**[00:00] Chairperson:** ...e for and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you our next order of business is to approve tonight's agenda anybody wants to make a look it over make a motion to approve. **[00:18] Commissioner Mike:** Motion to approve the agenda. **[00:20] Chairperson:** Is there a second for that? **[00:22] Commissioner Hank:** Second. **[00:25] Chairperson:** Any discussion about tonight's agenda at all? All those in favor I? Any Nays? That's unanimous. We have an agenda and we'll move on to the minutes for August 19, 2024. Commissioners, if you've had a chance to read that over, uh, if you have any corrections or any anything that needs to change, if um could have discussion about that. If not, if somebody wants to make a motion to approve those minutes. **[00:52] Commissioner Hank:** I'll move to approve the minutes. **[00:55] Chairperson:** Do you have a second? **[00:58] Commissioner Mike:** Second. **[01:00] Chairperson:** All those in favor I? N? There's no nay, passes unanimous unanimously. We have U item number five as public comment and I think we do have public comment or somebody here that wants to speak is that are you can um come to the podium you've had a chance to read over the deorum policies generally give people opport six minutes state your name and your address and we'll— **[01:25] Karen Balzer:** Karen Balzer. I live in Lake Ridge Crossing, 9614 8th Street, and I was wondering why there is a two plus year backlog for the City of Lake Elmo to take down dead and damaged trees that are a threat to neighbors' property and to people on the walking paths? **[01:48] Chairperson:** Well, I don't know and as a just generally as our our policies state we don't get an exchange of back and forth as far as answering questions but your comment is noted in this forum and um we can talk to City staff as well about that issue. **[02:05] Karen Balzer:** Okay yeah I have talked to um Marty Powers about that um and does um Lake Elmo have a arborist on staff or that could look at these trees or that— **[02:18] Chairperson:** Again, I don't know and we we're not here to get into a back and forth in in public comments but I do appreciate you're taking the time to to make note of your concerns. **[02:32] Commissioner Hank:** So one question, so you gave your address so I assume these trees are near your property? **[02:38] Karen Balzer:** Yes, there's a bunch of these trees right back behind my house and there's a walking path between these trees and my house. They're very close. These trees are about 70ft tall, they're cotton woods, they grow very quickly, they're they brittle trees that have shallow roots and now with all the houses built around there they're sitting in water all the time which makes it a very bad situation. During the last storm one of these trees fell just missed my house I got very lucky and now there's several others that are big ones that are leaning over towards my property and my neighbors and over the walking path. **[03:12] Chairperson:** Thank you. Thank you, we appreciate it. We we have for our next item the resignation of commissioner Vito Boer. Do you have a short presentation on that? **[03:22] Adam Swanepoel:** No, just uh informational wise in June uh June of this year um Vito did put in his resignation from The Parks Commission so we're looking for the Commissioners to accept his resignation to open that position up for any other community members. **[03:40] Chairperson:** Sounds good. Do we have—did he uh submit an actual—well we know he's—he submits it to the uh the assistant clerk, okay. Um do we have a motion to accept that resignation? **[03:52] Commissioner Mike:** I have motion to accept the resignation of commissioner Boer. **[03:55] Chairperson:** Is there a second? **[03:58] Commissioner Hank:** Reluctantly second. Is there a discussion on that? I'll just make the comment that I told him privately I'll say it publicly: I appreciate him doing the work uh in in volunteering and by golly if I can do anything about it we'll get an Instagram uh city parks account going sometime for him so um nice having a young man on the ground here right. **[04:22] Chairperson:** All those in favor of accepting the resignation of commissioner Boer I say I. **[04:26] Commissioners:** I. I. I. **[04:28] Chairperson:** Any Nays? There are no Nays, that passes. Next item is the Lake Elmo baseball donation. **[04:35] Adam Swanepoel:** So the Lake Elmo baseball association reached out to the City of Lake Elmo and is looking to donate a scoreboard to the Lions Park area. Our current scoreboard there is uh was installed or was manufactured in 2007 um based off that metronic scoreboard the life expectancy of that is that normally that 10 to 15 years so we are getting to that uh time frame um they're looking to donate up to or they got donations of up to about $15,000 for a new scoreboard that they like to install again at uh Lions Park at this time so um they are looking for um The Parks Commission to review that uh application or sorry that that suggestion and uh um move that to city council for approval uh with our discussion we should look at those considerations of that donation and always indicate in our minute and not it's any agreements or prohibits from that donation as well so okay. **[05:28] Chairperson:** We um Commissioners have any questions for staff? **[05:32] Commissioner Mike:** Couple questions um I assume they filled out the donation form? **[05:36] Adam Swanepoel:** They did, thank you. **[05:38] Commissioner Mike:** And um when will this be done? **[05:41] Adam Swanepoel:** So they're looking to do uh uh do it yet this fall uh at Lions Park for the fall baseball yet and we're confident staff is confident that the donation will cover um their part of the scoreboard. **[05:54] Commissioner Hank:** Correct uh in this in this actual donation they're actually donating the scoreboard itself which a value of about 15,000 up to 15,000 so once um so we're taking possession of the score board initially uh and installing that. Okay I got—I've got a quick question Adam, does the city need to carry insurance or anything like that on um something like a scoreboard? **[06:14] Adam Swanepoel:** So we do have insurance on the property and it's content so that would be included on that just like their dugouts and our offenses and things like that as well. **[06:22] Chairperson:** Okay any other questions or— **[06:25] Adam Swanepoel:** I guess their biggest interest is uh the reason for it is just the age of it and their ability to connect with it. So right now there's like a um a wireless remote that will do your innings, your outs and things like that and sometimes that becomes troublesome just with that connection back and forth um so this new one will be able to be around by an app through an iPhone uh that's the technology they're looking to go to that way um that can be user friendly from club to club or from user to user to operate and um to utilize that. **[06:58] Commissioner (Female):** Yeah our end of the year tournament there were quite a few hiccups with it not connecting. **[07:04] Adam Swanepoel:** Yep I'll say and there there must be WiFi that's available generally there in there yep that would actually be part of the scoreboard that would send that signal so power is already