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Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes December 11, 2024 Page 3 Commissioner Stewart shared his concerns that while it is wooded, rolling land the commissioners do not know if they are the only group that would be involved in the potential purchase of the property and that could change how it could be split. This could be one of the last large pieces of property close to downtown. Commissioner Varty said that not knowing what the cost of the property is makes it hard to decide. She does not feel like a decision can be made without more information. Commissioner Loidolt said the main drive of his interest in the property was the potential to purchase the whole 20 acres. He said that now that the owner is potentially only interested in selling the city seven acres it changes what the property could be used for such as disc golf. It could be expensive if the City were to buy the whole property but without the price there is not a way to know. Commissioner Niziolek said that he is going to talk about the bigger picture. He said that currently there is no shoulder on Proctor Rd from the Cherrywood Hills exit down to the Nystrom Property. He shared that this causes safety concerns. There is a trail connected to Proctor Rd that is not safe and he thinks that it will have to be moved so it connects to the intersection. He sees the trail as having to connect from Proctor through the Nystrom property to the driveway that connects across from the Salk entrance. He said there are also a lot of people parking on Proctor it that are attending the ball games at the fields. He said it is important to look at making this piece of property a destination trailhead for the Great Northern Trail. There are a lot of questions and possibilities but also a lot of things to look at and figure out. Chair Anderson said that the trail master plan does show a trail plan on the east side property, west side of Proctor Rd when the property develops. That would take care of the conflict between parking on the road and bikers. It also takes care of providing a safer crossing. Chair Anderson said it sounded like the family was interested in high density housing on the southern side of the property which would rule out a disc golf course. Topography wise it is a bulldozer job. He says it should hold interest as a trail head in our community, but he does not feel that a decision must be made this evening, especially without knowing the price. He thinks that this topic should come back at a future meeting when they have more information. Councilmember Beyer said he can appreciate what Commissioner Niziolek said as far as his concerns about the trail safety on Proctor Rd. Councilmember Beyer watched the November meeting while he was traveling. When he went to the last council meeting, he mentioned this property and said they had questions about the price of the property that should be figured out before any action is taken and before it would be recommended to be added to the master plan. He feels acting tonight is premature without more information. Chair Anderson asked if the commission was okay with leaving this item for more discussion. Commissioner Niziolek said that maintaining the lower part of the proposed trail plan on the lower part of the Nystrom property will be hard to maintain and keep safe if it follows the road. He thinks it should cut across from City Rd 1 to Proctor Rd going across the lower tip of the Nystrom Property and then along the road. He recommends that they include a red line loop through the lower portion of the Nystrom property that connects from Cry Rd 1 to Proctor. He also said that at some point they need to identify where a great northern trail head will be in Elk River and work towards that. POVIREO 01 NATURE