[1:01] Mark Shy: I'd like to call to order this meeting of the Apple Valley Parks and Recreation advisory committee for March the 6th 2025 at this time I'd like to invite all who are present and willing and able to please rise and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all good good evening everyone uh this is the March meeting of the Apple Valley Parks and Recreation advisory committee the March meeting is the meeting that um this committee votes for new officers for the coming year and we're going to do that uh right now uh we'll be voting for two positions one is the committee chairman and the other is for the committee uh secretary or vice chairman position so um we will get started we will um do the uh committee chair first and um yeah [2:23] Eric Carlson: Mr chair members of the committee so um how this will work is you will nominate somebody you think should be the chair and then um you know once we've received all our nominations you will make your selection on the paper right in front of you you have two sheets in front of you one for the chairperson one for the secretary um and then you will make your selection I'll come up and grab your sheets and announce who has you know has been elected the chair and who has been elected the secretary so we'll do that process for each of them and then um just note that you cannot nominate yourself and you cannot vote for yourself per Minnesota State Statute so um with that in mind I do want to mention that Craig is not here today and he has mentioned that he will um he will accept any nominations should people want to nominate him so just keep that in mind as you make your nominations all right uh at this time I would open the floor for nominations for the uh committee chairman for the Park and Recreation advisory committee [3:42] Committee Member: Mr chair I nominate Mark to continue in his role as chair of this organization [3:49] Mark Shy: okay I have a nomination for Mark shy uh other nominations anything nothing all right then I will close the floor for nominations and [4:05] Eric Carlson: and I don't think you need to vote on that one okay considering there's only one nomination so uh congratulations Mark [4:14] Mark Shy: okay thank you that was easy okay all right well let's do this again for the uh committee secretary position I will open the floor for nominations for uh committee secretary for the park and wreck advisory committee [4:30] Committee Member: oh I'll nominate uh Craig long [4:36] Mark Shy: I have Craig long listed for a nomination any others hearing none I will close the floor for nominations and I guess we're good to go there excellent you thank you very much all right Mark you can proceed the meeting in your formal capacity as committee chair okay thank you you can retain your gavl oh actually no [5:04] Eric Carlson: we do need to do a motion I'm sorry a motion um to officially um establish Mark as the chair and Craig as the secretary and then second and then vote [5:13] Mark Shy: okay I would look for a motion to [5:15] Dave: I'll make a motion to uh uh elect or let's see what do we want to do we want to confirm the uh the fact that Mark uh sh is the only nominee for um chairperson be accepted in that role and Craig long for the uh the same as the secretary [5:38] Jess: I'll second that [5:40] Mark Shy: okay I have a motion from Dave and a second by Jess uh any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed that passes unanimously all right we will move on um first thing we need to do is have an agenda for this evening and uh Kayla has put that together and given each of us a copy uh my question to the members is uh are there any changes or additions you'd like to see made to that um uh agenda for this evening hearing none I put this I would uh present the same question to Eric and the staff any changes [6:32] Eric Carlson: nothing [6:33] Mark Shy: uh then I would look for a motion to approve the uh this evening's agenda as printed [6:40] Dave: I'll make a motion to uh accept the agenda as printed [6:46] Mark Shy: okay I have a motion by Dave second on that [6:50] Randy: I have a second by Randy [6:51] Mark Shy: uh all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed that passes unanimously uh next up is the audience participation and uh we set aside uh time at each meeting for the audience uh public to come and um speak with us and uh it looks like tonight we will not have anyone as we have nothing but empty chairs so um would like to say anything to anybody that is um watching tonight on uh television or any of the rebroadcast if there's anything that you'd like to come down and uh uh talk to this committee about we'd love to hear from you we're looking for suggestions we're looking for complaints anything um we meet the first Thursday of every month at 700 p.m. we're in the municipal center which is the same as City Hall and we'd love to hear from you so please keep that in mind and uh we will move on to the next item and that is approval of the minutes for the January 2025 meeting uh Kayla has put together those minutes and provided each of us with a copy uh my question is are there any changes that any of the members think should be made to those minutes as printed um hearing none I would uh look for a motion to approve the uh minutes for the January uh 2025 meeting [8:19] Jess: I'll make a motion Mr chair to approve the minutes for the January 2025 meeting [8:34] Mark Shy: okay I have a motion by Jess second a second by Dave all those in favor signify by saying I I I I opposed that passes unanimous unanimously all right next up is uh agenda items number a city of Apple Valley pedestrian bike Plan update from Mr Carlson [8:53] Eric Carlson: yeah Mr chair members of the committee and those that might be watching at home give you a quick brief update on the Apple Valley Bike and pedestrian plan um so the first plan was created in 2010 and right now we are working to update the plan the city received a grant from the Statewide Health Improvement program to help us update this plan and we are working with h KGI to do that uh the grant requires that we finish this work by the end of May and so staff and um our consultant have been working towards that goal um and the purpose of the presentation is just to give the committee members just a brief update on what's Happening so there's two different groups um that are working on this both from a staff uh perspective and then the task force uh made up of key stakeholders um and we are really trying to reach out to uh stakeholders within the community that are interested in or might use our sidewalks and Trails um whether that be for recreation or for transportation and we want to make sure that we're doing the best job that we can to connect our community uh for people that like to ride a bike or rollerblade or walk or run or or use those Trails for recreation so we're looking at ways to make sure that people can get from where they live in the community to businesses to restaurants to schools to parks to other