to the scoreboard so that would generate from the scoreboard. **[07:18] Chairperson:** Okay thank you well if um there aren't more questions we could I know some sometimes with because of our commission size we have discussion before we take a motion or we can take a motion and um have do it that formal way and have discussion afterwards about this. **[07:35] Commissioner Mike:** Well well we have a motion on the table. I moved to recommend to the council accepting the donation of the new scoreboard to be placed in Lions ball field from the Lake Elmo baseball association. **[07:48] Commissioner Hank:** I second. **[07:50] Chairperson:** We have a motion uh to discuss is there a discussion on this? **[08:00] Commissioner Hank:** I guess I'll say I don't see as far as the requirements anything that would be prohibitive of doing this. Um I would say I have um I like it when these groups that use these things put some of their equity into the the facility. So I think this is a good donation. The only suggestion I might make is if we want to uh limit or restrict any advertisement on the scoreboard if it's city property. Currently right now the sign I believe says Lake Elmo baseball or Lake Hill but this is not—and this is open up a new can of worms—this is not it's going to be similar to the one that's there right? **[08:38] Adam Swanepoel:** Correct. So there's not going to be neon lights of flashing Coca-Cola or something like this not necessarily um so we could put restrictions on. I've been in discussion with them they we want to remain like the same size as far as the structure-wise because uh replacing the poles and all the um electrical could could get more expensive. So they are looking to keep it about the same size um you know it might be a little bigger if they want to include innings and things like that but it should be relatively about the same size. **[08:55] Commissioner Mike:** Adam you're saying the current one has Lake Elmo baseball on it? **[08:58] Adam Swanepoel:** Yes it does. **[09:00] Commissioner Mike:** Does it say donated by or no? **[09:03] Commissioner Hank:** I certainly have no objection personally of if it's a "donated by" that that's what they're doing and and having that name recognition is—I I don't have a concern with that. Um I don't know that it should say just Lake Elmo baseball without that "donated by." I think that that adds some clarity to that. That's my personal perspective on it. Um do you—have they presented exactly what they want? **[09:28] Adam Swanepoel:** They have not, no. **[09:30] Chairperson:** Okay um well I guess I mean our motion is to accept a donation for a new scoreboard. I guess Hank, sort of to your point, we could we could drill down A-B-C-D-E-F-G as far as requirements like "you shall not have Coca-Cola," "you shall not have..." but I guess I don't necessarily see— **[09:48] Commissioner Hank:** Only I would need for that, the only thing I might put in there is that it would be similar in all fashions to the existing. **[09:55] Chairperson:** Yeah um well in that case then it would may say Lake Elmo baseball against— **[10:00] Commissioner Hank:** It might and I don't have a big problem but "similar" allows staff to work it out. Okay yeah all right so I'll restate that move to recommend that the city council accept the donation— **[10:14] Chairperson:** Well I think you have to just amend your motion. **[10:17] Commissioner Hank:** I amend my motion. I want to vote on that. Yeah with the uh inserting of the word of a new scoreboard similar to the one existing be placed in Lions ballport from the Lake Elmo Park Association. **[10:33] Chairperson:** We have a second of Hank's amendment to his own motion? **[10:35] Commissioner Mike:** Second. **[10:38] Chairperson:** Okay um further discussion? So the current the uh motion to amend would be uh that city council accept a donation of a new scoreboard similar to the existing to be placed at Lake Elmo Ballfield uh from the Lake Elmo Baseball Association. Agreed? Okay all those in favor of that amendment say I. **[11:02] Commissioners:** I. I. I. **[11:05] Chairperson:** Any Nays? No. So back to our original—we have to we need to vote the first one down we do no we need to just we we voted on the amend amending the the motion now we need to actually vote for the motion. Sure I always get a little it—that second step is seems tedious but it's correct. So any further discussion on our current motion? Okay so the motion is to recommend city council accept a donation of a new scoreboard to be placed a new board scoreboard similar to the one existing to be placed at Lake uh Lions Ballfield from the Lake Elmo baseball association. All those in favor say I. **[11:45] Commissioners:** I. **[11:47] Chairperson:** Any nay? There's no Nays, that motion passes and we are on on to friends of the Sunfish letter of intent item. **[12:00] Adam Swanepoel:** Other friends of sunfish along with Tony Menzer approached me in the last couple months and discussed uh a potential opportunity for a grant funding program through that is um um the is part of the DNR and the MPCA. Um $20 million has been set aside from the 3M PFAS settlement. Um there's three opportunities for grant opportunities. This last one um is being directed to organizations um that would like to submit an application for any applications that would benefit the recreational uh activities in those areas that have been affected. So with that I'll invite Tony up to discuss this project and uh again this is this is a first step of the grant process is just a letter of intent only so it's not uh no funds are being asked of or from the city at all for this just a letter intent of their project to the program. **[12:56] Tony Menzer:** Good evening I'm Tony Menzer. I live at 5050 Kirkwood in Lake Elmo since 1988 and I'm the person who started the nonprofit that built the Nature Center in Sunfish Lake Park and when the City of Lake Elmo instituted a a adopter park program in Spring of 2018 we adopted Sunfish Lake Park and we've been trying our best to help out. So uh the the background of this—press stand? Okay okay there we go and then you just hit up or down to go okay thank you very much. Uh the background of this uh is that the state of Minnesota settled with 3M for $850 million due to uh PFAS contamination of the of the water supplies and the environment. Most of that money, 775 million, goes for uh clean water. So the uh home purification systems and uh improvements in the public water systems are being paid for out of that fund. However, there is a $20 million allotment out of that 850 which is set up for environmental restoration and things like that and out of that there are there are three what they call Priority Two goals. Priority One is safe drinking water. And uh there the the first one is to restore protect and enhance aquatic and terrestrial resources. The second is increase understanding of tissue contamination. The third is to improve and enhance outdoor recreational opportunities and uh I the group that worked on the RFP included people from the from the government, people from the citizens groups, people from 3M and people from the trustees who are the uh MPCA and the DNR and among those people were there were representatives from Lake Elmo including administrator Christina