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1998-02 CSCRICHFIELD COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION Tuesday, February 10, 1998 Present: T. Erlander, C. Krohn, E. Gilhousen, R. Jabs, T. Loweth, B. McGlinn, C. Sharkey, M. Scaglia, D. Schaefer, J. Sloss, S. Rosenberg. Absent: Dietl The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. in the Conference Center of the Water Plant. Motion by Auchstetter to approve the minutes of January 13, 1998 as written. Second by Loweth. Motion carried. Chair Gilhousen introduced and welcomed Rick Jabs, Chad Sharkey and Brian McLinn, the new Community Services Commission members. She then welcomed Auchstetter back who has been appointed to another term and Jim Sloss, School Board Liaison. Gilhousen thanked Commission members and City staff for helping her during her term. She added it was an exciting time to work on projects in the community and wished everyone good luck on future endeavors. The Commission agreed Gilhousen had done a wonderful job as chair and thanked her. Motion by Auchstetter to nominate Tom Loweth as Chair to the Community Services Commission for 1998. Second by Erlander. Motion carried. Motion by Loweth to nominate Tim Erlander as Vice Chair to the Community Services Commission for 1998. Second by Auchstetter. Motion carried. Committee assignments are as follows: Auchstetter is liaison to the Planning Commission Dietl and Krohn will represent FOWL as Board Members Scaglia will continue to Chair of the Master Park Plan Sub-Committee Motion by Auchstetter to modernize the pool pass system. It is coordinated with the schools corresponding with students eligible for reduced or free lunch tickets. Second by Schaefer. Special cases were discussed and someone would be assigned for these situations. Motion passed with the amendment. Motion by Sharkey to amend the agenda to allow Bill Morris from Decision Resources to do his presentation on the community survey. Second by Auchstetter. Motion carried. Community Services Commission Meeting February 10, 1998 Page 2 Results of the City Survey Morris explained, this is the sixth time a survey has been done by the City. It was performed between October 27 and November 24, 1997. Most residents called were very happy to participate. Morris said 400 participants from a cross section of the City will give plus one or minus five percent accuracy to the survey. These people come from different areas of Richfield and 1/4 live in apartments while 3/4 live in single dwelling homes just as the statistics rank in the City. Morris went through all the charts indicating how Richfield scored in each category. Copies of these charts can be reviewed at the Recreation Services office. Residents did give the City over all excellent to very good ratings on services and are happy with the overall direction the City is going. The satisfaction rating looked more like a second or third ring suburb such as Woodbury and Shoreview who rated highest in the metro area. A question was asked about the reality of an assessment to residents regarding the proposed Community Center and if they would genuinely be willing to finance this facility. The largest number of residents say they would be willing to pay an additional $32 in property taxes annually, however, it is felt many might change their minds and find this figure more than they wish to pay. Some indicated they support a Community Center but would be in favor of one until they find what would be included. Questions from the Commission were asked about airport noise and the drop in dissatisfaction since it is felt the residents most impacted by noise have moved. Morris explained, residents are happy with what the City has done in an effort to make it livable. Morris explained there are 15,000 households in Richfield that include single and multiple dwellings. A pre-test was performed of 40 households to see if the questions were understandable. This pre-test was thrown out when it was completed. When Commissioners asked why these surveys are done, Morris explained the City likes to determine whether residents are pleased or disappointed with City Services. Morris added they are interested in general about Richfield, the policies, air noise, environment, park and recreation and the general quality of life. Community Services Commission Meeting February 10, 1998 Page 3 Morris said the most controversial issue in the survey was the additional ice sheet which was evenly split (44/41) with a slight edge in opposition to the sheet. Most communities are three to one against an ice sheet. The Commission asked how other cities got their additional sheet if the communities are this opposed to the addition. Morris answered, other communities went private or in the case of Woodbury, a very large referendum was passed. Motion by Scaglia to amend the agenda to allow Don Brauer of the Brauer Group, to make his presentation. Second by Schaefer. Update on Reforestation at Veterans Memorial Park of Richfield Brauer has been asked by the City Manager to coordinate the work on the Veterans Memorial Park of Richfield (VMPR) site. He has worked on the Comprehensive Plan with the Planning Commission and the Master Park Plan Sub Committee. He is gathering ideas, information and data. His plan is to update the base map, looking at what facilities are there now and then take it to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) so both groups are working with the same map. Brauer will listen to all groups and people with comments on what has been done and what needs to be done and redone. He has listened to ideas from the VMPR neighborhood and other residents and will be meeting next week. He will continue to coordinate and put into a form, what everyone would like to do and how to do it. All citizens from across the City will have an opportunity for input. It was suggested a “hot line” be installed for residents to call City Hall to submit their opinions and ideas to get a better feel of what the community is looking for rather than only special interest groups. Brauer agreed advertising in the newspaper, on the web site, and cable calendar are excellent methods to gather