Based on the context provided, here is the transcribed meeting with speaker names added. **Speakers identified:** * **Committee Chair:** The facilitator of the meeting. * **Jessica Merchant:** New committee member. * **Eric Carlson:** Parks and Recreation Director. * **Craig:** Committee member. * **Lisa Hiebert:** City Councilmember (acting as liaison). * **Nate:** City staff member. *** [0:00] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [1:13] **Committee Chair:** I'd like to call to order this meeting of the Apple Valley Park and Recreation Advisory Committee for May the 1st, 2025. At this time, I'd like to invite everyone present who is willing and able to please rise and join us in the pledge of allegiance. [1:32] **Group:** I pledge allegiance 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. [1:49] **Committee Chair:** All right. Good evening everyone. Um before we get started with our uh formal meeting tonight, um I do need to take a minute and um offer an apology. [2:05] **Committee Chair:** And this goes back to our March meeting, which our March meeting was the first meeting that we had a new member that joined us and uh a certain uh committee chairman forgot to acknowledge that. So, I uh extend my apology to the committee and to the new member and we are going to take care of that right now. So, on behalf of the Apple Valley Park and Recreation Advisory Committee, I would like to extend um a welcome and an introduction to our new member, Jessica Merchant. Uh hi, thank you. And um what we usually do with new members is we have them introduce themselves and tell us a little bit about them if they'd like. And so, uh, you may do whatever you like, but the floor is yours. [2:50] **Jessica Merchant:** Um, hi, I'm Jessica Merchant. I have lived in Apple Valley for four years now, and we have, my husband and I have three young kids. Um, we love everything about all the Apple Valley parks and trails and outdoors and sports, and we hope to represent you well. [3:14] **Committee Chair:** Thank you. And again, I do apologize for that. And, uh, welcome. welcome to the committee and we're looking forward to working with you going forward. So, thanks. All right. Um, first thing uh for us to do a meeting, we need a an agenda for this evening and Kayla has uh put that together and given each of us a copy. Uh my question to the members are is are there any changes or additions to the proposed agenda for tonight's meeting that you'd like to see made? [3:48] **Committee Chair:** Nothing. Eric, no changes from staff perspective. Everyone's good. So, I would look for a motion to approve tonight's agenda. [4:00] **Craig:** So, moved. [4:01] **Committee Chair:** I have a motion from uh Craig. [4:03] **Jessica Merchant:** A second. [4:03] **Committee Chair:** A second from Jess. All those in favor signify by saying I. [4:08] **Group:** I. [4:09] **Committee Chair:** Opposed. And that carries unanimously. And we now have an agenda. All right. using that agenda. Uh the first thing is um uh the public meeting open time for the public to address this uh committee. Uh at each of our meetings, we um set aside a certain amount of time for the public to come and talk to us if they'd like uh with suggestions hopefully uh criticisms, whatever. [4:41] **Committee Chair:** Um, looking out at the uh empty seats, I don't think we're going to have anyone tonight speaking with us. Uh, would like to encourage anyone that might be listening to, um, uh, please come to one of our meetings if you have anything that uh, you'd like to talk to us about. [4:57] **Committee Chair:** Um we are always looking for ideas and um we meet the first Thursday of every month at 7 PM uh sharp and we are in the municipal center which is the city hall and uh if you do come uh please check the city's website uh just to make sure we're having a formal meeting that night but we would love to hear from you and um so we will move on from there. [5:26] **Committee Chair:** Uh, next item is the minutes from the March 20 March 2025 minutes from the previous meeting for approval. Uh, Kayla has gone through and put that together and uh, I assume everyone has had a copy and has read it. Uh, are there any changes that you think need to be made in those minutes as printed? Nothing. Then I would look for a motion to approve those minutes from the March 2025 meeting. [6:00] **Jessica Merchant:** I would uh I'd motion that we approve the minutes for the uh for the March meeting and just say again my thanks to the uh city crew for great meeting and a lot of information. [6:08] **Committee Chair:** Okay, I have a motion from Jess. [6:08] **Craig:** Second. [6:09] **Committee Chair:** Second from Craig. All those in favor signify by saying I. [6:13] **Group:** I. [6:14] **Committee Chair:** And those opposed. And that passes unanimously. Uh next up is the uh agenda items. And first on the agenda items is um number A, the Kelly Park project update. And I believe that's Mr. Carlson. [6:32] **Eric Carlson:** Mr. Chair, members of the committee, um want to give you and those listening at home an update on Kelly Park. And this is one of the signature projects that we've been working on as part of the 2023 parks bond referendum. [6:50] **Eric Carlson:** And