Based on the context provided, here is the transcribed meeting with speaker names assigned. **Note:** As no specific timestamps were provided in your source text, I have used `[00:00]` placeholders. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Good evening. It's March 21st, 2023 and welcome to the Oakdale Parks and Recreation Commission. We will start with our pledge of allegiance. I 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. Thank you. All right, looks like we have everyone here except for Fred and we have a couple guests here. Shannon is here and who—Jonathan with Consulting Group. Okay Jonathan. Thank you. And Andy's here. All right. So, did board [clears throat] have a chance to look at the minutes? [00:00] **Jan:** Yes. [00:00] **Steve:** Yeah. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Is there any questions, comments? Okay. Can I get approval of the February 21st? [00:00] **Paul:** I'll make a motion. [00:00] **Jan:** Second. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** All in favor? [00:00] **Commissioners:** Aye. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Opposed. It passes. Okay. Any old business we need to talk about? Anyone right now? We all good? Okay. New business. We'll jump right into Shannon. Thank you. [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** Thanks very much for having me again. My name is Shannon Ryinger. I'm a senior community development specialist and I am joined by Jonathan Fillmore who is with SRF consulting. SRF has been helping the city think through some conceptual plans for the Willowbrook Commons Park that we will be talking about this evening. I will say that our community development director Andy Gitzlaff probably has a lot more information about this park than I do, but he is on vacation this week, so you get me. I will try to answer as much of your questions as possible. Jonathan also has a wealth of knowledge and so he'll be able to jump in if there are any specifics that you have that he can answer for you. Um, and if there's anything that you ask us that neither one of us can answer, we will be sure to send your comments along to Andy and he can address them after he gets back from vacation. Okay. All right. So, I do have a bit of a PowerPoint here. There will be mostly images in this PowerPoint that are already included in the memo. So theoretically nothing will be new but I did want to just start by explaining that we are talking about Willowbrook Commons Park and it is probably something that you all are familiar with having seen some initial concepts at I believe the July 12th 2022 parks and recreation commission meeting. So since then um the city council has approved a base plus concept design for this park. The base plus concept in theory will look something relatively similar to this. Uh this is a park relationship diagram map. Um it gives a general sense for how we're conceptualizing the overall park structure right now. Again, this is just a concept. Things may change in the future. Um this is not something that we want to get super stuck on right now, but this gives you a general sense for how the park is shaping up. And then you can see here in the sort of the lower right corner where the play structures for this park will be located. There'll be a few different containers for different age types of elements. Um there will be a challenge course down here theoretically towards the very bottom that will be geared more towards teens. And then other play compartments will be geared more towards um specific age groups. So prek and then elementary school level kids. I'm going to stop here real quick before we get into the specific playground elements and just ask if the commission has any general um thoughts that are popping up here on this relationship map if we can get that popped back on the screen. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** So when we do concept one and two you have here is that the—to what—where would these go I guess? [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** Yep. So the concepts that you see in the packet, they would go down in that lower right hand corner. Those blue circles, that's where we're talking about the park structure. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Blue circles. Mhm. Okay. That's what we'll be talking about. And the challenge course on here is all by itself alone. [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** It'll be integrated in the the total area there. Um but all right. It'll likely be set aside a little bit and Jonathan can explain a little bit more about that if you're looking for specifics on location. Okay. All right. So, we can come back to this if needed, but we'll move along here. Um, because really the reason why I'm here is that we are hoping to get some feedback from you on some of these elements that will be included in the playground structure. Um, the slides that you're about to see right now are all replicas from a survey that we have out in front of citizens residents right now. Um, the survey is asking the exact same questions on the exact same images that you're about to see. So we're basically asking residents to tell us what is exciting to them about some of the concepts that they see in front of them and then also which of the elements they think will be most utilized. So the first part of that survey is to think through some of these concepts. We have a concept one and a concept two. And we've asked residents to tell us what are the elements that most stand out to them in these two concepts. And I'd like to ask you all the same question. Um the elements that you could find interesting could be some of the play structures themselves. It could be the shade features. Um, it could be things that are missing that you don't see. Could be things that you feel like are a little bit too overblown. Uh any feedback that you want to provide on this initial concept? [00:00] **Jan:** I do have one comment. Um, cuz I I did take this survey. Someone sent it to me through the wellness. So, but will um as it shows like that recycled ground material, will that be used? um regardless um of like what um pieces of equipment you choose or— [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** Yeah. So, I know that there are a couple of different types of ground material that are being considered. Um my assumption is that they would be used throughout the entire park, but go ahead. [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Yeah, I can speak to that. So, the—what you're referencing