neighborhoods Etc um the mission of the mission of the plan is the the bike and ped Plan update will serve as a tool for the city of APPA Valley to continue to enhance Mobility safety health and the quality of life for its residents The Plan update will serve as a road map towards creating and maintaining a connected and Equitable Transportation Network um and this this is just kind of a timeline on where we've been and where we're trying to get to by the end of May with regards to the plan uh there's a the the next task task force meeting is on Monday u March 17th um and there will be an opportunity for the public to weigh in and to provide feedback at the Home and Garden Show which is on Saturday April 12th right Saturday April 12th um there's information on our website for anyone that might want to go to our website and look at that um and there's ways for people to provide feedback on our website if people have comments hey they like to see a connection here or they like to see a connection there whatever the case might be um so with that I can stand and answer any questions that the committee members may have any questions comments nothing and I should point out that Mark serves uh represents the parks committee on the task force and Randy represents uh the community and the biking community on the task force so we do have a couple members that are um very involved in the process any any feedback that either two of you want to provide at this point [12:00] Randy: looking forward to that March 17th meeting where your green St Patrick's Day [12:07] Mark Shy: all right thank you thank you all right next agenda item is the 2024 Valleywood Golf Course year end review and I think that must be Mr zinc is going to present that to us you are correct you have the floor [12:22] Jim Zinc: good evening chair members of the committee I'm Jim zinc Golf Course manager out at Valleywood um I have my very talented Clubhouse coordinator here to answer any questions you I might not be able to answer um so uh we'll give you a kind of a rundown of how the year went um you know we've got a few new members of the committee in the last few years but it seems every time I'm up here all we talked about the last couple years our irrigation project so uh oh let see here okay so just as we go through the year-over-year numbers just to refresh everyone uh we started this our irrigation project 2017 planning um in uh 2021 we started working with a golf course architect to do some improvements on the course as part of the project um just have a couple of items there at the bottom of these slides the original irrigation system was installed in 1975 uh probably was due for replacement 15 years ago um but we got her done finally um and then in 2021 we we got all the approvals um through the city council uh awarded a contract to liability Irrigation in 22 um OnCourse projects started in uh July of 23 um as part of the project we installed over 900 sprinkler heads around the golf course um 300 of them approximately have yardage markers so you can tell how far it is to the green on that specific hole um we've completed the in install in October of 23 uh then last spring uh with some of the encourse improvements we had kind of a Gro in and repair of the turf uh we built some new teas and Fairways as part of that uh which finally opened in June of this last year uh so this is kind of an a overhead of the golf course the things that were on course improvements that were part of the irrigation project in addition to all new well or not well but pump systems all new pipes the 900 plus sprinkler heads we did some improvements to the third hole down there in the lower left corner uh to improve the te's and with the construction of the senior housing on the corner uh try to make that a little more playable uh one of the bit uh interestingly enough one of the most difficult parts of the project or most complicated was actually rebuilding of the driving range te uh that seemed to be kind of the most back and forth we had with our contractors and design people did some work on the uh SE 15th 17th and 18th Fairways to expand some of the play areas on those holes and also built a new tea complex on the 15th hole um so those areas uh prior to to the improvements on the conditioning of the course we did a lot of tree removal and a lot of last year was kind of grow in and um and get those areas all healed up I can say as as our department starts on big projects all throughout the system I can only hope there these projects go as well as ours did so it it really really went well uh so again uh we have most numbers from last couple years uh these are rounds of golf by month uh we thought we might be open in March of this year that has suddenly changed uh in the last 48 hours but um you know you can see obviously peak season is is May June July August uh those numbers from last September and October actually record numbers for rounds of golf in those months so it's very very encouraging uh um on an annual basis uh when we did redid the business plan as part of the irrigation project we set kind of the Baseline for our operation at 30,000 rounds so provided based on our pricing and things if we do about 30,000 rounds we should break even for the year as you can see we've we've done quite well here over the last four or five years our monthly Revenue uh up until 2022 we had two months in the history of the golf course that were over 27,000 in revenue and uh that is now the kind of the new Norm um again September October last year were're record Revenue months um believe it or not this January was too but it's pretty small numbers in January compared to what we do in the peak of Summer and our total annual revenue continu to grow so it's been um it's been we've been on a good run here a good rooll uh we've got a lot of our leagues and programs are full uh or or close to full a lot of interest and just this year Jordan and I have got a lot of inquiries about uh opportunities to play um League opportunities uh golf outings in addition to the events and banquets we do at the facility uh um again going back a bit um there was a period where we had an outside vendor that ran our food and beverage operation uh pair one which also own the roasted pair restaurants you might be familiar with uh as CO as they tore through Co they ended up closing all their operations uh they did operate the golf course food and beverage in 2020 um while we received a commission Revenue wasn't that that great but they handled all the Staffing so uh in 2021 we hired all new staff um and Jordan overseas all the clubhouse operations the food and beverage and banquet staff in addition to the golf uh staff but I think one of the one of the best things in my career has been watching the development of these young young people that we hired they were all 18 years old many of them almost never had a job um and the ownership they have taken and in what we do and now in 2024 as we go into 2025 we have a number of those people are now more or less