so, um, at this point, we're planning to start construction on this project in July of this year. Um, we will start construction kind of in this the western, uh, portion of the park, um, in July so that we do not interfere with the Friday night, uh, uh, music and Kelly Park concert series. Once that concert series is over at the end of August, then we will, uh, the entire park will be under construction. Um, we expect to finish the project in the spring of 26 and hopefully open it to use again for the concerts and other activities in June of 26. Um, it's looking as though the project is going to be about 11.7 million project. It's going to include a new playground, upper new performance stage, a new splash pad, um, additional on-site parking. Um, we're planning to do solar on top of the roofs of the new restroom facility and the new stage. And then the new stage will also have a 20 approximately 25 by 15 foot video screen that we'll be able to use for movies in the park and for other events that might get hosted in the park. We've been working closely with the Apple Valley Arts Foundation on the design of the park uh especially as it relates to the stage and whatnot. Um, and some of the concepts that we had developed earlier included concepts related to a small fenced and dog run area and some basketball courts. Um, and at this point those are not being recommended based on some of the budgetary uh issues that we're facing with the park's development. [8:22] **Eric Carlson:** So this is what Kelly Park looks like today, if you will. You can see that the existing stage is sitting in this location. We've got a small park a small uh paved parking lot here. Here's the splash pad. [8:42] **Eric Carlson:** Here's the playground equipment. Here's a two stall restroom facility. Um and then there's some picnic tables and benches scattered around the park. Uh the clock tower is right here. And then this is the proposed site plan for the park. Um once it's uh developed, we've got additional on-site parking here. We've got a new playground here. We've got a splash pad, a new restroom facility that go from the two two uh restrooms to three. Um this uh restroom facility will have a large roof overhang so that there'll be picnic tables underneath it to get people out of out of the sun, out of the rain if it happens to be raining. There is a picnic shelter on the south side of the splash pad. This is the splash pad here in the middle. Um again, the playground. Then we've got the stage with the seating area for the stage which will have a gentle slope um upwards if you will from the stage to the back of about 3%. So it' be very gradual. Uh but there will be the the back of the the back of this oval is about 7 feet uh taller or higher in elevation than the concrete slab is that's in front of the stage. [9:55] **Eric Carlson:** This is kind of an image of what it will look like if you were standing in the middle of that oval looking at the stage. You can see the screen on the right hand side there and you can see the stage itself. Uh we're planning to have some lighting associated with the stage and some speakers out in the park. Um so that when we do movies in the park that people there attending will be able to hear um the movie if you will uh without having us to blast the sound from the stage itself. This is an image of the stage um kind of in the evening if you will. And then this is just a floor plan of the stage. And so the rooms here on the right referred to as a green room or the room that the the band uses to get ready and or um cool down uh in during during their performance. We got we got a restroom. We've got a storage room. [10:46] **Eric Carlson:** We've got an electrical room and a mechanical room. This is the restroom facility. Again, three three different restrooms here. The large roof overhang to create some shade and some uh get out of the weather on both sides of it with picnic tables underneath it underneath it. This just a different view or different image of that. And here's what the floor plan looks like for that. So, questions that parks committee members may have about what we're planning for at Kelly Park. I I will say that um so the council's scheduled to approve the um guaranteed maximum price amendment to the contract we have with Krauss Anderson at the next at the next council meeting which is a week from tonight uh Thursday, May 8th. May 8th y questions. [11:42] **Committee Chair:** So Eric, there's quite a bit of grass area in the park. Is that all going to be uh seated for grass or is some of it going to be sided or— [11:59] **Eric Carlson:** we haven't we we I'm I'm not sure what's being seated and what's being solded, but a little bit of both. It the whole thing is being irrigated. Um I didn't highlight it very well, but so as a part of the new splash pad, there will be an underground vault that collects the water from the splash pad. That water will be reused to irrigate the park. Um, and so that's one way we're trying to do a better job of being environmentally environmentally sensitive. Um, so the entire park will be irrigated. We'll have a a a a great opportunity to be able to to grow healthy turf in the park. [12:31] **Committee Chair:** Okay. I can't go back. Put