there—it's called poured in place rubber. So that poured in place rubber. Yep. So that's—that meets the safety fall um you know the fall height for playground. So that meets the safety standards. Um and the benefit of using the poured in place rubber over which maybe what you could say maybe more typical is the engineered wood fiber is that um one you can kind of do the patterns as you see here but then also it's a lot less maintenance. um with that engineered wood fiber mulch um you know the maintenance staff will have to come out there you know and pretty regularly keep raking it to keep that thickness um at the proper depth as well as you know in the high use areas that starts to erode away. So that's not necessarily recycled material. Um it's more the you know that color which you're seeing maybe more looks like that but it is a rubber based um material. [00:00] **Jan:** So loose fill, correct? Oh, is that—is that a loose fill then? [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** No. No, it is almost like a sponge. Like a rubber sponge. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Oh, it's almost makes it pretty much ADA also right? It has to be. [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Yeah. Yeah. So, the—the wood fiber is also ADA. Um, but this I would say is, you know, higher level. It's almost like a the track you would see around the football field for— [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Okay. Yeah. [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** And then the other play surface for the teen challenge which is not shown here—which again this is still hasn't been determined yet—but another option would be the synthetic turf which um also has the fall cushion so it meets the playground standards but is— [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Is that what looks like grass? [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Looks like grass. Yeah. But like like I said that still is kind of to be determined that hasn't—but those are like the two different types of surfacings that are being considered at this point. [00:00] **Jan:** Great. Thanks. [00:00] **Steve:** I have a question about the musical instruments. [laughter] Does it back up the neighbors? [laughter] Well, um, how big a deal was that? Did you get a lot of input on that? People requested that a lot. Is that— [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** I can speak to the survey. So, I looked as of this morning. There's actually—I can't tell you the exact numbers off the top of my head, but that was actually, you know, out of the five or six different options, that was actually one of the more selected options. So, it did seem like there was um some general desire for that of those sensory component as you get further into the survey. Okay. [00:00] **Steve:** Okay. Okay. But the question is with musical instruments and their [clears throat] placement—like neighbors who are backing up to that are they going to be hearing that you know all hours of the day? I guess I'm— [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** I can't really speak to how loud there would be. I mean I guess I don't have a ton of experience with that but you know we—we have it where it's located the playground. I mean there is a pretty decent buffer. [00:00] **Steve:** Okay. You know it's not like it's in the backyard of someone's— but even with where it's on like concept one it's right by the adult fitness right and um personally if I'm doing my workouts I—nothing wrong with kids playing—I don't want to hear it so these can be changed in different spots I'm seeing right now right this is just a concept— [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** For sure yes right good [laughter] So definitely not [snorts] set in stone by any means. All right. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** I just had a kind of a general question for any of this. Um, you know, and especially when I saw things like the musical instruments and the sensory wall and such, are—are we—are you very confident that this these sort of things can stand up to our climate? [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Yeah, I mean these all this equipment that you see on on the survey there has been, you know, installed elsewhere within Minnesota and, you know, it's designed very durable. So I—I—I don't think that there's a concern for, you know, longevity given our colder, you know, winter weather. Um, you know, a lot of this—you—the equipment would be closed in the winter, which, you know, would obviously—it's not being used. So, or buried in snow. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Or buried in snow. Yeah [laughter] sorry. Well, and I was even looking at this this thing that kind of looks like a xylophone and you know just the—this young man in here and with the wheelchair. It looks like there is some uh strikers. I don't know what they call them with for a xylophone and and I guess something like that. I just like, well, how easy are those to, you know, secure? And, you know, are they attached that they won't be able to be uh [laughter] lost? [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Yes, for sure. They would—they would definitely be fixed, you know, with a string or rope. I'm not exactly sure the exact detail, but they're not just, you know, loose. Those would run away within a week, I would assume. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Yeah, that's what I was kind of concerned about, especially something like that that is uh necessary to be able to use that type of equipment. [00:00] **Steve:** One more thing. You have the Odyssey tower and the supernetplex double tower look pretty cool, but do you have any bigger concepts of that? I don't see what they exactly look like. [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Yeah, that's um—that's still in planning type deal. Well, those—those towers—again I would have to confirm with—so landscape structures is the vendor, but it's my understanding that those two options are kind of their—I don't know—so to speak—like kits. Okay. Um so, uh we can talk with them and I'm sure that there are um that they can provide. [00:00] **Steve:** Yeah, I'd like to see more what's all in—It's hard to tell what's all going on there. Yeah. [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Right. And then signage around. There'll be tons of signage with age level everything's at. Yep. And you I think you can kind of see—they're pretty small in those images, but you can kind of see the little signs delineating that. Yeah. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Any other comments so far? [00:00] **Mark:** Um, actually I just had another one. I—I—I mean I—I really liked a lot of the things that I saw in this, but immediately I go to something like the adult fitness teen challenge course and of course it says here ages 13 and above and I look at this and I thought—well kids will be kids and you know 10 year olds and stuff start seeing that stuff and oh I want to do that and I start thinking about something like I see like with this ledger hanger and or some of these other things and I thought, you know, they're going to gravitate to that because the big kids are doing it and yet this is something that—I mean at least looking at, you know, some of these stuff with the ledger hanger and that—I think—well okay if they fell off of that [laughter] you know um you know—so I guess one of the things I was concerned about seeing is that it's just a very attractive thing to um children who are not really pro—maybe physically able to really do this, but they're they want to try it anyway. And so I guess I'm wondering with something like that, um, you know, naturally parents are going to supervise their younger kids, but little older kids, they're just going to go for this sort of stuff anyway. And I guess that's what I'm kind of concerned about with some—maybe liability, even though I like this idea for teens and adult—is liability issues with young people, younger people get—children getting on them. [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I think that—that definitely—like to your point, I mean, definitely younger kids would be interested in using that. Um, they all—even though that does look—that is definitely more challenging and designed for, you know, 13 plus, it does meet all of the safety, you know, safety criteria that's for the playground. So, it has like the cushioned ground. Um, so that, you know, if you do get up there and you do fall, it's not like you're falling on concrete. It is—has some give to it. [00:00] **Mark:** Um, sure. It's just I was looking at something for instance like that ledger hanger and if you're kind of up there—at least from the perspective of this for a young ch—it looks like quite a long way down. [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Yeah. I'm not exactly sure what the height is, but I think just parts of it, but from experience that I have been on some of these other playgrounds and you know, even I'm a fairly tall person and some of those were, you know, I'm not exactly sure this particular one, but they can be, you know, relatively high, but again, it all meets safety code and safety criteria. [00:00] **Steve:** So, well, I think it's pretty cool. So, but I—I understand the concern. Well, hopefully there's parenting going on out there that [laughter] direct their children correctly. Right. Right. Um Okay. Anyone else on this so far? All right. [snorts] Anything else? [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** Moving on. Yeah. And Jonathan, you might as well just stay up here because [laughter] he clearly knows a lot. Um so we've kind of jumped around to some of the other elements so we don't have to be super formulaic about this. um gave some initial concepts on the concept one and concept two. I will say concept one is a little bit more nature-based and concept two is a little bit more modern. Um so if—if you have any thoughts on the differentiation in the total kind of character of these concepts then we would love to hear that as well. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** When you say nature-based what why is this one more nature-based? [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** Um I would say that it's mostly the colors that are used. Um and then you know I would say that— [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** I—the play odyssey—I guess nature-based when you say that is more you know the Odyssey tower for example versus the supernetplex. The Super Netplex is much more of a modern type aesthetic, whereas that Play Odyssey is maybe more traditional and um, you know, has more like natural type colors to it. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Is okay. I think kind of what we're getting at. Yep. Okay. [clears throat] [00:00] **Steve:** I mean, I like concept number two because one, it seems to be spread out a little bit wider on the land. It also separates the smaller kids—like over the zipline and the swings and stuff where the parents would be away from the bigger kids. So I think it separates them more across in that picture [clears throat] than it does in the phase or the concept one. I don't even see swings on concept one. Are there? [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** No, I don't see any. [00:00] **Steve:** I didn't see any. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Steve, I know you commented on the the net towers. You want to see them? Yeah. Where they built the new Alan Page Justice Elementary where Maplewood Junior High is. They're there. [00:00] **Steve:** Oh okay. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** They're on the south side. If you go up the Lakewood, they're on the south side of the school. Okay. Where the bus entrance is. There's a playground on the south side also. They're there. They're pretty neat. This company did that. Okay. They laid that all out. So, they're pretty neat looking. Check that out. Yeah. if you want to see them in person and one comment. [00:00] **Jan:** Well, there is a park um in Ramsey County right next to the library. I think it's Centennial maybe or something. Yeah, but it's fairly new and I was going to ask you if that's kind of like a lot of the things look similar. [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Sure. I—I don't know who did that one, Janet. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** I just know this—the same company did the one at the elementary and Maplewood there. So, the new one. Okay. [00:00] **Jan:** But then my other question was on that same concept one, the Mobius climber, is that out of like a metal that looks like that would just burn if it were real hot out and the sun was shining on you? [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** Um, I'm not exactly sure what the material is. I would have to—I would have to ask that to the um playground. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** That durable plastic makes sense to me, but— [00:00] **Jan:** That—Wow. Yeah, the way that it is rendered, I would say it does look—I would agree with you. It appears to be metal, but it could just be how it's rendered. I'm—I would have to follow up with um—uh landscape structures on that. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** I'm sure there would be some type of [snorts] coating on it just like any other structure that's in the playground, excluding the slides. I mean, everything else has got a protective coating on it. Or you could put a chair there and get a little sun off. So if I was to choose between one and two, I'd [clears throat] choose two. [00:00] **Mark:** I agree. I like concept too myself. It doesn't feel so crowded. I think kids can stay in their separate areas if that's what they're going to do. But uh roomier, I think. [00:00] **Jan:** No, I'm going to ask a question about that surface again where you see like the tan um here and here. Is that that um poured in place rubber or is that more like a wood chip or near mulch? [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Yeah, wood chip. It's wood chip. Yep. [00:00] **Jan:** And you know, I've seen wood chip in our parks or whatever. Um, and I—I'm hearing maybe the poured in place rubber is more expensive, right? [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Correct. Yep. [00:00] **Jan:** Is that why they do both or what—what's the um— [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Yeah. So, actually I'm—that is one reason why you would do both, you know, is that the cost can get very high. I think currently um the direction that we have received thus far I—I believe—correct me if I'm wrong—is that um the entire container will be that poured in place rubber if the budget will allow and then you know if we start running into budget constraints then we can look at maybe incorporating some of the engineered wood fiber mulch in select areas that are lower use. Um, but then the poured in place rubber comes in, you know, a multitude of colors. So those patterns that you're seeing, even though some of them might look a little bit more like mulch, that is just like coloration of the rubber surface itself. Okay? And it's just kind of patterns. And the fun thing with that poured in place rubber is that you can kind of pattern that ground plane and start to tie in with the play equipment, the ground surface as almost like, you know, little paths and things that the kids can kind of interact with. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Okay. All right, Shannon, continue. [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** All right. If you have any more uh feedback on concepts one and two, we'd always love to hear it after this meeting as well. So please feel free to share your thoughts or just take the survey and do it that way. All right. So that was a couple of images of general concepts overall and then we did want to ask a few more particular questions about elements and Jonathan can probably answer some of your questions about those elements as well. Um, but when we've asked this question of residents, we basically said which two in these different categories do you feel like—two structures in each of these different categories you feel like uh kids would want to interact with the most—would want to see the most? Um, so you know—motion is one category, climbing is one category. Any ideas on which two in each of those categories you feel like kids in Oakdale would like to see the most? [00:00] **Jan:** I would say zipline for sure. I know my child gravitates towards that all the time. Mhm. First thing he goes for, I would say miss—take the spinny and the we go around out and the other four are good concepts for. [00:00] **Steve:** I just know based on the parks, the stuff that we have in our current parks that the bigger kids uh put them to the max. [clears throat] The we—the we ground is what you're— [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Yeah, the—the two spinning ones. [00:00] **Steve:** It's—I would—I have a question—not be in favor of as much as they are fun. I just know the liability and the the repair issues are going to be high. [00:00] **Jan:** I think at the survey it actually said some of these were um ADA. Um, so the ones with those little circle things on them are—so you would just be able to pull wheelchair like into that we go round or something. Is that— [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Yeah. So the [clears throat] way that that is—that that is designed is that the entry point is flush with the rubber surface. Okay. So, you know, there's a obviously a little—a very small gap to, you know, allow for the spinning, but yeah, you can just roll it right on. And then do they hang on to that handle there or how does that— [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Yeah. So, it's kind of like a, you know, like a little bit of a cage and then you can set your wheel, you know, you can bring your wheelchair in there and set it um in there and then spin. [00:00] **Jan:** I mean, I—I do like the—the idea that it would be um inclusive to handicap. Um—is that the only one in the motion that is or am I missing that? Oh, I see it now. Okay. [00:00] **Steve:** I don't know how they give up. I think they have something like this at the—the new [snorts] Eagle Point playground. I think it—it's—it's a similar concept. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Uh the playground at Castle Elementary has got the omni spin. [00:00] **Steve:** I know. I think you're right though, Glenn. Yeah. Yeah. The school. Yeah. The new—the new playground there. Yeah. Okay. [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** How about climbing? What's everybody think on that? [00:00] **Steve:** But going back to—on the climbing one, I like them all. Yeah. Yeah. [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** We did um—I did go to the indoor market and show this to people at the market as well, and the uh log stack climber was a particular hit. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Yeah, I love that. [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** And the wiggle ladder, I think, would be another good one. And those two features are also kind of when Shannon referenced like the more nature based—that's also kind of a component that—referencing—a little harder to see when you're at that zoomed out but that would—you know that's obviously not real logs but nature base you know [snorts] kind of has that aesthetic. [00:00] **Steve:** Yeah it's hard to pick. I like them all. Yeah I like that trailblazer the log stack. [00:00] **Jan:** I have a question about price. Like are these all in around the same price range in motion? Are they all in the same price range and climbing? Because—is it going to be a matter of—you know—if we pick everyone that's the most expensive one are we way out of budget then or [clears throat] you know I don't know— [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** the exact you know I'm not—I don't work for the flagship—so the landscape structures which they would have more detailed on each individ—individual component—but the elements that we selected here all would fit within the general budget—you know—and obviously you know like for example track rides are expensive—more—can be more expensive, you know, just because they're bigger containers. Like ultimately, we'll have to take the results that we get from all the feedback we get and balance, you know, what we heard and what money we have to spend. Um, so it's kind of a balancing act if that makes sense. Okay. But generally, nothing that we're showing is like completely like, oh, that's not—not even close to being within the budget. it is all within the ballpark, but that level of finetuning to get, you know, on budget hasn't happened yet. Okay. [00:00] **Jan:** And then Jeff, I'm going to ask you a question. Like Oakdale Nature Center has the exercise equipment throughout there. And so, you know, some of these might be—I don't know—that similar, but how are you finding maintenance on that equipment out there and usage and all that? [00:00] **Jeff Koesling:** Usage is up and maintenance is very little. Yeah, we've had a whole lot of issues with them. And even though some of that's [clears throat] more adult type equipment, do you find— [00:00] **Jan:** Yeah. [00:00] **Jeff Koesling:** No, it's—it's—it's been it's been good. I was concerned when we put them in up there and it's it's not in the view of the public. Thought we were going to deal with—we—it's been great. It really has. We haven't had a whole lot of issues with it. So, kids are going to be kids. We all know that. Yeah. [clears throat] You know, but we—It's been very very little. We've—we haven't had a whole lot of issues up there. So, it's been good. Maintenance has been good. It's more the—the wood fiber, the chips in there, keeping that up, and then just the growth coming in. We'll go trim them a couple times a year. Trim the—you know, we want to keep it as natural as possible. So, yeah. Yep. [00:00] **Jan:** Great. Okay, Shannon, what's next? [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** Moving along. Uh, so same thing. Any feedback on the sensory friendly equipment? [00:00] **Steve:** Well, I think you know my opinion on the musical instrument. Yes. [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** Yeah, I did. I will say um—maybe this is—will come out in the survey. I haven't looked at the results yet, but when I was having conversations with individuals at the market, a lot of them said it—it seems cool and maybe not—they don't see a lot of people actually using it. Um so that was a little bit of feedback that I got just in person. Okay. Yeah. Small sample size, so you know, doesn't reflect everyone's opinion, but um Okay. Okay. [00:00] **Steve:** So, the—I guess I—I—have not seen one of these before, but this roller slide, those are actually—they turn the thing. So, helps them zip down. [laughter] [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Correct. Yeah, they're just individual rollers. [00:00] **Jan:** I guess I'm just curious why it's considered a sensory thing. [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** I think it's—my understanding that it—it—you know—the feeling as you're going down it—more— [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** Texture. Yeah. [00:00] **Jan:** And then the question is on that same roller slide—when it's raining and it's gotten wet. I just envisualize kids going down—the water just flying up. It's, you know, I like the learning panels. I think it—it's more—you're going to see a lot more of the little toddlers, you know, your top five type kids at these parks. As they get older, obviously they find bigger and better things to go play on and unless they're out for destruction. [laughter] That's just the way nature is. But I like the—the—the learning panels and I would be for the rolling slide also. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** I like the rolling slide myself, but yeah, I just didn't—I don't think that wet or dry. I don't think that's going to change because that's on a bearing driven type spindle. So, they're going to go the same speed whether it's wet or dry. Okay. There's little gaps in between. So everything will just drain through. Okay. There's separation in between. Yeah. [00:00] **Mark:** And to me I—I—would—I'm interest—more the sensory wall. I—I—can't tell from here what actually it all encompasses—what that includes. I'm—to me it just—I—I—don't see a whole lot of detail that—what what that's kind of all about. So I don't—uh if there's something that explains that a little bit type stuff. [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Yeah. and like—moving—like moving switches textures type stuff. Yeah. You know, just kind of more— [00:00] **Mark:** Yeah, exactly what you're mentioning there. Yeah, I like that. Learning panels are good. Roller. Mhm. [00:00] **Jan:** I like them all. Yeah. Except the one. [laughter] [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** Well, unfortunately with this survey, the survey was designed so that you would be forced to choose only two. So nobody could just say everything. All right. Which is helpful. Yeah. All right. Uh moving along. Um we now have just the final two images here. And these two elements are geared more towards teens and adults. So slightly different shift in demographic. Any thoughts on the teen challenge course? [00:00] **Steve:** I think it's great. Yeah. Yeah. [00:00] **Jan:** Yeah. I'm just curious, is there anything similar to this already in the—any of the other cities around here? [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Yeah, there are multiple. Um, a few that I know off the top of my head is uh there's one in Plymouth by the Northwest Greenway Trail Head Building that was built—I think that was put in 2019 or 2020, but that's there. Uh, and then there's another one—I can't remember the park name, but—in Golden Valley. Okay. All in the west metro, though, because— [00:00] **Jan:** Yeah, I'd kind of like to go see one. [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Yeah. And you know, there very well could be one on the east metro. I'm just not—those are just the two off the top of my head. Okay. But we can certainly ask um uh landscape structures and they, you know, they do the—that's what they do. So, I'm sure they'll know and be able to give you exact locations to go check it out. Great. [snorts] [00:00] **Steve:** I know there's one in Chanhassen that's even a step up from that. That's more of the—what's that [clears throat] show? That ninja warrior. Ninja Warrior type thing. That's—it's even more than that. And that's always busy when I go by that if I'm out that way. They're the West Metro, the challenge cushions out there. They're very popular. Oh, very popular. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Are these devices things that like we'd have to take the netting down in the winter time? [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** No, those uh you wouldn't take that down in the winter. That's um pretty well affixed to the the structure itself. [00:00] **Steve:** I like the whole concept. Yeah. I don't—as a parent—I think of the safety factor, [laughter] what falls in there and what you're going to get—on this, you know, you're going to get the younger kids. You'll [clears throat] get the older ones, but you know that they'll live and learn at that point. Yeah. But the younger kids when the parents are away, it makes me nervous, but otherwise I like the concept. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** I really like this whole idea though just because there's something now then for some—you know—some teens that they can do. I—I—mean I think this is great. [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Yeah, they're very popular from what I have seen. So— [00:00] **Steve:** So now we got to pick two. [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** No, you get the whole challenge course. [laughter] The whole thing. [00:00] **Jan:** Um, that park that I was talking about in Ramsey County near the Ramsey County Library—might be called Centennial or something—but I was just looking at my pictures. They do have some similar things um to what you're proposing here. So, that's one maybe people can go visit to get an idea of comparable. Okay, great. I don't know if it was done by the same landscape structures or— [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** Could have been, but yeah, it'll be on the grand tour. Yeah. Uh so last image here uh is the adult fitness. So thinking through um I I believe the way that it—these are located in the concept is that they would be kind of supervisory. Yep. So that you could be on the fitness equipment and still have a view over what the kids are doing in the play structures. [00:00] **Steve:** Yeah, it looks like they kind of circle a little bit. I like that. [00:00] **Jan:** Yeah, that's what I was just going back to—the concept one and two that they were kind of spread out around. Now, the same thing. This is all—these would be included in the adult fitness. We don't have to pick a couple of these, right? [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** Um, you know, I think that—I don't think every single one of these would be included. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. [00:00] **Jan:** Um, I like the hand cyclinger for a lot of people who, you know, want to do upper body work. um other than walking or biking—that—that would be you know a good one—for—the squat is nice. The elliptical is good. Stretching is crunches—hard to pick from actually. So they all look good to me. [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** Yeah. And there definitely would be an array, you know, right? Different types so you work out your whole body is the idea. [00:00] **Steve:** I think some of the focus should be also, you know, being for the either the ADA type people or the elderly so that they're able to use it a little bit more and be part of the parks where—right now—I think they're kind of stuck in their high-rise and just kind of have the walking paths amongst the community. Yep. The mobility and the wheels one is very good. [00:00] **Jan:** I agree there. If anything to—if we had to get rid of anything, mine would probably be the parallel bars. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Yeah. The one I agree with you. All right. Any last minute comments? [00:00] **Paul:** Yeah, I have a question and I apologize in advance because my brain doesn't always work so [laughter] great. I love concept 2, but my question is, and maybe there's no answer yet, what if this gets to be so popular, is there going to be parking to support the possible number of people that will go there? [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Yeah. So, as part of—as part of the development, there was approximately 35 off-street parking spaces and then there's also existing on-street parking. [00:00] **Paul:** Can we go back to that first slide where you showed the full park concept? What was the cons? because I was—I was going to bring it up, but I know it's a kind of a sore part of uh the conversation, but like around that park there visibly there's no parking unless it's street parking. [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Correct. Are you talking on the—on the south end there or the whole park? [00:00] **Paul:** I guess because you got the roundabout on the upper part. So, I know there would be no parking up on that end, I would think. I'm sorry. I do see parking on the right hand side. Yep. Okay. Yep. There's a line of it there. Yeah, I did not see that. [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Yeah, but other than that, um it's all on street. I'm not sure like on 40th—since that's a fairly through—I don't think that—with the roundabout—I don't think—I don't think there would be. Yeah. No, I didn't see that over there. That's fine. [00:00] **Steve:** Yeah, I think that's—that looks—I'm assuming that'd be set up kind of like Tanner's. [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Correct. [00:00] **Steve:** The way they park at Tanner. [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** Yes. Yeah. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Any other comments? [00:00] **Mark:** I'm a little late. uh the age limits you have on it, is it going to be like specific ages where kids can or cannot go into that section or is it just kind of reference that these are for that age? [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** It's more just reference so that parents, you know, there'll be a little sign. So then if you're coming with a 2-year-old, you know, you know, okay, this is—might age appropriate, but you know, there's nothing to say that they, you know, kids will play everywhere. [00:00] **Mark:** It looks fun. So, okay. I got a 5-year-old. He does a lot of climbing [laughter] and stuff. So the 5-year-old, you know, walk into a park, he goes, I want to do that. And it's not loud or anything, but yeah. [00:00] **Jonathan Fillmore:** No, it's—it's all—all ages can play on any equipment. Okay. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** All right. Wonderful. Shannon, Jonathan, anything final for us? [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** I was just going to say um next steps and Jonathan can fill in [clears throat] the blanks here, but we will be taking all the feedback that we get from the community, the feedback we've heard here, um going in and tweaking the concepts. Council will obviously have a chance to be able to provide input as well. So, continue to follow the process, make sure that um everything is kind of uh agreed upon and approved. And I'm— [00:00] **Steve:** You think this will go—in the summer, fall, next year? What? [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** Uh so, my understanding is that construction of the park will start in 2023 and then will conclude in 2024. Yep. Okay. [00:00] **Jan:** And it's just one park, correct? Out of the three. [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** This is just focusing on Commons Park as the one out of the three. Yeah. But it'll be the largest one out of the three. [00:00] **Jan:** That's more south base then, right? Center. If I remember right, central base. Is it the central one? [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** Oh, yeah. 40th. Yeah. Central. [00:00] **Steve:** And so there might be other parks that might still have a chance to be—like pickle ball or something like that. We'll see. We'll see. Right. [laughter] [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Okay. Shannon, Jonathan, thank you so much. Appreciate your time. [00:00] **Shannon Ryinger:** Thanks. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** All right. Moving along. Jeff, you're up. [00:00] **Jeff Koesling:** Yeah, thank you. See, I really have—I'm not going to waste your time because you don't want to listen to me anyway. I don't have a whole lot. I'm hoping maybe weatherwise we've turned a corner here maybe and can start melting some of the snow and get on fields here in a month or so and hopefully it's—it'll cooperate. So, um other than that, I really have a couple things that Julie will touch base on on as far as warming house rinks and stuff. [00:00] **Steve:** I was just going to ask about warming house. [00:00] **Jeff Koesling:** Yep. Well, she's got it in her—her report, so I don't want to—thank you—rain on her parade. So, I'll stand for any questions if you have any. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** But any questions? All right, Julie. [00:00] **Julie Williams:** Um, so I will give you my March update here. Um, we wrapped the indoor market this past Saturday, the 18th. Um, really, really great season. Nathan and Timmons did a fantastic job coordinating the whole season of the market. Um January, February, and March dates, we saw record crowds and we also had record sales um from the vendors. So really, really good season. So looking forward to resuming back at the farmers market on Wednesday, June 7th. So that would be the first day that um the market resumes back at—back at Walton here. Um ice rinks and warming houses. So yeah, not the—not the best year we've ever seen—and maybe it was actually the worst, [laughter] but you know, the—the weather was not our friend. Obviously, all four rings struggled, you know, due to the constant um snow and temperatures were up and down and we had rough ice conditions and um struggled to find consistent staff as well. So, um, we did what we could and I know public works really tried hard to maintain and keep those rinks up, but we did the best and we weren't alone. You know, the whole—whole area had problems as well. So, um, I can certainly um, forward you the uh, rink um, um, report that Nathan provides and you can see all the details and exactly um, how many skaters we had at each rinks and that type of thing. So, I'll get that information to you guys as well. Um, we've got our artist of the month for March. Her name is Susan Castello Sepulveda and she's back at the Discovery Center this month. Hopefully you read her bio. She's really interesting and she—she's really inspiring and her um artwork is really amazing. So, if you have a chance to stop by— [00:00] **Jan:** Saw it Saturday at the indoor market. It is gorgeous. It is. It just brings cheerfulness to you. [00:00] **Julie Williams:** It—Yeah, the colors are really amazing. So, if you're able to stop by, check that out. Um, we've got our best snow—snow sculpture of Oakdale contest wrapping up on March 31st. Um, this year's theme is upside down snowman. We've got 11 submissions so far, so hopefully we'll get a few more here with uh the last few days of—of the month. The winning snow sculpture will receive a $100 Target gift card. So, a great reward there. And um really fun—really fun theme too so far. [snorts] Um we've got our indoor garage sale. This will be held on Saturday, March 25th. And this is this Saturday from 9 to 1 at this Discovery Center. Typically we have 4 to 500—4 to 500 shoppers um attend the sale. Over 40 tables of garage sale goods and our booths are sold out. So um—so we will be full on Saturday. We've got our Red Cross blood drive and that'll be held on Tuesday, March 28th from 9:00 to 3 at the Discovery Center. Um, you can sign up at redcrossblood.org. As of this afternoon, we ha—there are 19 spots remaining. And I know they'll go fast, so if you're interested, um, get down there and sign up. And that is actually hosted by our Oakdale Wellness Group and the Maple Oakdale Lions Club. So, thanks to Glenn. Um we've got our mystery egg hunt coming up and that'll be held on Saturday, April 8th. That's from 9 to 11. Um one of our biggest events of the year, we'll have over 200 um kids roaming the grounds of the Oakdale Nature Preserve looking for eggs. Um Larry and Vicky Eberhard of Keller Williams Realty will once again provide our donuts and raffle off two bikes. So thanks to them for sponsoring the event. And that event is full as well at 200 kids. Yeah. Yep. Um