Hunt then later on interim administrator Clerk Shrader and Jim Kelly and Council Member Jeff Holtz and myself and Howard Marcus. And so we got an idea of how this is going to work and how the proposal would be uh reviewed and I think we have a pretty good chance of getting something from each of these three goals and I so far as I know no one else from Lake Elmo has taken up the the effort of uh writing a a proposal for any of these and if you know anything that contradicts that please let me know. I don't want to compete with anybody but uh as a member of Lake Elmo EDA I was able to get on part of it on the work plan and that is to pay off the general obligation funds on the landfill the landfill closure so we can can make make some money from a solar power station built on it. Uh the second one is basically to study the fish of the of sunfish Lake to see if they need to be people need to be advised whether they can eat them or not that's never been done and I I hope to do some some further testing that would understand the the difficulty a little bit better there's different theories about how Sunfish Lake contaminated I think with a few tests we could help figure it out and the third one is what I'd like to ask for this evening and that is to get some money to build ourselves a boardwalk across the arm of Sunfish Lake. And the the LOI process is part of the RFP and what the trustees decided was that since they didn't know who was going to going to ask for what funding or what what the story would be they would do a two-step process and the first is to submit a letter of intent which would then be reviewed by the trustees and then uh if think it makes sense then they would invite that entity or person to propose and this could be a government organization it could be a nonprofit there's it could be an Indian tribe there's a number of different categories of people who are allowed to make a proposal and as the City of Lake Elmo we could do it or as the Friends of Lake Elmo Sunfish Lake Park which is a 501c3 we could do it. So we're kind of splitting it up here. So uh the reason for the boardwalk is that it it would be really neat and uh it the Sunfish Lake Park Trail design now has two out and back stubs one to the North End of the north arm and one to the south end but they don't go anywhere so you have two dead end trails. Before the trails were realigned and the water level came up there was a there was a loop trail on the South Side so you could walk along the lakeshore but that's no longer there. Uh by agreement between the city and the Minnesota land trust that was abandoned so the the a boardwalk across at arm of the lake would be a really ideal place to do bird watching it would be a great place to do fishing or pond dipping or just sit out there and have have a smoke and and enjoy nature. Uh what I'm asking for is that the trustees would fund the boardwalk project for half half a million dollars and that uh the organization Friends of Lake Elmo Sunfish Lake Park would administer the grant and manage to work basically we we would contract out most of what has to be done and uh there wouldn't be there would be very little involvement of of the city staff basically just to make sure that we're not exceeding our our plans and we already managed $650,000 in money from the DNR for the buckthorn removal project and restoration of Sunfish Lake Park. Oh you can see on this little picture here where the red line is that I've drawn on the right side that is where the boardwalk would go and the or the dashed yellow line is it where the trail was abandoned which used to be a loop across there. The here here's a little closeup of and there's probably two or three possible routes across Sunfish Lake but they're not much different from each other. There's uh roughly 250 220 ft to to get across and onto dry land to build a boardwalk across there. Uh I've done a bit of due diligence on this project I met met with the DNR uh Dan Skolin who who explained that since Sunfish lake is navigable water uh we can't have a floating boardwalk we have to have it raised so that people could canoe under it so that's point one. It has to have a three-foot clearance above the ordinary high water line. Met on site with Jay Riggs and Karen W from their Valley Branch Watershed District they control the wetlands and they indicated where the line would be how far we'd have to go before we built something and if you put posts to hold something up that's not considered building into wetland. If you actually built a structure into wetland that would require a whole lot more permitting but if we s if we get across the wetland with posts then uh they said there wouldn't be any real problem getting that done. I met with Andrew Mosa the land trust and he see he saw no conflict with the conservation easement uh there are some comparable boardwalk structures nearby and I'm working to get what the installation and maintenance cost is on those structures. Uh City of Oakdale, City of Maplewood, uh City of Roseville, uh Friends of Crane Meadows up in Granburg got some very interesting information. I met with some engineers from Stant Consulting who does our work on the on the buckthorn removal and they said uh half a million is about right and uh we talked about various possibilities for you know what the structure would look like and how it would be constructed. These are the four that I four comparable ones that are in Oakdale, Maplewood, Roseville and Crane Meadows that shows the length and the situation of their various boardwalks. It it turns out that the the depth of the water in Sunfish lake at that point is at the most 6 feet maybe seven now that we get a lot of rain so it's uh it's not a particularly big problem to put post down to hold it up you know it's not like you have a 40 foot depth of water you're trying to cross with a Golden Gate Bridge or anything like that. Uh this is what the one in Oakdale looks like and there's the the uh it was that's 400 ft long and the construction cost was 235,000 uh it's built the way we would build build this one most probably. Uh there's a statement from the park superintendent from Oakdale as to what the what the maintenance has cost them over the last 10 years. There was a there was a question uh when we're talking about this that came up from uh from Cher Castler here about will if we built that boardwalk across that arm would it benefit the people who are using the new park and that all depends on whether the city decides to gain access along that uh the Northeast edge of sunfish Lake and if you look at the cadastral map the the the uh plot marked L is the new is what your new park is going to be that's the next agenda item the plot marked M is owned by the the by uh by the Chavis family so you could get uh an easement from them across that that little corner maybe and then the part part one marked N is owned by the homeowners uh Association of Hamlet so you need to agree with them to get a an easement or a trail through there and then that would allow people to walk from the new park to the uh North part of sunfish Lake there and then they could cross over on the boardwalk to the South part or they could keep going west. So that's just U uh an answer to that question I don't know the answer and but if if the city decides to go