Minutes - Parks and Recreation Commission - 11/12/2015

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5.02: 2016—2020 Parks Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan Parks & Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood reviewed the staff report. He highlighted the following items for Park Improvements. He noted one item that has been on the list before is to have a proper monument at the entrance to Elmcrest Park, and signage at the entrance to The Draw. Several ideas have been discussed. One option was to have a LED programmable display. Possibly some area on the sign could be rented space to offset the cost. Another option was presented to the Council for a non-LED sign that was approximately$35,000,which was not well received. Staff is now in the process for creating sign guidelines within The COR, which will be useful as the project progresses. Parks & Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood reviewed the parkway for Central Park. This would require the purchase of two, to fifteen acres of land from the owners to the east. There have not been successful negotiations to date,however the owners did say they would work with the City. Riverblood continued that Landscape Improvements for Parks has been on the CIP for quite some time. This is a placeholder that provides for opportunities as they present themselves. A possible scenario as an example, is a Scouting group that would like to work within a park. Parks &Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood explained staff is working on the plan specification for the Mississippi River Trail — West End currently. Bids are being gathered to bring to Council in the late winter or early spring for work in 2016. He noted the City received a grant in the amount of$1,120,000 for this project. Riverblood stated that the stormwater `splitters' are necessary at The Draw to disperse small amounts of solids that make it past the storm scepter. There is a safety concern that will be lessened by the installation of grates. This will be funded by the Stormwater Fund. Parks &Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood noted the McKinley Trail Connection to Anoka was an idea brought up from a joint Anoka and Ramsey City Council meeting. There was discussion that a trail connection could be constructed near the Anoka Technical College by McKinley Street. Anoka was not in agreement to work on it last year. It will be brought up for discussion this year. One element to this trail connection is the ability to go from the Ramsey Business Park to Anoka's Golf Course, via golf cart on the trail. Parks & Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood noted a new item on the list is an irrigation filter system for The Draw. There is an elaborate irrigation system in place. There is a lot of algae in this pond and stormwater system. Most of the heads have to be taken apart and cleaned out every several weeks. It is a fairly sophisticated and expensive system, which flushes itself. The filtered water goes back into the pond. This capital improvement is needed in order to keep the irrigation working correctly and to free up staff from manually cleaning it. Parks & Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood acknowledged there are some large projects on this list. The CII' picks up the balance from last year. After the expenditures shown in the 2016 CIP, there will be $1,500,000 in the Park Trust Fund. He also noted the drinking fountains and misting stations have been on the CIP for years. They have been added one by one. The last park on the list to receive one will be Bear Park off Roanoke Street,north of Alpine Drive. Park and Recreation Commission/November 12, 2015 Page 3 of 5