[0:20] Chair: like to call to order this meeting of the Apple Valley Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee for August the 7th, 2025. At this time, I'd like to invite all those present who are willing and able to please rise and join us in the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Uh good evening everyone. Um, first thing is we need an agenda for this evening and one has been put together for us. Um, members, are there any additions or changes you'd like to see made in the agenda for this for this evening? [1:38] Committee Member: None. [1:38] Chair: And I would look for a motion to approve tonight's agenda as printed. [1:38] Dave: Uh, I'll make a motion. Excuse me. Before we do that, um do we want to uh discuss uh the naming rights to the pickle ball areas or [1:38] Chair: uh we can. Would you like to? [1:56] Dave: I think it makes sense to do that. So, uh I guess I'd make a motion to to add that uh uh pickle ball naming rights or naming name not the rights but the naming to the agenda. [1:56] Committee Member: Second that. [1:56] Chair: Okay. [2:12] Committee Member: Um, item item 5G or something like that. [2:12] Chair: Yeah. [2:12] Dave: Yeah. [2:12] Committee Member: Okay. [2:12] Staff Member: That's where I put it. [2:28] Chair: All right. So, you made a motion, Dave, or [2:28] Dave: uh, you made a motion. We had a second. [2:28] Randy: I seconded it. Second. [2:28] Chair: Okay. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Good. Um, next up is the audience participation. Uh, set aside time for every meeting for the audience to come and speak with us if they would like. So, uh, is there anyone that would like to speak to us tonight? Okay, seeing none, then we will move on. Um, next is the approval of the minutes for the June 2025 um, meeting. Uh, have you all had a chance to look at those meeting um, minutes? Are there any changes that anyone would like to see made? And I would look for a motion to [3:25] Randy: move to accept as submitted. [3:25] Craig: Second. [3:25] Chair: I have a motion from Randy and a second Craig. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. And that passes unanimously. All right, now we're on to agenda items and u first is uh 5A Alley Magnet Park uh national um uh update. [3:49] Samantha Berham: Mr. Chair, members of the committee, thank you for having us. I'm Samantha Berham. I'm the natural resources coordinator at the city. With me, I have Taylor Stockard. He's our city arborist and our natural resources technician. So, we'll give you a brief update on where we are at with the Alamagnet natural resources management plan. So, we're excited to announce that we actually received a DNR grant. So, that grant is for 262,000 and that's with the DNR Conservation Partners Legacy Grant. So, that's um also known as the CPL grant. That grant does require a 10% match. Um and what we're looking to utilize is um the funding for is for a 20.1 acre section of the park, which we are calling unit three. Um, we'll go through the different units that were identified in that natural resource management plan in the next slide here, but what it'll include is some invasive removal, selective thinning of certain tree species, herbicide treatment, and seeding. Um, this grant project would be an intended phase one of two within unit 3. And future phases would involve further invasive species management, and then additional seeding, planting of native grasses, forb shrubs, and potentially additional trees. So, kind of how we got here. Um, in 2023 2024, we partnered with Dakota County and RES to begin the creation of a natural resource management plan. They provided funding. Um, 2024, we did some public engagement both on site um with your committee and then we had the council approved that plan and then 2024 2025 we actually made that application and then we were just notified here in July that we received that funding. So, we're proposing a winter 2025 2027 to do the proposed implementation of the project. Here's just an outline of what we shared at our open house. So, we divided the park into different land management units and then we prioritize them. So, we'll be working on unit three. Um, and that actually is where the park entrance is and it also correlates um with an area that's adjacent to Burnsville. So that area is kind of classified as a oak forest mis um subtype and as mentioned um about 20.5 acres and that quality index is about a CD to a D rating. So that's on a A to B scale. [5:58] Taylor Stockard: Yeah, as mentioned um the uh unit that we are starting with is unit 3. It's uh about 20 acres. Uh it's the southwest unit of the Apple Valley portion of Alam Magnet Park. Uh the work is adjacent to uh Burnsville restoration areas um which is a a a significant motivation as to why this one was selected first uh for restoration. Um that's going to help us provide greater habitat continuity and uh just sort of reinforces each city's efforts. U Buckthornne and other invasive species do not stop at political boundaries. So, um that'll be um uh just an excellent kind of build off of what Burnsville has already accomplished. Uh it also matches other efforts that have been occurring in the Alamagnet um lake and park area such as our Allen treatments and aquatic plant reintroductions. So, this is our restoration goal. Um it does look a little stark admittedly uh once uh invasive woody plants such as buckthornne are removed. Um, but this is a a really good example of an oak savannah or uh woodland uh ecotype on the right hand side with uh plenty of uh herbaceious uh plants an herbaceous plant layer um underneath your sort of sparse oak canopy. So historically um Alamagnet's uh lake and park uh area was oak savannah and uh woodland. And I I did put a definition on there for you. Yeah, the definitions are a little little loose kind of depending on um your source, but savannah is characterized as having 10 to 50% tree cover. Woodland a little bit higher uh 50 to 70%. Uh historically it was a very important habitat type. Uh it ran from northern Minnesota down to east central Texas and wrapped around uh Lake Michigan as well up into the state of Michigan. So it was a a pretty wide swath. uh it was sort of the transition zone between uh prairie and eastern deciduous broadleaf forest. Um however when uh fire grazing and then um later um fire and grazing were no longer occurring in these these areas and then later development moved in um these savannah areas were overtaken by woody invasive shrubs. Um volunteer opportunistic trees such as boxilder maple elms and it kind of closed the canopy in. Um right now, uh cover for much of the area of the park is going to be kind of 90% or greater. We're sort of shooting for a 70 to 90% uh total tree cover canopy area within the park. Just looking at a couple of uh uh I should say one historical image comparing to today. Uh as you can see on the left hand side in 1937 there were uh a lot of um sort of open areas. uh the density of uh the tree stands was going to be a lot less as well. Um and I would also say that before this it's also possible that the density was even less than what we're seeing here. Uh this was after um uh fire suppression kind of became a practice and uh farmland um sort of kind of ruled the roost for for this area around Alam Magnet Park. um as compared to today uh the density is uh quite high. Next steps uh we are um bringing um approval of our our grant agreement to uh city council uh later in August on the 28th meeting. I believe that's our plan. And we intend to uh host a public engagement uh just to get feedback from from residents as well as uh kind of inform them as to the the level of the work that we're going to be performing in the park. Uh we are going to then begin uh staging on the project and working on setting up RFPs to um uh from contractors to begin the project this winter. Uh just to give you kind of a a really nice parallel uh in Burnsville they are doing similar work this winter actually they had a section of their park that they did. It was about 15 acres. Um it was uh a pretty stark contrast. It was really tremendous work. Um the this is just an image of them clearing out just a giant stack of buckthornne uh over the course of of a number of weeks. they were able to get the park cleared out and um sort of restore it to an oak woodland almost immediately. I mean, there's a lot of work to do with um follow-up uh treatments and and uh spraying other, you know, invasive shrubs and whatnot as they as they reoccur, but uh they did do the bulk of the work this winter. Here's another image. Um as mentioned this is phase one of uh two phases uh in this 20 acre section uh unit 3 within Alamagneta Park. Uh phase two is going to involve uh further divers diversification and seeding of uh uh native grasses and forbes. Uh probably incorporating a native shrub layer and also possibly uh incorporating some trees as well. And uh that is also um phase two is also going to involve um uh doing a prescribed burn uh in the park. Possibly several prescribed burns kind of like what we're seeing here in Burnsville. Once we are able to clear out some of the shrubbery, the invasive shrubbery, maybe thin out some of the more aggressive uh trees that are in the overstory, we'll be able to get more light, which will allow us to grow more grasses and uh and forbes and whatnot. And that creates sort of a nice thatch layer and we'll be able to have the fuels to perform prescribed burns in the park which is a great long-term management tool. [12:12] Samantha Berham: All right, moving on. I just wanted to share some updates of additional things that have been occurring within the lake. So, actually yesterday we are out um on the lake in this little bay here shown in red doing an aquatic plant reintroduction. Um, so we last year we did a first treat alum treatment and so what we do is you actually apply aluminum sulfate to the lake that helps bind with the dissolved phosphorus in the lake and we saw pretty immediate results in terms of water clarity and so with that we're expecting additional plant growth. So, we um wanted to kind kind of fight the invasive plants that are out there. And so, we teamed up with the University of Minnesota um and the DNR and then obviously the city of Burnsville as well who are a great partner to us to actually take plants from one lake and plant them into this lake. So, here we have different um images shown of the different plot areas and the U of M will be doing monitoring. So, we have a couple control and then they selected a few different types of species. So, that's an exciting thing. Um we've actually done this in Keller Lake as well, but it's just another way that we're trying to