the put the site plan up, please. Thanks. Any other questions, members? Nothing. Guess we're good. [12:51] **Eric Carlson:** Okay. Thanks. [13:02] **Eric Carlson:** Um, so we're done with Kelly Park. Uh, next is the 2025 neighborhood park project plan update. All right. Again, m Mr. Chair, members of the committee, um just kind of a brief overview of the neighborhood park plan. As you recall, we spent um a lot of 2024 meeting in neighborhood parks, talking to people, reading survey and feedback information to determine what we're going to do in our neighborhood parks. And ultimately, uh the parks committee, um recommended to the city council the adoption of this neighborhood park plan, uh which the council did adopt, uh at the end of December. So we have been using that document um to move our park plans for our park improvement plans forward within our neighborhood parks. [13:48] **Eric Carlson:** So based on that plan um we've put together a list of parks that will be improved in in each of the years as outlined on the slide that's up on the screen right now. Um, I will highlight that there are three parks on the 25 uh list. That being Apple Valley East, Belmont, and Delaney are the three parks that we're going to delay till 2026. And the reason for that delay is that with all of the other projects we have going on, it it boils down to a workload issue for us internally. And so we're we're planning to delay those three parks until 2026, which the list is long in 2026 as well. Um so there might be some changes there as well. Um but we're doing the best we can to deliver park improvements to folks as quickly as we can, but we also need to be able to do it responsibly and make sure that we're um doing a good job at that. [14:51] **Eric Carlson:** So we've been working with uh a consulting firm, HKGI, on the development of these plans. Um, we knew that and we one of our goals is to make sure that as we make these improvements that we're addressing any ADA issues that might be out there in our park system. We're finding that to be a little bit more substantial than what we had originally thought. Um, but we are wanting to make sure that we address ADA issues as we work through all of these park plans in our neighborhood parks and all of our other projects as well. [15:20] **Eric Carlson:** um like we have been doing with the uh park amenity plan process in 24, we are trying to do a good job of getting feedback from the community. Um and so um over the last 30 days, um residents have had an opportunity to go to our website, look at what we're specifically planning to do in in the parks that we're planning to make improvements in in 2025 and give us some feedback. We're using that feedback to make sure that we're we're doing the right thing. And as we discussed earlier at the informal meeting, we heard some feedback that suggests we need to make some small tweaks to what we're planning and specifically um that was at Green Leaf North um where we had gotten feedback earlier that suggested we were going to um get not have a basketball court there. While the feedback we got at this point, it was that maybe we should keep it. So, we had the discussion that we'll we'll be keeping that. So, just a a couple small tweaks to make sure that we're responding to what the community is telling us. We're also working with our engineering department on some storm water needs that we have in our city in the southwest part of town. Uh, and that would happen in Duchess Panock and Greening Park, and I'll get into that here a little bit. [16:30] **Eric Carlson:** So the the parks with the squares around them are the parks that we're planning to make improvements in in 2025. Not on this list is the playground in the southeast corner. Uh, I'm sorry, the what we refer to as Cobblestone Southeast. Um, so at Carolwood, it'll be getting a new playground based on feedback we received from folks on through the survey process. It's going to be the Little Tikes playground that we um gave people the opportunity to choose. Two different choices. More people chose the Little Tikes playground versus the other one. We gave people the opportunity to tell us what kind of color scheme that they wanted. People are telling us they want us to use natural colors at Carowwood Park. Then we're also going to be doing some ADA trail improvements within this park. [17:21] **Eric Carlson:** At Cedar Isle. We'll be getting a new playground. Again, folks chose the Little Tikes version of that of of the options that they had. They selected natural colors. We'll be building a 60x60 basketball court uh with two hoops and be making ADA trail improvements in Cedar Isle Park. In Chaparel Park. Uh, the playground that was selected was Game Time. Again, natural colors and ADA trail improvements at Chaparel Park. Green Leaf North Park, the new playground manufactured by Burke. That's what was chosen. Natural colors. Uh, resurface courts. The courts are not old enough to replace, so we're resurfacing them, so they'll look new, but they won't be brand new, if you will. There's still life left in them. Um, so that includes the two tennis courts will be striped for tennis and pickle ball. And then we will be keeping the basketball the half the one hoop