e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e call to order the uh February 10th meeting of the Cottage Grove Parks Recreation and Natural Resources Commission uh roll call take him did everyone have time to read the agenda entertain a motion to approve the agenda I approve the agenda from our last meeting second all in favor I I I any opposed no we have a chance to read the minutes from December 9th we'll entertain a motion to approve the minutes motion to approve um I'll second all in favor all right that goes open forum doesn't look like we have any tonight all right so up first is a presentation on pickle ball programming thank you chair members of the commission I'm actually going to turn it over to our Recreation specialist Noah and he will go through pickle ball programming for cage Grove is it up on your screen it is not not okay I guess I don't know if they're even push the PC therea all right thank you Parks Commission for having me uh my name is Noah Ram I'm a recreation specialist here at the city of Cottage Grove and I'm excited to talk about our first year of pickleball so to start off I'm going to talk a little bit about our Advisory Board they are a six member group that is all volunteer based that is the eyes and ears of pickle ball in Cottage Grove so they date back to the opening days at Granada back in 2019 they started about a 20 to 30 member volunteer Club at Granada Park and they have evolved and grown into this awesome city-led program that we have today and they are a great resource for all things pick aall they're very knowledgeable and they are are eyes and ears out at the courts so moving into leagues our first year as a city Le program we offered a summer league um we excuse me we had nine men's doubles teams labeled MD on the graph and 17 co-ed doubles so 26 teams all in all not bad for a first Go Round And then for the fall we open it up for singles so we added eight men's singles as you see on the graph along with women women's doubles and women's singles so for our fall league we got 49 teams which is almost double from the summer which is a great sign of things to come couple photos on there of our summer and fall Winns and then just a flyer from our our fall season moving on to our pickleball club we had 230 members for the year 2024 that is a lot bigger than our volunteer-led 30 group or 30 member group that we had beforehand uh as a club member you get access to Priority court hours at both glacia Valley and Granada Park so in the morning we split it Club hours at glacia Valley midday at Granada Park and in the evenings at Granada excuse me glacia Valley one thing to note as if you are a club member or not Club member while these priority times are happening for club members um open Play is happening at the other Courts at the same time so there's always courts being used for club play and courts being used for open Play we offered one tournament for 20124 um it was in sponsorship with the St Paul Park and Newport Lions Club uh it was a great day we made it a whole Saturday in September as 22 teams had co-ed doubles big and little was a hit and our open singles this team pictured in the middle traveled all the way from Lacrosse Wisconsin so it's pretty cool to see they made it out to Cottage Grove and then our flyer for the tournament here's a snapshot of our budget for 2024 um adding a new park adding a new program pickle ball at glaa Valley there's quite a few startup expenses so we anticipate that number to obviously decrease after this year after 2024 um but couple things that include our our pick a ball shed some maintenance items such as brooms blowers squeegees all that fun stuff that keeps those courts up and running all the time uh moving into 2025 got a lot of great ideas we want to increase our club membership to 300 members that opens February 24th um in conjunction with that we want to shorten our club windows from 5 hours to three hours just to promote more um pick ball a better pick ball atmosphere and more memb at the courts at one time want to update some signage includ including a QR code on site to make it easy to register for the club adding a spring tournament as pictured in the flyer to add so we'll have a spring and fall tournament and the demand for split level leagues is there as you see on the flyer we're offering competitive and wreck level we didn't have that in 2024 so splitting our league offerings and then adding Youth and adult lessons uh looking at our 2025 calendar we're going to have three offerings of League spring summer and fall we'll have those two tournaments the spring and fall tournaments and lessons coming up in July here's just a general snapshot of our budget for 2025 with the anticipation of more club members we expect that Revenue to go up and the excuse me and the increase in League offerings and League teams per season we also increase that to be we also excuse me we also expect that to be uh a revenue generator for 2025 so in conclusion pickle ball was very successful in Cottage Grove um there's demand for more after tournaments and leagues we sent out League surveys and I think out of 30 teams only one team said they weren't going to come back cuz they wiped the floor with everybody else but the and is there for pickle ball in Cottage Grove and lastly I want to thank our parks department that did a fantastic job at ensuring the courts were available anytime people wanted to play so thank you are there any questions thank you Noah are there questions or comments awesome thank you Parks Mission good job thank you for the presentation thank you it's exciting to see all that interest yeah it's awesome yeah so what time are the lessons