in leadership positions as leads and supervisors in our operation and just to see their growth and maturity has been awesome um and the numbers have been great so they they continue to climb as well uh events overview from last year uh we continue as part of our business plan we had goals for events and uh we continue to outpace what our n what our goals were what we're finding and kind of what we somewhat new is the facil is beautiful the banquet room's fantastic it's not a great setup for weddings um you know summer weddings we have hundreds of golfers around we have a lot of other things going on um so kind of the smaller weddings uh we've done well with we have a few of those each year uh the real the real base of our business is and growth in our business has been the graduation parties have become very popular at Valleywood um celebrations of life retirement parties things like that where almost a kind of an open house Nature has been very very successful and we continue to get inquiries for those heading into 25 uh as I mentioned our driving range uh if anybody was out there many years ago like I was it's shocking to to see uh what the driving range looks like today versus where we were uh even three years ago before we started construction um it's really it's really a beautiful setup it works great um normally this picture we took shortly after construction but no you know we have dividers between each of the mats so you don't hit each other um and one of the great additions up there was we have a new ball machine for people to get their range balls from and that machine accepts credit cards and what we have found is over the course of last year each passing month more and more of the ball of the balls were purchased right at the driving range so by September of last year we were seeing 40% of all the range balls were purchased right up at the driving range and that's really nice it frees up our Golf Shop staff to really serve the golfers and um you golf is not an inexpensive game uh so an average forsome that's coming out to play at Valleywood on the weekend they're paying you know as the force them over $300 to play and we're able to provide really really good service in the golf shop and the numbers reflected um so we closed the driving range in 2023 for construction the very beginning of August um through those same dates in this year we were up significantly and uh the numbers continued so uh I'd have to look back through numbers but we've never done $100,000 on the driving range before uh we were at almost 115 and again the trend was just getting better and better and better um one of the things with the golf course for those you that play it is it's not an easy golf course and um as a result and with other short courses that have closed in the air area we see a lot of people that are using our driving range that probably don't play our golf course so we look at it as a way to serve another segment of the golf golfing public we see a lot of families that come out to the driving range and hit balls um we have and we do have lesson programs and things like that but it's it's really really been been a great thing out there uh as a result of the last handful of years of success we were able to outright purchase a new Fleet of golf cars with cash saving us about about $50,000 in finance charges so when we built the clubhouse in in 2012 we can we had about 40 45 gas golf cars so when we were moving into the new building a big part of that was to go to electric cars um I remember uh I was part of that planning and when we were talking about putting State Room in the basement for 55 Golf Cars it seemed crazy to me um that would be more than enough than we would ever need well here we are 12 years later and we are 55 one quite making it so um we turned in that lease was up we turned those in and purchased six 60 golf cars and the new lithium technology and the batteries the cars are much lighter the warranties are much better and the great thing is depending on how well they're running in five or six years we will own all the equity in those cars so uh previous lease the cars were worth couple thousand each at the end of the lease so we're hopeful that not only would the purchase of them with cash set us up in the short term but it also sets us up for future uh car leases uh we just uh installed a new point of sale I shouldn't say we Jordan just installed a new point of sale and went through training with the majority a lot of our staff in the spring uh we rolled it out uh we had the um Apple Valley fire banquet was there a few weeks ago and that was kind of the first real run of the new point of sale system uh we got good news this morning from the finance department that all the reporting everything looks good so um we're very encouraged by that our Point of Sales system is integrated with our t- sheet so people can go to our well I actually have a slide here people can go to our website and then they can book a tea time right on the website didn't know this was a video learn something new every day um but they can book right through the website in the te- sheet then it shows up in in our golf shop on the point of sale we can ring them up right through that create a customer database so we know when people are playing and and whether they're riding we know who they're playing with those kinds of things um question on on that [25:54] Mark Shy: yes when somebody makes that uh books a tea time do they have to give up their credit card at that time [26:00] Jordan: uh no they probably have to just set up the account correct they do not need to put a credit card down they do have the option to but they don't and even if they do they never get charged until they show up um but they have the ability to do it so they can just pay with a card on file and some customers will you can purchase gift cards register for lessons and other things like that through the website so we were able to import much of the database uh we've been all last year kind of informing our some of our patrons letting them know you may have to just set up a new login for this year um but to be honest with you golfers are kind of used to that um the point of sales in the golf Market are rapidly have rapidly changed in the last 10 years and I think most golf courses have been through two or three different point of Sal systems um but the great thing with this is it integrates everything all of our food and beverage runs through it our te- sheets on it um we can get room information to people that way um so it's been great any questions on this year's operation I got more for you [27:10] Dave: uh one question I I know one of the justifications for um hiring an architect and making the modifications to the layout of some of the holes was to improve pace of play and therefore generate more rounds yes do you have any metrics on that or is it just a gut feel that it's changed [27:26] Jim Zinc: oh all golfers have a gut feel on pay play uh um one of the things that has really impacted pace of