basketball court that's there now. Um, and then some ADA trail improvements. [18:13] **Eric Carlson:** And then as I mentioned the we'll be replacing the playground equipment at Cobblestone Southeast. Um, the one that was chosen there was Flagship and folks chose the neon colors for for uh that for that park. Um, and then there are trail there is a trail that runs through that piece of park property and that trail is being replaced as a part of the cobblestone trail project that's happening that'll be beginning here in sometime in May. And then we've got the Apple Ponds uh where we won't be replacing the playground until 2034 because it's not old enough to be replaced yet. But but we are addressing some other issues in the park. We will be relocating the basketball court from its current location to the existing sand volleyball court and removing the sand volleyball court. The new basketball court will be approximately 60 by 60 by 60 with a hoop on each end. We'll be making some ADA trail improvements. Um and then some back stop improvements to meet ADA. [19:07] **Committee Chair:** Eric, can you just quickly point out where the basketball is court is today and where it's going? [19:15] **Eric Carlson:** So the basketball court today is right here. This is the playground. This is the back stop for the ball field. The current basketball court is right here and it's being moved kind of into the outfield of the baseball softball field to where the sand volleyball court is, which is right here. But it this this distance is much further than that because these are two just separate sections of the park, if you will. And I don't have a a drawing to show you the actual uh dimensions. Apologize for that. [19:43] **Committee Chair:** Thank you. [19:44] **Eric Carlson:** Yep. And then these three parks were scheduled for 25, but we're delaying them till 26. Um, we did get feedback from folks with regards to what we're planning to do and the playground selections as far as uh the designs and and and the color schemes that folks wanted. And you can see at Belmont they chose the game time version, natural colors. At Delaney, they they chose the St. Croy Recre version using neon colors. And then at Apple Valley East, it was the Burke option using neon colors. And in most of these, we're replacing the tennis courts um with a tennis court, a pickle ball court, and a basketball court. Um and there'll be ADA improvements on the trails, and there'll be back stop improvements to meet ADA, etc. But all again, all of that will happen in 26. We will likely order the playground equipment though in 25. [20:30] **Eric Carlson:** Again, I mentioned uh storm water improvements at three parks in the southwest part of town, Duchess, Greening, and Penock. This is Penock Park. Um when we come in here and do and our engineering staff does the storm water improvements, it's that green area that you see on the map. This is where the existing tennis courts are. Um in the future that will be one tennis court, a pickle ball court, and a basketball court. The playground will get relocated to this location, which is the current basketball location because the existing uh playground equipment is right here. It'll be basically underwater when it rains a lot, but within the storm water treatment area. [21:20] **Eric Carlson:** Here we've got um uh greening park and we've got uh the ball field. We've got the existing basketball court, the existing playground, and so the storm water treatment will be kind of in the outfield, if you will, of the existing baseball softball field, but far enough from that field that it won't change who and how that baseball field softball field gets utilized. And then this is um this is green. Am I greening? Duchess, I'm sorry. So this is Duchess. Um, currently the playground is here underneath where the where the uh storm water will go. So the the basketball court is here. It'll get moved slightly. The playground equipment will go here. The baseball softball field will stay in the same location. [22:04] **Eric Carlson:** Depending on how successful engineering is at getting some state grant funding. There might be an underground uh storm water chamber that gets installed in this park um then covered back up, but you will still be able to use the green space on top of it for the baseball field, baseball softball field. Um, but this just shows where it might be located should we be successful in getting some grant dollars to help fund that project. Any questions on what we're planning to do in the neighborhood parks? [22:34] **Committee Chair:** So, um, the neighborhood parks that we're doing this year, when do we expect to start actual construction work and how long do we expect the parks will be closed? Um, just kind of on average. [22:45] **Eric Carlson:** Sure. So, we will be going to the city council for authorization to go to bid here at the end of May. Um, and then we will be awarding bids um in um August or excuse me, July or August. I'm sorry, July. July. In July. And so contractors will get started in August. And I would expect it will take the better part of the fall to get through those projects and get things uh wrapped up hopefully um before snow flies in November, December, whenever it decides to