recording in progress. Chaza Parks and Recreational Commission. Tuesday, September 9th, 2025. Call to order. Uh, roll call, please. Marshall.
Uh, chair Jason Branch, present. Vice Chair Elizabeth Wy here. Commissioner Georgianne Keaport here. Commissioner Zack Sesig here. Commissioner Denal Hayi
here. Commissioner Carly Whitner here. Commissioner Michael here. Commissioner Terry Schwerm here. Kevin Hill,
not here tonight. Thank you, Marshall. Uh to item three, adopt agenda. Um everybody has had an opportunity to read over the agenda. Um, any comments or changes to set agenda
for this evening? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to adopt this evening's agenda. A motion to adopt tonight's agenda. I I second. I'll second. How? All in favor say I. I.
I. All opposed. Agenda is adopted. Moving on to four, visitor presentations. Nobody again. Um then we'll move on to five. Uh
approve previous meeting minutes. Um do we have any discussion um on the previous meeting minutes from 611 2025? I didn't see hers. Anybody?
I don't if not I will entertain a motion to approve the previous meeting minutes. Marshall just on the minutes I in the packet I for some reason I was when I opened it it had the planning commission minutes instead of the park and wreck
ones were did anyone else have that? I didn't know. Oh you know what that might have been a just an administrative error there. Yeah, we got a lot of They may have been the same day and just Yeah.
Yep. So, were the were the park and recck commission minutes weren't in there at all? I didn't see them. Okay. That might have just been me. So, all right. There was a 611 planning commission meeting minute. Okay. So, no park and wreck meeting minutes were included.
Well, if that's the case, we'll just carry that forward then to the next meeting. Okay. And just note that we got to move the planning commission meeting minutes over. Good catch. So we will wait to approve those meeting minutes until the next
till next month. Yep. Okay. Very good. Okay. And we will move on to item number six. Receive city council and planning meeting minutes. Any discussion on the city council
meeting minutes from May, June, July, and August? I just had one question because I saw in there that um you entered a lease with the University of Minnesota for something at the community center and I
was just curious what that was. Yeah, that uh I don't believe it was a lease. I think it was just um sort of a rental agreement. Okay. Cuz I standard
council agenda. So it just So what happens is the University of Minnesota um Okay. They like to have some of their own language when when going into contracts and rent things. Yeah. And so it was like
just a little bit of a change to the rental agreement we have. Okay. Okay. And we've we've done a couple of them now. And so we worked with our city attorney to sort of come up with a blanket. Sure. Um rental amendment agreement specifically for the you so going
forward it'll be just easier. Yep. Okay. Thanks. Yep. That was my Anybody else? Okay. And we will receive the council minutes. 6B planning meeting minutes from
December, February, March, April, and May and June. No. And June. Yeah. Yeah. We had quite a few uh work sessions the la the last few months. So hard at work playing a little catch up there.
Yeah. Um, any comments on the planning meeting minutes? All right, hearing none, we will receive the planning meeting minutes and move on to item seven, discussion items
and 7A, park updates. All right. Um, let me just go ahead and my screen ready here. All right. Great. Um, good evening, commissioners. Uh, welcome
to September. For those of you uh that have kids, I hope you're off to a a good start with with school and whatnot. um and as we embark on this new season. Um but yeah, we'll go ahead and got a uh
share out some updates for for the most part. This is going to be a little bit of um repeat of things we've discussed um at some previous work sessions, but for the fact we haven't had a regular meeting in a while, I just thought
bringing it forward and um just putting it on the record Yeah, perfect be the point here. Um but we'll go through them and just see what other you know questions, comments, suggestions um you have with the various park projects we have going on.
So the first one being Meadow Park. Uh Meadow Park would be the park um adjacent to the new public safety um center that is currently under construction. Um and as we had um discussed in the
past, the um expansion of that public safety building um on that site had an impact to Meadow Park um making it a little bit smaller of a park site. Um and um Ashley um within our planning
division um kind of led the effort on this park planning project and it really came together um working with a few residents in the neighborhood that we invited in to be a part of the planning process.
um through the feedback we received from um the neighborhood um of that area along with working with our consultant HKGI and then just some various um city staff and other departments that served
on the project team. And so there on the left is um ultimately the plan that we landed on. Um, you know, one thing we talked about was, um, with the park site being a little bit smaller, how do we increase the play value kind of within
the playground? And so, um, on the right there is the, um, playground unit that, um, we've decided on through, um, landscape structures. And I think the exciting thing is that this particular um playground site is going to
incorporate um pour and play surfacing u make it a little bit more um accessible. Again, a little more fun to play on. Everybody loves the the bounce and the feel of that um pour and play surface.
Um, and then there's also going to be a 20 by 20 um, park shelter building. Um, not building, but shade structure, so to speak. Um, that'll have picnic tables underneath it. um which we think will
really be a nice um sort of gathering place spot for shade and really a nice area too for our um public safety, fire and police to be able to engage um with families and kids out at the park site.
Um the playground um if you can see my cursor here, the container too are is also going to have a wider sort of sidewalk all the way around it which would be kind of nice. People can walk around it. Kids could ride their bike
around it. Um things of that nature. Um and then there will be a fence installed kind of along the the back perimeter of the of the park area. um just keep creating some separation
from the park um and the um storm water ponds that are going to be on the site. Um and then there's um the the trail that's going to come through and that'll connect to the existing trails that had been there um in the past. Um and then
there'll be several more um trees planted um throughout the park. So, um, looking forward to it. Um, kind of between now and the rest of the year, we're going to start seeing, um,
significant work being done. Um, they're beginning the grading of the site as we speak. Um, and, um, some of this was collaboration with the, um, the contractors that are working on the public safety building. So before
they leave, you know, they're going to be prepping that site, um working with their same contractors for some of the asphalt work, concrete work, um things like that. Um and then in talking with Brian Jung, our public works director,
um today, he is aiming to try to get the the playground and the porn and play in um yet this fall. So weather permitting. Wow. um you know, we we kind of feel like we have up until the end of November to accomplish that. Um so that's the
goal, right, which should be nice. Um I think the from what I understand currently um the building should be um available um sometime in December. And I think the
plan is for the police and fire departments to kind of officially move into that site sometime in January. So things are coming along. Right. Any questions on Meadow Park?
Would the park be open if it completes before the facility is open? Yeah. So, I mean, there'd be nice. I don't think the the grass is going to um be established by then. So, we're gonna try to keep people off of that, but I think there would be access for
people to get in and play on the playground um once that's available. So, you never know. Sometimes late November, early December, we we get still some decent weather. So, yeah, that's true. Well, we'll keep you updated on that
kind of between now and the end of the year on the progress and hopefully we can get in and get some pictures as they're um preparing the site a little bit more and then whether or not the the playground is going to get installed. Okay. So, is that when the for the grass I assume
now I've been by there a few times, but um is that all going to just be seed grown or they going Yeah, they'll probably just do seed. Okay. Yeah. All right. Do you What's the concern with that play service? Say it does go in in the fall
and you open the playground and then you have a whole bunch of mud all around the outside. Do we do we concern ourselves with that or is this stuff clean up pretty well? I I mean it it cleans up pretty well. you know, there there could be um maybe
some things they put in place along the edge. You know, you see the you know, those socks that they put out to try to control. All right. Um erosion and things like that, right? If that's a concern. Yeah.
Yep. Right. Yeah. I mean, I'd love to see it open as soon as possible and get kids in there and using it, but also don't want to destroy it before it's broken. Yeah. Yeah. I think the neighborhood
would like to see it open, too, based off of what I've heard. So, yeah. Good. And, uh, as far as the residents and the two residents that, um, were more heavily involved, everything's pretty positive. Yeah. Yeah. They're really excited about the direction and
Awesome. because I remember in the beginning it was kind of whoa whoa whoa whoa. So that's really good to hear. Yep. Cool. And maybe more of that was per the facility itself and not necessarily the the playground part, but that's good. That's good that it's all
positive. It's good that we still have looks like a decent amount of green space around there because that was always one thing that was nice about that little park that was over there. There was, you know, grass. That was probably one of the, you know, the more significant impacts to this park was losing some
green space. Y it looks like, you know, there's some decent green space here to the south, we feel. Yeah, I agree. Um, you know, for some activity there. Yeah, I know there was a desire too of the neighborhood to incorporate um a
basketball hoop or like a half court, you know, so you know, there would be potential for us to look at that into the future in that green space area. Okay. Um but another thing we talked about and I I think even um
Commissioner Hill had brought up the idea a while back was maybe even considering a hoop within the parking lot. Yeah. you know, and so we'll give it some time and to see what the traffic patterns are and if there seems to be a
kind of a a decent spot for something in the parking lot where we could add that too, that's something we can look at. Very cool. So, Marshall, the essentially where the driveway comes in between the park and the building. Yep.