going to be are you doing evening and weekend lessons great question um so for adults lessons we feel it's appropriate to bring in somebody certified to teach those intermediate more advanced lessons so well at here her schedule is probably midday to start just because there's not a high demand for Club hours and for open Play hours so starting kind of midday see in the demand that we get for that then same with our in-house youth lessons will be about the same of midday to start and what age do you start you that's a great question um we're going to split it probably 8 and 11 years old 8 to 11 and then 11 to 14 or so but again it's all Up For Debate you okay great thank you thank you Noah thank you so up next action items uh Park naming for Peterson Park potentially thank you chair members of the commission uh we have an application for a park naming in front of you it's a park that is currently not uh not really in existence I would say I mean we we own a little bit of property down the lake but it's not really a publicly accessible um property right now but as development is pending we'll have the property around the lake which will include Trails probably small playground picnic shelter parking lot things like that so uh we do have a request before you I included the park naming policy that tells you a little bit about the process obviously we take Park naming very serious because to my knowledge I don't think we've renamed a park so um once the name is picked it usually sticks either for a really long time or forever so it's a it's a three meeting process at minimum so today I'm just submitting you the application I hope you had time to read through it I can certainly answer any questions you might have or you can ask me to bring information back um or generate a list or whatever it is you want and I can bring some information back for the second meeting for for more in-depth review um but today not looking for any direction unless the commission decides that um at any time you can deny the request with a majority decision um but when this is all done it's a recommendation to city council who does make the final decision by resolution so I will um answer any questions you have or look for some um direction from the commission at this point questions from the commission I thought this area was Michael's point is that a potential Housing Development or is that attached to it or they just make that up yep commissioner Brown Michael's point is the development on the south end that's been there I want to say maybe 10 10 years or so so that's the Little slice of property we own along the lake but the north side of that lake is has a pending development right now that's coming in and when that happens we'll we'll pick up the entire property around the lake and then add trails and the park itself the the park will be on the north side of the lake just west of Jamaica thank you I should say the active part of the park and the parking lot anyone else have questions for Zach so I live is it the development um north of um The Preserve is this where this park is this yes commissioner that's correct that that would be the so Michael's point would be just north of The Preserve that's the south end of the property that's there right now and again to to the north of that lake is where a future development here in the next year or two is pending and so this is the park that's going to go in there correct okay yeah cuz I received a letter from py and it had the whole development listed and it didn't have any open space or Park listed on oh what I you see it though cuz there was that space there that was blocked out it looked like that was Park area even though they didn't say that was that I was kind of hoping I didn't see that letter I don't know no yeah cuz I we had reached out to py cuz I believe they're the ones who are developing are part of that development process and said oh well we'd really like to see open space or park because I think it's like almost like 90 close to 90 homes and close to 90 town home so that's a pretty large development yeah so so to my knowledge Commissioners um Rachel is it Rachel development Rachel which is also the company that's building at um Mississippi Dunes so they're the Builder but they they I shouldn't say they're the Builder they're the developer of the lots and then they sell off lots to people like or companies like py and others so I don't know yeah py must be one of the players in that development but there could be multiple okay CU yeah it was a letter from pte and then I think we got another letter from the Planning Commission and so there was like multiple Communications and the original thing it just looked like there was going to be no park or no no open space and I was like oh I'm pretty sure the city's not going to have that go through with and it's a good and it's a good talking point commissioner if the Planning Commission did just review that development at their last meeting and and the parks and trails were a part of that conversation there's some residents there that are opposed to having the trail put in at Michael's Point behind their property so there was some debate on that and um but they talk about the development as a whole so you can either look I can help you get the information from the pack or you can look up the packet or look it up that video as well from the last meeting so looking at the proposed names we don't have any parks right now now they're named with a two people and a last name right we just have like Peter Thompson and Hazen P Moore but we don't have any that would be like Roger and Myra Peterson uh commissioner or chair Larson we actually did just denzer park is