snow this year. [23:13] **Committee Chair:** Okay. Thank you, Eric. [23:14] **Craig:** How many different um playground manufacturers are we using for the all the different playgrounds? [23:22] **Eric Carlson:** Um this year, I believe it's four different playground manufacturers. Burke, um landscape structures, St. Croy Recreation, and Northland Rec or Little Tikes. So, four different ones in the five five or six parks that we're doing this summer. [23:36] **Craig:** How do you choose those for each park or what what was your criteria? Did is pricing did you go to say we want this in the in a park? Can you did all four of them give pricing on each park or how how did you do that? [23:53] **Eric Carlson:** So we we told vendors how much we were willing to spend on on playground equipment and they were able to show us what they could do for that in all of the different parks and so then we selected two different versions um and then shared that with neighborhoods if you will and then they picked which one they liked the best if you will. [24:14] **Craig:** Okay. So, pricing did have a— [24:19] **Eric Carlson:** pricing pricing and then but each each vendor approaches it a little bit differently. You know, they have different swings. They have different slides. They have different climbers. And none of them said, you know, Little Tikes as an example didn't say, "Well, here's our neighborhood playground. You can do this in all five parks." They they had a different plan for each single park, if you will. [24:43] **Craig:** Okay. Does that answer your question? It does. Thank you. [24:45] **Jessica Merchant:** So, um, in some of the comments that you've shared with us, a lot of people had feedback on the, uh, surface underlying the playground. Um, I understand that there's some ADA requirements with surface selection. Can you explain that just so people understand why we're going with the surfaces that we do under the playgrounds? [25:05] **Eric Carlson:** Yep. Great question. Thanks for bringing it up and and helping clarify. So, as a part of the parks amenity plan, we we at least from my perspective clearly indicated to folks that we would be switching from what today is basically a sand-based system to what when we replace this all will be a engineered wood fiber system. Um, and the main reason we're doing that is because um engineered wood fiber is considered to be ADA accessible. And so because we have to make sure that our new playgrounds are ADA accessible, we're choosing to use um engineered wood fibers. [25:46] **Eric Carlson:** Um we could choose to use pour-in-place rubber like we are doing at um Redwood as an example. Um the challenge with using pour-in-place rubber is that it's extremely expensive, way more expensive than we than we had than we would have had planned to invest in neighborhood parks. Um so we will have some parks in our system that will be pour-in-place rubber. So, if a family has a uh an individual that happens to be in a wheelchair, that would be the best place for them to go and be able to use the playground equipment. However, um in most our neighborhood parks, we'll be using engineered wood fiber. Still considered ADA accessible. Not as nice as pour-in-place rubber, but certainly more budget friendly than pour-in-place rubber. [26:24] **Jessica Merchant:** Thank you. [26:26] **Eric Carlson:** Yep. [26:27] **Committee Chair:** Any other questions? Um then it comes to item C, Dakota County Parks, greenways and natural system 2050 vision plan. [26:38] **Eric Carlson:** All right, Mr. Chair, members of the committee. Um so Dakota County Parks obviously they run the parks within the county system and they have been working on updating their master plan or their their 2050 vision plan. They started this a little bit more than a year ago and they are looking for feedback from folks. Um so that if if you you and and as an example, Lebanon Hills Park is a Dakota County park. It's not a city of Apple Valley park while though parts of it are in the city of Apple Valley. It's not an Eagan park while parts of it are in the city of Eagan. It's a Dakota County park paid for um through the your taxes if you will that you pay into Dakota County. And so they're looking to um update their park system plan for all of the parks that they have countywide. Um and so I'm just going to very quickly without going through the details of all the slides, I'm going to very quickly go through their slides. [27:39] **Eric Carlson:** You can find this, anyone could find this presentation on their website. Um they are hosting some open houses to gather community feedback and input. And so I would encourage you or anybody that's watching to either go to their website and fill out their their community feedback tools that they have on their website or go to their one of their open houses and give them some face to face feedback if if that's what you want to do. [28:03] **Eric Carlson:** And I can't advance the slide so we'll let Kayla do that for me. So this just an overview and again I'm not going to read all of these words on the screen and I'm not I didn't put this together. The county put this together. So, I'm I might stumble through some of this a little bit if you will. So, I apologize for