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Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes Page 5 of 8 <br /> February 12, 2025 <br /> Chair Anderson said this is a unique piece of property being by the Mississippi River with unique <br /> topography. He has been down on the property and walked it several times. He said as a Commission <br /> they will talk about each of the proposed elements and then make their recommendation. <br /> Chair Anderson said that the 14.51 acres of greenway is not worthy of park dedication, and he does <br /> not see it as usable. It is storm water retention, and he would recommend not giving any park <br /> dedication for it. <br /> Commission Goodwin asked about the trail portion of that piece that would meet up with the other <br /> trails. Chair Anderson said that an easement takes care of the trail connection if it is in storm water <br /> areas as they usually end up owned and maintained by the city as well. <br /> Chair Anderson explained that trails are the last part of the recommendation. The first part is <br /> identifying land for dedication and then cash. <br /> Commissioner Niziolek said that he does not see a nice place for a picnic or playground in this area in <br /> the 14.5 I-acre greenway. He sees it as the backyard of people's homes with a trail, stormwater ponds <br /> and landscaping. He feels like they could serve the community better if they had a different space. The <br /> other Commissioners all agreed. <br /> Mr. Bona from Capstone said that they have removed a lot of lots to create the linear trail but if they <br /> cannot get the park dedication for the 14.51-acre greenway, they would remove this and remove the <br /> trail as planned to gain the lots back. They thought it was a feature of the Mississippi River Trail the trail <br /> down to the river. They would move storm water basins into the back yards. <br /> Chair Anderson then moved on to discussing the 28.07-acre parcel in the low land area by the <br /> Mississippi. Commissioner Loidolt said he did not get to walk the property, so he must go with the <br /> recommendations of the other Commissioners. Commissioner Niziolek said that this property is in the <br /> flood plain so they cannot build a structure there. He said there are portions of the land that are not <br /> but based upon past practice they have not accepted wetland flood plain for park dedication, but he said <br /> that they should consider taking the portion above the I 0-year flood plain as park dedication because <br /> he does see the value of the land being by the Mississippi River. Staff is not sure how much acreage that <br /> would be. <br /> Mr. Barker said that they do have the areas split out showing that the non-wetland area in their plan <br /> which would be 16 acres. Commissioner Niziolek clarified that wetland and land above the 10-year <br /> water mark are different. Mr. Stremcha said that staff can calculate the acreage above the 10-year water <br /> mark for park dedication credit. <br /> Commissioner Goodwin said that Commissioner Niziolek's compromise sounds good. Commissioner <br /> Varty said she is not sure how accepting a dry area in the middle of a wetland can be accepted. Chair <br /> Anderson said houses cannot be built down there, so it does not have a lot of their typical park amenity <br /> options. He said it looks like it might be about ten acres. <br /> Councilmember Grupa asked for clarification as to whether they would accept anything down along the <br /> river and Chair Anderson said no. Capstone staff confirmed that they could make that private area. <br /> Commissioner Goodwin asked the other Commissioners where they would put the other amenities for <br />