In terms of any barriers between the park, the pedestrian path and everything, what is on this between the pedestrian path and the container? Are you talking like on this edge right here? Yeah.
Um I'm not exactly sure. I don't know if that if it'll be curbed and then it'll just go, you know, there'll be some grass and turf here. Um there is a little bit of an elevation drop here. So we could even see some sections that almost a retaining wall there
and then it'd be more of a step down um coming off of the the uh parking lot into the into the container site. So where the the driveway coming in there, the parking lot there would be at
a higher elevation than where the pedestrian path is and the playground. Yeah. Yep. And have they experienced any delays with the building, the playground, everything like because all those those uh roundabouts there have all been
pushed back. Have they experienced the same delays with this project that like the roundabout construction has experienced? Um, I mean, I think the I think we're my understanding was that the hope was
for the departments to move into the public safety site more this fall. So, I think I think we're seeing a delay just based on the weather there. Um, we were always aiming for the the park
site to generally be sometime this fall. I think we're we're on schedule for the most part. Cool. So, as long as the weather holds, which it's looking like the next couple weeks, it's going to be pretty nice. So,
I think the playground uh equipment's actually getting delivered in the next couple of weeks. Oh, okay. So, awesome. Thank you. Thank you, Marca. All right. Next up, um, Southwest Chaza
Park. Um, so we spent quite a bit of time last month in our work session, um, talking about, uh, the future, um, Southwest Chaza Park and how we had completed the phase two of community engagement,
um, and really kind of diving in on what some of that feedback um, was telling us. And if you recall the it was really responding to these three different um themed concepts that we put out for
people to respond to. And those were developed based on the initial first phase of community feedback. Um with those being kind of the three top themes that people were expressing that they would like to see at the future park.
Um, I think we, you know, did our best as we went, um, through that process, uh, during phase two to really, um, emphasize that we're not really picking one of these. It's not like,
you know, this is the end all beall and pick one. It was really just um putting them in themes and providing a variety of different amenities uh to showcase what the possibility is
and and kind of spatially how much could fit on this site and for us to get a sense of generally what people prefer. Um so I thought we had a really good discussion last month. And I think, you know, we're wrestling with it a little
bit because I think everybody sort of likes a little bit of everything. It doesn't seem like there's like a super clear like, you know, mustave type of thing, which, you know, I guess as I reflect on it, it
I'm not overly surprised either, you know, and I think the neat thing is as we look back at the market study we did too, you know, there's nothing glaring um that we're missing within our park system here in Chaza. So, a lot of what
we're doing here is additive. And you know, I think bringing it back to the core um amenities that we started with and that we're anchoring this park around is is the Miracle League field in the
Universal Designed playground, you know, are really the two key things that um we want to, you know, really do well at this park because those are things we don't have currently in our system.
Um, and so I think, you know, now the now the hard part begins where we got to, you know, merge merge this down into one preferred plan. Um, and then also the reality starts to set in on cost, you
know, and that's kind of where we're at right now working with the consultant and getting some um, preliminary cost estimates back and um, you know, trying to understand how they're coming to
those numbers and um, it's sort of a um, I don't know, it's going to take a a little more evaluation at this point, I guess I'd say. So, um, we've been a
little bit on a pause, but we are, um, we do have a meeting with, uh, Confluence coming in next week, Monday, um, to sit down and really dive in on those numbers, you know, and for me to, um, you know, have be including Matt
Podarasi and kind of, um, confirming where the budget is and what what's really accounted for in the park budget and is there anything else that we can be accounting for differently. We want to, you know, understand that some more. Um,
we had also had a previous um meeting with Confluence to talk about the potential grant opportunities that could exist for this park site. Um, I think especially as it relates to some of the nature and storm water management. Um,
so, um, we're hoping that he comes back and has some thoughts and ideas on, you know, what that could look like, too. So, that's kind of where we're at, you know, kind of understanding, you know,
uh, evaluating what the community's been telling us, you know, taking into account the discussion we had and then now kind of getting into the nitty-gritty details of of what things cost. Um, you know, and and I I I sort
of shared this with the council update where, you know, we we wanted to be aspirational in nature coming out through the community engagement, you know, but you run the risk of when you do that and then the numbers come
back and it's like, yeah, we might not be able to do everything we showed. Yeah. Um, but that's okay, too, I think. And um again, I think um I'm still excited just about
the large the largest of the site and the potential, you know, natural elements that are that are that are there that we can play off of. and um bringing in the Miracle League field and what I would say more of a
destinationized playground um is exciting in and of itself and in my mind anything else is sort of sort of bonus. Yeah. But agreed. I think people really appreciate, you know, the process and
the engagement, the the little activities I had at I think it was at the Jaza taste taste of Jaza at the table. Uh there really was no clear winner, but I think what people really loved was
they were being asked, you know, just the opportunity to have a voice. There was just a lot of excitement in that and just, you know, so the process I think worked. Yeah. um question I have about um some perhaps ideas to offset some of that cost. You sometimes see in parks where
they'll have an area that's brricked has bricks in it. People will donate a brick if you can put your name in it as a way to generate some monies to pay for some of it. I don't know if there's any opportunities for that kind of thing in here so you get
you know again more engagement from the public and sort of Yeah. Yeah. No, that's a that's a good thought. And you know, we are currently working with and supporting our Chesa Rotary Club. Um they have been taking
um the lead on the fundraising component more so to account for the Miracle League field. That's kind of been their goal. Um to to come up with enough money to really account for that. Um, you know, but I've always sort of
mentioned within the framework of fundraising like we can say Miracle League and beyond, you know, so the more the more support we can get, you know, potentially the more things we can do. And um and that
that I think will come maybe come a little bit more um apparent too as we see you know what we what the budget can afford versus what we would like to have and maybe there's then a little more motivation to want to do some
fundraising and um being able to incorporate some more things. I think you know, given the size of the site, I think there's always opportunities to stage things and have future phases of the park as well. You know, get some of the key elements like
you've talked about um done initially, you know, and obviously you need to support stuff to go with that like the park buildings and some of that, but you know, if there's some other things that you want in the park ultimately, whether it's pump track or skate park or, you know, things that you can't afford right
now, you can always plan for them five years in the future. you know, and look out to the future as long as they've designated the spaces for that. Yeah. And because a big chunk of this park is going to remain natural, um I I think, you know, it it may lend
itself to to phasing a little bit. Yeah, I agree. I agree. Yeah. I think I'm I'm most excited just to see trees go back into that field. That's I mean that's that that spot deserves
trees. I just if we had a miracle field, the playground and then some pathways with lots of trees for a while. I think that would be great. Just let the park reestablish itself. You know, I think that there's no way we
can lose with this with this spot. That's how I feel. So, I heard somebody wanted a nice green field to lay down in though, too. So, right here. Some grass. And some grass. Pretty important. Guy wanted that. That shouldn't be too hard. It's just It's just grass.
I feel like it's uh of course you're going to be a big tree advocate because your last name is Branch. Truth. Special tie there. I support Chairman Branch. No, I I I agree. I think it's I just get excited thinking about this. And I think
at some point it's I don't think anybody ever is opposed to community engagement, but at some point we're going to get so much engagement we're not going to be able to make a decision. And I have a really I have a strange question to ask about once we get to
that point of what we decide this thing is ultimately going to look like, is there a way for us to get almost like a VR artistic rendering of it? Yeah. Yep. So that'll be that's um accounted for within our sort of RFP
when we went out to the consultant. So great. Um, you know, once we land on more of that preferred plan and there's that, you know, sense of certainty on the consultants and like this is the direction we're going, then they're going to start putting a lot
more um detail into into the plan. And then part of it will be yeah, more of that 3D modeling and kind of almost like a fly through. I almost feel like that might also might help hone in on a decision though of being
able to see whatever the components are that people feel the most strong of these three different directions. To me, that's almost how you get there is by being able to sort of like from a virtual perspective step into this park
because I I love seeing the drawings and I love looking at schematics and all that nerdy stuff, but it's hard sometimes to imagine what it looks like until we can actually sort of step into it because of the wonderful tech opportunities that we have available to us. These tools that might help us
actually arrive at a decision would be my perspective. Yeah, it's a good point. Just use your imagination. I'll just use my imagination imagining trees. Exactly. Well, like we've even we've had
discussion like even just a lot of people like 50 acres. How do you how big is that? You know, and it's it's hard to equate that looking at just a flat piece of paper, you know? So,
So, yeah. So, we'll we'll kind of continue to work with the consultant on our end and, you know, eventually we're we'll get to a point where, you know, I think we, you know, we'll feel good about a preferred concept that we feel is
implementable. And I think at that point, um, I'd look at coordinating a joint work session with the commission and council, um, just to get your feedback. Does it seem like something you can support?