improve the quality of the lake out there. So I just have a few other photos. Um this is uh groups from the DNR and U of M. And then we had a Burnsville um intern actually rolling up these plants in like a burlap burrito and then they actually stake those into the ground. So kind of interesting. A lot of research is happening um throughout the state to kind of figure out how we can reintroduce these native aquatic plants just because we've had so many nuisance nuisent plants. Um curly leaf pineweed for instance is a really bad one in Eurasian watermill foil. In addition to um things happening on the land, we're also looking at opportunities for shoreline stabilization um as part of part of um enhancing the park. So these this is just an example of some opportunities um that other people have done. So what what you're seeing are some coconut koer logs actually that are kind of staked into the shoreline and you're actually able to plant into those. Um we met with the soil and water conservation districts who is a good partner to us as well and they can actually assist with some design for that. So we're looking into the possibility of um future grants to uh do some shoreline work out there. And with that, do we have any questions? [14:23] Chair: I have a couple questions, I guess. Um, do you have the map of the plot that we're working with [14:23] Samantha Berham: in the lake or on the [14:23] Chair: on the Yeah, the the [14:23] Samantha Berham: No, unit three. [14:44] Chair: Yeah, unit three. [14:44] Samantha Berham: Okay. Yep. [14:44] Chair: There. Um, there's a little hunk of the park just north of there. Is there any reason that we're not doing that with this one or is that I mean it's not it's not a big piece of property there but [14:44] Samantha Berham: Sure. Mr. Chair, good question. So the way that these units were divided up were kind of in terms of um what type of land management. So I think the knob knob you're referring to is more of a manicured space. [15:06] Chair: Well perhaps no I'm talking about you know [15:22] Samantha Berham: Got it. Okay. So if we were look at this so is right here. Yeah. So unit 3 is from this line this sort of light green line all the way down to here. [15:40] Chair: Are you referring to this section here? [15:40] Taylor Stockard: Yes. Yeah. So that that is unit 4. Um part of the part of the selection in terms of um um which unit we were going to tackle first, second, third, and so on and so forth. Um has to do with just kind of breaking them down into um manageable chunks. Uh so so the area that we were doing first, unit three, is is 20 acres and that alone has a cost of about $14,000 an acre. Okay. Um and uh it's also really helpful to sort of start with a smaller portion because it does take a number of years for the the work and the treatments that you do to take effect and for you to sort of react to the effects of what you what you're sort of installing on the landscape. Okay. Um so unit 4, that's the unit that you're referring to above unit 3. That is um a planned effort that we're going to do in the future. It's just not the first one that we're doing. [16:31] Chair: Okay. And so when you take out buckthornne and the other invasive species, uh I see one of those slides showed showing you burning them. Is that what the plan is? You burn those or do you leave them piled or do you remove them from the premises or [16:31] Taylor Stockard: Yeah, that that's a great question, Mr. Chair. Uh there there are a number of methods that that we can pursue. of the one that we wrote into the grant application uh was actually uh burning it on site in the park. Setting up uh the way Burnsville did it, I think that's probably the best way to kind of talk about it is um they they burned it in the park in one central burn pile. Uh the reason they did that really is is is due to cost. Um chipping it and hauling it off site is exorbitant. uh leaving it in the park does work, but the slash is kind of maintained there on the landscape probably for a number of years and it can interfere with seed to soil contact when we go to seed native plants back into the landscape. So, they chose to burn it. Uh the burning um was monitored 24/7 while the burn pile was active. They decided to uh allow the pile to burn through the night. um just just so they didn't have to start it up in the morning cuz it does take some effort to get it going. But once it goes, it it burns very clean, very hot, uh with very little smoke. [18:13] Chair: But it it's green though, isn't it? I mean, [18:13] Taylor Stockard: that's what I said. It burns very clean, very hot. [18:13] Chair: Pretty I saw it myself. It was How do you get it started? [18:13] Taylor Stockard: Yeah, that's that's kind of the the effort, which is why they um once they do get it started, they had somebody sleeping overnight on site right next to the burn pile to monitor it. [18:33] Chair: Okay. Um I guess the other question I had, you said is predominantly oak. Is that that's the main species that's in there? [18:49] Taylor Stockard: Yep. Primarily uh white oak. Yep. [18:49] Chair: Primarily white oak. Okay. any red oak at all or anything that [19:18] Taylor Stockard: there's a mix of red oak uh and baroque as well. Um there's going to be a number of other species too. I mean there's elm, a lot of boxelder maple, some basswood. Um we actually have a total breakdown of all species that were found um in our management plan as well. Um so that's going to be the the the bulk of of what is contained in there. [19:18] Chair: In terms of oak welt, I mean red oaks are the most susceptible. Is that correct? [19:18] Taylor Stockard: Yes, Mr. Chair. [19:18] Chair: And the White Oaks can get it, but they they are less inclined to get it or [19:50] Taylor Stockard: Yeah. Yep, that's correct. They they can get it. Um and they do get it. It's a little harder to diagnose when they do get it. Um uh truth be told, uh but if they do get it, it does kill the tree significantly slower than it would a red a red oak tree. It's a matter of years as opposed to a matter of weeks. [19:50] Chair: And when a tree does die naturally like that, then is the plan to leave it that way for other species or for animals to use or [20:19] Taylor Stockard: Yeah, whenever whenever possible, we do like to leave uh uh snags in the park uh because it does have significant wildlife value, but in the instance of oak wilt, we do prioritize uh management uh which often requires removal um just to sort of keep intact any any healthy elks that are un unaffected by elk world. [20:19] Committee Member Long: Okay. So, I had a question. Um, it said that historically there would be 50 to 70% canopy coverage and now we're shooting for 70 to 90. Why are we aiming on the high side? Is that a cost thing? Because it has grown in so much and we want to take down less trees or is there another reason that we'd aim high there, so to speak? [20:43] Taylor Stockard: Yeah, that's that's a great question. Um, it's it's kind of a lot it's kind of a number of things. um you know it's it's sort of the natural succession of the space. Um you know it has filled in significantly you know since a 100 years ago since 200 years ago. Um so so part of it is just sort of um looking at savannah native savannah and woodland types and using them as more of an inspiration as opposed to kind of our ultimate goal. Um, you know, another reason uh we would like to keep up more trees, sort of aim on the higher side of that number is uh really just um public perception. Uh coming in and and um removing a bunch of significant um mature trees isn't uh isn't always I I don't think the benefit benefits outweigh the costs of doing that. [21:32] Committee Member Long: Okay. [21:32] Taylor Stockard: Yeah, the ecotypes changed a little bit and that's okay. [21:32] Committee Member Long: Okay. One other question I had. So, this is um I think I remember this from when you brought the plane to us initially. Um there was a patch of I believe Japanese knotweed somewhere in the park. Is there And then I noticed that there are a couple eroding drainageways there marked on unit two. Um, is mitigation in those areas going to be ongoing or is all of the focus in the park during this time really going to be on area three? Like just just want to make sure that or ask how that's balanced so that problems that exist now aren't allowed to get significantly worse if that makes sense. [22:09] Samantha Berham: Sure. Thank you, Committee Member Long. We um we will continue to manage the Japanese knotweed for as an invasive. And then in terms of the eroding water or what do we call them waterways? Drainage waste. Drainage waste. Um they're really not um extreme erosion I guess you would say. So we have met actually with the soil and water conservation district to look at those areas and if they were more of a major water quality concern I think it's something that we would tackle but it may be that we don't tackle those areas until we're within the parks. I'm imagining a lot of tree removal would need to occur, too. So, um, and we're also kind of chasing funds. [22:56] Committee Member Long: Yep. okay. Thank you. [22:56] Chair: So, the eastern part of the park, obviously, that's a future endeavor. Is are there going to be grants available for that, too? [23:33] Samantha Berham: Mr. Chair, we are hopeful that the DNR CPL grants will continue to be able to fund this um type of project. And then we're also hopeful that the county is going to get what they have um C4 funding. They're going to be applying again I think this year. Um and so we're hopeful we can utilize some of that funding as well. So typically the funding that we're going for is state funding. It's not on the federal level. So [23:33] Chair: So is there any guesstimate as far as when the whole park might be ready for have new trails and stuff put in? [24:18] Samantha Berham: Um Mr. Chair, right now this is just kind of phase one. Um the the plan that you have kind of identified here was just a five-year plan where we just identified the different units. Um so unit three was priority one, unit six, priority two, unit three, priority 8. I mean this is a 80acre park, so it's we kind of got to take it in chunks and just to make it manageable from a staff level, too. So I don't know that I have an exact time frame for you in terms of trails, but um it's a good start for us. It's not something that we've really pursued here in quite some time. So, we're we're excited to get going and see how it progresses. [24:18] Chair: You have to have a starting point. [24:18] Samantha Berham: Exactly. And quite frankly, having a plan in place is a great start and it allows us to actually get those grant