information. Brauer intends to put the map back on the table. He feels the first step is to make sure everyone is talking about the same place, the DNR, the folks involved and the group working on the plan. The second is to determine what the group is trying to accomplish, put in some sort of priority order and put together a plan. A Richfield resident in the audience suggested the City build garage as originally planned since there is such a good start with the trees being gone and replant trees around area. Commission members acknowledged they have heard similar comments from other residents particularly from the west side who are in favor of the VMPR site for a garage but aren’t saying anything publicly. Community Services Commission Meeting February 10, 1998 Page 4 Another resident in the audience expressed concern about how much money it cost to remove the trees and how much it will cost to replace them. Loweth explained the Commission is not in a position to accurately give this type of estimate. This resident also expressed a deep concern that the Hockey Group looking for a second sheet of ice, unfairly used young hockey players as cheerleaders and was appalled at the estimated cost of $2,600,000. Members of the audience say it is an unusual, beautiful park to be enjoyed by the community with beautiful animals and wildlife, not a place for a city garage to house trucks and the like. Several members of the audience say it is an asset to City Park unusual park animals cannot sacrifice. A question from the audience to Brauer was, the process laid out sounds very good, however, plans in early February do not leave much time for spring planting to replace or cover the scar left in the park. Brauer responded that it had taken only two days to update the base map and he expects to go to the DNR even before the meeting of residents and Commission members working on the process. The City will need to make some decisions along the way and fall is a better time for planting. A negotiations with MAC are possible to get trees from some properties in the Rich Acres/New Ford Town area. Trees six to seven inches in diameter can be successfully transferred at a cost of around $100 each. Second Ice Sheet Loweth explained, the supporters of the proposed second ice sheet brought this recommendation to the City Council. Council directed the group to submit their plan to the Community Services Commission which was done January 13, 1998. The Commission agreed a feasibility report was in order and referred them back to the City Council. David Buzicky, a representative of the hockey group, presented an update to the Commission on the second sheet proposal. After addressing the Council with the Commission’s suggestion to get a feasibility study, the hockey group has met with Al Payne, Steve Devich and the consultant hired to do the study. Staff is meeting with the DNR. Community Services Commission Meeting February 10, 1998 Page 5 Buzicky asked that two liaisons from the Community Services Commission be appointed to this group to meet each Sunday. He also had prepared packets of the information gathered that was presented to the Council. He asked the Commission to review this information and call an additional meeting to discuss the project. Some concerns of the Commission are why, with decreasing numbers of students in the Richfield schools, there is now a need for a second ice sheet, how this facility would be paid for, operating costs, DNR approval, how to utilize it year round and soil conditions in the area they propose to build. The parking lot appears to have the best soil conditions. Other questions asked by the Commission are the number of children that use the arena, if the outdoor ice is utilized, how many children from the Academy of Holy Angels (AHA) use Richfield’s arena and the number of students from AHA actually live in Richfield. Buzicky agreed if AHA did not use Richfield’s arena, there would be ample ice time for the Richfield teams. He added AHA is part of the community and it wouldn’t send a good message to Richfield residents if they were excluded. It was also suggested AHA help finance this project. Traffic Patterns on 77th Street Mike Eastling, Public Works Director, spoke about traffic patterns near the Shops at Lyndale. The traffic is presently congested and will only get worse as business increases in this area. The City is working with MnDot on the Lyndale/I-494 corridor with the Integrated Corridor Traffic Management Project (ICTM) to improve the I-494 traffic that should relieve some of the congestion. This system works together where one signal talks to another using one large computer to best handle traffic. Eastling is also working with Bloomington on acquiring federal and local funds. MnDot will support the construction of a larger bridge, a project in cooperation with Bloomington and Richfield that will be submitted one year from now. Other cities will also be competing for these funds. Richfield has submitted an application to obtain funds to complete the 77th Street Project tunnel. Congressman Sabo has been very effective in getting demonstration funds but they presently difficult if not impossible to obtain. Community Services Commission Meeting February 10, 1998 Page 6 Eastling also displayed a map of the City with markings indicating which streets will be rout and sealed and others that will require major repairs. Staff Reports Devich reported the Golf course enjoyed its best year. Mini Golf also had its best season. The Pool did not do well in 1997 and the Ice Arena continues to operate at a loss. Blank invited the new Commission members to meet with her individually and she would give them background and the role play on this Commission. She explained the Lampert building had been sold and the Engineering Department would be moving from Lampert to City Hall. Blank, Frank White and Hjortaas will move to the Community Center in early March to accommodate the engineers. Motion by Auchstetter to move the next meeting date from March 10 to March 17 and the Master Park Plan Sub-Committee move their meeting from March 17 to March 10. Second by Erlander. Motion Carried. Meeting was adjourned by consensus.