PRSR 03-12-2025 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes Page 7 February 12, 2025 Commissioner Niziolek said the trail would ideally be eighty feet from the backyard of the homes and go all the way up and through to the Oliver Kelley Farm. The ultimate trail alignment would look like what is presented tonight. He also clarified that it would be ideal to have a road on either side of the park and have roadside parking versus a parking lot. It would be like Trott Brook Park. Having the park up top would provide a safer environment for kids to play in compared to a lower area by the river. Councilmember Grupa asked the Commission what land they wanted to delegate for park dedication. Chair Anderson said the primary piece is the seven-acre park on the top, park dedication for lower space in the amount of land above the 10-year high water mark minus the wetlands, and the remainder in cash at the applicational rate at the time of platting and the trail should be installed by the developer with trail access easements across any trails not located on public property. Mr. Shelby said planning would be able to determine the amount of land in the lower space minus the wetlands. Councilmember Grupa questioned if the developer makes the final park location decision. Mr. Stremcha said City Council and the developer make the final decision. Mr. Bona shared that they appreciate the comments from the Commission, but he feels like it needs to be more of a two-way street about the parks. He said that the things the commission is describing may not be financially able to work for them as the developer. He is concerned that they put a year into this plan, and this is the first time they are hearing about this. He said if they recommend, and they cannot financially do it then it could be waste of time. Chair Anderson pointed out that he had sent notes to the last meeting because he could not be present. He said the Capstone plan has stayed the same since day one and they do not seem to be hearing the Commission’s recommendations. He does not feel that the Commissioners comments and recommendations are being heard by the developer. Chair Anderson pointed out that they think they are compromising. He wants to make sure they are serving the people in the neighborhood and making sure they have a park and programable space. Mr. Bona said they could not do a bluff line trail because they financially need to have homes on that bluff. He feels like the property that they proposed for park dedication is the crown jewel of the property because everyone wants to get down to the river. He said that they thought of it as more of a passive park and originally, they thought it was going to be an HOA park for the neighborhood. As they got into more discussions with the city, they thought the city would want it as a park themselves. Now they are having a financial issue if they cannot do it this way. Elk River is the only City they have ever worked with that requires 20% park dedication. Mr. Bona said that they are trying to accommodate many different things to get to the 20%. While designing this plan they set aside so much open space, more than they ever have before. They wanted to create a big berm and landscape it which will also cost them a lot of money. Page 8 of 35