officially Jack and Marley denzer Park okay thought it that's the only other one okay and I guess if you want yeah we have the trail too for Conway and ktie Olsson we did that one too so we did those consecutively tra yeah okay any other questions we have two more meetings to uh to to go further so unless there Commissioners unless there's a a motion to deny it you don't have to take action tonight and I'll just bring it back to the next meeting I'm not seeing one so public Landscapes Initiative Program thank you chair members of the commission uh periodically we review review the public Landscapes initiative and just a real brief summary on that program essentially when development occurs and trees are removed from a property for development whether it's commercial industrial or housing uh if there's a if there's if it results in a negative impact in terms of tree quantities the developer is responsible to either replant trees on that property or um they can give money back to the public Landscapes initiative which then we take that money and we we can do landscaping around the community as a whole so any public ways or Parks or public facilities or things like that so we've done uh lots of tree plantings like I said and lots of RightWay rways and Parks uh we've done habitat restoration with these funds so uh what's before you now is just a guiding document that that sets out a five to six year plan and then we work with city council to get that into the Capital Improvements plan in the fall but uh we haven't reviewed this in a couple years so I wanted to get in front of the Parks Commission to get your your feedback and your blessing for the the program and it it is a malleable document so if there's if there's uh places or programs you think there there needs to be an infill of landscaping um we can certainly discuss that but otherwise looking for an approval of the public Landscapes initiative any questions or comments I did want to ask so I was reading through it it says we have a a fund balance of $537,000 is that because developers have been paying into this or is it just always been that big it's it's es it es and flows um right now it's a little bit higher than I than I've seen but big one big project can take that you know can drop that down pretty quickly so um like the Hamlet Park like when we did the Hamlet Park expansion we were down to probably $200,000 a handful of years ago so it's all development based and and the money kind of es and flows throughout through that fund but typically I would say we're in that $350,000 range so okay I think that's the last time we saw it was when it was about half of that yeah so okay y any other questions all right we can keep moving East Ravine actually I think if I could I'd like to make a motion to adopt the public landscape initiative and place on file uh so if we can get a motion a second discussion and then a vote I'll second any discussion all in favor I I I thanks Dave welcome thank you now we can move to the east Ravine Park and trail master plan tell me I don't have to do this next time if I get the right computer hook up I can do it all from over there but back to the old way today oh always it they're hard to deal with [Laughter] yeah 's see all right chair U Mr chair members of the commission want to talk about the East Ravine Park and trail master plan that the commission adopted I I think it was a few years ago and that was all um trying to get ahead of future development which is something we've done um for for for decades right of of we know a development might be coming and we want to make sure that we're analyzing the potential for Park and open space to make sure we get on that map before development gets uh too close or occurs so we we spent quite a few months uh studying this and then that that those Maps get adopted into the comprehensive plan um but now that development seems like it's becoming it's it's becoming more uh closer to us the council had a a strategic planning workshop and in uh a couple of weeks ago a couple Saturdays ago and one of the comments uh or one of the things staff brought to them was there was concern of you know if we have six parks in there the Trailway connections and then a major community park that there's going to be a funding shortage uh unlike 15 years ago Park dedication doesn't carry the weight of the cost of those parks and the land acquisition often times we're lucky to even get uh full land dedication uh Robert's lake is a good example of one of the parks where we probably AR get we probably won't even have enough money to to acquire all the property or it might be a wash and then then the city's going to be responsible to build those Parks out so building Park parking lots playgrounds Trails picnic shelters and whatever else might go in there so it was a moment to sit down with Council and say um we know there's a deficit it's a it's a considerable def deficit I mean it's millions of dollars and try to get some direction from Council in terms of uh how they want to see that process play out you know start planning for some of that funding now talk grant opportunities talk about different land acquisition strategies and all those things and we talked about all those things and there's not a clear answer right now um but Council wanted to hear from the Parks Commission and take another look at the Park and trail plan and kind of affirm or edit the Park and trail master plan to make sure that we are um uh still on board with the plan the way it is now there is you know when you look at our service radiuses which I showed in the memo um there is quite a bit of overlap in there but I will say as staff when we when we look