Any other thoughts, suggestions um so that we can make any final tweaks um as necessary and then from there bring it back through formally to the park and recck commission for your
recommendation to go to the council. Question. When that discussion is taken to city council, if there are council members that are upset that there are certain elements that are not included in what's being presented, how do we plan on
handling that? Are we saying this is what we are suggesting and we're not taking it back to the drawing board and pushing back on that or are we saying okay I'm hearing that there's a strong opinion about elements that have not been included and we're going to take it back to the drawing board and then we just end up in this endless loop of
can't get it past a certain idea. How are we going to handle that? Yeah. Well, you know, ultimately it's the city council makes the decision, you know, so you're providing you're providing them your recommendation, but they ultimately
decide and approve it approve. And so I think, you know, that's a conversation they'll have to have amongst themselves and um either it'll work out or potentially they could, you know, bring it back to
us um to look into further, you know, so then we would just um follow through on their their direction. All right. Yep. We're seeing the same feedback about the park
that city council has access to as well. Like all the comments from the engagement like at Taste of Chaska River City Day is so ultimately we're seeing all the comments. We'll take that into consideration. I would think
Yeah. Yep. City council is going to rely on what we've looked at and Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so thus far I think they've been, you know, pretty happy about the direction. Um but maybe
to Nell's point, yeah, there's people have different preferences and likes and yeah, so we got to just do our do our best, you know, as staff, you know, really what
what my role is is more facilitating the process and and taking the feedback from the community and um you as sort of the the voice of the community
and working with the consultant to develop a plan that you all feel is representative of that feedback, but also that we can implement from a budgetary standpoint and that our park maintenance division
feels comfortable, you know, maintaining going forward. So, yeah. Yeah, it's coming along. I think it's it's coming along really good. We're just kind of at that we're at that juncture where now it's it gets a little
more real to have to decide and really look at the the cost of of things. We don't have any timeline for our groundbreaking or anything on this. Correct. not per se, you know, but
we've generally been, you know, striving towards getting a a preferred plan approved by council by the end of the year. Um, and then from there,
Confluence would then start going into more of a detailed plan, um, which could take another three to six months. because they really get more into the engineering and the the grading and things like that. Um,
you know, and then I think the hope was we would be in a position where we could um start to grade the site maybe next fall and then seeing more of the significant construction taking place in 2027.
So, but there's wiggle room in there. Yeah, this is this is a key part of the process, you know, and I'm we make plans and we we have schedules, but I'm I'm always one where I want to I
want to do it right. It takes a little longer. Yeah, I appreciate, you know, that's that's it seems like everything's now now now. This is a very very important project and what it takes is what it's going to take to get it done.
It's not like it's going to be here for a long time. Let's just do it right. So, thank you for that, Marcel. I appreciate that. Yep. Make sure we get it done before the end of our terms. So, we have our legacy. No, it's a brick.
That's right. What's your name? Let's get it done before the writer cup. Well, I still got another three years after. That's right. that. All right. Autumn Woods um neighborhood park. So um
this would be a development that um it's a new LAR development on the the preserve at Autumn Woods that's north of 212 and north of Pioneer and then it it's um west of Audabon. And
so if you recall, that development came through a couple of years ago. Um and as part of that and um aligned with our city's comprehensive plan um it it called for a a new city-owned
neighborhood park. Um and you can see that park is in the outline here in the orange. This um image on the left is really just to depict the the half a mile radius um that that neighborhood park is intended to serve and then for um people
to just sort of have some context with um other parks that exist within the area. So there is the Jonathan Tot that exists within the half a mile radius and then Jonathan has um Acorn Park too that's sort of right on the edge of that
half a mile radius. Um so that's a little bit of context for where it's at. On the right um you can see staff were out speaking of technology um and got some drone footage. Um,
yeah, it's a great shot. And you can follow my cursor here. Essentially, this is where the the future park will be. And a little hard to get a sense of the amount of kind of space because of the the tree canopy there, but essentially there'll be a
breakthrough um coming in off of that um sort of path there. and then we'll we'll work to develop a plan for what's going to go um kind of back in the woods here.
Are there a lot of trees that'll have to be taken out or are we keeping them um most of those we're going to we're going to keep Yeah. So see there's a huge field behind the the trees. Yeah. There's like a pretty nice opening, you know, back in there which
would be a nice spot. It was one of the most fun um bus rides we had. Somebody comes out of the house like, "What are you doing here?" We were trying to find a way in the back, but there too many weeds and there's poison ivy. We're like, "Okay, Marshall just drives the parks and wreck
van down this person's duck past their house. It was so fun." Hoping there wasn't a snake. Yeah, it was so much fun. How many years ago was that now that we were in that? How many years was it? Three years ago.
No more than that. I wasn't on. Yeah. It doesn't that Michael and I weren't on yet? Yeah. That's back when we used to have fun. Yep. Then I took over and we just started getting things done, didn't we? Yeah.
Bring back the old chair. I'm You know what? Next time I see Dave DS, I'm going to tell him that. You said that. Damn, they're fighting words. Yeah. That's funny. Um, it was a fun trip. So, sim similar to Meadow Park, Ashley's
gonna, um, take the lead on planning this one. So, you know, um, just kind of being that point person and working with our park maintenance and myself. One thing I'm excited about is we did all um,
kind of come to agreeance that we're not going to utilize a consultant for this project. um we think we um have the the skills and capability to just manage it inhouse. Um and so that's going to be the approach
we'll take on this um particular park plan. Um so on the next slide you'll see um a save the date postcard uh that we created and this has already been mailed out. Um, and on the right
there in the in the red would be sort of the the households that we sent it to. Uh, I think there's almost 800 households. Wow. Um, that fell within that sort of half a mile radius. Um,
did Lenar fill all their Did they sell everything already? And they within LAR? Yeah, like with everything that they were building, they sold everything. I'm pretty sure. Yeah, it's pretty well built out. Yeah, I think it's built out. I actually have a friend that was the
construction manager and he's now in Wakonia with LAR. So, and beyond this save the date where there is a collection of resident feedback for this one, we're not including residents in the planning process. Correct.
Correct. Yep. Um so we're inviting them out to meet on the at the site on October um 2nd there at 5:30 and um I would encourage and invite all of you to attend that as well. Um so you
can listen to the feedback. The intent of that meeting will really be a kickoff meeting. um allow residents that are interested to come on over um meet the city staff that'll be a part of the um project
um create a little bit of context and generally talk about uh a schedule um and I think start to kind of entertain thoughts and suggestions from people more in person. Um, but then there is a
QR code um on the postcard that went out that takes people to an online survey. Um, so we're already getting survey responses completed um already, but that was intended for those that can't make the meeting. They can still be involved
and and take the survey. Um, and then we'll obviously just re-emphasize to those that attend the meeting if they hadn't already to to take the survey. So, so that's kind of the plan there. And
then, you know, we'll use sort of the rest of fall and and winter to kind of go through that planning process in the hopes to um come up with a final plan um sometime in the early winter of next
year. And then that gives our park maintenance division and public works sort of the go-ahad to factor that in as a fall project next year. the majority of this um site preparation
and whatnot will be all done inhouse. So be good. Um and then I think the last update I have here is City Square. So if you've been driving through downtown, um you see the gazeos really coming along
there. So, um, happy to share these photos that Brian sent me. Um, you can see there on the left, um, it's pretty well done. Um, they do have, um, another, um,
concrete epoxy layer that they got to put on here. Um, I think that's happening within the next week or so. Um and I think given the uh cure time, the cure time on that might be another week, week or two
after that. But um once that's um once we're beyond that cure time, uh Brian said the plan would be to go ahead and take down the fencing and people could then come in and and um
experience the gazebo again. Um you can see they're uh reeding some of those areas, the dirt areas. Um so that's going to get some new grass, but all of the sidewalk and concrete work um is complete.
