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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-02-20 Parks and Trails Minutes1 Corcoran Parks and Trails Meeting Minutes February 20, 2025 - 7:00 pm The Corcoran Parks and Trails Commission met on February 20, 2025, at City Hall in Corcoran, MN. Present were Commissioners Anderson, Christenson, Nybo, Schmidt, and Strehler. Absent: Commissioner Erzberger Present at City Hall was Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck and Community Development Administrative Assistant Gellman. 1. Call to Order/Roll Call Chair Christenson called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. 2. Pledge of Allegiance Chair Christenson invited all in attendance to rise and join in the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. Agenda Approval Motion: Made by Anderson, seconded by Schmidt, to approve the agenda as presented. Voting Aye: Anderson, Christenson, Nybo, Schmidt, and Strehler. (Motion carried 5:0) 4. Minutes a. Minutes – January 16, 2025, Meeting Motion: Made by Anderson, seconded by Nybo, to approve the January 16, 2025, minutes as presented. Voting Aye: Anderson, Christenson, Nybo, Schmidt, and Strehler. (Motion carried 5:0) 5. Open Forum – Public Comment Opportunity Katherine Drivas – 6747 Olde Sturbridge Drive, thanked the Commission for moving forward with City Park. She also said that she is a proponent of having a new building at City Park for residents to be able to gather and have programming. She requested that a bench that a table be added to the Cook Lake Trail. She would like the open space parks to be named instead of having the development name attached to the park. She explained she liked the name of Wildflower Park, and that unique naming should continue with the open space parks in the City of Corcoran. 6. Presentations – None 7. Unfinished Business a. Park Dedication for Chastek Family Farm Preliminary Plat Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck conducted a presentation on Chastek Family Farm and Park Dedication funding options. Commissioner Anderson asked if the trail could be built on the northern edge of Outlot A. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck explained there was a buffer requirement for the wetlands, and it would need a boardwalk. 2 Commissioner Anderson asked if Outlot A was chosen by the developer because it was a good place to put the trail. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck said that it was more so because the area was a wetland. She said the wetland doesn’t allow for as continuous pathway. She explained the trail would be a combination of sidewalk and trail. Commissioner Schmidt asked if the HOA would potentially have a rule against cars in the driveway blocking the sidewalk. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck said that it would also likely be in the City Code where cars could not block the sidewalk. Commissioner Anderson asked if the sidewalk would be continuous on the east and west sides. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck confirmed that the sidewalk was likely continuous throughout the adjacent neighborhoods. Chair Christenson asked if the trail didn’t exist that the Cook Lake trail to the west would still connect to the sidewalk. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck confirmed that with or without the trail it would be continuous. Motion: Made by Nybo, seconded by Strehler, to recommend taking park dedication as cash-in-lieu of land for Chastek Family Farm Preliminary Plat Voting Aye: Anderson, Christenson, Nybo, Schmidt, and Strehler. (Motion carried 5:0) 8. New Business a. Enhancing Meeting Structure and Commission Training Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck conducted a presentation on the Parks and Trails Commission meeting structure and upcoming Commission training. Commissioner Nybo empathized with the issue of meetings going late, but that there were some topics that required more discussion to be comfortable with their decision. Chair Christenson agreed with Commissioner Nybo. He said that if there is a large agenda item that parts of the meeting that are non-required items could be moved to another meeting if it wasn’t required to be discussed. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck confirmed that the update was not a required part of the meeting. Commissioner Anderson said that the City Council has a consent agenda and asked if the Commission could have a similar process. Chair Christenson asked if the agenda could be moved around like new business and unfinished business and if the Commission had the ability to do that. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck said she would need to confirm if they were able to change the format prior, but agenda adjustments could be made during agenda approval. Chair Christenson said that restructuring would be to help if there was new business that might take longer. The new business could be put in front of unfinished business. 3 Commissioner Anderson said that sometimes there are items that are under time constraints and that the City must respond otherwise a project can be approved automatically if the City does not respond within time. He said it would be helpful to know what items would be time-dependent and highlighted on the agenda to make it clear to the Commissioners or to put it at the top of the agenda. