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02/11/2010 - Advisory Parks & Recreation CommissionApproved March 15, 2010 ADVISORY PARKS COMMISSION EAGAN. MINNESOTA MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF°FEBRUARY 11, 2010 A regular meeting of the Advisory Parks Commission was called to order at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 11, 2010. Commission members present included Thor Anderson, Phil Belfiori, Laurie Halverson, and Michael Palmer. Members Aanning, Dahlquist, Goff, and Hansen were not present. Staff members included Juli Johnson, Director of Parks & Recreation; Cherryl Mesko, Superintendent of Operations and Paul Olson, Superintendent of Parks. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Member Palmer moved, Member Anderson seconded, with all present members voting in favor to approve the agenda as presented. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JANUARY 1412010 Member Halverson moved, Member Anderson seconded, with all present members voting in favor to approve the minutes of January 14, 2010. There were no visitors to be heard. SITORS TO BE .HEARD DIRECTOR'S DEPARTMIN" Director Johnson provided the Commission with events coming up and ones that are ending. She indicated that it was a great season for the tubing hill, ice rinks and warming houses but the last day these facilities will be open is Monday, February 15. The ice will continue to be maintained as long as staff is able to but the warming houses will be closed. It was noted that the Spring Home & Leisure Show is March 12 -14 at the Eagan Civic Arena which will be tied in with Eagan's 150` birthday celebration. Director Johnson added that February started Mission: POSSIBLE at the Eagan Community Center which is a 12 -week program focusing on fitness and weight loss. A lot of members and non - members are taking part and in addition, fitness memberships are booming this time of year. Director Johnson noted the grant recently received for the Emerald Ash Borer control which will fund the replacement of 100 boulevard trees in the Cedar Grove area. She added that it is unfortunate that we will lose a number of mature trees but because of the grant, we are able to start the process of replacement. The final item noted by Director Johnson was the F.A.N.tastic Saturday series happening most Saturday nights at the Eagan Community Center. It is a drop -in program which costs only $2.00 per person or a maximum of $10.00 per family. It provides access to The Blast, open gym, and other wonderful activities happening throughout the building on those nights. T AGENDA There were no Consent Agenda Items for the Commission to review. Advisory Parks Commission February 11, 2010 Page 2 DEVELOPMENT PROP OSALS Stonehaven — Lennar After a brief overview of the proposed Stonehaven development, Superintendent Paul Olson that he would be discussing issues of parks and trails dedication, tree preservation, and wetland preservation for the former site of Carriage Hills Golf course. He also noted this is a Planned Development Agreement which was developed for this site giving guidelines to the developer and requirements of the site so there are limited issues for the Advisory Commission to respond to. Regarding parks and trails, Superintendent Olson pointed out on the map the dark line that represented the public trail. He noted that Lennar has incorporated 35.76 acres of open space which will be owned by the Home Owners Association but maintained in an open space condition including the wetland areas and planted with native grasses and wetland edge materials. There is good access to the public trail from Yankee Doodle. Member Belfiori asked what the reasoning was for having no public trail in the SE corner. Superintendent Olson stated that the Public Works Department is looking at expanding and that they are trying to identify some easement and set back requirements. In addition there are several private parcels. Right now there are just some physical limitations to making a direct connection into the school site. Regarding wetlands, Superintendent Olson noted that one of the requirements for the developer is to re- delineate the wetlands. Once the delineation to these wetlands is complete, water quality staff will be working with the developer to fine tune and make some adjustments as to the setbacks to the locations of the trails. Member Belfiori wanted to make sure that the trails are put into the wetland buffers once they have been determined. He also wanted to ensure to protect the integrity of the wetlands so that the trails don't get too close and if they do, that they are properly seeded and that they don't cause any additional erosion. Superintendent Olson assured the Commission that Water Resources Coordinator, Eric Macbeth has had this discussion with the developer. A lot of the fine tuning will be done once the delineation is made and because of the scale of the project staff is going to have to be on -site and walk the trail once the delineation is done to create the alignment and identify it. It was noted that the developer is well aware of the requirements he has to meet. Member Belfiori asked if there is a way to keep the trails out of the wetland buffers and keep the area completely natural. Superintendent Olson stated that was the intention. Regarding tree preservation, Superintendent Olson noted that the allowable removal limit for a site like this is 41% yet this development has a removal of 36% so the developer is well under what is required. Olson continued that there is a pretty significant number of trees that will be planted on the boulevard throughout this development adjacent to the sidewalk so there will be some re- greening going on in those areas and of course being a golf course, a lot of this is open right