play in a positive way is and and you you see it when you're out there um the number of players that ride in golf cars is to me mindboggling um until I was I mean till I was 40 years old my dad would still give me a hard time if I took a golf cart and that's no longer um 70% of the players ride and as a result pace of play is much less of an issue than it used to be the big thing we were able to do as as part of the golf course Improvement was to make the course more playable so most golfers uh tend to hit a ball that curves away from them or what we call a fade or a slice um so part of the improvements were to reposition te in a way that open those holes up um whether you play golf or not if you've been out to our property you can see how wooded it is um and as a result you you sometimes have very narrow areas to play through and if your ball's curving a lot that's a problem so we were able to open up some of those areas by removing trees on the left of holes moving te's over to the right and make them a little bit more playable we've also been able to build some more forward Wares so that is something we're looking at honestly we're glad that we're kind of done with all these big projects but it doesn't mean that we stopped looking at ways to improve the golf course so we will be over the next few years continuing to build what are fairly inexpensive just little platform te's and move te's up forward so that more novice players can play one of the challenges we have at the golf course is maximizing Revenue in peak times while providing discount or reasonable opportunities for people to play in our off peak times um so you'll see that in in our fees our fees we bring to you every year and to the city council but then we work uh Jordan myself and Eric work to create some special rates weekday mornings for senior Years Twilight golf um you know so that's part of the challenge is is you make the course shorter more people can play it um but it the cost is the cost um kind of so I just any other questions about this year's operation or what percent of your [30:16] Committee Member: revenue is generated from residents outside of Apple Valley do you know that [30:21] Jim Zinc: probably we don't track that I would I would guesstimate close to 70% outside and do you think that's up or down over the years I think it's down a little bit over the years I think I think that if you live in Apple Valley and you play golf uh there's about a 90% chance you play at Valleywood and I don't think that was necessarily the case 10 or 15 years ago not a huge difference but I think it's trending in the right direction and we we're seeing that a lot in the building usage with uh celebrations of life and grad parties and retirement parties a lot of that becomes Word of Mouth um what we do is like you know let's say you have a a kid that's about to graduate high school often times what happens is two or three parents rent the room and buy the food then the kids each have kind of their own corner of the room to display their stuff and inevitably what happens is you got parents there that have Juniors and sophomores in high school those are almost all Apple Valley and East viiew kids maybe a St Thomas here and there but there are almost all residents that are using that thank you J [31:54] Dave: I just have a question on the banquet facility if if I'm somebody that doesn't know anything about Valleywood never heard of Valleywood and I'm looking for a a venue or something I go onto my computer and I Google Apple Valley Event Center or banquet facilities is that going to bring you up to your website or how where would how would I how would I get linked to Valleywood [32:27] Jordan: yes absolutely so we have a Valleywood excuse me Valwood business page on Google so yes it is linked up to try the best that we can with the SEO for if your Google events near Apple Valley and now Google's good enough where if you Google it in Apple Valley they know you're in Apple Valley so we do a lot of work to try to keep that up at the top of the list okay um and then do work within the website that helps you pop up at the top of the list for example when you have pages that say events and banquets or mentions um like we have testimonials and stuff like that that'll shoot you up the SEO the search engine optimization up on Google so that you are able to uh be put at the top of the list when they search that and then yes it'll bring you directly to our page in our Facebook with uh my contact information as well as just a a blank form from uh wfu where they can fill out and I can get back to them [33:16] Jim Zinc: okay and then we also we do our our uh website it's it's embedded within the cities but if you click on it takes you outside of the city's website we have a company that we work with that does hundreds of websites around the twin St in fact Jordan and I were just a couple weeks ago at one of their seminars about these very things it's uh it's uh interesting how rapidly these things have changed over the last 10 years [33:59] Dave: yeah because I think that's the key for your real growth is because the golf is great but it's so weather dependent you know where if you get a bad spring you get bad weekends it there isn't much you can do [34:12] Jim Zinc: no no we we you know yeah a tea time is is a commodity once you know once it's uh you know whatever time it is once it's 7:55 you you can't sell the F 752 tea timing but the bulk of the revenue is is driven by that t- sheet and that's why our business plan and everything is based on those rounds of golf um so hope that answers your question it does and that's you're doing a great job so I thought also with a number of new committee members in the last few years and all we talk about is irrigation and OnCourse projects I just want to talk a little bit about what we do as a whole um as I say we run as a business but not exactly um so we have a lot of golf opportunities for all different kinds of players all different kinds of leagues um but we also we have four high school teams that play at our place and we certain ly don't charge them the market rate for all their tea times and their range usage um you know we have Community groups that rent our facility um we work with the State Golf Association for uh they rent our facility for a for a Ral seminar every year uh we this year we have a qualifier for the state senior amateur um so we work with a lot of different Community groups we have uh high schools that not not only play golf there but we the facility is used all winter by the Nordic ski team so unfortunately the last couple years has not been great for the Nordic ski team but they come out they build the trail um you know most days they'll have hundreds of kids out there um so all of the schools throughout the school district use the course for their Nordic ski teams um in the golf shop we kind of we try to pride ourselves on providing a little better surfice than some of the local golf courses with the beautiful facility we have we think it's