that. Um, but from an overview perspective, they started their process back in the spring fall of 2024 doing research and community engagement. They actually came and met with um all the staff of all the different cities significant cities within the county to talk about, you know, what are our plans, what are their plans, how can we maybe cooperate or do things together, um, whatever the case might be. [28:43] **Eric Carlson:** Um then over the fall of 24 and the winter of 25 they started to develop a draft of what their framework was going to look like and uh put a starting to put a plan together. And now they're kind of showing that draft plan to the public so they can get feedback. What tweaks do they need to make to their plan much like the tweaks we made to everything that we've been doing as a part of our park system. Um they're hoping to adopt a plan sometime this summer of 2025. [29:13] **Eric Carlson:** Next slide there. K. Thanks. Um, so really what they're updating is their 2030 vision. Um, making it relevant for 2050. And you're going to be able to give that to me so I can do it myself. Thank you very much. All right. Um, and they're they're they're as the county changes with with both population and how it's made up, how that population is made up, they're trying to react to all of those different changes and the and the different uh trends that they see happening within their system. [29:40] **Eric Carlson:** So again, they've put together their draft plan. This is what it look like if it looks like. If you would go to their website, this is what you'll see. Um, and they have different sections uh within their plan. They have some key findings that they've outlined from the analysis and the community input that they've uh taken so far. And they've put together this vision framework that includes core values, goals, mission, and vision. Their vision is they want to be they want to uh they want to protect their the natural portions of their park system. They want to make sure that their plan uh reflects what the community is saying and they want to be able to connect all of that together whether that be through physical improvements like trails and whatnot or the programs that they offer etc. [30:27] **Eric Carlson:** Um they have a bunch of core values. Um, and I again I'm not going to read these. And then they have their vision framework with a bunch of different goals. And they're hoping that the plan can just provide them with some systemwide guidance on how they're going to deal with land conservation, how they're going to deal with park and greenway development. Um, are there any new parks that they want to have or need to have or any greenway areas that they want to have or need to have? [31:01] **Eric Carlson:** And so these are just areas within the county that they're looking to potentially have those greenways or their new or new parks and make connections. I mean, as as people that use the park system, I think I think you recognize that people really love to have trail loops. Um, and so we we do it on a small scale. If we're trying to do it on a small scale, they're trying to do it on a little bit of a larger scale. [31:26] **Eric Carlson:** This shows where they might try to add some park land within their systems. Nothing really impacting Apple Valley per se. Depending on your perspective, that's either good or not so good. And then from a greenway perspective, um this is what they're hoping to do. Um you can see Apple Valley there kind of in this relatively in the center of the screen. And you can see that pinkish line running through there. Well, that's the North Creek Regional Greenway. And so we've obviously been a partner with Dakota County on that for a number of years and we're making some significant progress on that. We've got plans to help um further that process through the Johnny Cake Ridge Park West Park. Um you've seen some of the kind of the draft plans for going through that part part of the park. [32:05] **Eric Carlson:** There's plans to put an underpass underneath County Road 42. Um last year the county constructed parts of the North Creek Regional Greenway on the south side of Cobblestone Lake through Corey Park. Um they're coming up through all of the the water treatment areas within uh the development there uh by Berles Bayer's etc. So again, we're working in concert with Dakota County to make that happen. And then they then over time they will try to implement what their what their vision is and and use policy guidelines and budgeting to be able to make it happen. [33:03] **Eric Carlson:** So from from their perspective, next steps is they they they'll need to create some operational plans, some natural resource management plans. They're going to want to update their visitor guide uh plan in their greenway guide book. And then I mentioned earlier that there's an opportunity for people to participate in some open houses. They've got um uh online they've got people can go to their website, search vision plan. There's a community open house Thursday, May 8th from 5:30 to 7:00 at Lebanon Hills Regional Park at the visitors center. So if you want to go in person, you can do that. And we would encourage anyone that might be listening at home to