Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021 06-15 PRAAGENDA Brooklyn Center Park and Recreation Commission Tuesday, June 15th, 2021 6:30 - 8pm - Zoom 1. Call to Order 6:30 p.m. 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of Agenda 4. Approval of Minutes- March, April (did not meet) and May 2021 S. City Council Liaison Report 6. Unfinished Business • Commission Memorials or Service Recognition Recommendation • Commission Appointments • Playground Replacement Schedule • Dog Park Update • Freeway Park Update Current 7. New Business • Adopt -A -Park Status • Children's Activity Fees • Firehouse Basketball Court Status • Evergreen Neighborhood Meeting 8. Set Next Meeting Date and Agenda Sept 21 st, 2021 9. Adjournment MINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION FOR THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER IN THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN AND THE STATE OF MINNESOTA REGULAR SESSION MAY 18, 2021 WEB -EX MEETING CALL TO ORDER Chair Sorenson called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm. ROLL CALL Chair Sorenson and Commissioners Ebert, Bonovsky and Branch were present. Commissioner Lungelow was unable to attend. Also present were Acting Recreation Director Joe Ericksen, Public Works Director Doran Cote, Recreation Program Supervisors Janelle Crossfield, Carissa Goebel and Jacob Andersen. City Engineer Andrew Hogg was also present. Councilmember Graves joined later in the meeting. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Addition to Unfinished Business which is Commission Appointments. Addition to New Business is program fees for Children, City Webpage and Summer Recreation Guide. With these additions the agenda was approved. APPROVAL OF MINUTES — March, 2021 There was not a motion to approve the March minutes as errors were found in the minutes. The errors need to be corrected and pushed to the June meeting for approval. COMMISSION MEMORIALS or SERVICE RECOGNITION Public Works Director Cote suggested the city should draft a policy for memorials or recognition that can be used when requests come in for these services. Currently there are two memorials that the process had stopped and would like to finish these projects. The park bench project memorial project was decided to finish and use as an example of something the city can be done in the future. Commissioner Bonovsky mentioned that a nice metal sign on bench would be an option. Comissioners Ebert and Bonovsky will work with Director Cote. PLAYGROUND SCHEDULE The contractor that was awarded the job in April has not had a chance to connect yet with the plans. The equipment has been ordered however we do not know their schedule for which parks and when. BELLVUE PARK GARDEN PRPOSAL This has been deferred to next year as they are going to do more research with the neighborhood. DOG PARK UPDATE There was a survey over a year ago that said it could be at Centennial or Freeway Park. FREEWAY PARK UPDATE A cemetery land exchange agreement has been developed in March and we are waiting to hear back. We started the removals of backstops, ball field ag lime, drinking fountains, and basketball courts. The picnic shelter and parking lot will remain on Freeway Park so that is to be determined on what to do with it. City Council did approve the plat. Freeway Park master plan did not get completed due to the pandemic. SUMMER RECREATION GUIDE Acting Recreation Director Ericksen reported that fees for youth programs have been reduced to make them more affordable. The Commission discussed if the fees were fair or if more programs needed to be affordable. A motion was voted on and passed by the Commission that they recommend that the Recreation Department should have a graduating fee scale to make fees less expensive on the number of kids a family has. BC PARKS OUR BEST KEPT SECRET The Commission asked to have pictures of all of the parks and have these on the website. Acting Recreation Director Ericksen will get these pictures on the new website by the end of summer. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT Councilmember Graves reported a resolution was passed on Saturday. Staff will present framework for the opportunity site at the upcoming council meeting. Work on Brooklyn Blvd has passed. The Fire Department took part in the Heal the City event. The City Manager with other city leaders have been planning on what we have learned from Covid-19 and the unrest to prepare the city for some discuss. The Fire Department will be conducting a live burn at the end of May. Brooklyn Center is still having an increase in Covid-19 cases. Hennepin County now has a drive through Covid-19 site. BIKE SKILL COURSE Janelle Crossfield and Andrew Hogg presented on bike courses for the city. Minneapolis has these bike parks and stats were taken from Minneapolis for who can use it and the benefits of it. It was proposed to be put at ice rinks in the summer at Centennial Park to start. A partnership would happen with Hennepin County to purchase these ramps. Three Rivers would also partner for advertising, signage and possibly funding. A motion was made to the Recreation Department as a recommendation to look into this forward. FIREHOUSE BASKETBALL COURT The question was asked on why the basketball hoop was taken down. The answer had to do with issues that took place in the area when the hoop was up. It was requested to look into getting more basketball courts available in the city. PARKS TOURS Do park tours in September for the Commission after they have at least two new members. CITY WEBSITE Chair Sorenson questioned why the website was not up for the public yet and why the progress is taking the length it is. Recreation Supervisor Carissa Goebel spoke on that the city has been working to get the website up however there is not a date for the website to be launched. The Commission also asked about the lack of youth programs for Brooklyn Center participants only. Acting Recreation Director Ericksen gave the history of lack of participation and the partnership with Brooklyn Park to get these programs going. It was talked about to revisit Brooklyn Center running their own programs again. FUTURE