employment opportunities. The department is hiring a summer recreation program instructor. So if you know of anybody who might be interested in that, you can send them our way. Starting pay is $15 an hour and application and job descriptions can be found on our website as well. Um we've got some summer programming coming. The early edition of the summer recreation newsletter will be available online and in house in early April and our first day of summer registration will begin on April 27th. And then lastly, we've got our community walk kicking off and that'll be April 1st and there'll still be snow on the ground, so that'll probably be a slow beginning for that one. Um, no new changes for 2023, so we're keeping everything the same. Um the top goal is 150 miles walked. So that is all I have. If anybody has any questions for me— [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Any questions? [00:00] **Jan:** Park cleanup is end of April, beginning of May. Last week in April, correct? And I don't know if this is your department, but is—my understanding is—there's not going to be the communitywide garage sale this year. [00:00] **Julie Williams:** There will be. Glenn can speak to that. [00:00] **Jan:** Oh, excellent. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Yeah, that was going to be my shameless plug. [laughter] The uh Maplewood Oakdale Lions Club is sponsoring the Oakdale Citywide garage sales. All of the information uh you need is on our Facebook page, Maplewood Oakdale Lions Club. Follow us, share us. Let's get this thing going. [00:00] **Jan:** Wonderful. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Any other questions for Julie right now? Thank you. All right. Thank you. For Jeff, though, since Julie didn't answer it. All right. For Jeff. Warming houses. [00:00] **Jeff Koesling:** Yes. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** How are they treated this year? And when are they being pulled off? [00:00] **Jeff Koesling:** They're gone. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Oh, they are gone. Nice. [00:00] **Jeff Koesling:** Drive around once in a while. Keep out of your house. Yeah. I'm covering your meetings. Yep. We uh they grabbed the one here yesterday and the one at Eastside this morning or this afternoon, early afternoon. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** But damage wise, no. [snorts] Well, there's no way to there, [laughter] right? I'm just saying in general of the kids walking around and doing their stuff. [00:00] **Jeff Koesling:** Nope. Good. Didn't see a lot of them. So, all right. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Okay. Thank you, too, Glenn. You did your spiel, right? That—mean I don't get any more? No. No, he—he set me up. Well, thank you. All right. Very good, Jan. [00:00] **Jan:** Yeah. I'm going to put a plug in for our Wellness 50 Plus group. Um in April—Mondays 10th, 17th and 24th we are doing an aging with gusto series and um you don't have to be any certain age to attend you can just sign up with the Oakdale library. I have these sheets if you want more information on it I'll give them to you. Um but yeah, it's an eye-opening kind of um interesting philosophy on aging and um not being discriminated because of age. So um lots of good points in there to um and it will be interactive that you'll break into groups and talk about things and um be able to voice your opinions and all that. So all right, it is—there is no charge and so you are welcome to attend. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Thank you, Glenn. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Oh, I was just a straight man for him. [laughter] But again, this—I—I just think this is great. I think this is really exciting development for here. I—I think this is wonderful. So, thank you again very much. Paul? [00:00] **Paul:** I got nothing. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Mark? [00:00] **Mark:** No. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Freddy? Nothing. All right. [snorts and sighs] Uh, Council Member Morcomb, good evening. [00:00] **Andy Morcomb:** Good evening. Thanks for having me here. A couple announcements from the council. Uh this week is exciting because we're working towards appointing someone to the open position on the council. We got interviews here on Thursday and there's a lot of qualified candidates. Very happy to see a lot of people put their name in. So we're hoping to make that appointment soon round out the council. Next is uh engagement for this survey. Right. The one thing in this great presentation—thank you Jonathan and Shannon for putting it together—is this is a big investment for the city. Right. This park is a big park. It's going to draw a lot of people and we're working through our bike and pedestrian plan with the council right now and getting feedback is really important, but it's difficult. Uh it's great that the city trusts us, but we want as much feedback as possible for this. So, I actually took it upon myself and emailed out this survey to the principal of Castle Elementary, Bridget Bruner, and the principal of Eagle Point, Shawn Bromeland. They both agreed to share that out to their family groups and the schools which represent about a thousand kids. Uh especially because those schools draw from the areas where these parks are going to be. So if any of your groups have a connection—or OAA Mark, I know you're serving with them. The more people we can share this to, the better. So that whatever goes in for the investment we're making is going to reflect what people really want to see. So definitely would encourage that. And then yeah, that bike and pedestrian plan. Uh we just saw at our last meeting—our workshop. They've got a draft of some ideas they're putting together for trails, crossings, and opportunities across town. I've got a copy here if anyone wants to take a look. Otherwise, it's online with the City of Oakdale. And you can see what they're looking at recommended. So that's going to be our guiding path going forward as we do new developments, as new parks go in. So definitely provide some feedback on that as well. But otherwise, those are my updates and I will take any questions if you have them. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Questions. All right. Good. Thank you. Thank you. All right. I think that's it. Can I get a— [00:00] **Jan:** Motion. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Jan second. Yeah. Mark. All in favor? [00:00] **Commissioners:** Aye. [00:00] **Glenn (Chair):** Oppose. No. Thank—