important that people get a better experience when they come to our course we have a phenomenal staff really friendly um but we provide you know golf lessons uh group lessons and juniors women's only groups we provide uh regripping of golf clubs which most golf courses do not provide um we we full Event Services so we'll Jordan will work through an entire event with people um and then we have all the different golf leagues um so as I say we are a Community Asset we we cover our costs and then some of late um through Golf and that Revenue um but we also have the facility available for all different kinds of community groups um you know uh we have uh different different V or renters that use the facility some you know wedding or something like that is a premium dollar event but we also have uh the school district uses our room quite a bit they rent it in the winter um the Rotary Club meets there every week uh again they're you know they're there at the crack of dawn Wednesday mornings um so we have the chamber will use the facility we have the convention and V Visitors Bureau they'll sometimes have meetings there um our leagues of course meet in there so we try to provide the facility at a very reasonable price um for those groups that give back to our community and we look at it that this is a way we can support those groups and provide a beautiful facility for them to meet every week or month or whatever it may be and that's about it so just again for for the newer members um you know you guys have all heard this before but um we're more than just a golf course and we're not we don't operate strictly as a business there if uh if I was a business owner of a golf course uh like they are Crystal Lake or Southern Hills I'll guarantee you the high schools will tell you they're a lot more difficult to deal with for tea times and and everything else so um it's one of the great things we get to do is touch so many different people in the community and it's been great uh granted we've been in the facility 12 years now the clubhouse but it feel still feels new to me and one of the best things is when we have one of these other types of events the the people that if you don't play golf um you know for the first 40 Years of the coures existence you'd have no reason to go there um but that building provides that opportunity um the last thing I wanted to touch on was uh next year 2026 will be the 50th anniversary of the golf course and no I have not worked there the whole time um feels like it sometimes uh but it's hard to believe 50 years um operating in Apple Valley uh I'd have to talk to the chamber to find out outside of you know Fisher sand and gravel how many businesses have been operating in Apple Valley for 50 years um and we're in a better position than we've ever been so uh I really appreciate the support of this Committee of the city um and understanding what it is we're trying to do and um Eric and I have been working hard on long range plans so hopefully we don't get too many surprises um but it's been a very very good run the last handful of years questions [39:41] Dave: yeah there just a c couple comments Jim I think it's just a wonderful and nowadays sort of a unique amenity for us to have a municipally owned civically Run Golf course that really is part of the community and not run by some corporation and God knows where I think that's there's some big value in that for our residents and I I appreciate that the second thing is I'm part of that crack a dawn Wednesday morning rotary group we never fail to get top-notch friendly helpful service from you guys so so yay you guys appreciate that appreciate that [40:22] Jim Zinc: uh yes a recently retired council member used to always talk about how um how Lakeville and Eagan and Burnsville uh wish they would have done something like this 50 years ago it hasn't always been easy um there have been challenges over the years but um and they've got great facilities over in Parks but we're kind of the you know all right thank you very much appreciate it [40:51] Mark Shy: thank you Jim all right the next item is the uh Park referendum referendum update and I believe that's Mr Carlson again [41:04] Eric Carlson: Mr chair members of Committee just a update on what's happening with regards to all of our Park projects related to The Parks referend so we're going to start with the Aquatic uh Center um that project started in October of 24 it's been being worked on over the winter and scheduled to be open or done in time for opening in June of 25 here so just in a couple of months I think when people go to use the park they'll see a lot of nice improvements a lot of nice updates and they'll they they they won't see some of the things that we've done behind the scenes with regards to replacing mechanical equipment and whatnot but you need to have those back a house things up and running for you to have a good H out or a good um experience in the park itself so that that's one um we'll be starting our uh eight our additional eight courts of pickle ball um at Johnny Cake West um starting here in May um it'll probably take through August or so to get that constructed those courts will be lighted um the eight original courts will not be lighted but the eight new courts will be lighted and so by the end of the summer early fall we'll have 16 Courts at Johnny Cake for people that enjoy pickle ball we will be starting the skate park project the concrete State skate park project in July um and then that should be done uh by the Fall as well um then moving along to um the youth baseball softball complex at Hayes um that project will start here on or around April 1st it'll be constructed throughout the summer and so the entire property will have a construction fence around it there will be no activities outside if you will on the on the fields uh throughout this entire summer fall and hopefully we will get our seed in the ground by the middle of August early in September and the grass will start to grow in and then hopefully people can return to using that complex come probably August or so of 26 if we're lucky if things don't look good we'll hold them off year um until 27 but hopefully in the fall of 26 we can uh start using that again we will be uh starting the Redwood project here in June um and so that's a complete redo of Redwood Park including an inclusive playground we have an open house next Wednesday at 6 o'clock here at City Hall for those that want to give us some feedback about the concept we have for the playground equipment uh the inclusive playground that will be at Redwood Park we're getting a new building a new pool new courts new parking lot new lighting solar on the solar on the roof of the uh of the building at Redwood so we're very excited about that project then we've got Kelly Park that project will start in July or August of this year it'll take a full year to complete that project but we'll have additional parking a new restroom building so instead of having two we'll have three restrooms we'll have we're