Um new flag poles I think are getting installed in the next 7 to 10 days. Um, and then there's some corner corner posts, metal posts that are um, still
being sent off for fabrication. Um, so those could take a little while before they get completed, but for the most part um, we're nearing completion on this. Um, so huge kudos to the park park maintenance
staff who've done a lot of this um, inhouse. You know, there's been some contractor work, but very delicate work given the nature of this site. Um, but to take that and bring it to be ADA
compliant and incorporate a ramp that wraps around it, I think they just did a phenomenal job to accomplish that while still maintaining sort of that historical essence of what um what that gazebo was.
And like I told Brian, just to me, it just looks solid. Like that thing's there for a while, right? This looks like good quality. Um, which I think people were kind of curious about, just going more from wooden and pavers to
more of this kind of concrete. But overall, I think it it looks really nice. Yeah, it looks great. Will they be able to resume some of the activities they've had in that park as they Yeah, you know, I think that's that's going to be a discussion we got
to have and you know, I think there's some activities that have just outgrown that, you know, like River City days and things of that nature. But, um, you know, beyond it just being a nice
passive, contemplative, reflective park, you know, what else? Um, would we want that to be? I know like historically there's been Friday night. Yes, I was concerts in the gazebo. Easter egg hunt. Uh, what's that? Easter egg hunt.
Easter egg hunt. Um, you know, we get um people that want to get married in the gazebo and things like that. So, okay. Yep. What was uh I remember there was some discussion at one point about the burial
grounds there. Whatever ended up happening, whatever became of that, did anything change around that? So a lot of yeah there was a lot of um coordination with um you know the the
Native American um agencies along with state historical society um you know to really kind of get to a point where everybody agreed to just get
it we had to do some maintenance. we had to at least restore it back to what exists there today. Um, and that was that that's kind of the extent of it. You know, we weren't really in a position to move the gazebo
or do any intrusive digging, things like that. Um, just out of respect for those burial burial mounds that are there. like are they marked off and people shouldn't walk over them or like what's Yeah, I don't know what the what the plan is going to be for that. If that's
just going to go back to what it was before or if we're going to be maybe there's an opportunity for some more educational signage and to talk about that. I think that would be cool. Um but I think those are some
some future discussions we got to have. Yeah. I think in general their their stance is they don't really want attention brought to it and that's why there's not more signage there now out of respect. I think it's that they as
not more attention be drawn to them than already that's great Marshall. It's good to see it's good to see that this one wasn't a huge one on our radar. I could see just the amount of work and detail that went
into this project. So, I mean, it turned out great. I'm glad it's there and it's nice, but it it's for some folks um who are really into this, I'm sure it's nice to kind of have this one in the rear view just to have it done vinally. I think it looks great. So, it's
awesome. And it's kind of the icon for Chesa, you know, that gazebo. It is. So um so I think there's a lot of and a lot of pride that went into restoring that and just getting it back
to being functional again. Yeah. And I think we've evolved as a city to have, you know, there's not the real necessity to have all the events here anymore. Now we've got firemans and we've learned to utilize lions a little
bit more. So yeah, I think this just being a peaceful in the middle middle of our beautiful downtown just isn't a bad thing at all. It's It's eye candy when you drive by. It really is. It is. What's that? It's just that little switch of old
school, you know? It's like it's the old days. Yeah. Love I say I love driving by there and seeing that. I actually was going to ask about it tonight because of the recent progress. It seems like it's really come along which is great. And then um I always like enjoy driving by
too in the winter time seeing how long the holiday decorations stay up. That's another fun thing to check out down there. Yeah, great. All right, so that was it for parks.
We're ready to That's me again. Okay, thank you for the updates, Marshall. That moves us to 7B, Department Happenings. All right. So, run through some more highlights of things going on here. Um,
in the background there, you see the the picture of our um past Touch a Truck event. That was back in August. Um, huge kudos to the staff that planned this event um and moving the location, which really kind of requires a lot of a
lot of work. It's almost like putting on a whole new event even though we've done this one for multiple years. Um but because um of the construction along Angler, obviously accessing the community center
where we traditionally host this event um wasn't feasible. Um last year we had hosted it over at the Chaza High School. We really liked it there. We felt like that was ideal. Um but they too were
resurfacing their parking lot um this um so we weren't able to do that and um so we contemplated contemplated a few different sites and um through some feedback we had gotten from the business community at the top
of the hill. We thought let's try doing something different and do it up in the Chesa Commons um area. Um so thankful for the the the various property managers uh um that are up
there. There were three different property managers that we ultimately worked with um to make that happen. And um I think ultimately we had a great turnout. It was a little scary because it it
started raining kind of downpouring as as we're setting up. Um but literally once the event started it stopped and the sun came out and this event always um surprises me because it it's pretty
simple in nature but it attracts so many families and kids and it's just fun to see see. And then um not only that also a lot of our um community organizations come the different sports associations and things like that and have games
available and just good way good kind of end of summer um event um before kids go back to school. Um so yeah very successful event. Whether or not we'll do it there again we're
evaluating that. You know, I think um while it was a a great location and we loved the sort of the interaction with the business community, there there was some safety concerns with just needing to close access and having staff um out
on the road and things like that. So, um that might be reason enough that we'll probably come back. Um I think um we would like to work with the high school. I think if they're open to it. um that is kind of our ideal site. Um there's
just plenty of parking. Um nice open field for play and things like that. So that's kind of where we're leaning towards bringing it back for next year. Um last week um prior to Labor Day um
weekend, the community center was closed. Um, this is our second year we've done that and it allows us to really do a lot of deep cleaning and organizing and doing a variety of projects. Um, we typically do pool maintenance where we drain the pool and
clean it. Um, some years we take the ice out and put it back in and um, so just a lot of lot of planning and coordination goes in just to getting things prepared for that week. and then a lot of staff
hours and sweat goes into the actual week. So again, big kudos to staff. Uh but here's a picture of an exciting project we did to uh replace the indoor playground um at the community center.
Uh the previous one was uh beyond its life expectancy and um we had some um some safety concerns with that. So, this was something we were able to get budgeted um last year and uh I think it
really turned out great. Um got a little more height to it compared to the last one. There's some cool areas for kids to explore um within there. Um our own staff did all the flooring. They were able to take some rubber
flooring we had had from the previous fitness center and repurpose that. and um bought the tile squares from Home Depot and laid those themselves. So, a lot of cost savings went into that. Um and then we were able to work with our
electric department to upgrade the lighting in there. So, we got LED lights. It's nice and bright and you kind of notice it when you come into the front entrance. Like it it's it's glowing over there and it's kind of cool. And just kids are very drawn to
it, which is fun. Um throughout that week too, we had to do um some work in the parking lot. So, uh public works addressed several trees that were affected by emerald ashbor.
So, that was kind of nice week to do that when we didn't have all the cars in the parking lot. So, um I think they took out I think it's about a dozen trees um through the throughout kind of the medians of the parking lot um and
then put them through the chipper and then we we repurpose all that. Um so that's kind of cool. Um, sad to see trees go down, but it's kind of nice to just it just seems like the building is a little more visible and open and just
I don't know better sightelines as you're coming into the community center and trying to find parking and and things like that. So, um, so that was a good project to get done. Uh midsummer we did end up having a leak
in our pool. And so on the left here uh you are seeing um underneath the pool deck. And you can sort of see here water gushing out of the wall due to a leak in a pipe. And you can see it
completely filled the water or the kind of the hallway down below. And so we had to um spend a period of time where we were basically filling the pool as it was leaking just to keep our programming
going until we could get this repaired. Um so we brought out a company called American Leak Detection to figure out where it was coming from. Um, and then you can see here on the right or in the middle. Um, and this is
this would be um more so by the kitty pool area um where we had to open up um the deck to access um the pipe remove the material and access the pipes. And then on the right um you can see the the
repairs that were made. And it was a tricky leak because one of the cracks was literally on the PVC pipe almost right up against that vertical wall there. Uh so the first attempt
um didn't quite work. We filled it halfway and still didn't quite uh resolve itself. So then they had to go back in again and do it. But there again uh a lot of this we did inhouse. So, our facility
maintenance division within our public works did all this work. So, probably saved us $20,000 compared to contracting that out. But, we got that resolved during our shutdown and and got it got it all
filled back up. So, it's good good project to get done. How do we uh go about getting a tour of those the bowels of the community? Hey, we could arrange. Do I hear a motion? I motioned that we take a tour. Second.