dollars, too. So, good. [24:18] Committee Member: Yeah. I've got uh one question first. Congratulations on getting over a quarter million dollars in grant money. That's fantastic. Nicely done. Um but I did think I heard you say, Samantha, that there's a 10% match that the city has to put in, which is peanuts compared to what uh what you're getting. So, that's fine. But then on the memo we we got here that there's no budget impact for for this uh zone three or whatever unit three um is that am I missing something or [25:11] Eric: Mr. Chair, members of the committee, the the park referendum, so the $2 million that we have for natural resources, we will access that money to act as the match to this grant. So, there's an budget impact. We're spending some of the money in our budget from the referendum. Yep. [25:11] Committee Member: Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Eric. Yep. No problems. Thank you, residents. Thank you, residents. [25:29] Chair: Any other questions? [25:29] Eric: Mr. Mr. Chair, members of the committee, just want to thank uh Samantha and Taylor for all of the work that they've been doing on helping put the natural resource management plan together on all of the work they did in putting the grant application together and all the work they're about to do to start to remove invasive species at Alamagnet Park. It's not a simple task. Um you can tell that they're excited about it and we want to thank them for all of their efforts. [25:56] Chair: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. And they're going to stay up there because they got the next one, too. At least Sam does. So, next is the MPCA storm water grant update. [26:13] Samantha Berham: So, Mr. Chair, members of the committee, once again, Samantha Berger, natural resources coordinator. With me, I have our assistant city engineer, Evan Aosta. he may have to chime in on some technical questions, but we're excited to announce another grant that we actually received for three parks um within the Apple Valley Editions neighborhood. So, this will cover Duchess Greening and Panach Park. So, once again, we were successful in receiving an actual $5 million grant and so that was with the MPCA for storm water resiliency. um only $35 million total was available to the states. And what this the intention is to include um an infiltration basin, underground chamber, and playground at Duchess Park. We'll get more into the details here in a few slides. Looking at doing a wet pond with a new trail loop at Greening Park and then incorporating something a little different, an active play infiltration pond. Um we're workshopping that name and playground at Penock Park. But the idea is that that basin will be functional and enjoyable in both dry, wet, and flooded conditions. So something like boardwalks, stepping stones, plantings, art. Um we're utilizing your consultant to kind of help us with some of those ideas. But um I'm very grateful for my predecessors in doing some great planning to actually help us get this project in the ground. So this actually started in 2017 and 2018 where um I come from the water resources world where we actually look at doing a subwaterhed assessment to identify best locations for storm water improvements to help improve Keller Lake. Keller Lakes Impaired for Nutrients and these three parks were identified as ideal projects. Um kind of fast forward a few years, sometimes those plans sitting on a shelf for a few. Um but we actually completed a feasibility study as part of a street reconstruction that needs to occur in this neighborhood. So this neighborhood is one of the oldest in Apple Valley. I'll show you a map here shortly. Um but we did um additional feasibility to kind of look at what those neighborhood needs are and what the storm water management requirements would be. Come 2024 2025, we actually um got a grant, a $60,000 grant to to do that feasibility study, but then that allowed us to get enough information put together to apply for this $5 million grant. And then in May of 2025, we were notified that we were selected. And so we're very excited about that. And it's kind of got a tight timeline. So to come 26 27, we'll be rocking and rolling on these parks. So excited to share that with you. So here's just a map of the area. Um this is Apple Valley Editions. That's just the name of the plat of the area. So we have Duchess Penock and Greening Park. Um just to get you oriented and then to really orient you in terms of what the watershed is to Keller Lake um that's shown in yellow here and we've got the park circled as well. And this kind of correlates with um another project that we've looked at at Whitney Pond, which is just where that little star is there. So um we actually are pretty sure we got a grant for that, but we're we're working through this um kind of newer grant program as as part of that. So you guys will probably get an update on that at some point. So I think I kind of already covered this um just in terms of what we are looking to do out there, but I've got schematics which are a lot more fun to look at than text. So, here's an example of the um design that was put together at Duchess Park. Um we're continuing to maintain the facilities that are offered at the park. Um perhaps Eric can get more into the details, but the the good thing about this grant is that we're actually able to pay for some of the components such as a playground that may be impacted as part of these storm water improvements. So, here we have outlined an infiltration basin and then actually an underground um infiltration system as well. you won't even know it's there quite frankly and that'll continue to allow for um play to occur within that park area. [29:15] Eric: Sam, before you switch slides, can you just point out the blue box that that's the underground feature, etc.? [29:58] Samantha Berham: Yep. So, we've got an underground here and then a surface infiltration area here. This would continue to be this will be a playground area, basketball court, and the ball field. So, this is just kind of the concepts that we came up with as part of that feasibility study and for that grant application. [30:19] Chair: Is that underground facility is that the same as what Burnsville has at um Crystal Lake? [30:19] Samantha Berham: Crystal Lake. It would be a similar feature. Yes. [30:19] Chair: Okay. [30:38] Samantha Berham: Okay. concept at Greening Park would include a um a ponding area and then we actually are going to incorporate a walking loop around the pond as well and then continue to maintain the the ball field and have the basketball court and playground. And lastly, this is our little um infiltration basin interactive area. So, this is taking up a large part of the park, but we're hoping to make it an amenity by having it kind of be interesting with kind of a themed idea. Um, and we'll continue to maintain those facilities that are at the park, such as the basketball and the tennis court, and then the playground as well. And here's just an example of a diff of a interactive example that's in Edina. So, this is the Linmar Basin. And so they've kind of got these different stepping stones amongst plantings um for people to interact uh both when it's dry and wet. Another um positive thing kind of the reason we got this grant is it's actually helping us um provide additional uh resiliency in terms of storm water management. So we're able to take out what is it about 60ish 60-ish structures from the flood plane. And when I say flood plane, it's more of a modeled flood plane. So think about we get a really heavy rain street flooding versus, you know, you're on the river, the flood plane kind of thing. So that's one of the reasons why we were successful in getting this grant is because there there's really very little storm water in the area, storm water management in the area, storm water pipes. And so by putting in this um sort of storm water management, we're we're helping provide some resiliency for that neighborhood. [32:23] Evan Aosta: And you know what? I'll let Evan take this one. Thanks, Sam. Uh, yeah, Sam mentioned, Evan Aassa, assistant city engineer. Happy to be here tonight uh for for multiple agenda items, but um the the graphic up here is our is a phasing map from our capital improvements plan. And what you're seeing in gold kind of on the right side of the screen is the area that's been sort of promoted from 2030 to 2026 as part of this um this grant funded project. Since we'll be doing Penock, Duchess, and Greening Parks, uh we applied kind of the same dollars that would have gone to the green area on the left of the screen, uh from that reconstruction phase to create a new reconstruction phase that better suited the amount of work that will be taking place at Penock Park as well as um being able to accommodate some of the the sanitary, sewer, and water main needs um kind of in that area. So, uh, that that's the the general nexus behind this graphic is to, um, start to tell the story that we'll be highlighting with the residents within the neighborhood of maybe why we're changing phasing from a pre-established plan that I'm sure um, if you've been in the neighborhood, you know that these residents are looking forward to having their streets replaced. [33:35] Samantha Berham: All right. So, kind of next steps for for us is we had a kickoff meeting with our consultants. Um, so we've got different consultants working on the project. We're working with um HKGI on some of the public engagement. We're working with bar engineering on some of the storm water components. And then we're working with Bolton and Mink who are typical um street engineers for designing our street projects. So, um starting here soon, we'll be conducting topographical field survey just to get additional information, utility locations, some of the surface features within that work zone, um soil borings, and then we're intending to do additional neighborhood information meetings to discuss the project. And then we're going to kind of move towards that final plans, specs, project cost estimate, schedule for construction, and then we'll be reviewing those um project plans probably with this group again potentially, I assume, and then city council um to get that moving forward. And just kind of one side note, I brought it up earlier, but um this kind of correlates with additional work that we had done in 2023 24 um on expanding Whitney Pond. So, Whitney Pond is actually located in Burnsville. However, we are looking to expand that pond into here's the you can see the Burnsville Apple Valley breakdown. We would had had community engagement about expanding this pond into this open space area here and incorporating a new bridge component shown in this kind