going to have a brand new splash pad that I think people are really going to be excited about and we'll have a new stage um for people to uh come to events at whether that be the Friday night um music and Kelly Park music and Kelly Park concert series that the Apple Valley Arts Foundation does or we hope to start as a part of the stage we hope to have about a 25 by 15 foot uh outdoor video screen uh video board and we hope to do music in the park type events and other types of events where you can just come to the park and maybe we'll have something on the screen that will be of interest and be publicly appropriate to have up on the screen so you can have a picnic and maybe there be food trucks involved from time to time who knows but that's a project that's coming up uh We've we're going to be resurfacing about 2.3 miles worth of trails at Cobblestone so everything that didn't get done as part of the North Creek Regional Greenway last year by Dakota County will be done this year by us the city um so that's a big project that'll be U taking place this year um and then we've got um because we don't have anything else going on we've got about nine parks within the park system that we're doing this summer as well and I can't name them all off but I'll name Apple Valley East Apple Valley ponds uh Belmont chapparel uh Delaney um I'm missing a few but generally speaking those are the parks that will receive either new playground equipment or updated basketball courts tennis courts Trails things like that so there's a lot of positive things going on in the park system this summer um ask the for the Public's cooperation with all of that work so some of those Parks will obviously be under construction there'll be a little bit of a of a mess if you will because of construction but um in the long run we're just trying to improve the parks to make them more accessible and to respond to what residents voted for in the 23 uh Parks referendum so I think that's the highlights happy to answer any questions you may have [45:47] Committee Member: is there any fresh news on the Redwood 42 tunnel [45:51] Eric Carlson: uh the the fresh news that I know of is that the county and the city are still working on on those on that project and those plans um but there's there's no construction update I don't have a new date that I can give you I do know that the tunnel is not a part of the Redwood project and it will not be worked on in 25 along with the park project so the park project will happen it'll be completed and then at some point thereafter the county will work on County Road 42 and the tunnel any other questions [46:30] Mark Shy: all right thank you thank you all right that brings us to division updates first who's going first [46:53] Nate Rosa: chair and committee members uh Nate Rosa Recreation superintendent and once Kayla loads this we'll get started uh another update too with Haze Haze complex being redone you know that is displac in a lot of our associations that do use that facility so we will be putting more of their practices and games in some of our community parks around town so you will you know residents will see some influx on some fields that may not have been used the last couple years just because we have to do that during these growing pains all this so so with this you know some some repeat stuff here that Eric did talked about but it's going to be at more of a high level here we do have Splash Valley Water Park uh we launched the video on that just a couple weeks ago here on our YouTube page and Facebook page couple things I really want to highlight is we're earmarking June 6th as our start date opening date as long as we stay on construction so far so good um one big thing this year is we are piloting some season passes I do want to note that we do have an early bird rate in a regular rate and so that early bird is May 15th so right now people can go out there get their passes they won't be able to pick up their passes those are something that we'll have at the the water park uh when we open and they'll be able to pick up their passes on their first first time visiting that Aquatic Park uh I'll jump back to that quick here on to just again high level a lot of stuff on here we have a lot of ADA improvements a lot of shade structures that are being added and so when when I say shade there's shade on top of shade on top of shade so some commanders that'll be able to rent it and then a lot of free places spaces that people can utilize that with as well new water features going in there on top of that that'll so now we'll have something for all ages inside of that Park one of the other things that we're launching here is the Parks and Recreation Recreation Wellness fund we will be launching that April 1st there'll be more to come we just wanted to get this out in front of everybody let them know um this will be for people that are looking for some financial assistance um they they'll be able to stop in at the Apple Valley Community Center work with Kayla and her staff to go through the processes on there again more to come we will launch this stuff on our social media and our our web page uh this is graciously sponsored by the city and our bigger sponsor here is American Legion Post 1776 so we want to thank them for this again this will be for anyone that lives in Apple Valley as long as you meet the qualifications based off of parameters of you know qualifi for free and reduced lunch snap um Wick and then on there just different levels of income depending on how many people are in your family but we'll have more to come on that with like I said on our online stuff and the website our newsletter is out uh you should have received that in the mail here or should be coming soon note down here the different uh things that are involved in there that are underneath my perview two things I want to highlight is we do have some all day child programs throughout the summer on here so you have to PEC Mill a few things together but if you need something you know from 8:00 to 4:30 we do have that option this year so we want to thank Christy hell our staff for putting that together for us and again the Beloved music in Kelly Park that Eric mentioned by the Apple Val Arts Foundation there's information in there as well that'll guide you to what those concerts are going to be Eric did mention the skate park this is our current rendering of what we're looking at here we're still working with spawn Ranch skate parks that does all the system for us they they're figuring out some of the final ins and outs once that is done what we will do is we'll have another open house that will will report to the public and again we are shooting for that for a July 7th breaking ground date and then again done by by before the snow flies here and that is all I have questions [50:41] Dave: so did that Wellness fund is that U did the city council approve that is that so it's Full Speed Ahead now [50:48] Nate Rosa: Full Speed Ahead city council did approve that at the last meeting thank you [50:54] Mark Shy: all right thank you thank you [51:10] Steve Rother: evening uh Mr chairman and members of the committee I'm Steve rther Park superintendent I'll give you a brief update on what we've been doing in park maintenance uh sorry I didn't put a PowerPoint together for tonight uh start off with our ice ring season last year we were open for a total of seven days in our warming houses because of the winter uh this week we're open for six weeks uh very well received had a lot of people out using them and enjoying it uh We've also been working on prepping for a lot of the upcoming projects we have uh removing sign the block Planters from around all of our sign Planters uh so we're ready for the new signage when that comes in uh that should all be done by July sometime it sounds like uh we've been opening up and widening our trails to create better access for the for the work that'll be coming into to the parks as well as to the trails uh We've also reached our goal of re removing over 500 ash trees within uh the maintained areas of the parks uh we've still got about four or about a 100 ash trees that are being treated uh through a natural resources department uh we that they get treated every other year to prevent Emerald ashb from getting in and infecting them uh and then with another fairly snowf free winter we have been able to get out and grind the majority of those stumps inh house with our staff so that saved quite a bit of money uh rather than having to use contractors to come in and do that uh we're also planning on replacing in and starting to replace all these trees uh we're currently constructing a gravel bed tree nursery at Central maintenance uh plan is this year is to plant 50 barot trees in there uh we're working at with natural resources for the selection and it'll likely be combination of elm coffee trees lindens London plain trees some Red Buds uh some trees work better in gravel nurseries others don't so we're kind of picking trees that we know will succeed uh they'll be similar to the trees that are available through the uh City tree sale too if you've ever boughten the uh Barett trees through the tree sale they're going to be very similar uh we'll water them throughout summer in the gravel bed uh and then plant them out in the Parks uh in April or April in October uh we've been utilizing a lot of volunteer help throughout the park system too uh the adopt Park program which Mark you're you're part of thank you uh we're happy to say uh 2024 we believe is the first year that all of our Parks were adopted at the same time so we uh very very helpful uh they come in pick up trash sticks weed flower beds whatever needs to be done within the parks that they that they can handle uh we supported a Eagle Scout project to Cobblestone Lake this summer uh young man constructed and installed two bat houses on the shoreline uh Eco Advocates are another group that helps us out quite extensively uh they helped with some Buck th removal at H magnet this fall uh rain Garden maintenance they help with that uh and they planted about 600 wildf flower and grass plugs at Wildwood par Park uh after we moved some Buckthorn or after we moved a lot of Buckthorn there uh Wings Financial is another group that we have come in uh once a year for or one day a year for probably the last five or six years now they send between 100 and 120 volunteers uh re last year at in addition to two previous years I believe uh they've been cutting down volunteer Willowood whips along the shoreline of cobblestone which is tremendous help cuz we just don't have time to do it inh housee with our staff they knock out a huge chunk of ground in four or five hours uh that's also the group we're planning on having uh plant those trees with us in October so we'll be able to put 50 trees in the ground in one day uh other than that we're fighting the snow that we got a couple of days ago it's a terrible snow to try to move right now uh we're still struggling on sidewalks and trails but we'll have it all opened up by the end of the day tomorrow uh before the snow fell we were actually thinking it was going to be an early spring so we started putting up tennis and pickle ball nets started on Spring playground inspections uh snow should go quick we'll start on Park cleanup getting ball fields prepped in five six weeks we'll probably be cutting grass ready so and Spring's coming real quick uh that's all I have any questions [56:32] Dave: I just had a quick question on the tree replacement yeah um these trees died and we took them down yep are we replacing in that exact kind of same area trees or are we just [56:44] Steve Rother: Pro probably within the general area I mean cuz we I mean there there's obviously not a ball field there or anything so okay uh a lot of them will be in the general area we won't be able to plant directly on top because of stumps but if there's a tree here we might go 15 ft there okay just try to avoid the stumps and everything but we kind of know the areas that we removed them all in and will kind of be essentially putting them back in the same spot resource people kind of involved in that or just [57:18] Steve Rother: yeah they're they're helping us pick uh the tree species for the bar root stuff okay for sure uh they're they're very excited about it this is the first one we've had in the city so uh they're they're excited to help out and if we can make the first 50 go really well and it it's successful we'd be able to probably double that uh in the years to come and I mean you can't replace or 500 mature trees overnight but we'll get a bunch in the ground and yeah start filling them in [58:02] Dave: well I'd just like to say you guys do a hell of a job out there with the the parks and just getting the grass mowed thank you when when especially if you get a lot of rain yeah I don't know how you keep up with it [58:14] Steve Rother: there's years and definitely weeks that are challenging but got a great crew that works with me yeah and it it really looks nice yeah very dedicated group yeah so thank you right any other questions all right thank you thanks [58:36] Brian Christensen: Mr chair committee members Brian Christensen Recreation facilities manager I'm here to give you a quick update on the Arenas and what we got going on right now and coming up in the next few months um in our buildings right now going on as you know cuz Craig's not here cuz his daughter's participating in it but it's the iets ice show going on at the sports arena it's put on by the district 196 iset Figure Skating club they've been a club since the building opened in 1976 this is their 49th annual show so next year it'll be the 50th anniversary for them on that show and our learn to skate uh kids also participate and do two to three numbers um in the in the show as well it's something those kids love to do every single year and most of the time it's the first time they get to do a performance for anybody outside of their parents so they have a lot of fun with that uh it run tonight Friday and