Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 03/09/2006

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CASE GEOCACHE REVIEW By: Leonard Linton, Civil Engineer Background: Staffwas asked to investigate the potential for geocaching in Ramsey. Geocaching involves placing an object in a public location then posting hints on how to find the object on a website. The hints include coordinates to enter into personal GPS units and a general description of the area. The object of this activity is to locate the cache, enter your name in the log in the cache if one is provided and replace the cache for others to find. The website may provide a logbook for additional comments. There is a Minnesota Geocaching Association that has a general sheet of guidelines for placing geocaches in public areas in Minnesota. Links are provided to organizations that have additional requirements. The requirements for Champlin, Duluth and Three Rivers Parks are attached. Anoka County Parks do not allow caches at this time. Examples of cache web pages are also attached showing the starting location with coordinates and hints. Cache placement may include coding the exact coordinates using features present off site. An exhaustive search for all cache locations in Minnesota was not conducted; however the site navicache.com did not show any posted caches in the north metro area. Staff Recommendation: This is a passive activity that appears to have a low potential for damage to our parks. Ramsey has several parks and areas that may be conducive to placement ora geocache. Staff recommends developing a policy to permit geocactfing if the Commission feels this is an appropriate use of park facilities. The policy can be based on the examples provided. Adoption of a policy will require approval by the City Council. Commission Action: Based upon discussion. Reviewed by: Assistant Director Public Works/Principal Engineer Parks/Utilities Supervisor P&R: 3/09/06 35