All right. Underneath the deck of the pool area. Yeah. At the community center. Sounds good. Yeah. There's How old is that piping? Is that original? That'd be original. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. No kidding. In its early 30s. Yeah.
We're going to walk through there and talk about how much programmable space there is underneath the pool. out here. Daycare anyone missed opportunity there more so I love it.
Yeah, it requires a little flexibility just to even get down there down a ladder. The picture on the left, that's the opposite side of where that PVC pipe goes into that wall on the picture on the right. Is that what that is?
Um, so underneath the deck, but beyond that wall, is this where that pipe comes out underneath? Yeah, right here. Yeah. Yeah, that's that pipe coming out underneath over there. Coming out. Okay. Yep. That's really cool. Coming out through here.
We got to go hang out down there. It's like a Goonies like adventure. Oh, yeah. There's some Yeah. large mechanical rooms and pump rooms that we could take you back in. fine sloth down there.
Uh I think the last community center update I have is just showing um our afterchool care program. So school started, kids are back. Um fun to see. Um one thing that did occur um over the
last couple of months was um Orchard Hill uh which they formerly were Alphabet Junction. They had a um a daycare within the community center and they leased space from us and they had
approached us um wanting to get out of their lease. And so we talked through that um and came to the conclusion that we were okay with that because we actually were seeing a need for expanding some of our own programming.
So, our afterchool care program, um, we were sitting at 30 kids enrolled, um, but we had 30 on a wait list. Um, so we felt like capturing that space that Orchard Hill had would allow us to
open that up and accommodate more kids, not only through our afterchool program, but then also in the summer with our extreme kids care program. Yeah. So I think in the end we'll actually probably net more revenue through our own programming than that
lease agreement. Sure. So being such a need for the community both the extreme kids and then especially this after school care. I mean every parent that I regularly talk to that works outside the home the biggest stress is did you get your kids into club care? And then those that did
not get into club care it's like what do we do now? Um, and it's amazing that you guys were able to open up and accommodate more families because what else do you do? What do you do? So, yeah, I'm really proud that our community
center is offering those two programs. I hear it's a lot of fun. I mean, a lot of kids have 66 kids. That's awesome. In the program and and it's fun to see um Lisa who heads that up. She's just so passionate about it and just making
connections with the other staff in our department to do fun things. So, she coordinated with Missy, our fitness instructor, to work with one of her instructors. This is one of the first days and the kids got to do this drumming pound class.
um you know and there's times where she's coordinating to take the kids out ice skating and then there's times where they might go in the pool and you know so it's like I think we're going to be the the preferred afterchool spot just
because we got so many neat amenities and and services we can do. So it's fun to see um Chaska Curling and Event Center. Um, so this December actually marks the 10-year
anniversary of when that facility opened. Um, and so we're really kind of looking at all of next year as sort of the the 10-year anniversary and starting to plan some things around it. And on the left there, you can see a 10-year uh
anniversary logo that our marketing manager Chris Lindall um designed. So, just, you know, incorporating silver. I think silver is the 10-year um the 10-year color. Um
and then, you know, what's also exciting is this coming winter is the the Winter Olympics. Um, and whenever we have the Winter Olympics, there's always just an uptick and an excitement around curling. And we see a lot more people wanting to come in
and do learn to curls. We see more corporations want to do, you know, um, team outings and different events. So, I think next year is going to be a big year for the curling and event center where we're able to, you know, celebrate
the 10 years, play off of the the Winter Olympics. Um, we're also going to be um reinvesting back into the event center space. So, we're going to be putting in all new carpeting
um and brand new chairs into that space. So, staff have been um working with a vendor on a variety of options and kind of coming up with what we think will be a good fit um for that
event center space. uh to not only accommodate weddings, you know, on the formal end, but just down to, you know, programming and, you know, business type meetings and things like that. Um the 10
years also marks um sort of a um what would I say a renewal period with our relationship that we have with Crooked Pint as well um with their lease agreement. So, when the building got
built, that lease agreement was structured um such that it was a 10-year term. And then with that, there's the option. Uh Crooked Pint has the option for two more renewals,
uh fiveyear term at five more at intervals of five terms each. So, we're having ongoing conversations um with the owner of Crooked Pint. um they're they're interested in wanting to renew. Um so we're talking about that.
Uh one thing that we're also talking about with them is um kind of kind of resurrecting the players lounge within the um curling center. We feel like as we kind of look back, that's an area that um we've let
go a little bit and so working with Crooked Pint on how can we um get uh staffing down there and just kind of consistency so that at the end of league play, which is most nights of the
week, the Curlers have a place to go that kind of feels more clubish um to hang out. And so they're putting together what I would say more of like a slimmed down menu of beverage op options, you know, so that we can't have
the full bar like at the restaurant, but kind of the here's the 10 things that people generally would want. Um, and then they'll have staffing there to be able to provide that. And then they're also talking about having a food option
that would be more like a basket. So that way servers aren't having to carry plate wear from the restaurant all the way down to the players lounge and then figuring out dishes and all that be just more of a basket that when you're done
you could throw it away. Um and then we're reinvesting into the furniture within that space as well. So hope that that actually should be in place by the time leagues start here in um early October.
Marshall have a couple quick questions. Can you go back to that previous slide for a second? Um, the players lounge you guys had talked at one point because we were looking at the naming rights for the facility about wanted to expand that. Is that still on the table of maybe expanding that lounge
out? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and that's that's a little bit of why we want to sort of resurrect it a little bit and get more more activity in there. It's hard to justify an expansion if we're not using it.
Yeah. you know, so our thought process is we got to we got to put more energy and effort into that space and show that people want to be there, you know, and then I think that's going to then support a potential expansion down the
road because it it's a spot I think the the club players want to be in. You know, the but it has limitations. you know, the the size of it as it is today does not support,
you know, all the curlers across all six sheets of the you know, 48 of them to be able to go in there. Yeah. It's not big enough. How big is it? What's that? How big is it? I don't know the exact square footage, but you know, it's probably it's
probably accommodating more for like 25 to 30 people. And then the sight lines are tough, too. same length of this room here. Is it downstairs where you don't have an outlook of the ice or I've just never been in it?
If you're in the restaurant, it's on the opposite end of the ice. Okay. Over in the corner and you'll see some glass over there. Yeah. It's like on that corner where Chesca Boulevard and 41 is. It's that building. Okay. Those windows.
It's kind of like a conference room. Yes. It's a large conference room. Yeah. Yeah. It I mean it it just from again from my I'm not a curler, but from my perspective, it doesn't seem big enough for what it could potentially be. I mean, it's nice that they have their own bathrooms down there.
Um and there's a little bar setup, but there's only just it's just not big enough, you know? Yeah. I think that it could be something really great because the curlers really drive a lot of the foot traffic out on that consistently out on that property
and on that campus I guess I would call it that I think they certainly I think have earned a larger space down there and it certainly needs to be supported better by the by the the restaurant there but it just needs to be a bigger space. So it's not big enough.
Yeah. In lease negotiations, has it ever been discussed having that front line of tables that are against the glass be a little bit more partitioned off and be like a pseudo players lounge where that is a dedicated space and they're not
fighting with the general public? And I don't know, we we eat at like 4:30 p.m. because we hate like having to wait because I have two small children. So, I have never been to Crooked Pint when it's busy because of that 4 to 4:30 dinner time. Um, but so I don't know
like if the restaurant on the regular is packed to the point where that would be a burden for them to give up those seats, but like it feels like it would lend itself to again until we can get an expansion, a pseudo players lounge where it's this is dedicated and they're not
fighting with like my family for a spot where my kids can go like that against the window. But yeah. Yeah. And we're have that's part of the discussion, you know, like how can we better utilize some of those spaces within the restaurant to support
the curling and especially like for the when we have the bond spiels and the events and things like that where it can be sort of designated for curlers, which they're very open to and wanting to work with us on. So, also shout out, their menu's been
adjusted several times. It's nice. Good adjustments. Yeah. You just had a new menu come out August 19th, I heard. Um, who's the who's the likeness for the silhouette of the player there? Because I know like the famous NBA logo is Jerry West, the
basketball player. Is that I don't think there's any specific person. I think it's just like a clip art thing. I don't Their knee is supposed to be on the ice when they're releasing the stone. Is that is that good form? Mhm.