do that. [33:33] **Eric Carlson:** They're hoping to update the plan in June, get a final version of it ready in July and for its adoption, and then um start updating their operational plans that are associated with their vision plan in 25 and 26. And I'm pretty sure that's the last slide, so I'm not going to click again. Any questions on that at all? [33:53] **Committee Chair:** I do not believe so. [33:55] **Eric Carlson:** Okay, that's all I have then for from a presentation perspective. [33:58] **Committee Chair:** All right. Uh then we're down to number six, committee staff discussion items. Are we what are we doing with committee staff? [34:17] **Eric Carlson:** Yeah, we don't we don't have anything tonight for this part of the agenda unless the committee members have questions they want us to address. [34:25] **Committee Chair:** Okay. Any questions? Nothing. All right, we will move on. Input from committee members on the agenda. Um, we've got a couple things listed on here. Um, I think that first one is was from you, wasn't it, Jess? [34:50] **Jessica Merchant:** I I think it was more the youth athletics, but I'm happy to see them both. Update or uh not—No, I'm sorry. This—Yeah, the second one. update on the city's relationship with uh local youth athletic associates or Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Were you just looking for uh an update or— [35:00] **Jessica Merchant:** Yeah. And usually it's part of the annual review and I know you got a lot going on so just catching up on that. [35:05] **Eric Carlson:** Yep. So we've got these two items for future meetings: the update on joint powers agreements and just kind of an update on youth athletics and and as we get a little bit more time, we'll put together some information and bring it to the committee um as part of one of our meetings here in the future. [35:28] **Committee Chair:** Okay. And if there's anything else you want us to add to the list, please feel free to do so. [35:34] **Lisa Hiebert:** Eric, was there any interest in sharing what we learned at the well, not at but from LSI's playground stuff? Is there is there anything you want to want to share with the group based on that or are you thinking the—Well, the big takeaway that I thought was really interesting was they um they described a plan for how they target what specific things they put in different community playgrounds. [36:01] **Lisa Hiebert:** So they would get input from the schools. They would get input on like like let's say you know these three elementary schools have mostly uh most of their special ed programs are for autistic children or maybe most of the children who are physically disabled are in the programs at these two elementary schools. And then trying to be more strategic. That assumes that the children that go to those schools live there, which may or may not be true, but they have they had a bunch of guidelines for how they work through that. And I don't know, I mean, at this point, if something like that is even feasible, but it seems like it would be a good time to do something like that since we're doing the playgrounds now. Um their big thing was thinking about like which which specific things you're trying to target in which area like that would be most beneficial for different groups of kids. [37:03] **Craig:** I've learned a lot about ADA and I I've learned a lot about the ADA discussions as part of these projects and so I don't know if it's worth a a point but I'd welcome in anybody that's you know advised us or not to give us a perspective on how well we're doing and how we're trending with with you know ADA compliance. I mean we just just in the informal meeting we're having a great discussion and so I just wonder if that's an interest point for the community too. Okay. [37:30] **Jessica Merchant:** One thing that um I wouldn't mind discussing at some point, I uh believe maybe it was this past weekend or the weekend before. I think the uh Apple Valley Eco Advocates helped with um a planting I think at Wildwood Park um in conjunction with the city, which I think is really cool. Um something that kind of crossed my mind. I saw it go by on the uh Dakota County Parks presentation is um volunteer opportunities and kind of getting a better understanding of um when when and where people are able to help or how we can create opportunities for people to help because um you know my my daughter loves doing that sort of thing and being able to go to a park where she helped plant a tree or whatever I think would be cool. And I think that there are probably others in the city that would think um similarly. So, if there's any way that we can get um kind of an overview or just as things are going if we can look for opportunities uh to create volunteer events like that, I think that'd be pretty cool. [38:40] **Committee Chair:** Okay. It's always buckthorn. Always Buckthorn. Uh, I had just one thing that I was thinking about. Um, Redwood Park, obviously, we've got the master plan and we're going to be redoing that park completely. Um, and there is a space on there for a um sign, a monument sign for welcome type sign. And I know that's not park and wreck. That's the city that would be doing that. Has there been any discussion with that