and June but I'll address that at our July meeting for sure so with that I stand for any questions anybody has

[30:22] comments anything okay thank you all right thanks Julie

[30:30] uh commissioner updates if there's anyone from Willowbrook

[30:37] watching stay off the grass there are signs there that

[30:44] nobody's paying attention to and um the grass isn't going to grow

[30:50] if you're playing volleyball on it but have fun at the park it's a great park

[30:59] thanks that's good jan um yeah so Julie had mentioned the um

[31:06] wellness 50 plus transition to transit and so we do have two times um Thursday

[31:13] June 12th and uh or um yeah it's in the

[31:18] um Oakdale Wellness 50 plus uh part of the Oakdale update and so um I hope that

[31:25] people you don't have to be 50 or older to attend some of these events that we offer we just like to make sure that

[31:32] people get accustomed to what's going on um especially you know as it helps you

[31:37] get around um so yeah that is Thursday June 12th 1 to 3 at Discovery Center and

[31:43] then again on Tuesday June 24th but as Mark had mentioned we do um have the

[31:51] blood drives um which are always good events to attend and um you know

[31:57] rewarding so um yeah please always check out what we've got going on and um you

[32:03] know just a lot of events you just show up but um the ones that you sign up um

[32:09] it's easily done through the discovery center and our website yeah so

[32:16] thank you um it's not really park cleanup but if

[32:22] any of the commissioners want to help uh the Oakdale Athletic Association we

[32:27] jumped into the adopt a highway i don't know if you guys have seen the signs um we have from Lake Larpender on Century

[32:33] Avenue up a little past 36 up past the Dairy Queen there um we just did our

[32:39] first cleaning last week and there'll be another one in the fall so if you're interested in helping let us know

[32:47] good our wellness group or Twin Cities just did adopt a highway too

[32:54] excellent j I have nothing more anything else yes uh I have a little bit

[33:02] um so the parks are really clean and I love that the park cleanup event is I

[33:08] think very successful and I love it uh but I often ride along the walking

[33:13] trails the multi-use trails like all over Oakdale and the parks are always clean but I often see trash on the trails themselves and I was wondering if

[33:19] there was a way to like have a trail cleanup event or like have that as part of the annual park cleanup i especially

[33:25] notice it once the snow melts like you suddenly see all the trash that accumulated over the winter um and uh I

[33:31] guess this might be more of a question for Jeff but I I just wanted to mention

[33:37] um that idea and also I well question for Jeff uh but

[33:42] the recent construction the four street bridge the the gold line and all um there was seemed to be a particularly

[33:47] large amount of trash there and I was wondering if like that was from construction that was going to be cleaned up at some point or or not i can

[33:55] certainly pass those along to to Jeff and have him respond back to you but that's that first one was a great idea

[34:01] as far as the cleanup on the trails i'm not sure um you know we typically have

[34:06] people choose a park but not necessarily you know a sidewalk or anything so maybe that's something you know an opportunity

[34:12] for us to look at great thank you i got nothing all right

[34:20] Councilman Mark welcome

[34:26] thank you for having me appreciate the feedback always a lot going on in Oakdale so a few updates for

[34:33] you anytime there's new construction equipment in town I like to give people an update because that's usually what we

[34:39] get asked about but I know at 15th in Helmo just over the bridge here if you've seen just south of the veterinary

[34:45] clinic there's quite a bit of construction going on that's going to be an upscale childcare center tiantada is

[34:52] going in and it'll be I believe birth through PE preK uh Spanish immersion it

[34:59] would be a really nice addition to the the city especially knowing there's a high demand for additional child care so

[35:06] tell me the name of that again tiarra and Kenta and they've they've started

[35:12] here in the Twin Cities and they've grown nationwide so she's awesome too yeah

[35:18] kristen Denzer yeah she's formerly a council member here in Oakdale so she's been really successful but uh another

[35:24] good project happening there in relation to the parks plan uh to echo your comments a year and a half

[35:31] of work it's been a lot of work and it's been really really good it's been needed to kind of reinvision what these parks

[35:37] look like and now we're to the point as we finalize about looking at the investment you know where the dollars uh

[35:44] hit the road and across all these parks in the early estimates it's many many millions of dollars to do everything

[35:50] across 27 28 soon to be more than 30 parks so we as a council are really

[35:55] looking at each individual project in our capital planning process and seeing what makes sense because as a council

[36:02] we've had a lot of conversations and we really want to make sure whatever investments are made are going to serve as many people as possible and for the

[36:09] benefit and that's why the parks were classified as community parks the bigger parks like Tanners and East Side and and

[36:15] Walton here and then they've got neighborhood parks and then community resource parks i live close to Armstrong

[36:21] and most people live next to it they don't even know it's a park no but it is city land that park before we didn't

[36:26] this year we chose Willowbrook instead but right it nobody does so there's a

[36:32] lot of conversation about where do we invest how do we invest but we are excited to invest so your feedback is

[36:38] really important in that process even um going on from that two new parks are

[36:44] going to be finished again by the end of the summer so Willowbrook North and Willbrook West are uh being bid out

[36:50] right now and they're going to be doing the work and those will be the final two portions of the parks for Willowbrook

[36:56] the North Park is going to be more of a natural park with trails and places to sit down and and relax but no amenities

[37:04] no playgrounds or ball fields the west park is going to have a very large soccer field it'll have some pickle ball

[37:10] it'll have some nice amenities there uh turf volleyball court because we've seen so so many people wanting more

[37:16] volleyball in the city so those are all exciting additions um yeah that's

[37:22] happening and then of course Summerfest hope to see everybody at Summerfest and those of you who use social media please

[37:28] promote it share it like and show your interest and send it to friends because

[37:33] uh the Summerfest organization has been growing each year as they've taken it on as their own separate nonprofit but they

[37:40] depend on people in the community to promote it and they depend on uh people to spread the word so please continue to

[37:45] do that otherwise those are the announcements I have now and stand for any questions if anyone has any

[37:52] yeah I think Jeff was saying that the soccer field at Willowbrook will be done

[37:58] this summer but it won't be usable until the spring i think they want the grass to take hold and because I asked about

[38:07] that i'm like can I use it for soccer this fall right like probably not no we even had conversations about I mean it

[38:13] all depends on where the bids come in right uh because these are expensive amenities to add to the city uh we did

[38:19] ultimately decide to use irrigation in that space to make sure that what's there is going to be good quality and

[38:25] usable um but again yeah I'm sure it's like Willowbrook uh Commons Park where

[38:30] it'll take a little time for the grass to come in and for it to be usable because those kids they tear it up right

[38:40] definitely good any other questions anyone

[38:46] all right good thank you so much yep thank you