at acquisition far into the future we want to make sure we have more on there rather than less because it's harder to add than it is to subtract um so it is an opportunity for the for the commission to take a look at it um I'm happy to ask answer any questions I hope you had opportunity to read it I know I've had this plan in front of you several times and really I would say speaking on behalf of the council and staff I think what we're looking for is probably not an answer tonight but any comments or feedback is helpful um and when I say not an answer tonight maybe not a specific Direction tonight um but the direction more to to bring back some information to give you answer some questions you may have and um but at the end of this I mean we can leave the plan as is and then just wait for development to occur and deal with those things deal with some of those um things on a situational basis um we can adjust those service radiuses and look at eliminating a park or two parks we could take a deeper dive into the uh and study you know the natural resources of the area um commissioner olon and I had talked about that of maybe there's some additional studies that we can bring back that gives you guys some more information on why are we protecting this park a good example is there's a park on there that's a small Park um it's where a water tower is going to go well that that property probably will be acquired through our Utility Fund so we'll have that property there similar to metal grass Park up off 70th Street so those are opport we want to take advantage might not have any pristine natural resources but it's an opportunity to get some land and build a small Park and the other thing to consider too is everything we've projected in terms of budgeting is for neighborhood parks um a larger Community Park you can scale back to Community Park doesn't need to have four ball fields and four rectangular fields and some of those things we have in there you can scale back neighborhood parks and we we haven't done them in a while but you can do mini parks where it's just a you know a picnic shelter and a playground and that's about it and on street parking so um right now we're we're kind of planning for the for the higher budget neighborhood parks and Community Parks um but those can always be scaled back too so through a lot at you um but really want it to be more of an open conversation and at the end of this the mayor and Council are looking for some guidance and feedback from the commission to make sure that this is the plan we want to pursue and if there's opportunities to do things better when I was reviewing this I mostly had questions um seeing Parks disappear from planning is always kind of scary to me because I think that's a point of Pride for our city and it provides so many resources um but when I think about potential for development I wonder about well what is that development going to look like are these going to be single family homes are they going to be um multif family units like we we're seeing a lot more growth of town homes and apartments and when we have that higher density of population we need different sizes of parks to meet those needs um so it's kind of hard to anticipate what we could move without having more details on that the types of development that we might see I'm also curious about um if there's potential for growth from the school district um we're seeing lots of overcrowding within our district right now I don't know if there's a possibility that a school might be built in this area um cuz schools also have green spaces that sometimes includes ball ball fields and playgrounds that could be shared for Community use and that might impact where we want to concentrate certain amenities um and also just to know the the personality of those areas as they develop CU our Parks all offer different unique things like when you look at still Ponds Park versus Peter Thompson Park one's really kind of passive and contemplative and the other one's really active with lots of things to do and just because they're close to each other doesn't mean they're meeting the same need so it's kind of hard to see how to alter it without knowing more about what it's going to look like those are great comments commissioner Brown and I've mentioned you know it's a great example if you have a if you have a um market rate apartment with a lot of young families versus if you use that same property for a a gated retirement community the need for a Park and trail I mean it's completely different so we don't really have those answers today and I think that's why we're not looking for a direct answer but it's um just great points and all things that we're going to have to consider and um I think that's what makes it challenging but but again looking for if there's any aha moments or um but but the answer might be like you said to to stay with the plan and then and wait see wait to see how development occurs sure like good so I agree with Susie's comments uh completely I and thank you for those I I'd like to better understand just what are the natural resources in this piece of property um that is part of the name of this commission and what I read said to me that the deepest lake in the city of Cottage Grove is on this property the um beginning of the Ravine that goes into the Cy's Park go Ravine Park is also on this property and so as we begin to think about developing it I think it falls to this group to make sure that we understand the natural resources that are in this property and what we might do in order to protect them and leverage them right because natural resources are for us to use not just necessarily to sit there but I feel