ahead with this kind of activity it would be really neat. This is a taken off the Washington County property viewer is who owns what land around the whole whole Sunfish lake so if if you have any influence over people you can talk to. So that's uh that's my presentation I'd be happy to try to answer any questions. **[20:12] Chairperson:** Thank you. Is there questions or comments? **[20:15] Commissioner Mike:** I guess mostly questions, clarifications... **[20:18] Tony Menzer:** If not as Adam says the permission to give the LOI the letter of intent does not uh require us to actually submit a proposal it's basically a we're asking for a ticket to do the proposal so if we do get the invitation to do the proposal I'd come back with the final proposal and make sure nobody's unhappy about any part of it. **[20:44] Chairperson:** Okay so you're looking for a letter of support from the city for that letter of intent you intend on doing the letter of intent regardless? **[20:51] Tony Menzer:** Well I if if if the Parks Commission said that this is not a good idea then I wouldn't do it I mean I'm not going to—I'm not trying to cause trouble if if the Parks Commission is happy with this idea and they'd like to go ahead I'd be happy to do it sure and uh a letter of support would be marvelous thank you very much. **[21:12] Chairperson:** Okay. **[21:15] Commissioner Mike:** I do have a question um and I don't know if you'd know the answer or not but the the I think it's one of the first bullets on there when you're talking about your the due diligence is the navigable waters and um it actually surprised me that we that this could be done at all with uh you know it's it's not a recreational lake per you know where there's boats and so forth out there but you can't it is a big enough lake as they designate as as navigable right? **[21:40] Tony Menzer:** The federal law about navigable waters is very very broad it covers almost anything. **[21:45] Commissioner Mike:** Well how are we able to—how would you be able to do this at all I guess is how would you be able to build that bridge as a sort of as—um I'm having trouble understanding how you'd be able to do that legally? **[21:58] Tony Menzer:** Well what you'd have to do is like they did in Oakdale, you take uh actually I would wait until it freezes and then go cut holes in the ice and drive posts you know down into the mud as far as you hit until you hit something solid and then build a structure over the top of it. **[22:15] Commissioner Mike:** No I'm just wondering how it—how it's allowed and it sounds like you did did due diligence on it but I'm just wondering how that's allowed and um at all? **[22:25] Tony Menzer:** Well according to uh to Dan Skolin of the of the DNR you can you know the owner of a body of water or the land around it could do this if they want to as long as they don't interfere with navigation and not a body of water this small you know they don't expect a steam ship it's only five or six feet of water so the only it's only recreational so a person would have to be able to canoe or a little rowboat under it or you know it's it's relatively simple—let's put it this way: relatively low hurdle for a lake like this. If if we're going to try to do something like this across Lake Elmo or something like that then you have a lot more trouble yeah but this one is would be not necessarily a slam dunk but but it's it's allowed. **[23:05] Chairperson:** Okay other questions? Thank you. Again we could have some informal discussion before we took a motion if we wanted to or we could if we all agreed to and if somebody objected to it we could just go Um go make a motion and then have discussion trying to be flexible we wanted to talk about it before having— **[23:25] Commissioner Mike:** Well since I'm good at amending stuff afterwards, move to recommend the city council support for the Friends of Sunfish to submit a letter of intent for the boardwalk project through the Priority Two settlement. **[23:42] Commissioner (Female):** I'll second it. **[23:45] Chairperson:** Right. So the motion is as reads in the staff report currently and discussion. Do we need to put in that with that project the Priority Two settlement do we need to put Goal Three in there? **[23:55] Adam Swanepoel:** I think that would be for the applicants yeah is that just based for the applicant part yeah okay. **[24:02] Chairperson:** Well I guess I'll I'll make a comment in that it's a it's a two-faced comment. One I uh the Nature Center and Tony specifically has done a lot of work a tremendous amount of work and going after this money as you kind of reference going after this money that's available there's probably not a lot of people doing it and you're putting a lot more work into it um I love it. I do when I look at the um the presentation I I'm struck by the potential intrusiveness of a boardwalk through a through a nature preserve. I I don't know it's just something I'm that potentially is there and I I kind of when I was looking at it I kind of thought that it was counter to what the the preservation um goals and um what the Nature Center is is usually advocated um typically and I don't know if um want to speak to that further um but I do have I do have concerns about that. I think it would be great to have a wharf or a pier I'm I'm personally not sure about cutting a lake—it's not cutting it in half but cutting you know cutting cutting it into a quarter I guess is what it's doing um so that's my comment. **[25:15] Tony Menzer:** Um I can speak to that if you like sure yeah I would appreciate that uh when the City of Lake Elmo decided to uh to install biking trails in Sunfish Lake Park they had to abandon half of the walking trails and part of the abandonment was chosen by by City staff pretty much without consultation but it was basically done on the on the on the basis of which trails would be the hardest to maintain so they wanted to abandon those and well you know that's a very logical reason for doing it but what happened was they cut off some of the more interesting uh places um and I can go into great detail but I won't. So the the idea of the boardwalk is to allow people to have a continuous loop across the lake. It will be relatively low it's not going to stick up and I I understand your your comment that if you look at a you know pristine wild lake and you see a little bridge over it you're saying well why is this I mean I I can understand that that that sentiment but from our standpoint it really allows people to have more access and and that's one of the uh Priority Two Goal Three intents and that's that's kind of why we we thought about doing it. **[26:35] Chairperson:** I the um the devil the details will really bring out when they bring it back if they're successful um that's where we'll really get into this uh and I agree I'm glad were uh making an effort to get some of that money I'm glad to hear that most of it's going for the water to clean up the water but it is this is a good project. Um the other thing is I just used a bridge like this in Indiana and it did a entice you to get out and complete your walk and in at the lake you got to see uh aqua life like turtles and frogs that weren't visible from the shore now whether they'd be visible from a dock I don't know but the nice thing about