you you you you and welcome to the January 6th parks and natural resource commission meeting first thing we'd like to do tonight is approve the agenda commissioner staff is there any additions to the agenda nothing from staff okay next item is we're gonna look at approving the minutes from our December 2nd session is there any changes staff commissioners all those in favor okay now we're gonna look at citizens comments being there's no one here tonight to have any comments we'll move on to a review of approval of the 2020 parks and natural resource work plan tonight JJ will be presenting that good evening commissioners and welcome back to the year of parks and Natural Resources Commission every year in January we take a look at the work plan that we discussed the month previous and what we'll be looking for tonight is your approval on this work plan again most of the information here should be information we've already discussed unless you went home and found another topic or thought of another idea or something came to light that we should be looking at or discussing and then we'll have to take a look at that and decide if we're going to approve that here tonight or add that at a later time so annually commissioners you have these five items in front of you that we work on each and every year or we we hear about every year the review of the capital improvement plan for park development renovations and trail work and that will be coming later tonight our Natural Resources Department brings before us Deer Management Plan and talks about programs and strategies I apologize commissioners are you all getting the rain and Kenneth if you have a chance could you help us out thank you we ask that you provide input on the city's stormwater pollution prevention program and then you'll also hear from staff on the state of the lakes and then annually if there's a sustainability progress report that's sue bast and her team presented to us which is usually some really good information that sometime in the middle of summer that they finally gather up all their information and all their numbers and stats and things like that so these are the five items that are before us on an annual basis now last month we took a look at our special projects carried forward from the year before or their items that staff already has knowledge of it's going to come be coming before you or it's an item that you folks think that we need to dive into a little bit farther so the list here we're gonna review that final design of the Lake Marion trail or south segment we're gonna review concept plans for lockvar nature play area and we're gonna update you on the accomplishments for our parks master plan will be the third year I believe that item is on our our list so maybe we'll move that forward to the list of annual happenings that we go through every year as well as you're gonna provide any you with any information that where there's opportunities for you to promote Burnsville parks during any of our events or any special things we have happening in parts so with that you also ask for updates on the 35w Minnesota River Bridge bike crossing Garrett Beck is going to present to you next month information on our parks frameworks plan we're gonna review the niccola Commons Park water feature rehabilitation plan there's a different sustainability there's some additional sustainability information that sue would like to present to you folks as well you've asked for an update on the County Road 42 and medical district corridors and and impacts on city parks and natural resources you've asked for an update on the emerald ash borer project as well we first heard about that I think it was probably 2015 or a few years ago three four years ago and Dave gravich our city forests will be happy if we give us some update and some numbers on how we've been doing you've also asked for an update on our scheduled or programmed recreational uses in city parks and as I told you last month we've got some great information that we'd love to share with you on that information on any invasive species we have in the parks and then we also talked about the amount of buckthorn that we removed to date from all of the various parks the last thing I have listed there is an update on the Minnesota River pollution prevention programs there were some concern that from a news report or an article that the Missal River was facing some pollution concerns and we'll bring you information on the programs that are in place to prevent that from happening so these are the projects that I have listed here in front of you there were some projects that we discussed that after further review with other city staff we've pulled them out or set them aside one of them or these three that I have here in front of you the process of tree trimming and Parks I believe somebody asked what's the process and and how do you decide which park gets treatment and which doesn't Dave Gras Michigan told me be happy to share any of that information as part of that emerald ash borer update it's really not a scientific approach to it so he said he'd be happy to do that at any time we talked about Nature Preserve building with educational programming and opportunities maybe with that building near the fen or down at Clifton Park and talking with Garrett he thought that from our discussions regarding the trail head out at Keller Park maybe that's something that could be tied in there as well as additional interpretive signage that we can take a look at adding that in any of our parks almost at any time so it's not that it's not a priority for our parks and Natural Resources folks it's just that it maybe doesn't need additional attention or special call out here at the parks Natural Resources Commission the other thing or last thing I have there was information or interest in a pollinator conservation fair and folks we