now. Member Halverson asked if they understood correctly that the developer worked with some of the neighborhoods to get some feedback. Superintendent Olson stated that the developer held a meeting with the neighbors. Member Halverson was interested in the feedback that Lennar received. Paul Olson invited the Lennar representative to address the commission. The representative from Lennar stated that they had a smaller neighborhood meeting and from that meeting, they once had a road connection, and based on feedback from that meeting, that road has been eliminated and switched to a trail. He also stated that they did have a larger neighborhood meeting last night that everyone within 350 feet of the property was invited and they seemed pretty happy with what Lennar was proposing and excited that they were preserving as much open space and making it usable. Member Anderson asked if there was any signage on Yankee Doodle or roads leading in. Lennar stated that they didn't have an exact location but there would be entrance signage or monument on Yankee Doodle Road and one coming off Duckwood and that those are the two primary locations. After further brief discussion Member Halverson moved, Member Palmer seconded, with all present members voting in favor to make the following recommendations to the City Council regarding the proposed Stonehaven development: 1. This proposal shall fulfill the Park Dedication requirement through the designation of a proposed 35.76 acres of open space /natural area to be owned and managed as open space /natural area by the HOA. The Developer and the City shall give consideration to the creation of conservation easements. 2. The Developer shall give consideration to the creation of tot -lots and play spaces for the residents within the development. Advisory Parks Commission February 11, 2010 Page 3 3. This proposal shall fulfill the Trail Dedication requirements through the development of an agreement with the City Attorney to allow the public full access to those portions of the proposed on -site trail system, constructed by the Developer to City standards, that are determined by the City to have public value. The provision of trail amenities may also be addressed in the agreement. 4. The applicant shall protect the preserved tree's critical root zones through the placement of required Tree Protective measures (i.e. orange colored silt fence or 4 foot polyethylene laminate safety netting), to be installed at the Drip Line or at the perimeter of the Critical Root Zone, whichever is greater, of significant trees /woodlands to be preserved on -site. 5. The applicant shall contact the City Forestry Division and set up a pre - construction site inspection at least five days prior to the issuance of the grading permit to ensure compliance with the approved Tree Preservation Plan and placement of the Tree Protection Fencing. 6. The applicant shall consider the additional preservation of specimen and other large diameter trees via the field review of specific tree location and proposed grading activities. 7. The developer has indicated the intention to comply with all Development Conditions for water quality. Preliminarily, it appears the proposed development plan will meet these requirements. However, City staff believes the following additional information would be beneficial: a. For modeling scenarios, using average annual precipitation based on the recent 10 -year historical amounts (i.e., 1990 -2008) versus the amounts over 50 years (i.e., approximately 1959- 2009). b. Construction details of proposed infiltration basins for City review, specifically information on sub -soil work (ripping depth, etc.) to ensure infiltration basins function as intended. c. Soil- boring information below each of the proposed infiltration basin areas (matched up with proposed grades), to ensure that the infiltration basins could perform as intended. Even though the general USDA soils map shows most of the proposed infiltration areas with high likelihood of having "sandy loam" to at least the 60" below grade, there may have been substantial grading and alterations to the soil profile over the course of the golf course operation that have affected these conditions. There were no Old Business items to review. There were no New Business items to review. There were no Communication items to review. OLD BUUSt NEW BUSINESS D1 OTHER BUS PORTS Census Complete Count Initiative Director Johnson introduced Mario Duarte from the Census Bureau. Mario gave a short presentation about the 2010 Census beginning in March. He noted that the survey has only 10 questions and space for 12 people in one household and the information is kept confidential for 72 years. Mr. Duarte indicated that each person counted is the approximate equivalent of $1,300 per person revenue for the City of Eagan. Mr. Duante concluded by asking the Commission to spread the word that the Census Bureau needs to hire 160 people in Dakota County by the end of February to help with the census. Member Anderson asked how the census information would be delivered to residents. Mr. Duarte stated that they will be mailed out. Member Belfiori asked when the jobs will end and the response was one to three months. Member Halverson asked Director Johnson what role the City can play in terms of getting this information out to the public. Director Johnson stated there is some information on the City's website and in the City's newsletter. co cNS Advisory Parks Commission February 11, 2010 Page 4 IAD TABLE Member Palmer stated that broomball wraps up soon and the rinks were in great shape for the entire season and commented that the league was well run. Member Anderson moved, Member Halverson seconded, with all members voting in favor to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 7:25 p.m. ADJOURNMENT