the bridge is it invites you to go out into the lake sure. Um so that's my general comment there. **[27:22] Commissioner Mike:** Yeah yeah I mean I'll add I totally hear your point too but um I don't even know what this is if it's a pond but it's up by the Gateway Trail and there's over by the golf course and there's a boardwalk that cuts across that and since I'm out running and I'm on trails a lot I mean it's so cool to run or walk across that boardwalk in a sunrise or I mean it's you it does it gives you access to that water that you wouldn't normally have so I also see that point as well but but I also hear you because I already I thought of that too but but it does it invites you to something that you wouldn't otherwise be able to take part in. **[27:58] Commissioner Hank:** I I guess I would I would think we could do do the you could do a boardwalk uh more to the West that isn't directly cutting across you could you could skirt the edge um and accomplish the same things without it being as intrusive and and um as far as the trails being cut off as a as an avid hiker in the Boundary Waters at least uh as much as I can I prefer doing the loops right I don't want to do the down and back again that's that's just not quite as fun as um but I think that there's there's also ways to do that without with again it being on the west side so I would I would be more in favor of us supporting that but that's my perspective. **[28:40] Commissioner (Female):** You have any comments down feel a little isolated I feel that too. Um yeah I guess the only comment that I have is um you know I think one thing that's nice about a lot of boardwalks is that they increase the um amount of area that's possible for people using mobility devices to access um and that might be one thing to potentially consider here is um in the letter of intent um even though it like all of the pieces necessarily wouldn't be there to make this ADA compliant um but just kind of being forward thinking there and leaving that option open as a possibility could be great. **[29:20] Tony Menzer:** I make a comment? It turns out that it's almost ADA compliant to get down the trail there. There's there's one place that would have to be leveled to to 10 10 to 1 but but the boardwalk itself wouldn't be steep you know and and the other side of the that's coming in from the south edge there's there's a Hilder on on the North edge it's actually relatively smooth and so I would say that with very little uh grading required to make the whole trail ADA compliant and at some point the city may want to or may not want to do some kind of surfacing right now it's only dirt and it's and it's mowed but uh you could you could get through most of it with a with a motorized wheelchair. **[30:05] Chairperson:** Thanks. Further discussion or questions comments concerns? I'll call the question uh move the motion is to recommend to city council support for the Friends of Sunfish to submit a letter of intent for the boardwalk project through the Priority uh project through the Priority Two settlement excuse me. All those in favor I. **[30:28] Commissioners:** I. **[30:30] Chairperson:** All those against? **[30:32] Commissioner Hank:** That's a nay for me. **[30:35] Chairperson:** That's uh four to one that passes. Uh next item is the Legacy development park name. **[30:42] Adam Swanepoel:** As you know uh the City of Lake Elmo has acquired a 29 acre parcel uh in connection with the Northstar development which was approved by City Council in 2023. The newly acquired land is mostly wooded and it butts up to the Sunfish Lake the properties um the property location is about one mile from downtown U with our intent we are looking to uh we reached out to the community for uh suggestions for the new park name. Uh we this event we did a couple of events or a single event which was National Night Out event in August and then we provided um a posting on our website where individuals could uh put name suggestions and those came back to City staff. Overall there's 40 um name suggestions that were received over the 30 days um at this point we're looking for the Parks Commission to recommend to city council approximately two to three three to four names uh that they would suggest for uh the new park name. You've received a copy of the list uh that was provided those have not been screened those that's the full list so nobody's been um no bias has been put in there. Um there's a small column in the middle that does indicate how many uh times that name may have been submitted the the the same name was submitted. Um at this time there's no financial obligations for naming the park. Uh staff suggests uh we review that policy and come up with a unique name that would um um that'd be home for our new park in Lake Elmo. **[32:18] Chairperson:** Are there questions for staff? **[32:20] Commissioner Mike:** I um the development is is it called Northstar or is it called Legacy? **[32:25] Adam Swanepoel:** So Northstar is the the development that's currently being built, Legacy is the development just north of there. **[32:32] Commissioner Mike:** Oh okay I was getting that confused. Isn't it Legacy of Northstar is that the full name? Okay and can you provide clarification: the ones that are on your staff report listed one through four are those staff choices or why why are those listed there? **[32:48] Adam Swanepoel:** So those are just suggestions of like the three to four that we would suggest as a recommendation there um we you know I take back probably the um the first suggestion um for a couple reasons one is the naming of the of the the park um using the Schulken name may need a um um notification from that um homeowner or that owner that that they'd be willing to do that along with Heritage being a name that we already have as one of our parks as well. **[33:22] Chairperson:** So want to have discussion before we make a motion? Yeah discuss um any object anybody object to having some discussion before we make a formal motion? Okay. **[33:32] Commissioner (Female):** Yeah I just have a quick question for you Adam um the coneflower park you know and looking at the policy I'm just curious: would there be any plan for the city to like do some more prairie plantings in that area to like get some of those coneflowers in or is it mostly going to be kind of this wooded area? **[33:50] Adam Swanepoel:** It is a nature area so like digging or anything like that paved trails will not happen in there it's all going to be like nature trails and things like that that uh future grants or possibilities of like for natural seedings and things that could could happen or should say you know for flower or native plantings could happen okay so what's there with the vegetation is basically going to stay there as the vegetation okay like I said the city would construct some navigation trails or a single trail loop through there but that would be all that would potentially be done. **[34:25] Commissioner (Female):** Okay thanks I guess for a discussion then I feel like um coneflower park would maybe not make my list of recommended names um unless someone has other information for me um just because I feel like some other vegetation is probably more symbolic of or like would pop to mind a bit sooner suggest try to not be confusing. **[34:50] Commissioner