MEETING Continue zoom meeting for the third Tuesday in June and discuss meeting in person after that. MEETING ADJOURNED A motion was made by to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed unanimously. MINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION FOR THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER IN THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN AND THE STATE OF MINNESOTA REGULAR SESSION MARCH 16, 2021 WEB -EX MEETING CALL TO ORDER Chair Sorenson called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm. ROLL CALL Chair Sorenson and Commissioners Ebert, Lungelow and Branch were present. Commissioner Bonovsky was unable to attend. Councilmember Graves was also present. Also present were Acting Recreation Director Joe Ericksen, Public Works Director Doran Cote, Recreation Program Supervisors Janelle Crossfield and Jacob Andersen. All commissioners introduced themselves as 2 commissioners are new. APPROVAL OF AGENDA There were no additions and the agenda was approved. APPROVAL OF MINUTES — February, 2021 There was a motion by Commissioner Ebert, seconded by all by roll call by the Park & Recreation Commission chair Sorenson. The motion passed. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT Councilmember Graves shared that she has been a part of the Commission since 2015 and was the first woman of color elected to the council. She also shared that her full time job is with the city of Minneapolis Health Department and office of violence prevention. She is also a Yoga instructor. Councilmember Graves reported that Sauderhouse open house is scheduled for March 24. At the next council meeting, a presentation on the cities strategies and efforts on beautification and cleanliness and the plan for the year ahead. The city has discontinued the Emerald Ash -Bore tree removal season. A work session will be held in July regarding the cities direction on the program. Health on the Go will be at Firehouse Park on Friday and Saturday, March 19 & 20. More Grace church held a food drive at the community center where approximately 400 cars come through for free food. ADOPT A PARK STATUS Chair Sorenson reported that there have been complaints on facebook pages about the cleanliness of our parks. Acting Director Ericksen indicated the program is run through our Public Works Department. Public Works Director Cote indicated that seasonal workers were not employed last year due to the pandemic. Spring clean-up day is set for April 24. It is based out of the community center, but in general is city wide. Chair Sorenson indicated that the Adopt -a -park groups should be reminded of clean-up. SPRING/SUMMER RECREATION BROCHURE Commission members were presented the Spring/Summer Recreation brochure for review. No questions were raised. Acting Director Ericksen reported that registration begins on March 23. BASKETBALL COURTS AND PARK INFORMATION There was a discussion on the lack of basketball courts in the city. Our community center soes not have a court. There was some discussion on the trouble that has arose around the basketball courts. It was also brought up that may of the courts now only have one hoop. The lack of information on parks, locations and amenities was mentioned. The public needs to know about our parks and what they offer. The city will have a new web page with this information and the new web page should be available towards the end of April. COMMUNICATION WITH COUNCIL There was a discussion on how the minutes are shared with the council. Councilmember Graves shard that due to the length of council meetings, this may be skipped. She also shared that the commission could share with her any issues to bring up to the council. PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT There was a lengthy discussion on playground replacement. Director Cote reported that St. Croix Recreation won all 4 park bids and the popular votes and looking for a recommendation to present to city council that St. Croix Recreation be awarded the contract. There was support from commissioner Branch to replace the Bellvue equipment, and also a resident that was on the meeting. There was discussion on a skate park and Commissioner Ebert mentioned it was tabled due to insurance concerns. Deputy city Manager Edwards added to the discussion that an assessment was done on all neighborhoods and all factors are taken into account in the process. We were hampered by Covid limiting in person dialogue with residents. Director Cote indicated that old equipment will be looked at to see if it could be donated, but the existing equipment is beyond the years of useful life. It was brought up for more swings and merry-go- rounds. The need to serve a wide range of ages was also indicated. Commissioner Branch motioned to approve a recommendation for council. Commissioner Lungelow seconded. There were 2 opposed for the motion, so the motion failed. BELLVUE GARDEN UPDATE Resident Mariah Cannon was in the meeting and indicated she has created a short survey, but not much feedback. There was concern of the placement of the garden for sunlight. Mariah would like to see it closer to the fire hydrant in the park, but there are concerns with groups using this area, as well as the cleanliness of the park with this addition. Acting Director Ericksen indicated that another meeting with Mariah Cannon on placement could happen. Garden item moved to unfinished business. The possibility of next season was raised. There was support from the commission. MEMORIALS FOR COMMISSIONER WITALKA AND SHINNICK There was conversation on memorials for past commission members, such as a plaque on a park bench. DOG PARK UPDATE No Updates reported FREEWAY PARK UPDATE Director Cote reported that an agreement has been reached with the Mound Cemetery Assoc. to donate 1 acre of park space located on the SE corner of cemetery. A M.O.0 has been approved by city council and the association. It was presented to the planning commission and council and was approved. Plan is still going on. MEETING ADJOURNED A motion was made by Commissioner Ebert, seconded by Commissioner Lungelow to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed unanimously.