like since I've been on this commission a couple of times we've been been surprised by the natural resources that existed in developments after the property became developable and no turning back and I'd like to avoid that while I'm on this commission um for this upcoming development so I'm somewhat concerned that the focus is entirely on parks there isn't a whole lot of focus on what Recreation we might be doing in this area nor is there anything that I could really find other than the mention of this Lake and this top of the Ravine or the North End of the Ravine relative to the actual natural resources in this area now I don't know how to answer that question but I'm asking it and I'm going to keep asking it till I find an answer thank you and if I may commissioner Olson I can we do have a natural resources inventory that does a pretty good job of the study I will say it's it's a it's from 1997 so um but this could be a uh a focus study for just that area that we could potentially go out and get some grant funding and do a updated natural resources management plan for this or natural resources inventory for this area so a little better study because since 1997 that lake is actually like I think it's tripled in size so things have changed so Zach when you said we're closer to actually obtaining this land and things like that what does that mean is that closer as in 10 years from now or closer as in coming soon uh there's at least a couple land owners that are actively engaged in selling and developing their property okay and then without the shops at Cottage Grove or the community center down on the south end of this would that still be would we want to keep that as part of this uh plan for the they were mini parks at the time but given it would probably be developed differently or could be developed differently would we want to change that I think the focus for this uh chair is that section between uh Ravine Park and uh 70th Street to the north that seems to be the main concern at the moment um we can look at the pl plan as a whole but I would say that that's probably the primary concern at the moment okay I think I think Susie you and I were probably the only two on the commission when we did this was it four years ago I remember a lengthy discussion about whether the neighborhood park should be on Ravine Parkway or nestled in the neighborhoods that's the part I remember and when you talk about the natural resources we talk mostly about the larger Park and the neighborhood parks were not part of that conversation so well I'd like to talk about the natural resources on the entire acreage not just where the park [Music] are any other questions or comments or so we we don't have enough money for the full dream is that the issue if you think of it as a checkbook no we couldn't write out a check for it but there's planning and there's there's strategies we can take right so it helps guide us if we know that we're going to stick with this plan then we know what our funding where we can estimate our funding Gap and now you can you can there's a myriad of ways you can you can manage that you can make smaller Parks you can put in less equipment you can uh identify Grant funds you can start to put away you know the council could put away money um through the levy or whatever else and start saving money towards that development so there's a there's a bunch of different ways we can um manage it but you can't manage it until you know what you're planning for so I think that's the feedback the council's looking for so something like should we prioritize another community park over neighborhood parks or vice versa or and that's a commissioner I think that's that's probably the way I should have explained it is you know if the commission says the number one feature in this neighborhood is that community park on the lake then I think that's an important that's an important direction from the commission that you know we want to make sure that that's built and it's built right the neighborhood parks may be um can be reprioritized or maybe there's we don't do all those neighborhood priority Parks or maybe there's enough of recreational amenities in that community park that you don't need all those in the neighborhood park so there's that's the type of conver that's the type of feedback they're looking for the mayor just happens to be here if you have questions specifically for the mayor he wasn't even here for this topic tonight well it sounds like it would be helpful to have information on natural resources specifically around this proposed Community Park as well as the neighborhoods around Parks e f and g since that seems to be the area that's more timely is that something that we could have access to in the next like couple of meetings it wouldn't have to be a real in-depth study necessarily but I'm thinking of like previously when we've had Park naming requests and we get like an inventory of these are the people who lived here and these are the build that were there and stuff like that correct yep yep I can bring all that back for the March meeting want and then do if there's proposed you know sales and stuff can do we have access to information about what type of development would be there if it's more single family or multif family or mix zone or I don't know all the right words but that kind of stuff I'm here my Bailey mayor ctage Grove thanks um I can just jump in a little bit um that entire area uh including where they they plan to put all the parks was Master Plan quite a few years ago and so the majority of the area at least the way it sits right now the majority of the area that would be near the the me the big Park uh appears it'll be