Mike:** Well Oak Park is on there which I think is a better suggestion yeah I do— **[34:55] Chairperson:** You have—as a part of the development has there was there a survey done of the vegetation? Do you know do you know if what the oak population is there? **[35:05] Adam Swanepoel:** No I do not, no. **[35:08] Chairperson:** I didn't when I visited there I haven't seen a whole lot of oak actually have you? **[35:12] Commissioner Mike:** Yeah well yeah no other than in the the note it says the park has uh preserve pine and oak trees yeah I don't know about pine either honestly I um— **[35:25] Chairperson:** What about Tree Park fill the blank? Um I like the name of the family even though they have got to go talk to them I think that um addresses a lot of could address a lot of the angst that happened because of the development because of the removal of everything but the barn um that's and I realize you'd have to go talk to him about doing it but I think that makes sense I like the family name being kept into it. **[35:55] Commissioner Mike:** Yeah I do too. Um and then Polaris that they—I mean I I'm not a fan of that because I immediately thought of the company and the brand you know it just— **[36:05] Commissioner (Female):** See I was like "oh Polaris" have something to do you know I just immediately went there so that I'm not a fan of that name but that's me. **[36:12] Chairperson:** That did not pop up um when I was looking at it but I did immediately recognize the connection to Northstar and the farm there and when I was looking at the list um you know the Milky Way thing also I thought that was kind of unique in that it talked about the the rationale was making a connection to the family and to the history there um I think that the specifics if that name is recommended could probably use a little you know updating from this you know folks here. But I I agree that something to the I guess like anthropogenic history of that site seems nice. **[36:52] Commissioner Hank:** Yeah there might be another option although I don't have it right this second. I yeah I guess I tend to to go—I I don't know Hank I hear your what what you're saying as far as alleviating I wonder if it even has the opposite effect who who knows I guess some people— **[37:12] Chairperson:** I'd actually like to go farther back I think I I would well one I do want to recognize the larger discussion um which has been brought up tonight already that there is a something of a um this surrounds a lake or it's surrounds a lake uh with a park on the other side. Some continuity with Sunfish I think would make sense um especially if we go down the road of potentially developing a trails that connect. So to me it makes intuitive sense to to to call it something like Sunfish East. **[37:48] Commissioner Mike:** Um I was just going to suggest East Lake East Lake Park. **[37:52] Chairperson:** Um so yeah yeah Sun Sunfish East comes to mind for me um I also I'm a big fan of you know we should recognize the heritage, recognize the fact that this open land's been there for a long time. I'd like to go—I would um maybe a little bit of left field but um as far as a a name "Aashi" is an Ojibway word for sunfish. I think that would be— **[38:22] Commissioner Mike:** How do you spell—? **[38:25] Chairperson:** Well we get to that in the details but um that's a potential. Again it adds to the continuity of sunfish on the west uh the Sunfish Lake it recognizes the heritage, it alleviates alleviates concerns about um well it doesn't alleviate any concerns about what happened to the property necessarily but so straight it—that those would be my two. Anybody else have thoughts on it? **[38:50] Commissioner (Female):** I think that's really nice. Um question for you Adam before we go further: um so the ask for us is to give city council kind of a small subset of names here that they're going to pick from? **[39:05] Adam Swanepoel:** Correct. Yeah okay. Y you know and and again during when staff did review these we did alleviate away from any names that would be similar to Sunfish or had Sun included or includ just to eliminate the confusion from one side to the other not that it that it would initially but just so we don't have that same park name and people are like "oh how do I get to—" **[39:28] Commissioner Mike:** That's why East Lake might be a better that was the only reason. **[39:32] Chairperson:** East what would you— **[39:34] Commissioner Mike:** East Lake Park. The other thing and the other members might not know this is I think that the last three or four times we've done this the city council has done whatever they wanted do okay and in this particular area they seem to want to exercise their creativity but I I think we should submit it but we are also exercising our creativity. **[39:55] Commissioner Hank:** I agree there that's their per it's one of the big benefits of being—just to tell you they do exercise it versus a lot of things they might just say okay fine or not but this particular uh case last couple times we've done it they've just picked something else. **[40:12] Chairperson:** Yeah I I okay back to your point of East I find East Lake confusing because it's not called East Lake. We call it East Lake Park you say "what what what what East Lake" i'be much more apt to—I'll go back to the you know conversation of um yeah I would could be confused by that I don't have any problem with Sunfish I just yeah addressing the staff concern. I I don't think they should have "let's meet let's meet at Sunfish East." I think yep I mean I guess I I feel like the language difference is fairly distinct and therefore I feel like it would be I I don't have a big problem with that or I I don't see a huge conflict with that um I feel like people will not be confused if they're trying to find their way there um of course I mean I think it yeah if there's ever a renaming of other parks that might be an issue but I don't know I I don't have a big issue with Aashi being on our Rolodex here gotcha. **[41:15] Commissioner Hank:** I would still recommend the family name in some form, the Sunfish East and however you spell the Native American name for Sunfish. **[41:25] Chairperson:** I've got the spelling so we can get we got that covered. So those are the three I'd suggest on what I've heard. **[41:32] Commissioner Mike:** Yeah Hank would you recommend an edit to the word heritage because there's— **[41:35] Commissioner Hank:** Heritage—I just I wouldn't put Heritage in there that's fine. The name of the family is is fine mhm yeah just the name in park is fine the Schulken park or Schulken Farms park if that's listed both of either one would be fine. **[41:52] Chairperson:** Uh further discussion or if somebody wants to make a motion and we can further discuss again? **[41:58] Commissioner Hank:** I'll make a motion for those three that I just mentioned because I can't spell the one well you didn't spell the other ones either the family name or the Family Farm either one so Schulken—let's get can you get state in a— **[42:15] Chairperson:** Yes I motion to recommend the city council the following names to consider as a formal name for the newly acquired property: Schulken Park, Sunfish East Park and Aadhi Park. **[42:28] Commissioner Mike:** Thank you could you— **[42:30] Chairperson:** A-G-W-A-D-A-A-S-H-I