We need to do what she what my fellow commissioner is saying. Need to do a learn to curl, too. We need to do a curling event. Okay. Talk about team building. Yeah. I remember much more of a split when I did my learn to curl. I don't know. Do all curlers have that crab hand.
It's more like a pincher. It's more like a pincher. Crab hand. It looks like Lego hands. Like Legos. We're looking with this to like um I think the thought is to make a pin. Coolers like pins and then
yeah, we're looking at um accounting for or figuring out who who have been members at the curling club since it opened and still are. And maybe they'll get a special patch, kind of a 10-year patch. And
that's a great idea. Good idea. Yeah. Just kind of thinking about some other different types of fun activities throughout the year. Next year's fire and ice will be a big, you know, fire and ice celebration honoring the 10 years, too. So, and to think a holiday gas station was
like the top contender for that corner. This is so much Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No holiday was I can't believe it's been 10 years. It's amazing. Chris did a really nice job with that. Yeah, it looks really cool.
25. Yeah. Now that um I think you all know I'm an empty neester now. So I'm going to be participating in Thursday night leagues. All right, Marshall. But I get in on the curling. I I've always kind of wanted to do that.
Life has been busy and so I I look forward to, you know, experiencing it a little bit more. Pretty cool. So you'll be able to teach us and learn to curl. Yeah. I got to start practicing for sure cuz it's uh
it's harder than what it looks Yeah. Um and then just looking ahead, couple couple events coming up. Um we we always are one of the host sites for the big spiel. Um that'll be coming in January,
the weekend of the 8th through the 11th. And then um we'll be hosting the US curling national championship, the club national championships. And so what's cool about that is as the host site,
we get um two of our own club teams automatically in on this national championship. Great. And so this weekend is our sort of in-house playdown. Oh. So, we had put a, you know, a call
out to our curlers to see who wanted to compete for a spot in on this and um we have eight men's teams and three women's teams that'll be essentially competing against each other this weekend and then
um they'll be participating in this this future national championship fun out of March. So, so that'll be fun. Um and then you know just to highlight programs um our fall program um activity
guide has been out and about um you know and again just phenomenal the amount of programs that our staff put on from preschool on up to um active older adults. Um so encourage everybody
to take a look at that and register for what interests you. in the middle there highlighting our scholarship program um in honor of former park and recck commissioner Nick Mason. Um we're we're um seeing more and more people take
advantage of that which is great. Um um as of uh you know a year or two ago, we expanded that um from not only supporting programming but also um a 90-day
pass to the fitness uh community center. Um, and we knew that would be popular and so we had to essentially determine a kind of an annual dollar amount that we would allocate towards that and sort of manage it manage it on a quarterly
basis. And um, now we're sort of seeing a wait list for people wanting to access that. And so that's going to be something I'm going to advocate in our budgeting process if there's maybe some some support we can get there to build
up uh that fund to be able to support people that want to um access the fitness center. Um and we'll continue to, you know, do what we can to promote this and encourage people to
donate towards the fund. Is that something that you could reach out to like the Lions Club or Rotary or one of those organizations to donate to on a yearly basis or something? Yeah. Unless they already do. I have no idea.
Yeah. I mean, they they donate to a lot of other things um to support our department, but not necessarily this one. Um but that's a good thought. We've even um we thought about like you know maybe
during the holidays you know when kind of the season of giving you know and trying to capture some of that might be a good time. We already have it set up where when people register online for programs um sort of when they check out uh part
of the pro part of the kind of checkout basket there's an option for people to donate. um fire and ice. We have the uh the dunk tank. So, the proceeds from that go to support the um the scholarship fund. And
then um we do try to capture people that come in for our Halloween jamboree to donate to the scholarship fund. And then the other big one would be our participation in River City Days. we put on a pickle
ball tournament and all the proceeds from that goes to the scholarship fund. So, so we've been able to, you know, keep it up there and grow it a little bit. Um, but I think we're just seeing there's especially on more of the community center uh membership side,
a little more of a demand there. Um this coming Friday is the Latin music and food festival um over at Fireman's Park. Um that'll be from 6 to 10. So if you get a chance and you haven't been, I encourage you to go. A lot of great
food, great music. Um and uh then this one also has fireworks. Nine o'clock um fireworks. So that'll be kind of fun. And that'll be going on in the backdrop with our, like I mentioned, the the playdown, the
club playdown within the curling sand. Kind of like a little bit of a mini fire and ice uh on on Friday taking place. And then the following weekend, um, Saturday, September 20th, will be the Chesa Cares Music Fest. Um, so this is
the one we um work on with Rotary and this is really intended to be a fundraiser for the Miracle League field at the future park. Excited about our headliner this year, Josh Mallaloy. If any of heard of who he is, um he's
pretty popular there. On the right is a picture of a recent concert he did in Nashville. Uh so he draws big crowds. He he tours across the nation. I think he's got 30 million streams.
Um, one of his big songs is called Porch Light. So, if you're interested, check it out. But, um, he's a definite upandcomer playing big festivals. Um, so I think pretty cool that we're going to have him here
in Chaza and people can attend for free. Then we got the supporting lineup there with the the 17 Kevin's. Uh they're a local they're all local Chaza musicians. Um Mike Poot, um he's from Farmington.
Uh Becky Ray Dalton, um I know she's from kind of the Carver County area. And then Reese Glover is also um kind of a Minneapolis-based musician that's um starting to gain traction.
So um that'll be at Fireman's Park 4:00. Um kick things off. Uh really just a music festival with food trucks and beverages. And then Rotary is um selling um Split the Pot
raffle. Um, so that's another kind of fundraising component going towards it. I think I think it's up there where the winner would come out with $10,000. So um find your local Rotarian if you want to buy some some raffles.
And then uh the last update I have um is our recreation management software. So we decided within our department to switch gears. Um we currently utilize uh active net for our software management
and um just feel like we're at a point where we need a a better solution. And so through that we've um evaluated several options and have landed on Finley Sport. Uh Finley Sport is located
out of Minneapolis. Uh so that's one nice thing from a support standpoint going forward. Um that they're sort of right in our backyard. Um they have they're they're rather somewhat new, but they have a lot of
experience with within their staffing. So their ownership um they used to um run a a software called Galaxy and kind of their bread and butter was within the ice arena operations
and software to manage ice arenas and then ironically Galaxy um a while ago got purchased by Activenet. So the the owner of Finley Sport used to work for Activenet and then over time
decided to go out on his own and create create his his own platform. So he's got really good experience with with Activenet as well, which I think will be helpful as we transition. But ultimately, you know, our goal is to provide even a better experience for our
residents when it comes to registering for programs, seeing things online, things of that nature, but also um a a solution that I think will this be easier for our staff um to use on a
day-to-day basis. And then for me, ideally, a solution that's going to get us to better reports and get at the data that can help us inform decisions uh into the future. Um
huge undertaking though. I mean, this is a major project for our department. Uh Chris Lindall, our marketing manager, who also really kind of helps us more on the the tech side of things, is leading leading this effort along with our our
different division managers are taking the lead. Are user accounts going to transition over seamlessly or will people have to create new accounts? People have to create new accounts. Oh, yep. So that's going to be something that yeah, we're going to have to work
through. Um, you know, but that's sort of don't offer any support. That seems if this is an upgrade, I would say that's that's a not a very good selling
point. Um, because the end users are going to be they're going to be upset. is the registration process. But part part of it is we want to start with clean data and there's just a lot to clean up in the old system. So
um I think setting up a new account will be rather simple from what I understand. Um I don't know. You've got lots of kids linked on. You have to get both parents on there. You've got like past his Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. That's my opinion. I mean, that's
it's one of those it's terrible for the end user, but a little bit of pain to transition, but hopefully in the long run, we're gonna we're gonna see the benefits come through. Um, but yeah, this will be managing all of our, you know, facility reservations.
It'll manage all of our memberships, all of our activity registration, membership management, point of sale. Um so really kind of our whole operating system.