can do that we can participate in that in any way if you folks are interested we can find a way to get you there as part of that so again it's maybe not necessary as part of our annual work plans but it is something that if there is interest I can certainly assist or Natural Resources folks can certainly assist in providing that information for you individually or getting you in attendance at that fair with that folks that is the work plan that we discussed I do know because I did receive an email that there was some may be some additional items that have come up since our December meeting and I'd be happy to hear those now and as all of you would and we can talk about whether or not it's appropriate for us to approve the work plan here tonight if we don't we could still approve it at our February 3rd meeting in time for the City Council meeting the next night on the 4th so I believe Commissioner Shipman you have some information yes so there was a recent news report about the decline in that's due to white noise syndrome and one of the things that I would like to see as well how does that impact Burnsville in our surrounding community I know I have quite the bat population in my backyard so I'm just curious on what that how that affects us can you say more about the pollution the white noise is a kind of a mysterious disease that's killing the bats off ok in like in the caves particularly it's happening quite a bit up on the Iron Range but they're also finding it it was just found in South Dakota there's some in Wisconsin and it's leading to a drastic decline in the bat population and then bats helped the farmers by eating of course the pests off their crops which is then now increasing the need for pesticides so the white noise pollution comes from man-made no we don't know there's where it knows oh wait no now I remember yeah I kept seeking as noise yeah um any other comments to that or questions there there is new endangered species rules for addressing northern long-eared bass which are a forest summer roosting bat that I think is something that can affect all sorts of different developments and it's the kind of thing that needs to get checked off make sure that there's compliance with those rules and that's separate but somewhat related to white nose syndrome although the white nose syndrome mostly is going to be cave building mines kind of roosting locations where there's concentrations and there's a buildup of the fungal stuff in the in the guano sometimes and they can spread it around it it wakes the bats up all night long or all winter long and causes them to waste their unnecessarily use their food and water reserves and so they end up slowly running out of reserves and oftentimes dying that's been something in some places out east there's been 90 to 95 percent loss in these locations and I don't you know I don't know how much bad conservation opportunities we have in the cities but that would be in the city but that would be worth looking at so JJ maybe I could ask a question what this be more of like a special project because this isn't something that is normally done within the city of Burnsville in terms of looking at the management of bats or would this be more of an informational brief there's there's not a bad management program happening in the city of burns it would be more of an informational presentation to you folks and and identifying or addressing whether or not it is a concern or what the concerns might be for bat populations here in Burnsville to add to that like is there anything we can really do as a city regarding it I would be okay with adding I guess I would motion to add as like an informational brief into our current work plan but then anything further would be decided at that point in time second all those in favor not how those opposed okay motion carries any other additions questions or comments okay then I guess it's time to I'd like to make a motion to approve the parks and natural resource work plan for 2020 seconded okay can i all those in favor aye those opposed okay so it carries next item JJ's gonna present to us he's into a review of the 2020 Park CIP for us and again commissioners just to back up for once a quick second we'll ask that our new chair and vice chair present this information to City Council for their approval of our work plan and there the council's meeting on February 4 thank you okay so commissioners as I mentioned one of the annual things that we do is we take a look at the city's parks capital improvement plan for each year and when we get to the end of this review what we'll do is it's not a motion for council to approve it because the expenditures have already been approved by council however we will make a motion in support of proceeding with the items identified here in the parks capital fund so that our city staff could get these items checked off the list in 2020 so the parks capital fund has five areas and in the background I left a couple of notes explain that in a few minutes but the first one and probably the largest one that we have to discuss is park renovation and that we have just over 1.3 million dollars identified in these areas so general amenities which include picnic tables bleachers and benches things like that there's $25,000 we have some backstop fencing replacements thirty-five five hockey rinks $75,000 those are the boards and the fencing that go up on the on the rinks lighting systems at Neil Park and sue Fischer that's probably a review of replacement plan to bring those lights up to a new new standards assign project these are the park entrance signs and kiosks that are up in some of our parks we just finished adding three kiosk signs that were originally scheduled for 2019 so there's now a kiosk at the trailheads Terrace oaks east and terrace oaks west as well as there's a third one out there that would just add it I'll come