single family as you get closer to like uh 70th Street or uh Keats Avenue or 19 uh you might see some medium and higher density now things can change I have not seen anything as of yet from this developer uh anything but for at this point single family but an example would be uh the Walter Source property um originally that whole area was going to be single family and now because of Bedrock uh they're putting in some town homes on top of the single family so when they the developers finally get in there and kind of look at what can be built in that there could be some tweaks do I see a major tweak in that particular area no I think the majority of it in that immediate area there uh predominantly the tank uh Farm uh will be uh single family okay that's helpful yep you got her any other questions since I'm up here well and and maybe this is more for Zach but does this area does that include the like water tower possibility kind of mini Park business too yes okay that level of detail I think would help us give a better idea of of whether we can make major tweaks to this plan I'll try to get some information from our community development I'm glad he was here because you never know what's a secret when it comes to development and I never I never want to say the wrong thing so thank you mayor and the corn stand will be no even that was one of the that was literally one brought that is very busy you know Farm inspired Park yeah they talked about with that roundabout that they're building right right there yeah yes yes so what's the formal way to do this do we say we table for more information uh chair I think I could probably help I I think um so just let me let me rephrase uh more information on potential development types you know the zoning and the planning for that and I'll I'll get more into detail with our community development so we can affirm what what I think we have planned there I'll find out if there's any potential School development I don't know of any now but we'll at least look into it and then a deeper dive on natural resources I probably won't come I I'll bring you the 1997 inventory but then I'll probably bring you an option to to look at um a potential new up uh up what's the word I'm looking for I will bring a proposal that you could look at to update the inventory so if those are the those are the directions I guess we could look for a motion to um move move that staff bring back those three items and I move that staff bring back those three items any I'll make a motion to Second all in favor hi hi sounds good thank you thank you up next is uh presentation of information on commissioner terms very simple uh chair and commission just uh once again giving you the uh term updates and February 28th is actually the last day of anybody's expiring term I've heard back from a few I don't think I've heard back from everybody so uh please take a look and let me know if you intend to or do not intend to serve another two years so that we can um fill your position if need be but we would love to have everybody back if possible noon say anything no action updates so thank you chair members of the commission uh looks like we have six updates from action that you've taken before denzer Park is off and running they did some grading last fall they'll get back in and do some more grading uh final grading this this spring right away you'll if you drive by denor Park you'll see there's an elevated area where we're going to put that picnic shelter up top where we can get a look into gray cloud um Dunes scientific and natural area so that burm is there but there's still some final grading uh there's even staking of where the trails are going to go and where the playground's going to go on the picnic shelter and all that so um that's coming right along we've ordered the playground we've ordered the picnic shelters um so so things are on scheduled to go in the spring as we all know Minnesota's weather is not always favorable so I wouldn't be surprised if it's a mid to late summer before this park actually uh gets up and functional um but we will get hard after that Granada Park parking uh we did take that to the uh Public Services Commission um and right now staff has a proposal to potentially do I can't did this commission advise to do the on the off street parking with the perpendicular parking is that what the Yeah so that's the eight spots over to the side yeah so Our intention is to um is to do that next spring or summer with in-house labor and get that done to add 10 spots or whatever it is so that that's going to move forward Zach excuse me you meant this summer right this coming summer right yes uh Cottage Grove Trailway Corridor habitat restoration Grant that's for the property underneath the power lines the city owned propert underneath the power lines uh between Hinton to the west and Imperial Avenue to the east that's an extension of the kadro Trailway Corridor habitat Corridor there uh we did uh remove a lot of invasive uh tree species and under underbrush and dead and dying Ash and box elder we did get uh quite a few calls and concerns on it but it seemed like most people I was able to talk to understood that what we're doing is a habitat restoration it's not a demolition so it's for the better it's for the longm term success of that area um so the conversations I had were real good obviously if you were on Facebook that was probably the conversation looked a little bit different but I will tell you the people I've talked to and the people I met with out on site and I was able to walk with uh they they seem to understand that this is a long-term investment and it's for the best so so that's going well we are going to try