of brown color. Um, and then this would just show the existing trail removal. So, continue to have a looped feature for those walking. And this is something that we um have been successful in getting a clean water fund grant about 313,000. But we're also chasing some funds through what's called the point source implementation grant program. That's through the state and it's dollars that are allocated from the legislature. So that occurred in the most recent bonding bill that was passed this summer and it's kind of a project priority list. So we're kind of just working through the ins and outs of that funding, but we're we're excited to to have that as an opportunity as well and it should make some um good improvements for Keller Lake. I think I kind of already summarized that, but once again, that project was identified in that subwaterhed assessment I talked about at the beginning. And we actually move forward with a feasibility study that was grant funded. And we did that engagement and um just kind of work working towards um figuring out those grant dollars and then moving forward with project construction. [35:57] Eric: Sam, could you go back to the diagram that kind of shows the three parks? And I just want to that that that the one Yeah, that's fine. Um, so just want to point out to committee members. So as Sam mentioned, we're working with HKGI on this project from a community engagement perspective. They're also HKGI is also doing all all of our park work um for the 13 parks that we're planning for in 26 uh for the five or six parks that we're doing this year in 25. Uh so that's that's really good coordination. We've got the same uh group of folks work helping us work on that. But want to point out um that this construction will happen in 26. And so all three of those parks will be under construction in 26, which means if you live in that neighborhood, you're not going to have a lot of a whole lot of park options. And so we may hear about hear about that from residents as we do some public engagement. So, just wanted to bring it to your attention that we're we're aware of that, but there's re there's not really a way around it um because of the grant dollars associated with when we need to spend them and all the storm water work that's going on, etc. So, just wanted to bring it to your attention. [37:01] Chair: Thanks, Eric. So, you're we're going to there's actual going to be ponds in Duchess and Greening. Those will actually be water ponds. I mean, [37:01] Evan Aosta: Mr. Chair. Uh, so Greening Park will have is proposed to have a pond that will will have water in it at all times. It'll be kind of your traditional detention pond, if you will. Duchess Park will be an infiltration basin. So, um, you know, the pond itself or the basin itself will be designed to draw down within 48 hours of a rainfall. So, it typically will not have water in it, nor will the the penock component, which is also an infiltration basin. [37:41] Chair: So, this is surface water that will be going into these. Correct. The surface drainage. [37:41] Evan Aosta: And Sam, maybe if if you can back us up to that um the other graphic. Keep uh keep going backwards. Uh one more. So you can see kind of in the in the mess here. Um there's a lot of different colored highlights that that surround each park. So that's the surface water that we're capturing from the neighborhood and then transitioning into the parks for treatment and then detention and then transmission down into Keller Lake. So where we can't infiltrate it, it will make its way down to Keller Lake. [38:19] Chair: So if you get a 7 in rainfall, it's not you can shut it off from all going into those ponds and overflowing or [38:19] Evan Aosta: Well, uh, Mr. Chair, the the ponds will be designed to accommodate the hundredyear, so that seven inch or that super large rainfall. So those will be designed to kind of carry that that weight or that storage with them. Uh so when we talk about the reduction in the flood shape in the neighborhood, that's kind of the benefit that these ponds bring is that when we have those super large rainfalls, now there's a place for the water to go instead of just being kind of trapped in people's yards in low spots and or um sitting in the street in flooding. It now has the opportunity to make its way through a basin or through an infiltration basin to the storm sewer system. [39:05] Samantha Berham: And Mr. Chair, if I if I may, these ponds are typically designed with an emergency overflow so that if the water does get high enough, there's a secondary um relief of that water. [39:23] Chair: That would be a concern of the homeowner, I would think. So, these could dry up at some time then, too. I mean, if there's if we have a [39:23] Evan Aosta: Yeah. Yeah. Mr. Mr. Chair, the the only pond we would, you know, expect to hold water, call it year round, would be would be Greening Park at its current design. I'll say that we do have additional soil borings coming that may may allow that one to be an infiltration basin. Our first preference would be to have the rainwater infiltrate into the ground and recharge the ground water and the aquifers. That'd be our first preference. Sometimes the soils don't allow that and we need to kind of handle that in a typical detention pond fashion and then transmit it into the storm sewer. So, you know, Duchess and Penock or Yeah, Duchess and Penock parks in your average sunny day where it hasn't rained in 48 hours will typically be a dry basin with with native vegetation and a and a buffer with those. [40:10] Chair: Will weeds and stuff take over those at all or I mean because they're not obviously going to be mowed or anything. So, [40:10] Samantha Berham: Mr. Chair, that's a great point. Um, I don't know if you've been out to Ericson Park lately, but we did a similar type of project out at Ericson Park and we're continuing to manage that native vegetation. Typically, native vegetation takes about 3 to 5 years to establish and then we're we're continuing to maintain those long term, especially when we have got these these grant dollars. It's very important for us to get those on a maintenance plans to to kind of keep those weeds at a minimum. And it's possible, maybe not in this circumstance where we would utilize a controlled burn. It might just be kind of kind of maintenance m um every few years just to kind of keep the weeds um low and then um just spraying for weeds as needed. All right. Very good. [41:01] Committee Member Long: So um just a couple comments. I really like the idea of the um engagement in the I think it was at Panock um whether it's wet or dry, the stepping stones and and that sort of thing. That's a really cool idea. Um, one thing that comes to mind, and this would actually apply with the alam magnet restoration, maybe this is more um on Eric's side of of the business, you you mentioned to me that or you mentioned to us that um you won't even know that the infiltration basin is there, which is cool that it won't like interfere. You know, the big I don't remember what the thing in Duchess Park is called. Um, but it would be good if we could add some signage in these areas where we're doing these restorations and where we're installing these technologies explaining why it's there, what it's doing, the benefits. Um, because I think education on a lot of this is really important. Um, it's easy to miss some of these things that happen under the ground or to overlook a native planting and think it's, you know, just overgrown and not being maintained. Um, so I think to the extent that we can incorporate any kind of educational signage or anything like that with any of these projects would be uh beneficial [42:18] Samantha Berham: noted and we do at Ericson Park we have kind of an interactive sign and so that's something that we'll include for sure. So [42:18] Committee Member Long: cool. Thank you. [42:18] Chair: And the fact that it got a big grant is always good publicity as well. But that was a really fun day. Oh yeah, it was. Hey, well done and and congrats on the added money. When's the next time the new iteration goes in front of community for feedback? [42:37] Evan Aosta: Mr. Committee Member Smith, uh, we intend to be back in front of the public with community engagement in mid to late September. We've tasked HKGI and Gabrielle's actually here. uh we've tked them to come up with some options for discussion at this community engagement such that the residents in the area have something to look at, something to weigh in on. Um so up until this point where we didn't know whether we'd be funded or not. Uh we sort of made I'll say vague references to what we're hoping to achieve with a with a picture in the back of our mind. It's time to produce the the picture, show the residents, and get the input as part of the next step. So we would expect kind of mid to late September. [43:17] Committee Member Smith: How much time does that give you to lock in the grant? Then [43:17] Evan Aosta: the the the grant is the grant agreement has been finalized. So um the grant is unusually flexible in that we allocated funds as a to be determined through public engagement to be spent for enhancements for natural play. So, um, they agreed with and are allowing that money to be allocated by us for kind of reasons that we see fit within the parks. [43:48] Committee Member Smith: Nice. What's your time frame to spend? [43:48] Evan Aosta: So, we have to deliver these projects by the end of June 2027 and that's most of what we're delivering as part of the grant funded work is within the within the storm water basin components. So, getting the infrastructure in the ground, getting vegetation restored. There are playground components and trail components as part of the grant funded work. We will work closely with Eric, but you know there's there's there's obviously work that's occurring in the parks whether we were there or not. And some of that that isn't grant funded. Um, I won't say I certainly won't say it takes a backseat, but if Eric kind of feels the need or if things are getting clustered, you know, that could that could lag a little bit behind the hard excavations that we'll be doing as part of this work to meet that deadline since it is such a quick turnaround for us. [44:38] Committee Member Smith: Okay. [44:38] Samantha Berham: And if I may, just one more item is we are intending to do um kind of a separate project website for this to kind of keep people updated and provide some engagement opportunities. So, we're working towards that as well. We have experience in that. [44:57] Chair: Any other questions? All right. Work on both grants. Thank you very much. Thank you, member of this committee. All right. Uh, next