Um so yeah, we are staff are working on that backend configuration as we speak and you know I think the hope is is that we'll be able to transition over. We're thinking December 1st is sort of our target so that as people are looking to
register for winter the winter activity um we would have them you know set up their account new account and then get registered in the new software. Sounds like you got a beta tester over there. Well yeah I would I would be happy to beta test. I would say I mean anybody
who has historically done the activities that fill up immediately like extreme kids like the after school program like swim lessons like that user group has to know weeks in advance because they're going to be ready on the dot to sign up
for those classes and those activities and they're going to be so upset if it's like wait now I'm being prompted to create a whole new thing and then they lose out on a spot have really upset people. So I would pull that and and whatever other groups that like are the
ones that have to sign up day of moment of they have to know about accounts way in advance would be my feedback. But yeah. Yeah. And once we get to that point where we were ready for that, you know, ideally we're going to have plenty
of time for people to get that set up before registration would occur. And that'd be a big campaign we'll be putting out there to let the community know, hey, we're moving to a new new software. In between now and then, we need you to
set up your new account. Contact us if you need help with setting that up. Sure. You know, get people situated. Yeah. Yeah. Good. I think that is it for the updates. Okay.
That brings us to item number eight, other business and 8A the roundt. We start with Mike. Um jeez, it's been a while since we've met,
right? Um I think we maybe have talked about a little bit, but you know, I had a great time um at River City Days kind of representing uh the three plans. um planned on staying there for an hour and ended up being there for two and a half,
three hours, something like that. Just talking to people. I know Taylor was there. I think I just missed you. I think you were there earlier, but um it, you know, it felt really good to be, you know, engaging and and talking to to the community because there's, you know, a lot of different viewpoints from people
and, you know, kind of gave me pause and lots of things to reflect on as we kind of work on the community part going forward. So, so that was great. Um, yeah, that's I think that's the big thing for me. Summer has flown by.
Well, I would just say we're frequent users of the community center and I'm so happy it's opened again. It was a long way in your play area. We Yeah, climb in there and check it out.
That's it for me. Um, I would echo the comments about volunteering at River City Days and really enjoying engaging with the community. Um, a lot of comments I did get was about
the dog park in Lion's Park and kind of the one off into the woods. I know when we first opened the dog park that was we had visitors all the time about the dog park and just wondering if that
continues to be maintained for what is it buckthornne or whatever grows back there. Um there was just multiple people saying that that doesn't get used. It's too
wooded. And so just wondering what the usage is of that if we can even access cameras if no one knows. I don't go down there. frequent, but just wanting to mention that. Yeah. Review the
concern was but more about the buckthornne. What the concern or the comments was more around buckthornne, you think? Or um just clearing that area out in general. Um and just no one uses it. It's just
kind of off to the side or you can't see it or various comments. So Marshall does know a goat guy. Just wanting to Yeah, we we know goats. That we've got a goat guy in retainer getting used.
It works out. Um Okay. Yep. I'll bring that forward. Our park maintenance. Okay. Y um the other It's more of a question. The other thing Okay. In the last month, I have had more issues with um drivers
not seeing pedestrians, bikers, and crosswalks. and kind of going into the safety concerns that you talked about being up north in Chaza by the shopping district and
and that I don't know if anyone has ever been over in Eden Prairie kind of by the Culver's um the Berley's that kind of shopping area. You can see on the ground they have a colored pavement sort of walkway
through their parking lot. And I mean maybe it doesn't stand out a ton, but I thought that was kind of something different and unique to help maybe highlight where pedestrians or bikers could go to avoid getting hit by
a car. So wondering in our shopping areas or districts, is there a management company that owns those parking lots or does the city have any say of what we could do to kind of make it more pedestrian bike
friendly? If anything, can we Is there a particular like a very particular spot you're thinking of? Um like just I mean kids on bikes over by
Target or um kind of by Kohl's and um what else is Aldi, Chipotle, lots of kids are on bikes over in that area and there's just a lot of cars. It's always parking lots are tight spaces
and there just doesn't seem to be how do kids or people adults maneuver through parking lots efficiently without and that's I just saw that in Eden Prairie and thought that was interesting and thought I don't know maybe we can't
even do anything because a management company owns those parking lots. Yeah. I mean and I think that is the case. they they own the parking lots, you know, and so I think they gota also help own some solutions if they're
wanting to invite more pedestrian type traffic into their sites. Um, but I think, you know, there's probably something there for the city to partner with them on if if that if they need assistance with it. Um, so I can bring
that bring that forward as a discussion. I just That was unique that I noticed that in Prairie and just I don't know how helpful it is, but yeah. And it'd be interesting to know if that if that was the city or if it was
the property manager that embraced it. I think historically cities haven't done a great job of adding the pedest or the pedestrian bicycle stuff in or you know there's some companies that do a better job than others of actually trying to create those pedestrian ways through
their parking lots and that's a good example you cited of one where I think they've done a better job but I think sometimes you know when they're you have to go back to when their site plans are approved and really emphasizing ing it, you know, with kind of the planning
commission and city councils that, hey, we want to see you try to do something to help pedestrians here. You know, there's some places where Target's done a good job of it. I know in Roseville where they put a target, they did a better job of creating kind of differing
pathways, but in most places they don't. So, um, one thing along that lines though is, um, public works is going to be installing some more pedestrian
kind of those flash signal lights where it'd be more of like a push button um, along Hunter Mark. Going over to Cortina Woods. Nice. Yeah. desperately need one there. Absolutely.
So, I can follow up with some of the specific locations, but you know, I think we might see some more of that, which I think will help, too, is looking at some of those busier intersections. And that is a big one. I've crossed there
many times and I think pe people just forget that pedestrians have the right away. Yeah. Oh, bothers me so much. But although that entire neighborhood to the west of Hunter Mark there is in the walk zone for Chesca High School and actually even going across 41 where I live, it's all
in the walk zone. So all the kids who live in those neighborhoods have to cross that. And I'm just telling you, I go I I run and bike that path constantly and it is really hit or miss where the cars will stop when they see me standing there. And it's even it's horrible at night. You can't see anything around there at
night. But maybe that's where we need like a named brick fund. There you go. There you go. Yeah. But so that's going to be one crossing where they're going to be putting the flashing. Yeah. I'll follow up with the specific location. Yeah.
Ryan sent it to me. Yeah. Recently. So I took a picture of it probably a month ago, two months ago, and sent it to our mayor just like, "We need something here. This is horrible. We can do better than this." Is it safe to assume that the Bavaria Hunter Mark crossing
pedestrian crossing would probably be getting one as well? Yep. Y it's great. Yeah, I think there were like four or five locations. Be great. Yeah. It's a shame that you just can't see that giant neon sign,
you know, the person standing there eyes looking across. Yeah. It's crazy, isn't it? It bothers me so much. I've noticed that there are a lot of people who don't understand how to use the hawk crossings though. A lot of
vehicles that stop and wait until um it's completely off. It's like I'm going just have to read this. Watch me go. It's right there. I know. No, that's what I mean. It's I know. Oh, it's right there. You've got enough time to sit there and
read it and understand. But anyway, keep going. I'm glad people are stopping through for sure. The point is that they're stopping, but they're stopping for too long. It's It's kind of funny at the bottom. I know. It's too safe. I'm sorry. Okay. I'm sorry. It's like
the pedestrian is already halfway like I know. I know. Down the road. I know. Mr. uh you already mentioned something about the trees getting taken out. I was just curious how much impact there has been
throughout all of our parks in the community of trees having to be removed. You have a guess or an estimate as to or maybe for a future meeting. Yeah, just just out of curiosity. I had multiple trees in my neighborhood that have been taken out or that are going to
be taken out. Give you a guess, Marshall. What's that? I can give a guess to it. Like a percentage. Yeah. Yeah. Um it's most uh ash usually make up about 30% of the canopy.
Um, so they're a really popular tree. Um, so EAB is and it it's going to just take out if you're not treating your asht tree, it's going to die. Um, chesa is probably one or two years away from being at peak eav. So that
means that every asht tree would be considered infested. Um, whether or not it shows signs of it. So we're just getting up to that point. It's definitely changing the aesthetic of the city. Numerous places really
taking Hunter Mark and crossing over Pioneer Trail. So just adjacent across, you know, from that where the cornfield the little cornfield is. It's like I'm assuming was that taken out for developmental purposes or was that Yes, cuz I just But it was just strange how
much I've driven that road so many times over the last 10 years and yet just recently I'm like something's different here. Yeah. I wondered if they had just bulldozed all those top row of town homes cuz it was so big and I just I drive by I'm like this
looks really strange. I I actually thought I was driving down the wrong road. I'm like around and I'm like but um it's interesting you know and I joked earlier about uh Commissioner Branch being a tree lover because of his last name.