back to that but anyway they just went in last week they look very nice and they're very similar to the kiosk signs that are up down at the boat launch and across Street over at the skate park the biggest item here is the niccola Commons Park water feature and as I mentioned this is another item that will be coming back to you that water feature has been losing water every year and we've done some studies to find the problems and now we've got to do some work to repair that water feature so that we're not just pouring water into the ground and losing water on a daily basis so that rehabilitation project is as you can see there's $780,000 the other item that we have on a list here as a frameworks plan so staff has been working probably the last half of the year to identify amenities in the park that are really no longer in use or valuable to the individual park I think one of the items that came up an example for you folks was when we were talking about Kelliher Park and how there is a picnic table up there in the trees and in the wood line that we thought was going to be a great place for folks to stop along their way in on their walk well it might be but it's also used by others for additional or other purposes that are not very park friendly so we start talking about where are their park amenities or things like that that should be removed or replaced and what should that replacement be as we move forward currently there are no longer as many kids playing baseball and softball in our city so we've got a lot of ball diamonds that maybe there's a better use for that soccer lacrosse rugby things like that these are also items that were brought up in our parks master plan and so with is this is kind of a carry forward from the master plan and making sure that the items in our parks are being used the way they should be used and that it's the this is what the community wants so Garrett will be here next month to talk about that that plan and the $50,000 or near $50,000 identified here is just really a plan to get us started and creating that plan for how are we going to move forward and tackle all items that we listed I mean we went we went parked by park and identifying the each of the things in the park and whether or not there's a real good use for it or if it's being used and things like that so Garrett will have some great information for us next week or next month I'm sorry by two minutes projects there is nothing planned for 2020 no new trails no replacements no repairs things like that park improvements these are basic amenities new amenities to the park system so again when we talk about benches and bleachers and things like that we have $20,000 identified and then we've got a sunset pond we putting in a drinking fountain this year at $15,000 for that cost one of the things I left out I believe I left out in the background was the technology and security now you work very closely with our IT department and so this is these are IT funds that they then put into the parks capital fund so there's $60,000 identified to extend fiber out to some of our parks unfortunately I don't have that list of parks for this year that hasn't been generated yet and then there's also technology endpoints for those parks so some of them like Lok LaVon and the beach we've got computer systems in those parks because we have concession stands and things like that so it's it's identifying some funds so that we can put some things in place at some of the parks and things like that so not another $30,000 identified there again trail systems there's nothing planned for 2020 and the Kelliher trail or the trail through Kelleher was identified in 2019 so identified that in your background as a carry forward although it's not listed in the budget of information that you were given as part of your background there as the attachment so commissioners identified a couple of these things during the presentation earlier but these are items that we know are going to come back to you at some point during the year or we hope that they get back to you at some point during the year the niccola comments Park water feature is one of those things that they're gonna want to take a look at it believe this spring or first quarter as soon as they can get into the ground so that should be coming March or April Lok LaVon nature play area we've talked about this talked about how great the nature play area is over at Terrace Oaks and how we need to maybe create a few more of those around the community so that more folks are getting that opportunity there is nothing planned yet for Lok LaVon so hopefully we'll have something in place for you to review by early summer and then again that frameworks plan that I've been talking about the gear will be bringing to you next month so with that commissioners again what we're looking for tonight is a motion in support of the parks CIP for 2020 and knowing that these other items will be coming before you are these items I listed there we'll be coming back to you at some point during the course of the year and just a quick question when you were talking about technology in the parks it just made me wonder are there security cameras in any any of our parks there are we do have some we have cameras at a few parks and in a few locations some of them in buildings some of them in parking lots some of them in just general play areas and last year or the last time we added new technology to the park we added at Ala magnet it was a few years ago that we had a stolen city vehicle parks truck was stolen from there and they broke into the shed where all of our baseball field maintenance crew offices out of during the summer and things like that and did some damage in there so we do have security cameras in about seven or eight parks right now okay thank you commissioners are there any other comments and concerns for the Nicollet