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck requested if the Commission has questions that they ask her prior to the meeting to expedite time and for preparation purposes. b. Garden Club Request Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck conducted a presentation on the Garden Club Request. Commissioner Nybo said that the $200 dollar shed was not going to last. She asked about the funding for the Memorial Garden and whether it had its own fund. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck confirmed the Memorial Garden had its own fund. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck clarified that requests over $5,000 require City Council approval, otherwise are approved through the claims register. Commissioner Anderson said that a shed that would last ten years would be helpful if the current proposed shed might not last that long. Commissioner Anderson proposed that the Commission increase the budget to $1,000. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck said that she would work with appropriate parties like Public Works and the Garden Club with the increased budget to meet the needs of both parties. Motion: Made by Anderson, seconded by Nybo, to approve the Garden Club Request Budget at $1,000. Voting Aye: Anderson, Christenson, Nybo, Schmidt, and Strehler. (Motion carried 5:0) c. 2025 Tree Giveaway Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck conducted a presentation on the 2025 Tree Giveaway. Commissioner Nybo asked Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck if she would be asking the Jaycees for funding for the program. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck confirmed that she would be there with a request for $1,055. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck said last year the donation was $1,230.06. Commissioner Nybo suggested the Commission ask for $1,200. Commissioner Anderson said they would be able to obtain 725 trees which would be four more bundles to get close to the $1,200 donation. Commissioner Schmidt asked if there were more households who wanted to get trees. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck said they could offer 6 trees per household versus 5 trees. Commissioner Anderson said now some households with smaller lots each household might just request 2- 3 trees per household. 4 Commissioner Nybo asked Commissioner Anderson if the $1,200 budget worked for him. Commissioner Anderson confirmed the budget did work for him. Commissioner Anderson said he would like to get the giveaway on the City website by next week. He said they can determine better which types of trees are more popular than others as well. 9. Reports/Information a. Planning Project Update – Information Only b. Parks, Recreation, and Trails Update Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck conducted a presentation on the Parks, Recreation, and Trails Update. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck discussed a request from a resident to explore a reciprocity system with the City of Plymouth and their badminton program. Commissioner Nybo asked if the City of Corcoran had badminton. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck explained that the City did not, but that the City could have reciprocity with another program that the City of Corcoran does offer. The Commission decided to table the discussion for the future. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck discussed the status of the City Park design. Commissioner Nybo asked if the 60% design included the splashpad plans. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck said the design itself includes the splashpad but going forward the plan will not include the splashpad which will require discussion with the Jaycees. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck clarified that the funding may be able to be used for another portion of the project and that additional funding beyond the Jaycees donation would be needed for the splash pad. Chair Christenson explained that the plans the Commission approved were idealistic and that not all the plans would be implemented depending on funding options. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck said that the Commission would be on a tight timeline to make decisions to start the project in 2025. She said March would be the 90% design. 100% and approval to bid would be ideally in April with the City Council. Chair Christenson asked if there were other funding options other than grants to look at. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck said that there was not interest in bonding for the project. Recreation Supervisor further explained details of the plan including the possibility of a partially paved parking area and the issues that come along with it. The Commission had some general discussion about the parking lot plan. 10. Subcommittee & Miscellaneous Reports a. Garden Club Report – None b. Park Dedication Fund 5 Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck provided a new format for the Commissioners to review the Park Dedication Fund. Commissioner Nybo requested to be able to see previous transactions and the interest accrued on the fund. Recreation Supervisor asked the Commission what timeframe they would like to see. Commissioner Nybo said the old format would be beneficial. Recreation Supervisor Christensen Buck explained she would change the format to include transactions. 11. Other Business/Announcements – None 12. Adjournment Motion: Made by Commissioner Nybo, seconded by Chair Christenson, to adjourn the meeting at 8:08 pm. Voting Aye: Anderson, Christenson, Nybo, Schmidt, and Strehler. (Motion carried 5:0) Submitted by Seth Gellman, Community Development Administrative Assistant