It's amazing how the relationship people have with the trees around their community. And my neighbor, it's really um he's having to have his trees taken out of his house in the front yard. And it's a very emotional thing for him because he he's been in that home since
it was built in our neighborhood was developed. He planted those trees with his kids, you know, and one of his children has deceeded away a few years ago. And you know that's a it's like a very emotional experience for him like he's losing a part of something part of his family you
know it's just trees growing in his front yard but it's a huge memory of like he remembered he was telling me which one he planted with which kid and he's having to get them removed you know but it's really I don't know it's kind of interesting sad and interesting all at the same time that was such an investment you can't
just take a 30 40 year old tree and put it back there's so much patience involved in that beauty. Yeah, right. It is. It is. It is. I get it. Um, shifting gears away from trees. Um,
I was just curious about the community center master plan where all that is at. And I know there was the talk of how to generate the revenue for the price tag and all those things and I was just curious where all that is sitting at. And maybe it doesn't require an answer
right now, but maybe by the be great to get an update soon. Yeah. Yeah. still, you know, we're still kind of in a standstill in determining what the funding source will be. Um,
I do think that the local option sales tax is uh available again because I don't think the legislature they had put a moratorum on it and they had put
together a special group to assess that, but I think that timeline has expired. I don't think anything came of it. So, I think it just reverts back to the original form and what that set up on. Um, so got
to kind of look into that a little bit more. And so, so we would have to get something passed on the state level to even get the opportunity to go out to the community to ask if they could pass a sales tax. Yeah. So, in the past, that's what the process was is you'd have to get
legislative approval first u to then go back to your community and conduct a referendum. Is there ever any talk about that data center? Yeah. And so then that would be the other funding source that you know would
help support the community center master plan. Um I don't There hasn't been a lot of talk about it as of as of recently. Um I think it's still kind of between the preliminary and final
planning stages. Um so it's really kind of at the pace of the the developer, but from what I'm hearing, there's still signs showing that they're still committed to the site. Yeah. But when they come forward with the
final plan is still unknown. Okay. And I know it was brought up at a recent meeting about I don't know are there rules or laws around speed limits on the pedestrian paths with some of these ebikes? I actually don't know. I don't remember
what we what was said about that at a recent meeting when we talked about it. Might have been a work session, but what is the law on the pedestrian pass for is there a speed limit? I've seen some people come flying down some paths. It's absolutely like these some of these
kids are just flying through there on these bikes and they look like a lot of fun. But I'm like, "Oh my I just I can't believe how fast they're going on some of the pedestrian paths with these ebikes. It's crazy." Darn kids. Yeah. Yeah. The ebikes can go up to 20 miles an hour.
So, um there's really no There's no 11 11, I think. I just read these yesterday. Yeah. Um, but you're starting to see some cities
taking it upon themselves to develop some stricter ordinances. Um, so I think that's going to be something to keep our eye on. Sure. Um, I know Lakeville just adopted an ordinance that I think
the essentially a speed limit of 15 miles an hour on paths. Um, so without putting a policeman or hiring more police to patrol the paths, how you
know? Well, that's that's sort of the hard thing is you can you can adopt ordinances, but your ability to enforce them is a whole another thing, right? you know, but it does create the the mechanism to be
able to enforce, you know. So again, it might not mean that they're going to be out there actively trying to find this stuff, but if it's obvious or people report it or whatnot, then they can give a citation since there is an ordinance that they
or I suppose in just having the ordinance, there are a few people out there that would actually respect it, which would then draw down. Yeah, makes sense. So it I think we're seeing more and more things coming out though. People are posting things, more education, and so I
think hopefully over time, you know, parents will take it a little bit more serious with their kids and, you know, just talk about that stuff. And I think hopefully see more schools talk about it, too. and
you know just the education and awareness around etiquette out on the sidewalks and trails. I was in Prior Lake coming in if you come back this back wave anyway cruising
down I'm going down a hill and I was doing 50 miles an hour and there was a kid couldn't have been more than 11 years old helmet on on the sidewalk keeping pace downhill. It's just like young man. Young man, if you wipe out, you better
hope you hit the grass. Seriously, because you are going to be in some serious trouble. That helmet, yes. May protect your head. But oh man, maybe at that point it's like you're almost a motorcycle, right? I mean, and down the sidewalk. Yeah.
Crazy. Yeah. I mean, I was a wild, but that's that's just a good problem to have. Kids out on bikes. This is true. They are outside. That's a win. But just electric bikes,
not pedaling. Not exercise. Yeah. Breathing fresh air, Liz. Um I I'm done. Thank you. Yeah. Um he he spoke everything, so I'm good.
I spoke on behalf of the trees. Yep. Um I have a negative and a positive. Um so there were so many fun festivals, so many fun outdoor activities with my kids this summer. Um and I know that Park and Wreck doesn't have anything over um the
River City days. I live closer to Fireman's Park. Music's never kept us up. The two nights at River City Days this year, my kids couldn't sleep till midnight. It was it was rattling their windows and they have
sound machines. Windows are closed. It was insane. And my husband and I agreed next year we'll um probably approach whoever organizes it beforehand because again we live closer to Fireman's Park and never had like you know you can go outside and you know stuff's going on.
It was the base was unreal for two nights. We had no idea what was going on until we figured it out that it was River City days. Um, and so that was uh untenable just because the kids from bedtime until midnight up and down, up
and down, up and down because they you lay down and you can hear it. It was crazy. Um, so that's the the negative. Um, the positive, both my kids are off of training wheels and we got to bike this summer. We got to go downtown. We got to walk up the hill at 41 several
times. Um, but it was so much fun and it was it felt safe and like we there's great signage and the kids just really really enjoyed it. We didn't have to trailer either one of them and it is just hilarious cuz my daughter does not want to be in a geared bike yet and so like she's going down the hill and her
feet are just going as fast as possible. But we went to we biked to Southern Social, we biked to Fireman's Park several times. We biked down Creek Road which is amazing. If you have not biked where they closed that off, it's incredible where it's been connected up to Angler up there is awesome. We cut
through Sunset Park, went down that way. It was just it was we were able to experience our trail system in a way that like we never have been able to because of having young kids and it just made me so grateful to be in our community. And we've had several people move into our neighborhood and the surrounding area
from other communities this last year. They're like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, like you know, we've been on the trails and stuff. Yeah, they're pretty good." And I'm like, there's 70 miles of them. And like it's just I was so intense about like just talking up our trips. Oh, I had no idea there was that many. And it was really really fun to get to
experience that differently this year. And our public works does a great job. And the the planning and the whole um having parks and trails within a half mile radius of every neighborhood is just incredible. That's awesome. Yeah, it's been fun.
That's what it's all about. I just give compliments to the staff on the fire and ice festival. You know, there's so many staff that are there and um I was there both nights and really enjoyed the music and I just thought you did a great job of kind of organizing the event and it
really is a nice community event. So, thank you. The fireworks are awesome. Yeah, my favorite. Okay. Uh yeah, Marcelo, I just want to thank you and your staff for another
great summer and I know it never stops for you guys, but again, just great job. It's awesome to have you guys doing what you're doing. So, thank you and make sure and pass that on. Um, one more thing that I wanted to
bring up is that I am strongly considering stepping down from the chair position this year. I will continue obviously throughout the rest of the year and I'm going to finish the final year of my term that I'm considering stepping down. Um when I started
almost nine years ago, I knew that I was going to do three. I was going to go the whole time and I knew that by the time I got to this point, my kids were going to be older and it was going to be really tough to dedicate myself to this as well
as that. Um, and then that came became very apparent this year just with all my traveling and I love to be at the the events and this year I was unable to make a lot of them
and I think not only our citizens but also you guys to serve somebody in this chair who can be more readily available and be there for those things. Um, so with that said again I'm considering it. So if anybody has any
desire to step up and potentially be chair or maybe Liz moves up and we need a vice chair. [Laughter] Um um but yes, not not an easy decision,
but like I said, I'm not going anywhere. I'm gonna fulfill my term. But, and maybe it's just me personally, but I it was tough for me this year to not be involved in those things, especially in the position that that I sit in. So, but
that's it. So, whoever wants it, come get it. And any one of you would be more than obviously more than qualified to to do so. If I can do it, you can do it, right?
But that's uh that's it for me this week. So, anything else from you, Marshall? I think that is it. Yeah, we'll look forward to meeting again in October. Excellent. Yeah. Okay. With that said, that brings us to
item number nine, adjourn. Do I have a motion to Terry? Oh man, I always space this stuff. Uh, all in favor say I. I. Opposed.
We are ajourned. Think I remembered the Naz every recording stopped.