is bicycle and pedestrian plan update. And I think I know who's going to do that. [45:20] Evan Aosta: Well, I'll start with a a good evening, Mr. Chair, and committee members, just in case this is clipped for YouTube or TV or anything like that. Uh Evan Nosta, assistant city engineer. With me today, I have Gabrielle Grindy, which I'm sure you're familiar with, from HKGI. Gabrielle and her team were selected um from the city to deliver the 2025 bicycle and ped plan update, which builds upon the work that was done in 2010 with that original bike plan that we that we had as a city. So, I'll let Gabrielle take it away from here, but first I'll say a special thank you to our Mr. Chair and Randy Bailey for their work as part of task force members. Um, we met several times as a task force to to have deeper discussions and then I think we'll have one task force meeting left. So, um, we'll expect, you know, we'll send you guys something shortly on that, but Gabrielle will give you guys the update on the plan. [46:06] Gabrielle Grindy: All right. Good evening. So, I'm Gabriel Girie, landscape architect with HKGI. I did not have the privilege of attending the task force meetings, but I did attend one popup with Evan, and I've been working behind the scenes with Natalie at our office to develop this plan. Oh, is this the full document? This is slides. Oh, technical difficulties. Was this not the presentation that you sent me? Well, that's a plan document. Oh goodness. Go through that really fast. That was like it feels very long. Sorry everyone. Have to authenticate. Oh, I have any jokes or [47:00] Eric: m Mr. Chair, may I suggest that we just put table this item for just a moment while um Kayla gets it set up and we maybe move to the next item on the agenda. Um and then hopefully by that time we'll have the presentation ready. [47:23] Chair: Okay. Okay. Sorry Gabrielle. All right. So then we will do item D which is discuss city entrance monument signs. [47:23] Eric: So Mr. Mr. Chair, members of committee, at the last me meeting, you wanted to have this item on your agenda and you wanted to have a memo that the committee would review and consider submitting to the city council related to entrance monuments at the kind of the four main entrance points within the city. So, we have drafted a memo for your consideration. Feel free to talk about it. Feel free to change it if you want to and let us know if that's something that you want forwarded on to the city council. So, I'll turn it over to the committee to have your internal discussion and give provide us with direction. [48:09] Chair: Well, I see you redid the the memo from the original one which I think is an improvement. Okay. So, I mean I you noticed that or anybody [48:32] Dave: Yeah, I noticed the uh modification of the memo and in reviewing it, it looks good to me. Yeah, I'd be ready to u approve it and uh send it on to the council if the other committee members feel the same. [48:32] Chair: Okay. Any discussion? No, that's very similar to what we had already talked about. Yes. So, I'm okay with it. Okay. Do we need a motion? Uh we'll need a motion to Yes. to approve it and to send it in a memo to the city council. [48:54] Nell: I'll make a motion to approve the uh the letter and send it on to uh the city council. [48:54] Chair: All right. I have a motion from Nell. [48:54] Dave: Second. [48:54] Chair: And I have a second from Dave. Any other further discussion? [49:09] Committee Member: Negative. Negative. [49:09] Chair: All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. That passes. All right, Mr. Mr. Mr. Chair, members of the committee, we're going to ask you to maybe make another little al uh adjustment to the to the agenda. Um, and you had added added item G to the agenda. Why don't you take care of item G while we still look for the correct presentation? [49:35] Chair: Okay. Um, this is the naming rights for the pickle ball courts. Um, discussion. [49:35] Dave: Well, I think we uh in in uh our informal discussion, we talked about the upcoming uh improvements to create uh or improve the pickle ball uh area from eight courts to 16 courts. Uh which really makes it a complex, not just a bunch of courts. Um, and as part of that, um, we talked about, uh, naming that and, um, I, I guess the word would be honoring our, um, former city council member Tom Goodwin to, uh, and naming the, uh, pickle ball complex, the Goodwin pickle ball complex. Um, and I guess I would make a motion that we uh recommend to the council that the pickle ball complex be named as such and um move that on for their approval. [50:40] Eric: The only thing I'd clarify is we discussed we want that to be discussed with Tom before it goes to the city council for adoption. So I'd say um make a motion to recommend that pending his approval that it be called the good one. Certainly fine with that that modification. [50:57] Chair: Okay. Randy, you okay? [50:57] Randy: Agreed. [50:57] Chair: Good. Everyone's good. [51:13] Committee Member: Second. [51:13] Chair: So, that motion did had a motion. Second. Motion and a second. Um, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Anyone opposed? That pass. All right, Mr. Chair, members of the committee, we're I think we're ready for we're ready for the bike ped park plan. It's a great presentation. We're glad you [51:28] Gabrielle Grindy: It's going to be an amazing present. No more jokes. Uh much shorter. Okay. Once again. All right. So, I'll briefly go over the project process and then dive into a little bit of the plan content and then at the end we'll highlight some of our um top priorities and have some discussion on that. Feel free to stop me if you have any questions. So the process we started back in December of last year. The city was awarded a grant from the county through the state health improvement partnership and uh that grant stipulated some of uh what was required to go into the plan which part of it was in including engagement. So from January to April we conducted online engagement. We had two popups and we also had the task force meetings. Uh we put information in the city newsletter in March to try to get feedback on that survey and then we developed the plan through the spring and now we have the draft plan. So we're almost finished with our our process. So this is a list of the meetings and engagement uh methods that were conducted throughout including the um online survey, the website, uh the pop-up meetings, planning commission, park and record advisory committee updates in March, uh the task force meetings, and then city council which will be coming up later this month. In the plan, it's about 50 pages long. There are five sections and I'll go through each section to talk a little bit about what's included in each section in the plan. So the first section is about the plan. We talk about the purpose for the plan. So that is really updating the previous plan. So there was a 2010 bike ped plan bike walk Apple Valley plan. And so we took a lot of the content, we took some of the guiding principles from that plan and updated them for this plan. Uh, another purpose was to really reach out to the community and get feedback on what they wanted to see for the bicycle and pedestrian system in the community. And then we're guiding policy and programming improvements uh throughout the community with this plan. So, the benefits of a connected bicycle and walking network include safety. So, making it safe for everyone that uses it from young people to old. uh making it more healthy. So active living getting people outside providing it providing easy and convenient options for them to be outside and be healthy. So air quality which is achieved by fewer vehicle trips. So if people choose to bike or walk to places in the community rather than driving that would help the air quality. Uh providing sustainable and efficient transportation networks. So you know um bikes and feet create less wear and tear on roads. So if more people are using uh the trails than the roads, then you have less wear and tear on the roads uh theoretically. So livability and mobility, people want to live in bikable and walkable communities. Typically we see that bikable and walkable communities are have higher value and more people want to live there. Uh recreation, which was a big one in Apple Valley when we had those popup meetings, a lot of people talked about the recreational value of the the bike trails, especially going throughout the county. So the greenways they really appreciate. Uh and then household and community prosperity. So that gets at the idea that if you choose to bike or walk, you're saving money and you're taking up less space uh on the roads. And then regional and economic competitiveness. So that gets back to some of the livability and mobility that you know it's economic development to bring people to a community that is walkable and bikable. So who are we planning for for the bike and pedestrian system? Uh we're looking a lot at the those groups identified in the bullet. So students, a lot of students that can walk and bike to school will choose to do that if they are able to safely. Uh older adults who choose to recreate by walking around their neighborhood or biking. Commuters and workers who are able to commute with the bike and walk system. So we're also looking at transit which goes to public transportation users. So, they're going to uh start at their home and either bike or walk to the transit station to get on transit. And then recreational users. So, again, that's a big part of the Apple Valley community and what they wanted to see in the system. The bottom diagram here shows uh biking comfort levels. So, this is uh a theory that's been identified through previous planning nationwide. Uh so, there are four categories. Strong and fearless. So, those are people that would bike anywhere on road. Enthusiastic and confident. These are people that might choose to use bike lanes but would typically prefer a trail. Interested but concerned are people that would prefer an off-road trail that's separated from vehicle traffic. And then not able or interested. So people that maybe are just not able to bike or they're too young or too old to bike. So the interested but concerned group was uh mostly who we're looking to plan for. And when we did the pop-up meetings, we asked people to put a sticker on which group they identify with. And most people fall into that interested but concerned. So really, we're looking at how can we pro provide safe off-road facilities throughout the system. So again, the community engagement, we had a few pop-up meetings. You can see Evan in those pictures up there at the boards. And we did ask people to provide input on