to do or we are going to do Arbor Day out there so a little tree replanting plan we'll plant some native um some different Native bushes like hazelnut bushes and some plum trees and some things that'll improve the with that there we were going to postpone that a little bit but there was uh quite a bit of concern about other restoration so we wanted to get to the community early and try to get some opportunities for them to participate in that project so that'll be fun ultman uh and Mississippi Dunes Park grants as you may recall we get $350,000 grants for each of those uh for Olman Park we do have the we expect the uh um uh plans and specifications and the bidding to go to council here soon actually it is out to to bid and then um so that Park will be starting hopefully sometime this Midsummer uh late summer it could potentially be a two-year project it could be a one-year project develop depending on the the contractor that gets chosen for that project but ultman park that Ballfield complex um that will start this coming year and then Mississippi Dunes Park we're going to sit on that grant for a little bit we do have until two the end of 2026 to use that we do have a few things um happening uh council is looking at accepting a fishing peer Grant agreement with the Minnesota DNR that kind of came about really quickly so we're excited to do that and then also I'll be working with the commission on a a boat launch through the Minnesota DNR parks and trails and fish Fisheries program so I'll be bringing that to you hopefully in the next couple of months with the goal of having that put in in 2026 fishing beer will hopefully be 2025 the boat launch will be 2026 and if you're not aware the the 3M priority two settlement dollars were released um I shouldn't say released they released the request for proposal program so we will be submitted for that um I think that's due end of or first or second week of April so we'll be bringing back to the commission next month prior that proposal for them to go aggressively after funding for that for the rest of the amenities outside of the fishing launch and the um fishing I'm sorry the boat launch and the fishing pier so A lot's happening there uh the Kingston Park Building uh is still we're scheduled and hoping to be constructing that in early 2026 right now the schedule is to finish up plans and specifications here in the next couple of months and then bring that to Council in September or October to uh approve plans and specifications then go out to bid and then close those bids before Thanksgiving and then put a Contractor on board to get that work done in um like I said early 2026 so that'll probably coming back to the commission one more time for for last review and then uh if you if you don't recall the the site power upgrading that will actually be happening this year so hopefully that'll be ready by Strawberry Fest if not Strawberry Fest for sure before 4th of July so we'll be adding all those sight power upgrades this year and then last but not least I'm sorry say oh sorry thought I heard something my own voice the last but not least um we did submit a memo to uh the city council it was feedback from the strategic planning session about um remodeling the ice arena uh the original ice arena is from 1974 we did add to it and did some remodeling in 2008 and really what it's coming down to is we're the main area as you walk into the lobby area all the way through the back to the to the extent to the 2008 Edition it's a pretty inefficient use of space we don't have enough office space Noah moved in and he shared a desk for several months a very small desk for several months so we kind of have people on top of people and then the concession stand is not a very efficient layout if you've ever been to a a very busy hockey game pretty hard to get your pretzel and cheese and whatever else there's not not a lot of good flow there there's quite a bit of square footage there it's just an inefficient use of face of space because it was built in 1974 and when it was built it was built for a completely different type of use than it is today so um we're just going to we have a architect on board who's going to take a look at um what the opportunities to to move things around move some walls and and then also just kind of upgrade the facade and make make it look little less like 1974 more like 2024 25 so so you'll see some uh modeling of that fairly soon those are all my updates questions for Zach all right any donations none tonight staff reports just submitted a report from each division uh manager and we are here to answer questions if you have any any questions for Molly or Jim and then the only thing I will add with the staff reports was the article on Parks and Recreation promoting economic Vitality one of the things that's been an interesting discussion it started we've been talking about for a long time but at the strategic planning session the council and the and the staff team that were involved talked a lot about the the economic Vitality of our Park system system and I think commissioner Brown you talked about the point of Pride you know parks are the point of pride in cage Grove um so we've had a that there's a lot of good conversation on that a lot of positive energy on that and I think there's a there's a recent study for the that was done for the cro convention and visitors bureau through it's called Chandler thinks it's like a 74-page report if anybody wants to see that report it can but it talks about um the business in cage Grove and what draws where people are coming from what they're doing here and how we can do things better to get more people to come to Cottage Grove whether it's to