excuse me. Uh is there a second for that? **[42:36] Commissioner (Female):** I'll second that. **[42:38] Chairperson:** Okay we have further discussion certainly change that amend it how do you spell it again? **[42:45] Commissioner Mike:** A-G-W-A-D-A-A-S-I? It's fairly phonetic except for that double A. It'd be Agedashi Park correct Agedashi Park. **[42:55] Commissioner Hank:** Is that your motion, Hank? Yes that's correct. Um for further discussion can't wait to see what city council wants I'll call the question. Motion is to recommend city council the following names to be considered as a formal name for the newly acquired property at Legacy Northstar: one is Schulken Park, two is Sunfish East Park and three is Agedashi Park. All those in favor I. **[43:25] Commissioners:** I. **[43:28] Chairperson:** Any Nays? No Nays, motion passes and we'll go on to our next item which is the aforementioned Park construction—name it before we build it. **[43:38] Adam Swanepoel:** So with the with the construction of the Northstar development again we accepted or we um received the 29.9 Acres along with uh park dedication funds as well. Beginning this fall, City staff would like to begin constructing those trails and constructing that park to be ready by and usable by 2025 when homes begin being built there. Staff is looking to furnish the park with a sign, some benches as well as trash receptacles throughout the park. Would the Parks Commission be—would the Parks Commission uh like to recommend the city council the recommendations the staff has put together for projections of the park for projections of the construction of the park? So as noted in uh the staff report I do have the entrance sign, the park benches, concrete and garbage receptacles for a total of about $12,000 just a little bit more um and again those um those will be constructed uh beginning this fall into next spring um so that that park is usable and open um during the 2025 season um with that I'll take any questions again These funds would be directly coming from the parks dedication funds um within the city budget. **[45:00] Chairperson:** Questions for staff? **[45:02] Commissioner Mike:** So the trails are they there? **[45:05] Adam Swanepoel:** No there'd be one single track made by City staff um so that uh City staff would um map that trail mow that trail and that's all that would be it be a basic um um there's part of that uh that dedication of land there prohibits us from having any asphalt trail or any uh construction of trail so it be nature trails only. **[45:28] Commissioner Mike:** Do we have a layout of that trail or approximately where it's going to be? **[45:32] Adam Swanepoel:** Not yet, no. **[45:35] Commissioner Mike:** Because you know we've had discussion in past months about an interconnecting trail from you know Sunfish Lake Park to downtown and this is a big piece of it that would be part of it we want to interconnect I think we should probably we'd want to have at least some sort of layout what we're doing this trail. If we're eventually going to have one going down you know County 14 whatever it's a North side road south side of the road if we've got Sunfish Lake on the north side this park on the north side seems like we keep working towards the north side if we're going to do a trail air we want to make sure we keep interconnecting all of this stuff correct. Seems like we're just piecemealing this and here we're going end up costing more money to change our to change the trail to this park where it's really just it's it's open it's just an open area right now right. **[46:25] Adam Swanepoel:** Yeah so yeah um staff's been in the park a number of times so we'll you know after access to that again we'll actually get be able to get in there get a better view of it preferably this fall when the leaves are down and you can kind of kind of see where we can navigate that um again you know access to those asphalt trails on the outside will just be you know up to those will only be like nature like wood chip trails up there so um you know so in the future could those technically be changed you know as we progress and build those technically but— **[47:05] Commissioner Mike:** I just think we might be rushing putting this in right away I mean we might we might want to hold off on this one um approving this trail through this park. **[47:15] Chairperson:** Well what I suggest is staff brings back their posed layout yeah when they get it ready. Adam are you uh able to bring up the the Washington County GIS on on this so we can so we can look at it or maybe you just have a map already or a print out I don't know if that's available? And I I had a question for you specific to some um tiny little slivers one which is apparently owned by the city and one that's owned by the development yeah okay so you can't you can see the one up in the upper left-hand corner there that one's owned by the development do you know what that is? **[47:55] Adam Swanepoel:** I do not. **[47:58] Chairperson:** And then there's one—I guess now that I'm saying out loud there's another sliver owned by the city and maybe that's just drainage is what I guess I'm going on a limb yeah you can just see it there on the upper left northwest corner there. **[48:12] Adam Swanepoel:** It's prob—yeah it's likely an easement uh because there is storm water ponds on that Legacy of Northstar up there. So right now as far as access it looks like it's between 3644 and 3634 for—is that—? **[48:28] Chairperson:** So there is a—so the numbers that you see up there right now is like the first uh set of plat that's been approved and set up there there is another section that where that that road will continue over and make a loop in there yet so um that hasn't been finalized yet or that's in the the next phase. So once that's put in you'll have a better idea what that would look like. **[48:55] Chairperson:** Well I guess my question is how how are people accessing this park? **[48:58] Adam Swanepoel:** So there is a one access point um that would come off that road that loops around um one access point would be approximately wouldn't say more than a two house width um that would have access in there so so it wouldn't be a huge spot for any parking or um you know it's more just kind of more of a bump out at this point. **[49:25] Chairperson:** So you're saying that's that would be at the location where isn't the development hasn't been laid out platted out yet? **[49:32] Adam Swanepoel:** Correct. **[49:34] Chairperson:** Do you know at that that spot between 3644 and 3634 is—is that this one right in here? That right there? I mean that's part of parcel of 3640 isn't it? **[49:48] Adam Swanepoel:** Yeah well yeah that's which is the Parkland but I'm just wondering if that's supposed to be the access there I think there is there is just um there is this would be part of the city land I think it's just a yeah an access point. **[50:00] Chairperson:** So I guess yeah my overall question is just um I guess clarification on where the access comes from and—and um you indicated there wouldn't be parking. Is uh down on the Southeast corner um there's the drainage pond there mhm you have any idea whether there's enough room to extend the trail through to the road and or put a small lot there with