the the system and to call out where there are barriers in the system or where they think connections should be made. And we heard a lot about the the high value of the trails. People really value the trails. They like having them and they move to the community for them. So um the thing that was brought up a lot was intersections. So crossing intersections safely as there are a lot of high volume wide roads, county roads in the city. people want to be able to cross those safely and they typically stay within those barriers so they stay in their neighborhoods when they're biking and walking. Uh then part of the grant uh asks that we identify where community areas of need are. So we look at environmental justice areas. This is an MPCA definition. And then uh the percent population and poverty. So these two maps identify some of the areas in the north central and south central area that may have uh more low-income people, more people that use public transportation or have disabilities. So these are areas that should be focused on for priorities for improving the system. The next section is planning contest context. So this section has a lot of summary of previous plans. There are many other previous plans that uh we referred to including statewide plans and bike and pedestrian uh resources that we summarized and identified so that these could be resources for future bike and ped planning. Then we included several analysis and inventory maps. So identifying where the existing trails, sidewalks, and greenways are in the system and where there are planned trails so that we know what we're working with to begin with. Uh there are also maps that include uh some of the the destinations in the community, some of the land use which impacts where uh bike and walk facilities can go. And then we highlighted the ring route which is a pedestrian facility but as it's getting updated we identified where we think some uh enhanced crossings should go and where maybe some additional bike facilities could be added in this area since it is a high use commercial area that is um mainly vehicle oriented. Then we include some other information on transit transit stations and stops in the city some major road barriers. So again, those county roads are really barriers throughout the community and separate the community into neighborhoods where people uh stay for biking and walking. Uh we identify some information about traffic volume and where the gaps are in the city. Then the next section is guiding principles. So we've taken the guiding principles from the bikewalk the 2010 bike walk plan and we've updated them uh based on some of the task force information and input and then some of the input that we got from community engagement. So we have four overall guiding principles. Those are reducing barriers to walking and biking. There's a number of sub bullets for how that can be done. Encouraging alternative modes of transportation. So encouraging people to choose whether that be through programming or just more convenient biking and walking facilities to choose biking and walking over uh vehicle use. And then third is enhancing the trails and sidewalks in the community with elements that aid in navigation. So this is getting at wayfinding uh fostering community so ident identity and um park improvements and then establishing a sense of place. And then the fourth guiding principle is maintaining a safe and functional network uh throughout the community. So this is really getting at those safety improvements which include the intersection crossings. And then on the right are the seven E or the six E that are required as part of the ship grant, but we've added a couple. So um these are overall values that uh impact or um help us uh identify what those recommendations are. So education, informing people about the bikewalk system. Engineering, so that's really getting it in the ground. The physical development equity, making sure you're planning a system that serves everyone. Enforcement, making sure that the rules are followed by vehicles and bicyclists and pedestrians. Experience, making it a great experience, so people actually want to use the system. Ethics, that gets back to equity, so making sure you're considering everyone in the system or everyone in the community. encouragement that uh that's the idea of programming. So if there can be programming in events that can encourage people to use the system and then evaluation. So making sure that you're going back again to uh ensure that you're keeping to your values and guiding principles. We also have a series of best practices. So these are taken from some of those state and national resources that I mentioned earlier about uh crossing treatments um and trail design and maintenance. And then we have a series of recommendations that just dive into more detail from the guiding principles. So, uh, some of those recommendations including developing a complete streets policy. Ebikes came up a lot. So, encouraging the city to develop an ebike policy. So, we have some resources and uh some information about ebikes from other cities that have developed ebike policies. Um, let's see. We also have a visionary diagram of what a fully connected system could look like with a hierarchical system. So the greenway, the county greenways could serve as the spines through the community and then the county roadways with the trails could come off of those spines to serve the neighborhoods and then there could be um networks within the neighborhoods to get people to those larger spines. So we have in red showing the ring route where that's located in the southern area of the city. We also have some information on wayfinding which the city is currently updating and then operations and maintenance best practices. So the implementation section is the final section and this is where we identify where the projects are. So where will the trails and intersections be improved? Uh the trail gap projects were taken from the 2010 plan but of course we've added the we've removed the ones that have already been completed and added to that list. And then the intersection improvements, we identified several which are mainly at county roads throughout the community and then several along the ring route as well. So we have some resources related to funding options and sources which the city is great at getting grants. So they should know a lot about these but um this can be to refer to when looking to complete projects and looking for funding. So then on this slide we have identified the top five priority projects. So three of these are actually in the CIP 1, three and four are on city streets. So these have been identified as uh trail improvement projects. Uh and then two and five on the east side of the community are on McAdrews. Those would be county partnership projects. So, the city would be encouraging the county to complete these uh trail projects. So, with that, I will open it up to any comments or feedback on these projects or uh on the plan in general. [1:04:44] Chair: Great job. Um I got a question for you. So back in 2010, the original plan um former mayor Mary um she really had an idea of have being able to ride your bike all the way around the city and at the time very difficult to achieve. Um and it it just kind of fell apart. Um, is was that achieved or are we still working on riding your bike all the way around the city? I I don't even know if it's feasible or even possible. Now, [1:04:44] Evan Aosta: you can I I do it. It's not there's not but you have to carry your bike part way. Hey, I've seen you. There's not dedicated trails all the way. You may be sharing the road. You may be sharing paths. You may be doing several things, but you can I've been every It might have been in what she was talking about. I missed it. I don't know. We got stop lightss, you know. [1:05:04] Gabrielle Grindy: There are connected trails throughout, of course, but there are the gaps where you will have to cross the street in order to continue. For it to be a smooth continuous ride, uh I would say that may be achievable in some areas of the city. Maybe not fully around the perimeter of the city, but um yeah, that's a good [1:05:29] Chair: Yeah. Okay. All right. Thanks. Great job. I mean, that that's a lot of work you guys did. So, so the grants that might be available for some of this, is that dependent on having an updated plan like this? Is that one reason that we we did this is to have to meet those requirements? [1:05:48] Evan Aosta: Mr. Mr. Chair, uh the city has applied the last two years for a safe routes to school grant and one of the pieces of feedback that we've gotten from the Minnesota Department of Transportation who administers that grant is would be in the city's best interest to have an updated bicycle and ped plan and it would be in the city's best interest to have a safe rout to school plan. So, as Gabrielle alluded to, we got the grant to do the updated bike and ped plan. We also got a grant to do a safe streets and roads for all and safe routes to school plan. That'll be coming forward shortly in the next handful of months to to do that. To answer your question, there's there's no shortages of grants that we could apply for, and this plan in particular will really help boost our scores more than we could kind of even explain, especially on roadway projects that are lacking connectivity. Um, a key scoring component of roadway projects has been historically pedestrian connectivity. So now having this this updated plan where you know just last year we were using a plan from 2010 to try and get grant funds and you know they've kind of said you might want to look at updating that. So it it'll help tremendously. [1:07:05] Chair: Okay, great. Excellent. [1:07:05] Committee Member Smith: I got a question on on this slide with five priority projects. That looks great. You know why can't that be done next week or you know what's the is it just going to sit in the plan and there forever or what? How does that actually uh how does how does the city take action on these five priority projects? [1:07:28] Evan Aosta: Yeah, great great question. And I think the the five segments shown kind of illustrate maybe three different ways that we would accomplish closing these trail gaps. Segment one, maybe you're familiar with the old par 3 golf course turned into the Eagle Point development, which is those villas and town homes. As part of that, they extended a a great distance of Batuminous Trail on the north side of 140th. That that leaves us with a small gap that the neighbors are rightfully, you know, knocking the door down to try and get that tiny bit closed off. And that and that's ranked high for for since 2010 that's been a