live work or play and um it references a lot about Parks and Recreation in cage Grove is the primary draw for people to come to cage Grove so whether it's to play a sport or to visit or whatever it is um Cottage Grove is a is a Parks and Recreation is a big draw for parks and for Cottage Grove and obviously we're trying to grow that in a myriad of ways so if anybody want see that report you can email me and I can send it over to you any questions or comments all right can move on to commission comments Mr olon you want to talk yeah I I'm not about my Washington County report about something else um so I read in the probably in the journal that there had been some vandalism at the desk golf park and maybe damage to one or more of their um whole marks or t- boox markings have they reached out to us yet to see if we'll be willing to help them with getting that fixed up because one of the other things that or one thing that bothers me is we never spend our $10,000 and so I don't know if it's something we can offer or if they have to approach us but this would seem to me I mean we've been a good partnership with them right along and it would seem to me like the city we ought to step up and help them replace these vandalized items so I just wanted to see if anybody else on the commission had thoughts about [Music] that uh commissioner Olsson they did reach out to us and and I don't maybe Jim can explain where we're at with repair if we have uh we haven't done any repairs on that one hole where the basket was broke off um it's we have to replace it or Dig It All Out bring it in and weld it for a temporary I haven't seen the damage to it um my foreman went out and looked at it and he said it looks like kids just pulled on it until they broke it but otherwise I don't think there's any other damage other into the one hole the one basket and we do have we do have several tournaments coming up this year I think the most we've ever had so we definitely need to get that replaced before that so um I do have an email contact and I I will certainly reach out to him and see if U if they can help or need help or what it is but we will we'll get it repaired one way or other before for the first event weather pending I think they have their first event is in March right mhm so any other commission comments or comments on the Washington County Parks Commission all right Council comments I Mr Mayor are you here for that I did submit um I did submit the last two months of of council agenda items so if you have questions the mayor is your man tonight there you go yes uh uh council member Clawson is not available tonight so that wasn't necessarily why I'm here but I'm obviously here I'd like to listen to you guys and thank you all for your uh service to our community um I am open for any questions if you saw anything on those uh agenda items that uh you would like to hear more while you're proving the only the only thing I will say um and Zach and the team here uh all these guys here didn't mention it one of the nice things sometimes that happens is every week we get like a weekly update from our staff and they give us uh information about you know what's going on within the community and some of them I can you know I'll put them out on social media just because I think it's kind of cool uh one is you know ice AR is is profitable uh last year we sold a million dollar worth of ice time uh which is first time that's ever happened uh in that ice arena the concession stands to over 180,000 in sales which is one of the highest grossing concession stands in the state of Minnesota in a facility uh hockey arena like that um rivs Golf Course is profitable um so I mean there's all these neat things that you normally don't hear so when we're talking about you know putting money aside for parks and that it is very uh it's very awesome uh for our staff and we couldn't do that if it weren't for our amazing staff uh and your guys of support obviously of of continuing to focus on um our recreational opportunities within within this community and we definitely have a name for ourselves here as it relates to our parks and our you know whether it's disc golf unfortunately we had that incident there but uh we'll get her fixed and and we'll work with them on on that for the future and then you know Ice Arena our Park systems the the golf course and bike park I mean it could keep going and going and going so um other than that um unless you have something else I'll just go back and sit down um is councilman clawen going to be our new uh liaison yes uh chair Adams uh Larson excuse me um yes he will be your new uh Council Aon we did do a couple tweaks with some of the newer members um or newer member uh just to kind of mix things up a little bit uh so people get more uh aware of the the different commissions that are out there so yes he is uh planned plans to be and normally what we would do is whether it's myself or um usually they would ask another council member to come and and sit in if they can't make it on any of the commission so I'll make sure U Mr classa knows that good any other questions I can say I've eaten popcorn at pretty much every arena in Minnesota and the popcorn in Cottage Grove is great and it's it's only $2 still which I don't understand po went to Northfield their popcorn is yeah their popcorn is good and so is the pretzel and for me it's the pretzel with the salt that's mine that's for me cost I love it so thanks again all right thank you Mr May is there a workshop tonight no Workshop just need adjournment if you're ready I'll entertain a mtion to adjourn okay can I make one I can make I can make a motion to adjourn second all in favor thanks we're adjourn