Cummings water feature have you found the leak uh Chris sure Dawson that's that's a great question I believe they have found the problem I believe that they've identified that and I believe they have the fix in place for that dollar amount I'm sure that things will look very different once they any other questions for the signs I see that 2020 is last year with a dollar amount next to it does that mean that we anticipate completion of the signage kind of renovation or transformation whatever you want to call it at the end of 2020 or would we anticipate to see some additional funny and being rolled over into 2021 mr. Newman I believe that 2020 will be the end of our sign project there were you may recall staff remember Julie door Shack was the person that brought the sign project forward she has left us in 2019 and so some of the sign projects did not get were not completed in 2019 so I guess they may still be working on signs in 2021 because they'll have a lot of work to do in 2020 in order to complete them but you've already or we've already discussed all the dollar amounts and I would identify all this spending for the sign project through 2020 great my only other question is you have the irrigation systems on here and I know that we don't have like a future topic about this so was this merely upgrades to the current irrigation project is there any any opportunity to think about recycled rainwater for some of these different irrigation projects instead of just replacing the current kind of I'm sure standard irrigation process again thank you for identifying that did not I fail to mention that I should say I failed to mention that North River Hills is our largest Soccer Complex we have four full-size soccer fields there the entire turf area is is irrigated there are own over the years the soccer club has supported improvements to that park and turf and and and the soil conditions there as well but the system is aging and so it is time to replace it they've done a number of repairs over the years to fix breaks and sprinkler heads and become more efficient and things like that and so as we replace it this year that does include becoming more efficient and how we use that water and the controls that will tell us that the soil needs water and things like that I'm thinking very similar to what we did out of Lok LaVon at the ball fields there when we did that replacement it will include that type of replacement now whether or not they've looked to find reclaimed water from nearby ponds whatever I'm sorry I don't have that information but it will include using the best technology we can afford okay to irrigate those turf area thanks for that detail okay if there's no other questions can I get a motion supporting the implementation of the 2020 parks capital improvement plan project so moved oh it's in favor all those against okay next item on the agenda is we are gonna look at electing a chair and vice-chair for 2020 JJ's you wanna so commissioners every year in January we take a look at electing a chair and vice chair for the upcoming year the chair and vice chair serve through January 2021 so they get us through that first meeting of the year of the new year but every year when we bring on new commissioners in the middle of summer June and July it's helpful that we have already in place our chair and vice chair to get us through the year so that's why we do this work in electing our new chair and vice chair in January so we are at that point I did ask or did did inform you in December that if anybody expressed or if anybody wants to express an interest I would take their name and nomination at that point in time nobody spoke up I did say in the background you were welcome to send me an email or give me a phone call and I haven't heard from anybody on necessarily a firm commitment on wanting to be that chair or vice chair until just tonight I did hear from Commissioner woman that she would be interested in serving as vice chair for the 2020 year but other than that I have not heard or have not received any other nominations so at this point I would like to open it up for nominations for our chair and vice chair for that for the year well as the outgoing vice chair and in a room chair I would make a suggestion I think there's it helps to have some experience up you know being on the commission so I would like to nominate Jenny for the chair and then Shannon for the vice-chair sounds good to me okay commissioners are there any other nominations hearing none I would accept a motion in favor of Jenny as are cheering and Shannon has a vice chair for the upcoming year from any of the commissioners very good thank you Gary all those in favor aye all those opposed wonderful thank you very much okay yeah and next we're gonna look into miscellaneous with JJ Fisher's our next meeting will be held on Monday February 3rd we do have items already on our our docket for that for February 3rd I also hope that I will have a full list of our monthly schedule for you for the rest of the year at that meeting so that will be hopefully included in your next packet and then I would also like to point out that the Recreation Department is hosting a Polar Fest on Saturday February 8th at North River Hills from 11 to 2 I will remind you again of that in February but I wanted to make sure that it gets out there a couple times what is polar Fest entail we have there'll be the sledding hill at North River Hills you can skate there will be food trucks we have some of our local youth hockey programs playing some mini mite hockey out there at North River Hills we will have us horse and carriage ride going through the park a bonfire and snow painting all kinds of fun stuff should be a good family event sounds fun Derek can I get a motion to adjourn please motion to adjourn all those in favor aye good evening and thank you for joining us for our meeting