high priority gap. So now we have a manageable size gap that development made a large chunk in. So development is one of the key ways as as gaps in the rest of town see development or redevelopment, we now have bite-size pieces versus the full steak dinner that we can go after. And that's a lot easier to budget for um especially with with all the other stuff that we're chasing around with our CIP. Gaps three and four up near kind of the overpass of uh the Mindot overpass. So MDOT has ADA improvements coming through periodically. You know, we only have a small section of of MDOT roadway that's trunk highway 77. So as Mandot creates those improvements, they allow us to partner with them to to close gaps that are adjacent with them. And that that kind of goes with with two and five. As our partners close gaps, other partners of Dakota County, we have the opportunity to cost effectively close them ourselves or participate in that. So those are those are the main ways we do it. you know, the the the fallback option is right, we can we can budget and we can CIP for some of the more priority gaps as we start to whittle them down, but when they're kind of all over town, it can make it harder to it make it harder to to put money into a budget at, you know, 300 $400,000 where, you know, that can that can also go a long way in mill overlay. We're hearing from the residents, you know, on the one year it's can we get this gap closed and the other year it's our road is in terrible shape and we're balancing that. So, so whose budget does with these projects if if the city said we want to do number one, whose budget does that come out of? We do have an annual budget for ADA improvements. Lately, past five years, um we've been very busy updating pedestrian crossings at intersections where enhanced signage, striping, and maybe concrete median refuge islands are needed. That's been the bulk of getting those up to compliant and safe. Um, and you know, we we also like gap one here will use ADA funds as well as just general capital improvement road funds to kind <of help bolster that to finish off the gap. So, um, that's not to say we can't save up our ADA funds over several years to tackle a large gap, but that would take several years of of no improvements. [1:10:13] Committee Member Smith: No, that's that's helpful to know. Thank you. [1:10:13] Committee Member Long: So, as you're looking at these plans, um I understand there's a lot of different considerations to balance, but as you add more trails, you add more trails that you have to maintain. like what she just said, is there consideration to kind of in the the areas alongside the trails to install low- or shorter native coverage that plant coverage that you don't have to mow as much because I've seen, you know, on the trails by my house, it's all just turf grass and so they're Apple Valley mowers going over once a week and somebody's got to mow it constantly and that costs money, takes time. Um, is there any consideration to doing that as you're doing these projects? [1:11:00] Evan Aosta: That's a great question and a great a great comment and we're lucky to have Sam Berger still here, a natural resources coordinator. I'm not Don't worry, I'm not I'm not throwing you the rules on this. Um, what I will say is that, you know, typically on our trails, we'll have, you know, the the standard twoft clear zone. So, two feet on either side of the trail we like to have as a mode surface because right if you've got a stroller, a bike, and a dog, now someone's going to probably have to yield. Uh outside of that two feet, I know Sam is probably the biggest advocate. I saw you wave, so I'm assuming you're also an advocate for for the environment. Uh but you know, our our advocates are are kind of chiming in and and looking for places to incorporate native mix, looking to incorporate um the the vegetation that doesn't require as much maintenance, our our streets, and I'm sure parks are are on board for, you know, lessening that load. Uh so, it's something we'll continue to to look at. Not quite in the same scope as what this plan look at. [1:12:03] Chair: Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. A lot of information. All right. Well, we've bounced around here. I think we're at E, Division Update, Senior Programs. [1:12:21] Eric: Yep. And Sharon is here from the senior center and she's going to give a quick presentation on what's going on at the senior center. Thank you, Sharon. [1:12:35] Sharon Lumpkkey: Hi, good evening, Mr. Chair and committee. I am Sharon Lumpkkey, um, recreation supervis supervisor and positioned over with the Apple Valley Seniors where we just get to have fun. Um, go to the next one. So, for the year 2425, we're at 912 members. um the seniors in the executive committee do a a fiscal year. So, beginning July 1st, we just started renewing renewing um memberships. Um along with that, we have already gained 54 as of today new members, which is really really good. They're they're they're coming in like crazy. Um here you can see kind of the where they're residing with the bulk in Apple Valley. Um and then just multiple locations. Um a lot of our seniors attend multiple locations. A lot of them do Rosemont and Apple Valley or Lakeville and Apple Valley. Um just depending on the different activities that we have. We have several bridge players where some locations have stopped doing duplicate bridge. Um so we've picked up and have a huge group of duplicate bridge players now. And I think Burnsville is the Burnsville maybe. Yeah, Burnsville is the only other one that will do duplicate bridge. So now they they come to Apple Valley and they come to Burnsville and we welcome that. They do a membership. Residents pay $20 for the year. Non-residents pay 25. Um some of the more popular things going on right now are the trips, especially with our new seniors. Um so we've um trying to focus a lot on the trips. Um so we did trolley rides in Still Waters in Still Water. Um a Lake Minnotonka cruise, Treasure Island Casino, the Jason Show, the Oyola train ride. will come go this fall for kind of a fall leaf tour and we actually got it up for registrations and we can take 50 on a bus and all of a sudden we had 30 on a waiting list so we were able to add another bus and now that bus is almost full. So they're really getting into those. Um love they love the theaters. So Chan Hassen we're doing Jersey Boys or we've done Jersey Boys. Greece is upcoming and then in February we're doing Guys and Dolls and then we also have a St. Paul Christmas light tour coming up but they'll do dinner um and tour the St. Paul lights. And then also um Nate kind of helped work this out with us. The park maintenance crew built us this nice new planter which is on top left. Um and the seniors are have planted that. We got a donation with the the the Lions Club and so the seniors went to town, planted it and even threw in cherry tomato plants on either end. And then it's kind of going to be multi-purpose because over the winters we've had a huge problem with the wind blowing and so we've had a kind of an unsightly um snow orange snow fence and we're hoping that this will help block the snow from staying on our sidewalk to help it clear for the seniors. Um this is our executive committee with our president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, assistant se secretary, and a member at large. And they're all wonderful volunteers that we have. [1:16:18] Chair: So the city does not have a representative on the committee. [1:16:18] Sharon Lumpkkey: The city um I that's me. I I attend Yeah, I attend the executive committee meetings as well. Here's kind of our calendar if you've ever seen it. Calendar of regularly scheduled activities. Um, and it's it gets it gets tight when people either want to move around their activity or start a new activity. It gets a little bit tight to try to find the day that works best for them. Um, and here's just some more of a list of all of our activities between games, card games. Um, we have we used to do a Wii bowling league, which I should have changed out on there. We now have one um um special needs woman who comes in, buses in every day to with her Wheel of Fortune we game. And so we set her up with the TV and she she just loves it. um a lot of education and social groups with book clubs. Um so many educational speakers and presentations from Medicare to hospice to um what else have we had lately trying to remember different authors come in with with books that they've written. Um the storytelling group is getting really large and taking up a lot of it's going on and on because people just love to to tell their stories. Um then then the active groups we we offer exercise five days a week. Um the still the most popular is our morning stretch um which meets Monday, Wednesday, Fridays and then um Tuesdays and Thursdays we have a brand new one with chair Pilates and then a core and cardio group and then also our on the city end we offer yoga, taichi and zabit that that um brings in revenue for the city and and that's the same with the tours that's on the city side that we operate. a lot of creative groups, color and chat, knitting and crocheting. Um the stitchers group, quilting, recreated cards, painters, um we have two music groups, um seniors that get together to play instruments, um and also a newer one with the sing along where they come in and we have a um piano that was donated. So they do singing sing alongs with that. Um on the rent rental side, um these are just some of the various groups that rent. Um we have a couple churches that rent consistently. Um Saturdays and Sundays and then otherwise we're really getting a lot of homeowners um associations coming in as well as the Medicare groups which a lot of times those are done during the daytime. Uh this is kind of a breakdown of how many rent renters um for the 2024 year. Um broken down into each each room rental. So they can do one section of the Yellowstone to the full Yellowstone. They have a small classroom of the Glacier and then the Yoseity room is the theater style room which is very popular. Um, and then this is kind of the breakdown of what we're just as of January through August 2025. Same thing, the breakdown of how many rentals and how many hours. And then if you have any questions, [1:20:01] Committee Member Smith: man, it looks like a lot of fun. [1:20:01] Sharon Lumpkkey: They do have fun. [1:20:01] Committee Member Smith: You might see me down there. You should definitely. Hey, thank you for uh thank you for your service and your colleagues and your volunteers. This is an important part of our community. [1:20:19] Committee Member Long: So much going on in the senior center in our