Saturday afternoon uh the cost is $12 for adults if they want to go and $6 for kids if if you have any kids that have an ISD 196 ID they get in for free uh this the the shows typically are about an hour and a half hour 45 every night with an intermission so there's time to go get some snacks and drinks during them um but it does it is the last thing we host on the ice every year um at the sports arena so starting at Saturday you know 30 minutes after the the mat n we start taking the ice out of that building to get to our dry Floor season um at the rink which runs you know really mid mid-march through the end of September um change over like I said starts on Saturday takes us about a week to turn over to tennis courts maybe a week and a half depending on how much help and and staff we have to get those to get the tennis courts put in and everything uh our goal always get ready for the start of the boys High School tennis season which this year is March 24th Apple Valley High School boys tennis team and the girls tennis team practice and play matches out of out of the sports arena right now as well as the tennis courts outside uh we also this spring have multiple Sports using using that facility for their practices and everything this snow actually helps us fill the building a little bit before they can get out on the fields um but we've got a lot of softball in there this this year tennis some lacrosse so we run the gamut of all the all the sports in that building throughout the year we also have um two craft sales coming in this year it's the same craft craft sale company we've had in the past few years great tenant for us they come in for a day they're out in a day really easy for us but they love the space that we have for them in there um on top of that we have the Just Between Friends Consignment sale coming up the first week in August again this year that's been an annual event for us since about 2017 um in our buildings phills the building for a week they get a lot of kid stuff that comes in there for people to purchase uh we see a lot of bodies through the door during that time and it's it's been a great event for us and they keep coming back every year so we must be doing a good job there uh this year we're also hosting the second annual now Dakota Valley Recycling Furniture swap last year was the first year doing it we actually met with them uh Nate and I did this morning about kind of their upcoming event this year which will be the last Saturday in July um they're looking at maybe doing things a little bit different uh but it was a great event last year I can't wait to see it continue to grow and that partnership with Dakota Valley Recycling has been good for us for a long time so this only helps build that for us over the years our first season at uh Haz arena with the new refrigeration system went awesome awesome ice boards are great people loved uh the product we were able to put out there um now that will be open year round and not closed for construction we'll have open skating open freestyle and open hockey every Saturday uh starting in April and that'll run through uh probably the end of August August maybe a couple weeks earlier than that because we've got a tournaments lined up for those weekends that we won't be able to have the open the open ice for people to come and use but open skating is $5 a skater we'll have limited skate rental available for $3 a pair um open freestyle is $12 a skater open hockey $10 a skater uh and goalies are free and that's all ages um we tried to keep it one year just to youth it's very hard to monitor that and and we don't need our people monitoring kids out there skating our staff so it's open to all mostly it's adult adults that show up with with their kids so it's kind of a mixed Stage Group that plays um we don't have times nailed down quite yet but those will come on our website once we have them um and also starting in April we have our learn to skate lesson starting up again we run those trying to run those year round with maybe three to four weeks in between each session to give people a little break give our instructors a little break to set up and get ready for the next session but you know if if you know anybody that wants to learn how to skate or wants to be in an ice show at the end of each year they do have to be in our learn skate lessons to be able to sign up for the ice show every year um and that's that's one goal a lot of those people I'd sign up for um love at the end of the year and they love set going going and participating in in the ice show um every single year with that I stand with any questions you guys have [1:03:49] Mark Shy: I would like to understand what open freestyle is [1:03:55] Brian Christensen: so it's like open figure skating okay um and we we do allow them coach to come and help out if if there aren't too many other open freestyle skaters there A lot of times what happens is um instead of a figure skater renting an entire sheet of ice just for themselves and lessons they'll come to an open freestyle session like that with their coach because it's a little bit more affordable for them to do it that way thank you Brian [1:04:14] Dave: is there any update on the naming rights of the facilities or anything [1:04:22] Brian Christensen: not not yet they're going out within the next couple weeks to start selling it to any parti potential Partners um they're working through that process right now and getting that all set up the story set up and everything to get to us for approval and then they'll go out and start meeting with those partners and that'll really kick off the process then they're thinking in about a week and a half or two weeks they'll they'll be doing that all right great thank you all right thanks [1:04:52] Mark Shy: all right that brings us to item number eight which is input from committee members on the next agenda do any of the committee me committee members have any um items that they'd like to have put on the future agendas nothing from me Mr chair keep it in mind I think it would be a great you know we've got a great committee and I'm sure we've got great minds and uh I think it would be great if um you know there's something that we want to discuss you know let's put it on an agenda and you know um take a look at it so I am [1:05:27] Dave: Mr chairman I'm always interested in hearing about how the uh how the relations are going between the city uh and the parks and our athletic associations and so I don't know I'm I'm assuring it's a uh it's a strong year but I'm just always interested in those updates and how those organizations are working with the city and and the group so it's that's always a great update so take that anytime [1:05:47] Mark Shy: all right all right anything anything else um that brings us to adjournment [1:05:51] Dave: I'll make a motion we adjourn [1:05:53] Mark Shy: I have a motion by Dave call second [1:05:55] Jess: second [1:05:56] Mark Shy: by Jess all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed we are adjourned