as far as where that might be at? [39:21] **Eric Carlson:** So, Mr. Chair, members committee. So, what what what you're referring to is that welcome to Apple Valley sign, right? As opposed to a park ID monument. Just so that we're all on the same page. Yep. Um, and so there's we, as part of the planning process, we have kind of held out a space, if you will, in the northwest corner of the park south of County Road 42. So that's what's that street? Elm—Elm. So Elm and 42. So the Redwood or Redwood. So the southeast corner of the Redwood County Road 42 uh intersection. We've held out a space for a future "Welcome to Apple Valley" sign. [39:56] **Eric Carlson:** Um, I know internally there's there's been some conversations about about what what might that look like, how might it get funded, what other locations in town might a sign like that be um appropriate and or what are the challenges with that with regards to right-of-way—right-of-way and you know, MNDOT's got rules and the county's got rules, etc. about what you can and can't do. So, there's been I'll call it limited conversations. I wouldn't call it extensive conversations at this point about that. And that's about as far as it's gotten at this point in time. [40:41] **Committee Chair:** What would be nice is obviously when we get the Redwood Park redone if that sign were to be part of it. And I'm just wondering if uh this committee would uh benefit by sending something to the city council urging them maybe to at least on that sign start the process as far as how it's going to be financed um what it's going to look like so that when the Redwood Park itself is done that sign would also have a chance of being done fairly close. [41:20] **Eric Carlson:** And that's certainly the a prerogative that the parks committee can have. And I'd say maybe we could put that as a future agenda item to discuss further. [41:30] **Committee Chair:** Okay. Anything else from committee members? Nothing. [41:35] **Eric Carlson:** Mr. Chair, I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, members of committee. As we mentioned in the informal, want to mention on camera, if you will, a couple opportunities for people to come out and join us as we celebrate some of the stuff that we've been doing. Um, so on Thursday, June 12th at 4:45, we're planning a ribbon cutting ceremony at the uh, Splash Valley Water Park. So, we would invite the public to come join us on Thursday, June 12th at 4:45 to help us open up, if you will, uh, the new Splash Valley Water Park. Um, and there'll be some fun events and activities happening that day after we cut the ribbon. And I don't know, Nate, kind of putting you on the spot, but can you maybe highlight some of what we have planned? [42:17] **Nate:** So, we got a ribbon cutting that'll be there. We'll have some refreshments and beverages. Also, from 5 to 6, we'll be opening up the park for free. So, bring your towels, bring your swimsuits, bring your eyes, walk around the entire building, see all the changes that were made. But there will be the opportunity to enter that that facility for free at that day as a preview. [42:40] **Eric Carlson:** And then on Thursday, May 22nd at 6:15 p.m., we're planning on a groundbreaking ceremony at Hayes at the Hayes Youth Athletic Complex. The ceremony will be held on the West View Elementary property, fairly close to their playground that they have on the south side of the school. So, if you're able to attend or if you're in the public and you're wanting to attend, we'd encourage you to park at the Westview Elementary School parking lot, then walk down to the site, uh, which is again just south of the playground. And we're just going to do a very brief groundbreaking ceremony for that project. We'll be the we expect that the city council uh will be in attendance. We we are planning and hope that the school district uh personnel will and staff and board will be able to be there uh to celebrate the partnership that we have with the school district to make that project happen. We're also obviously inviting the two youth athletic associations to be there in some form or fashion and just want to do a quick groundbreaking uh to celebrate that project. [43:48] **Committee Chair:** Okay, very good. That one will not have any refreshments. That's just a turn the dirt and and go to a council meeting. How about like mini shovels for everyone to turn their own little shovel? [44:03] **Eric Carlson:** We we'll have plenty of shovels and so we're hoping that the parks committee members will be there because then we'll, you know, give you an opportunity to uh to uh lift a shovel full of dirt and we'll take a nice pictures uh uh as a part of that process. [44:15] **Committee Chair:** All right. Very good. Anything else? Did I miss anything, Nate? All right. Oh, we're good. We're good. All right. Uh, we are down to the adjournment. [44:33] **Craig:** I will motion to adjourn. [44:35] **Committee Chair:** I have a motion from, uh, Craig. [44:37] **Jessica Merchant:** I'll second. [44:38] **Committee Chair:** and a second from Jess. All those in favor signify by saying I. [44:39] **Group:** I. [44:40] **Committee Chair:** Opposed. That passes. Meeting is adjourned. [44:41] [Music] [45:01] [Music] [Music]