informal meeting. It was exciting. What are you most excited about with the enhancements? And if there is anything, what are you most concerned about? [1:20:19] Sharon Lumpkkey: What am I most excited about? Um I I like that there's a mixed mix it's a mixed bag with them. Um just more space in the coffee lounge. We're outgrowing the especially our resource center. We have so many um outside resources that come in with their flyers and brochures um that we that we need more space and the and the um the coffee area to try to prepare the coffee is getting really small, really little and kind of crowded. [1:21:17] Committee Member Long: It's understandable. Thank you. [1:21:17] Sharon Lumpkkey: Yep. Anybody else? Thank you very much. Thank you. [1:21:17] Chair: All right. Uh we have a F park parks referendum update. [1:21:36] Eric: Mr. Chair, members of the committee, I can just I'll just give a really quick update. Um and pri prior giving you an update at the informal, but so the committee knows. So obviously the Splash Valley Water Park that that was opened back in June. Um we've um heard nothing but positive accolades for that project. It'll be closing for the year on August 20th, so there's not that many days left to go. So if you're hearing this at home, make sure you get your trip to the water park in before August 20th. We have started the um the skate park. The contractor will be on site starting Monday and so people will start to see the skate park come alive over the next four to four to 10 weeks roughly. Um the pickleball court project at Johnny Cake is underway. Um we'll start paving that in the next week or two and by the uh beginning of October, people will start to be able to play pickle ball at the on the new the eight new courts there. And those those new eight courts will be lighted. So this fall as it gets dark a little bit earlier in the evening, but not past bedtime, so to say, um people will be able to be in the park using those courts uh with the uh lights that are there. If you've driven down Conor Road 42 West, as you just before you enter Burnsville, you've got Redwood Park on the right hand side. Um, and that is fully under construction, you'll see the foundation starting to come out of the ground for the building and the pool is starting to take shape as well. Then if you go over to Kelly Park and have attended one of the music and Kelly music and Kelly Park concerts lately, you'll notice that there's a construction fence on about half of the park there. And so construction is started at Kelly Park. As soon as the last concert uh uh on Friday nights at the park the end of August, then the entire park will be under construction. Then we also have five neighborhood parks starting construction. Um that being Carolwood, uh Chaparel, the uh Carol uh Cobblestone Southeast, Green Leaf North, and Cedar Isles are the parks being constructed this year. So, that's just a very brief overview of what's going on in the park system related to the referendum. [1:23:50] Dave: I have a question about the skate park. Uh, which one of the staff is going to drop in first when it's uh when it's finished? [1:23:50] Eric: I believe council member Goodwin actually uh volunteered to do that. I don't know. Everyone was pointing at Nate, so it might be him on it on his stomach on the board. You have good health insurance, so I can do whatever I need to. [1:24:15] Dave: Did you uh did you get any feedback on Kelly Park with the tree removal at all? [1:24:15] Eric: I have not received any emails or voicemails or phone calls. That's correct. I have not. I'm not saying anyone else hasn't, but I have not and I don't think anyone else has either. So, no. [1:24:32] Dave: Okay, good. I got a a question for you on Splash Valley. Um and uh you see that uh closing August 20th in two weeks and we just seemed like we opened a place a short few weeks ago. Um and I know the uh issue is always seemed to be lifeguards. Is that the only issue that is stopping um stopping it from continuing to stay open through midepptember another month? or are there other issues if if we could magically find lifeguards? Is there other reasons that we couldn't keep it open? [1:25:04] Eric: Yes. Uh thank you, chair and council members, the committee members. Uh the biggest thing with this is the staffing, you know, for safety on here. We we do have a lot of college students that have left us already. We're going to have a majority of other college students that have that'll leave us next week. And a lot of our staff are high school athletes and so they have their fall sports that are starting up as well. So for for purposes of safety, you know, we we can't operate at a level with enough staff this that late into the season in order to do so. We are in line with many of the other, you know, city parks, if you will, city water parks of closing around the same time. Um, you know, if we if if we could have more staff, we could look at that in the future, but at this point in time, it is a safety issue with not having enough staff. [1:26:22] Dave: But if you uh have you ever talked to Egan and said, "All right, you're you're losing 90% or 80% of your staff. So maybe you could the 20% could come over to Splash Valley one year and go to the other place another year or some type of collaboration or does everybody just go, we're done?" [1:26:22] Eric: A lot of that ends up happening that way. You know, we have our staff that are, you know, they're doing a full, you know, 12 10 to 12 weeks depending on which aquatic park that they're at and it's that they're done. You know, they're they're burnt out a little bit. they're looking forward to moving on to their, you know, next phase of college or or high school. A lot of them want that week or two break too before they get back into it. You know, the other thing that we run into on this is is, you know, how do we how do we train them because it's going to take so long because all the different parks are different. So, I don't know that cost effectively that would be a good move for us to do at this time. [1:26:44] Committee Member Long: Would it be something um that you could look at in the future? maybe the last week or two leading up to uh Labor Day having like reduced hours. So just being open kind of during peak like 1 to 4 or something to minimize the amount of hours you need to cover with whoever may be left or we are so bare bones that we couldn't even do something like that. [1:27:07] Eric: I would say we are pretty bare bones at that time. The other part of it too is that we still have to chlorinate and put chemicals and everything into that water park. And so that'd be a a big cost for us there without seeing a return on a daily use on it. So we're not able to just reduce those chemicals and pump them back up later. Um it would have to stay pretty much consistent the whole time just in case something were to get in the park and you know fall in or any of that nature. Um but we do cost efficiency again is an issue on this one. [1:27:34] Committee Member Smith: Okay. Thank you. Would it be helpful if the committee members got trained and read bathing suits and got out there and would that would be to cover? [1:27:34] Eric: Scary but not helpful. [1:27:34] Committee Member Smith: Okay, just checking. [1:27:34] Dave: I'd like to motion that no out there. [1:27:55] Eric: One of the things that we run into on this as well is, you know, obviously with all of our staff cutting in half, you know, week to week to week, we have we have staff that are working seven days a week and up to 18 days in a row at this time, too. So, it'd be it's difficult for them to have their focus in place. Uh again, it becomes another big safety issue. [1:28:14] Dave: They actually do look tired. I mean, I've been out there. They are they're ready to be done. I think there's a lot of time in the sun coming. A lot of time in the sun. And I mean they are they're ready to get back to college. They do a great job for us. We we're glad that we have them. And you know, like we talked about earlier, too, they are the number one compliment that we get for that facility. Yep. They do a good job. They did a very good job. [1:28:35] Chair: All right. Uh number six is committee and staff discussion items. Is there anything there that needs to be Nothing. We're good. All right, then input from committee members on the next agenda. Committee members, I do have one thing I think the committee should take up and that is uh back in January um we looked at the two funds for the park and recck department. One was the park dedication fund and the other was the park facilities fund. and we looked at the numbers as far as the money that was being put into those. It had dropped dramatically and to the point where it could almost be defunded. I think I think it would be a good idea for this committee to look at that and um decide what we think should be done with that fund uh and then recommend it to the city council. I think it would be an excellent thing. I think that was that's something that this committee is meant to do. So, I would like that put on a future um item. Um it would need to be done before the end of the year because next year begins the budgeting process and this really needs to be done before that happens. So, that would be my suggestion for an additional agenda item. [1:30:13] Committee Member Smith: Are there are there JPA activity coming up in the fall? Are there any JPA coming up for interesting dialogue right now? I think about East View and what's going on there and some just interested in what those parcels might do in the future. So, is there any new information that [1:30:13] Eric: Yeah, Mr. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, we have met with officials from the school district and from East View High School and we are working on revising the current JPA that oversees the East View Johnny Cake Complex. And so I'm going to guess it's going to take some time. Maybe sometime in the first quarter of when we will have a document that we would share with the park with the parks committee. [1:30:59] Chair: Okay. Well, members, just keep in mind if you have ideas, we that's what we're here for. We want to try and do our best to make sure that we have the best parking department and ideas are the best way to do that. So, if the light bulb ever goes off, write it down and let's talk about it. All right. Um, at this time we are probably looking for a certain motion. [1:31:24] Dave: I'll make a motion to adjurnn. [1:31:24] Randy: Second. [1:31:24] Chair: That's the motion. We have a second. All in favor signify by saying I. Would anyone be objecting? Objection. Objecting. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Heat.