the drainage? The drainage—just drainage isn't shown there at that pond but it's an old old satellite image. Do you have any idea? **[50:35] Adam Swanepoel:** No I don't. At this point we don't have any you know um future plans of any trail that would connect there but like Mike said that would that'd be you know whether that trail uh the future Gateway Trail along that would go in the North or side of Stillwater Boulevard or County Road 14 you know that would be a accessible point right there. It's either through the development or um through there but the point you're talking about right there um that parcel is owned I believe by the city as well. **[51:08] Chairperson:** Well it is I'm just wondering if there's enough room with the the drainage the pond that's there and fair enough if you don't know I that but that was my question whether we can maneuver through that to to get a trail around that that's um or if it takes that entire spot right. So yeah I wouldn't at this point I I don't know the answer to that. **[51:30] Chairperson:** Okay are there other questions for staff? Um and we could do the same we could we could discuss this before before taking a formal motion or if someone objects to that we can just make a formal motion and have our discussion from there. I guess by I I'll make a I'll make a motion and and my motion is is not the the recommended motion. My motion is to recommend that city council uh direct City Park staff to provide a staff report to a forthcoming Park Commission meeting regarding the potential development of the Parkland at Northstar development before beginning construction so we know what's happening. **[52:12] Commissioner Mike:** I'll second that. **[52:15] Chairperson:** Second—got a second we can we can discuss that motion um and I guess I'll just my perspective I guess Mike said the same: it seems like we need to know a little bit more information about I I'm kind of surprised that we're we're um building starting to build something hadn't heard anything about building anything it hadn't been in our CIP it hadn't been in our our work plan or anything. I'm all for uh generally speaking having a nature preserve with uh trails where we can access this and and um but I would just like to see the what I consider normal process before we do it that's why I made that motion. **[53:02] Commissioner (Female):** I think I mean I am on board with the current motion. I think that that also gives a nice opportunity um for us to maybe consider more park benches. I know that's been a priority in other instances just making sure that there's enough um and the length of trail seems to influence that quite a bit. **[53:22] Chairperson:** Yeah like park benches potentially a gazebo I know most of this is at an a slope but potentially a gazebo um I'd like to know what kind of trails I mean is there—is it is it bike, is it multi-use, is it a walking trail, does it have the ability to connect to Stillwater Boulevard? Which um I guess the point was made that that's we plan for the future. I I I would like to see us potentially reach out to the land owners on the north side of sunfish Lake to see if we can connect between those parks. That to me is a uh obviously to at least attempt to do um I'd also make a a a pitch for a um potentially a a kayak canoe um landing—what would you call it? **[54:12] Commissioner Mike:** Launch. **[54:14] Chairperson:** Launch thank you um so there it just seems to me that there's some potential for this 30 acres—not a typical site obviously on Sunfish Lake. Um I've said enough in my uh several years here we've not done a new park um so we don't have a lot of presidents there but we have if we go ahead and improve what was recommended by staff um then that would not put it in compliance with what we're doing with other parks. Other parks were having these visioning um sessions and there's more of a talk of layout and this and that and the other. I granted there's not going to be a lot of amenities here um but we haven't had that kind of discussion and therefore I support the the motion um that we have kind of that kind of discussion a little bit more detail of how it fits into the neighborhood and how it would fit into the future of our um interconnection with the rest of the trails. There's my opinion. **[55:18] Commissioner (Female):** I mean yeah I love this discussion. I think that the trail connectivity is something that's also been brought up kind of time and again as something that we're looking at um and so if there's some opportunities here it would be nice to be planful of that. **[55:35] Chairperson:** Further discussion or I can call the question? So the motion is to recommend city council direct City staff to provide a staff report to a forthcoming Park commission meeting regarding the potential development of Park land at North Star Development before beginning construction. All those in favor I. **[55:58] Commissioners:** I. **[56:00] Chairperson:** Any opposed? There's none, that motion passes and we're on to the next item which is Communications. **[56:10] Adam Swanepoel:** The volleyball court sand volleyball courts are completed at both Pilot and Carriage Station. Um some seeding has been done in the last couple weeks so we'll continue to water that but uh we've seen both volleyball parks in use. Staff continues to do garbage cleanup as well as um um just doing our final touches of the storm cleanup as well in a lot of our parks. Um we did have somebody talk about the tree cleanup—we we have we are including that on our trails here the last couple weeks so just that big storm cleanup of removing some of those trees um from our trail system so um coming up in October again our our portal potties will be removed from our our our sites um but that should um conclude our kind of our big push for the summer activities at our parks. **[57:15] Chairperson:** Okay. Is there further communic—excuse me, communications from Commissioners? **[57:22] Commissioner (Female):** Well I was just thinking after we received the packet and I would like to extend appreciation to Public Works for doing storm cleanup. Um I know there's been some big stuff to work on so um yeah just appreciate you folks getting out there and um making these things available to be walked in again it's important. **[57:42] Commissioner Mike:** Mike did you have—it looked like you maybe had something? No? Nope okay. **[57:48] Chairperson:** Um are there future agenda items? Items that Commissioners would like to see? **[57:52] Adam Swanepoel:** One other thing to note, the concrete for the Pebble Park um playground set is already set so you'll see the playground going in the next couple weeks there so working on that. **[58:05] Commissioner Mike:** Future agenda items? Pick another park to look at. Good. **[58:10] Chairperson:** Yeah we can do that. I'll again say the park reservation policy which I requested last meeting didn't make it to this agenda so review of that um would be mine. If that is all for communications we can take a motion to adjourn. **[58:32] Commissioner Mike:** So moved. **[58:34] Chairperson:** Is there a second? **[58:36] Commissioner (Female):** Second. **[58:38] Chairperson:** All those in favor say I. **[58:40] Commissioners:** I. **[58:42] Chairperson:** Any opposed? No. Meeting adjourned.